I cannot recommend Lily Allen’s Alright Still highly enough. It is an amazing debut CD. She’s funky, jazzy, hip-hoppy, classy, satirical and just chock full of sass. I found myself laughing, grooving, joining in her righteous indignation and feeling brassy. I know her single “Smile” can easily be found on YouTube, but her other highlight tracks include the frustrated “Knock ‘Em Out,” the tongue-in-cheek romp “Alfie” about weed-smoking younger brothers, the smooth, sarcastic social commentary of “Everything’s Just Wonderful” and the chords and harmonies of “Take What You Take”.

Seriously, this record is so fantastic that it is worth every penny. Every. Penny. I mean it. There’s not a single filler track. Buy this album and you will not be disappointed.

This novel took me a long, long time to finish, but it was definitely worth it. I couldn’t speak without a run-on sentence for a while, but it was worth it. Keep trucking! Faulkner lets up halfway through for a breather, and if all else fails, there are guides and criticism written about it to help.

There is a reason that SparkNotes exist, and that reason is Great Expectations.

Honestly, I haven’t met a single person who hasn’t been touched by this album having heard it. Wolf Parade is exquisitely human, which makes Apologies to the Queen Mary both comforting and unnerving. My moment comes in the song Grounds of Divorce>

Said you hate the sound of the buses on the ground
Said you hate the way they scrape their brakes all over town
I said, “Pretend it’s whales, keeping their voices down.”
Such were the grounds for divorce, I know.

With humanity like that, excellent control of rhythm, a certain raw feel to their vocals and impeccable production, if you’ve ever thought about listening to indie music, I say you should start here.

The follow-up: Discovered you liked Wolf Parade? Check out a more lighthearted Clap Your Hands Say Yeah or lead singer Spencer Krug’s other musical project Sunset Rubdown.

Urgh.

Don’t get me wrong, American Gods has an excellent premise, and I’m enjoying the side-stories we’re getting, but I have issues with its execution. 168 pages into the book and we’re still not going anywhere? And there are roughly 300 pages left? What?

Perhaps it was the wrong thing to come straight from Good Omens to this book. I just didn’t know that Gaiman was going to be this… tedious.

Probably the best EP ever created—not a single song is filler, and it flows perfectly. Plus, “Figures of Art.” How a person does not fall in love with that song is beyond me.

...Honestly, the only thing I can apply here’s the train wreck simile. As bad, bad, bad as it was, I couldn’t look away. Even with the digitized bras VH1 so graciously supplied.

I can’t believe I watched that whole thing. Wow.

Imagine if Queen survived to the 21st century, and then mated with the wit and whimsy of Terry Pratchett, and then sent their child to the happiest place you can think of to grow up in. Then, add guitars, ridiculous harmonies and the complete and utter fun of life, and you’ll get this album.

So far, this book is fun. Likeable for those with attention spans long and short… if you enjoyed the Discworld series, you’ll enjoy this. Perhaps for different reasons, of course, but you will.

Also gratuitous appearances of Jesus. And he plays poker. Well.

All in all, a great first forty pages.