Momma didn't raise no April Fool.

So, can anyone else believe it's already fucking April?  What happened to the first quarter of the year?  It seems like it was just New Years.  In spite of the fact that I can't figure out for the life of me where the last 3 months went, April is off to a damn fun start.  Last night Showtime had a really fun Strikeforce Challengers series fight card, and tonight Bellator is is airing fights featuring some of my favorite fighters all on one card.

Ben Saunders is fighting on Bellator, here he shows his opponent what fallen arches look like.

In case you haven't heard (or more likely since no one reads this, you don't care/exist) the parent company of UFC recently purchased Strikeforce.  This has created quite a buzz in the MMA community.  For me, this basically means many, many more fights to watch in the short term.  I honestly don't remember the last weekend that didn't have a fight card occurring to occupy at least 2 hours of my weekend.  It's an embarrassment of riches, and it's fantastic.  I know I write about it too damn much, but it never ceases to amaze me just how far this sport has come.  It's made it from a sport that was relegated to states with no athletic commission like Alabama, to a sport that is regulated in 48 states.  By the way, one of the 2 states that doesn't regulate MMA is New York.  How stupid is that?  It just goes to prove my point, politics are retarded.  Anyway, I'm going to completely change gears and talk about something all of us should care about.

What the...I don't know what that has to do with anything.  I'm going to go with, um, Libya?  Maybe?  I don't know.  Hey here's something fun:


Iron And Wine covers George Michael

That's right, dear reader, AV Club undercover is back.  I'm actually almost a month late with this as my favorite so far was the first of the new series.  If you haven't been paying attention, Undercover is a fun feature where AV Club gets some of their favorite indie artists to perform songs that aren't theirs.  It's cool for a bunch of reasons, but my biggest reasons are that it can introduce you to new artists you've never bothered to listen to (like Iron and Wine) and also, it puts some of your favorite/least favorite songs into new hands to provide you with a new take on some old garbage.  It's like if you take leftovers from last weeks dinners and turn them into some wonderful casserole.  Or in some instances, if you reheat last weeks leftovers and end up with a pile of crap that's essentially the same, only worse.  Either way, you're guaranteed a new experience.  I like this one because I've never liked George Michael, and this version strips out the manufactured pop bullshit and actually uses instruments and unaltered voices to convey the emotion of the song.  Well done, Iron and Wine, well done.

I've gotta tell you, I'm pretty excited about the direction music has taken lately.  I'd been feeling like an old fogey when I listen to the radio lately, hating most every song that was coming on.  But now, more and more songs are actually listenable.  Panic! at the Disco is coming out with a new album, and while I've never been a huge fan, they've done a great job of staying true to their sound.  In fact, check this out:

Also, Foo Fighters have a new album that kicks some ass, Lupe Fiasco's new album is damn good, as is the Strokes'.  My wife and I are going to see Mumford and Sons, who are quite enjoyable, Kanye is doing good things and Dre has a new album FINALLY.  I've actually been prompted to put some money down on music for the first time in ages.  Additionally, The Arcade Fire is riding high on the Grammy buzz they received for their awesome The Suburbs.  If you haven't listened to it yet, what the hell's wrong wtih you?

So my friends and I have been ceaselessly ridiculing one another on Facebook, and I noticed something. All my relationships with friends are predicated on being able to take and give a liberal amount of shit without getting offended.  Whether it's being mocked for inadvertently buying and wearing capri pants, being an incorrigible hipster, having an unyielding boner for all things Predator, having a childlike obsession with pro wrestling, or Johnny Depp, or wearing your hair like an out of work 70's porn star none of us every (visibly) get our feelings hurt.

Pictured:  My current hair cut

But my point is, that's the common thread that binds us all.  Some of us have more in common than others, but when we get together, you know, that online bar that is the Cheers of the...what the hell are we calling this decade?  The teens?  Whatever we call it, Facebook is the Cheers of this decade.  Everyone knows each other, and we all live to treat one another like Cliff Clavin.  Shit, I think that joke just showed my age a little too much.  For all you youngins, this is Cliff.

So, what am I getting at?  No, I'm asking you because I have no idea.  What the hell is my point?  That's not the issue.  The issue is that I don't thank the people who keep me in business enough.  I guess that's the 2 people who actually follow this blog.  I was checking my stats before I started rambling, and I get a surprisingly large amount of traffic from Russia.

Now that the cold war is over, Russia gives me the warm fuzzies.

I don't speak Russian, so blame Google if this is insulting. Спасибо