October 18, 2013

Link-O-Rama

• Check out the name of the law office in Thursday night's "Parks and Recreation" episode. And of course the show was created by former baseball blogger Ken Tremendous/Michael Schur.

Anthony Hopkins binge-watched "Breaking Bad" by finishing the entire series in two weeks and then sent a great midnight e-mail to Bryan Cranston praising his performance.

Ridiculous Indie Rock Band Photos is just a fantastic use of the internet.

• "Twin Cities ladies you've probably dated" is pretty clever and the nice thing is that a potential "Twin Cities guys you've probably dated" follow-up article can't include "Blogger" because none of us have ever had a date.

Randball's Stu's follow-up to last week's bloggers dating parody is also a strong one: "Terry Ryan complains to Rainbow Foods cashier again."

• I've watched every episode of "Bar Rescue" because the show is such a compelling train wreck, but it doesn't surprise me one bit that Jon Taffer's help doesn't always help.

• Two weeks ago our Francisco Liriano playoff game viewing party was initially going to be held at Mortimer's before switching to The Bulldog, which may have saved a few bloggers' lives.

• It's a fortunate break for me, but I'll never get over how amazing it is that half of the population is attracted to something that looks like this.

This week's "Gleeman and The Geek" episode might have been our quietest and most low-key yet, which was a nice change of pace from our usual shouting at each other in a loud bar.

• We're recording the next "Gleeman and The Geek" episode Saturday afternoon at the Nordeast Big River Brew Fest. Details here.

• I realize the internet is a big place and things can get lost in the cracks, but how does this only have 2,050 views?

Easier to believe: This video, shot one year ago yesterday, only has 1,400 views.

Rob Neyer is even better than me at my own tweets.

• I've never really wanted to be a musician until now, because Chinese food deserves better.

• Congratulations to Rivers McCown of Football Outsiders for losing a whole bunch of weight and writing about it. And unlike me, he had the nerve to do a shirtless before and after.

• On a related note, former Vikings center Matt Birk lost tons of weight and now he's modeling.

• Twitter settings now allow you to accept direct messages from anyone rather than only people you also follow. I've been giving it a try for most of this week as sort of an "I dunno, why not?" experiment and ... it hasn't been so bad. Might try it again sometime soon.

• Remember the time David Ortiz hit a home run with a broken wrist? Tom Kelly does.

• I've linked to Canadian comedian Christina Walkinshaw's entertaining Tinder date recaps here before, but now I'm regretting not thinking of making this offer first.

• It took getting pulled over a block after leaving my driveway at 8:15 a.m. and paying $105 for a supposed $25 ticket, but I've begrudgingly joined the other 94.8 percent of Minnesota.

• Remember last week when I fell in love with a singer from New Zealand who covered Whitney Houston? Well, she just put out another video covering Kermit The Frog.

• As a longtime lover of beer and a recent lover of Korean food, I fully support this project.

• Pretty sure I'm too old to know what trap music is, but I nostalgically liked this.

• To steal a line from my blog-mate Craig Calcaterra: Dalai Lama, big hitter.

• This was actually my original idea for a podcast, but in retrospect it's better for Doug Benson:

I suppose my actual podcast is sort of like the beer-drinking version of that anyway.

• One of my favorite comedians, Tom Segura, is taping his new television special in Minnesota next month and tickets are free. We should all sign up and go.

• I saw Gilbert Gottfried at New Hope Cinema Grill last Friday night. He was very funny/weird, and while a little unusual for a stand-up comedy venue New Hope Cinema Grill was actually pretty nice. Oh, and they serve 612 Brew too. I'll definitely be back.

• On a related note, I'm seriously thinking about starting a book club-type group, but for comedy shows. It's my favorite thing and Minnesota has enough good venues (Acme Comedy Company, New Hope Cinema Grill, Mall of America House of Comedy, Varsity Theater) that top-notch comics come here on a monthly basis. I'm not sure how exactly it would work, but if anyone has any good ideas or any venue owners want to get involved let me know.

• My little-known co-worker Joe Posnanski wrote about Carlos Beltran and Paul Newman.

Kenley Jansen was a catcher in the minors and hit .229/.310/.337, so it's not too late to get that girl from high school to go out with you.

• Also on this week's "Gleeman and The Geek" episode David Brauer of MinnPost joined the very exclusive club of people who've appeared on the podcast more than once. Determining an actual "guest" can be tricky, but here's a possibly incomplete list of people who've spoken on microphone during more than one show:

- Parker Hageman
- Nick Nelson
- Seth Stohs
- David Brauer
- Jack Moore
- Ryan Donaldson
- Lindsay Guentzel
- Kate Butler
- Joe Nelson
- Kate Agnew
- Joe Busch

Anyone else I'm overlooking (besides Random Drunk Woman's numerous appearances)?

• Catching up on some iTunes podcast reviews.

• If you're interested in drugs, Judaism, and two funny, smart people talking about serious stuff definitely check out Marc Maron's chat with Natasha Lyonne. She'd want you to.

• I have a couple openings in my "Hardball Dynasty" league on WhatIfSports and the new season begins next week. If you're interested in joining, please read this first.

• Some of this week's weird and random search engine queries that brought people here:

- "Patrick Reusse born"
- "Big Papi in Minnesota"
- "Nick Punto mistake"
- "Is Justin Verlander Jewish?"
- "Ron Gardenhire cute pics"
- "Vodka drinks"
- "Who is Meatsauce on KFAN?"
- "Too fat to fly?"

• Finally, this week's AG.com-approved music video is "Mary Jane" by Rick James:


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