LATEST ADDITIONS

John Atkinson and I spent some time today admiring <a href="http://www.myspace.com/talwilkenfeld">Tal Wilkenfeld</a>'s bass playing. Sheesh. The girl is only 21 years old. Beyond her sheer skill, which is stunning, Wilkenfeld seems to just <i>know how to play</i>. I first caught her on PBS one night while flipping through channels. It was Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival, and she was performing with Jeff Beck. I was surprised to see such a young musician on stage with one of rock's living legends, but I soon discovered that Wilkenfeld was right where she belonged. Seems she <i>always</i> knew. Story goes that Wilkenfeld dropped out of her Sydney, Australia high school when she was only 16. Packed her bags and moved to Los Angeles to become a musician. She's only been playing bass for five years.

The Beeb censored Shane MacGowan's "Fairytale of New York" for its use of a slur.
Sam Leith <A HREF="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml;jsessionid=2CF13YVN1JHF5Q…; that Auntie mistook a slur for a swear-word&mdash;an unforgivable sin in the maidenly world of journalism.

If you're tired of talking to your relatives during this festive season, may I suggest you watch <A HREF="http://www.stardustmovie.com/"><I>Stardust</I></A&gt; together? It came out on DVD last week and <I>The Wire</I> doesn't resume broadcast until January 6. Best of all&mdash;almost nobody in your family has seen it&mdash;unless I've hectored them into seeing it.

Confused about widescreen aspect ratios? I certainly am.<A HREF="http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/lobby.htm">Widescreen Museum</A> sets us straight.

Say what you will about the general state of the music business, good music still pops up from time to time. What was your favorite <I>new</I> release of 2007. No reissues allowed.

Boulder Amplifiers, named after the Colorado town where the company has resided since its founding 23 years ago, makes some of the most elegant-looking solid-state amps around. Chassis are anodized, aircraft-grade aluminum with rounded edges, machined and finished in-house. The two models reviewed here, the 810 line preamplifier and the 860 power amplifier, each have a sleek, compact build&mdash;stacked atop each other, the two stand just over a foot high&mdash;owing to extremely efficient packing of the circuitry inside. These are the company's "entry-level" electronics, but there's nothing cheap about them&mdash;the preamp retails for $6900, the amp for $8500&mdash;and for all their economical size, they <I>look</I> like luxury goods as well.

Simon Yorke is an artist, a machinist, an electronics wiz, and a political idealist. He's also an analog enthusiast who melds aesthetic and technical considerations into eye-catching, densely packed, compact record-playing devices that are ruggedly built and functionally elegant. His turntables' smooth, matte-gray, metallic finishes and efficient lines make them among the most visually pleasing ever made.