I didn't think I could get addicted to pop albums any more. Not that I didn't want to. And not that I thought I'd grown out of them or anything. There was a time when The Divine Comedy's Casanova was so good that I had to limit myself to one listen per day. Like I would seriously consider just playing it through again. Everyone knows that an album you love can't bear that kind of scrutiny. It can be done, but not with an album you consciously love. Like, if you're driving to Newcastle and your manager, say, insists on playing Scissor Sisters on a loop, you might find the experience quite good. If you secretly love your manager, or if you're driving to play in your first sold-out arena pop concert. But generally, as a rule, you need a good night's dreaming as a buffer between one listening of an album and the next. And it's been a while, but I've found an album that makes me consider playing it twice in a day. That album is Mezmerize by System of a Down.

The first barrier is, of course, the Rock barrier. You know what I mean. Hip Hop has one. Jazz has one. Anybody who cannot break the Rock barrier is frankly a phillistine, just like anybody who dismisses all Opera or all Funk. Genre is a nebulous thing anyway. Somebody who dismisses all Rock lives in the same teepee as the one who only listens to Garth Brooks. And nobody wants to live in that teepee.

The second barrier to enjoying mezmerize is probably the silliness. It's a very silly album, and you'd be forgiven for dismissing it at this point. For example:

"It's the violent pornogrpahy!
Choking chicks and SODOMY!
The kinda shit you get on your TV!"

What are they trying to say? It's, like, they're being, like, shocking, but really they're, like, criticizing culture.

And there's the hook barrier of 2 or 3 listens before the catchy tunes take hold.

But then there are wonders and mountains and buzzards and hot rhythmic houries. Not really a fit subject for my blog which is better suited to describing the more profane moments of art.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is excellent. I've been catching it on Channel 4. While you're watching it it almost feels like a straightforward drama like House or Ally Mcbeal. But it's so well constructed and jam-packed, it carries on in your head after you switch it off. My favourite part is how there's a clock ticking down the hours until the next episode that Chandler off of Friends has to script and he gets bugged by reporters and personal life troubles and stuff but he still manages to win through. If you want to be a writer, that's a good thing to see on telly.

Like the West Wing, it's all about the triumph. Catastrophes happen, but there's no bleak endings and the bad guys never do more than cause a spot of bother. The good guys pull together with their spunk and some brand of democratic american values get promoted. It should be sickening, but the writing is so first rate, and the viewer is never spoken down to. We frequently have to rewind the tape cos we crunch crisps or speak over some snappy punchline or smug quip. You wouldn't do that with an episode of Will and Grace. But in Studio 60, the writers don't telegraph and repeat every single revelation, so you have to keep up and if you do you are rewarded with a very good story.

Lastly, I just finished Heartbreak Soup by Gilbert Hernandez, but I'm all out of hyperbole. I'm sure it's had plenty of praise already. But the world is a good place for it. All these things, in fact. Mezmerize, Studio 60, Heartbreak Soup. These are all reasons why the world is a wonderful place. These and half a bottle of wine.