And the rest of it...

I think three posts in an hour is a record even for me.

This is the last one before I go off and watch tonight's VM and House and last night's Heroes if I have time before getting ready for work. (I slept 7 p.m.-2 a.m., so I'm not depriving myself of sleep; tonight I'll be tired enough to go to bed at a normal hour. Yay.)

Okay. Music, books, and American Idol. That's what I'm going to talk about.

I am totally loving my "work doldrums" playlist. I said I'd list all the songs, but I didn't realize at the time that there are actually 150. So periodically over the next little while, I'll just pull a few and rec them. This is the perfect work playlist, though, 'cause I'll go from "Heaven is a Place on Earth" to "Hazy Shade of Winter" (my favorite Bangles song and the best part of Less Than Zero) to "Bye Bye Bye" (yes, I am a closet N*Sync fan) to "Promiscuous Girl" (I can't help it; Timbaland and Nelly Furtado are so catchy) to stuff from the Barenaked Ladies, Joshua Radin, Aha, The Killers, Death Cab for Cutie, Dashboard Confessional, Journey ("Don't Stop Believin'" will forever be a favorite song), Yellowcard, etc., etc.

So here's my first random five-song recommendation:

1. "Hands Down" (Dashboard Confessional): It's hard to pick just one favorite from Dashboard Confessional song, as I indicated earlier this week, but I swear, this may be my favorite. I've always liked the song anyway, but apparently I'd ended up with the acoustic version of the song somewhere along the way and when I downloaded the torrent of DC's discography, I got the right version. I LOVE it. And how have I gone so long without realizing just why it's called "Hands Down?"

One of my favorite stanzas of any song: Hands down, this is the best day I can ever remember; I'll always remember the sound of the stereo, the dim of the soft lights, the scent of your hair that you twirled in your fingers and the time on the clock when we realized it's so late and this walk that we shared together; The streets were wet and the gate was locked so I jumped it and let you in; And you stood at your door with your hands on my waist and you kissed me like you meant it, and I knew that you meant it...

2. "Someone to Love" (Fountains of Wayne): I won't reiterate how fun and catchy and clever Fountains of Wayne's stuff is, but even if you don't remember the song on the radio or the MTV video with Rachel Hunter playing "Stacy's Mom," chances are you've seen the Dr Pepper commercial...plus, if you're a Scrubs fan, you've heard lots of their stuff. But this is the first single from their latest CD, and it is so awesome.

Such a cool video to SUCH A COOL SONG. (And why yes, caps are warranted in this situation...) I may name my next pet Seth Shapiro.

Okay I'm taking up way too much space here. The remaining three will be short, sweet, and to the point. Just trust that they're awesome.

3. "But It's Better if You Do" (Panic! at the Disco): In addition to being awesome, the fact that they can work in the line "smirking between sips of his dignified peach and lime daiquiri" and make it totally work is genius. Plus it's a catchy song.

4. "It's Gonna Be Me" (N*Sync): I know I risk ridicule here, but I can't help it. I love N*Sync. They can always make me grin and bop my head along like a maniac. Perfect up-beat music to get your day started off right. I'd also go with anything from the Pop CD...

5. "Worn Me Down" (Rachel Yamagata): First heard this song -- and Rachel Yamagata -- at the beginning of Season 2 of The OC. It is a fantastic song, and Yamagata has an awesome voice. It's definitely a song that you must listen to more than once, and once you've learned the lyrics, you can't not sing along.

There you have it. Moving right along to my Amazon obsession.

I put in a huge order today. One of my favorite things about Amazon is their pre-order option. Not only will they not charge you till they ship your item, but often times -- at least with books -- as the release date gets closer, the price will drop dramatically. And if you've pre-ordered, even if it was the higher price at the time, you'll get the lower price.

So keeping that in mind, I've got two shipments coming. One on June 19 and one on October 16.

The first is, of course, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It's guaranteed to arrive on the date it's released or it's free, and that way I won't have to brave the crowds that amass at Barnes and Noble and Borders the night before. I simply cannot wait to get this, although I'm a bit sad as well because no more Harry...

The second includes the following:

Nicholas Sparks' new book, whose title I can't remember at the moment; Jennifer Weiner's new book, Certain Girls; another copy of the novel Speak, because I'm seriously giving them to everyone I know; a copy of the actual DVD since right now I've got an illegal a copy of the Netflix DVD; Laurie Halse Anderson's follow-up to Speak, called Catalyst, which has also received quite a lot of critical acclaim.

Even though the last three items are already available, I don't need them right away, and I don't mind waiting till they all ship together in October. That way I don't have to pay for them till then.

In short? Amazon is awesome.

Finally, American Idol.

I don't normally post too much about AI. I didn't start watching till last year, and honestly, I couldn't stand the show by the end. I couldn't stand Taylor Hicks, either. I thought he started out as a charming, unique contestant at the beginning, but by the end, he'd morphed into an annoying, gimmicky cariacature of himself. It is oddly satisfying (in a mean way, I know) that he won the entire thing, and yet Katharine's and especially Chris Daughtry's CDs are blowing Taylor's out of the water.

Anyway, this is the first season where I wouldn't care who among the remaining four won. I like them all, although if I had to pick, Blake's my least favorite. Not from a talent perspective, 'cause he's definitely talented (tonight's Bee Gees night does not count), but because after I read the EW cover story of the contestants, he just seems kind of arrogant and not a team player. He actually has broken curfew several times and implied the whole "what are they going to do, fire me?" attitude that is so utterly annoying.

I love Melinda, and Jordin is close on her heels. I think LaKisha will go home tomorrow night, but I really can't decide who the top two are going to be. My parents think it's going to be Jordin and Blake because of the massive amount of young people who watch and vote, but there are a lot of adults, too, and I think that Melinda and Jordin seem to be the two who might mean more of a commercial success.

Either way, it's not like the other two aren't going to get recording deals as well.

So like I said, I'm fine with whoever ends up as the last two.

Okay now I'm really done. Off to catch up on VM, Heroes, and House. I'll probably wait till after LOST and do more TV posting and less spill-my-guts type stuff for the rest of the week.