I grew up with albums and loved them beyond reason, but I moved them several times too many and eventually gave up.  Now my CDs are in boxes in the basement because I have them all ripped and only listen to the digital copies.  Most of the music I buy now is downloaded, because I don't even want to have to carry the…

They're just doing what you asked!  Getting off a lawn is hard work, and it does a lot of damage.

I don't see a whole lot of "Quadrophenia" love in the comments, but I have to agree with Ryan about its place in The Who's discography.  As great as some of their other albums are, I've always found it to be the one that holds together the best.

I get what you're saying about the Chief.  The only things I would offer in his defense are that he was, I assume, devastated by the loss of his wife and that he didn't know Kiwi was going to bail after he left him in charge.  He probably should have dropped in once or twice, though.  For me, Pa Ingalls is the…

It's interesting.  As I mentioned above, I read the short story it was based on first, so there was no mystery about how things were going to end.  That really took the sting out of it for me.

I did like it.  I've been on a kick for the past couple of years reading various apocalyptic sci-fi books, which definitely gets to be a drag after a while.  This one puts such a different spin on that kind of story that it was a nice change for me.

"Middlesex" is great.  I read "The Marriage Plot" recently and felt the mixed reviews I'd seen were kind of unfair.  It's a fine book.  Maybe not the most brilliant thing ever, but well worth reading.

As I mentioned above, I just finished "Swamplandia!" and "The Age of Miracles" before that.  I'm currently in the middle of "The Fault in our Stars," which is not at all a typical type of book for me but which I am definitely enjoying.

I just finished it last weekend and I enjoyed it, but it didn't knock my socks off or anything.  I had read her first collection of stories, so I was familiar with the story it was based on.

I was a huge Ultravox fan in college (when they were at the peak of their popularity).  I saw them when they were touring for "Quartet".  It was a really good show.

Dark and lonely on a summer night…

In 1996, Wislawa Szymborska won the Nobel prize.  That's when I first saw this poem, which became a favorite of mine:

@avclub-3be42d8a3412057f79af152555e39bd4:disqus That's funny, the Hipstress and I were talking about this last night.  She is also bothered by all of the smoking on these cooking shows.  This season didn't seem as bad, but (even on Top Chef) it's startling how many of the contestants smoke when they aren't in the…

Donkey! Donkey!! DONKEY!!!

It's a minor point, but I think they said there were 300 people in the audience, but they were only plating for 68.  It would kind of suck to be one of the other 232, yes?  Seeing (and smelling) all of that food and not being able to taste any of it…

Yeah, I suppose I am.  More good than bad, most days!

I saw Devo in 1982 (New Traditionalists tour), but I also have no recollection of this. I can't believe it got much airplay. We were watching a lot of MTV in the dorm lounge in those days…

Absolutely!

Sassy!

That can certainly be part of it, but the tradition is to give up something that you really like.  It's meant to help you understand Christ's suffering when he fasted for 40 days in the desert, while being tormented by @Lucifers_Peaches:disqus  .