Sidemouse Advice

Word up. Just a quick post tonight as we enjoy a respite from the humidity. Went for a nice cool run this morning; it was 60 degrees, a far cry from a few days ago when I played softball for four hours in the 95-degree afternoon sun.

Anyhoo, here's what's what:

• I wanted to throw some mad props the way of my buddy OJ, who's now writing a daily music blog for Junkmedia. Check it out if you dig the indie rock; even if you don't, check it out because OJ is one funny dood. Rock on, rocker.
• I know I'll sound like an old man saying this, but I just don't understand the kids these days. What with the purple hair and the rocket skateboards and the Funky Winkerbean and the pass-out games. Seriously, WTF?
• Something else I'll never understand is these losers who buy mail-order brides. I guess I understand why they do it--because they're lonely and it seems like an easy way to get a wife--but what I don't get is how any of these clowns believe it will actually work out. I'm sure some of these "marriages" actually last, but you've gotta think a lot of these women from Eastern Europe or Asia just want to get to America to escape whatever they've got going on back home. Once they get here and see who their husband is, they're ready for a divorce. Here's just one such marriage that didn't end so well. Waaaay back when I interned for the Peabody Times, I interviewed a guy who had just married a mail-order bride from Asia; it was a real shock that this weasel couldn't score himself an American significant other. It was all I could do to keep from laughing in the guy's face. Sure enough, a year later we followed up the story and the woman had already dumped the poor schmuck.
• Well, alert the media. Sean Combs has changed his name again. Now he's just to be known as Diddy. Call me old school, but I prefer the Johnny Cougar/John Cougar/John Cougar Mellencamp/John Mellencamp progression myself. I'm just sayin', is all.
• Here's another reason I'm rooting for Comcast's (geez, never thought I'd ever say that) fledgling sports network to succeed: ESPN Hollywood. Are hard-core sports fans really going to watch an Entertainment Tonight-esque show about athletes? Not this fan.
• Okay, it's been way too long since I posted an MP3, so I thought I'd share a couple of tracks from a cool EP I picked up about 10 years ago featuring two of my favorite artists, Frank Black and Teenage Fanclub. Black, of course, is getting plenty of attention these days for reuniting the legendary Pixies, but he's also compiled an admirable body of solo work over the years. Teenage Fanclub is a great Scottish power pop act that's woefully overlooked here in the States, but they've been cranking out great music for 15 years. Black and Teenage Fanclub teamed up for an impromptu John Peel session back in the spring of '94, where they performed the Otis Blackwell chestnut Handyman (popularized by James Taylor in the '70s) and The Man Who Was Too Loud, a version of which showed up a few years later on the Frank Black & the Catholics album. Both artists have new albums out this year, which you should check out: Black's Honeycomb and Teenage Fanclub's Man-Made.
• As much as I love my iPod, I find this pretty funny.