Nova Carmina

How sad and desperate is that? It's like award-grubbing to no purpose -- it's not like there's anything riding on the total number. Chris Fowler or Kirk Herbstreit might as well have had fake Emmys minted by someone on Etsy if they wanted one on their mantel. Am I missing something here?

Great sports cliche: "Well, he won the press conference . . ."

I've never seen the first season, but I really liked 2 and 3; I even thought 4 had some good ideas but was somehow less than the sum of its parts. I'm two/three episodes into this new season, and all the familiar hits are being played; good stuff.

I'd go with the same five albums as the OP, but HYF represents falling off a cliff for me.

I've actually always sort of loved that about their shows -- there's high variability. I've got, like, 72 versions of "Dazed and Confused" because it was rarely ever the same. As much as I love Rush live, many of their shows could have been mimed to a prerecorded track -- the live song times are often within seconds of the album track time.

At 72, surely not?

In the great scheme of things (you know, the "real world,"), probably no. But in the Niche World of People Who Love a Classic Rock Act, knowing Jimmy Page is like recognizing George Washington or something. Hope you had a good birthday, Pagey!

I'm gonna let myself be that Cowboys fan for minute: With the preliminaries out of the way, now it's time for the Cowboys to do the thing they should always be doing: Be competitive in the playoffs, man. We'll only know if it was a successful season if they can win a couple at this level.

In terms of fundamentals, you're clearly right, but the throw wasn't that far behind the guy; it was the sort of catch replacement-level players make all the time. It looked more like the classic case of the dude imagining himself turning and running for the first down (or more) before he secured the catch.

So, thoughts on Bedard being the youngest All-Star selection? (Ever? In years? I've forgotten the specifics). Is it tokenism, or does the Wunderkind deserve it?

Well, this bit, certainly. . . .

Butker for MVP!

That seems a lot to blame on Brittany Mahomes . . .

You're a better man than me for keeping up with new releases!

But he's not; he works with adults. You know, people who can make rational choices about association. The same "duties and responsibilities" in the general sense of "education," sure, but definitely not the same audience. Colleges and universities can, and should, do all kinds of things middle schools students don't/can't/shouldn't, from science experiments to experimental theater. As for the conflation of First Amendment and employment, this situation is trickier than that dichotomy because a public school is an organ (no pun intended) of the state, so the college firing him is the "government" punishing him, which is what the 1st is supposed to prevent. If he worked at a private school, that would be different. Having said all that: What a dumbass. Not trying to derail the facepalming thread, just chipping in . . .

Suddenly, I'm more interested in the Packers than I had been . . .

I guess Florida State decided if they weren't going to get into the Final Four, then they just wouldn't show up at all. What an abject quit job.

The result was wonderful; the game itself was anything but! Hard to watch for 3 quarters, and when Mizzou scored their first touchdown, it felt like that was job done.

Every year for nearly thirty years now, I say to myself, "don't get too excited; just let it play out -- be happy when they win, calm when they lose, and if good things happen, just let them and be present" and then I get sucked in and punched in the nethers again. (Well, maybe not during the three consecutive 5-11 seasons about twenty years ago . . .).

Merry Christmas, and let there be peace on Earth!

As I approach the year end, it's lyrics from "Headlong Flight" . . .

Supernatural intervention aside, do they play home-and-homes in the Extra Classy? Was it a two-legged cup tie? If so, does it go to replay, or who won the shootout? Is it the second half of the schedule and it's the first half in reverse? I'm just made of questions right now.

Last year, the cultural critic Ted Gioia raised some hackles by suggesting that "new" music was basically out of ideas, which explains why most of the streaming was of older music. Now here's another article on the same idea: "How Old Music Became the Biggest Thing in New Music" h/t the Ringer. So, is this second article a sign of a growing awareness of a significant cultural trend, or does it suggest that it's music journalism that's run out of ideas?