As far as autobiographies go, Eminem's The Way I Am makes for a pretty good paperweight.

So I might have read Twilight.

Okay, I couldn't put it down and I'm not exactly sure why because the writing is atrocious. I could find excuses -- I was sick last weekend, I regretted having prematurely scoffed at Harry Potter -- but something about this book is appealing even when it shouldn't be.

Maybe it's the fact that I'm listening to it on my computer and not, say, in a car, that makes it feel less than real. After all, we've been here before: (alleged) tracks from the mythic, Sasquatch-like Chinese Democracy leaked last year, and we downloaded them, tentatively, straining to hear some sort of genetic connection to the Guns N' Roses we all remember and romanticize.

Ever since Freelance Hellraiser got the Internet's nutz in a twist with 2001's "A Stroke of Genius" -- a seamless mash-up of the Strokes' "Hard to Explain" and Christina Aguilera's "Genie in a Bottle" -- the ultimate, 21st Century tribute to the It rock band of the year has been an endless barrage of (mostly) unauthorized mash-ups, remixes, covers, and alternate ve

In anticipation of this week's episode of Gossip Girl, I spent a few minutes surfing its music channel on YouTube, where the featured songs of each episode are posted along with a short description of the various scenes (e.g. "Chuck and Nate lounge in grass").

Dear Mr. Wahlberg:

This weekend I watched Feist’s "1234" video at least 15 times.

Oliver Stone’s W is like a greatest hits album: You’re primed to respond to it because you’ve heard it all before, and mostly loved it. But, like a greatest hits album, there are no surprises. Which is the biggest surprise about Stone's latest political diatribe.

1. Still touring in support of New Wave, the best album of 2007, the Gainesville-based punks showed no signs of tiring, playing as if this were the first gig in their hometown after a six-year absence.

As I enter my mid-20s, weekends marked off for weddings become more and more frequent. In the past two weeks, I've traveled to Vermont and Memphis to see my cousin and brother (respectively) tie the knot. And at least four friends of mine attended other weddings over these same two weekends.