Indianapolis Colts finally lose... I guess.

So the Colts have finally lost and I think most Colts fans were upset. Not by the loss, but the manner in which it occurred. Pulling the starters with 5 minutes left in the third quarter essentially meant giving up. If Indianapolis wins the Super Bowl, all will be forgiven, although we'll always wonder if we could have finished with a perfect season. If Indianapolis fails to win it all, this decision will be second-guessed for years to come.

Personally, I just don't see how giving up with 20 minutes left in the Week 16 game helps you at all. It brings huge amounts of negative attention and energy to the team for the next month. The Colts were booed throughout the 4th quarter at home. The players will be forced to answer questions until the offseason. Wouldn't the best thing be to eliminate unnecessary distractions and negative attention? Is it better to answer questions about quitting than achieving something no other team in history has accomplished? Hopefully, we'll be left wondering if the Colts could have achieved a perfect season while celebrating another Super Bowl victory. The other option is too awful to contemplate.

Shorecrest vs. Shorewood

One of the things I love most in life is when teens drop all the posturing and worrying about being cool and instead just enjoy themselves. It's really wonderful to see kids having so much fun they just can't contain themselves. For that reason, I like the Hey Ya video better b/c it seems less rehearsed and more joyful.... Both are terrific, though. What a great way to engage the whole school in these projects. Teachers, take notes!

Favorite Albums of 2009

Albums I Own:
1. The XX: XX
2. Metric: Fantasies
3. Dirty Projectors: Bitte Orca
4. A.C. Newman: Get Guilty
5. Andrew Bird: Noble Beast

Albums I Don't Own:
1. Sunset Rubdown: Dragonslayer
2. Tom Waits: Glitter and Doom Live
3. Speech DeBelle: Speech Therapy
4. Yo La Tengo: Popular Songs
5. DOOM: Born Like This

2008 Albums I Discovered in 2009:
1. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Dig Lazarus Dig!!!
2. TV On The Radio: Dear Science
3. Q-Tip: The Renaissance
4. Wolf Parade: At Mount Zoomer
5. Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend

Live Album: R.E.M.: Live at the Olympia

Best Re-Issue: R.E.M.: Reckoning

Leave the kids at home!

I saw No Country For Old Men on Sunday. Fantastic film, very deserving of the accolades heaped upon it to this point. The film is very violent, with complex themes. I don't think this is a big secret, as the film has been discussed publicly for some time, and reviews usually mention the violence. So I was stunned to see at least two children under the age of eight in the audience. Who would subject their children to such violent images at such a young age?

Look, I'm not an advocate of censorship by any means, but if a parent isn't responsible enough to exercise proper judgment perhaps theater owners should institute their own guidelines. The problem is, how do you decide? I'm not going to suggest that all R movies are inappropriate for all children, but clearly some are. It would be much easier if parents simply paid a babysitter for a few hours while they watched adult fare, but that's obviously not happening. Parents, please: think about your kids.

Unfortunately, these particular parents were out the door before I could ask how to vote for them for parents of the year.

Streaky Boxers

It's not really what you think, unless you think it's about boxers on a winning or losing streak. I'm not going to do the work to find out who the streakiest boxers are, but I do think Streaky Boxers is a great name for a gym. Or a band.

Why I love Costco

Sure, I love vats of ketchup and giant barrels of applesauce as much as the next guy, but this sums up pretty accurately just why I'm such a big fan of Costco:

Costco gets it.

M.I.A.: Kala

For you hip-hop and rap fans, this one's a gem.

M.I.A.: Kala

This is the best rap/hip-hop album of the year, bar none. For those of you not familiar with M.I.A., she's a Sri-Lankan, raised in London, whose father was a freedom fighter for the Tamil Tigers. Because of this connection, her American visa was denied, so she's spent the last several years in India, Liberia, Australia, Trinidad, and Japan. So basically, this album is a mash-up of some of the nicest beats from around the world.

I will warn you, this is not a typical rap album. M.I.A.'s vocal style is a mishmash of different languages filtered through British English. That said, it's awesome.

Here are the reviews (currently the second highest Metacritic score for 2007):
Metacritic: M.I.A.: Kala