The Cure (album) by The Cure (group)

In 2004, The Cure (group) put out The Cure (album). It's a fun little album. It's heavy, both sonically and lyrically. It's crunchy sounding and not as "slick" as some of their earlier stuff. Put it next to Wild Mood Swings, for example, and you'd think it was two separate bands that you were listening to.

The guy who produced it also produced stuff by Korn, Limp Bizkit, and Slipknot, so you can see some of what they were driving at. And it's arguably the least accessible of their recent albums.

According to this Wikipedia article, it got reasonable critical acclaim, though it was generally considered a "fans only" kind of recording.

It's a shame, though, because it's fun to listen to. It's heavy and murky and a lot more atmospheric than I generally like from the music I listen to.

Bands, after a while, start to experiment with their sound and sometimes the results are hits and sometimes they're misses. I think this one was generally considered a "miss," which is unfortunate.

Books and lists about books

I was this list by a Library Land blog.

It's a list of lists. How meta, right?

It's 8 "best of 2007" lists covering a variety of topics and a variety of outlets.

So...if you're looking for something to read: start here.

Modest Mouse! Tonight!

The Dude is taking me to see Modest Mouse tonight.

I have been listening to their albums all week in anticipation of the show. He has too, I think.

I am constantly amazed at their lyrical dexterity. Nearly every time I hear one of their songs, I think 'wow...if I could write music, this is what I'd write.'

I've seen a few set lists from this past week and I've been pleasantly surprised at the mix of newer and older stuff they've been playing. The Dude will enjoy it because I know he likes their older, more bizarre stuff.

I'll report back tomorrow.

Wow. Really?

I had always thought of Oasis when I heard The Bravery. I have no idea why, but I did. Someone suggested to me, though, that The Bravery was closer to The Killers than Oasis. This morning on the way to work, Ethel (the XM channel I listen to most often), played a song by The Killers song back-to-back with "An Honest Mistake" by The Bravery.

It's really amazing how much more The Bravery sounds like The Killers than Oasis.

It's funny, even, considering how "meh" I am about The Killers.

I love it when my personal and professional lives collide

In my "day job," I'm a librarian. It's glamorous, I assure you. I don't talk about it much in this blog because it doesn't really fit with the topic at hand. But as I was reading through some Library Land blogs, I saw my two worlds collide.

I read this post by Annoyed Librarian that referred to this column by Boston sports columnist Bob Ryan.

In the column, Ryan writes about Patriots QB Tom Brady and how the offensive support he has this year outweighs the support he had last year. Ryan argues that Brady is as good of a QB this year as he was last year, but this year the stats match the performance. Ryan also says that you won't actually hear Brady toot his horn all that much. I assume this is because Brady is a gentleman (as evidenced by being a hands-on Dad to his bastard son whose mama he dumped to date a Brazilian supermodel).

In the article, Ryan writes "And you can be sure Brady will be seen in public with a homely librarian before he engages in any discussion about the difference between the receivers he was forced to work with last season and the ones he has now."

Librarians all over this great land of ours got their noses out of joint because Ryan insinuated that librarians are homely. Copious letters to the editor were written about stereotypes and "cool" librarians. It seems, almost a month later, that the seas are less choppy and that librarians have gone back to being the lame, fuddy duddy, "shush"ers we all know and love. It's hard work, my friends, but somebody's got to do it.

I was just amused that Ryan insinuated that Brady was a gentleman...

--Mrs. Dude, Colts fan