Hammerin' Hank.

I spent a good part of my weekend getting dangerously pumped-up by three DVDs featuring one of my heroes: Henry Rollins.

Most people know Henry as a tough, ripped, tattooed, punk-rock singer. But he also spends much of every year on what he calls a “spoken word” tour. He prefers not to call it “stand-up comedy”, maybe because his work is long-form and cerebral, but to me he's almost in a league with Chris Rock.

Henry’s a workaholic with an unquenchable curiosity. Every year, he travels to three countries he’s never visited. When he decided to try a week on the Trans-Siberian Railway, he chose to go during the winter, when Russian temps average 40-below, just to see if he could bear it. The trip resulted in a great spoken-word topic.

After watching over seven hours of him the past two days, absorbing his energy and work ethic, I feel like I'm going to own this town.

I really recommend you watch the entire DVDs– all three are available on Netflix. In the meantime, this clip, on why Henry hates dating, is a nice preview.