[lbo-talk] books/music/happy holidays

[Blackmail]

I'm only 17 pages into Upton Sinclair's Oil! and I'm kinda grateful that
Borders put it in front of me on a last minute shopping run [during which I
also picked up Stephen Mihm's A Nation of Counterfeiters [I'm crazy about
counterfeiter stories like F for Fake and The Recognitions]. Also: I'm
reading Burger's Daughter by Nadine Gordimer and still working through [tho
not on the train 15 min. at a time] Roberto Bolano's The Savage Detectives.

Musically, here's a list of ten albums and singles I liked in '07:
http://community.comcast.net/comcastportal/blog/article?blog.id=blindedbythehype&message.id=626&jump=true#M626

I ended up swapping out two of those singles [guess which] for Fucked Up's
'Year of the Pig' and Skull Disco's 'Fear' [which is I guess yet another
excellent Shackleton single.] Overall, a kinda lame year for music in which
many of my favorite bands [Fiery Furnaces, Liars] put out albums I didn't
especially care for, and it made me hate making a year-end list more than
usual [professional hazard.]

Lastly, I'd like to wish LBO happy holidays! Let's make '08 the lamest
election year ever! I can't wait for Huckabee to get sued by David O.
Russell for pulling a 'Born in the U.S.A.' with I Heart Huckabee. That's
gotta happen, right?

Cheers,
J T.