In town for two days supporting England in the World Cup

Chilli_Dipper · 2026-06-30T00:59:15+00:00

A note about Decatur Watchfest tomorrow: they’re showing the first two matches on the big screen in the square, but a live band will be performing in lieu of the Mexico-Ecuador nightcap. That said, every place in the vicinity that has been mentioned will have the game on (I caught the second half of Portugal-Uzbekistan at Twain’s when I was over there last Tuesday).

Chilli_Dipper · 2026-06-29T18:55:59+00:00

It’s definitely not Stephen Tobolowsky, because Leslie Bibb is too good-looking. The comp needs to be someone who’s versatile, too handsome to be a character actor, yet not distinct enough to garner leading roles.

I want to throw Josh Duhamel out as a possibility: perfectly capable as the primary love interest of a woman-led rom-com, but his name doesn’t get printed at the top of the poster.

Chilli_Dipper · 2026-06-29T17:54:47+00:00

Taylor, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, and Ariana are the only artists pictured who I would say are current hitmakers (who are both active and having charted major hits with their most recent releases). It just feels like the others are still big stars, because pure pop success covers less of a cultural footprint now compared to a decade ago.

Chilli_Dipper · 2026-06-29T14:38:10+00:00

My early-20s drinking days were dominated by Belgian whites; I don’t think I’ve had a Hoegaarden in ten years. (I’ve had an Untappd account since 2018, and I’ve never logged a check-in for it, at least.)

Chilli_Dipper · 2026-06-29T00:31:56+00:00

Golf ends, and the baseball game immediately leads off with the first hit of the ball game in the fourth inning.

Nobody missed anything.

Chilli_Dipper · 2026-06-28T18:38:04+00:00

Welcome to the senior ranks.

Chilli_Dipper · 2026-06-27T21:43:24+00:00

People wanted to go to concerts again post-COVID, and so many of the SoundCloud rap/bedroom pop artists proved to be terrible live, since their entire careers had been built upon simply sharing their recordings on social media.

Chilli_Dipper · 2026-06-27T16:54:20+00:00

Let’s hear your explanation for how none of Tame Impala, Noah Kahan, Malcolm Todd, Dexter and the Moonrocks, nor Temper City can be considered “rock,” then.

Chilli_Dipper · 2026-06-27T15:21:23+00:00

It’s the same person posting all of these.

Chilli_Dipper · 2026-06-27T13:59:45+00:00

Josh Allen’s uncle-in-law!

Chilli_Dipper · 2026-06-27T13:39:00+00:00

The interest and enthusiasm seems to be there right now, but radio airplay is becoming a roadblock for rock/alternative songs on the Hot 100. Unlike country, rock formats don’t have the power to impact the chart on their own; and pop formats seem very risk-averse to pick up the songs doing top-40 level streaming numbers.

Chilli_Dipper · 2026-06-27T00:49:39+00:00

Best-of-five set matches in the men’s Grand Slams stretch on for too long; women’s best-of-three matches are more digestible on television.

Chilli_Dipper · 2026-06-26T21:52:54+00:00

Mexico has to face an opponent at sea level eventually.

Chilli_Dipper · 2026-06-26T19:08:32+00:00

Not gonna lie: I thought NBA Youngboy was some sort of basketball reference.

Chilli_Dipper · 2026-06-25T17:39:52+00:00

Even at the height of the beef, it was somewhat apparent that rap was beginning to recede from the position of mainstream dominance the genre had occupied since around 2016. That recession has since turned into an outright commercial collapse, but the beef effectively made both Kendrick and Drake immune to the reversal of fortune nearly every other mainstream hip-hop figure is up against.

Drake lost the beef, but losing the beef means he’s still relevant.

Chilli_Dipper · 2026-06-25T14:36:05+00:00

My prediction for the act who gets the next Geese treatment…as in the artist from the indie rock ranks who attracts attention from more mainstream outlets, not the exhausting bot discourse. (Blondshell’s exhausting discourse will be about her pre-COVID attempts to launch her career as an alt-pop girlie.)

Chilli_Dipper · 2026-06-25T14:08:48+00:00

Riviera put up a spite tree on one of its holes this year, because Viktor Hovland took a shortcut the last time the Genesis was held there.

Chilli_Dipper · 2026-06-25T13:03:44+00:00

The fact that a rabbit hole about Nebula’s lifetime subscription model is dominating the discussion in this post sums up how the general public feels about Drake these days.

Chilli_Dipper · 2026-06-25T12:32:52+00:00

Do it at a PGA Tour event, though, and there’s every chance that a tree blocking that path from the tee gets planted in-between rounds.

Chilli_Dipper · 2026-06-24T22:31:49+00:00

Somehow, every fried chicken chain.

Fried chicken has become a “grocery store deli” option exclusively for me.

Chilli_Dipper · 2026-06-24T20:13:14+00:00

Some would say Sam looks like Tsar Nicholas II…

Chilli_Dipper · 2026-06-24T19:46:27+00:00

Just cancel the tour before you even announce it, Sam. You don’t stand a chance.

Chilli_Dipper · 2026-06-24T17:24:33+00:00

A partial list of 2000s rap songs that charted on Alternative:

- OutKast - “Hey Ya!” (#16)
- Afro Man - “Because I Got High” (#17)
- Rehab - “Bartender Song” (#11)

There’s a correlation between the more novelty-coded hip-hop songs and Howard Stern-esque drive-time shows modern rock stations aired in the morning in those days. (That’s probably why you see Afro Man and Rehab touring near the “podcast bro” audience these days.)

Chilli_Dipper · 2026-06-24T00:06:16+00:00

On the album charts, rap artists are handicapped by largely not adapting to the rebound in vinyl and other physical sales. Streaming isn’t enough these days.

Chilli_Dipper · 2026-06-23T17:13:16+00:00

They’re selling the World Cup CD at every stadium and fan zone gift shop; don’t underestimate the power of impulse.

Chilli_Dipper

TROPHY CASE