Blogorama: Chickens, Toilet Paper and More

Guys, you...you sure you don't want to just come back another time? Really? Well, alright...

Hey folks!

Yesterday, Daniel Nester and I helped Simpler Living blogger Naomi Selding review Scott’s tubeless toilet paper. We had a lot of fun with it and it’s actually one of my favorite things I’ve been a part of on the TU blogs. Check it out: Naomi’s Review | My Tale of Anxiety & Apprehension | Daniel Nester’s Tubeless TP Whisks Him Away to a Different Time

Also, if you raise $500 to help one of my readers meet her goal in the Santa Speedo Sprint, I’ll enter it myself. So whether it’s just $5 or $10, give! You’ll be able to say you forced Kevin Marshall to do something he is really and truly scared to death of doing. CLICK HERE TO DONATE.

Also, UFC 124 is this weekend, and my picks are…

…AFTER Blogorama’s regularly scheduled links.

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WE’RE YOUR SOURCE: This Week on the Times Union Blogs

Sausage (David Kacyznski) This is a must-read for anybody who’s even remotely familiar with area politics.

Ringing in the Holidays, Too (Albany / Vincent Barr) So what’s the story with those Salvation Army bell-ringers?

Learning How to Give Patients Bad News (M.D. to Be) Marianne explains how they try to train you to tell people the worst.

Should We Get What We Want? (Rex Smith) Careful what you wish for…

Remembering Elizabeth Edwards (Muslim Women/Azra Haqqie)

 Shensorship (Funnies / Adrianna Flax) Shen High School doesn’t want a play that’s pretty tame fair, and Ms. Flax is NOT happy.

Capital Underground Live! Concert Series (CRUMBS blog) w00t!

My Rant with “Glee” (High School / Cress Ferriera) Amen, brother.

Growing Up (This is College?! / Charlie Vella) *sniff*

Getting Off the Knife (Davenport Chronicles) On plastic surgery.

Carl Paladino Sends Liz B. a Nastygram (Capitol Confidential) OH GOOD! I was worried he was going to try to get out with some shred of dignity left.

More amazingness is after the jump.

IN OUR AREA CODE: Chickens, 6th Grade, Local Music on the Cheap and more

• The Proposed Albany Chicken Amendment (All Over Albany)
• Top 25 Albums of 2010 (Indie Albany Dot Com)
• The Nutmeg State (Keyboard Krumbs)
• The Sadomasochism of 6th Grade (Alan Ilagan)
• Collar City Record’s $5 CD Sale Snatch up Swamp Baby’s “All Fours” RIGHT NOW!
• Media Watch: TU Fail (Nippertown) Oh hsit!
• Help for Bedbugs? (All Over Albany)
• Ask the Profussor: Merry Christmas (FUSSYlittleBLOG)

MEANWHILE, IN THE REST OF THE WORLD…

• Cypress Hill Backup Singer Sees Self in “Grand Theft Auto,” Sues Game Publisher (Engadget)
• The Worst Album Covers of 2010 (Pitchfork)
• Comedy Death Ray Auctions to benefit the Regional Food Bank in LA.
• Kanye West – “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” review (The Jaded Scenester)
• Billy Joel Flipping Out Onstage (klausnerama)
• The Thing That Drifted Ashore (Monster Brains) Note: read it right to left. The translation’s a little shaky, but it’s a really neat little story.
• Before the Invention of the Light Bulb, We Slept 3 Hours Longer a Night (OMG Facts)

ART

• Alexei Ravski (painting)
• Katsumi Hayakawa (paper sculptures and landscapes)
• “The Offering” by Sean Andrew Murray God this guy’s great. I wish I had the kind of money to commission stuff like this.
• Jeffar Khaldi (painting)

MMA

• Big Rematch a Study in Evolution (Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports)
• Georges St-Pierre’s MMA Training for Mascots
• With Rifle & Deer in Hand, Lesnar is One Happy Bearded Warrior (CageWriter)
• How Changes to Judge Evaluations in California Could Negatively Impact Scoring (Fight Opinion)
• Doctor Suggests Sonnen Couldn’t Fight Without Testosterone Replacement Therapy (CageWriter) “You could see him get tired towards the end of the fifth round,” said the Doctor who apparently doesn’t know that extreme physical exertion over a long period of time eventually makes a person tired.
• Joe Rogan Unloads on Judging and the NSAC (CageWriter) I know, the links are heavy on Cage Writer this week. But it’s as good a site as that decision in the Phan/Garcia fight was awful.

And as mentioned at the beginning of the post, UFC 124 is this weekend.

The main event is a rematch of the 2007 meeting between Georges St-Pierre and Josh Koscheck. In their last go around, St-Pierre needed to make a statement after a devastating and shocking knockout loss to Matt Serra, while Koscheck was a hungry young fighter rocketing up through the ranks of the Welterweight division. Three years later, both men are completely different and better fighters. Still, I think GSP takes it, due to the fact that all the improvements Koscheck’s made are in areas that GSP is already an expert in neutralizing.

My picks for the full card:

• Georges St-Pierre over Josh Koscheck
• Stefan Struve over Sean McCorkle I hope McCorkle’s spending more time at the gym than he is cracking jokes on Twitter and isn’t taking Struve lightly. Yes, McCorkle’s undefeated, but Struve is a big (literally and figuratively) step up in competition for him.
• Jim Miller over Charles Oliveira Miller really needs to win this fight and get out of the weird Middleweight Limbo he’s occupied since entering the UFC.
• Joe Stevenson over Mac Danzig  A loss for Danzig probably means it’s the end of the road for him in the UFC.
• John Howard over Thiago Alves Alves is refocused and has dropped down to a more reasonable weight, but I don’t think it’s enough.
• Dustin Hazelett over Mark Bocek 155 should be a better fit for Hazelett.
• Rafael Natal over Jesse Bongfeldt
• Matt Riddle over Sean Pierson
• Dan Miller over Joe Doerksen
• Ricardo Almeida over TJ Grant I’m really surprised that Almeida is fighting this far down on the card.
• John Makdessi over Pat Audinwood

Got links? Share ‘em.