I awoke on Saturday to what could only have been a new Weezer song playing on Maya's laptop. I'd been quite unaware of any of their recent activities, and wasn't looking to get my hopes up about about a return to form. But I have to say that when the song ended I liked it more than I've liked a new Weezer song in a long time. It's classic Weezer in pretty much every easily measured way, but I think it has something that all the Hash Pipes, Dope Noses, and Beverly Hills never had. (I never heard more than a couple of songs off "Make Believe", and heard those only a couple of times.)

Rivers has swung wildly in many directions when it comes to his connection with fans. In the days of Pinkerton, and before mass internet availability, the band's catalog was so small that finding a copy of a CD single with a previously unheard B-side was a major life event for me and some of my friends. There were rumors of an entire aborted attempt at Pinkerton that was either sitting in Rivers' closet or had been destroyed in the archetypal fit of rage. Years later, the band started posting dozens of demos of new songs on its website, and I collected them dutifully, gradually realizing that there had been a seismic shift in Rivers' ways and that none of the songs had much meaning or significance. Where Weezer songs had once been rare and precious things, they had somehow become a commodity.

Now Rivers appears to have become some kind of Youtube addict, not only featuring many of its cult figures in their video, but participating in an interactive songwriting project with its masses, with videos of Rivers discussing songwriting methods with his voice pitched comically up or down. It's hard not to see the Pork and Beans video as pandering a bit, trying to become a meta-cult hit as it celebrates its audience. Then again, its message is certainly relevant, the video is entertaining, and the song's definitely got something.