T.D.

I fear it's too late for this (showing back-order), but amazon.ca is improbably offering 15 Yves Nat CDs for C$16.09

No shortage of funny doping stories from cycling, but here's a good one (not about LANCE, but I didn't want to start a new thread): Vansevenant's doping products were only amino acids ...the “doping products” he ordered did not contain the advertised contents, and that he was scammed by the company from which he bought the products..."It's not about doping, so he deserves no punishment," his lawyer said, according to Het Nieuwsblad.

Believe it or not, I've almost finished! Rather strange, but very good. I can't outright recommend the series for general consumption due to length (over 1,900 pp.!). That was televised in a classic series back in the 80s by the Beeb. I know of the series, but never saw any episodes. Now, having read the whole quartet, I'm amazed it was TV-serialized! Doesn't seem like very telegenic material, and I don't know how they managed to cut it down to a manageable size. Maybe I should check out a DVD or two.

I like 'em all (except "From Hackensack to Englewood Cliffs" which I've never heard), listen frequently, and "Easy Living" is actually my favorite. Agreed re. Ike's playing on Clark's "Deep in a Dream".

All the best!

Believe it or not, I've almost finished! Rather strange, but very good. I can't outright recommend the series for general consumption due to length (over 1,900 pp.!).

I'm shocked by (but not at all unhappy about ) how badly the Flyers got outplayed. Before the series, I thought they'd win in five, with a chance at a sweep. Is it just me, or does Jagr have absolutely nothing left? I can't recall him doing anything in the series. I remember when (long ago) he was the best player in the league...

FWIW, I clicked on your link, perused the blog for about 15 seconds, and couldn't bring myself to read any of it... There's a virtually infinite supply of smug self-absorbed bloggers out there. Ragging on any particular one seems like shooting fish in a barrel.

Jacques Tutight Tommy Tutone King Tut

PM sent on $15 Fawlty Towers Complete Remastered Collection, 3 DVDs, VG+

Jessica Gomes (hubba hubba) John Astin Raúl Juliá

IMO, too much $ in football to see "the end" coming, despite possible moral justification. I was once a boxing fan, but stopped after becoming aware of the brain trauma and parasitic managers. But hasn't MMA taken off? As a hockey fan, I can tell you that sport has its own concussion-related woes...

Somewhat overshadowed by the Seau news: Player bounty-gate suspensions out. Vilma to sit out whole 2012 season. NFL doesn't look all that healthy to me these days.

I've been buying Soul Note / Black Saint "complete remastered" boxes of late. Ordered this one today:

I've been really getting into this: Can't say enough good things about it!

Hard to see in this pic, but the cover page at left reads "SCHUMANN"

I had to Google, but found here (emphasis added): Any hopes Canadian hockey fans had of ending the country's lengthy Stanley Cup drought were dashed a lot sooner than normal this season. The Ottawa Senators were defeated 2-1 by the New York Rangers in Game 7 of their first-round series on Thursday, ensuring that the Stanley Cup will remain south of the border for an 18th straight season. It marks the first time since 1996 that a Canadian team hasn't even managed to crack the second round of the post-season. I'm too lazy to research pre-1996...

This might be a reach, but Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür started out as a rock musician (until 1984). He did study composition with significant names, and "switched" to composed music, so I dunno if he qualifies. I've heard some of his Architectonics pieces (live and recorded), which are pretty good IMO. Terje Rypdal's a more obvious name who started out in rock, but he seems too far removed from the field...

I learn a lot of funny British words by doing British-style cryptic crosswords (Guardian, Times, Private Eye). One can pick up the idiom pretty quickly. Some good ones are the aforementioned yob (and variants like yobbo), bumf, bonkbuster , ladette and saddo. Just recalled frottage, a recent discovery and apparent favorite of Private Eye magazine, which is near the top of my charts...

Not in my formative neck of the woods (Upper Midwest) - the old farmers' term in that area is "colder than a witch's tit in a brass bra" or "colder than the nipple on a witch's tit"* *Memorable (to my warped mind) quotation from Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow: Colder than the nipple on a witch's tit! Colder than a bucket of penguin shit! Colder than the hair on a polar bear's ass! Colder than the frost on a Champagne glass!

I find feckless hilarious for some reason...having an Irish scatological sense of humor, I often associate that word with feculent. Though American, I enjoy certain British words like shambolic, gormless...(Also really dig the Brit term gone pear-shaped, despite the meaning being rather unclear!)

Excellent Kramnik-Aronian game today. Started out as a Four Knights, of all things. Aronian sac'd his Queen for a bunch of very active pieces, but Kramnik survived the complications and won (1-0, 42). Some commentary at http://www.chessvibes.com/live-commentary/kramnik-levels-score-against-aronian

Thanks! I had meekly assumed the price change wasn't negotiable. I phoned the 800 # in my e-mail message (different from above) and was able to renew the order at the original price. FWIW, the dude on the phone was very helpful and competent.

I may live to regret this (the first 200 pp. have been good enough, but have scarcely made a dent in the total): recently started a one-volume (not just a brick, more like a cinder-block) edition of Paul Scott's The Raj Quartet.