I guess I'll blog about music since it's really the only thing I can write about easily. This album by the PMG is their latest, and easily their most unusual: it's one song in four parts, and it manages, in 65 minutes, to encapsulate everything I love about the Pat Metheny Group. First, there's no real concession to what's popular. This is a musical journey with musical cues. If rhythm, tempo, dynamics, and melody provide enough stimulus to compel you through a song, then check this out. 2nd, the group really plays well together. Pat always assembles a great team of musicians to record with, and this version of the PMG is no exception--they all add their own distinctive personalities to the composition. Third, live it really worked well. When I saw them at the Universal amphitheater earlier this year, they played the entire piece from start to finish in one long breath that just completely stunned the audience. Even hard-core Metheney group fans, of which I am one, had never seen anything like it. They followed that with 2 more hours of choice PMG material. Really, just one of the best concerts I've ever witnessed. So 2005 was pretty much a PMG year for me. But I also listened to a lot of Todd Rundgren. Start with Runt and work your way through till Nearly Human, and you'll have experienced a bizarre and brilliant body of work.