don't think

To Don't List Memo Pad
$5.00
Our busy lives are filled with optimistic compendiums of things to do. But in reality, these ambitious task lists will fall prey to human impulses of avoidance, delay, shirking, and sabotage. By being honest with yourself from the get-go, youll never be disappointed! Each pad measures a substantial 6 x 9 inches, 60 pages, 80-pound uncoated text stock with chipboard backing and adhesive binding.

Don't Even Think About It - pillow
$19.99

Don't You Know Who I Think I Was? - The Best of the Replacements
$18.98
The first question any record geek worth his collection of rare, OOP picture sleeve singles asks about another compilation -- particularly one of a former indie cult band gone major -- is "who's it for, anyway?" Fans, who have all the original LP's, EP's and 7"'s? Or newbies, who must be tired of all the old guys telling them how great the 'Mats were "back in the day"? Since Don't You Know Who I Think I Was? (hereafter DYKWITIW?) contains no B-sides or other rarities -- beyond the two "new" 'Mats tracks, the engaging-but-slight "Message to the Boys" and "Pool and Dive" -- it's fair to assume this comp is for the kids.

As a Warner Music imprint, Rhino may not have wanted to weight this latest collection too heavily in favor of the Twin-Tone material. (Sire/Reprise's 1997 compilation All For Nothing/Nothing For All included no Twin-Tone tracks at all, and so provided a grievously incomplete summary of the band's work. On the other hand, the second disc, containing B-sides and other rarities, was worth the cost of the whole thing.) So the final score: eight (8) from the Twin-Tone years; ten (10) from the Sire/Reprise albums; two (2) new 'Mats tracks. As someone who got his introduction to the band in 1984 with Let It Be (and then promptly bought the first three Twin-Tone records -- Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash; Stink EP; and Hootenanny), I'll always be partial to the TT releases.

At 65 minutes, DYKWITIW? is a little light on the 1980-84 records: Rhino could have included "Johnny's Gonna Die" from Sorry Ma, and both "Androgynous" and "Sixteen Blue" from Let It Be. If the idea is to let younger fans know why the Replacements were one of the great indie/alternative bands of the '80's, it would have made sense to cull all the best tracks from the albums that made their reputation before they made the jump to Sire/Reprise. And while Paul Westerberg's songwriting was always the weapon that set the band apart from the other entrants in the "hard, fast, loud" competition, it might have been nice -- if only to show the extent to which Westerberg and Co. were indebted to 1970's AM and FM radio for their sound -- to incorporate the band's approach to covers. (Notable contenders: Kiss's "Black Diamond," T.Rex's "20th Century Boy," and the Grass Roots's "Temptation Eyes," the latter of which is available on several "unauthorized" releases.) But obviously, a single-disc collection couldn't accommodate every aspect of the band's work.

So maybe the Replacements, even with a relatively manageable recorded output, are just too big to be summarized in a single compact disc. A better solution, although more expensive for all involved, would be a double-disc collection, with the best of the Twin-Tone years (including rarities like "If Only You Were Lonely," "Nowhere Is My Home," and the early version of "Can't Hardly Wait") on the first disc, and the Sire/Reprise material on the second (make sure to save space for their cover of the Only Ones's "Another Girl, Another Planet").

Overall, DYKWITIW? gets 3 1/2 stars. It's a reasonable, if not terribly generous, collection of the Replacements' best tracks, and provides a decent introduction to a band whose reputation has taken an unfortunate nosedive in the last decade or so (probably due to all the mediocre Paul Westerberg solo albums, but that's another rant for another review). If you're a 40-something for whom the 'Mats were an important part of your college and post-college years, and you want to do that precocious teen or college-age kid a favor, get him a copy of Let It Be, followed by Sorry Ma and Tim.

Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate--The Essential Guide for Progressives
$10.00
This book is important and insightful, but Lakoff's most recent book (as of late 2009), "The Political Mind: A Cognitive Scientist's Guide to Your Brain and Its Politics", is even better, because it incorporates more recent research.

In "Don't Think of an Elephant", Lakoff emphasizes that our political views are shaped more by metaphors than by facts. In particular, he emphasizes our metaphor of the nation as a family. He describes a strict father model of the family used by conservatives, and a nurturant family model used by liberals. Lakoff also conveys the importance of framing political arguments properly. He argues that conservative politicians were successful at the time the book was written because conservatives framed their policies in appealing ways, while liberals relied on logic and facts that voters often ignored.

"Don't Think of an Elephant" does have a few weak points. It is rather repetitive and it gives less scientific evidence for the author's views than some of his longer books. In my opinion, it also exaggerates the importance of the metaphor of the nation as a family. Lakoff's more recent book "The Political Mind: A Cognitive Scientist's Guide to Your Brain and Its Politics" takes advantage of research conducted after "Don't Think of an Elephant" was written, and places the family metaphor in its proper context.