I Am Very Jealous of John Darnielle Because

1. Even if I were to drop everything, suddenly become a talented songwriter and engaging performer and devoted every waking hour of the rest of my life to this new facet, I would never have half the albums as he does. According to wikipedia, there are 43 separate Albums, ep's and collections by The Mountain Goats, of which Darnielle is often the sole member.
2. His blog lastplanetojakarta.com is better than any music blog I could ever write, because it is better than anybody's.
3. I was just on campus, walking back from getting my computer account set up so I can use their delicious hi-speed wi-fi while listening to Master of Reality on the iPod, watching boys and girls all twitchy and pimply, dressed in the gambit between full winter gear and shorts, as is the custom in Louisiana in the "season" the rest of you call "fall." I was thinking that Ozzy Osbourne might be the perfect male rock vocalist, all double-tracked and anguished (not the most talented, but perfect.) I was thinking that the swell of youth was cascading around me in sync with the lugubrious sloshing black tide of "Children of the Grave." I was thinking I should write something about Black Sabbath, like something big and meaningful about them, or around them or something. I thought, when I get back to my computer, once I get this new online account working, I'll start on it, just 300 words to get it seeded. Instead, I set up the account and perused my RSS feeds to see that John Darnielle just wrote a book about Black Sabbath's Master of Reality for 33 1/3.
4. This doesn't really make me jealous, nor does any of the above, really: The new Mountain Goats album Heretic Pride is really, really good.