Random stuff...you know, running through my head

So Google Reader is going away on July 1.  It's aggravating, but for me it may be a blessing in disguise.  I logged on today, and there were 685 new blog posts just screaming out at me to read them.  216 from Ann Althouse alone.  Sure, there are probably some real gems in there, but in the end how much time does one really have to read blog posts?  So moving forward, I'll be severely reducing the number of blogs I read - whatever platform I end up reading them on.

This is shaping up to be an awesome year for music, at least the music that I like.  In some recent years, I've had trouble coming up with a 10-best list because I couldn't think of that many albums worthy of the designation.  But this year, we've already had:

- Patty Griffin's "American Kid"
- Vampire Weekend's "Modern Vampires of the City"
- John Fogerty's "Wrote a Song For Everyone"
- The National's "Trouble Will Find Me"
- Jake Bugg's debut

John Fogerty...simply impossible to dislike his new album, methinks.

Not to mention the new efforts from Pistol Annies, Kacey Musgrave, Deerhunter's "Monomania," plus Emmylou & Rodney, Phoenix, Dawes, and Yo La Tengo, which I already wrote about.  Good stuff.  And Arcade Fire yet to come this year.

I really enjoyed "Looper," and thought it was the best time-travel movie I've ever seen.  It all worked for me.

Of the summer blockbusters, we've already seen "Iron Man 3" (almost as good as the original, much better than "2"), "The Hangover 3" (I admit I enjoyed it, even though I agree that it probably has no reason to exist), and "Star Trek Into Darkness" (already on record as saying that I think what JJ Abrams has done with the canon is absolutely brilliant, and I loved most of what they did here).

Being extended to 7 games by the Indiana Pacers doesn't do much for the Heat's argument to be considered in the debate for best team ever.

Bill Simmons' "The Basketball Book" is nearly 700 pages of absolute nirvana for a sports fan.  My favorite quote comes from Bill Walton, in explaining what it takes to reach the elite level in the game: "Can you make the choice that your happiness comes from someone else's success?"

Worked my way through "the three Cs" - Connelly, Crais, and Coben.  Of the three, Crais' "Suspect" is the best, and I promise to write more about it at some point.  It's his best work since his masterpiece, "LA Requiem."   And since that was only one of the greatest detective novels ever written, that is saying something.

Admit it - right now, Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" is stuck in your head, and you can't get it out.

Happy 35th birthday, "Darkness on the Edge of Town."

I could watch "Lost In Translation" every week for the rest of my life, and I don't think I'd get tired of it.

"Chronicle" was really good - every time I see a movie like that, I think "watch that director - going to be a big deal."

More to come...eventually.