It’s been a slow week here at Let Them Eat Vinyl. Our apologies. The Finn is recovering from his prog odyssey, which kept him out until the wee hours of the morning on Sunday. I think he is still collecting his thoughts on the experience. As for me, my day job in magazine publishing works in a cyclical manner, with some weeks being supremely busy. This is one of those weeks, especially since we are putting out two issues at once. So unfortunately, you will have to live without my astute and engaging commentary for the time being. I know, it’s sad. You miss me. I miss you too. Don’t worry though, I’ll be back before you know it.

In the meantime, here is a song for you that I’ve been listening to a lot over the past few days. The Bangles are of course known for hits such as ‘Eternal Flame’ ‘Manic Monday’ and ‘Walk Like an Egyptian’ but I love this short and sweet little tune of theirs, ‘James’. Not only is James one of my favorite names, there is just something super adorable about the way Susanna Hoffs sings this song about an unreliable boy breaking her heart. I think every girl out there has had at least one guy like this in her past (sometimes more than one, ahem). That is, the type of guy who is a total flake but you put up with it because they are super hot, or whatever. You just love them even though you know they’re going to end up letting you down. And when they invariably do, you really only have yourself to blame, for getting involved in the first place. It’s a lesson that every girl must learn — and most of us, if we are lucky, learn it fairly young. With this type of boy, you have to just enjoy the ride and not take things too seriously. You can’t lose your head and start thinking you can change him — that only leads to tears and frustration. Sometimes wisdom is knowing when to walk away. I like how this song captures all of that, while at the same time being pleasingly upbeat and poppy.

Also, I think we need to take a moment to acknowledge the insane hotness of Susanna Hoffs. Seriously, you guys. So ridiculously beautiful. I love her.

So here’s my Song of the Day, ‘James’:

So, here’s the deal. There’s this awesome new scripted show on MTV (I know, right? I totally thought they were only doing reality shows now) called Awkward. I’ve tried to force The Finn to watch it with me, but he’s having none of it, because it’s a “teen” show. For anyone out there who likes that sort of thing (which I’m guessing is not many of you since you’re probably not as lame as I am), find this show online and watch it now, I’m telling you. It’s got a lovably snarky main character (Jenna), awesomely weird friends, plus the requisite super-hot-but-emotionally-distant love interest (Matty) as well as a secondary nice-guy love interest (Matty’s best friend, Jake. Oh yes people, it’s that kind of love triangle. I mean, the Best Friend Love Triangle. This will not end well). At the end of the season finale, our main character is torn between Matty and Jake, but there are some MAJOR swoons going on all over the place and honestly, I don’t even know who I like best. I keep going back and forth. Emotionally Distant Matty is totally…well, emotionally distant, but he is so cute. Witness:

Awwww...are these two meant to be together or what?

Jake, on the other hand, is REALLY nice and totally into Jenna and not making her hide their relationship. So he gets major points for that.

Also cute together...gah! I can't decide!

But Matty and Spencer Jenna really do have the best chemistry, and in the end chemistry trumps all, right? Plus Matty definitely redeems himself big time in one of the final episodes, which has a ‘Sixteen Candles’ theme — obviously one of the best movies of all time, and not only because Molly Ringwald’s character’s name is Samantha (which just so happens to be the given name of yours truly).

Anyway, it was during this episode that I first heard today’s Song of the Day. It’s playing in the background just after Matty knocks on Jenna’s door and proceeds to be totally adorable and emotionally available at last, which we all know is the magical formula for getting into the pants of teenage girls (or probably girls of any age, for that matter).

Yeah...she didn't stand a chance.

So here’s today’s Song of the Day, ‘Jungle’ by Emma Louise: