I know, right - so chill! She is the polar opposite of this guy's covers (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB4aGPdG-K4&feature=related), which are hilarious.

Still like Damn These Vampires? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0ILdC2I_cw&feature=related This cover is as good as the original (shocking, I know).

Hello! I am considering building a bicycle from scratch over the summer (a road bike, since I already have a mountain one). You did this successfully, as I recall - any tips to avoid killing myself and all around me?

Oh my god. How did I not run into this album sooner?

have you listened to YOB before? really think you'd like them.

<3

Oh look, your last 3 months top tracks is the tracklist from All Eternals Deck. That is brilliant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeZlih4DDNg, oh my god this is amazing

To my eternal shame I have not yet put pen to paper. I plead severe moral weakness and the fact that my final two exams are five days away. After they're out of the way I will sit down with an epistolary cup of tea and a wad of notepaper, but I think it might be to write a reply to your letter. (Much as I love the idea of a race to the post-office, constantly writing - lettering? posting? - past each other sounds like a drag.)

Yes indeed; and the dubiously-autobiographical tales of hideous sexual embarrassment . One guy workshopped what was essentially gay porn. I mean, there's a time and a place. And the place is not my Novels tute. I haven't touched MSN in forever but I shall log on when I can in the next few days - time zones might mess us around though. Your plans sound interesting! I wish I had plans for the mid-semesters beyond "write a little, drink a little". Maybe yours will inspire me to do something with my life?

Oh, that's no good. I don't suppose by this Buffalo festival you mean ZOOP? I would do terrible things to attend that. My exams are coming up in about three awful months and then I will have a scanty period of freedom before semester two sinks its teeth in. Right now I'm dealing with the standard Creative Writing major issue: an endless parade of budding authors/poets who relentlessly overshare. I do not need to know about your problems, strange dreadlocked man! I'm also considering taking a diploma in maths, as I've already done a fair few maths subjects that I could cross-credit to that and my BA. Do you know Pedro the Lion? I've been listening to them religiously (hurr), they're a genuinely good Christian rock band - or they were until their frontman lost religion, found alcoholism and started releasing excellent solo stuff. What are your plans for the holidays?

Fantastic! I really hope he makes his way down to Melbourne at some point - it's disheartening reading about all the awesome live shows he's played in places that aren't Australia. If he does so over my exam period I will scream, but probably go see him anyway. How's your degree going? Still interested in teaching young folk? (Sorry about taking so long to reply, by the way! I haven't forgotten you; it's just that it's been pretty hectic over here.)

Udo isn't in Accept anymore, sadly! Which is why I'm not sure I want to go, haha. But I'm sure he's short and wrinkly and wears lots of camo!

As a lowly Creative Writing student (and as a lowly undergrad) I never have too many papers even at the worst of times. However, I do have maths exams. Fair trade? Speaking of hip-hop that mocks its own posturing and silliness, I've been getting into The Melodics recently. They're a Melbourne electronica/hip-hop band; highly worth getting into for the accent alone. You'll probably never see them live, which is unfortunate since their shows are wild and crazy (bubble machines, crowd-surfing superhero-disguised backup dancers, mashups of 99 problems and 99 luftballoons). Is there any Canadian hip-hop you know that I might find amusing? And yes, I'm glad that you conceded a place to posturing and silliness. As much as I like plumbing the obscure depths of hipsterdom, I would hate to forgo characters like Jay-Z or Em entirely.

Hello again! What have you been up to this month? Man, these last weeks have been crazy with uni starting again this year. To counteract the crushing stress of my eleven-hour week (I know, it's like I'm some kind of sweatshop labourer) I have taken up listening to the Bowerbirds. I highly recommend you give them a shot - at the very least they might break up your incredibly depressing band names with a bit of colour. Speaking of depressing, have you read American Psycho? It's like being fed feetfirst into a meat grinder, only the grinder tells you all about 80s fashion and proper skin maintenance before it gets to your head. Right now I'm pretty sure the movie is better, but hey, the book may yet surprise me.

Now I really want to know what it is you have from the internet. RSI? No attention span? A collection of Star Wars action figures? Anyway I broke about four pairs of big headphones before I learnt my lesson and bought earbuds to wear away from home. My huge Sennheisers now live plugged into my computer and they're still getting a bit worn around the jack (you know when you have to twist it a bit to get music coming through both ears). What did you do/are you doing for V-Day? I ate lunch by myself and wrote a essay about love letters: all in all more enjoyable than previous years when I rushed about trying to please a significant other. I'd be interested in knowing at what point you guessed the end of PF (won't spoil it in case you've not finished yet). I only caught on about five pages before the reveal - in retrospect I should have been suspicious from way earlier.

I may reconsider tumblr then. Right now my thinking is more towards disconnecting from the internet as much as possible; it being a tremendous sponge for all kinds of inspiration and motivation. How are you finding/did you find PF eventually? I'm burning through Kierkegaard's 'Seducer's Diary' at the moment, which is amazing and similar in a couple of respects to PF. Wouldn't want to read too much into that though, as the World's Sexiest Dane has very little in common with crazy old Kinbote. Have you listened to Ghana yet? Also yes, it is a constant source of irritation that last.fm doesn't let you paragraph anything. It makes me feel like a crazy old man on the bus, breathlessly raging about this or that.

Also you should listen to The Anglo-Saxons by TMG. I tell you it's their most fun song ever (and that's counting Monkey Song and Golden Boy). Can't find it on YT but it's on Ghana if you have that album.

Man, I have no idea how tumblr works. There are nested things and pictures and you can comment on them? If I make one you'll be the first to know, but don't hold your breath. I really liked Pale Fire! In fact one of the short stories I'm writing right now is directly inspired (directly ripped-off, if I'm honest) by a line from early on - the one where he corrects himself then says "I'm sorry, there is a very loud amusement park outside my lodgings" or something like that. If that sort of humour doesn't appeal to you then you're not really going to like the general style. I guess you might appreciate the two stories being threaded around each other; the whole Zemblan-king thing and the Kinbote-is-crazy thing. I recently got my hands on Ada or Ardor and that to my mind was harder to get through than Pale Fire, despite the whole rollicking dandy storyline. Have you read that?

So: a brief look at your tumblr tells me you're a fan of Andrej the androgynous model? May interest you to know that he was in my year at high school. We weren't friends, but his growing celebrity was an infrequent topic of conversation around the courtyard. New students had to be convinced that he was male etc. He seemed monumentally self-assured, which I envied. It still surprises me to read articles about him in the paper/see that friends living on the other side of the world are fans of his.

I see you're planning on teaching your students Golding-style. Seriously, though, that is a genuinely benevolent life goal. I'm imagining you more like a cross between Robin Williams and Jack Black in their teacher-roles - you know, taking your class to illegal underground poetry slams and suchlike. Inculcating in them the value of rebellion without a cause coupled with appreciation for great art. Right now my life is divided between slogging through maths in a uni summer subject (for you that would be a winter subject) and mainlining Supernatural until I fall asleep. Who knows where I could be now if I'd had an appropriately charismatic teacher? Famous, probably.

Fair enough about the summers and salary, but I guess you'd need to like children to be a good teacher. I assume you can at least bear them. Also, have you heard Damn These Vampires yet? It's the first track off All Eternals Deck, free for download as of about twelve hours ago (http://stereogum.com/620041/the-mountain-goats-damn-these-vampires-stereogum-premiere/mp3s/). It is absolutely incredible and I cannot wait to listen to the rest of the album. Think rich harmonies, sparse and cutting lyrics and a heavy drumbeat: basically everything I thought was missing in TLOTWTC.

An allergy to the academy? I'd like to know what exactly you dislike about it; there are so many horror stories about working in academia or grad school that it's hard to know what to believe. If you're teaching English overseas it'll be in non-English speaking countries, right? Otherwise you could try and wrap yourself around the Australian flattened vowels.

Speaking of JD: I have been pronouncing his name "darneyelle" all this time when it's actually"dar-kneel"! For someone with ~800 plays in the past year that is a bit sad. But yeah, the problem with a Creative Writing major is that it spills into every area of my course - I'll find myself writing during essential maths or Philosophy lectures. You want to indoctrinate the tender youth? As a tender youth myself (or near enough), I approve. Would you be molding their putty-like minds into your own image in uni or high school or what? Tell me you're not becoming a kindergarten teacher.

I have constructed a makeshift snow cave out of blankets and couch cushions to weather the Australian summer. Inside I have a spiral ring notebook (to note down the many reasons to freeze to death) and a selection of early Mountain Goats albums. Have you heard The Hound Chronicles? It is almost exactly like looking at baby photos of your significant other. Still pursuing my Phil/Creative Writing double major at uni, though. What have you been doing?

Have you listened to Darnielle's collaboration with Kaki King? The song Black Pear Tree is quiet and oh so beautiful, and Kaki King singing like JD is disconcertingly awesome. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J6G5I3XgXE

or Tattoo! though if Satyr was the one doing it, I suppose it wouldn't be so bad -shifts wildly-

so I was just looking at the lyrics for Fuel For Hatred, and I just thought you should know that this is an actual line from the song: "I wish you slow death/slow death by grinding". I just... death by grinding?!

YOU AND I BOTH KNOW HE'S ON A LADY GAGA KICK THESE DAYS

SUUURE HE DOES

THAT'S WHAT THEY ALL SAY (and thanks!)

haha, Bruce Springsteen?! goodness! also, let me know when you get your Destroyer 666 ticket!

oh hey!

YOU KNOW IT

OH WOW, THE COOLEST OF THE COOL

done! >:)

hahahahahaha amazing. i think you got it spot on. i must illustrate this.

hahahahahahaha OR either of our "overall" top ten tom waits, bruce springsteen, morrissey, fenriz, and matt pike would make my brain explode for sure

I APPROVE ace taste

hmph! and oh man, so badass. I AM THE WORKING CLASSS! ALL DAY, SO I DON'T HAVE TO SEE YOUR FACE!

>:) and too late D: i was probably reading my Shostakovich book, alas. also, i approve of all this Darkthrone >:)

PAAAANAMAAA! PAAANAMAA-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH! and oh god D:

fuck yeah. and i'm a real man, obviously.

beer, bitches, n' corn nuts. (i figured GN'R-style abbreviation was necessary -shift shift)

it is a very scary zone! also: "i don't need pyjamas. i sleep covered in CHICKS."