At least I’m not putting it out there in June this year.

To be frank, this was a pretty lean year for new music, especially new music by new artists. I looked, and didn’t find much. I wish I had, honestly, it’s not just me being a cranky old man who’s like “All that new shit sucks!”, and there are newer artists who are doing good things. They just released their albums in ’07. There also wasn’t very much in the way of compelling heavy metal this year, which is kind of a drag. When I have to even half-consider Metallica for a list like this, the metal community’s been slacking.

Anyway, onto the list, which is no particular order, with brief comments if I can get a handle on that whole brevity thing, man.

Guns N’ Roses-Chinese Democracy:

and not just because it finally came out. I’ve really enjoyed this album a bunch. It’s not a perfect record (there are a couple of songs on it that aren’t up to the standards of the others), and if you were looking for “Appetite For Destruction” or even “Use Your Illusion”, you’re gonna be disappointed. I think Axl and his new band really did terrific work here, on the whole, and it’s a terrific hard rock record in a world that’s short of them these days.

The Killers-Day And Age:

I like this one a bunch more than “Sam’s Town”, their last one. It’s more relaxed, and not suffering from “Holy shit, we have to knock everyone on their asses with our second album!” syndrome. If the last one turned you off, it’s safe to come back now.

Pinky Beecroft And The White Russians-Somethin’ Somewhere Better:

I’ve written about this one at length here, and it’s holding up very well. I really hope this record makes it out of Australia (and does well there too), because it’s really a worthwhile listen that’s grown on me with each listen. The songs land anywhere from clever to anthemic, and that’s a tough range to pull off. Good job, Pinky and co., and I look forward to hearing more.

Grace Jones-Hurricane:

everyone’s favorite really scary woman returns from a long absence, and releases the record Massive Attack didn’t get around to releasing this year. Good to have you back, Grace! Now do that crazy snarl for us!

The Cure-4:13 Dream:

here’s where I make all the sp00kypants types in the audience cry. I think this is a terrific record, and if you’re a Cure fan and you don’t, fuck you. No, it’s not “Disintegration Of Pornographic Bloodflowers in Seventeen Seconds”, but neither are about a dozen of their other albums. Musically, this is Robert Smith doing a pretty straightforward pop/rock record, and the band and production are totally on point. Lyrically, Robert’s still singing about being old, on drugs, and having one night stands, which he’s been doing for a ways now, but I don’t think anyone’s expecting him to suddenly start writing about social injustice or Jesus or anything. He writes what he knows. He’s in good voice, which is pretty remarkable considering how unorthodox his vocal style is, and considering that he is old, probably on drugs, and more than likely, having one night stands a lot. Really, I can’t find too much wrong with this album. People have given way less shit to artists who’ve put out bad late-period albums (I’m looking at you, Nick Cave), but because this is The Cure, and Robert has “Disintegration” to live up to, this record’s getting unfairly shit all over, despite being a really solid effort in my view. Give it a shot with an open mind, if you’ve been avoiding it because of all the whining people have done about it.

Portishead-Third:

I’ll confess, I haven’t listened to this one a lot in the second half of this year, but I enjoyed it plenty when it came out. It’s actually closer in style to Beth Gibbons’ solo record “Out Of Season” from a few years back than the first 2 Portishead records, but if you like Portishead, I think you’ll dig it.

The Dandy Warhols-Earth To The Dandy Warhols:

absolutely nothing new here, if you’ve heard older Dandy Warhols records, but they’re not as totally fucking stoned as they were last time they did a record, so this one’s pretty good. Consistently one of America’s best bands, but yeah, they were high last time, and they’re slightly less so here.

Rick Springfield-Venus In Overdrive:

God friggin’ bless Rick Springfield. That’s all I have to say here.

Coldplay-Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends:

“You know how I know you’re gay?” Yep. Good record.

Amanda Palmer-Who Killed Amanda Palmer?:

Amanda’s really coming into her own as an artist. This is some good stuff, whether you’re a Dresden Dolls fan or not. I’m in the “sorta” column, personally, having enjoyed them a bunch live, but not being someone who listens to them casually all that often. This record, though, really well put together, an easy listen, and one of those albums where you look up from what you’re doing every so often and think “Wow.”

Honorable mention:

Tom Jones’ “24 Hours” is a bit uneven, but when it hits (like on the opening “I’m Alive” and “The Hitter”), it KILLS.

Enjoy, and feel free to leave your own picks/suggestions/opinions in the comments.

Is it cheating if they’re dead? The person you’re cheating with, not the person you’re dating/married to.

No, not because of my last post. I’ll let you guys worry about me for that one. The reason why I’m worrying about myself is that, despite loving the movie “Superbad” and liking him in whatever else I’ve seen him in, I haven’t been able to remember Jonah Hill’s name for about a month. It’s one of those things that drives me nuts when I’m thinking in the car, seriously. I forget other things too, but this one’s monumental. I’m probably going to post about other things I can’t remember, as I realize I habitually can’t remember them, just to keep a running tab. I blame the migraines. They kill your brain cells, son! They kill your brain cells!

If I may be wildly inappropriate for a moment…am I the only person who thinks “Freeway Of Love” by Aretha Franklin is about Aretha Franklin having anal sex? Giving or receiving, it matters not. These are the sort of thoughts that trouble me in the wee hours of the moment. Believe me, it’s not that I want to think about Aretha Franklin having anal sex. Not that there’s anything wrong with her or nothin’, I just don’t. It’s just that the song sounds like it was recorded to conjure imagery of anal sex, specifically anal sex involving Aretha Franklin in some way, shape or form. I don’t think this is the only case of this in popular music. At times, I’ve thought that every Doobie Brothers song is about anal sex, possibly but not definitely involving Michael McDonald, but I’m not sure about that one like I am about “Freeway Of Love”.

Please help me.

For those who haven’t read the other obits today, Dock Ellis died of liver disease yesterday at the age of 63. Dock was a pitcher with the Pirates, Yankees, Athletics, Rangers and Mets over a 12 year big league career, but with Dock, while he had decent numbers, there was always way more to him than the numbers. He was at one point the most feared pitcher in the major leagues, an outspoken critic of whatever pissed him off at the time, and unfortunately, as great as his legend has become from throwing a no-hitter while on LSD (June 12th, 1970; one of the only cool “this date in history” things to happen on my birthday), he was a drug user, and his ballplaying career and in all likelihood, his life were cut short by the damage he did to himself with drug abuse. Dock recognized this, though, and he did his best to make peace with it and make amends in his later years, becoming a drug counselor who worked with everyone from his fellow ballplayers to prison inmates. He also had a cameo in the Michael Keaton epic Gung-Ho, and was also the co-author of Dock Ellis In The Country Of Baseball, a biography of Ellis co-written with future Poet Laureate Donald Hall. Dock lived a full, complex, interesting life that, as full as it was, was also entirely too short. Pretty much anyone who knew Dock describes him as the real deal, a larger-than-life, yet down to Earth figure who talked straight, admitted his failings, treated the people he met like neighbors and family, but never took shit from anyone. I really regret not getting a chance to meet the dude. He seems like someone whose company I would’ve enjoyed.

The best article I’ve read on Dock to date is here. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I have.

I’m a little crazy when it comes to shopping.

No, not in the “buy everything in sight” kind of way. It’s more that I spend a disproportionate amount of time, energy and thought absorbing my shopping experience while I’m out in the big blue room. I notice everything from personality of employees to store layout to pricing to ambient noise in the store, temperature of the store, whether they’re obviously copying another store’s successful ideas, you name it. I’d be an ideal secret shopper, save for the fact that the secret shopper business is one big scam and after seriously looking into it, I wouldn’t touch traditional secret shopper employment with a ten foot pole. I would, on the other hand, be open to doing consulting for some retail businesses, in the right situation.

Here are some things I’ve noticed over time about chain stores I’ve been to:

• You can almost tell, nowadays, if a chain’s going to be going tits-up by the vibe of the store when you’re in it. Linens And Things, Circuit City and Kay-Bee Toys all had “the vibe”, which to me, consists of a retail environment totally detached from the reality of shopping. Either the employee vibe is vacant (Circuit City), the layout of the store is so obtuse that it makes visits to the store maddening (Linens And Things, which copied all the wrong things about Bed, Bath and Beyond), or the place is just hostile either in their pricing or their customer relations (Kay-Bee). Some other stores that aren’t out yet, but possess “the vibe” are Men’s Wearhouse (like Kay-Bee, they’re hostile in both their pricing and their customer relations), Borders (there’s something about Borders locations, which used to be fantastic, that screams “also-ran” nowadays), R&S Strauss Auto Parts (totally lost in the woods), Sears and K-Mart (This could’ve been the merger of all mergers if anyone at either company could’ve put their egos aside; instead, it’s a sad clusterfuck of two stores struggling for identity and market share. It’s especially sad for Sears, because I was in one this month, and they’re *thisclose* to being an enjoyable department store, a true rarity…). Whether my opinion of these stores jibes with business realities, I’m not sure, but I know the gut feeling I’ve gotten and get with these places.
• Some stores are just too evil to die. I’m looking at you, Marshall’s. Marshall’s has consistently been the worst retail experience of any store I’ve been to, and I try to avoid it like the plague, but get dragged in there by people periodically. Literally, for 20 years, it’s sucked. Lighting’s horrible, store layout is a mess, it’s always too hot in the store no matter what time of year it is, and they sell nothing but crap, yet they perservere and will continue to perservere, because they’re too evil not to. I think Marshall’s is even more evil than Wal-Mart, personally. Even seeing their logo makes me hate my life.
• Wanna watch some twentysomethings look really confused? Go into the Apple Store and pay cash for something. They look at you like you’re trying to hand them a kiwi to pay for your stuff. It’s awesome.
• Strangely, I like Best Buy. A lot of people I know can’t stand it, but at the one nearest to me, the employees are friendly without being obnoxious or pushy, they’ll give you a straight answer about what is or isn’t in the stockroom, and returns are never a problem (which runs counter to most of their locations, from what I hear). I don’t think all the Best Buy employees at my “local” like me, especially since Rock Band 2 came out (Hey, not my fault that they leave the mic out!), but they’re polite enough and they’ll give a brother a straight answer.
• Unless you find something on sale for a really good price, chains like Foot Locker and Modell’s are no place to go to shop for running gear. It’s not that the prices and/or selection aren’t there (that’s a mixed bag, seasonal, really). It’s more that the folks at the local stores (McLoone’s Running Store and Shore Runner are my locals) tend not only to really know their shit, but they’ll also talk to you about it at considerable length, no matter what your level of experience. I imagine that at some of these places, you’ll get a “record store clerk” vibe from the help, but more often than not, I hear about local running stores being your best bet, and my experiences so far have lined up with what I’ve heard. I think Foot Locker and Modell’s both mean well to some degree or another, but for running, go local.
• Never try to ask a GameStop employee if they have a game in another store (their inventory management is so fucked up that no one knows), or if they’ve actually played any game that falls even slightly outside the realm of “popular”. For shits and giggles, I asked one if they’d played either of EA’s Arena Football games, and if so, whether one was better than the other. It was as if their ability to form a sentence DISAPPEARED when I did this. Now, I know that Arena Football isn’t exactly white-hot or anything, but I worked at a game store for close to 3 years, and you can bet your ass I would’ve tried it out. I tried everything out. There’s a lot of downtime in a game store, especially during non-holiday times.
• In general, not enough chains train their staff to do what I think is the most important thing a business of any kind can do, which is to make their customers feel like they’re part of the experience, rather than making them feel like cattle with credit cards. Best Buy, at least my local one, is close. The Apple Store thinks they have this down, but they skew the experience toward first-time buyers far too much. Hot Topic would actually do OK on this front if they’d turn the Dragonforce CDs down just a smidge (Jesus, listen to me. “Turn down that power metal! Hey, you lesbians! Get off my lawn!”) and bring back the clearance t-shirt racks. (What’s up with that shit?) I’ve been saying this for quite a while, about advertising, about entertainment promotion, and it absolutely applies to retail as well: someone’s always going to undercut you on the price of goods or offer your customer base another compelling option for their money, so you have to focus on services, and within the context of those services, make your customers feel included. I just can’t stress this enough. It might not seem like the best way to move units, but it’ll build up brand loyalty that will last a long time. That’s worth way more than any one-time sale.

I was just driving home from dropping a package off at the post office, and as I went past a cemetery, some lady pulled out of its driveway a little too far. You know the type, they’ll pull halfway into the road without warning, and then get mad at you when you razz them for just about causing an accident. Anyway, when this happened, the following words left my mouth, without any forethought:

“Get the fuck back in the graveyard before I put you there!”

Thankfully, my window and hers were both rolled up when I said it.

And here some of you have been thinking that I’ve mellowed over the 12 years I’ve been on the Web. (12 years tomorrow, in fact.)

Been a bitch of a week on the sleep front (the later I wake up, the less of a chance I have to eat, digest, and still have time to run before dark), and my left leg still doesn’t feel right. I must’ve had a stress fracture when it was at its worst, but it’s still not healed totally, regardless. I hear that they’re long, annoying injuries to come back from. I’ll know more when I get my x-rays done, but I’ve gotta sort through a bunch of paperwork if I don’t want a few hundred more dollars tacked onto my list of “doctor bills I’m not that likely to pay”, and hospital charity care programs have gotten REALLY stingy in the past few years.

It’s frustrating, and I keep wondering if I’m just making excuses or something, even though I *want* to run.

Gonna rest this week, and start again with Week 2 on Monday, see how it goes.

Bah.

I know I don’t owe you guys any explanation, but most of why I started posting my running logs here was for accountability. I want y’all to stay on my ass and call me out on my bullshit if any arises. It’s not your responsibility, but it’s still something I’d appreciate.

Without splattering too much of his personal business all over my part of the ‘net, I can tell you all that things appear to have gone well with the surgery, and he’s getting rest. Thanks to all of you who sent good vibes his way, spoken or otherwise.

…to my friend George Tabb, who’s having surgery sometime today, if he hasn’t already. Get well soon, chief.

…and don’t always look at my sidebar:

My Amazon Wishlist

Only 23 items, and some of it’s actually useful to me! Anyone remember when I used to have 6 pages of crap and a Segway on my list? Clearly, I’ve either mellowed or I got the other 5 pages of crap. More likely the former, since I don’t think I have a Segway here. Yet.

5 minutes walking
3 minutes jogging/2 minutes walking x 3

*familiar sound of me hitting wall here*

11 minutes walking

Total time: 31 minutes (dunno what this says about my jogging pace, but my walking pace matched it today)

Total mileage: 1.6 miles

Missed Wednesday-Thursday (the middle workout) because of migraines and sleep bullshit. Legs were stiff, achey and had that muscle burn bit going on very early into the run. I’ll be repeating this workout level next week, and hopefully not getting a migraine before then (I’d been underhydrating, so I’ve been making a conscious effort to drink a fuckload more water; hopefully, that nips it in the bud). I also feel like I need to stretch more, but for some reason, even though I don’t feel this way when I’m running down a road in near-freezing weather, I always feel dumb sitting around stretching. It’s like I don’t know if I’ve stretched enough or not, and I’m sitting around with my dork in my hand (figuratively, people, figuratively), not sure what to do next. Thoughts?

Missed yesterday because my sleep’s out of whack, so I’ll do Tues./Thurs./Sat. this week.

5 minutes walking
3 minutes jogging/2 minutes walking x 4
4 minutes jogging/2 minutes walking x 2

Total time: 32 minutes (took me an extra minute’s walk to get home; knew I shouldn’t have tacked on that extra 30 seconds in one direction!)
Total mileage: 1.67 miles

This is the level I got stuck on twice, and while it was hard today, it was mostly pain-free (save for a little right ankle pain that I’d attribute to the damp cold more than anything). Breathing was labored, but I also added longer stretches than I’ve run in this training stint, as well as 6 extra minutes of total workout time, so it makes sense. Have to get more used to breathing through my nose, lest I become a mouth breather. Friggin’ park turned off all the water fountains, so I need to bring a bottle on Thursday.

See you then, legs and time permitting.

…to Carleen and Athan.