The Strokes, etc.

So, after having listened to First Impressions of Earth, well, many times, I have a few comments:

(1) Thank you, Mr. Casablancas, for not recording it in a broomcloset, like the first 2 discs sound.
(2) The Strokes are taking a chance with their sound, and to me it works. Many other people disagree, saying they just don't deal well with the more robust production.
(3) All things considered, I think its darn good. Maybe 8.1/11.

Some Baseball thoughts:

- Bruce Sutter got voted into the Hall of Fame. Yawn. I'm just sad that Jim Rice hasn't made it yet. People seem biased against 70s/80s hitters and the HofF. Heck, if evil evil Ryne Sandberg is in there, Rice should be too.
- Open letter to the Red Sox front office: Alex Cora (SS) and Adam Stern (CF) do not constitute a "plan" for SS and CF in 2006. They represent names that fill in holes until you find your real replacements. If the Opening Day lineup features them both, I'll be a little concerned. More than a little. A lot. Big.
- That being said, Jay Payton as the starting Opening Day CF would be soooo odd. And scary.
- Whatever you hear about Theo Epstein is a lie. Except that somebody paid $11K for the gorilla suit he wore to sneak out of Fenway during the Halloween Day Massacre.

I would offer by current iPod top 10, except I vaporized all of my playcounts, so it looks a little strange. However, the 2 songs I've been listening to constantly lately are "Marching Bands of Manhattan" and "Soul Meets Body" by Death Cab. They make me realize what a brilliant lyricist Ben Gibbard is (e.g., "In my head, there is a Greyhound station/Where I send my thoughts to far off destinations/So they may have a chance of finding a place/Where they are far more suited than here"). As if I needed more proof.