Here your Uncle Grambo was, all excited to present the FOW Nation with a brand-spankin’ new whatevs (dot org) redesign on Valentine’s Day, when the lovely and talented Julia Allison had to go and upstage me not once but twice by baring her bangin’ bikini-ready bod. Well, I guess I shouldn’t feel that bad … in the blog-centric circles that your Uncle Grambo runs in, Julia got even more run today than Beyonce on the cover of SI. Despite facing massive competish from these scantily-clad sextarts, your Uncle Grambo will not be denied … the show must go on!

So, um, yeah, here we are! What do you think of the new digs? The primary goal of all this was to step up whatevs (dot org)’s game enough to keep up with the Digital Joneses of the Web 2.0 revolution while still retaining a familiar look and feel for the tride and true members of the FOW Nation. To that end, here’s a breakdown of a few of the major things that were rehauled:

• SWITCHED PUBLISHING PLATFORMS — Bye bye Blogger, hello WordPress.

• ADDED TAGS — Hopefully this helps you, the user, make the best use of your time here at whatevs (dot org). Note: Tagging began on January 1, 2007 — combing back through the archives proved to be WAY too hard a task to complete.

• UPDATED COMMENTING SYSTEM — Don’t get me wrong, I loved the backBlog system. But it started getting really spammy late last year, particularly on pages that were getting good Google traction.

• BRAND NEW FEEDS — Those of you who are hip to the RSS game will now be able to subscribe to both your Uncle Grambo’s rants AND get the instant scoop from the feisty commenter community. That is, if you’re ready for Yale Bloor in your Google Reader.

• ADVERTISING — Yeah yeah yeah, I know. But when I got word earlier this week that my primary sponsor decided to channel their funds elsewhere, I found myself running cash-negative on the operation side of this site. Trust your Uncle Grambo, the last thing I want to do is whore this space out, neckcar stizz. I just want to break even (ie, cover the $250/yr it costs to keep this site up and running). Hopefully you won’t find the advertisers too intrusive in your surfing experience.

While that might not seem like much, these changes are the result of a long and arduous process that’s actually still in flux a bit. In other words, please pardon our dust as we continue to tweak a few things that will (hopefully) make this site even more dope.

But before I unleash you to explore the previously embargoed content, it should be noted that this site is a customized derivation of the Tri-Sexuality Standard Theme built by Scott Jarkoff, a theme I first discovered when Big Plans Big Crash launched. Thanks for the inspirado, gents. Also, big ups to Head Set Options for all of their hard work behind the scenes to get everything up and running.

And with that, welcome to Version 4.0 of whatevs (dot org) … bovs on your respective tees!

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It’s been a LONG while since your Uncle Grambo really let loose on a bunch of wholly unrelated topics, bullet stizz. With that in mind, here’s some choice thoughts on some neglected linkage that’s been gathering dust in the corner for the past few weeks…

• Aside from some of the more obvious things that I miss most about Detroit (family, friends, coney dogs), one of the most difficult parts of my transition to life in NYC has been coping with the loss of my sports radio touchstones at WDFN. I’m talkin’ legends like Stoney and Wojo, Jamie and Brady, Diesel Dery and even Eric Pate. These guys had been a daily staple in my pop culture diet for the better part of the last 10 years, and quitting them cold turkey has not been easy. Sure, they’re still accessible to me via streaming radio, but like many of my fellow X’ers, I’m staunchly averse to the whole streaming bandwagon. But there’s one thing that might get me to change my mind … the return of Art Regner.

  As much as I loved WDFN (which was a LOT), I always abhored Sean Baligian. I mean, I understood his appeal — that of the consummate Downriver fanboy — but his schtick always irritated me to the high heavens. Now that Art Regner is a free agent (back on the market after getting canned at WXYT), I implore the program managers at The Fan to let bygones be bygones and bring him back in the fold (preferably in Baligian’s 9am slot). Regner isn’t the outrageous wild man he was during the heyday of his late `90s popularity, but there’s no arguing that he’s far better equipped to represent the Everyman voice of Detroit Fan than the inarticulate slob with least imaginative catch phrase in the business (“It is what it is”). Developing!

• While we’re on the sports tip, Gorilla Mask put together a hilarious list of Bill Walton’s well-documented forays into hyperbole. Example: “Greg Ostertag is one of the top centers on this planet!” Essential. [via SportsByBrooks]

• Talk about SNL revealed! Egotastic managed to get their hands on some topless Poehler buzz. Wonder what Uncle Rick would think?

• If there’s one thing that we all know about Prince Rogers Nelson, it’s that dude is all abouts brevity when it comes to spelling. If you think about it, his stylistic shortcuts (like “4″, “U” and dozens of others) predated the whole IM/text message revolution by a full 10 years (at least). But your Uncle Grambo feels like holmes is treading into questionable artistic territory when, on an upcoming tribute record, he rechristens Joni Mitchell’s classic as “A Case Of U”. Come on now, Prince. Let’s be rease.

• These barely SFW shots of Rebecca Loos make your Uncle Grambo’s head spin and pants dance. Giggity, indeed.

• Sometime last month, your Uncle Grambo was stumbling home from a sake-filled evening with R. Mills and the Stereogum gents when I stumbled upon this place: the BAMN! Automat. Fresh out of a “Lost In Translation”-era Sofia Coppola cream dream, this new(ish) hotspot in St. Mark’s Place allows you to order up wacky foodstuffs like mini-burgers and deep-fried mac and cheese on a stick, self-serve stizz! Not only is the food certifiably Yummers McGee, but the lack of any human intervention COMPLETELY eliminates any of the embarrassment that sometimes comes along with ordering carnie food. If you ever decide to make your way over to this mecca of besteverness, be sure to bring either small bills or a sockful of quarters — these machines only take coins! Totes jawesome, y’all!

• Remember Super Toe? I do. Along with Crossbows and Catapaults, it was one of those rare toys that rewarded both extensive precision in pre-move planning AND brute force. Geens.

• And in “closing the loop” news, your Uncle Grambo wants to call attention to Sarah Klein’s scathing Detroit kiss-off that ran last month in the Metro Times. There’s no two ways about it, her column was one of the most fearlessly honest pieces about the state of the city that I have EVER read in the local mainstream(ish) media. Whether or not you still give two shits about the future of downtown Detroit, Klein deserves attention and applause for standing in such stark contrast to the toothless “We can do it!” puff pieces that run each week in Model D. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a firm believer in the power of positivity and its importance in the revitalization efforts to rebuild Detroit. But after nearly two years of living and working in one of the nicer parts of the city (”nicer” being a relative term, obvs) , I can relate to nearly everything that Klein stated as a reason that she ultimately decided to leave the city. There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t miss all of my friends and family back in The D (not to mention the coney dogs and sports radio), but at the same time, there hasn’t been a single day since I’ve left where I’ve missed ANYTHING about the city itself. Speaking from experience, I’ve got a good feeling that Sarah Klein will find the grass to be greener in the next place that she decides to settle down.

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