1. In today’s Washington Post there’s an article about BlackBerry etiquette and how these pervasive devices have become awkward in certain social situations. I would agree – last week I saw a guy using his to check his email while in front of a urinal.

2. In the latest issue of AP, with THE USED on the cover, the Caroline Distribution ad on page 89 features our BROKEN LAMPS AND HARDCORE MEMORIES Vol. 2, compilation. I nearly flipped when I saw that in there – thanks Suburban Home!!

3. Speaking of AP – today’s fun task is to count the amount of ads in the new issue that feature review quotes from Absolutepunk.net. No, I’m not jealous (OK, maybe just a little), but there’s definitely a lot of them.

4. Something feels naturally right with GREEN DAY being popular again. Not that they ever really went away, but given how long it’s been between albums, they just seem like a band that should always been in the public conscience with new material. “”Holiday”" is a wonderful song (and was also played on Monday Night Football this week).

5. Century Media says that the new SHADOWS FALL digipak packaging for “”The War Within”" is a “”limited edition.”" At 150,000 copies of said packaging, that’s a bit of a stretch… Great disc nonetheless.

6. We’ve got live OVER IT video footage for the entirety of their brand new song, “”Ignore the Noise,”" which was shot on their recent tour with RUFIO. The music backing the video is supposedly a final version from their upcoming “”Silverstrand”" release. Look for this to be posted real soon on the PASTEPUNK TOUR 2004 page (plug! plug! plug!).

7. Most of George Carlin’s discography is now on Rhapsody. Sweeeeeeet.

8. I can be a real idiot sometimes. In May I bought one of the new Sony Minidisc HD players, featuring those brand new 1 Gig catridges. Overall, the product is pretty cool, though having to transfer from mp3 to Atrac3 is annoying. Anyway… when you have the device plugged into the USB and start recording to the Minidisc, there’s a big warning on the screen to not disconnect the device (which could result in both total disc failure, and possible device failure). Stupid me accidentally steps on the USB cord and flings the device off of my desk, disconnecting the cord, permanently damaging the disc, and possibly the device (which has to be entirely determined). There’s no real to this story, but I get the feeling that Sony could have spent a little more time engineering this thing so this wouldn’t happen… but at least I was warned!

9. Do other zine editors get separation anxiety at the post office when they mail out a package of CDs?

10. THROWNDOWN – You Don’t Have To Be Blood To Be Family