Although I do have a lot of things to take up my time, I still find time to read. I'm currently reading Michael Crichton's "The Lost World". This is the sequel to the amazing "Jurassic Park". I'm pretty sure I've read this book before and I don't have particularly fond memories of it. However I'm enjoying it much more this time. This sequel doesn't seem to be as exploitive as many other sequels. The story in this book is logical and feels like a natural follow up.
I've been a big Crichton fan since reading "Jurassic Park". Although he's now dead I was excited to see he had a new book out now. The title is "Micro", it has been finished by another author.
Urban Meyer has been named the new coach for Ohio State. The former Utah and Florida coach is a proven winner as he's won two BCS titles. His last team with the Utes was also a great team. It seems that most coaches just can't stay away. Good luck Urban.
It's also been announced that UCLA is firing Rick Neuheisel although he'll be allowed to coach the Pac 12 Championship Game. Is that a reward or a punishment for Neuheisel? What insane person wants the head coaching job at UCLA? Rumors are that UCLA may go after Boise State's Chris Peterson. But why would he want that job? He would be playing in a much bigger conference and probably make more money. He would also probably be able to have better recruiting. Of course he would have to battle against USC for the best of those players. If you had a choice which school would you go to? The team that wins a lot more and sends more players to the NFL or the Bruins?
However Peterson's teams wouldn't win as much. UCLA hasn't been relevant for how many years now? Although the Pac 12 is an automatic qualifying league, I'm not convinced he would have a better chance at winning a BCS Title there. He'd probably also have to give up a lot of his autonomy and would have to be the coach for the perennial little brother of USC. With all the conference shifting I see Boise State winding up in an aq conference soon enough.
It cracks me up that in the inaugural Pac 12 Championship game, that the game will be played between a top ten team in Oregon and an unranked UCLA team. The Bruins is the same team that is 6-6 overall and lost their last game by 50 points.
On to the NFL, who's going to win the NFC East? Good thing for the NFC West and the AFC West or this might be the worst division in the NFL. Just look at the pathetic NFC Least. Dallas has the best record at 7-4. However that doesn't mean they are the best team. This is the same team who already has had two humongous chokes, against the Jets and Lions. They also didn't look very good against a 3 win Miami team at home. They have a quarterback who only has one playoff victory and doesn't inspire very much confidence. The Cowboys also have an unproven head coach and a suspect defense. Plus Dallas still has to play New York twice this season and those Giants seem to have the Cowboys number. I wouldn't be surprised if the Giants win both of those games.
The best team in the division might be the 6-5 New York Giants. However they have lost 3 in a row and play the undefeated Green Bay Packers this weekend. The Giants defense gave up 49 points last night, how many will they give up against Green Bay? They also play those two games against Dallas, another rivalry game against the Redskins and on Christmas Eve play the Jets. The Jets that will be battling to make the playoffs. The Giants also have the most annoying coach, Tom Coughlin, in the NFL. Like Dallas they have a suspect quarterback in Eli Manning. Yes, I know he has won a Super Bowl. However I chalk that up to a miracle and not his skill. Of course they beat Dallas in those playoffs. (See above.)
Then we have the so called dream team the Philadelphia Eagles. Talking about a team that's less than the sum of it's parts. I'm still laughing Philadelphia gave Michael Vick a 5 year, $100 million contract. This team might be the team that gets Andy Reid fired. There are also problems with DeSean Jackson. At 4-7 the dream team has had a nightmare season and are out of the playoffs.
Lastly and lastly is the Washington Redskins. Since Daniel Snyder has been their owner it seems this team can't crack the mediocrity ceiling. It's hard to believe this is the same team that once had Art Monk, Joe Theisman and John Riggins. Snyder is almost as obnoxious as Jerry Jones, but at least the Cowboys have won under Jones. Albeit a long time ago. Have the Redskins even won a playoff game in the Daniel Snyder era? I don't know but I know they aren't going to win a playoff game this year. At least they don't have very high expectations to meet every year.
It's a good thing that at least one team from the NFC East has to go to the playoffs. If it wasn't for that rule this division might not have a playoff representative.
"The Walking Dead" TV show has many problems, one of those being way too many characters. They passed up a good chance to get rid of a few in the great zombie massacre of 2011. This show needs to get rid of some characters and oh yeah get the hell off of Hershel's farm. I was surprised though by a recent ew.com poll. They asked "Who Would You Kill Off On "The Walking Dead"? They listed several choices. They need to get rid of some characters and not replace them. By percentage of votes this is the Top 6 in the ew.com vote.
1) Shane at 19.14%. I don't understand why he's the highest vote getter. Sure the actor that plays him overacts and the story line regarding Lori is annoying. However he's one of the only people who does anything on this show. Remember it was his temper tantrum that lead to the explosive final for the first half of this season. What would this show be without Shane? It would even be worse.
2) T-Dog at 17.34%. I don't understand why he isn't the highest vote getter. What has he done on this show that's noteworthy? The writers coming up with that scene where he was whining on the highway shows they are desperate to find something relevant for him to do. Unfortunately this show already has too much talking. Robert Kirkman and Glenn Mazarra do us a favor and get rid of this space filler.
3) Carol at 12.12%. Like me you probably wondered who is Carol? She's better known as the Mom of the long lost zombie Sophia. In not even knowing this character's name shows how little of an impact she has made on my consciousness. I only think of her when she appears on my TV screen. This show can do quite well without her.
4) Andrea at 11.21%. Now I don't understand why she has received such a high percentage of votes. It was a little boring when her sister was still alive. But ever since she had to kill her sister she's actually becoming much more important to the show. Remember she's one of the shooters in the great zombie massacre and it didn't feel like it was to give her character to do something. She's become a very effective zombie killer. Even more importantly she's become a character who actually does something, which this show so desperately needs. Killing zombies check. Initiating sex with Shane check. Telling Dale to shut the hell up check. Three solid reasons to keep this character for the foreseeable future.
5) Dale at 9.68%. The Meddling Millie of the show. He really is a lame character, a character without anything interesting about him. When your defining characteristic is that he drives an RV, what does that tell you? When he finally does take action he makes dumb choices. Trying to get rid of guns in the zombie apocalypse? That's just plain stupid. He also seems to stir up trouble. He admits he isn't made for the world he's in, it's time for him to go asap.
6) Random Hershel family member at 9.47%. This show is already too cluttered, why introduce these random space filling characters. Other than Maggie, the characters on Hershel's farm are as brainless as the zombies they tried to protect.
All the characters are better in Kirkman's et al. graphic novels.
Here's a couple of good songs. I love this song by Meiko:
Do you remember this song?
You have to be old like me to remember this song, this is back from the best decade for music. That would be the 80's. I wrote about Geddy Lee's voice as now sounding whiny yesterday. I do not mean that as he was whining. Geddy I understand that it sucks getting older. This is a song that showcased his vocals at their best.
This is the amazing Adele from her "Live At Royal Albert Hall" CD that was released today. For a limited time Rolling Stone is streaming this whole CD. I would definitely suggest you check it out. Adele has an amazing live voice. She has a lot of her own amazing songs plus some inspired covers.
This is one of her inspired covers:
themusicaddict
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