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16 May 2009 21:00

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Sports: Girl power: The Preakness dominated in a rare win by a filly

Rachel Alexandra killed it today in her run. She’s the first filly to win the Preakness since 1924. Damn, dude. source

16 May 2009 12:56

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World: The H1N1/swine flu toll is rising heavily still

  • 8,451 confirmed cases of swine flu around the world
  • 72 confirmed deaths by the World Health Organization source

16 May 2009 12:54

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Music: ShortFormBlog Saturday Mixtape: ’90s one-hit wonders

  • 1. The Refreshments are far more known now as the creators of the “King of the Hill” theme song, but “Banditos” is still an unsung classic. And lead singer Roger Clyne is still around with his band The Peacemakers.

    2. With “Brimful of Asha,” Cornershop managed to create an simple-sounding but ultra-nuanced pop tune – there are dozens of obscure references to Bollywood cinema in this song.

    3. The Cardigans sounded destined to sit next to Sixpence None the Richer on the Radio, but they were far more interesting than that. Check out “Explode,” a solid attempt at electronica by them.

    4. “Closing Time” might be a perfect example of a one-hit wonder, but Semisonic didn’t deserve the fate. Songs like “Delicious” brim with songcraft. And singer Dan Wilson later won Grammys for his songwriting

    3. Fountains of Wayne started as a pretty awesome synthesis of power-pop when nobody cared about power-pop. Eventually “Stacy’s Mom” pigeonholed them, but “Leave the Biker” is still a funny ditty.

16 May 2009 12:51

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World: Russia to gay people: No, you can’t have your parade

  • The parade was planned around Eurovision. Moscow police detained dozens of people heading to a gay parade without explanation – including the two organizers of the parade. The people were celebrating Eurovision, the pop song contest that has a massive gay following and is being held in Moscow tonight. Clearly, Russia, this makes you look really good to the rest of the world. source