This is in recognition of Man U. winning the champions league. I can't say I'm a big fan of Ronaldo but he does do some amazing things with the ball.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Get Rammed!
I bet that got your attention in a not so comfortable way...
Last night I saw the movie Son of Rambow. Wow, what a great movie. All of the acting was top drawer and it was a great story. One of the guys from Gossip Girl was even in it (a pic just for you Tanner)! The movie tells the story of two primary school boys making a sequel to Rambo. One kid is a bully and the other is being raised by an uber religious mother, almost Amish. Put these two kids together, a French exchange student, and you have a funny movie. It also is very heartwarming and cute. Take your girlfriend or boyfriend...or if you don't have any friends take your mother, she will have to go with you, she is your mom after all. It's skills!
Well the Mariners still suck...and the Sonics have the fourth pick. I won't go into the draft much in hopes that someone else will write about that, but I can't decide if I am happy they have the fourth instead of the second. On one hand they won't be as good when they move to Oklahoma but then on the other hand if they end up being here for two more years I would rather they are at least not the worst team. Well that will probably happen no matter what.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Fall Back
New music and video from Idle Warship (Talib Kweli and Res) and Chester French. Executively produced by Pomona College graduate and hip hop star Tunji of Inverse. I wonder who Kweli is supporting in November?
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Goal Off His Face
So I don't know why the first video I posted has been taken down. I am trying to find it, this is one video I found.
Bruce Bowen: Defensive Stopper or Dirty Punk With Limited Talent
I'm going for the longest blog post title so far.
So watching the NBA playoffs so far this year (I know Stefan is refusing to watch as an act of solidarity for the soon-departing Sonics, but I like playoff basketball and caved immediately) has gotten me thinking about that age old question:
"Is Bruce Bowen really the tough-but-loveable, 110-percent-hustle, super-competitive defensive machine that most NBA commentators and journalists make him out to be or is he a good athlete with mediocre NBA talent who decided he would do whatever it takes to make it in the League, even if it means being dirty and potentially hurting other players?"
Now if you do a quick Google search on Bowen's "defensive" antics, you'll find a couple things. There are a couple of sites with lengthy tirades about how dirty Bowen is, as well as a lot of big name sites (SI.com, ESPN, etc.) with articles that raise the question and then essentially say "nope." To me, neither of these types of sites are particularly convincing. If you're a Vince Carter fan or Steve Nash fan or a Chris Paul fan or a fan of any of the other players that Bowen has hurt or almost hurt, then you're probably not going to like the guy. On the other side, if your a respected member of the NBA media, you can't exactly accuse a dude of being a punk b*tch and expect to get locker room access and exclusives. (This seems to be a problem particularly with the TNT commentators this post-season. I think I dislike Reggie Miller more now than at anytime when he was in the League.)
There are two big issues that people seem to have with Bowen. First and foremost, he puts his feet under the feet of jump shooters as they are in the air. Dangerous... yes. Against the rules... if it's intentional, yes; if it's not intention, maybe (NBA rules are a bit ambiguous about this). Dirty... in my humble opinion, once a pattern forms, which it has, this is definitely dirty. If lots of other NBA players can play stifling defense without sticking their feet under shooters, then Bowen can too. Second, Bowen seems to take a lot of cheap shots at the guys he's guarding, either during the play or after the whistle. Dangerous... almost always. Against the rules... almost always. Dirty... while its tough to argue that kicking a guy in the back while he's on the ground isn't dirty, supporters point out that Bowen often takes as much as he gives. He just happens to almost always give to the best offensive player on the court. Plus, he has a great "rags to riches" story, so how can you really hate on that?
So is Bowen a defensive stopper or a dirty player? The answer is both. Bowen uses his "questionable" tactics to intimidate and get under the skin of opposing players. Given his success against some of the better players in the League and his All Defensive team selections, his tactics seem to work, at least some of the time. In the end, the real question is whether the NBA should continue to tolerate Bowen's defensive tactics and antics, which have repeatedly injured players and constantly push the limits of League rules. And since that doesn't seem to be a question anybody in the NBA is going to touch with a 20 foot pole (even most retired NBA players are diplomatic when asked), I guess all the average fan can do is make up his or her own mind and write long, rambling blog posts about it.
I'll leave you with this:
Grape Stomp
This was one of the first videos I saw on the Internet and I still think it is one of the funniest.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
New Feature and Iron Man
So after doing my movie previews I went and saw Iron Man. I have one word that describes that movie...awesome, funny, sweet, and awesome. Iron Man was thoroughly enjoyed by me. Robert "I'm not a" Downey Jr. was really good. For some reason he plays a really good alcoholic womanizer...hmmm. Probably one of the best parts about the film is that he isn't in the suit very much at all and it seems like he was given free reign to talk and be "clever." Well I give it two thumbs up. Waaay up. If you go see it, stay till the end of the credits...there is a little extra scene for all of the uber nerds out there.
I added a new feature to the blog today...now if you like one of the postings you can email it to a friend. I don't think this will ever get utilized but just in case...it is there.
Another movie that I forgot to add to the list last time...
The Rocker: Rainn Wilson (Dwight Schrute from the Office) plays a washed up drummer from a popular 80's band who helps his nephew's band play at prom...this sounds pretty funny but I am kind of nervous from the preview that it might be kind of lame...hope funny, not lame.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Movies This Summer
The weather is starting to get warmer, the sun is starting to shine. The snow is melting and birds are singing...that is right, it is summer movie time! There are lots of films coming out in the next couple of months so I thought that I would take some time to give my opinions on many of them...grab your popcorn, here we go! Iron Man: I have heard that this is really good and I am pretty excited to see this. Robert Downey Jr. is always good. Iron Man is also one of my favorite comic book characters.
Speed Racer: I never watched the cartoon and the previews make me feel like I am about to have a seizure...no thank you.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian: I think that this could be pretty good. I liked the last one, my only thing is in the preview when Prince Caspian introduces himself he sounds like a tool.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: Is that the longest movie title ever? It has to be one of them behind "The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain" or TEWWUAHACDAM for those who are in the biz. I think that this is gonna be a fun movie. No doubt more than half the people who see this will say that the old ones were better.
Sex and the City: The Movie: I don't want to see this but I will probably have to go with the girlfriend. By the way, Sarah Jessica Parker is ugly...wait, fugly.
The Foot Fist Way: Martial Arts and comedy? Never been done! It does look funny though.
You Don't Mess with the Zohan: Remember when Adam Sandler made funny movies?
The Incredible Hulk: I like Edward Norton but I am really not sure about this one. I want to hope that it will be good. The last one was just so bad...soooooo bad.
The Love Guru: Mike Myers was pretty funny a couple of years ago. Will this be his return? Is he done? I think this movie will answer a lot of those questions. No doubt though, people are going to imitate his characters from this movie.
Wanted: This movie looks really dumb but I bet that it will be entertaining. Angelina is in it as well. She's alright, for a girl.
Hancock: I like Will Smith and Jason Bateman but otherwise this movie doesn't really get me excited.
The Wackness: I think this looks good. College-bound pot dealer Luke Shapiro trades weed for therapy sessions with Dr. Jeffrey Squires while developing a crush on his psychiatrist's step-daughter. Ben Kingsley is the psychiatrist. Hopefully he will eat more for this role than when he played Gandhi.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army: I am sure that Tanner is excited for this one. I liked the last one enough, but not enough to really get excited for this.
The Dark Knight: This is a movie that I really want to see. I was a big fan of the last one and from the previews I think this will continue in the right direction. Very sad about Heath Ledger, I think that his character looks pretty creepy.
The X-Files: I Want to Believe: Never been into the X-Files.
The Longshots: A movie staring Ice Cube and directed by Fred Durst? Too easy to make fun of.
Pineapple Express: James Franco finally doing comedy again instead of being that bitch in the Spiderman films. I like. This could be really funny. I think he makes a good stoner.
Tropic Thunder: The last movie Ben Stiller directed was Zoolander; that turned out alright. This one stars himself, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. Put those together and you get hiiiiiilarious!
Hamlet 2: As long as this movie doesn't try to be witty and clever like Juno it could be good. The premise sounds funny. What is the premise? I'm not telling.
Well ok that pretty much covers movies through August. Enjoy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)