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Monaco's No-Life Bottom Three

1) "$3500 sound for only $99!" Forgive me-- I'm going to tell you about my new sound card. It's an M Audio (brand name) Audiophile 2496 (model), and it sells online for as little as $100. Now, for a sound card, that might sound outrageously high, especially considering your computer already has one. But if you don't really like the way your CDs sound-- and who does?-- and wonder if you need a better player, this card is all you need.

If you're able to have your PC and stereo co-exist at least nearby, all you do is plug the output of the card into your preamp, play a music file on your computer, and the sound comes out of your good speakers like it was being played on an audiophile CD player. (Those things sell for thousands, and-- IMO-- they're the biggest stereo ripoff around.) Okay, since I've already lost 99 percent of you, I'm not going to post a pic of it, but here's a link to the info.

I haven't watched a movie since I set it up two weeks ago-- I've been on a non-stop music jag, because it all sounds so much deeper and more natural, I can't get enough of it. Just how good is it? Even mp3s sound decent! (Playing now: Cortot playing Chopin from remastered 78s, preceded by "Long Gone Geek" by Procol Harum.)

2) Go away, Larry David! Much as I enjoyed the first couple seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm, the later ones left me living out the title suggestion, and by the end of the last one, I was hoping the death scenario was meant to be taken symbolically and he was killing off the show. Maybe it was, but if so, David has now resurrected the damned thing, and it's already shaping up to be even worse. He doesn't understand that it's just not that hilarious to watch a near-billionaire steal flowers off a dead old woman's memorial and then shout self-righteously about why he did it. (Of course, the woman in the pic above, the soon-to-be-ex Mrs. David, will undoubtedly be reducing Larry's wealth considerably, and many reviews have noted a negative shift in the way Cheryl Hines' TV-wife is being portrayed this season.) The rest of the regulars aren't cutting it any more, either, from Susie Essman's tiresome Tourette's schtick to Jeff Garlin's continuing lack of improv skills. Last week's toilet-oriented episode was just awful. Larry knew when to call it quits on Seinfeld-- what's the problem this time?

3) Happy birthday, Gore Vidal. Thanks to Mark Gisleson at Norwegianity, I didn't forget. My hero is 82 today, and I am so glad that, if the country had to go the way it did, that we still have him with us, keenly pointing out what's really going wrong the way he has with almost total accuracy all along. To prove it, Mark has posted a remarkable radio interview from 1962, where Studs Terkel talks with Vidal, who's not yet 40, about his two favorite subjects: literature and American history. As you listen, keep in mind that it wasn't that long ago when conversation like this was available on American airwaves on a regular basis-- today you can't find anything this substantial even on our corporate-owned National Public Radio. Anyway, happy birthday, Mr. Vidal!

Posted by Steve Monaco at October 3, 2007 3:39 PM

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