Make Mine Mike

I write a lot about running, and I probably will continue to do so.

Also, I've previously talked about how my iPod has helped with my exercise routine, and I'll talk about that some more, too. Mostly because what I listen to keeps evolving.

Sometimes it's podcasts, but they have to be really compelling to take my mind off the miles ahead. Now that the Lost podcasts are on hiatus like the show itself, I try short fiction podcasts, old time horror and classic tales radio broadcasts, various stuff from NPR, and of course, This American Life, which is almost always brilliant.

With music, I need to constantly update my run playlist. So I'm always on the lookout for an eclectic cardio-friendly mix. This includes heavy metal (rediscovered the High 'N' Dry album by Def Leppard), funk ("Outa-Space" by Billy Preston), classic rock ("Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen), Electronic ("Gimme That" by something called The Resource featuring Jimmy Napes), Pop ("Shut Up and Drive" by Rihanna, and "Wherever Whenever" by Shakira. Ahh, Shakira...), and even some classical (Beethoven, Chopin, and Rossinni's Overture to The Barber of Seville).

And there are other genres too. Like Irish folk-rock-punk-whatever. Been listening to the Pogues for the first time since before senior year of college but after the lead singer Shane MacGowan left due to his alcoholism -- man, you really gotta be a lush to be too fucked up to perform Irish drinking songs. Still, I love that shit. Although it's not as nice to look at, so here's Shakira:

Also, the Dropkick Murphys. I know, you hip people probably knew all about these guys long ago. And no, I didn't get into these guys because their song "Shipping Up to Boston" was used in The Departed soundtrack. It was when they used the same tune in the Simpsons' parody, "The DeBarted". As Bart tried to get one over on Principal Skinner to this hard rockin' tune, I thought, man, that's a good track. Downloaded it and it got heavy rotation in my Nano over many miles out by the beach.

Needing something different, but just like that, I listened to more of their songs -- at least for the 30 seconds that iTunes allows you to hear. I thought, hey, these guys are kinda like Rancid (which I also overplayed way back when) and The Clash (overplayed back in the '80s), but new, at least to me. So I took a chance on a track that ranked high on their popularity bar chart. Something called "Tessie".

What I didn't realize, as I ran down the boardwalk -- it's a tribute to the $@&%* Red Sox winning the 2004 World Series! Arrghhh! I nearly tripped and cracked my head open on the concrete, bleeding to death into my Yankees hat.