I don't know about you, but I haven't even started my holiday shopping yet!

So as we sit here, a scant two weeks before the world shuts down for Christmas, I'm making a list, checking it twice, and am completely oblivious to whatever new releases the collective record industry has decided I'm probably inclined to buy!

For starters? I'd like the albums to be audible! Additionally, throwing a pretty girl on the album cover is probably a pretty slick move! And if I can buy anything—say a pricey box set or something—that will gladden the heart of my intended giftee, remind them of their joyful past, and perhaps distract them from the unpleasant reality that their life, and those of those artists they once so vigorously loved, is gradually coming to a close—like, how cool is that?

Plus it should be really cheap and easy to return if they think the music sucks! Maybe they can use the money for a 401K or something!

I understand Taylor Swift is quite popular!

Bruno Mars: Unorthodox Jukebox

There's a particular time of the year when I feel completely at one with today's pop music audience--and sure enough, as always, it was this weekend, as I joyously watched the exciting American Music Awards!

For starters, the dominating presence of rock god Justin Bieber--the colorful youngster who has won America's hearts and minds thanks to his marvelous pop sense, his intriguing tattoos, and his righteous anger at, in his words, "all the haters who thought I'd be around for 1, 2 years"—won big! Bieber wisely realizes he's got perhaps three years and six months before he vanishes off the face of the Earth, so he's got a right to gloat at those who suspect him to be nothing more than a passing fancy! And how about that hair?

Other winners included Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, Usher, Linkin Park, Carly Rae Jepsen and…oh, crap, I lost that link to Hollywoodlife.com that listed all the winners and allowed journalists who'd rather watch reruns of Luther to pretend they actually watched the AMAs and had valid opinions!

In other news, journalists trapped on a nightmarish 7-day jaunt with pop goddess Rihanna are said to be drunken, filled with hate, and virtually gleeful that they didn't have to talk to her! "I'm not sure what she really does," reported one writer during a Skype interview minutes before passing out on an airline tray filled with caviar, flutes of champagne, and his journalistic ethics! "Hey, can I Tweet this?"

Rihanna: Unapologetic (Def Jam) All eyes are on Rihanna right now, as they certainly should be, following the legal troubles that have ensued since her recent "Last Girl On Earth" tour—after which it was revealed that, in fact, there were several more girls on Earth

It struck me the other day as I was reading Waging Heavy Peace, the fabulous new book by Neil Young, that only a book by Neil Young—obviously put together by the man himself, with little help from editors or other humans—would not only devote a significant passage to the merits of shopping at Costco, but also of his quest to buy new heads for his electric toothbrush, which, not incidentally, he considers quite fabulous.

My own copy of the book, coincidentally, was also purchased at Costco—at a fine price, I might add!—where I'd also return the next week to buy the new book by Pete Townshend. Also written by the man himself, with little outside assistance.

That I would purchase both books quite willingly, and with my own money, I found interesting. Though I regularly read e-books via my Kindle, in both cases here I wanted to buy the physical product—the tome, the pages, the cover picture, etc.—mostly because in late 2012, when record albums are likely as not wave, flac or MP3 files

Apologies to those who sought out this blog and noticed it missing last week: I forgot to write it!

But for those who keep track, I probably would've said nice things about the latest album by Jamey Johnson, paid half-hearted lip service to Benjamin Gibbard's newest, yawned at the Ben Harper compilation, made a joke that would involve driving on the 405 freeway about Brandy's new album, completely tore into Scotty McCreery's Christmas disc, wondered aloud what the new albums by Mika and A Fine Frenzy sound like, since their labels don't seem to want to promote them, and devoted a witless, large paragraph to the new set by Bobby V in which I would mistakenly pretend he was the early '60s pop singer and give it a rave review!

For kicks, I would end it all by asking you to follow me on Twitter!

These things don't write themselves, but sometimes they get awfully close!

Taylor Swift: Red (Big Machine)  I have two things to say about Taylor Swift! Just saw her in Las Vegas at the iHeartRadio Festival and, watching her image on the televised stage feed, was struck by the absolute certainty that this is one babe who has spent way too much