Time once again for a round-up of pointless leisure items yours truly requires in order to give his life meaning.
Left of the Dial: Dispatches from the '80s Underground (CD)
Some people like to joke about how crappy music was in the 1980s. These people are clueless boobs forever locked in a Duran Duran/Def Leppard-centered cosmos. The decade's best music wasn't on Top 40 radio or MTV (except maybe 120 Minutes), but on college stations and in obscure record stores. Admittedly, I have a fair number of the songs listed already, but who can pass up a compilation that includes gems like "Take the Skinheads Bowling" (CvB), "The Mercy Seat" (Nick Cave), and "Lake of Fire" (Meat Puppets)?
Halo 2 (Xbox)
The game's already been pirated, of course (just like Half Life 2 and Doom 3), but we of the dial-up connections (who like our version to be in English) will be buying it anyway. The original Halo was the reason I decided on the Xbox instead of the PS2, and I couldn't tell you the number of times I started playing at 10:30 PM and looked at my watch seemingly fifteen minutes later to discover six hours had passed.
The Wire: Season One (DVD)
To hell with the Star Wars DVDs. Regular readers of APCB know what a big fan I am of this show, which I consider the best thing on TV. Created by ex-Baltimore Sun crime reporter (and author of the book that inspired Homicide) David Simon and ex-Baltimore cop Ed Burns, the show is amazingly written and refreshingly complex. Unfortunately, I didn't get HBO until after the first season had aired, so now's my big chance.
One of my favorite 80's tracks was 'Anthrax' by Gang of Four.
Starting with season 2 was weird, not just because I had to piece the back story together, but because of the whole cargo ship plot. The conflict between Avon and Stringer is coming, and I'm curious to see where the Cutty storyline ends up.
Carcetti, "Hamsterdam," Bunk and the missing gun, each episode is better than the last.
How do you like the new season so far? I liked Season 2, but the lack of Avon/Stringer stuff kind of dragged it down. I'm glad they're back in the spotlight this season.