You know, even reruns of The Daily Show are riotous. And in the spirit of The Onion, they also have web-exclusive material.

I saw a commercial last night for “Christmas With The Idols” or some other such retarded program. Napalm is too good for these mooks.

Updated PFork Best of the 90s tally – 32 of 80. I’m still waiting for someone to ask why I need to have the artistic worth of my record collection validated by the lists of grumpy old hipsters…

Some of the braintrusts at the record labels have twigged onto the fact that maybe people are downloading music instead of buying it because there’s so much filler and crap on the albums that they release. So far, so good. Their proposed solution? Make the albums shorter. Not sign and promote artists who actually have enough talent and creativity to write a good record start to finish, but to just make the albums from their shit artists shorter. But keep the prices the same, of course. My god, just when you think they can’t get any stupider, they find a way. STUPID. FUCKING. IDIOTS.

Great. Now I have to go put a quarter in the swear jar. Thanks a lot.

np – Superchunk / Cup Of Sand

Since everyone’s going to be talking about it for the next while, I’ll get it out of the way early – Pitchfork has posted the first portion of their “with the benefit of hindsight” Best Albums of the 90s list. Compare and contrast their choices with the original list, compiled right at the close of the 90s. It’s interesting to see what records they feel have held up over the intervening years and which ones have proven to be lacking in shelf life. I actually had 43 of the original choices, but it looks like PF have ve developed a much greater fondness for hip-hop since then so I don’t expect that to last. So far, 14 of 40.

Let Them Sing It For You. It’s easier if you just go there and try it than for me to try and explain it. Link from Donewaiting.

Freakgirl went to see the Tell Us The Truth tour in New York City this weekend and took pictures. Dig the slimmed down Steve Earle. I think he looks like a schoolteacher, Kyle thinks he looks like a pedophile. But Kyle is a sick puppy.

Time has compiled a list of their 25 recommended graphic novels from the last 25 years. A very grown-up list. I don’t know about calling The Dark Knight Returns a “black comedy version”, though.

I fixed the latch on my discman (It broke last month). Yay, me.

np – The Shins / Chutes Too Narrow

I must have been living under a stone for the past 28 years to have not been exposed to the majesty of The Rutles before now. Words can’t describe the shame I feel for waiting so long to discover their musical genius, their–

Ah fuck it, perpetuating the joke is too much work. The Rutles were the subject of a ‘mockumentary’ in 1978, the brainchild of Monty Pyton‘s Eric Idle and Saturday Night Live‘s Gary Weis. They made a film – The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash – which chronicled the career of a fictional Liverpudlian band called The Rutles. Naturally, any similarities between The Rutles and The Beatles were purely intentional. The satire was all in good fun (George Harrison makes a cameo in the film) but still pretty damn funny. High points were the movie shoot for The Tragical History Tour, John Lennon figure Ron Nasty’s marriage to a neo-Nazi fetishist (three guesses who that’s a shot at, the first two don’t count). I, myself, want to do some Rutles covers – Galaxie 500 do a cover of “Cheese And Onions” from the Yellow Submarine Sandwich record. You can probably expect that one as cover of the week next week. They made a second Rutles movie last year – The Rutles: Can’t Buy Me Lunch – and there’ve been a few albums – even a tribute album, Rutles Highway Revisited.

The San Francisco Chronicle has managed to conduct the most inane Ryan Adams interview ever. Special appearance by Parker Posey!

Apparently it’s nice and warm out today, at least for late November. I think I should get out of my little Hobbit-hole and enjoy it while it lasts.

Update: To Shawn Doyle – I saw your email in my Hotmail junk mail box right AFTER I hit delete all… If you need to contact me, try the Yahoo address. Sorry.

np – Chappaquiddick Skyline / Chappaquiddick Skyline

Two Stone Roses shows, complete with CD artwork, available to download here. Link from House Of Hotsauce.

Check out some photos from the new Wes Anderson film The Life Aquatic here. Link from Heart Murmur.

Good news – This is the weekend that Opus returns to the Sunday comics. Bad news – I have no idea what newspaper in Toronto, if any, will be carrying the strip, nor if it’s available online. If anyone knows the answer to any of these questions, puh-leeeeeze let me know. Merci.

I am actually quite excited about the outdoor NHL game between Edmonton and Montreal in about… four minutes ago. Whoops, gotta go.

np – Mogwai / Happy Songs For Happy People

Monkey pirate robot t-shirt. I must have it. I simply must.

When is a year-end list not a best-of list? When it’s Insound’s top 100 sellers for the year. There’s no distinction between releases in 2003 and older releases, albums or EPs or even DVDs. It’s an interesting look at what the discriminating hipster bought this year. From Mystery & Misery.

Jay Farrar has a selection of live video clips and unreleased mp3s from Terroir Blues availble on his website. After being initially very impressed with Terroir Blues, I’ve found it hasn’t held my attention over the long haul. I still think it’s more solid than Sebastapol, but as has been said many times before, he’ll probably never top Trace – not that that’s anything to be ashamed of. Thanks to LHB.

Stylus offers up their top 10 list of albums to fall asleep to. I’ve dozed off to Lazer Guided Melodies before, for sure. I’d also like to submit Circulatory System to the list – their first album is like the soundtrack to a dream. Strange, hazy and just a little bit sinister.

Find out what really goes on in those big animal suits at Flaming Lips shows. From House of Hotsauce.

Meetings abound today. But! There’s a fairly good chance I’ll be going to Seattle for a few days in February (for work). That will be exciting. I haven’t been on a plane in almost four years.

np – Beulah / When Your Heartstrings Break