Waiting on a plumber

While waiting for the plumber to finish his work around the house (Two faucets are leaking, we need a new water heater - oy! And sweet Jesus, it sounds like he's taking apart the entire bathroom up there!), I have some thoughts.

♦ As someone who never has - and more than frankly, never will - run a marathon, I highly recommend reading Susannah's mile-by-mile account of her run in last Sunday's Detroit Free Press/ Flagstar marathon at Pub of Knowledge.

What does running 26 miles feel like? What pumped her up? What discouraged her? What kept her going? Was that Chris Chelios of the Detroit Red Wings running beside her? What was it like to run onto the Ford Field playing surface? How important is Guns N' Roses to a successful marathon run? And how many Kenyans passed her along the way?

♦ Maybe this is a topic more appropriate for the sports closet, Sweaty Men Endeavors, but since you don't get sweaty playing darts, unless you're stinking drunk or the air conditioning's broken at the bar, I think I'm on solid ground here. I was horrified - horrified - to read in last Sunday's New York Times that darts could follow poker's lead and be the next game to find its way to TV. Apparently, darts on TV is already a big hit in England, and ESPN has signed a deal to broadcast a World Series of Darts from an east coast city some time next year.

No #$@%ing way, man. I hate poker on TV - hate it. I hate how ESPN has completely turned its Tuesday night schedule over to poker. I'd rather watch John Kerry read from War and Peace on C-Span. And it has nothing to do with the fact that I don't play poker. Hey, I play darts (very occasionally). The only way I'm interested in watching it on TV is if Bullseye from Daredevil is one of the contestants, and you have just as good a chance of him firing a dart into someone's throat.

♦ Does the new Johnny Cash movie have the coolest movie poster ever or what? I don't hang movie posters on my walls anymore, but this could make me reconsider. That. Is. Sweet. And it looks like a pretty damn good movie too.

♦ Courtesy of Mis Hooz (via brooklynvegan), this could be my new favorite band. What a name. What an album cover.

♦ Dear VH1, please give me my evenings back. Sincerely, Ian. Hell yeah, I've been watching I Love the 80s 3-D all week. I should know better; it's all the same formula now. Yet I still watch every second of it. Actually, I missed 1980 and '81. Surely, I'll be able to see them this weekend. Were the 1980s that culturally dense a decade? Or was there just that much shit to make fun of?