2 + 2 = 5

1 and 2) "Hamburg" (one of the 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould [Girard, 1993]) and Beethoven's "Allegro Molto from Sonata No. 13 in E-Flat Major" played by Glenn Gould.
Glenn Gould (as played by Colm Feore) paces his hotel room as a chambermaid cleans it. There's a knock at the door, Gould answers it, accepts a package, opens it and finds one of his new recordings. He slips the vinyl onto the record player and an excerpt from Ludwig Van begins playing. It's unbelievably complex music-- so complex and technical that it's surprising how much emotion radiates from it. The chambermaid stops cleaning and begins zoning out to the music. Gould, fingers in the air, plays along. The maid is getting choked up, tears begin forming in her eyes. And then the music ends. "Dank schoen," the maid whispers. Cut to black.
Perfection.

3) The Inner Circle by T.C. Boyle.

It's odd, I realize that Boyle might just going through the motions on this one (coming-of-age blah blah blah, exploring sexual mores and the nature of love blah blah blah), but the (fictional) exploits of John Milk, research assistant to one Dr. Alfred Kinsey, are hugely entertaining and engrossing.

4) Roger Ebert's review of Muppets Take Manhattan.
One of the perks of the newly opened RogerEbert.com is the ability to read reviews that date back as far as 1967. This also means I am now able to link to one of my all time favorite pieces of film crit. Yes indeed, read in amazement as a smart, fully functioning adult male composes a letter to Kermit the Frog and publishes it. Oh Ebs.

5) "Champagne Supernova" by Oasis.

Got in my car to drive to lunch today, the radio was on Indie 103.1. Wilco's "She's a Jar" finished and Oasis' "Champagne Supernova" came on. I hadn't heard the song in years, but I found myself cranking it and singing along to every word. Bombastic, lager-soaked pop doesn't get much better than that.