J Rich Joins the Suns

I haven't written about sports for a long time on this blog. With the Tecmo Blog now being defunct, I guess this is my new outlet for sports writing. The Suns pulled off a big trade today, trading Raja Bell and Boris Diaw for Jason Richardson. Since I have been meaning to write about the NBA for a while, I figured now was the best time to get all my thoughts out.

Love this trade, I really love this trade. First off, the Suns dumped Boris Diaw's contract. Boris basically had one fantastic year, got paid and went to hell. He was on the Dirty more times than he was scoring hoops. He seemed to spend his off season enjoying French croissants instead of trying to improve his game. You will hardly find a Suns fan who will miss Boris.


Raja Bell is the loss that is going to sting a lot of Suns fans. Bell was kind of a cult figure in Phoenix, but his loss will hurt women of the Valley more than it will the team. I'm pretty sure every girl in Phoenix has a crush on Raja Bell. When Bell came to Phoenix he was a tough noised, defensive minded guard that could also shoot the three. He was perfect for the Suns and he gave them something they desperately needed back in 2006. That Raja is dead. He has lost his edge. He no longer plays with that chip on his shoulder that made him that hard nosed defender. He was even quoted before a recent game as saying he didn't want to be that guy anymore and set a bad example for his kids. His defense has also waned with age. The problem was, that was what made Raja Bell valuable. Without that he was just a spot up shooter, a bench player that was getting starter's minutes. I will always appreciate Raja Bell for what he did, especially during the 2006 playoffs, but it was probably time for him to go.

Jason Richardson is going to be big time for the Suns. He makes them younger and more explosive. He is a great open court player, has fantastic athleticism and can rein in three pointers. Richardson has been out of place in Charlotte playing for Larry Brown. His free wheeling style was best suited for Don Nelson (who he did play for) and this Suns team. He is going to help bring excitement back to Phoenix.

The Suns entered this season stressing defense and a slower offensive pace. They have basically ditched that entire philosophy and have gone back to a more run and gun, D'Antoni style ball. This is mainly because they are not equipped to play the way Terry Porter wants them to play, so give Porter credit for making adjustments. Just don't expect better defense now, Nash, J Rich, Amare and Shaq are all below average defenders at their positions. They are, however, a scary offensive team with the addition of J Rich. I guess some things never change.

The Big Three

Who is the best team in the league? We have three candidates: Boston (20-2), Cleveland (18-3), and the LA Lakers (17-3). So who is the best team? Lucky for you, I am here to tell you.

Boston -

Win a championship and start the season 20-2? They remind me of those Jordan Bulls teams with their desire to win every single night. KG won't let them take a game off. Their defense and role players are so good they can go through the entire season on cruise control and still probably finish with 65 wins. Last year was not a fluke, Boston is on their way to being great. Let's not forget Buyout Player to be Named Later that they are going to acquire sometime after Janurary. Boston is the least sexy and most efficient team on this list.

LA Lakers -

Bizzaro Boston. They are deep enough to allow their starters to play manageable minutes and still win almost every game they play, but they win with offense. They have talented offensive players at every position, but I really only see one talented defensive player: Kobe. Still, their offense is good enough to run rough shot through the Western Conference and get their #1 seed. No one is going to catch them and I don't see anyone slowing them down in the West playoffs.

Cleveland -

Kind of a hybrid between Boston and LA. They too are blowing teams out and limiting their stars (aka LeBron's) minutes. What is making them good is the fact that LeBron is even more dominate, and now they have a trio of good shooting guards to give him backcourt help. Mo Williams is everything the Cavs thought he would be, and Daniel Gibson and Delonte West have been playing fantastically. The Cavs may not have the depth that these other two teams have, but they have LeBron, and that is the extent of my expert anyalsis.

Verdict: Boston is the best team right now, but when the playoffs roll around I don't think it is going to be possible to bet against LeBron. The Lakers don't overly impress me yet, even with their good record. I mean, they lost to Sac Town last night!

We've Waited a Long Time for This

w00t!

Blackberry Ad

So let me get this straight, every medium in the free world must have a Blackberry ad right? Hey, I'm just trying to fit in.

Look at it, staring at you, telling you how much better it is than your phone. Have you ever hung out with a Blackberry owner before? They always have their Blackberry in hand, it doesn't matter what they are doing.

Drinking? One hand holds a beer and the other holds a Blackberry.
Eating? One hand holds a fork and the other a Blackberry, no time for napkins.
Driving? Blackberry users have the highest fatal crash ratio in the United States1
Talking? A Blackberry user won't directly talk to you, instead preferring to text you their conversation.
Exercising? No time to exercise, must check Blackberry.

Catch the drift? This being said I am 99.9999% sure I will own a Blackberry by the end of 2009.

1. I have no statistical data to backup this claim

The Naked Man

Yeah yeah I don't post enough, I know I get busy blah blah, run on sentence. To appease your appetite I give you the best "move" ever courtesy of How I Met Your Mother.

My Life

Time for another installment of my life, where I talk about something random in my life!

I found out on Thursday that I was going to have a three day weekend because my office is closed on Columbus Day. There is no better feeling in the world than unexpectedly getting a three day weekend. My enthusiasm was tempered a little bit on Friday, when I had to take my car into the shop. The total damage: $370 and a Friday night without my car. The mechanic originally said the total was going to be $440 before tax, but then he called to tell me that the total was only $370. So, let's just say I negotiated the price down. The important part of that story is that I didn't have a car last night and that is where it begins.

I'm car-less so I had two options last night: stay home or go wherever my roommate, J2, was going. Luckily for me he was going to Eazy E and Bjorn's house in Scottsdale, so I decided to tag along. Their house is in a gated community, it is on a golf course and it is pretty nice. It also looks like a command center. Their living room has five TVs and two computers. There were two flat screen TVs, one for video games and one for sports. There was also a third TV that was always on ESPN, never a bad thing to have. Just when you think this room has it all, it also has a fully functioning kegerator. Let's recap: mulitple tvs, sports, video games and flowing beer. What's not to love? The night mostly consisted of us playing the new NBA Live 09 while watching old NBA games from 1995 on NBA TV, can you say NBA junkees?

That, however, is not the story of the night. Don't ask me how it came up but at some point in the night Bjorn was telling us how his neighbor caught a 40 pound catfish in the canal right by their house (this is no ordinary canal, this is a HUGE canal). After hearing this story I get the bright idea to go catfish hunting. I don't know why, but it seemed like the right thing to do. So off to the canal J2 and I went, I guess the rest of the crew decided that going catfish hunting at 1am in a canal is not a good idea.

In order to get to this canal we had to cross the golf course and hop a fence, which included me almost having a deadly encoutner with a cactus. Once we got to this huge canal we just kind of stood around, because we werent actually going to go catfish hunting at 1am without fishing polls. To kill some time J2 and I both threw a rock into the water. Suddenly after, something made a huge splash in the water, and it wasn't another rock. We were startled, then we vaugley saw some sort of flying creature take off into the night. Were these two events connected? Probably not. Either way, we decided to throw more rocks into the water. Not much happened but as we were about to leave we threw in one final rock, and something big and white emerged from the water and started jumping around. We had no idea what it was and didn't care to find out, we hauled ass back to the house.

The entire crew decided to go back to that canal about 30 minutes later but we couldn't get the thing to reappear. Now I know what it feels like to be one of those wacky UFO believers. Either way, there was something in that canal. Maybe it was a 40 pound catfish, but that doesn't explain the flying creature we saw. Some night I need to return to this canal and really find out what is going on.

Election 08: Please Let it End!

The Presidential Election is a lot like the Super Bowl; a really compelling event with far too much hype. The Super Bowl only has two weeks of hype, Presidential Elections get close to a year of hype. I remember watching Barack Obama's victory speech after the Iowa Caucasus in January and cringing because I thought he was going to be assassinated. Now it is seven months later and nothing has been decided. The only thing that has changed is Hillary Clinton went from being anti-Obama to pro-Obama (sort of). Let me add onto my previous analogy, the Presidential Election is like the Super Bowl mixed in with a Survivor marathon. Thank goodness it only comes around once every four years.

You want to know the power of a Presidential Election? It makes a show like Saturday Night Live relevant (well, much more relevant). It has literally caused political comedians Steven Colbert and Jon Stewart to completely monopolize alternative media (cable news, blogging, youtube and other social networks as opposed to network news, which is sill operated by the CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX snooze fest, and newspapers) and it has allowed political analysts to enter our life.

Political analysts have become quasi celebrities during this election. I could see David Gergen chilling somewhere and get star struck, six months ago I wouldn't have given a shit who he was. The thing about analysts are, well we really have no idea where their interests lie. We can't trust Fox News analysts because they will always lean right (and by lean I mean fall over). MSNBC is home to ultra liberal Keith Olbermann, so they may favor liberals more. I usually trust CNN for my political analysis, but after the debate on Friday night they went to Joe Biden and a McCain senior advisor for their analysis. Really? Don't we already know what those two are going to say? I actually think David Gergen is the best analyst on TV, he doesn't have an agenda and has worked with both Democrats and Republicans during his career.

The best/worst thing about these analysts are their analogies. They are pointless! I am led to believe that all an analyst has to do is throw out a random analogy and people will assume they know what they are talking about. Sample set:

• "McCain knocked his VP selection out of the park"
• "This is an all-in move for McCain"
• "Obama is swinging for the fences on this stance"
• "Obama can’t go into four corners and try to the run the clock out. He's got to attack"
• "This is only round four of a prized title fight"
• "McCain dropped the ball here"
• "Obama's got the ball, know he's got to run with it."
• "The ball is in his court"
• "That was a knockout blow"

Argh! Am I watching ESPN? The whole political system, whether it be the politicians themselves or the media covering them, has become such a joke it is no wonder Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are two of the biggest names in the industry right now. These guys are talented of course, but when it comes to politics the material writes itself. Watch the Daily Show and you see Jon Stewart is not so much making unique jokes, he basically shows a clip of something and says "what the fuck?" to his audience. Stephen Colbert satires ultra conservative media members who put their foot in their mouths so often it is not really hard to find new material. I'm not diminishing what Colbert and Stewart have done, I am just pointing out the pointlessness of politics.

No more spin, no more coverage, no more analogies, let's just picking a fricking President already!

I Love the Olympics

I love the Olympics, plain and simple. Never would I ever watch such random sporting events with the maintained interest that I have while currently watching the Olympics. Gymnastics, swimming, table tennis, hell it is all good when it's on the world's biggest stage. A few points I want to touch on:

• I love the announcers of sports like gymnastics. You see someone come up for a gymnastic event and the announcer will be like, "she completely nailed this routine in the 2007 World Championship Qualifying meet" or "she was all SEC at LSU in this event". These announcers must only work once every four years, so I wonder what they do during their free time.
• Water polo and fencing are two sports that don't translate to the big screen. You can't even see where the ball is in water polo. I have no idea what is going on, even as the announcer is breaking down the defensive philosophies for a bunch of dudes swimming around in a pool. It is almost impossible to tell who got the scoring hit in fencing. Usually the two square up, both strike, and it's over in a few seconds and someone screams. You don't really know who scored until the scoreboard updates itself.
  
• It is amazing how intense swimming is to watch. I really enjoy it and I know that once the Olympics ends I won't think about it again until 2012. Michael Phelps has been the man to watch in his Olympics, like watching Jordan in his prime.
• Speaking of swimming, one of the better moments of the Olympics was the team relay. France talked a lot of shit how they were going to crush the USA and they were in the lead for almost the entire race. The USA, however, made an amazing comeback and shut the Frenchies up. Leave it to a Frenchman to talk shit during the Olympics.
  
• Am I gay for watching gymnastics? I am gonna say no, and if you think I am then you have the problem.
  
• It is nice to watch an all-star team like Team USA basketball play together and play defense. I don't know if this team will win the gold, but if they don't it wont be because of the debacles they suffered in recent years.
  

So I tuned into woman's gymnastics coverage tonight in order to watch Shawn Johnson, the much hyped 16 year old USA Olympian. Shawn John (as we call her) is from West Des Moines, Iowa, so that is cool. She is most likely going to win a gold this year as she is probably the best gymnast in the world right now. Here is what I want to happen with her career: I want her to win a gold this year and get famous (which is very likely). Then, in 2012 at the London Games, she needs to flame out, like she totally biffs it on the balance bar and loses a shot at the metal for her team and herself. After this horrible event she retires from the sport, at age 20, and falls into obscurity. One day in 2018 you'll be at some dive bar in West Des Moines and you will see Shawn, alone, at the bar on her 5th shot of bourbon while watching the World Gymnastics Championship on some 19 inch, barely color TV. After watching someone masterfully preform on the balance bar she throws her shot glass at the TV and screams "do you know who I am? I'm Shawn Johnson dammit!"

Yeah that would be fun, and also really random. But wait, there is more:

So in 2019 something terrible happens to the woman's Olympic team that is heading to the 2020 games. All of the sudden six new performers are needed. A representative of the woman's team flies to West Des Monies to find Shawn Johnson. They need her back. "Why Me?" She asks. To that the representative will reply, "why you Shawn? Because you used to be the best!"

Yes, yes, this is what I want to see happen. Sounds like a good movie. I'll start working on the screen play. After the Olympics, that is.

More Fun

I write to you today not as a blogger, but as a concerned citizen.

Just kidding, I write to you as a blogger.

Okay, now that we got that totally random intro out of the way, I just wanted to say hi. My blog seems to have become two things: stories about my life and movie reviews. What fun right? Well today I bring you another story about my life.

First off, and I neglected to mention this in my review of The Dark Knight, on my way back from the movie that night I got pulled over by a cop. I made an illegal turn on red, but apparently my license had been suspended for over a year (because of a prior ticket). I, of course, had no knowledge of this. This was just another case of the always helpful DMV, who literally couldn't have cared less when I called them. I'm serious, I have never seen a person care less about anything in the world than the DMV woman I talked to on the phone that day. I could have told her people were dying in Darfur and she would have said, "the DMV has no record of that". Anyway, I ended up having to go to criminal court, but I got all my charges dismissed. Since I was in criminal court, by extension, I basically think I know what it is like to do hard time. I now feel I have the right to say things like: Out on bail, fresh outta jail, California dreamin'. Which, if you Google, the first hit you get is a myspace profile of the same name of a kid in Iowa. This kid must be the most gangsta kid in Iowa. I love it!

In all seriousness I'm glad I got the charged dismissed. Even though I was under no threat of jail time, it would have been cool to go to jail so I could rap from a prison phone a la Big Hoss. Wow, enough 90s rap reference for one night, okay?

This past weekend was one of the better weekends I ever had, but it was a bit sad as well. It was my good friend Pro's going away weekend, he is moving to Cinncinnati to go to medical school and take over the world one day. On Friday night I had the pleasure of going to his goodbye party, which featured a keg of PBR. Note to any readers: If you are going to throw a party, do not get a keg of PBR. I toughed out the terrible beer but the keg was tapped around midnight so I decided to walk home (I did not live that far away). As I was walking down the street I hear "A-Zone don't go! A-Zone don't go!" (I don't think I ever explained the origins of my A-Zone nickname on this blog, but now is not the time). I turn around and who do I see, Large, Bjorn and J2 with 40s of Mickey's in hand. They had left the party an hour earlier, but not only had they rallied, they brought booze when the keg was tapped! So I went back to the party with my friends and much better booze. This might go down as the single greatest turnaround in party history.

On Saturday night some of us went to Mill for part II of Pro's going away party. We hit Mill Cue club for their ridiculously cheap long island ice teas (They range from $3-4.50, and they are twice the size and half the price compared to most places). I got to talking to this girl, now let me preface this story by saying I like to joke about hard drugs a lot. Don't ask me why, but I find it hilarious to say "where is the E?" as a joke. The only problem is half the time I think people don't realize I am joking and just think I am a drug addict. So I am talking to her, and for some reason we are talking about drugs and I say "I need to buy a glass table to do lines of coke off." Funny right? Well her response is something like "oh yeah I have one of those that I do lines of coke off", but she happens to be DEAD serious. So that was awkward, but makes for quite the story.

On Sunday night Pro had people over at my house (yes I wrote that right, I didn't have any say in the matter). That was a good night except I was tired out by then and had to work on Monday morning. Basically Pro's going away weekend was a trilogy, kind of like the Star Wars trilogy. The fist one was unique, the second one was the best and the third one was good in its own ways. Anyway, I will miss Pro. He leaves a huge void in Arizona. Whenever I need to eat wings, play trivia or make a random Rocky, Back to the Future or 90s reference, he was there. I will be taking applications for someone to take his place, but they are HUGE shoes to feel.

Good luck in Cinnci, Pro.


And you readers, thanks for sticking with me!

Dark Knight Review

The Dark Knight had to have been one of the most anticipated movies of all time. It was a big budget summer action flick, it was a sequel to a critically acclaimed box office smash, the previews looked amazing and everyone was already raving about the late Heath Ledger's role as the Joker. I had to fight through crowds of people to see the movie (it was sold out almost everywhere) and I am left with only one word after two and half hours of this movie, which never dragged by the way:

Intense

This movie is intense. It is fantastic, dark, gripping, action packed and intense. This is a Batman movie, but the Batman/Bruce Wayne character is nowhere near as interesting as Ledger's Joker and Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent.

Let's start with the Joker. Ledger's Joker moves Jack Nicholson's Joker to the backseat. It doesn't matter that Nicholson was portraying a more cartoonish version of the Joker, Ledger is that fantastic. He is well worthy of all the hype he has received, and his scenes are what makes this movie great. He is a brilliant, evil, disturbing and believable villain. He will have you laughing at scenes that aren't funny. He will make you shudder as you think, "Could there really people like this in the real world?". His performance is not overrated, it will be his role of a lifetime. It is a damn shame he won't ever be able to reprise it.

Aaron Eckhart plays Gotham District attorney Harvey Dent. Dent is referred to as the "White Knight" in the movie, balancing Batman's vigilante way of justice with his own, law abiding ways. He is someone even Batman looks up to. I cant remember in a superhero movie where an average person manages to rival the hero in terms of heroic acts. Oh, but here is the beauty of Dent: He is Gotham's "White Knight" but he isn't perfect. Heck, watching the Gotham PD and Dent try to rid the city of mafia and the Joker would be an interesting enough movie, but we also happen to have Batman in it!

This movie is dark, disturbing and at times cruel. The good guys don't always win in this one. And, this doesn't give anything away, I left the movie with the same feeling I got after watching The Empire Strikes Back, I guess the good guys won, but it sure didn't feel like it.

Grade: A

Many Movie Reviews

There is lots going on in this blogger's life. I got a new house, I went on vacation and some other less important stuff happened. But that is for another blog post, I am way behind on my movie reviews. I have six movie reviews for you! Here we go:

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Okay, so I know that Indiana Jones moves are not really known for their believability, but I thought this movie was a little too ridiculous for me. Case in point: The scene where Shia LeBouf swings from vines in order to catch up with a speeding car. Hey, I'm all for a good vine swinging scene, but that was a little too over the top. Since this movie has been out for a long ass time I am not going to care about spoilers. The inclusion of an alien race in the wacky ending just added to the ridiculousness of it. It is an enjoyable movie but I found it much too over the top.
Grade: C+

Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

The previews to the second installment of th Chronicles of Narnia series looked awesome, like the movie was going to be better than the first. It is hard to top the original when it comes to anything, and Prince Caspian fails to be as awesome as the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I think I know the reason: Everyone read the first book when they were young, so they were excited to see that book become a big time summer blockbuster. Significantly less people have read any of the other CS Lewis books (honestly, you can't tell me you read any more than the first one). Because of this there was less interest in the second movie, just my personal opinion. The movie itself, however, is not bad at all. It is a good adventure/fantasy flick.
Grade: B

Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

This movie should be called: Harold and Kumar make fun of racial stereotypes and the Department of Homeland Security. They only spend about 10 minutes of the entire movie in Guantanamo Bay. Not that the first movie was believable, but Harold and Kumar's crazy adventure in this installment of the franchise is much more over the top (how many times have I used the words installment and over the top in this blog post so far?). The beginning of the movie is very very funny, but the momentum comes to a stop as the movie sort of crawls along to an uninspiring finish. Although Kumar's math poem at the end is actually very clever.
Grade: C

The Love Guru

It looks ridiculous in the previews and it has been getting killed by reviewers. I actually had no desire to see it but I had nothing else to do one night in Iowa. The movie delivers on its slap stick comedy, and it will cause you to laugh more than a few times. That is all you can really ask from a picture like this, right? Think of it as an extra long and intricate SNL skit that happens to have super hot Jessica Alba in it. It's not a terrible movie, is that good enough praise? Ah hell, I'll throw it a bone and give it a . . .
Grade: B-

Get Smart

Let's check the lineup: Steve Carrel is hilarious, Dwyane Johnson is awesome and Anne Hathaway is way hot. What does that add up to? In this case a terrible movie and one of the bigger disappointments I have ever felt at a movie. The plot is cheesy and extremely predictable. Dwayne Johnson is criminally underused and all the funny parts are in the previews. Towards the end of the movie I found myself with thoughts like "are they really going to be this predictable? . . . . yes, yes they are" and "I can't believe I am contemplating walking out of a movie that has the Rock and Michael Scott in it". Avoid this one.
Grade: F

Hancock

You may think of July 2nd-July 5th as when all the 4th of July festivities go down, but to me I think of Will Smith. Go back and look at all the great movies Will Smith has released during Will Smith weekend (and maybe some not so great ones, like Wild Wild West and MIB 2). Hancock interested me because it had a new plot: A superhero dealing with an image crisis. That's what got me into the theater but the movie makes a sudden plot twist midway through the movie that is not even remotely hinted to in the previews, so I was generally surprised when it happened. Is Hancock the black Superman? Maybe he is. Is the movie worth seeing? Sure. What is my opinion of it? None, I am devoid of emotion towards this movie. That is not necessarily a bad thing, nor is it a great thing. I am going to be of zero help to you if you are basing going to see the movie on this review (and I sure hope you are!)
Grade: Incomplete.


Thanks for reading my ramblings

Arizona is Crazy and Other Random Thoughts

You know how crazy Arizona is? It was 108 degrees today and the high for Thursday is 74 degrees! How do you have a 34 degree drop over the course of two days? When was the last time there was a 74 degree day in late May? It is like the weather gods just want to mess with Arizona. I, for one, love seeing mid 70s days in late May but I am going to need a string of very hot days in order to get my body adjusted for Summer. As I mentioned before, it was 108 degrees today and I could barely handle it. It is not looking like I am ready for Summer yet. Just to make you feel warm I think I will include a picture of the sun. Yeah, that's right.

I found a cure to the common cold. I know, I should be making millions right? It won't prevent you from getting a cold but it will get rid of your cold in almost a day. It only involves two things, one of which is incredibly hard to find. It requires about a gallon of orange juice (easy to find) and a full free day in which you don't have any obligation (hard to find). If you spend one full day drinking and sleeping you will do wonders for your cold. Lack of sleep is what prolongs colds the most. I went to sleep at about 10:30pm on Saturday night (because I felt terrible) woke up at about twelve hours later on Sunday morning. I then took a three hour nap in the middle of the day and went to sleep at 9pm. When I was awake I didn't do much other then watch TV. I killed the entire gallon of OJ, which gave me much needed vitamin C and hydration.

What happened next? Well my symptoms were pretty much gone on Monday afternoon. So let's recap: I started getting sick on Saturday night and I was done being sick on Monday afternoon. That is some quick turnaround, I've seen people be sick for up to a week. Don't thank me, just try my awesome method for cold busting.

Aaron Thuringer's cold busting method works perfectly on him, but has not been tested on anyone else. Therefore different body types may handle sickness differently, and Aaron Thuringer's cold busting method may not have the same effects on you that it does on him. That will be all.

Iron Man Review

Iron Man is just another movie in the long line of Marvel movies that will be coming out soon. Marvel signed a deal with some studio to produce mass amounts of their movies. (Wow, great, informative journalism on my part. You think I would have a link for you, I don't) You can already see the effects of this, they are already making another Hulk movie, and its not a sequel to the shitty one of a few years ago (to be fair I never saw it, I just heard it was bad). Okay, on with the review:

Tony Stark (played very well by Robert Downey Jr) is an engineering genius who also happens to be the CEO of Stark Enterprises, a weapons manufacturer, and a multimillionaire. He is kind of like Bruce Wayne, if Bruce Wayne was more colorful and had a drinking problem. While in Afghanistan, he is kidnapped by a terrorist group that demands he build them some kick ass missiles. Instead, Stark builds a suit of armor and fights his way out of his prison. He returns to the States, perfects his suit of armor and becomes the Iron Man.

I am always a fan of these summer, action-adventure blockbusters and Iron Man falls right in line. Good action, good looking girls, some good humor and unrealistic outcomes. I always feel this makes for a good time at the movies, and that is all we can really ask for. The movie has a pretty solid cast. Robert Downey Jr has always been a very good actor when not in rehab. His character is pretty funny, if not over the top. I've always liked Gwyneth Paltrow and I think she does a good enough job in this movie. Terrance Howard is a solid actor who will have a bigger roll in the sequels, but still brings a good effort to this movie. Jeff Bridges is great, but that is not a surprise because he is always great. You can never go wrong with having him in your movie. (Plus, he was "the Dude")

The entire movie is pretty enjoyable, although the climax did not really wow me or anything. Here is what I can say: this movie is worth your money. You don't have to think too hard (unless you are analyzing what lies in the realm of possibility in this movie, which you shouldn't) and there are some cool effects to see. Go enjoy yourself and see it.

Grade: B

P.S. The best part about this movie is something you probably won't be able to enjoy. I was at work on Friday, it was just after lunch and I was settling in to my final work afternoon of the week. Then my bosses come out of their office and decide to take all the full time employees to see Iron Man. So, instead of working on Friday afternoon the office went and saw Iron Man. What a life.

Top 10 Lupe Fiasco Songs

After seeing Lupe Fiasco in concert on Thursday in the worst city in the Union, Tucson, I decided it was time to break down the top ten Lupe Fiasco songs. This shouldn't be too hard, because he is relatively new on the scene (he has only dropped two albums). Before I continue, I want to say that anyone going to see the Kanye West Glow in the Dark Tour concert series is in for a treat, it is quite the show.

Here are the top ten, with links to you tube videos of the song so you can listen to it if your heart so desires.

10. Outty 5000- Tough to pass on great songs like "The Instrumental" and "Go Go Gadget Flow", but I choose Outty 5000 because one great lyric "his flow's like the klu klux meets the panthers" and references to Seinfeld."
9. Hello, Goodbye (Uncool)- I'm a sucker for great lyrics so this song makes the list just for: "he just sits and waits for them to kick in the door, he once was a hero they don't love him no more."
8. I Gotcha- Very upbeat and catchy
7. Dumb it Down- You have to love the message in this song: Black people telling Lupe to dumb down his lyrics because they are too "smart" and going over black people's heads. White people telling Lupe to dumb down his lyrics because they are too "smart" and educating black people.
6. The Coolest- Makes the list because of one awesome lyric, "come, these are the tales of The Cool, guaranteed to go and make you fail from your school".
5. Little Weapon- Great beat, awesome verse about video game violence, and Lupe rapping from the prospective of a young terrorist.
4. Kick, Push- Perhaps his most famous song, it chronicles a young kid who grows up skate boarding. The song is wonderfully upbeat and fun to listen to. On the same album is another song, Kick, Push II. It follows the same kid, who is now older and his life hasn't turned out so great. It's as heartbreaking as the first song is upbeat.
3. Gold Watch- Unique beat, awesome lyrics and even a bit about Street Fighter II, what's not to like?
2. Hip Hop Saved My Life- I love this song because it tells a story that is quite easy to follow. It's about a kid and his quest to become a great rapper and make life better for his family.
1. The Cool- The song is off his first album, Food & Liquor, but it is also the name of his second album. Unlike any song I've ever heard, it follows the story of a man who rises from the dead, goes back to his old neighborhood and gets killed by the same people who killed him in the first place.

Ahh, such good stuff.

Random Thoughts

An update on my life: For those who don't care (remember I basically write this blog so I can go back and read it)

About a month ago at my job, they asked me what they wanted my job title to be. I basically edit websites and blogs while managing content writers so I told them I wanted to be called the Editor in Chief. So guess what? I am now the Editor in Chief of my company! How cool is this going to look on a resume? People will think I am much more important than I actually am! This is just my first step to becoming a famous Editor in Chief like you always see in the comic books.

After getting into a conversation about the Teapot Dome Scandal before the start of the Super Bowl in February, (that conversation got me called gay because I guess you can't have a historical conversation twenty minutes before the Super Bowl starts) I decided to read an excellent book on the matter, The Teapot Dome Scandal: How Big Oil Bought the Harding White House and Tried to Steal the Country by Laton McCartney. The book is an interesting read on one of the biggest political scandals of all time, and it is relevant to today's White House since they are often accused of being in the oil companies pockets. After reading the book I am certain Dick Cheney was related to Albert Fall.

Continuing on the political talk, you should do yourself a favor and check out my good friend Ed Hermes' website. He is running for County Supervisor and it would be pretty awesome if he won, and it could be the start of quite the political career. Also, a vote for him would be a vote for me since I am helping him run his website (although I have yet to start as of the date of the post, so as of 4/21/08 this is not the finished copy of the website). If he wins, think how that could help my resume! I am all about the resume in this post aren't I?

Finally I spent $20 bucks on a pair of bongos. Why, you may ask? Well, I had the money and bongos are awesome. I will make myself as good as this man:



Or not, but hey bongos are still fun. Plus, how many people do you know that play the bongos? Makes for a good conversation piece. Just remember, I never said I played the bongos well.

Well that's all I have for you loyal readers today. I should do this more often, it's quite fun.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall review

In the interest of full disclosure, I am quite the Judd Apatow fan boy. The 40 Year Old Virgin remains one of my favorite movies of all times. I rather enjoyed his big Summer last year when he released Knocked Up and Superbad. I enjoy his style of comedy and the actors he always employs. That being said, this movie is worth checking out.

This movie lacks something that Knocked Up and Superbad, vulgarity. This is a good thing, because it makes the movie a lot more charming. Vulgar movies are funny, but sometimes the pursuit of this brand of humor can sacrifice the charm of the movie. This movie stars Jason Segel (Marshall from How I Met Your Mother fame) as a composer who just broke up with his girlfriend Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell). He decides to vacation to Hawaii and ends up at the same resort she is staying at, with her boyfriend, crazy English pop star Aldous Snow (played brilliantly by Russell Brand). Siegel tries his best to get over Marshall with the help of hotel worker Rachel Jackson (Mila Kunis of That 70s Show fame).

The entire time the movie is set in Hawaii is great fun. We feel with the Segel as he struggles through his breakup. We get to meet an incredibly great cast of characters. We have some heavy hitters here: Jonah Hill (Superbad), Bill Hader (SNL), Paul Rudd (Knocked Up, 40 Year Old Virgin) and Jack McBrayer (30 Rock). These characters are always funny when they are on screen and never try and do too much. There is even a secondary list of supporting characters who are hilarious in their own right. There seems to be enough comedic material at this resort that they could possibly sustain a sequel based on these characters alone.

This movie, however, belongs to three people: Segel, Kunis and Brand. Segel is the star and keeps the whole movie together, and he also happens to be a very likable guy. Kunis must have had her hotness hidden in That 70s Show because she was smoking hot in this movie. Devoid of playing a purposely annoying character (Jackie), she is actually quite likable as well. Brand does his best to steal the show with his portraying the free spirited Aldous Snow. I don't think a single one of his jokes went un-laughed at.

I really do recommend this movie, it is such fun! Oh, if you like Billy Baldwin and love making fun of David Caruso in CSI: Miami, you will love the opening scenes. If you don't like seeing another man's junk, then you won't like the opening scenes.

Grade: A

The Ten Things I Learned in Vegas

So I went to Vegas two weeks ago, don't ask me why I took so long to post this:

10. Vegas isn't Cheap- Okay, I know this is obvious but Vegas is sneaky expensive. To a novice Vegas visitor you have some common misconceptions: Buffets are cheap and you can get free drinks while gambling. Well the buffets aren't cheap, they can be quite expensive. Although you do get free drinks, its not like you can drink for free all night without losing a ton of money gambling (unless you get on an insane hot streak).
9. Penny slots are for old people- It just doesn't feel right sitting in between two 70 year old chain smokers on a Saturday night playing penny slots.
8. The architecture is breathtaking- See Caesar's Palace, Excalibur, New York, New York etc in all their glory and try not to be amazed.
7. Don't leave your hotel door open- It could lead to rent a cop's threatening to kick you out of your room, while your drunk friend devises a fool proof plan to escape any charges, that just happens to involve homosexuality. (For the record, I had nothing to do with this)
6. Sports books are Heaven- Tons of TVs, playing any sporting event you could possibly want.
5. One can take liquor anywhere- Buy a six pack of Miller Light and carry it throughout the city, no one will stop you! Did you just buy a drink at the bar and your friends are leaving? Don't chug it, take it with you!
4. No Cover- Ask around enough and you will never have to pay a cover in Vegas. Someone always has free passes somewhere and will be willing to give them to you.
3. Some taxis only go to strip clubs- So you've been drinking, its about 3am and you stop a cab, only to have the driver say he will only drive to a strip club. That can only lead to bad (or great!) things.
2. Hookers cost $35- And they are hot! According to those little cards that people hand out every, freaking block!
1. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas- But you already knew that didn't you?

YES WE CAN!

I don't care who you want to vote for, this is just awesome. P.S. Double the Blog officially endorses Barack Obama. Impact on the national election: Zero.

The Three Best Super Bowl Commercials of All Time

You know what is amazing? The three best Super Bowl commercials of all time happened in this year's Super Bowl!

They were:



Umm what is better than Thriller? CGI Lizards doing Thriller!



Umm, what wakes you up better than Haddaway? Nothing, the answer is nothing. (Bonus points for the random LL sighting)



Umm whats better than a montage with Rocky music? Bonus points for the dalmatian playing the role of Mick. Bonus points would have been awarded if a mean Russian horse somehow was involved in this commercial.


Wow, what a Super Bowl.

Rambo IV Review

I saw Rambo on opening night, because there was pretty much no way I was not going to see it on opening night. It took me a while to post this review, I apologize for that. So here we go:

Oh wait, I know why I didn't post anything: I don't have anything to write! I'll sum up this movie in a few key buzzwords:

• Action
• Violence
• Gore
• Sly Stallone
• No Plot
• Gore
• Gore
• Gore

Do you like a lot of action with no plot? Then this is the movie for you. I enjoyed it, because it's fun watching Sly Stallone brutally kill dozens people. Go with your friends and get excited for the next gruesome kill that is coming. Don't waste your time and effort into thinking there is going to be a plot, and certainly don't go see this movie unless you know exactly what you are getting in to. It's short, its fun and as I put shortly after I say it, "its better than drinking ten Red Bulls."

Grade: Incomplete, its horrible but awesome . . .

Stronger

You may be familiar with Kanye West's hit single, Stronger, which gets played in clubs and bars constantly. Just in case you have no idea what I'm talking about here is the music video:


Do you see the glasses Kanye is wearing? They are called Shudder Shades and I can't imagine they will become a fashion statement, since it is hard to see out of them, but I wouldn't mind it because I love ridiculous things. Anyway Ed freaking loves this song, to no end. He always bumps it on our way to Mill, rolls down the windows (even if its freaking cold outside) and even requests it at bars, which once led to this incredible exchange at the Tavern:

Ed: Can you play Stronger?
DJ: Why would you request a song you know you are going to hear?

On with the story; Ed and I always joke about how we need to get the glasses Kanye wears in the video. This is one of those typical jokes that you have with your friends where you joke that you should do something, but you are never going to actually do it. I, however, changed the course of history when I did something amazing: I found a pair of shudder shades online and bought them. Just buying them wasn't enough, however, I needed to debut them in epic style. So I waited until last night, when our entire crew got drove around in a Party Bus all night. I created the playlist for the bus, and strategically put Stronger as the first song. It comes on and sure enough Ed starts freaking out to it (to call it dancing would be too much of an understatement). At this key moment I come running up to Ed, throw on the shudder shades and for the first time in his life I think Ed was speechless. He couldn't talk, he just stared at me bewilderedly while I kept yelling "that just happened!"

It was a fantastic moment, and shorty after I gave the glasses to Ed. I didn't plan to wear them the rest of the night, or into a bar, but I knew Ed would. Did he ever, Ed wore the glasses pretty much the entire night. Including was an epic moment where Ed jumped into the middle of the dance area at Suite 301, threw on the shudder shades and started dancing. Amazing.

Why am I telling this story to you? Because the shudder shades moment will go down as one of the most important events in Western Civilization. Just you wait.

We Don't Need No Stinking Writers

Conan O'Brien aired his first show last week without writers and let me just say he doesn't need writers at all! Well, actually this isn’t true. Conan led off his monologue talking about the writers strike and about how he grew a beard to show support for the writers. The rest of his monologue consisted of the camera slow motion panning over his beard, while his band sang a song they made up called “strike bread.” Then Conan proceeded to his desk and tried to see how long he could keep his wedding ring spinning. His record was 41 seconds, he only got to 36. When someone from the audience yelled, “spin it again!” Conan replied “oh there will be time”, and proceeded to kick up his feet and do nothing for about 30 seconds. It was ridiculous and hilarious but time will only allow Conan’s hilarious improve to go so far. Enjoy this unique brand of comedy while you still can, because it led to this gem:

I Will Never Leave ASU

You know those people who are so happy to get college over with? I'm not one of them. Sure I find myself getting frustrated at the amount of work I have to do while in school, but when I'm out of school I get so bored during my free time I actually find myself wishing I had the work to do. It is a sense of accomplishment. I didn't always feel this way, in fact I used to be a big underachiever back in my college heyday. In today's day and age I try hard and get good grades, of course that would have been much more beneficial to my future 5 years ago! For those who are not fortunate to know every detail of my life let me catch you up:

• I graduated ASU with a degree in Business and History in 2006
• I decided to come back to pursue teaching certification in Spring 2007
• I finished my first semester in the program in Fall 2007 and decided to suspend my placement to take a full time job.

Well now I am taking one class this semester, a special education class, for various valid reasons. So I am still an ASU student as well as a member of the full time workforce! Looks like I am easing my transition into my adult life. That being said lets move on to some random thoughts:

I recommend you check out Lupe Fiasco's new album, The Cool, if you are in to hip hop. It has some killer tracks, like Dumb it Down, Little Weapon and Superstar. I've been jamming to it for a while and for a few seconds thought it might even be better than his first album, Food & Liquor. Thankfully J to the and Eazy E talked me out of that stance. I love The Cool, but the first 6 tracks on Food & Liquor can stand up to almost any album of all time.

(edited 2/4/08: Yeah I can edit stuff too. I want to throw in this note: I know officially believe The Cool is better than Food & Liquor, in fact I think The Cool might be my favorite album of all time. Let's just say I love what Lupe is selling).

I went to the Fiesta Bowl yesterday, which was about 1000 times better than the Insight Bowl even though the margin of victory was greater. I enjoyed watching Noel Devine dominate, and I enjoyed yelling "Devine intervention" over and over, mainly because that phrase will get played out so quick (it probably already has). I also enjoyed the fact that there were a crap ton of people I knew in our section, so I mingled around for most of the game talking to people. I was engaged in such intense conversation I am pretty sure I missed the entire third quarter of that game. Did I mention I got the tickets for free? Thanks to Mr. Fiesta Bowl himself, Scottie Travis.
What makes New Years Eve such a downer must of the time? There are a few factors, the first one being that it feels like we are under obligation to have such an epic time. This only comes around once a year, better not blow it. Well that is a ton of pressure and New Years Eve rarely lives up to the hype of that pressure. The second factor is, if you are a single guy, is the race against the clock to kiss a girl. Now when a single guy goes to most parties he is always looking to hook up but usually there is not a midnight time table on the hook up. You know how hard it is to work game in under two hours. If you don't come to New Years with a few leads you most likely will not be kissing a girl.

With that being said I better stop writing for the night. I am just now getting readjusted to a busy schedule, after spending all of December waking up and going into work whenever I wanted, and now I always find myself tired. This time will pass. I will say I will miss going out on a random weeknight, not that I did that much when I could. Until next time loyal reader (not a typo).