Youtube Hopscotch Again, Sports: Fenway's 100th Anniversary

Hello,

Just a few quick sports thoughts before getting to my latest exciting adventure of Youtube Hopscotch.

The Boston Red Sox celebrate Fenway Park's 100th anniversary today. Basically anyone that has added to the legend of Fenway Park, and is still alive, will be there. I'm guessing Bobby Valentine will also be showing up. To make the celebration complete the Red Sox are playing a game today as well. And who else would be better to play than the Yankees? That game begins at 3:10 EST. The school I work at had a new quarter start this last Monday. Thus I have to work today. (Not a complaint: I have a great job. One of the best benefits of my job is that I usually have Fridays off. I love a job where nearly every weekend is a three day weekend.) I'm disappointed I won't be able to watch at least part of this game.

It's unlikely that Boston will be able to crawl out of the AL East's cellar by the end of this 3 game series. But it would be good if the Red Sox could win at least 2 of the games, especially today. I'd love to see the Red Sox get a desperately needed jump start on their season. This series culminates in Sunday Night Baseball.

If you like to read about the Fenway's original opening day, ESPNBoston has a good and very long article here:

http://espn.go.com/boston/mlb/story/_/id/7834152/boston-red-sox-opening-day-last

Another big game that I will miss part of because of work is Game 5 of the Red Wings-Predators first round Stanley Cup series. Not only are the Red Wings down 3-1, this game is in Nashville. Predators fans will be hopped up cheering for the Predators to advance. It's time for the Red Wings to man up and stick a few goals down the Predator's throats. It would be nice for Detroit's offense to wake up, they have only scored 8 goals in the first 4 games. (Side note: I've heard the rational on why fighting is allowed in hockey. However it just doesn't make sense to me. Fighting only distracts from what can make hockey fun to watch.)

The Dwight Howard fiasco continues. He's been officially ruled out throughout the rest of the regular season and the playoffs due to a back injury. He'll also miss playing for the United States in the Olympics, which I'm perfectly fine with. I really don't want such a whiner to represent the great country that I live in.

Dwight before you further erode any more goodwill I have some advice. 1) Shut The Hell Up! The less we hear of you until the start of the next NBA season the better. 2) Work on your free throw shooting. It boggles my mind that a NBA player can't even make 50% of his foul shots. I'm giving the benefit of the doubt to Howard. He claims he's not "quitting" on his teammates. But from the way he's acted this year, I don't blame anyone that would be skeptical of . Even with Howard I don't think the Magic are a well constructed team. Without Howard will the Magic even win one playoff game?

Take an example from Carlos Boozer. He whined for a couple of seasons, however this season very little has been heard from him. He's just gone out and played to near the limit of his ability. Although Boozer will go down as one of the worst free agency signings ever, at least he's acting like a gentleman.

I thought of Boozer last night because I watched part of last night's very boring Heat-Bulls matchup. The Bulls for the most part looked horrendous. I know they were without the services of dynamic point guard Derrick Rose, but still their level of play was abysmal. ESPN called their play "punchless", which is a perfect description.

Although Miami didn't look very good either. To me the Heat are the class of the Eastern Conference. I can't see any other Eastern team qualifying for the NBA Finals, especially if Rose isn't at 100%. I read a comment from LeBron James about how much he would like to win a 3rd NBA MVP. What LeBron needs to focus on is winning a NBA Finals MVP. Of course, that would require him to not disappear in 4th quarters of Finals games. And enough of this nonsense of trying to get his teammates involved. He's the man and he needs to act accordingly. He needs to lead the Heat to the NBA Championship. Although it's more likely that Dwayne Wade, who has actually won a NBA Championship, should be the leader.

Now the game that's sweeping the nation. It's time for another edition of Youtube Hopscotch. I started the Hopscotch with this song:

"All Cried Out" lead to many great songs. Some songs very predictable but some weren't so predictable. Some old school Whitney Houston and Toni Braxton etc. But I was more interested in the songs that were a bit more obscure. Also if I got bored with Youtube Hopscotch I would mix it up a bit and throw in an offbeat song like:

Here are some of the obscure songs that I stumbled across yesterday. This was my favorite of all the songs. I listened to Sade's "Smooth Operator" multiple times yesterday:

Sade's "Soldier of Love":

Gregory Abbot's "Shake You Down" is one of the sexiest songs ever:

Another amazing and incredibly sexy song, this is from Freddie Jackson. "You Are My Lady":

"The Rain"- Oran "Juice" Jones. This might be the video with the most spoken dialogue ever. It really distracts from the song quickly. Although I admitted I laughed at the line "I bought you things you couldn't even pronounce".

Don't you just love "the acting" in this video. The Deele's "Shoot 'em Up Movies":

Taylor Dayne's "Love Will Lead You Back":

Another great Taylor Dayne song:

I love Martika's voice on "Toy Soldiers":

The System's "Don't Disturb This Groove":

Karyn White's "Superwoman":

Here's an oddball, Timex Social Club's "Rumors":

themusicaddict

Neon Trees, The Disastrous First Year of Bobby Valentine, Dwight Howard Again?, Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam

Hello,

I've been enjoying the new Neon Trees CD this morning, the title is "Picture Show". You remember Neon Trees, don't you? The band from Provo, Utah that absolutely exploded a couple of years ago with this song:



They are also featured in a current television ad. I can't remember what for, because I pay as little attention to commercials as possible. When Taylor Swift was on tour in Salt Lake she sang the same Neon Trees song:



Some of the incredibly catchy and better songs off "Picture Show":



"Trust": (sadly only a snippet of the least interesting part of the song)



Then a song they sing with Kaskade, "Lessons In Love":



Although the above is a great song, it shouldn't be confused with the Level 42 classic:



Speaking of bands, I have a great band name for aspiring rockers: The Disastrous First Year of Bobby Valentine. Obviously a reference to the beleaguered Red Sox manager. He's been criticized by all-time Red Sox great Curt Schilling, criticized his own current player Kevin Youkilis and has "led" the Red Sox to a 4-8 start. Yes, that's the same Youkilis that was called "The Greek God of Walks" in the book "Moneyball".

I watched about the last inning of the Red Sox-Rangers game last night. It looked like the Red Sox were going to rally. That is until Jarrod Saltamachia hit into a double play. He hit the ball hard, the Ranger player just made a great play. After the play the camera panned to Valentine's face, he looked like he was in shock. He also had the look that he had no idea what to do. It's that second look that worries me the most. That loss dropped the Red Sox to 4-8 as they remain last in the AL East.  They trail first place Baltimore, never thought I would write that, by 3 games. There's no shame in losing to the Rangers, they are currently MLB's best team. However giving up 24 runs in two games is terrible. According to espn.com, Boston's Poff is 29.9%.

Red Sox fans: Terry Francona will be at Fenway on Friday. Will someone please kidnap him and make him manage the Red Sox? I never thought I would long for the days of the beer and chicken Red Sox.

Another team that is struggling, but very few people are surprised by, is the Chicago Cubs. Currently the Cubs are tied for the second worst record in MLB. The Cubs are 3-9 and tied with the Royals for that dubious second to worst record in MLB. But both teams are hot on the trail of MLB's worst team, the 3-10 Padres. A Cubs-Padres series would be about as exciting as a Bobcats-Wizards NBA game.

Other Cubs lowlights from their early season of hell: Chicago is 3-7 over their last 10 games. Chicago has lost 4 games in a row. They are also sixth, and last, place in the NL Central. After only playing 12 games, the Cubs trail first place St. Louis by 6 games. According to espn.com's Playoff percentage, they have a 8.9% chance of making the playoffs. Of course, only 1/13th way through the season that statistic can tell us very little. However it is a good statistic to tell how bad the Cubs early part of the season has been.

Update: Thankfully Epstein says he's building for the long term, which I think is the exactly right thing to do. I would rather have a sustained time of excellence. That's better than one season of greatness by mortgaging your own future. With the Cubs losing Thursday, they now drop to 3-10 on the season. And that kind of crappy play is painful to Cubs fans. But when isn't it painful to be a Cubs fan? But for the long run Epstein is making the right choices now.                                      

The world's biggest whiner has struck again. It seem poor wittle Dwight got his feelings hurt. Allegedly he called Magic owner Rich DeVos and said he didn't want to play for Stan Van Gundy any more. To be fair it seems there's some dispute whether Dwight actually made this call. But this kind of whining is exactly what Howard has done many times in the past. He's missed 6 games due to "back spasms" already and could miss the entire postseason for the Magic. That's a well thought out move by Dwight though. This way when the Magic get unceremoniously dumped from the playoffs in the early rounds yet again Howard won't be blamed. And as usual as his teammates fight for playoff positioning, Howard is only worried about his #1 priority: himself.

Quite simply Dwight Howard is the Tony Romo of the NBA. Both have great stats and a lot of athletic ability, but neither will ever win a title. But at least I think Romo plays his heart out, he just chokes in the clutch. Howard has no heart at all. He's just there for the paycheck and attention. If I were the Magic I would get rid of Howard asap. I don't know that I would keep Van Gundy, but I wouldn't make that decision based on Howard's input.

Great songs:

Linkin Park's "Somewhere I Belong":



Michael Jackson's amazing "Dirty Diana":



And back from when "American Idol" was still relevant, this is Alexis Grace's excellent version of "Dirty Diana". Grace was sent home way too early. Sadly the video's embedding is disabled by request. A Fox show having greed, who would have thunk?

The B-52s' "Rock Lobster". It takes about 25 seconds for the sound to start. This song takes me back to the good old days of stomps:



Dwight Yoakam's "Turn It On, Turn It Up, Turn Me Loose":



Bloc Party's "Banquet":



Okay there's nothing going on in my life that's making me think of this song, this is just a great song. A slice of the great 80's pure pop. Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam:



Most of Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam's songs were upbeat, here are a couple of my favorites. This is "I Wonder If I Take You Home". Lisa Lisa's voice sounds kind of tinny on this song and it does run on a bit long. But other than that it's a great song. This song shows that making a pop song doesn't have to be hard or complicated. This song is built around a simple synth track. Many great 80's songs were built around a simple synth track.



"Lost In Emotion":



Last, and certainly not least, the extremely catchy "Head To Toe":



themusicaddict

"Smash" episode "The Movie Star", Kill "The Killing", Soundgarden

Hello,

This blog is driving me crazy and I'm taking a break. I'll probably be back to work more on it.

The latest episode of "Smash" was "The Movie Star". I've a couple of thoughts about the latest episode and the series in general. Like Rebecca Duvall I have a lot of thoughts how to make this show better. First, when the story follow the cast of "Bombshell's" personal lives, the show quickly runs out of steam. Seriously why is Leo still getting screen time? Who cares whether Julia and Frank's marriage survives? Thankfully the story about Julia and Frank adopting seems to have gone away. Why do we have to watch Nick and Eileen get together? Again that's boring and is also an unbelievable relationship. Not as unbelievable as anyone wanting to be with Ellis though.

Secondly, for this show to continue to improve it needs to trim several peripheral characters. Again the less we know about the character's personal lives the better. That's unless both characters are directly involved with the Monroe play "Bombshell". Even then I still don't care about Tom's commitment issues. Characters that need to be excised include Frank, Leo, Michael, Dev, RJ and Colin. What can replace those characters? How about more Karen and more songs. It seemed this episode "The Movie Star" was mocking itself with the running gag about a musical actually having songs. By my count this episode only had two songs. I can live without the dancing, but please bring on more singing. I'd like to see at least 4 or 5 songs each episode.

I'm also not a big Ivy Lynn fan. Her whole drug regimen story line was Grade A boredom.

Why do shows have jerk characters? Many shows I love have an annoying or jerk character. Why is that needed to drive the action? Three shows that I love all have an extremely annoying character. In "Smash", it's Ellis, in "Mad Men" it's Pete Campbell and in "The Good Wife" it's Jackie. Can't shows survive without these characters? Why are these annoying characters so important? I do realize that the annoying characters have driven story in the past several episodes. But why can't a more charming character do that?

Yesterday I listened to a hilarious podcast on Grantland.com. It was Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald talking about great TV shows like "Mad Men". But they also spent 10 minutes making fun critiquing  "The Killing". To be honest I was a big fan of this show through the first few episodes of Season One. But by episode 7 or 8 the show slowed down and started repeating itself. After the disastrous Season One finale I was undecided if I was going to watch any of Season Two. I decided to give it one more chance and watched the first two episodes of Season 2. I wasn't impressed. After that two hours I hadn't given up on this show yet. But after thinking about it for a couple of days I told "The Killing" I needed some space. I haven't watched any episodes since.

Anyway from what Ryan and Greenwald discussed it sounds like I've missed nothing at all. Plots that I thought couldn't have gotten worse seemed to actually have. The momentum of the crappy Season 1 finale continues on to season 2. One of Grantland's commenters said something like "Veena Sud already said this show won't reveal the killer until episode 12, that's like 8 more hours with these people". Yes, that does sound horrifying. They mocked the return of Jasper and Sterling, two characters we haven't thought about in months. Also Richmond and Jamie are having an affair now? Really? What the hell? They also mocked Belko's suicide by cop and Stan's mob ties. All are unbelievably stupid ideas and deserve mocking.

Why am I suggesting this show be killed? I wrote about the jerk character a couple of paragraphs above. "The Killing" has several annoying characters, in fact nearly everyone is annoying. I don't care about any of the characters. There are also bizarre and unnecessary story lines as in the paragraph directly above. Also the fact this show tells the same story over and over again. It also tells the story incredibly slowly. It feels like Rosie was killed years ago, not days ago. All good reasons to kill this show.

Other things qualifying this show for the death penalty include unnecessary characters. For instance, Sterling and Jasper. Why has Sud chosen to have those students come back? I doubt they have anything to do with the killing of Rosie, they are just more red herrings. The Richmond for Mayor campaign has never been interesting. Does this show cut it's losses though, no it keeps on stretching Richmond for Mayor out beyond belief. (Give the show credit for realism, that's what a real election feels like.) Also if Sud wanted us to care about the Larsens, why did she make them so boring?

This show was suppose to be a three prong attack. The idea that the race for mayor, the killing of Rosie and the Larson family dynamics were suppose to make this show exciting. That leaves Rosie's death as the most exciting thing about this show. When that story line wears us out, then what is left? Nothing. We are now at that point with this show. AMC please kill "The Killing" and just tell us who killed Rosie. But again if I didn't find out it wouldn't matter.

It seems the only way "The Killing" tells it's stories is by intentionally misleading the viewer. How many false clues have we seen so far? How many more will be seen. How many suspected killers of Rosie will there be? Will everyone in Seattle be a suspect at one point? I predict Rosie's killer will be completely a surprise and not in a good way. It will be someone that has only been involved in the show on the periphery. For instance someone like Linden's ex. Once the big reveal is unveiled Sud will try to explain why it was such a great idea, but it will ring hollow. One of the things I hate the most about Sud is that she actually had the chutzpah to compare this show to "Mad Men". "Mad Men" is already an all-time classic. Meanwhile "The Killing" will be quickly forgotten once it's mercifully killed.

"The Killing" remains the little show that couldn't. This show needs to be exterminated with extreme predujice asap. Veena Sud is clearly in over her head as a show runner. She continues to show how little she knows.

According to wikipedia.org the show had 1.8 million viewers through the first 3 episodes. By the fourth episode, "Ogi Jun", that number had fallen to 1.65 million viewers. I expect that number to continue to drop throughout the season. Then it will have a brief resurgence when the show finally reveals who killed Rosie. Although at this point I'm wondering why anyone cares anymore. I'm expecting AMC to have announced by that point there won't be a third season by then.

Please AMC just kill "The Killing".

For a limited time you can listen to Jack White's new CD "Blunderbuss" for free on iTunes. I listened to it this morning and I was less than inspired. Also on iTunes you can download the new song from Soundgarden, it's from the new "Avengers" movie. The title of the song is "Live To Rise":



Wow "Live To Rise" is an incredibly boring song, isn't it. Soundgarden should have left this song unreleased.

Speaking of Soundgarden (isn't that the coolest band name ever?) I have been listening a lot to their CD "Live on I-5" on Spotify. I was never able to see them in concert back in the day, but they sound like they were a pretty dynamic live band. I love hearing classics like "Outshined", "Rusty Cage" and "Spoonman" again. This is "Rusty Cage":



I'm still not understanding all the love for "Someone I Used To Know". What I think that song was trying to be was something like this:



I have been haunted by the above song, it's just such an amazing song. Their performance is simply amazing.

Other great songs:

Rooney's "Daisy Duke":



The Proclaimers "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)":



Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam "All Cried Out":



Gene Loves Jezebal "Jealous":



Melinda Doolittle's "I'm A Woman":



Boom Crash Opera's "Onion Skin":



Toni Basil's "Mickey":



themusicaddict

NBA Basketball Playoff Gear Up. "Mad Men" Instant Classic Episode "Signal 30",

Hello,

Again I'm getting excited for the upcoming NBA playoffs. There should be several great series, starting in the first round hopefully going all through to the finals. Speaking of the playoffs, last night's Jazz-Mavericks game had an intense playoff atmosphere. The Jazz went on to prevail in triple overtime 123-121. I only watched a few minutes of last night's Dallas-Utah game and I was reminded again why I hate the NBA. Within the space of 1 minute of game action Dirk Nowitski was "fouled" and sent to the free throw line 4 times. Of course he made all 4 free throws on his way to making 12 of 12 free throws on the night. Strangely enough the Jazz's Al Jefferson, in 54 minutes, didn't shoot any free throws. I've often said that when the NBA wants a team to win they send them to the free throw line several times. In this game the Jazz did shoot 12 more free throws than Dallas did. In fairness to the NBA, they seem to be trying to make things more equitable. It's not like back in the day when someone breathed on Michael Jordan and it was called a flagrant foul.

I love that the Mavericks have dropped to 7th place in the Western Conference playoffs. I still can't believe they won the title last season. Then they traded Tyson Chandler to New York and let JJ Barea go to Minnesota. And it looks like the Jet is about to crash. It will probably be another quick exit for Dallas from the playoffs. Mavericks fans just be glad your team won a title. I don't see the Cowboys winning a title for the foreseeable future.

In the West I see Oklahoma City going to the NBA Finals and hope the Lakers get outed by the second round. I would love for the Mavericks to play the Lakers in the playoffs again this year. And just like last year I would love the Mavericks to destroy the Lakers.

Congrats to the Knicks for moving up to 7th place in the Eastern Conference playoff race. Now instead of getting swept by the Bulls in the first round, they'll get swept by the Heat in the first round. In fact, with Rose's questionable health, Chicago might be a better matchup for the Knicks. Carmelo Anthony will be exposed for his one dimensional game once again. I've mentioned this before, but I'm going to bring it up again. Jeremy Lin, who apparently is a comedian, said he should be ready for the second round of the playoffs. Hey Jeremy come over and hang out with me, we'll both be watching the second round from the comfort of our couches.

Dwight Howard has hurt himself and is out for the rest of the regular season. Orlando is now tied for 5th place in the Eastern Conference playoff race. I'd be surprised if they don't finish 6th in the Eastern Conference though. As of right now that means they'd play the Pacers in the first round of the playoffs. I expect that would be a competitive series. I don't see them surviving the second round though.

Once Howard and Anthony are unceremoniously kicked out of the playoffs, can the hype about these two very over rated players please stop?

Bobby Valentine please shut the hell up. Stop questioning your player's commitment in the media. Why do you think that will be effective? This obviously wasn't a mistake as Valentine has been in the media, this was obviously a failed motivational tool. My real question is why did the Red Sox hire Valentine again? Is it too late to bring back Terry Francona? The Red Sox brought Theo Epstein back after a brief separation a few years ago.

This past Sunday's episode of "Mad Men" was an instant classic. This episode "Signal 30" dealt with the very annoying Pete Campbell. He and Trudy hosted the Cosgroves and Drapers at their house in the country. Also he now has even Roger Sterling deferring to him for hell's sake. How did that power shift happen anyway? (Is that why Roger chewed out Ken later in the episode about his writing? Is he trying to maintain some influence?) Pete Campbell finally got his driver's license and tried to hit on a high school senior. Campbell thankfully got shut down and out maneuvered by a high school kid.

Thankfully Joan is back in the office. She always knows the best and right thing to do and say. Layne is right that Joan could do his job, but she's too nice to admit it. It's just not SCDP without Joan running the office. She let's the partner's act like they are in charge, but we all know better. Although I did find it curious no mention was made of her baby or mother.

Campbell took Layne's Jaguar friend out on the town for some "fun". Unfortunately the "fun" led to chewing gum being left on Layne's friends "pubus". (Did Weiner get that idea from Brady Udall's "The Lonely Polygamist"?) That lead to Layne confronting Pete in a meeting. He graciously excused Joan first. Pete Campbell, seeming to think he's the cock of the walk, ran his mouth. Finally Layne had had enough and challenged Pete to a fight. Incidentally, following Roger Sterling, Price is the second named partner of SCDP to challenge Pete to a fight. Don or Bert you are next up.

In one of the funniest scenes to have ever graced "Mad Men" Pete and Layne have a "fight". This scene is funny for so many reasons. Starting with the fighting stance each took in their fight, that was the first indication this scene was played for laughs. My favorite part of the scene was Roger and Don closed the drapes on the conference room so that no one outside can see the fight. I loved that small touch, it's those kind of touches that make this show so great.

The alleged "fight" was hilarious, again it was obviously played for laughs. After the fight Sterling said he had his money on Price. Well of course he did, did anyone think Pete would win the fight? (Sadly the fight has yet to make it's way to youtube.) Ultimately though the fight diminished both of the fighters. Campbell literally left the office a very defeated man, where he whined about not being friends. I hope he went home and Trudy made him feel like a man again. I hope he didn't compound his mistake and flee to the arms of a prostitute.

Layne Price was able to get a kiss out of it from the lovely Miss Joan. I'm not the only one that's glad she's back in the office.

Megan continues to assert her control over Don, she clearly is starting to wear the pants in the family. From limiting his drinking before the party to choosing which sports jacket he should wear. She let him have his way with her, but explained why first.

The episode ended with a defeated Campbell watching Handsome fondle what he was hoping to be his conquest. Although it was very unsettling and unnecessary scene seeing Handsome feel up the girl while watching the driver's ed film. Where will Pete go from here? Will this be Roger's chance to assert control again? Will he care?  Sterling seems to be happy with not having to make decisions, he likes to coast. What will be the fallout from Price-Cooper 1? Hopefully at least a less annoying Pete will come from the fight.

themusicaddict

Youtube Hop Scotch, Dodgers and Red Sox

Hello,

In listening to music on the internet, for me it begins and ends with Spotify. I know that a lot of people like Pandora and it's Music Genome Project. However if I want to listen to the Dixie Chicks, a few songs later I don't want to be listening to Mary J. Blige. Frustratingly that has been my reality has all too often with Pandora. As frequent readers of this blog know, I spend a lot of time on Youtube. It's where I get the videos I put on this blog. I like how after a video plays they recommend several other songs. I was on a 80's kick the other day and Youtube kept on recommending great 80's songs followed by another great 80's song.

Pandora plays one song based on it's Music Genome Project and either a song or artist that was entered in the website. I can only skip so many songs before I have to listen to whatever they play, even if that's a song I don't want to hear. Of course with Pandora, I pay a lot less attention to the music playing. The music becomes background noise. Youtube hop scotch requires one to pay more attention to the music playing. But I'm rewarded with being able to listen several great songs and many times can watch the original video. Youtube let's me have unlimited skipping of songs. Of course since they offer at least 10 video options, I'm never forced to skip a song. Youtube lists several songs I can choose from and I can listen to any song they recommend. Obviously I'm referring to Youtube's recommendation engine as, it seems to be more accurate than Pandoras.

Today I played Youtube Hop Scotch for awhile to see what songs it would recommend. Since Youtube recommended a 80's song first I went with that theme for this experiment. I'm an unabashed lover of almost anything 80's, but I especially love nearly everything about 80's music. I went to Youtube and without me typing in anything, they recommended Thompson Twins "Hold Me Now". It was followed by Tears For Fears "Everybody Wants To Rule The World". That lead next to a song I haven't thought about for a long time, The Cutting Crew's "I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight". Next up was the great ballad "The Next Time I Fall" from Amy Grant and Peter Cetera.

Then: Starship's "Nothing Gonna Stop Us Now"
Next up one of my all time favorite songs "The Glory of Love".
John Parr's "St. Elmo's Fire" (Man In Motion) I love the line "You broke the boy in me, but you won't break the man".
Toto's "Africa" Great song, but a really, really bad video.
Kim Carnes "Bette Davis Eyes" (A song Taylor Swift covered at least once on her recent tour.)
Double's "The Captain of Her Heart". Wow, I had completely forgotten about this song:



Al Stewart's "The Year of the Cat":



Simply Red's "Holding Back The Years":



The Commodore's "Sail On":



Looking Glass's "Brandi You're A Fine Girl":



Christopher Cross's "Ride Like The Wind":



The Dodgers continue on their season starting hot streak. LA is led by the National League MVP in the making, Matt Kemp, it seems without steroids (cough Ryan Braun), he leads the NL in home runs (5), RBIs (15) and Batting Average (.457). Now have I started gearing myself up to celebrate a Dodgers World Series title? Um, no. The Dodgers are 8-1, however those victories have come against teams that currently are 4-13. LA's Poff is 67.6%. Starting on Tuesday I expect the Dodgers to crash back to reality as they go on a 9 game road trip. They play 3 games in Milwaukee, 3 in Houston and close out the road trip with 3 games in Atlanta. Currently none of those 3 teams have a winning record.

Curt Schilling said that he liked Bobby Valentine personally, but didn't know if Valentine was the right manager for the Red Sox. After listening to an interview with Valentine the other night, I agree with Schilling. Valentine comes off as extremely defensive and thin skinned. My therapist said one shouldn't be defensive. Defensive causes one to try and justify their mistakes and maybe even lying to justify their behavior. Usually that only makes the issue worse. She also said one should own up to their mistakes and fix whatever happened. Also doesn't being defensive come off as weakness? I wouldn't be surprised to see Valentine quit through the season or only survive one season. He's not off to a good start.

Although it was nice to see the Red Sox score 25 runs in their last two games. Boston is still 3-5 and last place in the AL East. Their Poff (chances of making the playoffs) is 44.2%. That's in MLB's toughest division.

themusicaddict

I Just Don't Get It: Why all the love for the Goyte Song?

Hello,

Just exactly what's the appeal of this song? Please someone explain it to me. This video has had 156 million views on youtube.com. The music is boring, the lyrics are more mumbled than sung and this video is pointless. The second half of the song is more interesting than the first half, but how are you able to stay awake through the first half?



And why is this dynamic song sung by two incredible voices not a worldwide hit? The amazing Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli's "Time To Say Goodbye":



Is there any chance that this movie will be good?



How about this one?



I could barely get through the previews for "The Three Stooges". I think I'm going to take my two oldest boys to see this movie tonight:



Did I hear this song in the background in the above preview? Either I heard "New World Order" or a song that sounds a lot like it. This song, which is much better than "Somebody I Used To Know", only has 70,000 views.



themusicaddict

"Smash", Sports update

Hello,

A couple of days ago I wrote about some TV shows that I'm watching. One of those shows is "Smash", starring the gorgeous Katharine McPhee. I'd written that I wasn't watching "Smash" temporarily because an episode wasn't available on Comcast On Demand yet. However I realized yesterday morning I might be able to watch the episode on the NBC website. Sure enough I was and I watched that episode yesterday morning online. Last night I watched the two most recent episodes On Demand. I don't think I've seen any of these episodes at the actual broadcast time.

Other than sports I rarely watch television shows "live" any more. I love the flexibility that the internet and On Demand gives me in watching my shows. The other great thing about those viewing options is there are less commercials. I'm able watch these shows when it's convenient for me. About the only show I watch close to it's original broadcast time is "Mad Men".

Thoughts on the 3 episodes of "Smash" I watched yesterday. They are episodes 8 to 10. The titles of the shows in order: "The Coup", "Hell On Earth" and "The Understudy".

1) First of all "Smash" is at it's best when it focuses on the making and producing of the Marilyn Monroe play "Bombshell". In comic book speak, it's origin story. Please let's see more of this.
2) "Smash" suffers when it focuses on the personal stories of the characters. For one example lets take the personal life of Julia Houston.
A) She previously had an affair with Michael. Then Michael was hired to work on her new show. I hated that they rekindled their affair. Again I really hate story lines based on a really bad or dumb decision by a character. Julia made several bad decisions Then why the hell would she write a song about her affair? Did she want to be caught.
B) Frank and Julia's son Leo. This might be one of the least interesting characters currently on TV. According to wikipedia.org, Leo goes missing in a future episode. Let's hope he'll be Mahatma Katie and go to Alaska to count salmon.
C) The whole story line involving Frank and Julia adopting a baby. Thankfully that story line seems to have been dropped. Julia already has enough boring family members, she doesn't need anymore.
D) Then finally the whole boring storyline about Julia and Frank's separation. Yawn.
3) But I'm also getting bored of Dev and the political shenanigans of New York. Although is Dev about to leave the show. The reporter RJ is throwing herself at him. We almost had a Dev ultimatum making Karen choose him or Broadway. Maybe we'll be rid of him and political story lines. Although it was funny that Tom was thinking of breaking off a relationship because he was dating a Republican. There's a reason why I don't follow politics in actual life much. That's because politics are boring.
4) Speaking of Mahatma Katie, we need much more of her in this show. She brings a non-theatre sensibility to the very insular New York theatre scene. She feels like a real person, not a caricature of a real person. Some characters, Ellis for instance, feel like a caricature. Katie is a breath of fresh air for a show that can spend too much time in the cloistered lives of the characters in "Smash".
5) Ellis, the weasel, has got to go away. By far the most annoying character on TV of the shows I watch.   I love that the show gives him a girlfriend. The actor that plays Ellis is gay, there's no doubt about that. So why the charade? I also didn't like how he traded sex to secure a better chance to get Rebecca Duvall on the show. (Ellis reminds me too much of Tyler in "Revenge". Can someone please shoot Ellis too?) Ellis is even more annoying than Pete Campbell, Mitch Larsen or Lori Grimes.
6) Have you seen the preview of next week's episode where we Uma Thurman "sing"? Girl can't sing. That combined with Derek seeing McPhee as if she were in character as Marilyn on Broadway seems to be foreshadowing that in a few episodes McPhee will officially take over as Monroe. Let's hope that's permanent.
7) Some of us are single men, it's not good for us to see the lovely Miss McPhee in a skintight CGI outfit or writhing around on a bed. Especially when she's singing this song:



Sports: The Red Wings lost a disappointing game to the Nashville Predators last night. With Nashville's 3-2 victory that gives them an early 1-0 lead in the best-of-7 series. To me it seems crucial that Detroit win Game 2. The Red Wings don't want to go back to Detroit down 0-2 and have to win 4 of 5 games to move to the next round of the playoffs.

Good news Dallas flag football fans. From Tim MacMahon's latest article about Tony Romo. "Tony Romo, recognizing that quarterbacks are "defined" by Super Bowl titles, said he won't be satisfied with his career until he wins one". Later in that same article and this is the Tony Romo I think of: "Yet, at this point, Romo's career is recognized as much, if not more, for his failures as his accomplishments. He has only one playoff victory, and Romo's most memorable moments have been disappointing season finales: the playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks sealed by his botched hold on a field goal, losing to the Giants as a No. 1 seed in the 2007 playoffs, a 44-6 loss to thePhiladelphia Eagles in 2008 with a playoff berth on the line and the loss to the Giants in last season's finale."

Why is this good news for Dallas flag football teams? That's because Romo won't ever win a Super Bowl, he just doesn't have the ability to take the Cowboys that far. In fact in 3 of the last 4 years the Cowboys haven't even qualified for the playoffs. Jerry Jones is still the GM and Romo is still the alleged quarterback. Has something else changed enough to compensate for those two? I doubt it. So once Romo's days in the NFL end, the sooner the better, he'll still be looking to win that elusive title. This might be a good time to begin the recruiting process Dallas area flag football teams.

I think this Giants fan said it best: Giants21Joe10: "As a Giants fan, I like Romo. He's bad enough that the Cowboys will never win a Super Bowl with him, but good enough that they'll never get a top pick or decide it's time to move on to another QB."

That's something that Jerry Jones just can't, or won't see.

In the MLB, the Dodgers are rolling along. They are 5-1 with great contributions from Matt Kemp, Clayton Kershaw and Andre Ethier. I always feel good about the Dodgers chances of winning a game when Kershaw takes the mound. However out of my five MLB teams they are the only team that has a winning record.

When do you give up on a baseball team? My other four teams have losing records. I know it's too early to give up on the Red Sox at this point, although I think we can put a fork in the Cubs. That's in spite of both teams having the same 1-5 record. Did anyone really expect the Cubs to contend this year. As for the Red Sox they just have too much talent, did anyone not expect them to contend this year. Although the AL East will be fun to watch all season. The top 4 teams seem decent plus they will all get wins by constantly beating up on the Orioles.

I expect Atlanta to get in a better place as well and I would love to see the Pirates finish above .500 this season. Of course it's only a few games into the season, having a realistic point of how teams are going to do this season is very premature. I love how ESPN includes a team's chance of making the playoffs on the MLB standings even though it's so early in the season.

Am I the only one that thinks this movie looks stupid:



Great songs:

This is a very pretty song. Sammi Smith's "Help Me Make It Through The Night":



Another very pretty song: Kenny Rogers "She Believes In Me". I've featured this video before and am featuring it again because it shows the amazing lyrics. This has got to be a Top 100 song.



Ok here are a couple more upbeat songs. This is INXS's "Need You Tonight":



Taco's "Puttin On The Ritz":

 

Whitesnake's "Fool For Your Loving":



If you are going to rip off Led Zeppelin, you might as well kick some ass while doing so. Whitesnake's "In The Still Of The Night":



themusicaddict