Jon = Azor Ahai?

This feature really is the best. I've become a fan of far too many podcasts to ever listen to all of them, and the best way I've found to manage that is to rely on Podmass to tell me whether or not each of the second tier ones is worthwhile. Capsule reviews and a little critical snark are exactly what's needed when…

They're not - the legislature only convenes for 45 days every year. I just moved to SLC, and when I was doing interviews a big point all of the faculty made was that the government is totally crazy, but only for a month and a half, so it's not SO bad.

Throughout the episode I kept wondering why they kept using the first few bars of a Kinks song as incidental music - seemed kind of expensive - and then when it all paid off in the return of Victoria I kicked myself for not seeing where that was going.
But I'm more disappointed in Donna for not mentioning it in the…

Nerdcheck
Pretty sure Bond drinks vodka martinis.

My Side of the Mountain
The first survivalist fiction I ever came across, and the first to inspire me to believe that, even as an 8-year-old, I would be able to survive the apocalypse. It was also the only reason I took boy scouts seriously enough to learn how to start a fire from scratch.

Wow - I just noticed that. Even worse, dude's been around for less than a year, and already has more comments than me. I guess I need to step up my game if I want to remain the premier reference to America's once and future monarch.

Apparently, they're streaming the whole thing on their website:
http://www.thepainsofbeingp…

There are some bands in the same domain - Tullycraft, as a giant, glaring example - that embrace "twee" as a genre label for certain kinds of indie pop. They tend to be a bit more intentionally saccharine than B&S or these guys, but it's hardly a word that should be retired, perhaps just more carefully deployed.

3% of the monthly fee for streaming = 1 free day (more or less)

Seriously - that attempt to sound like you know something about neuroscience was what the kids these days have been calling an epic fail. But beyond asking why you get all of the facts wrong, and get the myth wrong, I have one serious question: what part of your body do you think "accesses" you brain?

I think my suggestion of Tom Waits' "Telephone Call From Istanbul" was wrongly snubbed. The man himself has already produced two distinct versions, so there's lots n' lots of room for even the most unimaginative bands to do something kind of different with it.

@Harold

I cannot believe 12 hours passed by and no-one else congratulated you for that observation. Golf fuckin' clap.

AV Club vs. Pandora
I got quite a few from AV Club mentions this year, with The Dutchess and The Duke being the #1 find. And although the album actually did come out this year, I can't help but mention how ridiculously awesome Love Is All's 2010 Injuries is, which I only heard about because I was bored enough to…

I am a scientist
And I approve of this definition of "sciency"

Also, I think the people complaining about his saying "I'm into old country; I'm into old rap" have forgotten the way this column works. He's being asked to explain what randomly pops up on his mp3 player. He isn't answering the question in a vacuum, and producing these things out of nowhere; he's being confronted…

Yeah, I got the impression Random Roles superseded this because it was all "relevant" and shit. But the original really does have that old school AVC fun-with-pop-culture feel.

word. Mad propz 4 '1996 aol profile'

I am an anthropologist, and very, very few of us do what Bones (or the woman she's based on) does. Those forensic kinds are called "applied anthropologists," or "employed" and "financially solvent" and "not crushed under mountains of student loan debt."