The songs that are stuck in my head are now quite high-caliber.

• "Another Day," Jaga Jazzist


• "Love Will Destroy Us In The End," Hefner


• "Step Into My Office, Baby," Belle & Sebastian


• "Nothing Much To Lose," My Bloody Valentine


• "The City," the Dismemberment Plan


• "French Film Blurred," Wire


• "Miss You," the Rolling Stones

Thank God that Clear Channel lost the contract to run the radio station that is broadcasting thoughts into my head.

DEAR GOD MAKE THE BLANKS GO AWAY

I warnt all y'all.

Once again I have plagiarized popular music for my blanks. This time the music I have plagiarized was written in English. Therefore I have not provided the names of the original artists. If you can do so, I will give you a cookie. If you can do so but your blank answers suck, it will be a Hydrox.

Let's go:

• Rich will _______ and _______ his play. He might forget _______, but this is what it said: "_______."


• If you're looking for me, I'll be ________, with the _______ in my pocket, _______ into the sea.


• It really, really could _______. When the days _______, just _______.


• I can't even explain. I'm _______, and it doesn't even fit me. Write my own name? Someone else may have _______.


• You disappeared, your _______. _______'s not that far away. It could be _______.


• _______ at night to paint the house _______.


• We could talk ourselves into ______ before anyone realized _______.


• Just like a _______, so many ways to set me _______.


• The cop's walkie-talkie squawks: "_______!" We've got to _______ -- it looks like that broker _______.

VOTED

I went down to the Hennepin County Government Center and voted today. Glad to get that out of the way. Finally I can recede back into the general American morass of know-nothing political apathy, and not a moment too soon.

My respite is only momentary. I'm skipping school on Election Day, like a lot of people 'round here, to participate in efforts to keep the Republicans from hijacking the electoral process and disenfranchising minorities, college kids, and the poor.

I've worked as a pollwatcher in the past, during the last presidential election. My posting schedule is so erratic that you can probably see my posts about that somewhere down this very page. This time, though, I actually get to do something that may count. See, every political party is entitled to post an official "Challenger" at every polling place in Minnesota. The Republicans are going to use the opportunity to try to knock out every registered voter who even looks vaguely like an Obama supporter the second they show up at the polls. The DFL meanwhile is going to make sure that everyone who has the right to vote gets to use it.

They haven't told me where they're sending me yet. Fingers crossed for Thief River Falls.

STUCK IN HEAD. FOR A WEEK. ME NO SLEEP. ME NO REST.

The songs stuck in my head lately have been of a slightly higher caliber (on average).

• "Mindreader," Sebadoh


• "Bad Song," James Kochalka Superstar


• "Heart of Glass," Blondie


• "Blitzkrieg Bop," the Ramones


• "Kiss Me Deadly," Lita Ford


• "Got Your Money," Old Dirty Bastard feat. Kelis


• "Build Me Up Buttercup," the Foundations / "I'm Going To Buy You A Gun," Dismemberment Plan (medley)


• "Echo's Answer," Broadcast


• "Big Brother," David Bowie


• "Love Lift Us Up Where We Belong," Kenny Loggins and Kim Carnes (?)

More blanks.

• OH COME ON, THAT'S TOO EASY. I'm not even going to bother subverting _______ of the original _______.


• Having someone jump off of Gtalk the moment you message them is the new _______.


• Being _______ about the implications of the above is the old _______.


• Have you ever tried _______ for a _______ fan? It's especially difficult when your _______ is full of _______ alienation and anomie.

Custom blanks on a bizarre theme.

• Post-coffee Dr. Pepper is the new _______.


• "_______," said the Doctor. "Unfortunately, we can't afford to be caught testing the new formula out on humans."


• Staring into the _______ of the stock photograph of cold black coffee, I had an epiphany: Skunks are really _______.


• With the _______'s beady, purple eyes staring back at me, I had no choice. _______ in hand, I raced to the vending machine.

I will keep writing blanks until they get filled in.

These blanks are based on translations of German rock lyrics.

• I am the _______ of forgiving and forgetting. Schwermut Forest, "Gästecouch"


• From my window, it starts to move: A new day ______. Another day on which I must get up, in order to __________. Blumfeld, "Draußen auf Kaution"


• I speak no _______ to the end. I hear _______ the way they are pronounced. What I have left to say would _______ a cigarette factory. Brüllen, "Laufe Blau"


• Destroyed. Destroyed. Please, think about _______. Destroyed. Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft, "Alles ist Gut"


• You are arrogant and ignorant. I find that _____. Stereo Total, "Ich liebe dich, Alexander"


• And between between two _______ or two or three shots please, four shots, three four. Kante, "Einigen wir uns auf die Zukunft"

I have more of these. Just test me.

-_____ is the new recording a mixtape for _______ who will never _____.
-"The _____," they called him. Probably ______.
-The Harmon Doctrine in its limited historical context was not a _____.
-I'm working on a new nonfiction coffee table book that compiles the pet peeves and bad habits of important historical figures. I worry that it won't really help to further humanize _____ when people find out that _____.

Is it a blanks game if nobody fills them in?

• I don't think we should be so quick to _______. I mean, I'm not seeing a _____ here!


• There is no other way to _______ the way I ________ it. I _____ so much you thought I _____.


• Before he died, he drew an arrow on ________, connecting _________ to ________. That proves __________.


• I would have forgotten how it all came to this, but instead I am finally _____.


• No, _________, no! Not on the _________!

Another one of these high-mental-rotation top tens

These are the songs that have been stuck in my head for the past seven days. No particular order.

• "Peg," Steely Dan


• "No Scrubs," TLC


• "Fuck and Run," Liz Phair


• "Take It To The Limit," The Eagles


• "Rock'n Me," Steve Miller Band


• "Taking Care of Business," Bachman-Turner Overdrive


• "Waiting for the Man," David Bowie or possibly Lou Reed doing a David Bowie impression


• "Are You Gonna Be My Girl?" Jet


• "Cup and Saucer," Bent Leg Fatima*

So now it's your turn.

___________________
*Technically this isn't caught in my head; the drum break in the middle is the rhythm I default to when I grind my teeth.