Yesterday was the second anniversary of the first post in this blog. I would post a mock-celebratory tribute to myself here if I wasn't so ashamed of the infrequent and erratic tack that my posting schedule has taken in the past six to eight months. Well, every blog eventually devolves into an endless stream of apologies for not updating and broken promises for new content, mine has just matured a little faster than most others. Instead, let's resurrect an old feature on this thing that I discontinued because I hate almost everything. Here are three things that rule at this particular moment:

1. Safeway's Red Cherry Rush soda. Finally, someone has perfected the art of the cherry soda that isn't too sweet and has a little bite to it - and it's Safeway?!? Yes, believe, skeptical ones. I have a mild addiction to this stuff and spend many an evening soothing my weary soul downing a can of this stuff while listening to 60's garage rock records on Beyond the Beat Generation. It's become my regular regimen after a long, brutal day at work.

2. Netflix + owning a DVD burner. Sorry, MPAA, but I've stolen a ton from the music industry and now it's your turn to get ripped off large. And admittedly, rearranging my Netflix queue is almost providing me as much entertainment value as actually watching movies.

3. "Tribulations," LCD Soundsystem. I was starting to lose interest in the DFA (don't really care for about 75% of DFA Compilation #2) and I'm still undecided about the rest of the LCD Soundsystem album, but this is a killer song. Their best groove since "Yeah" + creepy, vaguely new wave goth synthesizery + great chorus vocal hook = excellence. This is my favorite type of musical pastiche where you can enjoy the song on two levels: on the spot-the-musical-reference level and on the fuck-it-this-is-just-awesome level.