Anticipating ...

I can't get into the start of a new season of American Idol. There's only so many times I can watch stupid people act like dipshits on camera, no matter what new pithy phrases Simon Cowell comes up with. The people who can watch these interminable first few weeks of the show and laugh right up until the end without ever getting bored are the same people who kept "America's Funniest Home Videos" on the air for so long.

While waiting for AI to transform into a watchable show, I can look forward to Much Music VJ Search: The Series. Ten VJ hopefuls, one winner to be determined using reality show rules. In the past, the competition proceeded at a breakneck over just a few days. Stretching it out over several weeks will establish the personalities more thoroughly than the weekend specials did. The inevitable villain will probably be some 20-year Montrealer who always dresses in black and won't get off the other contestant's backs for saying disparaging things about System of a Down.

I have really been, er, feeling Animal Collective's "Feels" this week. Every year there's an album on my year-end top ten that I know I'm either underrating or overrating. Badly. I realise it while I'm putting together the list. "Feels" was my favourite album during those listmaking days, but since it's a year-end list, and not a "faves of the moment" one, I had to be careful to take the entire year into account. Flipping out and putting "Feels" at #1 doesn't do anyone any good. Cool heads had to prevail.

My favourite albums make me feel joyous, sad, and romantic. My pantheon-level favourite albums can make me feel all those things at the same time during nearly every song. "Takk..." and "Before the Dawn Heals Us" both fit that bill. "Playing the Angel" wasn't quite there, which was why it was a distant (but still tremendous) #3. "Feels" has stepped up to a higher level, and it sure is making me wanna scream these days.