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Jeremy Clarkson rightly rogers the Volvo S80 SE Sport. This is auto reviewing as a contact sport.
The 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show is not far away. My press badge arrived in the mail yesterday—I am a Reporter/Writer!—and I booked my flight to Vegas today.
I’ll be departing from the cold east coast on a Sunday evening and leaving the dry desert on a Friday afternoon. See you there.
Speaking of fun, please be sure to visit the redesigned SonicFlare. I met SonicFlare's Josh Ray at CES a couple of years back and I was impressed by his enthusiasm and energy. The dude exists to share the magic of hi-fi. The updated SonicFlare offers entertaining and informative articles on how to make sense of measurements, how to pimp your system, and how to use your speakers to get laid. They've even come up with a new way of describing the various sonic characteristics of components and systems. The "Sonic Circle" breaks hi-fi down into three major categories (Precise, Emotional, and…
NPR has four of 'em up, including a good 'un by Neil Gaiman. All of them are 30 seconds long.
"Antiheroine Skin Rule: In a Horny Teen-ager Movie, the 'bad girl' who is the object of the hero's desire will always expose more flesh than the girl whom he ends up with at the end of the film, despite equal sexual activity. If the 'good girl' is shown topless in a love scene, it must be accompanied by slow music. In a Dead Teenager Movie, the girl who exposes the least skin is inevitably the only survivor."
I just discovered the World Passport podcast at ethnomusic.podmatic.com, which has tons of cool Calypso, Kompa, Highlife, jazz, and Kinshasha guitar music for your delectation and delight. I've been listening to "J'Ouvert Morning Calypso"—classic old-school Calypso—all morning, which is coaxing me out of my first-cold-of-the-winter funk. "Suck Me Soucouyant," indeed.
And yes, Stephen, it has lots of classic salsa, too!
The programs, at least in the genres I'm familiar with, seem very carefully constructed. I'm looking forward to hearing the six (!) programs dedicated to Havana son…