p²'s Favorite Songs of 2011 -- The Big Finale

Adam Levine (just because)

So before we move on to the top 11, I have to drop in a song that I thought I had on last year's list but I must not have really heard it until it was too late. If I had realized I left it off last year, it would have been in the top five this year. So consider this 5a.:

p²'s Favorite Songs of 2011 -- Part 2 (of 3)

Thanksgiving is over. The Christmas tree is already up and decorated. I (superficially) cleaned for Thanksgiving so that doesn't really need to be done. I have not one single excuse not to write part 2 of the best songs of 2011 today. Except that I'm hungry, but I suppose I can eat and type at the same time. Fine. Let's get on with it then, shall we.

p²'s Favorite Songs of 2011 -- Part One

It's time for p²'s favorite songs of the year again. In past years, most of my pop music has come from songs and artists I've heard on American Idol, with a smattering of things that either were impossible not to hear or I heard on the American Music Awards. This year however, I have a car. And my car stereo doesn't have any workable way for me to plug my iPhone into it and only hear the music I want to hear. So that means the number of songs I can actually identify this year is probably more by a factor of ten than the previous three years combined.

Stuck

Thank God for The X Factor.


We’ll get to why shortly. First, where have I been? If you read this blog regularly (or even occasionally) you probably noticed that after writing every day in August (and several days the first week of September), I haven’t written a single new word in almost a month. What happened?

RIP DADT

I wrote this article for a gay newspaper called Update in 1995, about a year and a half after DADT took effect. I guess if I'm ever going to post it on my blog, it's got to be today. Congratulations to all the military personnel that can stop hiding. For more information about the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, check out the Military Acceptance Project.

Acid Test?!

Should states be allowed to require all welfare applicants to pass a drug test in order to receive benefits? I hadn’t heard a lot about this issue recently (just a couple of Facebook comments), which is odd to me considering Florida just put this law into effect on July 1. In response, the ACLU filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the state, arguing that the test constitutes an "unreasonable search" by the government, in violation of the Fourth Amendment. Turns out lots of people have lots to say about it, I just wasn’t paying attention. Until now.

US Open Week 1 Review

I’m mostly taking Labor Day weekend off, but I figured a short post would be easy enough to do. However, the post I’ve decided to do is a mid-tournament assessment of my tournament preview. I was looking forward to doing this a couple of days ago, but after playing some of my worst tennis of the summer (and that’s saying something) and watching about 10 hours of tennis over the last two days I’m less than enthusiastic about this endeavor. But I will soldier on because this new commitment to writing more often is something I’m enthusiastic about.

Smurf Kills

This morning I got to sit in a room and listen to representatives from five different branches of law enforcement talk about the meth problem in San Diego and what is being done to solve it. I have no idea if blood can in fact boil inside your body, but if so then I’m sure mine was close. Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that police and other LEOs (that’s law enforcement officer – I learned that from NCIS) shouldn’t be out doing what they are paid to do – protecting and serving. It was just really difficult to sit and listen to people epitomize the saying, “If all you have is a hammer, then every problem is a nail.”

A Nerd's Guide to the Greatest US Open Champs -- Women

The New York Times has created a mock US Open draw pitting eight US Open champions of the last 30 years against each other. They did one for both the men and women, but I’m just focusing on the women here. Their explanation of how they selected and seeded players is almost reasonable, but I found it a bit haphazard and lacking in a real ability to judge relative merits of the careers of these women. Plus, I think it puts people in the draw that really shouldn’t make an eight-person US Open draw of past champions. So, let me briefly explain some of the issues I have with their draw and then fashion something similar myself.

Good News / Bad News

On August 1 I made a commitment to cut my television watching to one hour per day and to write at least 100 words every day for my blog for the entire month. It was a pretty lofty goal for someone that had never written more than five days in a row in my life and has at some points in my life had three Tivos recording shows at the same time. Here it is August 31 and it’s time to see what happened.

Mr. Know It All

I started writing a post about tennis today, but because I’m such a tennis nerd it’s completely taken on a life of its own and there is no way I could finish it before midnight tonight. Lucky for me, Kelly Clarkson premiered her new single this afternoon so I don’t even have to try to finish the tennis post until Friday (Tomorrow’s post is just a debrief on my month long writing commitment).

T.G.C.H.H.O.

On my way home this afternoon I ran into a friend. I’d already heard from someone else that he wasn’t currently sober, but I always like to give people the chance to disclose their lives themselves. I didn’t have to wait long. I barely had the “how are you” out of my mouth when he told me what was going on.

2011 Men's US Open Preview -- Young Gun Edition

Verdasco's a must have

The mens. Mens, mens, mens. My favorite thing about writing the men’s preview is looking for and posting the pictures. I’m a bit tired of the same ole same ole though. To mix things up a little, I’ll be posting pics of the next generation of potentially great players (but only the ones that are 18 or older – I’m not interested in being THAT creepy). If I remember I’ll caption them to let you know who they are. And there will probably be some of the regulars mixed in as well. Enjoy!

Milestones in Crackheadedness -- Part Two

Well, I made it. Four years sober today. For those of you that haven’t dealt with addiction personally, it hard to explain what the milestones feel like. They are at the same time no big deal and an incredible miracle. If you had told me four years and one day ago that this day would come, I’d have laughed at you. Hell, if you had told me I’d make it six months at that point I’d have thought you were insane. But being here now, it feels perfectly normal. I won’t tell you that I wouldn’t like to have enough money that 20-dollar bills would start flying out of my pant legs again, but I can’t imagine what it would take for me to really ever want that life again.


I wrote the first Milestones post a couple weeks ago and it got a bit longer than I expected. So as promised, here is part two.

2011 US Open Women's Preview

Here’s the crux of the women’s preview for this year’s US Open: Unless she falls down and breaks a hip, Serena Williams should easily win the tournament. Since that’s not at least a hundred words, I’ll handicap the rest of the field – although most of them are handicapped enough already.

The Spirit of the Yankees Saves New York

I really need to get to writing the US Open preview posts, but here’s a little bonus for Friday afternoon. Here’s a story a NY Yankee fan will someday tell his grandchildren.


Come on over here kids. I want to tell you about how the Yankees saved New York – AGAIN – in the summer of 2011. It was a terrible, dark and stormy night. New York was under attack from the forces of evil.

Please Support My Walk in the AIDS Walk San Diego 2011

The last time I walked in an AIDS Walk was 2001. How did I let ten years go by without lifting a foot to participate in an event that I had done annually for the ten previous years? It’s hardly a mystery where the first six of those years went – up in smoke as it were. Even though I didn’t start using crystal meth until 2004, there were other drugs on the way to that one. And with every passing year, the idea of spending an entire Sunday morning without doing any became less and less palatable. 

Six Unforgettable US Open Matches (Women)

I’m still feeling a bit tennis-y tonight. And this is a blog post I’ve probably wanted to write every year since I started watching tennis. I love the US Open. Don’t get me wrong. Wimbledon is something special for sure, but I think it’s more special for the players than the fans. The US Open is where you get some knock-down drag-out battles where both players just leave everything out on the court trying to win. And while it hasn’t been as true the last five years, the Open is the place where you get to see some truly memorable women’s tennis matches. Here are six I think are unforgettable. I’m sure if you’re a fan you want one added that I don’t have on here, but that’s the other thing that makes the US Open so great. Trying to choose just five or six great matches is virtually impossible.

Not-So Great Dane

The US Open starts Monday, which means that at least half the posts between now and then will be about tennis. That’s probably not so good for some of you. But I’m sure a few people will be happy about it. Normally I just do the preview of the draws, but since I’m writing every day this month I can spend a little more time on some things.

God Willing?

As my 4th sober birthday is approaching, I have a confession to make – one that I can only make when I’m not sitting in a 12-step meeting (because it would be completely scandalous). I don’t always take things one day at a time. Appalling I know, but what can you do? I’m an addict you know, a screw up. That’s what we do.

The Book of Merman

I bolted awake at 3 am this morning with another epiphany. Apparently the universe has not yet gotten word that I’m sober and I now sleep at that time. Before, the biggest problem with my middle of the night revelations was that I had no idea what they were when I woke up in the morning. For awhile I kept a notepad by my bed so I could write these pearls of wisdom down, but after about the fifth time I woke up to a note that said, “Blue hens need bklsjglsehi” I decided maybe I was wasting my time.

Ladies Gone Mild

The night I’d been anticipating all summer finally came on Thursday. My first trip to the Greek Theatre to see the Go-Go’s on Belinda Carlisle’s birthday. It was truly the most anticipated day in my year. I’ve seen them at least twice before and I’ve seen Belinda Carlisle solo three times, so it wasn’t so much that the concert was the main event, it was more the total experience. The 30th anniversary of Beauty and the Beat, one of my favorite albums of all time, in Los Angeles on Belinda’s birthday. It was a perfect Go-Go’s storm.

Move Along -- Nothing to See Here Tonight (Really Nothing)

So, I have a whole new respect for people that really do write every day. Here we are on day 19 of 30 and I feel like I’m being dragged behind a car right now. I’m exhausted. There was the trip to Atlanta, the ridiculously long trip back, then the drive up to LA for the Go-Go’s concert and back the next morning to go to work.

Remedial Therapy

I had physical therapy today for a problem I’m having with my shoulder. Interestingly, I’ve had three sports injuries in the past four years and three different therapists have diagnosed each discrete problem the exact same way. Apparently I have a habit of building up the large muscle groups in my body while managing to completely ignore the little supporting muscles. I had a problem with my neck that was resolved by doing exercises with 5-pound dumbbells for about two months. Same thing with my back issue. Those situations occurred in NYC. Now I’m in San Diego and it’s a different problem – shoulder pain – with the same solution. I believe the expression that’s needed here is, “I never learn.”

Rush Hour

Short post today because all I can think about right now is how tired I am after the air travel experience from Camden (Hell doesn’t even begin to describe how annoying it was). Rather than bore you with the details of that, I’m just going to jot down a few observations about driving to and getting around LA (in car and on foot).

Mad About Her

Talk about living in someone’s shadow. Madonna not only had a monster career right on top of Belinda Carlisle’s, but she was born one day before Belinda in 1958.


I’m sure no one is surprised that today’s post is dedicated to Belinda and a handful of you were just sitting there waiting for it. Well, predictability be damned. Here it is. I’ve decided to focus solely on her videos, so the entire last half of her career is missing from this post.

Seven Timeless Songs From the Ageless Diva

Tomorrow (if I get this posted in the next seven minutes) is Madonna’s 53rd birthday. To celebrate, here are seven classic (or semi-classic) songs that FOR ME have passed the test of time. The only restriction I put on my list was that the song had to be at least ten years old. Other than that, I just went by what I still like. They are listed (I’m pretty sure) in chronological order.

Saturday in the Park

Sometimes I don’t remember what stories I’ve told here on my blog and which ones I’ve only told in meetings. I’d say stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but it will already be posted by the time you know you’ve heard it before.

Insomno-maniac

I’m feeling incredibly sleep deprived this week. Just about every morning this week I’ve been up at 4 am – from one side of the day or the other. I think I’ve averaged about four hours of sleep a night. Sometimes this happens because of a mini-manic episode. I’ll have a week or two where I just have a ton of energy and don’t need much sleep. This is not what’s going on this week.

Happy Birthday Dad

First August milestone reached. It’s always a relief when I get to my father’s birthday without having to do too much damage control. As I stated in an earlier post, August is Adventures in Crazytown for me every year. I still have to get to my sober birthday, but really this is the big one. I really miss my dad. In fact, I can’t type that sentence without getting tears in my eyes. It happens every time.

They Warned Us This Would Happen If We Let the Gays Get Married

I know I posted the link on Facebook today, but I feel like I need to memorialize my opinion on this matter on my blog as well. In case you missed it, here's toGay's big story: Inside the Bert and Ernie Marriage Campaign. Apparently Change.org has decided they have too much credibility and they want erode some of it by endorsing a ludicrous petition that they would scream bloody murder over if it were the other side positing something this absurd.

Re-Witched

Facebook was all atwitter today with the news that CBS ordered a new Bewitched pilot from Sony Entertainment – the people that brought us the Bewitched movie I was so excited about and never ended up seeing because I heard it was just a disgrace.

The original Bewitched series is among my five favorite televisions shows of all time (maybe another blog post this month), so it's hard for me to NOT be excited at the idea of a “reboot”, as the kids are calling it these days. At the same time, it's in the hands of the same people that ruined the movie version (allegedly – like I said, I haven't seen it) AND the real brilliance of Bewitched was the cast and their chemistry. How do you recreate that? I don't know, but that's what I'm going to try to do right now.

Do You Remember When ...

Just a real quickie tonight. I thought I was making my life easy last night by doing the song list, but I forgot about my relationship with the internet, youtube specifically. I spent at least ten minutes searching for every song to make sure I had the best available video clip. Plus I had to make sure I had the ten I wanted so then I had to look for more to see if I missed any. So, tonight something that will get me to bed a decent hour. 

10 Great Songs You've Probably Never Heard

You may not know this about me, but I'm a big American Idol fan. Well, I was before Paula and Simon left. Now I'm just nostalgic for the good old days when I would scour the internet looking for whatever bits of music from Idol alumni I could find. I have to admit that I love Pia Toscano's new song, This Time. But that's sort of why I'm not such a big Idol fan these days. Not only did one of the best singers they've ever had on the show not even get to the top five, but the show all but admitted that winning the show no longer matters by letting Pia release a single before either the winner or the runner-up. Idol and sham are both four-letter words. Coincidence? Anyway, tonight's blog is dedicated to ten songs I love that you've probably never heard. All by Idol alum. I hope you like them as much as I do. 

Change Is Hard ... Because it's Different

I am completely blank tonight. I knew I would have a few of these days in the course of writing every day for a month, so it's not really a shock. I'm not sure I've ever written seven consecutive days in my life. It feels almost unnatural. It's like when someone will say to me, “I can't believe I've been sober x number of years and there are still days I think about using.” Bitch, you're a drug addict. It's a miracle there are days when you DON'T want to use.

Milestones in Crackheadedness -- Part One

I didn't realize when I decided to write every day in August that doing so would take me right smack into my 100th post. It probably doesn't seem all that significant since it's taken me almost two years to get here but it's a fairly big deal to me. I haven't been exactly prolific, but at the same time I haven't bloated my post numbers with a bunch of posts that were just pictures or video clips. In all but a few (fewer than a half dozen I'm pretty sure) I wrote at least 500 words. So, I feel compelled to mark this occasion. And of course to thank you all for reading. I get a lot of joy out of knowing that I've made a few of you laugh (and cry) over the past 99 posts.

Open Letter to Kelly Clarkson

Originally posted March 2007

While we're on the subject of open letters (see previous post), here's one from my first blog that I wrote to Kelly Clarkson in the spring of 2007 while waiting for what ended up being My December to be released. Ultimately it was totally worth the wait, but you all know that I was completely cracked out in the spring of 2007 so patience wasn't something I had in great abundance. Anyway, since today's post was short, and it was an open letter, AND I'm getting impatient for the next Kelly Clarkson album to be released here's that letter again for your enjoyment. BWH*

Horns Blow

Open letter to the woman that blew her horn and nearly knocked me into traffic this morning (and everyone like her):

I want to start off by letting you know that I’ve been on both sides of this. For the first year back in San Diego, my only two modes of transportation were bus and bike. I rode my bike a lot.

The "I dared p²" Challenge

I planned on writing about this later in the month, but now that comments have been made telling me I should take topic suggestions from my blog readers,  I guess I’m going to write about it today.

Shut Up and Spell

There were a couple of reasons I chose the so-low-you-could-get-over-it-without-lifting-your-feet bar of 100 words when I gave myself this writing every day challenge for August. One was because I saw a blog a while back where the writer wrote exactly 100 words every day and I toyed with the idea of making that the challenge for myself. Well, I toyed with it the way a cat might briefly toy with a rubber mouse before batting it away. I barely even reach coherence before the hundredth word, so that didn't seem like it would be fun for anyone – not for me to write and certainly not for you to read.

The Empty Bucket List

I think about 348 sober people I know posted a link to the story in the NY Times today about who gets addicted to drugs and who doesn't. Interesting as it is, I already know the only real answer that's important to me – I DO get addicted to drugs.

100 Words

So, if you are someone that doesn't hang on my every Facebook word (shame on you), you may not know that I've thrown down a challenge for myself this month. It's a two-parter: first, I've committed to watch only one hour of television per day (that includes TV shows downloaded on the internet as well – but I will allow the exception of one film per weekend if desired); second, I'm going to write at least 100 words on my blog every day as well.

Me-Me-Mea Culpa

A friend of mine here in San Diego had to deal with some of the things many of us have had to deal with in early sobriety and I told him I'd say a prayer for him. Immediately I remembered this blog post, which I wrote when I was maybe four months sober. It's short, but it says so much about me.

Originally posted circa January, 2008

Please Stay

When someone we care about dies unexpectedly, the feeling is the emotional equivalent of a kick in the nuts. In addition to the pain and low-level nausea experienced, there are the added components of shock and disorientation. That’s because no one ever really expects to get kicked in the nuts; it’s almost impossible to prepare for it in advance or process it immediately afterward. (I know this analogy is only visceral for men, but I’m sure most women at least have an intellectual understanding of how physically traumatic that is.) Sudden death is also one of those things that doesn’t hurt less because we’ve experienced it before.

2011 French Open Women's Preview

It says as much as the state of women's tennis right now as it does about Kim Clijsters that many people are picking her to win the French Open even though she hasn't played a single match on red clay this year. It's a little bit hard to believe that four times a year someone wins one of these things yet looking at the list, no one looks capable of doing it. Let's take a closer look.

French Open Men's Topless Preview

Feliciano Lopez

Since the French Open starts tomorrow, just a quick and dirty preview.

American Idol -- Top 3 Performance Show

Top three night. Can you believe it? Casey, Pia and James – this might be the strongest top three ever. Oh wait. Who? Haley, Scotty and Lauren? Don't be ridiculous. Excuse me? You're not joking. OK. Yeah, that's *exactly* how I thought it would end up. Seriously. Anyone that says this is the top three they predicted at the beginning is either lying or they were on really good drugs when they were making their picks.

American Idol -- Top 4 Performance Show

Just so you know, no one but Haley is getting any points tonight. Friggin' J-HO!

Baby Mama

In honor of Mother's Day

Originally posted 12/2/2006 I actually vividly remember writing this on the plane coming back from San Diego to NYC. The reason I remember is because every word I typed was critiqued telepathically by all the other passengers on the plane. It's very hard to finish a blog post when every sentence has to be approved by more than 100 strangers. I went through and fixed the grammar, but that's all. Otherwise, this is how it originally got posted. BWH*

American Idol -- Top 5 Performance Show

There was a lot going on at the beginning of tonight's Idol. For starters, why was Jennifer dressed like a school marm? Did anyone else notice the sign someone held up that said, “I [love] Seacrest's Side Part”? I don't know why that struck me odd, but it really did. And how about Sheryl Crow's hair in that picture of her backing up Michael Jackson?

After two or three seasons of screwing with the formula, we're finally back to having the top five doing two songs each. The last time that happened was season seven. So how did our heroes (and heroines) fare with two chances? Let's find out.

American Idol -- Top 6 Performance Show

We're down to the top six. All of the people left can sing. I at least like five of them. I am a fan of three of them. I have two favorites. There's only one I think really deserves to win. I have my doubts that any of them will amount to much in the real world. I haven't downloaded a single song from this year. That's a first for this late in the season. I usually have been moved to add at least one song to my iPod by now. Maybe tonight will be the night. Let's see.

Everything Old Is New Again

I've been thinking about my dad a lot this week. Last Sunday was the 7th anniversary of his death. Going through my things that were in storage for a year has gotten me thinking about the past. And I always knew that when I got access to my old blog material, I would start posting it here.

Since Easter is a time of rebirth, it seems appropriate to bring the old blog back to life today. This is the very first entry of the original p² to the nth blog. I'm 99% sure that everything I wrote on that blog (at least everything I can still find) was written high on crystal meth. I think it's interesting to see how my mind was in some ways so different, but in some still so exactly me. When I post something from the old blog, I'll post the original date (as close as I can figure) that it was posted. If you read the old blog, I hope you enjoy the trip down memory lane. If you never read the old blog, I hope this is as close as you'll ever get to seeing my brain on drugs.

American Idol -- Top 7 Performance Show

I'm back after missing my first performance night blog post in three seasons. Last week was all sorts of chaotic for me. After getting all my stuff that had been in storage for a year, it took a little while to get it organized. Then my laptop died last Tuesday night. Fortunately, my desktop has been restored to its former glory after about three years of being inoperable. Of course, it's been restored to the glory of a computer I bought five years ago. Be that as it may, I'm back. Just like the six contestants we'd thought we'd seen the last of until the finale and the tour.

I don't know if that unprecedented performance was inspired by Pia's premature elimination or not, but it felt really unnecessary and random. And with all due respect to Steven, with the exception of Ms. Toscano, no one is rethinking their decision about any of those people. Who else was vaguely surprised that Ashton and Karen had actually been in the top 13? I was thinking, “Oh yeah. They did make it out of the semi-finals didn't they?”

The Military Acceptance Project

So, 99.99% of the time, my blog is all about me, written by me -- my life, my thoughts, my obsessions (read: tennis and American Idol). Today, however, I'm going to turn the spotlight on something else -- a website called The Military Acceptance Project. And because I think the creators of the site have done such a great job, I'm just going to use their words to tell you what it is.

American Idol -- Top 9 Performance Show

I'm having a hard time sitting still to write this post. I was so unmoved by almost all of the performances that my notes consist of the name of the contestant and the name of the song. That's useful.

I want to point out before I start that when I critique these performances, there is no malice or rancor intended. Especially now because all of the people left (except Paul McDonald) I once considered top contenders to make it to the top 3. So, I'm when I'm harsh I'm not alleging that the contestant has no talent, just that s/he is not performing at a level that makes him/her worthy of the title American Idol.

Do Over: American Idol -- Top 11 Performance Show

I hope you all appreciate what I go through to bring you this blog. It's my day off (Thanks Cesar Chavez) and not only am I sitting in front of my computer (OK, I'd be doing that anyway) but I've queued up last night's episode so I can give you the best possible recap.

Just like last night, I'm fast-forwarding through that crap about last week. I love these two-hour shows where they waste the first 15 minutes. OK, so I'm exaggerating about the 15 minutes, but the first performer didn't come on until almost the nine-minute mark. Move it on.

Just one thing before we do though. Does J-Lo get hotter every week. She looked stunning.

American Idol -- Top 11 Performance Show

After last week’s mediocrity, I’m lowering everyone’s score by at least five this week. You want a good grade? Earn it by having more than one good performance. The problem here isn’t talent. This batch is at least 30 percent more talented and memorable than last year’s drones. Case in point, Casey James finished third last season and I literally had to google “Idol season 9 Casey” to remember his last name. And I LIKED him!

The problem here is consistency, charisma and risk. Every one of the contestants that are left (except maybe Thia Megia) could blow the roof off the Kodak Theater if they put their mind to it. But so far, we’ve seen manic or spastic performances from out-of-breath and out-of-tune singers, dreary dirges that have us reaching simultaneously for no-doz and anti-depressants and – worst of all – completely in-their-pocket and safe song choices from the best of the best.

With the chance to go out on tour with the whole gang this summer riding on tonight’s performances, let’s hope they decide to bring something extra special. Let’s get to it.

American Idol -- Top 12 Performance Show

Let me just say right from the start: If my critiques seem lackluster and uninspired, it's because that's exactly how I felt about this "Songs from the Year They Were Born" episode. The song choices were just so-so, we have yet to see a truly original arrangement of a song (a la David Cook or Adam Lambert) and exactly one of the contestants tonight gave his /her best performance so far. Yawn. Let's get to it before I fall back to sleep.

OH, before we start. I was wrong last week. It was NOT live (according to tvline.com). I did see the "recorded from an earlier broadcast" disclaimer at the bottom of the screen here tonight, so I'm assuming it was live on the east coast this week.

American Idol -- Top 13 Performance Show

And we're live! I guess last week's results show was live as well (although I don't know that for sure), but some of you may or may not know that last week's performance shows were not. They were pre-recorded. I suppose there's nothing wrong with that; but I mistrust Idol (actually all TV) producers and I feel like giving them the chance to edit the proceedings makes it more likely that we're being manipulated. However, from what I've read, even when the show is live it can be "modulated" and auto tuned so I guess we never really know that we're seeing the real deal.

American Idol Semifinals -- Top 12 Girls

Last year I had really high hopes for the girls; then the performance shows started. So this year I'm keeping my expectations in check. Earn it bitches! On with the show.

American Idol Semifinals -- Top 12 Boys

So, I was wondering why we were doing the top 24 this week when they said all along that they were doing away with the semifinals this year. Now I understand. One shot for each of them and then we get the top five guys and top five gals. I don't know for sure, but it looks like they are just going to announce the wild cards on Thursday night. On with the show.

Questionable Footwear

The real title of this post should be Questionable Questions About Footwear. I got a pair of Vibram Five-Finger shoes for Christmas and I've been astounded at the questions people ask about them and the notions they have. So, here's a little Q/A primer for my new shoes.

Australian Open Preview -- Men's Draw

This will be much shorter than the women's preview (I think) because it's basically a two-horse race. Nadal / Federer are to men's tennis today what Navratilova / Evert were to women's tennis in the late 70s and early 80s. In other words, if you're anyone else you're basically playing for a spot in the semi-finals.

Australian Open Preview -- Women's Draw

I'm never going to get these seed reports done before the first ball is struck, but I won't be looking at the results until I'm done so there will be no cheating involved.

I'm not sure getting to the final or winning this tournament should be the goal of any of these women right now. If you look at the last three women's finals here, with the exception of Serena in 2009 (and she wasn't as lucky in 2010) everyone that has played in this final fell apart either physically or emotionally (or both) by the end of that same year. In fact, of the five of them (Serena, Justine Henin, Maria Sharapova, Ana Ianovic and Dinara Safina) only Serena is even still in the top ten. But she's been injured since right after Wimbledon so she will not be defending her title. No matter. Like it or not, someone is going to win this tournament so let's look at the chances each of them have.

p²'s Pop Magic 2010 -- Part 2

Without further ado, here are my ten favorite songs from 2010.

10. The Time - Dirty Bit (Black Eyed Peas) -- The version of this song I've heard on the radio is really heavy on the Dirty Dancing sample, which makes it repetitive and generic (which is often the way I like my pop music). The version on the album is much more Black Eyed Peas-ish (i.e. mega Fergie and Will.I.Am). If you haven't heard the album version, you should do yourself a favor and check it out (unless you hate the BEPs, in which case DO NOT CLICK THE LINK).

p²'s Pop Magic 2010 -- Part 1

[Note: Just like last year, part one today; the top ten tomorrow.]


It seems like just yesterday I posted The Best Songs of 2009, According to p². Of course, it probably seems like that to me because most of the songs on that list are still blowing up my iPod a year later. I always think I hate new music, so I tend not to listen to it until it's already been a hit for three months. Then I "discover" all these great new songs (that already have muzak versions by the time I get around to them).