Links

Quick note: I'm going to try to post links up on Wednesdays each week from here on out. Not sure if I'll be able to pull this off, but a humpday posting seems like a good time to post work break material.

Kanye West, 'Monster' [featuring Justin Vernon, Rick Ross, Jay-Z, and Nicki Minaji]: There's a lot to pick through on this dark new Kanye track: Bon Iver in auto-tune, Jay-Z rapping about movie monsters, the mysterious recording in Hawaii, and Nicki Minajo blowing the song up halfway through (her performance will make you forget all about MIA). It's a great track, reminiscent of Michael Jackson going dark on Thriller. Download via link, track embedded below.


It's So Good Once it Hits Your Lips: Recovering alcoholic Josh Hamilton speaks out about wearing goggles, duct tape, and a wetsuit in the Rangers clubhouse to prevent alcohol from touching his skin during the traditional champagne/beer shower ceremony following the clinching of the pennant, leading to every Rangers fan's worst nightmare scenario.

The 'My NBA Team is an Honor Student' Promotion: The Minnesota Timerbwolves' recent full page newspaper ad feels like one of those annoying bumper stickers overly proud parents put on their cars. The ad extols how the Timberwolves are young, full of potential, and...have zero chance of winning anything. You know a team is desperate for attention when they post Michael Beasley's college numbers from two seasons ago.

What would His Outer Nerd Look Like? White Sox second baseman Brent Lillbridge gets some heat from baseball fans for posting a picture on his Twitter page while buying the new Halo video game at midnight while his team is in the middle of a pennant race. Meanwhile, what goes unreported in the article is how upset his online Halo team is for daring to let baseball get in the way of a crucial mission.

All Great Leaders Inevitably Quote Mark Cuban: The famously tight lipped Seattle Mariners CEO Howard Lincoln circulates a company wide email entitled "Media Attacks," where he rallies his employees against recent negative publicity and ensures that he and the other Mariners executives have thick skins and will not be distracted by the media. Just one thing - doesn't writing a company wide email describing how media distractions will not affect you simply prove that they already have? 

Get Him to the Greek Bond Issue: Every Michael Lewis article is pretty much required reading at this point. Lewis traces the recklessness of Greek's bond traders as a direct result of the worldwide popularity of the movie, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." One of those last two sentences is not true.

Dreaming of a Desk Job: As long as we're linking interesting articles by great writers, here's a great op-ed piece by John Grisham on his path to becoming a writer.

Did you know Zach Galifianakis has a twin brother that's getting into comedy as well? Here is Seth Galifianakis interviewing Sean Penn. Hilarity ensues:

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: Sean Penn from Between Two Ferns