The Friday Links

You’re Chris Brown.

You’ve been in the studio, on the grind, trying to work on a new album that will help get your career back on track after it derailed in 2009. And after months and months of work, you’re finally getting close.

The studio is informed. They pick a release date – September 16th – and prepare to re-launch a once promising career of a troubled man.

But since nothing Chris Brown does works out, the biggest domestic violence uproar this country has ever seen begins roiling the week prior to the release. The NFL is still dealing with the aftermath of a botched response to Ray Rice (amongst others), and the new album ‘X’ might have been better off titled ‘Radioactive – DO NOT TOUCH’.

You didn’t even know he released an album, did you?

I don’t know Chris Brown personally. And it’s always dangerous to believe everything you hear about a person, famous or not. So maybe he’s a good guy; maybe he’s a piece of garbage. Evidence seems to point squarely to the latter.

But an endorsement of the art isn’t an endorsement of the artist, at least not in this case, not for me.

I wasn’t rooting for it and I hate to be the one to tell you… but ‘X’ is really good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB8SJ4Y9SgA

Those are 2 of the standout tracks. If you ever liked Chris Brown (and 85+ million of you did, at one point), you’re probably going to dig this album.

If you feel guilty about listening, the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence could always use some help.

Just to be crystal clear – violence against women is never OK.

Now, The Friday Links…

• Molar Bear. LINK HERE
• Reading a haiku. LINK HERE
• AND!!! LINK HERE
• Making it a museum piece. LINK HERE
• No ‘BS Wheel Of Fortune’. LINK HERE
• Philly replaced their ice girls with dudes. LINK HERE

That’s it. That’s the work week.

If you’re in the Chicago area and looking for a haunted house, I tried finding as many as I could. But if you spot one I missed, let us know and we’ll get it added in soon.