From Russia with Love

A couple weeks back there was a crazy KHL bench-clearing brawl in which none other than Jaromir Jagr was forced to bear hug a dude for dear life and then cried about it to international media outlets. Puck Daddy coverage here.

Now this. Small children fighting poorly. You can tell they're Russian due to the lack of equipment littering the ice (hey-oh!)and I just love how the adults (coaches?) just ho-hum their way into the madness all "not agaaaain" like.

Little Sergeis and Pavels throwing haymakers from their ankles. Nine-year-olds, dude!

Terrific stuff.

Ye Olde Crokinole Tourney: Git Yer Flick On

Well this might just be the greatest time-wasting website ever: http://www.xtranormal.com/.

Animation? Cuss words? Funny accents? Check, check and check. Go give it a go. If not, this little ankle-biter is going to jack you up like this...

Note: You gotta wait like 27 seconds for it.

Crokinole tourney's a-comin, kids. Keep yer ear to the ground.

Song of the day (birthday day): Eels - Prizefighter

About the only thing that could make this a better birthday is a dang beard like Mark Oliver Everett's - the dude better known as "E". Guy could hide a full mess of muskrats in there without batting a greasy eyelash.

Respect.

Started digging the Eels way back in the "Beautiful Day" days (which you may remember from the college cultish classic "Road Trip") and this latest album Hombre Lobo gets back to the good stuff. This clip is pulled from a Tremendous Dynamite: Making Hombre Lobo - a little doc that looks like a whole lot of golden, including a ton of solid mic distortion and a pretty sweet pooch solo. Take a looksee at the trailer here: Tremendous Dynamite.

It's ma birthday and I'll boast if I want to - "I'm a don't do it wrong, do it righter... I'm a prizefighter."

The dude abides.

Song of the day: K'naan - 15 Minutes Away

All apologies about the video quality, gang, but I wanted to show something live and there wasn't exactly a lot to choose from. Anyway, you can hit up the studio version of 15 Minutes from his newest album Troubadour here.

The album could be the big break he needs, featuring heavyweights like Damian Marley and Mos Def, while pumping out a record that's heavy on issues and light on its feet at the same time.

K'naan's an interesting hombre. He grew up in Somalia during the Somali Civil war and his dad bailed to drive a cab in New York and send cash back to the rest of the family. As the story goes, K'naan and the rest of his family finally skipped Somalia in 1991 on the last plane out of the country to join his father in Harlem before they finally settled in Toronto.

All Somalis know that gangsterism isn't to brag about.The kids that I was growing up with in Rexdale would wear baggy track suit pants, and a little jacket from Zellers or something, and they'd walk into school, and all the cool kids would be like, 'Ah, man, look at these Somalis. Yo, you're a punk!' And the other kid won't say nothing, but that kid, probably, has killed fifteen people. -K'naan

So welcome to Toronto. That's where K'naan (meaning "traveller") started to learn english with the help of some Nas and Rakim albums. You can still hear some of that influence in his flow. By 10th grade, he ditched the books and hit the road for the luxurious life of the Open Mic rambler.

Needless to say, this guy knows what it's like to wonder where the next paycheck's coming from, but still brings a positive vibe that won't get out of your head.

Stick this on your iPod and go for a run. You'll come out of it a better person.

Some K'naan reads: K'naan at Coachella, K'naan on pirates and peace, NFL Drafts K'naan

Other tight tracks on Troubadour: Fire in Freetown, Fatima, Wavin' Flag, I Come Prepared (f. Marley), Bang Bang, (f. Adam Levine - dude from Maroon 5)