A Letter to Bobby Flay

Dear Bobby Flay,

I hope that one night soon Gordon Ramsay and Anthony Bourdain pull you into a dark alley and kick the ever-loving shit out of you.
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P.S. Putting three different variations of chipotle sauce on a dish does not make it interesting. It just makes you a pretentious douchebag.

iPod/uPod: "Come as You Are" by Nirvana (from Live in New York)

This is the song that finally got me into Nirvana. Up until this point, I didn't really get it. I mean, I'd heard of the band, and understood that they were popular, but I didn't understand why. Then I went to nerd camp for the first time, and this kid in my class sung this song constantly. I thought it was kind of interesting and asked him about it, and he informed me that when I got home, I needed to go out and buy In Utero immediately, because it would change my life. I did as he suggested, and though it didn't change my life, it certainly did change my perspective some. Frankly, it wasn't until the Beautiful Loser burned me a copy of Nirvana: Live in New York that I REALLY GOT IT. Listening to Kurt wail "Come as you are, as you were, as I want you to be..." hit a part of me--the teenage angst part?--I didn't even know I had. This song led me to listen to the entire album, which was of course mind-blowing. The lyrics aren't entirely logical or sensical, but they're deeply emotional, particularly with Kurt's delivery. Same thing with the melody. I just remember thinking that I'd never heard anything like it before, and was unlikely to hear anything quite like it again.

Today's iPod/uPod winner is: "Birdhouse in Your Soul" by They Might Be Giants

This song holds a special place in my heart, as it was a mandatory part of every nerd camp dance. When this song would come on, everyone would join hands and then run, in a long chain, all around the cafeteria where the dance was being held. It's one of those songs that whenever I hear it immediately takes me back to a particular time and place where I had some of the best times of my life. Musically, it's got some nice harmonies but isn't really anything special. The lyrics, as in most TMBG songs, are very clever. The image of keeping the "nightlight on inside the birdhouse in your soul" is an appealing one. Even the idea that there's a birdhouse in your soul is charming. My favorite lines are, of course, as follows, "There's a picture opposite me / of my primitive ancestry / who stood on rocky shores / and kept the beaches shipwreck free. / Though I respect that a lot / I'd be fired if that were my job / after killing Jason off / and countless screaming argonauts!" I suppose my reason for loving this song is more based on sentimentality than on true merit, but that's okay. This IS my opinion, after all.