File this one under the latter.

The Walkmen’s upcoming album, Heaven, is going to be awesome. How do I know? Because I said so, and because I unknowingly had dinner next to their lead singer only to later miss their show in Jacksonville and because the first single is out and glorious.

If .mp3s to degraded like vinyl, losing digital bits during replay, I’d have to repurchase Lisbon 3 times a year.

In 2006 the same group was purchased by investors for $515 million and later rescued from bankruptcy in 2010 for $139 million.

For comparison’s sake, Draw Something, worth nothing six weeks ago, was just purchased for $200 million.

I don’t need to labor the point, but one of the country’s largest media organizations is worth a quarter the price of an effing Pictionary app. So for you, the powerful media executives who don’t read this blog, another lesson in the ever-shrinking value of content.

So a post this afternoon makes me wonder if the internet is headed for a major change of mind. TC wrote about MediaPass, a paywall management software, and not only avoided bashing newspaper models, but even seemed to accept the idea of more and more content providers going behind the wall.

Shocking, right? Before the NYT paywall* most hated the idea and doomed it to failblog.org. But since the relative success there, and the drumbeat from other newspaper companies, it seems like the model is being accepted by publishers of all sorts, traditional or not.

There’s no denying the success of the micro-payment model, but I guess I had never considered it’s influence in the paywall debate.

*excuse me for using paywall and meter interchangeably, but you know what I mean.

It’s been a helluva few weeks around here. Bad news – lots of it – good people leaving the paper, close friends moving away. A lot of distracting stuff, frankly, and it’s taken it’s toll on me and I know Diana hasn’t been immune.

So last week’s visit by our Ukrainian journalists was a welcome relief. Kevin and I hosted the six of them and it was a wonderful reminder of how much I have grown to love Jacksonville. Nine days, 12 to 14 hours each day and we never worried what to do next. In fact, we had to nix a trip to the zoo and a tour of Everbank Field to fit all of the other awesome stuff in.

The highlights, briefly

• Chicken and waffles at Metro Diner
• Friday night with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra
• Slow drip at Bold Bean Coffee
• Pirate ship ride in St. Augustine. ON. A. BOAT.
• A long walk down the Riverwalk at night
• A perfectly  seasoned dinner at Bistro Aix
• Sunbaked steel at the Concours d’Elegance
• Easy, bump-free driving at 65mph – an appreciable feat if you’ve ever been to or from Ukraine.

Pictures above is the chicken and waffles. You had to be there, really.

I’ve been back from Ukraine for exactly a week now. The jetlag is gone, my coats and boots are packed away and the sounds of that beautiful place are fading.

Left are the memories, photos and one wicked-huge bottle of pepper vodka.

More thoughts on my amazing trip soon. In the mean time, hit up my flickr album of all the photos, and soon, videos.

Testing my fancy new Android wp app

Hello dear readers. You’ve stuck with me through years of deep thoughts, drunken ramblings and the occasional “wtf was he thinking.” In order to repay you, I’ve giving you the opportunity to make one helluva impact on a wonderful 3-year-old and his terrific family. If you haven’t already, I’ll wait while you read the above poster.

That cute (and fashionable) kid above is Lucas, and Lucas is set for a bone marrow transplant in January, not to mention a long recovery period. His mom and dad, both cute and fashionable kids themselves, will be moving from Jacksonville to North Carolina to be with him during the procedure. Not fun for anyone involved, but their spirits are high and their souls are lusty.

If you happen to be in Jacksonville or the area on Dec. 17, stop by Bold City Brewery and have a beer. They’re donating $1 from every pour to Lucas’ benefit. You can also donate, send a well wish or just see a bunch of cute photos of Lucas until you feel compelled to donate or send a well wish. Your call.

With the din of bad news flying about lately, good news inherits an extra coat or two of gloss, so allow me to brag for a moment.

The Times-Union, Jacksonville.com and our primary Twitter feed, @jaxdotcom, won this year’s Folio Best Of awards for local news website and local twitter account. Not a meaningless distinction I assure you, considering the contest is voted on by Folio’s entire First Coast audience and Folio’s generally boot-in-the-ass approach to the Times-Union.

Congrats to those who won this award. Who, to be clear, is not those of us maintaining the website or Twitter feeds, but those lusty souls who continue to produce compelling and meaningful content in the midst of constant change and uncertainty.

Here’s the brief, epic and entirely missed connection between your lovely host and one of his favorite bands.

The Walkmen opened for the Fleet Foxes in Jacksonville this Tuesday night. Luis and I bought tickets months ago. The Fleet Foxes are great and all, but The Walkmen is who we wanted to see. The Rat, Victory, Angela Surf City, While I Shovel The Snow. Yeah, awesome, all of it.

This story begins at Indochine, a Thai restaurant in downtown Jacksonville. Diana and I were seated super-late, about 10 minutes until 8 (when The Walkmen were scheduled to take the stage) and Luis and Beth managed to join us while we ate. Figuring no-one in the history of music has ever started a concert on time, we enjoyed our beers and satay.

I noticed two guys sitting two tables away. The one facing me caught my attention because he was kinda gangly (like me), ginger (like me) and wearing a khaki suit that can only be described as perfectly bedraggled, like he spent a lot of money to look so unkept. I also noticed that two buttons were missing from his right suit jacket.

Blah blah, whatever. I know you’re judging me for noticing his suit jacket buttons. But I notice that sort of stuff, OK?

Missing jacket buttons and his tablemate left a few minutes before 8. We finished 30 minutes later and made it to The Florida Theatre not long after, only to realized we missed The Walkmen set. Crushing loneliness set in.

Fortunately, the Fleet Foxes were as amazing in person as everyone says and our worries drifted away in Ragged Wood and $7 pours of Johnnie Walker Black…until I checked the photo gallery from the show on Jacksonville.com

Above, my friends, is the photo of my favorite frontman playing his concert at The Florida Theatre in Jacksonville. Two buttons missing from the right jacket of his perfectly formless khaki suit. Ugh.

Chalk this one under the Missed Connections section of your favorite local alternative weekly. “Ginger with all of his buttons looking for ginger missing two buttons.”