RANDOM STUFF

• In order to see "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" last week, I had to go to this theater in Cambridge, the directions to which included "Go through the lobby of the Marriot Hotel to Broadway" then "walk down Broadway until you pass over the train tracks." Clearly, it wasn't the easiest place to find.

• This coffee creamer I've lately been using comes in two varieties: fat free or sugar free. Why can't they tinker with the formula and produce creamer that is both fat free and sugar free? Why do they make me have to choose?

• Cat Power's new covers album "Jukebox" is terrific. It's an extension of the soulful sound she achieved on "The Greatest," which was one of my favorite albums of 2006. Funny, the first time I heard Cat Power on "Moon Pix," I didn't really like her; many of the songs were so sparse and slow. The newer stuff has so much more feeling and many more layers. You should buy this album.

Speaking of Cat Power, I have to add her to the list of Concerts Robert Would Be Able to Attend If He Had a Daytime Job:

Cat Power *NEW!*
The National
Voxtrot
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!
The New Pornographers
Spoon

Let's just hope The Magnetic Fields and Radiohead don't make it on to that list.

TRAVEL PLANS

Jacksonville, Fla., as it's seen today.

• I'm returning to Jax Vegas in early February, to see my wife-elect and get my fix of friends and family. There might even be some Pearlage thrown in for good measure. Plus, it will be nice to escape the chill.


A bustling street in New York City, 2008.

• I feel like getting out of Boston this weekend, so I think I'll go to New York to see Chris and hang out in the (even bigger) city. That reminds me: New Yorkers who refer to Manhattan as "The City" regardless of where they are in the country annoy the hell out of me. Like "Are you going to go into The City or stay in Boston for New Year's Eve?" Um ... I kinda thought Boston was a city ... but ... oh, right ... it isn't The City. New York, I love you. Just not your snobby residents.


A modern-day Periodickal of Current Eventf in Bofton-Town.

See? British soldiers don't massacre* people in just any old town. Take that, New York!

* Only seven people died, but, hey, we needed a reason to get pissed off!