Chris Martin's incessant wooing of Michael Stipe pays dividends, and joins an illustrious group of musicians, including (ahem) Dashboard Confessional, who've gotten Mssr. Stipe's implicit approval through the magic of duet.

Over the past few months Martin's gone to the extreme lengths to get his approval, including buying a Stipe-designed lunchbox and calling himself a dog to Stipe's "master". If Martin also "ran into" him randomly (and on an almost daily basis), made him a mix tape with "Autumn Sweater" on it, and started bad-mouthing other people in Stipe's life ("Yeah, that Peter Buck, he'll play guitar with anyone, if you know what I mean"), he's pretty much used every trick I used in college to get girls to like me.