@bestalbumbrackets.bsky.social have I got an idea for you… and I even have my first nomination ready, if you’re game …. 😉

Tom’s at his best curmudgeon-y self here and it’s very funny. I am in complete agreement with his assessment of the Christmas specials.

Sid Caesar & Imogene Coca as percussionists playing the 1812 Overture: youtu.be/Dl3RMnJChyA

Never heard of "Zogg the Terrible" but that Godzilla one? Now, that's a quality toy...

Nice write-up here about Juana Molina's new album, DOGA. pitchfork.com/reviews/albu...

'89 Tourney participant (and all-around legend) Neil Young turns 80, so Stereogum got 80 artists to pick their favorite song of his. @bestalbumbrackets.bsky.social from what I can see not a single person picked a tune from FREEDOM. (Smh...) Still a cool article.

@bestalbumbrackets.bsky.social Guess today's the day to post about Tourney participants: here's a neat article about the making of FYC's She Drives Me Crazy and the impact that Prince (indirectly) had on it. www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

@bestalbumbrackets.bsky.social It's gonna be a tough week in the bracket, but current Tourney participants The Primitives just released a 40th anniversary version of "Thru the Flowers". It's on the '88 album LOVELY, but I guess it was recorded in '85? God I'm old. open.spotify.com/track/4uJHag...

I love for everyone that this is now the baseball app

A fantastic portrait of life in the wine trade courtesy of David Williams in this week's Observer. Hats off to him for the humour, honesty and realism he brings to this 25-year overview of the ups and downs involved… observer.co.uk/style/food/a...

Really thought-provoking and enjoyable three part series on Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin from the gents at ORIGIN STORY. (But do yourself a favor and listen to the entire season, which started with an examination of the roots of Socialism and a two part piece on Karl Marx.)

The spookiest part of Halloween 🎃 isn’t the ghosts or the ghouls…

43 years ago today, readers the world over opened their newspapers and gazed upon cow tools for the first time. happy birthday cow tools. you look great.

I don't know who Byron Houdayer is (the author of the article posted by David), but did orange wine kill his puppy or something? This is ridiculous. He's conflating poorly made natural wine with the entire orange category. Our clients like them just fine and most are "wine newbies".

I hadn't discovered @bestalbumbrackets.bsky.social yet, but when I posted this last yr, didn't get a single reaction. So it's been really surprising and cool to see that she has a following among the Electorate & even took down AIR as a 111 seed?! @renamj.bsky.social @hellonfriscobay.bsky.social

And another thing, I'm not mad, please don't put in the newspaper that I got mad...

Gee, now surely *this* comment section will be a place of civility and reasoned debate, right? pitchfork.com/news/were-te...

I've given up hope we will win another WS in my lifetime, but the Pirates are too engrained in my DNA to abandon. So, as one of the fans interviewed here says: "We'll never give up on the Pirates. We are going to be here rain or shine. We just wish it would shine a little bit more."

If there was a way to add up how many times I've listened to complete albums, from start to finish, there is no doubt that GETZ / GILBERTO would be in my Top 5. Probably every human being on Earth knows "Ipanema"; do yourself a favor and listen to the whole thing. pitchfork.com/reviews/albu...

Very interesting read on Frankenstein. Makes me want to pick up the book again.

I am a loyal Pittsburgh Steeler fan and so I loathe the Bengals, but I really like the white with black stripe uniforms and helmets that Cincinnati is using. So striking. Having said that hope we win by 3 or 4 TDs… #Steelers #herewego

WTF? I have never seen *that* before. How in the world (as a baserunner) can you even tell that the ball was not caught?

Rolling Stone has decided that Missy Elliot's 2001 track Get Ur Freak On is the greatest song of the 21st C. That track is on album that will surely be in the @bestalbumbrackets.bsky.social '01 tourney, so I was curious what alternatives the Electorate proposes www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...

For those out of the loop, 31 Minutos is a TV show from Chile featuring puppet characters trying to do a "news show", but then, wacky hijinks ensue. This show was wildly popular in Latin America @melodynosurname.bsky.social did a wonderful vid on it here www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCVA...

Imagine that The Muppet Show took place in a news room & in- universe always had a Top 5 ranking of original songs. That's "31 Minutos," the Chilean puppet show that started in '03 & is a Latam sensation. These ones all live in my brain. Now they can live in yours. www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEqT...

@bestalbumbrackets.bsky.social I’m sitting here in a bar and a cover band just performed a truly rocking version of Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game. (it took me a moment to compute what I was listening to as a result) I think he would have lasted longer in the tournament if he had played like they did.

For the @bestalbumbrackets.bsky.social community... it got crushed by New Order, but Pitchfork just retroactively reviewed Operation Ivy's ENERGY. (I had never heard the album before the tournament, but it has at least 50 fans out there!) 9.1 pitchfork.com/reviews/albu...

Currently 7% of Champagne’s production is organic according to this article. But there’s momentum to increase that proportion. Interesting read!

Paul Skenes’ ERA dipped below 2.00 in the 4th. Then he went out for the 5th. And then the 6th. On a night where he made history, his focus was elsewhere. “I don't think it's necessarily a winning mentality to come out after four. I didn't think about it” www.mlb.com/pirates/news...

Paul Skenes’ evening is done after six scoreless frames. He will finish with a 1.97 ERA, the lowest for a Pirate starter in the Live Ball Era. You have to go back to Wilbur Cooper in 1916 to find someone with a lower ERA than that.

I have now listened to exactly 128 albums from this list, enough to fill out a complete bracket! (1st off, we're all going to nominate Kylie Minogue's "Fever" for the '01 tourney, right?) I'm late to the party, but the "new-to-me" album that is on heaviest rotation: Dismemberment Plan's "Change".

Really well done piece on Robert Redford. Worth the while.

In response to 'Bordeaux, Burgundy – it's time to irrigate', experts in wine and water Edmund C Penning-Rowsell and Terry Jones consider the wisdom and feasibility of increasing irrigation in France's fine-wine regions. https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/water-water-not-quite-everywhere

Others are no doubt further along or are much better informed going into '01 research than I am; the Aughts aren't my strong suit. But today I listened to my 100th album from the list! So. Much. Fun. @bestalbumbrackets.bsky.social, it's my 1st rodeo; how many do you put up for initial seed voting?

The Majestic Miss Mila: Queen of all She Surveys

VOS Selections, the lead plaintiff on this suit, is a ~4-decade family-owned wine/spirits importer out of NY. As the owner told @vinepair.com after the initial win in the Court of International Trade in late May: "When they asked me to be lead plaintiff, I thought ‘Somebody needs to step up.’"

Related: @alansiegella.bsky.social's oral history on the making of STOP MAKING SENSE is terrific. www.theringer.com/2023/09/27/m...

@bestalbumbrackets.bsky.social I wonder if the Electorate has any thoughts on this? A few posts below this, Gencab adds in groups at 8 cuadrant points for guidance and/or inspiration. Lots of back and forth in the comments!

Here’s another response to the impact of climate change on winemaking: non-vintage wines.

This Friday we will host a tasting in our store with Renán Cancino, whose line of wines is called Huaso de Sauzal. Sauzal is the small town he's from; Huaso is the Chilean equivalent to a Gaucho. Renán's Pais (a.k.a. Mission a.k.a Crilloa...) vines are at least 300 years old.

Our store works exclusively with Chilean-made boutique wines, so I'm not the French-wine expert, but even I've had conversations with French winemakers about the inevitability of changes to the Apellation system and their frustration with the speed of system's adaptation to Climate Change.

Sao Paulo Wine Bar (1/x) Recently we went to Sao Paulo and before our trip we researched wine bars and found ENOTECA NACIONAL, which only carries Brazilian labels. We made a reservation which turned out to be wise; it’s not that large a place and it filled up quickly.

If you are ever in São Paulo, Brazil, you must go to the Municipal Market and try the famous “mortadela sandwich” (one “L”). So many people recommended it to us that we thought that it couldn’t possibly live up to the hype. Friends, this is one of the best sandwiches I’ve had in my life. #brazil

Never go full Einar, man….

As the article itself mentions, orange wine and rosé lovers tend to be different groups of wine lovers so it will be interesting to see if this style catches on. (As far as I am aware no one has tried this yet down here in Chile.)

About "Modern Cats" from *1874.* On the one hand, we can forgive the author for not imaging 150 yrs ago that one day Cats would take over something called "social media". On the other, we can nod in total agreement with his appreciation for them. 😻 1/2 www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

It’s not even a “Gran Enemigo”, but this Malbec by Alejandro Vigil is just marvelous. 12 years old and it easily would have kept in the cellar for much longer.

So, about Ministry. I actually had both "With Sympathy" and "Twitch" on cassette by the time "The Mind" came out... and while it's true that Twitch has some harder-edged content than Sympathy, let me tell you, I was incredibly confused when The Mind came out. Like, this can't be Ministry? 1/x

If you like ancient and/or military history, and ESPECIALLY if you are one the dudes (or dudettes) who is always thinking about the Roman Empire, you need to follow @bretdevereaux.bsky.social. (Plus he occassionally nerds out and analyzes things like LotR battles, too.) This (long) thread is cool.

I was 6 when Dave Parker wore the goalie mask; at the time he seemed to me to be the coolest & scariest person alive. Now I'm much older and IMO the Cobra is the most awesome Pirate of my lifetime (Clemente was before my time) and for a stretch was probably the best in baseball. RIP to the legend.