Cardinology is streaming on iLike for the next 48 hours. Go here to check it out while you can. The official release date is Oct. 28.  Cardinology has a website with more info, including a blog and video. Believe it or not, this is Adams’ first release in more than a year.  That’s got to be some sort of record for Ry.  It’s been getting pretty good reviews too.

A wave of reviews for the new James Bond movie have come out and while most point out the movie was enjoyable and Daniel Craig owns the character, the majority of reviews are disapointing.  Several publications felt the movie was a big letdown after the awesomeness of Casino Royale. The big problem is most felt this was just another day at the office for Bond, just another action flick with little in the way of character development.  The problem was the movie reverted back to the formulations of the franchise instead of pushing through to something grander - the promises offered in the previous movie [Slashfilm]

Talk about flushing all credibility down the toilet.  A list that doesn’t include Michael Jackson’s Thriller or Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane Over the See, but does include several greatest hits compilations and a freakin’ Kid Rock album.  Seriously.  It’s bad enough the entire list is presented as a slideshow to boost pageviews and takes about an hour to get through.  Thanks for that.  Honestly though: I considered not browsing through the list after The Replacement’s Let it Be came in at #98 and then Kid Rock had an album two slots higher.  Idiots know nothings (Including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell is sort of a joke, right?  Blender you do know they’re freakin’ Canadian?!?).  One more caveat, if you will.  Many of there selections were quite good and a person could do worse starting a collection with some of these albums.  However, Madonna’s Greatest Hits is not an album and couldn’t possibly be numero uno even if it were.    [Blender's 100 Greatest American Albums]

Terrance Howard, who was pretty perfectly cast as James Rhodes in Iron Man, has been replaced in the sequel due to financial negotiations.  “Marvel had no comment, but sources close to the deal said negotiations with Howard fell through over financial differences, among other reasons,” the report said.  Don’t be surprised if this is just a negotiating tactic by Marvel to drive Howard’s price down.  However if this is true, as weird as that would be, especially with Rhodes expected to have a larger role possibly as War Machine, Cheadle is the man.  Much more so than Terrance Howard ever could be.  Surprised by this news, but not the least bit sad.  At least they got a great actor to replace Howard and not someone like Ludicrous or someone.  [Hollywood Reporter]

For those that are into music lists, P4K has compiled their notion of the 500 greatest songs into a book.  “Focusing on indie rock (Arcade Fire, the Shins), hip-hop (Public Enemy, Jay-Z), electronic (Daft Punk, Boards of Canada), pop (Madonna, Justin Timberlake), metal (Metallica, Boris), and experimental underground music (Suicide, Boredoms), The Pitchfork 500 features all-new essays and reviews written with the sharp wit bombast and insight annoying juvenile snobbery for which the site is known.”  Pre-order it at Amazon.  And yes, for as much as I quasi-loath P4K, I’ll be picking up this book or at least thumbing threw it at some point.

In a recent mailbag, ESPN’s Bill Simmons provided a long list of the best sports writing he could think of.  At the time of reading it, I thought, geez, wouldn’t it be great if I could compile those together for readers.  This being the internet, if you have the thought and wait a day someone has already beaten you to the punch.  Max from The Millions took Simmons’ list and found many of the articles were available online for your complementary reading pleasure. Authors include Gay Talese, Roger Angell, John Updike, Norman Mailer, Hunter S. Thompson, George Plimton, and David Foster Wallace.  [via Kottke]

YANP had floated the rumor that Neutral Milk Hotel’s Jeff Mangum would be making an appearance for the E6 reunion shows in both Chicago and Kentucky.  And the rumors turned out to be true, sort of.  Stereogum, among others we’re sure, have the details and video evidence of Mangum’s appearance Saturday night in NYC.  It goes without saying that you should probably catch the E6 Holiday Reunion Tour just in case.  For those scratching their heads the easiest way to convey how exciting this is is the tired analogy of Jeff Mangum equals J.D. Salinger.  Though Mangum hasn’t exactly been 100% out of the spotlight, making appearances here or there like Keyser Soze.  A musical spook.  [Stereogum]

The Wall Street Journal, of all places, investigates the graphic novel scene in Europe.  With a short introduction/history and then the meat and potatoes list of who’s who on the scene.  “Germany, Spain, Italy and Scandinavia are home to some excellent graphic novelists, but the most fertile terrain in Europe remains France and Belgium. There, bandes dessinées like Astérix and Tintin have since the 1950s been printed in color and bound in large-format books — giving artists a larger canvas. France’s post-’68 fervor celebrated alternative art forms, including adult comics, published in popular magazines like Pilote and A Suivre.”  [The WSJ]

Mark Sumner, who is better known as the Daily Kos editor Devilstower, has written an excellent history lesson explaining how we arrived at this most recent economic point in this country.  As a history student, it’s always nice to read something that is well researched and well written.  Boiling it down to a nutshell, Sumner argues that the current financial crisis began with the Savings and Loan deregulation in 1982, a bill written largely by Fred Thompson, and continued through a series of economic deregulations that have wreaked havoc on this nation.  [The Nation]

They were the highlight at the All Tomorrow’s Party Festival in New York. Stereogum was on hand with a brief recap, photos and most importantly video highlights. “Outside that original early ’90s context, Loveless live lacks the original energy/danger/forward trajectory and feels a bit like a museum piece. On the other hand, that set-ending noise jam, which also showed up at City Gardens, was more bearable with the foresight for earplugs.” [Stereogum]

Hey everyone. Sorry about the lack of updates and whatnot. Due to some server errors from my hosting company, we’ve pretty much been unable to access the site since Sunday night. Fingers crossed, we’ll be back up and running normal tonight, at least according to them. So be patient and we’re very sorry. I feel like there’s been so much great pop culture and entertainment stuff over the past few days as well. Update: Yup, hosting company still sucks. Or I’m just frustrated. They said the problem was fixed and I started to write some stuff and then my servers went down again and I lost everything. Any readers recommend a reliable hosting company? It’s Thursday and hopefully this update goes through, but I’ve lost a week of writing and all is not well with me right now. Cheers.

Literary icon David Foster Wallace was found dead in his home over the weekend. The author was 46. He was best known for his sprawling novel “Infinite Jest” but will always be near and dear to me for “Brief Interviews with Hideous Men” and “Consider the Lobster.”  Jesus, I shouldn’t be as sad about this as I am.  Some links: Jay McInerney reviews Infinite Jest (1996), DFW on Charlie Rose (1997), NYT Mag profile (1996), DFW profiles David Lynch in Premiere (1996), DFW on John Updike in the New York Observer (1997), first chapter of A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again (1997), interviewed by Gus Van Sant in Dazed & Confused (1998), “Girlfriend Stops Reading David Foster Wallace Breakup Letter At Page 20″ in The Onion (2003), “Consider the Lobster” in Gourmet (2004), Where to go after Infinite Jest? in n+1 (2005), Kenyon Commencement Address (2005), profile of John Ziegler in The Atlantic (2005), Profile of Roger Federer in Play (2006), interview with John Krasinksi about Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (2008), Michiko Kakutani remembers (2008).  Links rounded up by Rex.

It’s generally thought that baseball was first played sometime around 1846 in America, but a recent diary found in Surrey, England written by William Bray may prove that the game of baseball was played in the mother country sometime back in 1755. Ouch. Just when this country couldn’t sink any lower.  If we lose baseball, then I’m moving to Canada, growing a mullet and lacing up the ole hockey skates, ay.  [Sun Herald]