Hello,
This episode started off with the camera zooming in on zombies eating a deer. Next we hear and see a helicopter. The zombies also see it and start following the helicopter. Groups of zombies, like rivers flowing to an ocean, start joining together. It seems many of these zombies migrate near Hershel's farm, but that doesn't seem to be their final destination. Glenn later suggested that the zombies seem to be like migrating. But what would be the purpose of them migrating? Warm weather probably. What kind of internal mechanism do they have that would cause them to migrate?
My thought is they are being lured to one location. But for what reason? I know in season 3 we meet the Governor and that he's in charge of the prison that we see at the end of the finale. Is the Governor luring the zombies? I believe in the graphic novels the zombies are made sport of. But I also wonder if this is an attempt by a group of survivors to kill off a large amount of zombies at once. A strategy that I've been pushing for for a long time now.
Rick and Carl are having a heart to heart talk when they noticed the zombies are all around them. They work their way through the zombies to the barn. The zombies chase and are intent on getting them. When was the last time the zombies ate? In a scene that makes no sense to me. Rick pours a bunch of gas on the floor and then lets the zombies in, using himself as bait. Then the smallest action hero Carl drops the lighter on the floor setting many in the zombie herd on fire. My question is why open the door and put themselves at jeopardy? I suggest starting the fire is a great idea, it will kill off several zombies.
(Potential band names: Zombie Herd.)
Rick and Carl escape by jumping on top of the RV that drove up to the barn by one of Hershel's random family members. The RV is then overrun by the zombies. Didn't they have a contingency plan to get him out of the RV? Or was that intentional by random family member of Hershel? If it was it certainly makes that lame character much more interesting. Patricia is killed by the zombies as she was holding on to another random Hershel family member Beth. The girl that ew.com calls Suicide Girl. Other than Hershel and Maggie, the rest of his family was completely boring. Hershel only became interesting in this final episode. (In an interview with ew.com "The Walking Dead" executive producer, Robert Kirkman said the deaths of Jimmy and Patricia were very "emotional". Um no they weren't at all. I was so disinterested in these characters that I didn't even know their names. I only know because of that interview with Kirkman.)
We also had to see more of the horrendous acting of Sarah Wayne Cailles. She plays Lori Grimes. She's as lame a character as a random Hershel family member, but she receives a lot more screen time. And her screen time is filled with terrible acting and way too many speeches. Instead of having the fight or flight instinct. She has the dither or whine instinct. Of course she had misplaced Carl again. Yawn. I'm not really caring about this boring family unit. I was rooting for the zombies to get Lori. Too much time was spent on the character of Lori Grimes overacting screaming for Carl. Yawn again. The Grimes family is lame.
Hershel is defiantly defending his property. He has a shotgun and several bullets as he takes out the zombies one by one. The same man that previously housed zombies in his barn, thinking they still had some humanity in them, is now massacring them. But one thing that bothered me about this scene is that Hershel never looked behind him. For whatever reason although these characters live in a world where one can die anytime, they seem to be pretty calm. Of course this also could have been seen as a scene where Hershel was going to kill as many zombies as he could before they got him. Like a captain going with his ship. Rick showed up in time to kill the zombie sneaking up on Hershel. I like this new action figure Hershel. Later he even made a joke. He's much more human and thus a lot more interesting. Lori needs to desperately undergo a similar kind of transformation. The whiny Lori Grimes has overextended her welcome and needs to woman up.
The characters looking like they were having fun mowing down the zombies. A real life first person shooter game. Although if the plan was to get in the vehicles all along, then why did they spend all all that time boarding up the windows? Why did Hershel tell his family to turn off the lights in the house? How did they have electricity anyway. There wasn't a whole lot that made sense on Hershel's farm.
Andrea was somehow left behind, over the last few episodes she's turned into a much more interesting character. She became a crack shot and has learned how to take care of herself, which ultimately was the difference in her living. It looked like she was going to be zombie food, out of nowhere Michonne showed up. That's awesome, I've heard a lot of good things about that character. Since I've only read the first two graphic novels, I don't know much about the character. Her back story has been published recently and I would love to read it. Too bad it's published in slimy Hugh Hefner's Playboy magazine.
Glenn finally told Maggie that he loved her. I'm sorry if I'm living in the zombie apocalypse, I'm not going to stop in the middle of nowhere to tell someone that I love them. Especially if I love them, I was waiting for a zombie to come out of nowhere and attack their vehicle. But the convenient zombie rule worked in favor of Glenn and Maggie.
T Dawg was driving with Lori and random Hershel family member. T Dawg was all about heading to the coast, but Lori was having none of that. She threatened to get out unless T Dawg turned around and went back. He should have waited until she was about to jump out and then sped up. Unfortunately T Dawg fell for her bluff. T Dawg actually had multiple lines in this episode and has moved higher than a Hershel random family member in the pecking order.
Everyone, except for Andrea, met on the freeway. I loved how the camera lingered on the message to Sophia to stay where she was from back at the start of the season. That was a horribly boring story line. But now that we know what happened to her, that was a sweet moment.
The people that escaped are Hershel, Maggie, random Hershel family member (Beth), Daryl, Carol, Glenn, Maggie and T Dawg.
After an exciting start to the episode unfortunately the characters had time to stop and think. That gave time for more terrible acting by Sarah Wayne Cailles. A terrible actress who also happens to inhabit one of the lamest characters ever. Rick admitted to Lori that he had killed Shane. His description included a lot of bad acting by the actor playing Rick Grimes. Lori wasn't too excited when she found out that Rick had finally had enough and killed Shane. I'd thought that she was over Shane, but I guess not. She stalked off and held on to Carl as if it meant the end of the world. At least she knows where Carl is this time. When she walked away from Rick a bit and the way shehalf way bent over, did she mean to take on the mannerisms of a zombie? Again the most obnoxious character on TV.
Again Rick isn't my favorite character, but by now he has earned the leadership mantle. Why are people still questioning Rick's leadership? I'm glad he pointed out to them where the door is. If you don't like Rick by now, I would say it's time to move on. I was glad that Rick said this was now a dictatorship. I like Daryl and how he stuck up for Rick. The only true challengers to Rick's throne were Hershel and Shane. The first gave up leadership to Rick and obviously Shane has been killed. Daryl doesn't want the leadership mantle.
We finally found out what Jenner told Rick back at the CDC that everyone has the zombie bug. That certainly explains why there are so many zombies. I want to know why does anyone think Jenner's information is that big of a deal? How is this relevant to anybody? Other than when someone dies not by zombie, shoot them in the head. This plot point was so uninteresting that I'd completely forgotten about it.
In the parting shot of this episode the camera focuses on a lighted fortress of some kind. I don't know for sure but I think the characters are about to meet The Governor. We know that he'll be in Season 3 and that his role has been cast. Let's hope Season 3 is more like the second half, than first half, of Season 2.
Zombies are one of the coolest villains and this show still has potential. Thank goodness some of the way too many characters have been killed off. Now the trick is to keep about 10 significant cast members, with a few fringe characters to drive the action occasionally.
themusicaddict
Monday, March 19, 2012
Friday, March 16, 2012
NCAA Tourney Early Thoughts: Go Murray State, The Twin Black Holes of the Knicks
Hello,
I spent several hours watching NCAA basketball and as always there has been a lot of excitement. I'm not surprised BYU got worked by a superior, much more talented Marquette team. Actually I was excited they were able to cut Marquette's lead to 10 with only a couple of minutes left in the game. BYU seems to have a bright future with 3 freshman playing significant minutes. I quite enjoyed the more team first approach this season, than relying on one superstar player.
However besides North Carolina and BYU, I've picked my team of the NCAA Tourney. I'm cheering for the Murray State Racers. The Racers feature the player with the coolest name in the tournament, Isaiah Caanan. It's pronounced cannon. Murray State now has a 31-1 record, next they play the same Marquette team that vanquished BYU. That game will be tomorrow afternoon. I hope I'm able to watch it.
This morning I watched most of one of the ugliest games in NCAA Tourney history. That Cincinnati-Texas game was one for the books in ugliness. From the Longhorns anemic offensive performance in the first 12 to 15 minutes of the first half to their 35% shooting in the game. Thank goodness Cincinnati won so we don't have to see The Big Pasty anymore. That would be Texas' Clint Chapman. I hope he got a good degree because he won't be playing in the NBA next season.
Unfortunately what could have been the game of the Tournament was ruined by either dishonest and terrible officials. That was the UNC-Asheville-Syracuse game. There were at least 3 egregious calls that went against UNC-Asheville. Syracuse goal tended the ball that wasn't caught by the officials. A Syracuse inbounds pass went off a Syracuse player, yet Syracuse was given the ball back. Then the worst example of what the hell where the officials looking at was a lane violation called against UNC-Asheville. Not only was it not a lane violation, but why would you call such a ticky tack play so late in such a close game. The Syracuse player who missed the first free throw in a one-on-one attempt, calmly went to the line and then hit two free throws.
I don't think the officials are corrupt, but they did make three terrible calls. Either corrupt or incompetent it doesn't matter. Those three officials shouldn't ever work a NCAA Tournament game again.
But my favorite basketball related move of the week is the Knicks. I love how well Linsanity worked. Unfortunately that didn't involve Carmelo Anthony or A'mare Stoudemire enough. So even though the Knicks were successful during Linsanity, especially with Anthony out injured, Mike D'Antoni still felt pressure to resign. So what are the Knicks going to do now? They are going to run their offense through their two black Holes, Stoudemire and Anthony. I'm going to love to see how this experiment will work. I'm guessing about as well as Dr. Frankenstein's experiments turned out.
The Knicks are 19-24 overall and have only won 3 of their last 10 games. If the playoffs started today, the Knicks wouldn't be in them. They've completely fallen apart since Anthony came back from injury. Yet they are going to run their offense through him now? New Coach Mike Woodson uses a lot of isolation plays. These plays are also known as the other 4 guys stand around doing nothing. Yes I do realize the Knicks won their first game in the Mike Woodson era. The Knicks protected their home court against the Blazers in their 42 point victory. Knicks fans don't get too excited though. Following that game the Trailblazers fired their head coach.
It will be interesting to see how bad the Knicks will lose their two upcoming games against the Pacers.
Great songs:
I love this great version of "Mother" on Roger Waters "In The Flesh" CD.
"What Shall We Do" was a song that was suppose to originally be on "The Wall" but was omitted due to the length of the main form of music at the time, vinyl. "Empty Spaces" was put in it's place instead. It segues right into "Young Lust". It's too bad of the vinyl limitations it feels much more natural for "What Shall We Do" to segue into "Young Lust".
"What Shall We Do" (this video only has 292 page views):
"Young Lust":
I watched the end of the St. Bonaventure- Florida St. game. I was cheering for the underdog, the team with the wussiest name in the field, the Bonnies. Sadly even though St. Bonaventure has a 43-37 lead at one point, they weren't able to hold on. Florida State's athleticism took over and the Bonnie's shots stopped falling. It remained a tight contest down to the end, thanks to the lights out three point shooting of Demetrius Conger. He only hit two three pointers all game, but he hit them when the Bonnies needed them the most. FSU left with a hard fought, but well deserved, 66-63 victory. In this game there were no egregiously bad calls, especially that benefitted the favored team.
Then Georgetown was just too much for Belmont 74-59. North Carolina was able to knock out Vermont without too much trouble. A bit later the big upset that all fans of Cinderella was looking for happened. #15 Norfolk State, that would be the Spartans for the majority of those that don't know, knocked out #2 Missouri 86-84. That's one of the highest point totals of any #15 seed ever. Norfolk State will next play #7 seeded Florida, a matchup that will occur Sunday.
Now if only #15 Lehigh could knock off #2 Duke and all their pasties that would make my night.
themusicaddict
I spent several hours watching NCAA basketball and as always there has been a lot of excitement. I'm not surprised BYU got worked by a superior, much more talented Marquette team. Actually I was excited they were able to cut Marquette's lead to 10 with only a couple of minutes left in the game. BYU seems to have a bright future with 3 freshman playing significant minutes. I quite enjoyed the more team first approach this season, than relying on one superstar player.
However besides North Carolina and BYU, I've picked my team of the NCAA Tourney. I'm cheering for the Murray State Racers. The Racers feature the player with the coolest name in the tournament, Isaiah Caanan. It's pronounced cannon. Murray State now has a 31-1 record, next they play the same Marquette team that vanquished BYU. That game will be tomorrow afternoon. I hope I'm able to watch it.
This morning I watched most of one of the ugliest games in NCAA Tourney history. That Cincinnati-Texas game was one for the books in ugliness. From the Longhorns anemic offensive performance in the first 12 to 15 minutes of the first half to their 35% shooting in the game. Thank goodness Cincinnati won so we don't have to see The Big Pasty anymore. That would be Texas' Clint Chapman. I hope he got a good degree because he won't be playing in the NBA next season.
Unfortunately what could have been the game of the Tournament was ruined by either dishonest and terrible officials. That was the UNC-Asheville-Syracuse game. There were at least 3 egregious calls that went against UNC-Asheville. Syracuse goal tended the ball that wasn't caught by the officials. A Syracuse inbounds pass went off a Syracuse player, yet Syracuse was given the ball back. Then the worst example of what the hell where the officials looking at was a lane violation called against UNC-Asheville. Not only was it not a lane violation, but why would you call such a ticky tack play so late in such a close game. The Syracuse player who missed the first free throw in a one-on-one attempt, calmly went to the line and then hit two free throws.
I don't think the officials are corrupt, but they did make three terrible calls. Either corrupt or incompetent it doesn't matter. Those three officials shouldn't ever work a NCAA Tournament game again.
But my favorite basketball related move of the week is the Knicks. I love how well Linsanity worked. Unfortunately that didn't involve Carmelo Anthony or A'mare Stoudemire enough. So even though the Knicks were successful during Linsanity, especially with Anthony out injured, Mike D'Antoni still felt pressure to resign. So what are the Knicks going to do now? They are going to run their offense through their two black Holes, Stoudemire and Anthony. I'm going to love to see how this experiment will work. I'm guessing about as well as Dr. Frankenstein's experiments turned out.
The Knicks are 19-24 overall and have only won 3 of their last 10 games. If the playoffs started today, the Knicks wouldn't be in them. They've completely fallen apart since Anthony came back from injury. Yet they are going to run their offense through him now? New Coach Mike Woodson uses a lot of isolation plays. These plays are also known as the other 4 guys stand around doing nothing. Yes I do realize the Knicks won their first game in the Mike Woodson era. The Knicks protected their home court against the Blazers in their 42 point victory. Knicks fans don't get too excited though. Following that game the Trailblazers fired their head coach.
It will be interesting to see how bad the Knicks will lose their two upcoming games against the Pacers.
Great songs:
I love this great version of "Mother" on Roger Waters "In The Flesh" CD.
"What Shall We Do" was a song that was suppose to originally be on "The Wall" but was omitted due to the length of the main form of music at the time, vinyl. "Empty Spaces" was put in it's place instead. It segues right into "Young Lust". It's too bad of the vinyl limitations it feels much more natural for "What Shall We Do" to segue into "Young Lust".
"What Shall We Do" (this video only has 292 page views):
"Young Lust":
I watched the end of the St. Bonaventure- Florida St. game. I was cheering for the underdog, the team with the wussiest name in the field, the Bonnies. Sadly even though St. Bonaventure has a 43-37 lead at one point, they weren't able to hold on. Florida State's athleticism took over and the Bonnie's shots stopped falling. It remained a tight contest down to the end, thanks to the lights out three point shooting of Demetrius Conger. He only hit two three pointers all game, but he hit them when the Bonnies needed them the most. FSU left with a hard fought, but well deserved, 66-63 victory. In this game there were no egregiously bad calls, especially that benefitted the favored team.
Then Georgetown was just too much for Belmont 74-59. North Carolina was able to knock out Vermont without too much trouble. A bit later the big upset that all fans of Cinderella was looking for happened. #15 Norfolk State, that would be the Spartans for the majority of those that don't know, knocked out #2 Missouri 86-84. That's one of the highest point totals of any #15 seed ever. Norfolk State will next play #7 seeded Florida, a matchup that will occur Sunday.
Now if only #15 Lehigh could knock off #2 Duke and all their pasties that would make my night.
themusicaddict
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
BYU-Iona, "Chemistry", NFL and NBA moves
Hello,
I feel I need to post this disclaimer every once in a while. Since I'm not a major blogger, I don't have sources. I get most of my information from many websites. For instance, I get most of my sports news from ESPN.com. So my news usually comes from them. I post the information so you'll understand exactly what my commentary is about.
I'm a big BYU fan but I didn't watch their whole game last night. However I kept an eye on their game against Iona last night. I was unsure of BYU's chances so I didn't watch the game straight through. I did watch the first few minutes though. Both teams were running up and down the court without virtually playing any defense. I stopped watching the game when Iona went up 18-10. I wasn't sure what to think at that point, but things weren't looking good for BYU. I then watched "Smash" On Demand.
"Smash" ended right before the end of the first half of BYU's game. When I saw the halftime score I was glad that I hadn't watched much of the game. At that point BYU was being run over, they had trailed by as many as 25 points. BYU was able to cut the deficit to 15 points by the end of the first half. I then went into my room and kept an eye on ESPN.com and the score. I wasn't going to commit myself to watching the game unless BYU had a chance at victory. When BYU was only down by 4 points with 8 minutes left I went and watched the end of the game. I was glad I did, BYU was able to complete their historic victory and advance in the NCAA Tourney.
BYU is now the owner of the biggest comeback in NCAA Tournament history. The same reason BYU was able to come back is the same reason they trailed by up to 25 points. There was almost no defense played by either team, especially in the first half. I'm so glad for BYU's victory, but that will be BYU's Tourney highlight. Unfortunately BYU won't be like VCU last year. Remember VCU went from the First Four to the Final Four last season. That's truly an incredible run. On Thursday afternoon BYU runs into a very tough Marquette team. I'm hoping BYU keeps it close. Well at least it was fun while it lasted.
Watching that game reminded me again why I love March Madness so much, this is definitely the best sports time of the year. I loved that the announcing crew was Jim Nantz, Steve Kerr and Clark Kellog. How did the First Four get such a high quality announcing crew?
Random sports thoughts. First of all here's a great article from ESPN.com about the recent struggles of the New York Knicks after a brief bit of Linsanity. Although this article is ostensibly about Coach Mike D'Antoni's losing the locker room, notice who Chris Broussard points to as the villain in this mess. Also notice that the Knicks struggles resumed the exact same night Anthony came back. Again I have no idea why the selfish Carmelo Anthony is so loved by many national pundits. This is Broussard's article: http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/story/_/id/7684157/mike-dantoni-lost-new-york-knicks-locker-room-according-sources
(Update ESPN.com, via yahoo sports, is reporting that Coach D'Antoni has resigned as head coach of the New York Knicks. I have a feeling the next coach will be installing a defense more suited to Anthony's "abilities". I hate the NBA's divas.)
Anthony is denying he said he wants to be traded. I don't care how good many people think Carmelo Anthony is, please keep that cancer off the Jazz. Speaking of prima donnas and divas Dwight Howard just can't shut up about where he wants to play. He'll do anything to get his name in the news. It's very pathetic how desperate he is for attention. Now he says that he wants to stay in Orlando for the rest of the season. What is he trying to do, alienate everybody? Again instead of whining about where he wants to play he needs to practice shooting free throws. While he had a monster game last night, Howard only made 6 of 18 free throws last night. I don't understand how one makes it to the pros and is only a career 50% free throw shooter. Oh yeah, laziness. Also there are now rumors circulating that Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard might be packaged in a deal for each other. Another deal that makes no sense to me. Why would you trade away your cancer for someone else's cancer?
Another rumor is that the Bulls are trying to trade for Pau Gasol, but the Lakers aren't interested in the players that would be coming back. That includes the non jumping, injury prone, salary cap damaging malcontent Carlos Boozer. That makes me laugh and clearly is Chicago's way of admitting they made a mistake in signing Boozer.
Finally I loved the Warriors-Bucks trade yesterday. The two main pieces of the trade were Monta Ellis and Andrew Bogut. The only thing that trade did is ensure that both teams will remain mediocre or worse for the foreseeable future. That's the kind of trade a team makes when they just want to look like they are trying to do something. I'm sure both sides have numbers backing up their corporate America approach.
While my NFL offseason focus has been mostly concentrated on the Cowboys and 49ers, my other team is demanding some attention. The Tampa Bay Bucaneers have signed 3 significant free agents in the first two days of free agency. After having a disappointing season last year, the Bucs want to return to playoff contention. Of course it helps that they had a lot of room under the salary cap. Yesterday the Bucs signed tight end Vincent Jackson to a 5 year-$55 million deal. This morning it was announced that they also have signed guard Carl Nicks and cornerback Eric Wright.
Moves that look like they want to stretch the field a bit more this season. Although that's not what you usually do when acquiring a tight end. Although having guard Carl Nicks should give Josh Freeman that much more time to hit the open receiver. It seems the Cowboys are on a downswing and the 49ers and Bucs are on their way up.
I enjoyed watching the episode of "Smash" last night entitled "Chemistry". I know this will come off as preachy, but I hate when two characters commit adultery. Especially two characters that I really like. I'm really disappointed in Julia's choice. The funniest line of the night, although unintentional, is when Michael told Julia that "No one has to know". How deluded is that? And does either Michael or Julia really believe that. They gave into their passion and desire and now the consequences they'll pay will probably be heavy. I hope it was worth it- too bad it rarely is.
Ivy has finally figured out that Derek is more concerned about her as a performer than a person. How will Ivy's justified outburst affect the play? It seems there's going to be some major drama ahead with the uncertainty of how the affair and the outburst will affect the play. Things will be intense with the workshop coming at everyone quickly.
Karen is in the right place at the right time. A big time music mogul, Bobby Raskin, was there when Karen sang at that bar mitzvah. With the possibility of the role of Marilyn Monroe being hung in front of Karen, which might be her big break? Then with Uma Thurman joining the show for a 5 episode arc, how will that affect the show? It seems Uma Thurman's character will be a movie star who wants the role of Marilyn Monroe all to herself.
I don't listen to the radio a lot and so I miss out on a lot of new music. But I honestly have never heard of the final song she sang at the bar mitzvah. "Shake It Out" is a pretty cool song though, although I have to admit I thought she would be singing "Twist and Shout" when she said "Shake It Out". It's a song by Florence + The Machine. I had listened to that song a few times on Spotify, but it seems that it didn't make much of an impression on me.
This is the lovely Miss McPhee's version:
Also will someone please assassinate Ellis? He's this show's Pete Campbell. Annoying as hell but it seems needed to drive the story forward.
I'm suppose to be getting "The Wall" movie in the mail today from Netflix. I'm looking forward to watching it. A review will be forthcoming. Speaking of "The Wall", "Mother" is just one of the many great songs from it:
Other great songs. From the Runaways to Joan Jett and the Blackearts. This is "Bad Reputation":
Another great song, thanks Tommy James, from Joan Jett:
One more from Liz Phair off her self-titled CD, this is "Take A Look". I'm not sure how this combination of a great song and attractive women only has 1,661 views.
The Cab's "Animal":
One more video. Do you realize how many great songs Band of Skulls has? Have you noticed how much different the sound is from their first CD to their second CD? "Patterns" is one of their more obscure songs, yet it's also an amazing song. Enjoy!
themusicaddict
I feel I need to post this disclaimer every once in a while. Since I'm not a major blogger, I don't have sources. I get most of my information from many websites. For instance, I get most of my sports news from ESPN.com. So my news usually comes from them. I post the information so you'll understand exactly what my commentary is about.
I'm a big BYU fan but I didn't watch their whole game last night. However I kept an eye on their game against Iona last night. I was unsure of BYU's chances so I didn't watch the game straight through. I did watch the first few minutes though. Both teams were running up and down the court without virtually playing any defense. I stopped watching the game when Iona went up 18-10. I wasn't sure what to think at that point, but things weren't looking good for BYU. I then watched "Smash" On Demand.
"Smash" ended right before the end of the first half of BYU's game. When I saw the halftime score I was glad that I hadn't watched much of the game. At that point BYU was being run over, they had trailed by as many as 25 points. BYU was able to cut the deficit to 15 points by the end of the first half. I then went into my room and kept an eye on ESPN.com and the score. I wasn't going to commit myself to watching the game unless BYU had a chance at victory. When BYU was only down by 4 points with 8 minutes left I went and watched the end of the game. I was glad I did, BYU was able to complete their historic victory and advance in the NCAA Tourney.
BYU is now the owner of the biggest comeback in NCAA Tournament history. The same reason BYU was able to come back is the same reason they trailed by up to 25 points. There was almost no defense played by either team, especially in the first half. I'm so glad for BYU's victory, but that will be BYU's Tourney highlight. Unfortunately BYU won't be like VCU last year. Remember VCU went from the First Four to the Final Four last season. That's truly an incredible run. On Thursday afternoon BYU runs into a very tough Marquette team. I'm hoping BYU keeps it close. Well at least it was fun while it lasted.
Watching that game reminded me again why I love March Madness so much, this is definitely the best sports time of the year. I loved that the announcing crew was Jim Nantz, Steve Kerr and Clark Kellog. How did the First Four get such a high quality announcing crew?
Random sports thoughts. First of all here's a great article from ESPN.com about the recent struggles of the New York Knicks after a brief bit of Linsanity. Although this article is ostensibly about Coach Mike D'Antoni's losing the locker room, notice who Chris Broussard points to as the villain in this mess. Also notice that the Knicks struggles resumed the exact same night Anthony came back. Again I have no idea why the selfish Carmelo Anthony is so loved by many national pundits. This is Broussard's article: http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/story/_/id/7684157/mike-dantoni-lost-new-york-knicks-locker-room-according-sources
(Update ESPN.com, via yahoo sports, is reporting that Coach D'Antoni has resigned as head coach of the New York Knicks. I have a feeling the next coach will be installing a defense more suited to Anthony's "abilities". I hate the NBA's divas.)
Anthony is denying he said he wants to be traded. I don't care how good many people think Carmelo Anthony is, please keep that cancer off the Jazz. Speaking of prima donnas and divas Dwight Howard just can't shut up about where he wants to play. He'll do anything to get his name in the news. It's very pathetic how desperate he is for attention. Now he says that he wants to stay in Orlando for the rest of the season. What is he trying to do, alienate everybody? Again instead of whining about where he wants to play he needs to practice shooting free throws. While he had a monster game last night, Howard only made 6 of 18 free throws last night. I don't understand how one makes it to the pros and is only a career 50% free throw shooter. Oh yeah, laziness. Also there are now rumors circulating that Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard might be packaged in a deal for each other. Another deal that makes no sense to me. Why would you trade away your cancer for someone else's cancer?
Another rumor is that the Bulls are trying to trade for Pau Gasol, but the Lakers aren't interested in the players that would be coming back. That includes the non jumping, injury prone, salary cap damaging malcontent Carlos Boozer. That makes me laugh and clearly is Chicago's way of admitting they made a mistake in signing Boozer.
Finally I loved the Warriors-Bucks trade yesterday. The two main pieces of the trade were Monta Ellis and Andrew Bogut. The only thing that trade did is ensure that both teams will remain mediocre or worse for the foreseeable future. That's the kind of trade a team makes when they just want to look like they are trying to do something. I'm sure both sides have numbers backing up their corporate America approach.
While my NFL offseason focus has been mostly concentrated on the Cowboys and 49ers, my other team is demanding some attention. The Tampa Bay Bucaneers have signed 3 significant free agents in the first two days of free agency. After having a disappointing season last year, the Bucs want to return to playoff contention. Of course it helps that they had a lot of room under the salary cap. Yesterday the Bucs signed tight end Vincent Jackson to a 5 year-$55 million deal. This morning it was announced that they also have signed guard Carl Nicks and cornerback Eric Wright.
Moves that look like they want to stretch the field a bit more this season. Although that's not what you usually do when acquiring a tight end. Although having guard Carl Nicks should give Josh Freeman that much more time to hit the open receiver. It seems the Cowboys are on a downswing and the 49ers and Bucs are on their way up.
I enjoyed watching the episode of "Smash" last night entitled "Chemistry". I know this will come off as preachy, but I hate when two characters commit adultery. Especially two characters that I really like. I'm really disappointed in Julia's choice. The funniest line of the night, although unintentional, is when Michael told Julia that "No one has to know". How deluded is that? And does either Michael or Julia really believe that. They gave into their passion and desire and now the consequences they'll pay will probably be heavy. I hope it was worth it- too bad it rarely is.
Ivy has finally figured out that Derek is more concerned about her as a performer than a person. How will Ivy's justified outburst affect the play? It seems there's going to be some major drama ahead with the uncertainty of how the affair and the outburst will affect the play. Things will be intense with the workshop coming at everyone quickly.
Karen is in the right place at the right time. A big time music mogul, Bobby Raskin, was there when Karen sang at that bar mitzvah. With the possibility of the role of Marilyn Monroe being hung in front of Karen, which might be her big break? Then with Uma Thurman joining the show for a 5 episode arc, how will that affect the show? It seems Uma Thurman's character will be a movie star who wants the role of Marilyn Monroe all to herself.
I don't listen to the radio a lot and so I miss out on a lot of new music. But I honestly have never heard of the final song she sang at the bar mitzvah. "Shake It Out" is a pretty cool song though, although I have to admit I thought she would be singing "Twist and Shout" when she said "Shake It Out". It's a song by Florence + The Machine. I had listened to that song a few times on Spotify, but it seems that it didn't make much of an impression on me.
This is the lovely Miss McPhee's version:
Also will someone please assassinate Ellis? He's this show's Pete Campbell. Annoying as hell but it seems needed to drive the story forward.
I'm suppose to be getting "The Wall" movie in the mail today from Netflix. I'm looking forward to watching it. A review will be forthcoming. Speaking of "The Wall", "Mother" is just one of the many great songs from it:
Other great songs. From the Runaways to Joan Jett and the Blackearts. This is "Bad Reputation":
Another great song, thanks Tommy James, from Joan Jett:
One more from Liz Phair off her self-titled CD, this is "Take A Look". I'm not sure how this combination of a great song and attractive women only has 1,661 views.
The Cab's "Animal":
One more video. Do you realize how many great songs Band of Skulls has? Have you noticed how much different the sound is from their first CD to their second CD? "Patterns" is one of their more obscure songs, yet it's also an amazing song. Enjoy!
themusicaddict
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
"Good Girl", "Easy A", NCAA Tournament: BYU-Iona
Hello,
I'm start this blog off with the hot new video by Carrie Underwood, the song is called "Good Girl". If you didn't know this already, Carrie is damn hot. She looks great in this video, her legs make a cameo at the end of the video. "Good Girl" is taken from her upcoming CD "Blown Away", which will be released on May 1st.
Another CD I'm looking forward to is Jack White's new CD, "Blunderbuss", this CD is out April 24th. This isn't my favorite Jack White song ever, but still a decent song. This is the first song off the CD, "Love Interrupted":
Shooter Jennings released his new CD, "Family Man" today. I like the retro sound of this CD. It seems Shooter Jennings is one of the advocates of the retro country sound. I really like this CD as it reminds me of 80's country music. That was the era when Alabama was at their peak. Alabama was the first band I thought of when listening to this CD. BTW that's a compliment to both.
"Family Man" is available at amazon.com for $3.99 today. That price is for the MP3 CD. I listened to it first on Spotify and I was pleasantly surprised by how good it is. I definitely suggest that you listen to it on Spotify as well. This is one of my favorite songs on the CD, "Manifesto No. 4". I'm sorry there wasn't a better video available:
Another good song on "Family Man" is "Black Dog". This snippet is in a weird part of the song, it doesn't show the best parts of this song. This is a story song like country music of old.
Another highlight from Jennings's new CD "The Deed and The Dollar":
I watched "Easy A" last night and laughed a lot during the movie. I loved this movie, although the last 1/3rd was a bit slow. "Easy A" reminded me a lot of "This Means War", both have a lot of unexpected humor. The humor sneaks up on you, you don't see the jokes coming a mile away. I love those kind of surprises. That's why I try to stay away from previews and reviews until I've actually seen the movie. Despite the rumors surrounding Emma Stone's character, the story is very sweet and gentle.
Stone highlights a great cast, playing some great characters. Stone looks amazing in this and I love her sexy, raspy voice. I also love Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson playing her zany parents. They have some of the best lines of this movie. Lisa Kudrow's character was a bit strange, but not in a quirky way.
I loved the reference to some of the great 80's movies and scenes from those movies. I also loved the shout out to John Hughes as well. Although to be honest I have never been a big fan of "Say Anything". That movie doesn't deserve it's reputation, in spite of the very iconic John Cusack scene in it. I loved the ending of the movie paying homage to that iconic scene from "Say Anything" and "Can't Buy Me Love". I wonder if "Can't Buy Me Love" has passed the test of time, it's been too many years since I've seen it.
There's also a lot of great music in it. The great music combined with the ode to 80's movies culminated in the Simple Minds "Don't You Forget Me".
A couple of other great songs from the "Easy A" soundtrack. I love Lenka's voice, she has one of those quirky voices I can't but help to fall in love with. This is Lenka's "Trouble Is A Friend":
This is Cary Brothers "If You Were Here". Cary Brothers is a person, not a set of brothers.
Sports: Randy Moss has signed a one year contract with the 49ers, that could turn out to be an awesome move or a move that backfires. As a 49ers fan I'm hoping that it turns out to be a good move, I hope it's not the 2012 version of the Braylon Edwards signing. As the 49ers seem to be getting better, things seem to be getting worse for the Cowboys. For moves in trying to pay as much as they could in 2010. Due to CBA discussions, 2010 was a non salary cap year. Thus the assumption was that teams could pay whatever they wanted to. However in a bit of revisionist policy making the NFL is saying that they shouldn't have done that.
Dallas seemingly has been retroactively penalized and has had $10 million deducted from their 2012 and 2013 salary cap. They can take that hit against their salary cap in 2012 and 2013, in any split they desire. Meanwhile the Redskins are taking a $36 million hit to their 2012 and 2013 salary cap. In other words the Redskins will likely draft RG3 and have very limited resources to surround him with other good players. However let's be honest, it''s not like the Cowboys and Redskins were going to be good this season anyway. Let's see if Tony Romo can lead the Cowboys to another scintillating 8-8 record again. :)
But thank goodness the Cowboys cut Terrance "Toast" Newman today. He was one of the biggest disappointments of last season and also a huge salary cap hit.
BYU will be starting play, and may be ending play, in the 2012 NCAA Tournament tonight. They'll be playing the Gaels of Iona. That's the second game of the night. The first game of the First Four and the NCAA Tournament will be Western Kentucky-Mississippi Valley State. It seems President Obama will be at the first game. Go Cougars!
Other great videos:
This will probably be one of the Top 100 videos that I'll feature on this blog, I love this song. It's sweet, poignant and nostalgic all at the same time. It also has an amazing chorus.
One of the more bizarre and electic songs from the 80's:
An all time classic, Supertramp's "Breakfast In America":
From the criminally unappreciated CD "Liz Phair", this is "Rock Me":
themusicaddict
I'm start this blog off with the hot new video by Carrie Underwood, the song is called "Good Girl". If you didn't know this already, Carrie is damn hot. She looks great in this video, her legs make a cameo at the end of the video. "Good Girl" is taken from her upcoming CD "Blown Away", which will be released on May 1st.
Another CD I'm looking forward to is Jack White's new CD, "Blunderbuss", this CD is out April 24th. This isn't my favorite Jack White song ever, but still a decent song. This is the first song off the CD, "Love Interrupted":
Shooter Jennings released his new CD, "Family Man" today. I like the retro sound of this CD. It seems Shooter Jennings is one of the advocates of the retro country sound. I really like this CD as it reminds me of 80's country music. That was the era when Alabama was at their peak. Alabama was the first band I thought of when listening to this CD. BTW that's a compliment to both.
"Family Man" is available at amazon.com for $3.99 today. That price is for the MP3 CD. I listened to it first on Spotify and I was pleasantly surprised by how good it is. I definitely suggest that you listen to it on Spotify as well. This is one of my favorite songs on the CD, "Manifesto No. 4". I'm sorry there wasn't a better video available:
Another good song on "Family Man" is "Black Dog". This snippet is in a weird part of the song, it doesn't show the best parts of this song. This is a story song like country music of old.
Another highlight from Jennings's new CD "The Deed and The Dollar":
I watched "Easy A" last night and laughed a lot during the movie. I loved this movie, although the last 1/3rd was a bit slow. "Easy A" reminded me a lot of "This Means War", both have a lot of unexpected humor. The humor sneaks up on you, you don't see the jokes coming a mile away. I love those kind of surprises. That's why I try to stay away from previews and reviews until I've actually seen the movie. Despite the rumors surrounding Emma Stone's character, the story is very sweet and gentle.
Stone highlights a great cast, playing some great characters. Stone looks amazing in this and I love her sexy, raspy voice. I also love Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson playing her zany parents. They have some of the best lines of this movie. Lisa Kudrow's character was a bit strange, but not in a quirky way.
I loved the reference to some of the great 80's movies and scenes from those movies. I also loved the shout out to John Hughes as well. Although to be honest I have never been a big fan of "Say Anything". That movie doesn't deserve it's reputation, in spite of the very iconic John Cusack scene in it. I loved the ending of the movie paying homage to that iconic scene from "Say Anything" and "Can't Buy Me Love". I wonder if "Can't Buy Me Love" has passed the test of time, it's been too many years since I've seen it.
There's also a lot of great music in it. The great music combined with the ode to 80's movies culminated in the Simple Minds "Don't You Forget Me".
A couple of other great songs from the "Easy A" soundtrack. I love Lenka's voice, she has one of those quirky voices I can't but help to fall in love with. This is Lenka's "Trouble Is A Friend":
This is Cary Brothers "If You Were Here". Cary Brothers is a person, not a set of brothers.
Sports: Randy Moss has signed a one year contract with the 49ers, that could turn out to be an awesome move or a move that backfires. As a 49ers fan I'm hoping that it turns out to be a good move, I hope it's not the 2012 version of the Braylon Edwards signing. As the 49ers seem to be getting better, things seem to be getting worse for the Cowboys. For moves in trying to pay as much as they could in 2010. Due to CBA discussions, 2010 was a non salary cap year. Thus the assumption was that teams could pay whatever they wanted to. However in a bit of revisionist policy making the NFL is saying that they shouldn't have done that.
Dallas seemingly has been retroactively penalized and has had $10 million deducted from their 2012 and 2013 salary cap. They can take that hit against their salary cap in 2012 and 2013, in any split they desire. Meanwhile the Redskins are taking a $36 million hit to their 2012 and 2013 salary cap. In other words the Redskins will likely draft RG3 and have very limited resources to surround him with other good players. However let's be honest, it''s not like the Cowboys and Redskins were going to be good this season anyway. Let's see if Tony Romo can lead the Cowboys to another scintillating 8-8 record again. :)
But thank goodness the Cowboys cut Terrance "Toast" Newman today. He was one of the biggest disappointments of last season and also a huge salary cap hit.
BYU will be starting play, and may be ending play, in the 2012 NCAA Tournament tonight. They'll be playing the Gaels of Iona. That's the second game of the night. The first game of the First Four and the NCAA Tournament will be Western Kentucky-Mississippi Valley State. It seems President Obama will be at the first game. Go Cougars!
Other great videos:
This will probably be one of the Top 100 videos that I'll feature on this blog, I love this song. It's sweet, poignant and nostalgic all at the same time. It also has an amazing chorus.
One of the more bizarre and electic songs from the 80's:
An all time classic, Supertramp's "Breakfast In America":
From the criminally unappreciated CD "Liz Phair", this is "Rock Me":
themusicaddict
Monday, March 12, 2012
"The Walking Dead": "Better Angels", March Madness Is Here, "This Is War"
Hello,
Welcome to blog #1100 of themusicaddict. Thanks for reading and always all comments are welcomed.
Last night was another okay episode of "The Walking Dead". About the first 50 minutes were pointless. It doesn't help when any of the Grimes family comes on to the screen. This show always grinds to a halt when either Rick, Lori or Carl appear on camera. If anyone starts on a speech, especially Rick or Lori, it just kills the episode. There was the horrendously boring speech by Rick at Dale's funeral. Rick said something about now that Dale is dead, they'll be doing things his way. Why? Dale was one of the most boring and illogical characters in this show. Listening to Rick's speech means we had to endure the worst accent on broadcast TV.
But I like how that boring funeral scene was intercut with the survivors taking a more proactive approach of killing zombies. I never understood only killing the zombies when they came to you. And I know the producers can't kill off all the zombies asap, because then that would be the end of the show. But in my zombie apocalypse, my strategy would be to kill off all the zombies asap. Also it drives me nuts that Rick just turned his back on Shane's dead body. Why hasn't he learned not to take anything for granted?
Later in the episode Lori apologized to Shane. Seriously could that scene have been any more boring or pointless? Especially with Shane dying at the end of the episode. I realize Lori is a main character, so the producers need to give her something to do. But why do they always have to have her do something senseless, needless or dreadfully boring? That Lori's character is inhabited by one of the worst actresses currently working doesn't help either. I'm rooting for the zombies to kill her off next week. I think we all know that the baby has been lost. That's good, because this show needs another Grimes like it needs another of Hershel's random family members.
Also thank goodness for the death finally of Randall, the whiniest character in "The Walking Dead" history, even worse than Lori. It was another sub plot that was around for only one reason. It was meant to give more story to the series. But again it was a pointless waste of time. Yet another dead spot on a show that has too many dead spots as it is. I'm glad to see some of the too many characters being reduced though.
I know that Shane had both a lot of detractors and fans. I was mostly a fan of his, because he was one who always preferred to let his actions do his talking. But on the other hand, Shane was growing more and more tiresome. His verbal battles with Dale and the constant friction with Rick. Yawn. He wanting to become the leader was also getting entirely boring. To be an effective leader, people have to want to follow you. Besides Andrea, who would have really wanted to follow Shane? Although I'm not sure why people are following Rick either. He's indecisive and worries about other people's opinions too much. He has a hard time pulling the trigger, both literally and figuratively.
I enjoyed that we found out that once anyone dies they automatically become a zombie. It just doesn't happen when they get bit. That actually answers one of my questions about this show. I could never reconcile how there were all these zombies. Usually when the zombies found living people they just ate them. So when were these people becoming zombies? Now we know what happens when a person dies. That explains a lot and is a cool plot point. But it also brings up other questions, where are they getting all their food from? Yes, I know I complain a lot about this show, but it's plot points like this that keep me coming back. I also have a soft spot for zombies.
The convenient zombie theory comes up again. While Shane was being killed, there just happened to be a whole herd of zombies near enough to see and hear the killing? That seems way too convenient. But on the other hand it's a long time in coming. In the graphic novel zombies overrun Hershel's farm and finally get the survivors back on the road. It's about time that Rick and the few survivors leave Hershel's boring farm. If Glenn stays behind like he does in the graphic novel, then it won't be a very imposing group. The three-and-a-half whiny Grimes, the last real man of the group Daryl, T Dawg, Andrea and Sophia's Mom. A character so worthless I can't even remember her name. Sarcasm alert, um yeah that group wouldn't have a hard time in the zombie apocalypse. Although since the TV show veers from the graphic novel, I hope that Glenn and Maggie join Rick's group. Maggie is the only true eye candy in this show.
Speaking of zombies, the Knicks have crashed back to earth and reality. The Knicks have lost 5 straight games. And Linsanity has crashed to Lincholia. Is it a big surprise once teams were able to prepare and plan for Lin, that his game went downhill. And since it seemed he was the Knicks spark plug the rest of the team followed him down.
Carmelo Anthony continues his mediocre play. Really this is the player there was all that hand wringing about last season? We had to endure all his whining while the Nuggets were hung out to dry. It reminds me of a certain Magic player this season. In Sunday's game Anthony missed 8 of 13 shots, continuing his season long shooting slump. He's only shooting 40% on the season. After spending a lot of money and trading away key players to acquire the overrated Anthony, why is there still anyone surprised the Knicks are so bad? I love ESPN's Bill Simmons, but I have never understood what he sees in Anthony. (I loved Simmons joke about Stoudamire's expiring contract in a couple of years in a recent column.)
They also overspent on the overrated Amare Stoudamire and signed the similar type player in Tyson Chandler. After all that money and aggravation where are the Knicks in the playoff picture? Currently they are in 8th place in the Eastern Conference. What does that mean? That means that they will get swept by the Bulls in the first round of the playoffs and get a mid first round pick. It also means they'll remain a mediocre team next season. And it would be interesting to see how bad the Knicks would be if it wasn't for the Linsanity surge.
And surely with the amazing Anthony in New York, the Nuggets have completely fallen apart right? Um, no. Denver is 23-19, 4.5 games better than the Knicks. The Nuggets are in 6th place in the much tougher Western Conference. Ultimately they are stuck in the good for nothing mediocre zone.
March Madness is upon us, it officially starts tomorrow. Usually I don't pay attention to the games played before Thursday. However I'll actually be interested in so called The First Four this season as BYU is playing Tuesday night. I was surprised that any school from Utah received an invite to the NCAA's. Utah had an abysmal season in a terrible conference. Both USU and Weber State didn't win their conference tournaments, which is the only way either team would have made The Big Dance. So literally the only team I thought had even a remote chance of making it was BYU. Having said that I'm still surprised that they received an invite. The third best team from a lower mid major conference isn't the best way to make The Big Dance. Still I don't think a lot of people are scared of the Noah Hartsock lead Cougars.
But for the team I'll be cheering for to win it all, as it is every year, is North Carolina. Go Tar Heels! And just as fervently I'll be cheering against the pasty Dukies.
I saw "This Means War" Saturday night and I was pleasantly surprised by how good it is. The three main actors in it were very good. I loved the bond rivalry between Tom Hardy and Chris Pine. I loved how good the gorgeous Reese Witherspoon is in this movie. Chelsea Handler is hilarious as Witherspoon's wacky friend. There was a good mix of action, comedy and heart. Although I do have to admit I was a little disappointed with the ending of the movie. I wanted Tuck to get the girl. That felt more realistic to me. I guess getting his ex-wife was getting the girl, but felt like a cop out. My favorite part of the movie is all the surprising comedic moments. In the trailer for this movie, all the secrets and highlights aren't given away.
The trailer follows, now I know again why I wasn't overwhelmed to see this movie. The trailer just isn't very good. It isn't representative of the film at all. I give "This Means War" a solid B+.
Now for some great songs:
Klymaxx's "I Miss You":
A song that still holds up 35 years after it was released. Kiss' "Rock N' Roll All Night":
Morrissey's "Redondo Beach":
themusicaddict
Welcome to blog #1100 of themusicaddict. Thanks for reading and always all comments are welcomed.
Last night was another okay episode of "The Walking Dead". About the first 50 minutes were pointless. It doesn't help when any of the Grimes family comes on to the screen. This show always grinds to a halt when either Rick, Lori or Carl appear on camera. If anyone starts on a speech, especially Rick or Lori, it just kills the episode. There was the horrendously boring speech by Rick at Dale's funeral. Rick said something about now that Dale is dead, they'll be doing things his way. Why? Dale was one of the most boring and illogical characters in this show. Listening to Rick's speech means we had to endure the worst accent on broadcast TV.
But I like how that boring funeral scene was intercut with the survivors taking a more proactive approach of killing zombies. I never understood only killing the zombies when they came to you. And I know the producers can't kill off all the zombies asap, because then that would be the end of the show. But in my zombie apocalypse, my strategy would be to kill off all the zombies asap. Also it drives me nuts that Rick just turned his back on Shane's dead body. Why hasn't he learned not to take anything for granted?
Later in the episode Lori apologized to Shane. Seriously could that scene have been any more boring or pointless? Especially with Shane dying at the end of the episode. I realize Lori is a main character, so the producers need to give her something to do. But why do they always have to have her do something senseless, needless or dreadfully boring? That Lori's character is inhabited by one of the worst actresses currently working doesn't help either. I'm rooting for the zombies to kill her off next week. I think we all know that the baby has been lost. That's good, because this show needs another Grimes like it needs another of Hershel's random family members.
Also thank goodness for the death finally of Randall, the whiniest character in "The Walking Dead" history, even worse than Lori. It was another sub plot that was around for only one reason. It was meant to give more story to the series. But again it was a pointless waste of time. Yet another dead spot on a show that has too many dead spots as it is. I'm glad to see some of the too many characters being reduced though.
I know that Shane had both a lot of detractors and fans. I was mostly a fan of his, because he was one who always preferred to let his actions do his talking. But on the other hand, Shane was growing more and more tiresome. His verbal battles with Dale and the constant friction with Rick. Yawn. He wanting to become the leader was also getting entirely boring. To be an effective leader, people have to want to follow you. Besides Andrea, who would have really wanted to follow Shane? Although I'm not sure why people are following Rick either. He's indecisive and worries about other people's opinions too much. He has a hard time pulling the trigger, both literally and figuratively.
I enjoyed that we found out that once anyone dies they automatically become a zombie. It just doesn't happen when they get bit. That actually answers one of my questions about this show. I could never reconcile how there were all these zombies. Usually when the zombies found living people they just ate them. So when were these people becoming zombies? Now we know what happens when a person dies. That explains a lot and is a cool plot point. But it also brings up other questions, where are they getting all their food from? Yes, I know I complain a lot about this show, but it's plot points like this that keep me coming back. I also have a soft spot for zombies.
The convenient zombie theory comes up again. While Shane was being killed, there just happened to be a whole herd of zombies near enough to see and hear the killing? That seems way too convenient. But on the other hand it's a long time in coming. In the graphic novel zombies overrun Hershel's farm and finally get the survivors back on the road. It's about time that Rick and the few survivors leave Hershel's boring farm. If Glenn stays behind like he does in the graphic novel, then it won't be a very imposing group. The three-and-a-half whiny Grimes, the last real man of the group Daryl, T Dawg, Andrea and Sophia's Mom. A character so worthless I can't even remember her name. Sarcasm alert, um yeah that group wouldn't have a hard time in the zombie apocalypse. Although since the TV show veers from the graphic novel, I hope that Glenn and Maggie join Rick's group. Maggie is the only true eye candy in this show.
Speaking of zombies, the Knicks have crashed back to earth and reality. The Knicks have lost 5 straight games. And Linsanity has crashed to Lincholia. Is it a big surprise once teams were able to prepare and plan for Lin, that his game went downhill. And since it seemed he was the Knicks spark plug the rest of the team followed him down.
Carmelo Anthony continues his mediocre play. Really this is the player there was all that hand wringing about last season? We had to endure all his whining while the Nuggets were hung out to dry. It reminds me of a certain Magic player this season. In Sunday's game Anthony missed 8 of 13 shots, continuing his season long shooting slump. He's only shooting 40% on the season. After spending a lot of money and trading away key players to acquire the overrated Anthony, why is there still anyone surprised the Knicks are so bad? I love ESPN's Bill Simmons, but I have never understood what he sees in Anthony. (I loved Simmons joke about Stoudamire's expiring contract in a couple of years in a recent column.)
They also overspent on the overrated Amare Stoudamire and signed the similar type player in Tyson Chandler. After all that money and aggravation where are the Knicks in the playoff picture? Currently they are in 8th place in the Eastern Conference. What does that mean? That means that they will get swept by the Bulls in the first round of the playoffs and get a mid first round pick. It also means they'll remain a mediocre team next season. And it would be interesting to see how bad the Knicks would be if it wasn't for the Linsanity surge.
And surely with the amazing Anthony in New York, the Nuggets have completely fallen apart right? Um, no. Denver is 23-19, 4.5 games better than the Knicks. The Nuggets are in 6th place in the much tougher Western Conference. Ultimately they are stuck in the good for nothing mediocre zone.
March Madness is upon us, it officially starts tomorrow. Usually I don't pay attention to the games played before Thursday. However I'll actually be interested in so called The First Four this season as BYU is playing Tuesday night. I was surprised that any school from Utah received an invite to the NCAA's. Utah had an abysmal season in a terrible conference. Both USU and Weber State didn't win their conference tournaments, which is the only way either team would have made The Big Dance. So literally the only team I thought had even a remote chance of making it was BYU. Having said that I'm still surprised that they received an invite. The third best team from a lower mid major conference isn't the best way to make The Big Dance. Still I don't think a lot of people are scared of the Noah Hartsock lead Cougars.
But for the team I'll be cheering for to win it all, as it is every year, is North Carolina. Go Tar Heels! And just as fervently I'll be cheering against the pasty Dukies.
I saw "This Means War" Saturday night and I was pleasantly surprised by how good it is. The three main actors in it were very good. I loved the bond rivalry between Tom Hardy and Chris Pine. I loved how good the gorgeous Reese Witherspoon is in this movie. Chelsea Handler is hilarious as Witherspoon's wacky friend. There was a good mix of action, comedy and heart. Although I do have to admit I was a little disappointed with the ending of the movie. I wanted Tuck to get the girl. That felt more realistic to me. I guess getting his ex-wife was getting the girl, but felt like a cop out. My favorite part of the movie is all the surprising comedic moments. In the trailer for this movie, all the secrets and highlights aren't given away.
The trailer follows, now I know again why I wasn't overwhelmed to see this movie. The trailer just isn't very good. It isn't representative of the film at all. I give "This Means War" a solid B+.
Now for some great songs:
Klymaxx's "I Miss You":
A song that still holds up 35 years after it was released. Kiss' "Rock N' Roll All Night":
Morrissey's "Redondo Beach":
themusicaddict
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Peyton Please Go To Denver, RG3 and Sting.
Hello,
Peyton Manning was in Denver yesterday visiting with John Elway and others in the Broncos front office. Oh I'm so hoping that Manning signs with the Broncos, that would be so awesome. The Broncos would be so much more relevant. That's not something I really want. But it would also squash the Tim Tebow hysteria. Is anyone surprised that Elway doesn't consider Tebow to be the quarterbacking answer in Denver? The limited success that Tebow had last year was a fluke and it won't be repeated this season.
That being said if I were the Broncos I would still keep him as the #2 or #3 quarterback. One, he could always come in and run four or five wildcat plays a game. Two, who knows how healthy Peyton is? It sounds like Manning still has good velocity on his passes. However that's irrelevant if he's not 100% near his prime. Even if he's near 100% of his prime, who knows how durable he'll be? I'm sure the Broncos medical staff is doing their due diligence on Peyton, but I don't think anyone will know how good Peyton will be this season until he actually plays. If I was the Broncos and I had my choice, I would want Tebow at the #3 spot as quarterback.
Will someone please make sure this happens?
So far my offseason biggest question is about the Washington Redskins trading 3 first round picks and a second round pick so they can get this draft's #2 pick. Many people are speculating that they will draft Robert Griffin the Third (RG3). That move makes no sense to me. Griffin has been a dynamic college quarterback and I'm sure he'll maintain similar abilities in the NFL. But really 3 #1 picks and a #2 for him? I'm sure Washington is thinking that they'll be so good with RG3 that their future draft picks will be in the higher teens or lower 20s. However that's still a lot to give up for someone who wasn't even on the Heisman radar until late into last season.
But that's Washington, they are known for making terrible personnel moves. As a Cowboys fan, also not known for their great personnel moves, I'm fine with the Redskins remaining a terrible team.
It doesn't sound like things are going well for the new movie "John Carter". Some people are comparing it to the colossal flop "Ishtar". Is anyone surprised by this though? Didn't anyone see the previews? The previews make the movie look terrible. (Of course so did the previews for "Thor". But "Thor's" previews were hiding the very cool Frost Giants off screen.) I'm not sure why but I've always been bothered by Taylor Kitsch. I loved "Friday Night Lights" but I hated the character Kitsch played. I think that's more due to Kitsch than the actual character. It seems like Kitsch has a tendency to overact.
However I did watch a very enjoyable show last night, "Just Go With It". Okay it's never going to win an award or anything. But any movie that has two of the most gorgeous women in the world can't be all bad. Jennifer Aniston and Brooklyn Decker in the same movie is good enough for me. I can't help watching Adam Sandler though and wonder how did this schlub become such a big star? But this was an enjoyable show.
In the above movie there was a lot of Police music, which for some reason worked pretty well. Speaking of the Police, the discount MP3 CD today at amazon.com was Sting's "The Best of 25 Years". If you don't know Sting was the lead singer of the Police. Anyway thinking about his music made me realize how much great music there is out in the world. Sting had some amazing songs with the Police and as a solo artist. I'm going to include some of his highlights here.
This is the first song I think of when I think of The Police. I have to admit it took awhile for this song to grow on me. "Wrapped Around Your Finger":
"If I Ever Lose My Faith In You":
"We'll Be Together Tonight"
An interesting mix of this classic song from the 80's:
The below song has started to become my favorite Smiths' song. After looking for "Rank" for a very long time I was actually able to track down the mid 80's live CD the Smiths released. I found it on Spotify. It wasn't as good as I had hoped it would be, however this was the last song they sang on that CD. In the Earl's Court version Morrissey updates the lyric from a walkman to an iPod in the line "the Walkman started to melt". Below is the best version of "Big Mouth Strikes Again" that I've ever heard, Morrissey just sings this song with so much conviction:
See how much more powerful he sang this song than he did in 1986:
themusicaddict
Peyton Manning was in Denver yesterday visiting with John Elway and others in the Broncos front office. Oh I'm so hoping that Manning signs with the Broncos, that would be so awesome. The Broncos would be so much more relevant. That's not something I really want. But it would also squash the Tim Tebow hysteria. Is anyone surprised that Elway doesn't consider Tebow to be the quarterbacking answer in Denver? The limited success that Tebow had last year was a fluke and it won't be repeated this season.
That being said if I were the Broncos I would still keep him as the #2 or #3 quarterback. One, he could always come in and run four or five wildcat plays a game. Two, who knows how healthy Peyton is? It sounds like Manning still has good velocity on his passes. However that's irrelevant if he's not 100% near his prime. Even if he's near 100% of his prime, who knows how durable he'll be? I'm sure the Broncos medical staff is doing their due diligence on Peyton, but I don't think anyone will know how good Peyton will be this season until he actually plays. If I was the Broncos and I had my choice, I would want Tebow at the #3 spot as quarterback.
Will someone please make sure this happens?
So far my offseason biggest question is about the Washington Redskins trading 3 first round picks and a second round pick so they can get this draft's #2 pick. Many people are speculating that they will draft Robert Griffin the Third (RG3). That move makes no sense to me. Griffin has been a dynamic college quarterback and I'm sure he'll maintain similar abilities in the NFL. But really 3 #1 picks and a #2 for him? I'm sure Washington is thinking that they'll be so good with RG3 that their future draft picks will be in the higher teens or lower 20s. However that's still a lot to give up for someone who wasn't even on the Heisman radar until late into last season.
But that's Washington, they are known for making terrible personnel moves. As a Cowboys fan, also not known for their great personnel moves, I'm fine with the Redskins remaining a terrible team.
It doesn't sound like things are going well for the new movie "John Carter". Some people are comparing it to the colossal flop "Ishtar". Is anyone surprised by this though? Didn't anyone see the previews? The previews make the movie look terrible. (Of course so did the previews for "Thor". But "Thor's" previews were hiding the very cool Frost Giants off screen.) I'm not sure why but I've always been bothered by Taylor Kitsch. I loved "Friday Night Lights" but I hated the character Kitsch played. I think that's more due to Kitsch than the actual character. It seems like Kitsch has a tendency to overact.
However I did watch a very enjoyable show last night, "Just Go With It". Okay it's never going to win an award or anything. But any movie that has two of the most gorgeous women in the world can't be all bad. Jennifer Aniston and Brooklyn Decker in the same movie is good enough for me. I can't help watching Adam Sandler though and wonder how did this schlub become such a big star? But this was an enjoyable show.
In the above movie there was a lot of Police music, which for some reason worked pretty well. Speaking of the Police, the discount MP3 CD today at amazon.com was Sting's "The Best of 25 Years". If you don't know Sting was the lead singer of the Police. Anyway thinking about his music made me realize how much great music there is out in the world. Sting had some amazing songs with the Police and as a solo artist. I'm going to include some of his highlights here.
This is the first song I think of when I think of The Police. I have to admit it took awhile for this song to grow on me. "Wrapped Around Your Finger":
"If I Ever Lose My Faith In You":
"We'll Be Together Tonight"
An interesting mix of this classic song from the 80's:
The below song has started to become my favorite Smiths' song. After looking for "Rank" for a very long time I was actually able to track down the mid 80's live CD the Smiths released. I found it on Spotify. It wasn't as good as I had hoped it would be, however this was the last song they sang on that CD. In the Earl's Court version Morrissey updates the lyric from a walkman to an iPod in the line "the Walkman started to melt". Below is the best version of "Big Mouth Strikes Again" that I've ever heard, Morrissey just sings this song with so much conviction:
See how much more powerful he sang this song than he did in 1986:
themusicaddict
Friday, March 9, 2012
Trish McAleny, Dwight Howard Shut Up Already & Is This The Greatest Song Ever?
Hello,
Trish McAleny is someone I know of through Facebook. As any regular reader of this blog knows I love music. And there's just something about a woman that can sing. Yes, that's her real name. She has 23 videos on youtube, these are three of my favorites. If you would like to check out her other songs on youtube, just type in fvbyfvslyr.
I "talked" with Trish before randomly posted these videos on my blog. She approved and I think you should give her a listen. Please give Trish a chance. As she's not famous, she has to settle for whatever equipment and personnel she can get. She has to deal with less than stellar engineers, poor sound systems and a lot of crowd noise.
This is her cover of Sarah Buxton's "Space" (I love the sexy tattoo Trish has on her arm):
This is one of Trish's personal favorites of her own performances:
This is a video I picked on my own, I love this song. It looks like she's lip synching on this video so I asked her about it. Trish assured me this is her voice. In this performance you can actually hear her voice, I like how husky her voice is.
This is a bonus video, because I love this song so much. A good cover of one of the greatest songs ever.
Again you can see all of the above, and 19 other videos, on youtube.com. I suggested maybe she could add a couple of songs singing in a quiet room, so we can actually hear her voice. She sings at an open mic night every Wednesday here in Utah. Thanks Trish for allowing me to post this and good luck.
Going from a woman to a baby. I'm tired of the over rated, most insecure professional athlete I've ever seen, Dwight Howard. With the trade deadline only 6 days away, I'm hoping we are about to get a break from listening to his whining. However the drama queen will keep on complaining even after the trade deadline has come and passed. Why because Howard is all about himself. He was even whining about where he would play during the NBA Lockout. Really Dwight that might not be the best time to whine. Again Dwight it's not all about you. Orlando will never win a NBA title with this version of Howard on their team. I know many professional athletes live a very coddled life. But I assure you Dwight you do not have a rough life by any stretch of the imagination. Would a little gratitude hurt?
There have been a lot of rumors about Howard going to the Bulls in a trade. With his constant annoying tweeting, I wonder how many of those rumors Howard has started. I love how Derrick Rose came out and said even he's getting tired of that Howard to Chicago trade talk. Howard also admitted he wanted to be the man wherever he goes. Obviously with Rose in Chicago, Howard wouldn't be the man there. For that very reason Chicago shouldn't trade for him. And if you really are "the man" shouldn't you be shooting better than 49% from the free throw line. And that stat becomes even more important when you realize that Howard shoots almost 11 free throws a game. Even if he just shot 70% from the free throw line, that's two more points each game for the Magic. Those two points almost assuredly would have given the Magic more wins. It would also stop other teams from using the Hack a Howard strategy.
On January 12th, in an attempt by the terrible Golden State Warriors to beat the Magic, they employed the Hack the Howard strategy. Howard was fouled intentionally because he's such a terrible free throw shooter. He went to the line a NBA record 39 times and missed 18 free throws. Golden State's strategy worked fairly well as the Warriors were in the game for most of the night. I have an idea Dwight. Shut the hell up and go shoot free throws. Everytime you want to whine about were you should be playing, go shoot 100 free throws. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose. If you want to be the man, you have to work hard to get there.
I realize that Howard is freakishly athletic. In that same game Howard had 23 rebounds (23!), 4 steals and two blocks. However he lacks the heart of a champion. If you could install Michael Jordan's killer instinct into Howard, how much better would Howard be? He would probably be nearly unstoppable. If Howard wants to be in the same sentence as Jordan, he needs to at least double his effort.
Here's a great article by ESPNChicago.com writer Melissa Isaacson comparing the competitive desires of Howard and Chicago's Derrick Rose. Rose, you know the guy who won the NBA MVP last season. Of course Rose knows about players who are all about themselves as this is the second season that Rose has played with Carlos Boozer. This is Isaacson's excellent and well thought out article: http://espn.go.com/chicago/columns/nba/story/_/id/7664062/dwight-howard-derrick-rose-cut-same-competitive-cloth
Here are a few other great videos. Thanks Spotify for giving me the chance to listen to a lot of the "Chess" soundtrack yesterday. I'm really starting to like it. Today I went to amazon.com to see if they had any good digital music deals. They were selling the recent Lady Antebellum CD for only 25c, I looked for a catch but couldn't find one. (The Lady Antebellum CD is no longer available at that price.) Obviously that's a good deal. But 25c for the new Coldplay CD that's a much tougher call. Another CD they were selling for a good price is by the Runaways. For $3.99 you can buy "The Mercury Albums Anthology". You'll get 42 songs for that low price. I listened to the complete Runaways Anthology on Spotify today and it's easily worth $3.99.
Most people know The Runaways for having had Lita Ford and Joan Jett in their band. There was also a movie produced about them a couple of years ago. Their most famous song is probably "Cherry Bomb", however I suggest that's only their third best song. I prefer both of the below songs:
"American Nights":
"Queens of Noise":
Again I heard this song while exercising this morning, I was reminded again how great this song is. I must not be the only one who thinks that as it has 42 million youtube hits. This song is almost perfect in every way:
I just recently rediscovered this song and I'm loving it all over again:
And a couple of songs from "Chess". Yes, I know I featured this song yesterday, but it's so amazing. Sadly "I Know Him So Well" only has 12,000 views.
Another song from "Chess" sung by Judy Kuhn and Sissel. This song is so heartbreakingly beautiful. Also heart breaking is it only has 11,000 views. This is "Someone Else's Story":
themusicaddict
Trish McAleny is someone I know of through Facebook. As any regular reader of this blog knows I love music. And there's just something about a woman that can sing. Yes, that's her real name. She has 23 videos on youtube, these are three of my favorites. If you would like to check out her other songs on youtube, just type in fvbyfvslyr.
I "talked" with Trish before randomly posted these videos on my blog. She approved and I think you should give her a listen. Please give Trish a chance. As she's not famous, she has to settle for whatever equipment and personnel she can get. She has to deal with less than stellar engineers, poor sound systems and a lot of crowd noise.
This is her cover of Sarah Buxton's "Space" (I love the sexy tattoo Trish has on her arm):
This is one of Trish's personal favorites of her own performances:
This is a video I picked on my own, I love this song. It looks like she's lip synching on this video so I asked her about it. Trish assured me this is her voice. In this performance you can actually hear her voice, I like how husky her voice is.
This is a bonus video, because I love this song so much. A good cover of one of the greatest songs ever.
Again you can see all of the above, and 19 other videos, on youtube.com. I suggested maybe she could add a couple of songs singing in a quiet room, so we can actually hear her voice. She sings at an open mic night every Wednesday here in Utah. Thanks Trish for allowing me to post this and good luck.
Going from a woman to a baby. I'm tired of the over rated, most insecure professional athlete I've ever seen, Dwight Howard. With the trade deadline only 6 days away, I'm hoping we are about to get a break from listening to his whining. However the drama queen will keep on complaining even after the trade deadline has come and passed. Why because Howard is all about himself. He was even whining about where he would play during the NBA Lockout. Really Dwight that might not be the best time to whine. Again Dwight it's not all about you. Orlando will never win a NBA title with this version of Howard on their team. I know many professional athletes live a very coddled life. But I assure you Dwight you do not have a rough life by any stretch of the imagination. Would a little gratitude hurt?
There have been a lot of rumors about Howard going to the Bulls in a trade. With his constant annoying tweeting, I wonder how many of those rumors Howard has started. I love how Derrick Rose came out and said even he's getting tired of that Howard to Chicago trade talk. Howard also admitted he wanted to be the man wherever he goes. Obviously with Rose in Chicago, Howard wouldn't be the man there. For that very reason Chicago shouldn't trade for him. And if you really are "the man" shouldn't you be shooting better than 49% from the free throw line. And that stat becomes even more important when you realize that Howard shoots almost 11 free throws a game. Even if he just shot 70% from the free throw line, that's two more points each game for the Magic. Those two points almost assuredly would have given the Magic more wins. It would also stop other teams from using the Hack a Howard strategy.
On January 12th, in an attempt by the terrible Golden State Warriors to beat the Magic, they employed the Hack the Howard strategy. Howard was fouled intentionally because he's such a terrible free throw shooter. He went to the line a NBA record 39 times and missed 18 free throws. Golden State's strategy worked fairly well as the Warriors were in the game for most of the night. I have an idea Dwight. Shut the hell up and go shoot free throws. Everytime you want to whine about were you should be playing, go shoot 100 free throws. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose. If you want to be the man, you have to work hard to get there.
I realize that Howard is freakishly athletic. In that same game Howard had 23 rebounds (23!), 4 steals and two blocks. However he lacks the heart of a champion. If you could install Michael Jordan's killer instinct into Howard, how much better would Howard be? He would probably be nearly unstoppable. If Howard wants to be in the same sentence as Jordan, he needs to at least double his effort.
Here's a great article by ESPNChicago.com writer Melissa Isaacson comparing the competitive desires of Howard and Chicago's Derrick Rose. Rose, you know the guy who won the NBA MVP last season. Of course Rose knows about players who are all about themselves as this is the second season that Rose has played with Carlos Boozer. This is Isaacson's excellent and well thought out article: http://espn.go.com/chicago/columns/nba/story/_/id/7664062/dwight-howard-derrick-rose-cut-same-competitive-cloth
Here are a few other great videos. Thanks Spotify for giving me the chance to listen to a lot of the "Chess" soundtrack yesterday. I'm really starting to like it. Today I went to amazon.com to see if they had any good digital music deals. They were selling the recent Lady Antebellum CD for only 25c, I looked for a catch but couldn't find one. (The Lady Antebellum CD is no longer available at that price.) Obviously that's a good deal. But 25c for the new Coldplay CD that's a much tougher call. Another CD they were selling for a good price is by the Runaways. For $3.99 you can buy "The Mercury Albums Anthology". You'll get 42 songs for that low price. I listened to the complete Runaways Anthology on Spotify today and it's easily worth $3.99.
Most people know The Runaways for having had Lita Ford and Joan Jett in their band. There was also a movie produced about them a couple of years ago. Their most famous song is probably "Cherry Bomb", however I suggest that's only their third best song. I prefer both of the below songs:
"American Nights":
"Queens of Noise":
Again I heard this song while exercising this morning, I was reminded again how great this song is. I must not be the only one who thinks that as it has 42 million youtube hits. This song is almost perfect in every way:
I just recently rediscovered this song and I'm loving it all over again:
And a couple of songs from "Chess". Yes, I know I featured this song yesterday, but it's so amazing. Sadly "I Know Him So Well" only has 12,000 views.
Another song from "Chess" sung by Judy Kuhn and Sissel. This song is so heartbreakingly beautiful. Also heart breaking is it only has 11,000 views. This is "Someone Else's Story":
themusicaddict
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