Over at the Tampa Bay Times, I wrote a profile piece on Nick Major, a mainstay in the Tampa hip-hop scene. I have known Nick since his days with All-Stars Wrestling of Florida and in my opinion, although his wrestling promotion was a local favorite of mine, his skills at putting together a hip-hop show is far, far better.

Over at Bus Leagues Baseball, I wrote about what promotions I would like to see happen in Minor League Baseball in 2012. Among my ideas are a Star Wars night in the Florida State League and the destruction of the worst minor league movie ever.

Finally, and speaking again about wrestling, I cameoed at The Wrestling Blog again, this time with a post on why Impact Wrestling should move from its current location in Orlando.

First, a great read on Etta James by Rebel Frequencies. I never got into Etta James, but I think it is damn past time for me to do so, especially after reading this.

A really cool description of political songs in Sierra Leone and their effect on elections (with videos).

Rebel Frequencies interviewed Egyptian political hip-hop group Arabian Knightz. Very cool insight on the Egyptian scene and the message coming from there.

Finally, a video from several Columbian hip-hop artists in a song that translated means “Conspiracy for Peace”. Interesting to see such a wide swath of the Columbian hip-hop culture. There are parts that resemble the LA scene, there is the skateboarder scene, and all four of the “essential” elements of hip-hop: MCing, DJing, break dancing, and graffiti.

At the Tampa Bay Times, I wrote an article on Morrisound Studios. They were broken into six months ago. I checked in with them to see how they are doing.

Six months after break-in, Tampa’s Morrisound Recording is back on its feet

I also did another appearance on local blogger Clark Brooks blog. I wrote about the cost of fast food coke and fries. Did you know it changes per value meal? It’s true.

Guest Author: Mike Lortz – The True Value of Fries and Coke

But while I haven’t blogged here much, I have been collecting a few links I think are worth checking out.

First, the amazing Metalcakes heavy-metal themed cupcake site has a new recipe: Crumb-wich Cakes for the band Electric Wizard. They look mighty tasty.

Over in Iran, they saluted recently deceased heavyweight boxer Joe Frazier. I had no idea he was that big in Iran.

Here is a post on the Russian army promoting badminton to their troops. Interesting.

In Trinidad and Tobago, a local blogger calls for a National Bullshit Council. That would be big in America as well.

The Ukrainian media mistook a photoshop for Chuck Norris’s endorsement of the Ukrainian language.

You can finally go on vacation in North Korea as long as you leave your cell phone at home. This will make North Korea a haven for people like my Dad, who don’t own cell phones and who complain about poor cell phone etiquette. No driving on the phone, no phones in movie theaters or restaurants or concerts? Hmmm, maybe I’ll go for a week or two.

Speaking of repressive regimes, the Death Star Public Relations site lists the 10 dating rules you can learn from the Star Wars movies.

And lastly, this is awesome. My friend Ro took my last poem, American Pain, and recorded it through her voice reader program for the blind (Yes, she is blind and this is how she “reads” the web. So awesome.).

Apparently, I am not the only person who is transfixed by the jarringly comedic death of Brad Pitt. Today was introduced to this amazingly awesome video of Brad Pitt getting hit by cars on loop for three minutes.

It is awesome.

But now there are other Rays writers who are taking the side of the fan base. The fine gentlemen over at DRaysBay are looking to write about real fans and feature the fan base in future articles. To do so, they are first looking to know who is going to games and get some background data.

Please help the DRaysBay guys by filling out the short survey at the below link.

Thanks!

DRaysBay Fan Survey

Over at Rays Index, I wrote about the bliss of being at the Rays final regular season game of the season. Spoiler: they make the playoffs.

Joy, Jubilation, and the Sheer Exuberance of Victory

At The Wrestling Blog, I posted an old interview I did with e-migo and highly regarded media studies professional Sam Ford. We talked about indy wrestling and social media, especially from the promoters perspective.

Guest Blog: An Interview with Sam Ford

Finally, at Bus Leagues Baseball, I compared two baseball books I recently read.

A Literary Comparison of “Out of My League” and “Odd Man Out”

So check them out. Of course, more coming soon. Thanks for reading.

We come on at the 60:00 minute mark. It was a lot of fun. We talked Rays, Red Sox, baseball managers, Tim Wakefield, the 2011 playoffs, and the origin of the “Jordi Scrubbings” name.

Check it out.

I think I am getting better at radio interviews. I actually sound half intelligent.

I want to thank Sully again for the opportunity.

First and foremost, here is a link to a delicious culinary delight brought to you by the leo weekly: presenting bourbon infused pizza.

From The Delta Blues comes a bio and discussion on the life of “Honeyboy” Edwards, a blues great who passed away a few weeks ago.

From Wired Science, here is an analysis on whether bird poop can break a car windshield.

Also from Wired Science, did you know yogurt can calm the gut which affects the mind?  It can also helps calm some of the mind’s neurons. That’s wild.

Second to last, I was given honorable mention as the best sports blogger in Tampa by the blog Re/Creating Tampa. That’s so awesome. There are so many good sports bloggers in the Tampa area, for someone to call me the second best is extremely humbling.

Finally, here is a very cool video of a flash mob in California having a major lightsaber battle. Thankfully, no one was hurt.

Over at Bus Leagues Baseball, I began our campaign to find out why people love minor league baseball by interviewing a friend of mine who is a huge Dunedin Blue Jays fan.

Q&A: Dunedin Blue Jays Super Fan Torianne Valdez

Then over at Rays Index, I wrote about the premise of chances by comparing the major league opportunities of three Rays pitchers.

The Chance of Opportunity