#90 Elephant

Some complain that the new White Stripes album is more of the same, but I think their fourth album is better described by the cliché if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Cleaner, more polished production adds an amped-up, super-sonic feel to their new dirty rock ditties. The White Stripes are one of the most exciting combos to emerge since rock and roll was declared dead. Their solid new album proves that their success is not a fluke. I hope they don't let it go to their heads.

#89 Lucky Wander Boy

D.B. Weiss's debut novel may be the first fictional written work devoted to video games. The book follows Adam Pennyman, an aimless twenty-something working a thankless dot-com job, on his quest to find the titular (fictional) game. The book is interspersed with essays that dig for metaphysical and personal meaning in arcade classics such as Donkey Kong and Double Dragon. Lucky Wander Boy takes a long, unflinching look into the geeky hearts of gamers. The secrets Weiss uncovers aren't always pretty.

Read an excerpt here.

#88 Vacations

My fiance and I just returned from a weeklong trip to Puerto Rico. Despite record rains, biting insects and a dearth of vegetarian-friendly foods we had a great time. We visited Old San Juan, El Yunque. We swam in the warm waters of the Caribbean and fell asleep every night to the song of the coqui. Alexis and I both fell in love with Lucero, a sickly goat on my father's plantation property. The poor little guy was half the size of his sisters and just didn't feel like eating solid food.