This Week is THE Week

Well, in response to my "quotes" post below, at least the Browns played well. They got jobbed on a "holding" call that ended up keeping Cincinnati's last-second game-winning field goal drive alive, but other than that, they did about all I could have hoped for.

In band news, we have two HUGE shows this week at HUGE venues for us.

Wednesday night, 12/14, we'll be headlining Little Brother's on High Street (w/ The Slide Machines and Fine Dining). This is going to be a HUGE show, and we have always wanted to play Little Brother's. We're expecting A LOT of people; hopefully they actually show up.

And, if that wasn't enough, we are ALSO be playing at The Basement (at Fat Eddie's Bar) on Thursday, 12/15 with Bullet Jones and others. This one may not be as heavily attended (and it's not as important to me as the LB's show is), but it should be a nice way to pocket some band money this week. One step closer to my own edition of MTV's Cribs...

A sick day may be calling my name on Friday.

The most important post you will ever read.

Remember where you saw this information when the time comes to finish your Christmas/Hannukuh/Kwanza/"Holiday" shopping.

Welcome to Pandora:


A little background from the Pandora folks:

Ever since we started the Music Genome Project, our friends would ask:

Can you help me discover more music that I'll like?

Those questions often evolved into great conversations. Each friend told us their favorite artists and songs, explored the music we suggested, gave us feedback, and we in turn made new suggestions. Everybody started joking that we were now their personal DJs.

We created Pandora so that we can have that same kind of conversation with you.

I, for one, think this is a great idea in and of itself. However, after using Pandora for a month or so, I can't believe I ever lived without it. Basically, you pick a song or artist. Pandora plays that song or artist, and then, based on the Music Genome Project criteria, selects other music that it thinks you might like (but might have never heard of before). Each song that plays allows you to offer feedback: I like this song, play more like it. I hate this song, never play it again.

In essence, you develop a radio station that constantly evolves, so that you never hear crap that you don't like. You can create any number of radio stations. I have at least five that weave through the different styles of music that I like, and each is unique and constantly fluid to adjust to my tastes.

And, it's free, if you don't mind little adverts in the upper corner of a window that you can minimize anyway.

Don't wait. Go there now. Drop whatever you're doing. You'll thank me.

Things I'd like to say to people... in caption form...

Most Important

"Damn, you good lookin'."


Sports

"Good God, I hope you're ready. Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life."


"Good God, I hope you're healthy, if only so that #9 up there doesn't get killed. Phil, pay the man."


"Okay, Whiney McContract. It's put-up or shut-up time. Braylon's gone. You want a new deal? In the words of John Houseman, make money the old fashioned way: EARN IT."


"What's that? Hoffman resigned with the Padres? Oh, no, Bob... we were never, uhh... serious... about that. We wanted you all along. Please, oh please... pitch in 2006 like you pitched in 2005."


"Before I even THINK of getting on board for this idea of you as my right fielder next year, the 1999 version of yourself had better show up yesterday."


Politics

"I may be stupider than you in the classical, don't-have-as-many-degrees sense, but I'll never be as much of a sell-out whore as you..... oh wait, and there's no fucking way I'm stupider than you are. Bitch."


"If, by 'amazing progress' you mean in terms of the death toll reaching new heights, then yes. 'There's an important debate going on in our nation's capital about Iraq.' There is. Too bad you're too fucking stupid and stubborn to let yourself be a part of it."


"Seriously. Shut the fuck up. Like, now. I have a sneaking suspicion you're going down next year."


Also, if you aren't listening to The Stephanie Miller Show, you probably should be.

That's all I got.

Cursed?

So, it's not bad enough that I spend $400 on football tickets for the season (slightly less this year due to the two games I've sold) and get up at the crack of pre-dawn several Sundays each fall/winter.

It's not bad enough that I sit in the cold, bundled up to the gills.

It's not bad enough that the Browns blew a 14-3 halftime lead and lost, 20-14.

No, on top of all of that, my favorite player and one of the Browns only certifiable playmakers has to blow out his knee.

Seriously, I don't believe in curses. But one has to admit (if one has ever spent any considerable amount of time following the Cleveland Browns) that there is something seriously fishy going on, here.

And I, for one, am powerless to do anything about it.