A couple of notes before I resume my Top 25 for 2007, a countdown that's going to have to really get moving if I'm to finish it before 2009.

First, at Wal-Mart today -- swear to God -- I saw a man spray himself with cologne from a bottle that was supposed to be for sale and, I think, behind a glass counter. I was looking at some skin products, and this guy walks up, hunches down to reach for a box, pulls a bottle from the box, and sprays some cologne onto his hands before slapping his neck and face vigorously.

He put the cologne back and walked away as if I weren't there.

Second, listening to Yahoo's Music Engine, I often take notes on songs I like, so that I can look them up later. Here's one of them, from a band called Office, a little tune called, "Wound Up."

It has a very smart, 80s indie sound. I've said it a billion times, but if you want to hear good new music, forget the radio. You have to seek it out and take chances with stuff you've never heard.

Another quick, random note before the countdown resumes: The NFL Network's decision to triplecast Saturday night's New England-New York game was brilliant because it turned a game in which many were interested into an event that the entire country is likely watching right now.

To be successful in this pop culture world, whether it be on TV, on the radio, on satellite, on the Web, wherever, content creators cannot merely produce good content. They have to turn their shows into events, their sites into destinations, their music into life-soundtracks.

It sounds vile and dirty, like some sort of corporate sell-out, but it is what it is.