First, the Good Stuff: I've started reading the massive, 1079-page epic known as Infinite Jest. I am currently on page 240. My analysis so far? It's been surprisingly easy to read. I was expecting some intricately dense and complex novel that was going to be somewhat punishing to read; thankfully, it's nothing like that at all. Instead, it's quite reader-friendly. It's also hilarious. Sure, there are parts that are slower/harder to get through than others, but I've been able to plow through the first 240 pages (and about 20 pages of footnotes) in 11 days. I don't know if that's actually a fast pace or not, but the point is: it's going by quickly.

What I do know, and what I wanted to share with you, is that there are passages in this novel that are just stunning. Like, I just want to give up writing forever, because there's no way that I'm ever going to be able to craft anything as good as some of these passages. They're so good, I want to go back and re-read them, even if they're six or seven pages long (which, for this book, can take a while). I wish I could just sit here and transcribe them for you, but not only would that be copyright infringement, it would also not be as meaningful taken out of context. Thus, the best I can do is say: Read this book. It'll take a long time to finish, but I'm already ready to say it'll be worth it. And when you do, I can tell you all about those amazing parts that you'll surely also find amazing.

Now the Bad Stuff: What's up with Rock Band's DLC recently? Pantera, Deftones, Ozzy Osbourne (but Ozzy songs that no one cares about), Miley Cyrus, then, after I didn't think it could get any worse than Miley-fucking-Cyrus, Nickelback? I just hope that next week is something like Radiohead's OK Computer or something. They really need to redeem themselves. It's a good thing those Rock Band Network songs are slowly trickling onto the PS3. If it weren't for those, I would've only bought one song (a Spoon single) since mid-May. Crazy.