Trevor’s Top Movies 41-50
50. Toy Story 2 (1999, John Lasseter) – What a fun movie, in some ways even funnier than the first one. I am still pretty impressed that every single movie that Pixar has released with Disney I’ve enjoyed.
49. Jaws (1975, Steven Spielberg) – Where to begin with this movie. It was the first true summer movie and the first to make $200 million dollars, it has the scene that has been imitated by many a flick, the soundtrack is incredible, and you almost never see the star of the movie. Just brilliant.
48. The Goonies (1985, Richard Donner) – Hey you guys! What great family fun.
47. Bull Durham (1988, Ron Shelton) – My favorite baseball movie and for the record, candlesticks do not make a nice gift.
46. Big (1988, Penny Marshall) – The role that first showed Tom Hanks was actually an actor. So much of this movie is just great, what a good time. And honestly, who hasn’t wanted to do that in a limo or eat mini-corn that way?
45. The Sixth Sense (1999, M. Night Shamalyan) – I said before with Unbreakable that I figured this one out and I did but not much before it was revealed. Even with that this movie is incredible.
44. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982, Steven Spielberg) – My favorite part of this movie is the fact it is shot almost entirely from the perspective of someone four feet high. I’ve lost some of love of this movie over the years but I guess I’m not four feet high anymore.
43. Galaxy Quest (1999, Dean Parisot) – One of the absolute funniest movies I’ve ever seen. It isn’t universally funny like Big, you must like science fiction to get this movie but boy is this funny. “Whoever wrote this episode should just die!”
42. Reservoir Dogs (1992, Quentin Tarantino) – Two words for the idiot groups that want to blast Tarantino for being too violent, SUCK IT. I watch Rambo (who the President of the United States used in a speech as an example of an American tough guy, a hero if you will) and see someone who kills people and it is made out to be cool. I watch Reservoir Dogs and I want nothing to do with guns, Tim Roth’s character is in such pain for almost the entire movie.
41. The Shawshank Redemption (1994, Frank Darabont) – This movie you have to watch a few times to get how good it really is. Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins are very good, the script is awesome. Just a great movie.
Tuesday, October 3, 2006
Monday, October 2, 2006
Top Movie List 51-60
Trevor’s Top Movies 51-60
60. X-Men (2000, Bryan Singer) – This movie along with Blade showed Hollywood that you could make bigger budget, quality comic book movies and have the audience show up. Director Bryan Singer and scriptwriter Tony DeSanto along with an all star cast provided a great intro movie for X-Men and comic movies in general. I don’t enjoy it nearly as much as some other comic movies but it is still pretty good.
59. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkahan (2004, Alfonso Cuaron) – To say I’m not a huge Harry Potter fan would be an understatement. I do enjoy the movies and the novels but not to the levels I enjoy comics or movie franchises like Lord of the Rings or Star Wars. They are still very enjoyable and this is far and away the best one of the group, at least so far.
58. The Terminator (1984, James Cameron) – Very much an indy film, this is a great science fiction film that I still enjoy very much today.
57. The Sting (1973, George Roy Hill) – This should probably be much higher but for whatever reason it isn’t. You gotta rank movies, everything can’t be in the top 10. Still this movie is out of the world good.
56. Spaceballs (1987, Mel Brooks) – “I once saw a parody of Spaceballs, they called it Star Wars. I couldn’t believe it, they cast Harrison Ford in the Bill Pullman role”, thanks Space Ghost.
55. Pulp Fiction (1994, Quentin Tarantino) – Still don’t know what was in the case but I do know it was the best film release in 1994 and still Quentin’s best work.
54. Glory (1989, Edward Zwick) – Not that most guys would ever admit that they cry during a movie, this one still gets me chocked up at the end and I’ve seen it about 10 times.
53. Bowfinger (1999, Frank Oz) – What a great, underrated comedy. If you haven’t seen it do yourself a favor and watch it.
52. Top Gun (1986, Tony Scott) – Like everyone else the ages from 10 to 20 when this movie came out all I wanted to be was a fighter pilot.
51. Full Metal Jacket (1987, Stanley Kubrick) – It is like two movies in one. One of my stoner roommates would watch this over and over again.
60. X-Men (2000, Bryan Singer) – This movie along with Blade showed Hollywood that you could make bigger budget, quality comic book movies and have the audience show up. Director Bryan Singer and scriptwriter Tony DeSanto along with an all star cast provided a great intro movie for X-Men and comic movies in general. I don’t enjoy it nearly as much as some other comic movies but it is still pretty good.
59. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkahan (2004, Alfonso Cuaron) – To say I’m not a huge Harry Potter fan would be an understatement. I do enjoy the movies and the novels but not to the levels I enjoy comics or movie franchises like Lord of the Rings or Star Wars. They are still very enjoyable and this is far and away the best one of the group, at least so far.
58. The Terminator (1984, James Cameron) – Very much an indy film, this is a great science fiction film that I still enjoy very much today.
57. The Sting (1973, George Roy Hill) – This should probably be much higher but for whatever reason it isn’t. You gotta rank movies, everything can’t be in the top 10. Still this movie is out of the world good.
56. Spaceballs (1987, Mel Brooks) – “I once saw a parody of Spaceballs, they called it Star Wars. I couldn’t believe it, they cast Harrison Ford in the Bill Pullman role”, thanks Space Ghost.
55. Pulp Fiction (1994, Quentin Tarantino) – Still don’t know what was in the case but I do know it was the best film release in 1994 and still Quentin’s best work.
54. Glory (1989, Edward Zwick) – Not that most guys would ever admit that they cry during a movie, this one still gets me chocked up at the end and I’ve seen it about 10 times.
53. Bowfinger (1999, Frank Oz) – What a great, underrated comedy. If you haven’t seen it do yourself a favor and watch it.
52. Top Gun (1986, Tony Scott) – Like everyone else the ages from 10 to 20 when this movie came out all I wanted to be was a fighter pilot.
51. Full Metal Jacket (1987, Stanley Kubrick) – It is like two movies in one. One of my stoner roommates would watch this over and over again.
Friday, September 29, 2006
Top Movie List 61-70
Trevor’s Top Movies 61-70
70. Batman (1989, Tim Burton) - I so wanted to stand in line for the midnight show but I wasn’t allowed. I ended up seeing this one two weeks after it was released, my parents didn’t want to wait in the long lines. It was great although upon reflection I don’t really love Tim Burton’s view on my favorite comic book universe now as much as I did in 1989.
69. Star Trek VI: the Undiscovered Country (1991, Nicholas Meyer) – This spot on the list probably should be reserved for Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure but that didn’t even make my list. Anyways, this is far and away my favorite Star Trek movie.
68. Apollo 13 (1995, Ron Howard) – Being from Florida the US Space Program is pretty important to me as I’ve referenced in previous blog entries. The cast is incredible and Ron Howard did a great job with this. Much like Cameron with Titanic it amazes me when a director can create drama for the audience when they already know the outcome.
67. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991, James Cameron) – He said he was going to be back and this one is a good bit of fun.
66. The Princess Bride (1987, Rob Reiner) – My college roommate forced me to watch this movie and like just about everyone else I really enjoyed it. Not sure why I didn’t watch it before then, I do know Pretty Bird will be upset it is this low on the list.
65. Grosse Pointe Blank (1997, George Armitage) – What a fun, quirky movie and a great soundtrack.
64. True Lies (1994, James Cameron) – Like I said I love James Cameron’s movies and Tom Arnold in this is a riot. Still waiting for a decent version on DVD because I love re-watching this movie.
63. A League of Their Own (1992, Penny Marshall) – I went to see this with my grandparents, both of who were huge baseball fans. All three of us really enjoyed it.
62. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962, Robert Mulligan) – I’m not going to use my feeble skills to describe this incredible movie. You’ve seen it and read the novel, you know how good both are.
61. Major League (1989, David Ward) – This used to be my favorite baseball movie until I watched Bull Durham a few more times. I will still watch this about every chance I get when it is on.
70. Batman (1989, Tim Burton) - I so wanted to stand in line for the midnight show but I wasn’t allowed. I ended up seeing this one two weeks after it was released, my parents didn’t want to wait in the long lines. It was great although upon reflection I don’t really love Tim Burton’s view on my favorite comic book universe now as much as I did in 1989.
69. Star Trek VI: the Undiscovered Country (1991, Nicholas Meyer) – This spot on the list probably should be reserved for Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure but that didn’t even make my list. Anyways, this is far and away my favorite Star Trek movie.
68. Apollo 13 (1995, Ron Howard) – Being from Florida the US Space Program is pretty important to me as I’ve referenced in previous blog entries. The cast is incredible and Ron Howard did a great job with this. Much like Cameron with Titanic it amazes me when a director can create drama for the audience when they already know the outcome.
67. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991, James Cameron) – He said he was going to be back and this one is a good bit of fun.
66. The Princess Bride (1987, Rob Reiner) – My college roommate forced me to watch this movie and like just about everyone else I really enjoyed it. Not sure why I didn’t watch it before then, I do know Pretty Bird will be upset it is this low on the list.
65. Grosse Pointe Blank (1997, George Armitage) – What a fun, quirky movie and a great soundtrack.
64. True Lies (1994, James Cameron) – Like I said I love James Cameron’s movies and Tom Arnold in this is a riot. Still waiting for a decent version on DVD because I love re-watching this movie.
63. A League of Their Own (1992, Penny Marshall) – I went to see this with my grandparents, both of who were huge baseball fans. All three of us really enjoyed it.
62. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962, Robert Mulligan) – I’m not going to use my feeble skills to describe this incredible movie. You’ve seen it and read the novel, you know how good both are.
61. Major League (1989, David Ward) – This used to be my favorite baseball movie until I watched Bull Durham a few more times. I will still watch this about every chance I get when it is on.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Top Movie List 71-80
Trevor’s Top 100 Movies 71-80
80. The Untouchables (1987, Brian De Palma) – “Mr. Ness, I do not approve of your methods” “Well you’re not from Chicago!” I say I’m not a Costner fan but man a bunch of his movies are on my list.
79. Superman Returns (2006, Bryan Singer) – Would probably make the list based on the teaser trailer alone.
78. Eternal Sunshine on the Spotless Mind (2004, Michel Gondry) – What a really interesting movie. Pretty Bird and I both think Jim Carrey deserves a lot more credit in dramatic roles.
77. Minority Report (2002, Steven Spielberg) – I still can’t believe I was surprised how good this movie was, it was a science fiction movie by Spielberg. Trust me, after seeing the whole list you’ll know how much I love both of those.
76. Red Dawn (1984, John Milius) – Man how dated this movie is but boy did me and my friends love it when I was a kid. Still something I will watch when I see it on one of Turner’s many stations. Plus the answer the trivia question what was the first PG-13 movie.
75. Usual Suspects (1995, Bryan Singer) – I didn’t figure this one out either, what a really good movie. I’m surprised also how much Bryan Singer is on this list as well.
74. Empire Records (1995, Allen Moyle) – Having worked retail, at a movie theater, and a fast food place, all full of slackers, this movie is as much a work place movie as Clerks or Office Space.
73. Die Hard (1988, John McTiernan) – This is our annual Christmas movie. Of all the 80’s action movies this one is the best.
72. GoldenEye (1995, Martin Campbell) – I do love Connery the best but Bond is all about tongue and cheek and they don’t get better than this one. This one they actually make fun of previous Bond movies, greatness.
71. 12 Angry Men (1957, Sidney Limut) – Simply one of the best movies I’ve ever seen.
80. The Untouchables (1987, Brian De Palma) – “Mr. Ness, I do not approve of your methods” “Well you’re not from Chicago!” I say I’m not a Costner fan but man a bunch of his movies are on my list.
79. Superman Returns (2006, Bryan Singer) – Would probably make the list based on the teaser trailer alone.
78. Eternal Sunshine on the Spotless Mind (2004, Michel Gondry) – What a really interesting movie. Pretty Bird and I both think Jim Carrey deserves a lot more credit in dramatic roles.
77. Minority Report (2002, Steven Spielberg) – I still can’t believe I was surprised how good this movie was, it was a science fiction movie by Spielberg. Trust me, after seeing the whole list you’ll know how much I love both of those.
76. Red Dawn (1984, John Milius) – Man how dated this movie is but boy did me and my friends love it when I was a kid. Still something I will watch when I see it on one of Turner’s many stations. Plus the answer the trivia question what was the first PG-13 movie.
75. Usual Suspects (1995, Bryan Singer) – I didn’t figure this one out either, what a really good movie. I’m surprised also how much Bryan Singer is on this list as well.
74. Empire Records (1995, Allen Moyle) – Having worked retail, at a movie theater, and a fast food place, all full of slackers, this movie is as much a work place movie as Clerks or Office Space.
73. Die Hard (1988, John McTiernan) – This is our annual Christmas movie. Of all the 80’s action movies this one is the best.
72. GoldenEye (1995, Martin Campbell) – I do love Connery the best but Bond is all about tongue and cheek and they don’t get better than this one. This one they actually make fun of previous Bond movies, greatness.
71. 12 Angry Men (1957, Sidney Limut) – Simply one of the best movies I’ve ever seen.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Top Movie List 81-90
Trevor’s Top Movies 81-90
90. The Muppet Movie (1979, James Frawley) – One of my favorite movies as a kid, still one of my favorites now. I mean really, who doesn’t love Jim Henson’s Muppets?
89. Beauty and the Beast (1991, Gary Trousdale) – My favorite of the hand-drawn Disney cartoons and the only one to be nominated for Best Picture. It is also Pretty Bird and the little one’s favorite as well. I’ll watch this about once a month or so with the little one.
88. Star Trek: First Contact (1996, Jonathan Frakes) – The Next Generation is my favorite Trek and this is far and away their best movie.
87. True Romance (1993, Tony Scott) – This was actually the first Tarantino movie I watched and is probably my favorite. It is the one I probably will re-watch the most, I just think Quentin has some much better work out there that placed higher on the list.
86. V for Vendetta (2006, James McTeigue) – I love the update on Alan Moore’s work and I think Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving were great.
85. Dead Poets Society (1989, Peter Weir) – Capre Diem. I took two years of latin in high school, my teacher would have us watch this at the beginning of every semester. He also had a coffee mug that said Capre Diem when it was empty (cold) and Seize the Day when it was filled (hot).
84. Field of Dreams (1989, Phil Alden Robinson) – It reminds me so much of how important baseball was to my grandfather. Not to mention I love baseball movies.
83. Office Space (1999, Mike Judge) – Probably should be higher there is just something about it that makes me feel it should be pretty low. Very quotable and definitely has aspects about office life that are correct.
82. Thunderball (1965, Terence Young) – I love James Bond, I think Sean Connery is the best Bond and it has a boat the splits in two and becomes faster!
81. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003, Gore Verbinski) – A great summer movie ride. I remember seeing the teaser poster and having Pretty Bird complain about a movie based on a ride at Disney. Now it is one of her favorite movies.
90. The Muppet Movie (1979, James Frawley) – One of my favorite movies as a kid, still one of my favorites now. I mean really, who doesn’t love Jim Henson’s Muppets?
89. Beauty and the Beast (1991, Gary Trousdale) – My favorite of the hand-drawn Disney cartoons and the only one to be nominated for Best Picture. It is also Pretty Bird and the little one’s favorite as well. I’ll watch this about once a month or so with the little one.
88. Star Trek: First Contact (1996, Jonathan Frakes) – The Next Generation is my favorite Trek and this is far and away their best movie.
87. True Romance (1993, Tony Scott) – This was actually the first Tarantino movie I watched and is probably my favorite. It is the one I probably will re-watch the most, I just think Quentin has some much better work out there that placed higher on the list.
86. V for Vendetta (2006, James McTeigue) – I love the update on Alan Moore’s work and I think Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving were great.
85. Dead Poets Society (1989, Peter Weir) – Capre Diem. I took two years of latin in high school, my teacher would have us watch this at the beginning of every semester. He also had a coffee mug that said Capre Diem when it was empty (cold) and Seize the Day when it was filled (hot).
84. Field of Dreams (1989, Phil Alden Robinson) – It reminds me so much of how important baseball was to my grandfather. Not to mention I love baseball movies.
83. Office Space (1999, Mike Judge) – Probably should be higher there is just something about it that makes me feel it should be pretty low. Very quotable and definitely has aspects about office life that are correct.
82. Thunderball (1965, Terence Young) – I love James Bond, I think Sean Connery is the best Bond and it has a boat the splits in two and becomes faster!
81. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003, Gore Verbinski) – A great summer movie ride. I remember seeing the teaser poster and having Pretty Bird complain about a movie based on a ride at Disney. Now it is one of her favorite movies.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
I'm finally joining the group
I finally decided to take the time and finish my Top 100 movie list. I was out of the office on due to some health issues two weeks ago and really bored so I started it then. It was much more difficult than I expect it to be or maybe not difficult but more time consuming. I started with a list of about 250 movies and to get down to 100 movies proved to be a bit time consuming.
This list isn’t solely based on how much I like a movie. I rated each movie on four criteria and then came up with an average score to help place the movies and eliminate the extra 150 movies. How much I liked the movie, obviously I like every movie on the list but I like Star Wars more than 12 Angry Men. How good I thought the movie was, Godfather is obviously a higher quality movie than Red Dawn. How important a movie was to me, this meant importance in a variety of ways, Die Hard and Love Actually are movies that Pretty Bird and I watch very often together so they are important that way. Fellowship of the Ring and Star Wars are indirectly or even directly responsible for the line of work I’m in. The last quality was how many times I could watch a movie. I love Schindler’s List, think it is very important, and one of the best movies ever made but it isn’t exactly something I would watch over and over again, at least not the level of Spielberg’s other 1993 masterpiece Jurassic Park.
I’m going to do this in ten parts with and then post the entire list to be referenced later on. I want to do this so I can write about the movies and waste more time on the blog, I’ve gotta blog more often and the easiest way to do that is to force yourself to blog. So now onto to the list, starting with the bottom 20.
Trevor’s Top 100 Movies - #91 - #100
100. Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith (2005, George Lucas) – This movie obviously rated very low on my quality list. It does finally have the Anakin vs. Obi Wan duel, provided other quality action sequences and is the little one’s favorite Star Wars movie.
99. Titanic (1997, James Cameron) – Sappy love story, huge hype, transparent ending, blah, blah. It was fun to open this movie at the theater I managed when it released, we sold it out for weeks. Pretty Bird would get bored and come up to see it and hang out while I was at work. I think it is one the most well done movies ever. I also heard it made just a little bit of money.
98. Transformers: The Movie (1986, Nelson Shin) – Next to the Star Wars Trilogy this used to be my favorite movie for the longest time. I can still watch it today.
97. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991, Kevin Reynolds) – This movie again just isn’t very good but for some reason I really enjoy it. My friends at the time and I really enjoyed it as well. Pretty Bird and I really enjoy it and love quoting it. “Why a spoon cousin…” “Because it’s dull you twit, It’ll hurt more!”
96. The Rock (1996, Michael Bay) – It really pains me to have a Michael Bay film on my list but this movie is mad fun. This was another movie we had a great time watching while I was working at a movie theater. The movie is even better if you look at it with Sean Connery’s perspective, what if James Bond was caught and imprisoned for 30 years?
95. Unbreakable (2001, M. Night Shyamalan) – Unlike The Sixth Sense which I figured out (only like 10 minutes before it was revealed) for some reason I didn’t figure this one out at all. It is also incredibly well done and I love superhero stories.
94. The Blues Brothers (1980, John Landis) – Man do I love this movie, great soundtrack, very quotable, good cast plus Carrie Fisher and Steven Spielberg as cameos, what more could you want.
93. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993, Bruce Timm) – I love Batman and this is better than all but two of the live action movies plus based off probably my favorite TV show of all time.
92. Abyss (1989, James Cameron) – This is one of the first movies I can remember being surprised on how much I liked it compared to what I was expecting. My parents dragged me to the movie and I didn’t want to see it but I loved what I saw.
91. Spider-Man 2 (2004, Sam Raimi) – Probably better than the first Spider-Man but I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much. It feels more like a forced sequel than something I really enjoy watching. It is still a based on Spider-Man and well done so I still enjoy it.
Stay tuned to see the remaining 90 movies.
This list isn’t solely based on how much I like a movie. I rated each movie on four criteria and then came up with an average score to help place the movies and eliminate the extra 150 movies. How much I liked the movie, obviously I like every movie on the list but I like Star Wars more than 12 Angry Men. How good I thought the movie was, Godfather is obviously a higher quality movie than Red Dawn. How important a movie was to me, this meant importance in a variety of ways, Die Hard and Love Actually are movies that Pretty Bird and I watch very often together so they are important that way. Fellowship of the Ring and Star Wars are indirectly or even directly responsible for the line of work I’m in. The last quality was how many times I could watch a movie. I love Schindler’s List, think it is very important, and one of the best movies ever made but it isn’t exactly something I would watch over and over again, at least not the level of Spielberg’s other 1993 masterpiece Jurassic Park.
I’m going to do this in ten parts with and then post the entire list to be referenced later on. I want to do this so I can write about the movies and waste more time on the blog, I’ve gotta blog more often and the easiest way to do that is to force yourself to blog. So now onto to the list, starting with the bottom 20.
Trevor’s Top 100 Movies - #91 - #100
100. Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith (2005, George Lucas) – This movie obviously rated very low on my quality list. It does finally have the Anakin vs. Obi Wan duel, provided other quality action sequences and is the little one’s favorite Star Wars movie.
99. Titanic (1997, James Cameron) – Sappy love story, huge hype, transparent ending, blah, blah. It was fun to open this movie at the theater I managed when it released, we sold it out for weeks. Pretty Bird would get bored and come up to see it and hang out while I was at work. I think it is one the most well done movies ever. I also heard it made just a little bit of money.
98. Transformers: The Movie (1986, Nelson Shin) – Next to the Star Wars Trilogy this used to be my favorite movie for the longest time. I can still watch it today.
97. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991, Kevin Reynolds) – This movie again just isn’t very good but for some reason I really enjoy it. My friends at the time and I really enjoyed it as well. Pretty Bird and I really enjoy it and love quoting it. “Why a spoon cousin…” “Because it’s dull you twit, It’ll hurt more!”
96. The Rock (1996, Michael Bay) – It really pains me to have a Michael Bay film on my list but this movie is mad fun. This was another movie we had a great time watching while I was working at a movie theater. The movie is even better if you look at it with Sean Connery’s perspective, what if James Bond was caught and imprisoned for 30 years?
95. Unbreakable (2001, M. Night Shyamalan) – Unlike The Sixth Sense which I figured out (only like 10 minutes before it was revealed) for some reason I didn’t figure this one out at all. It is also incredibly well done and I love superhero stories.
94. The Blues Brothers (1980, John Landis) – Man do I love this movie, great soundtrack, very quotable, good cast plus Carrie Fisher and Steven Spielberg as cameos, what more could you want.
93. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993, Bruce Timm) – I love Batman and this is better than all but two of the live action movies plus based off probably my favorite TV show of all time.
92. Abyss (1989, James Cameron) – This is one of the first movies I can remember being surprised on how much I liked it compared to what I was expecting. My parents dragged me to the movie and I didn’t want to see it but I loved what I saw.
91. Spider-Man 2 (2004, Sam Raimi) – Probably better than the first Spider-Man but I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much. It feels more like a forced sequel than something I really enjoy watching. It is still a based on Spider-Man and well done so I still enjoy it.
Stay tuned to see the remaining 90 movies.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Man I hate teams from Ohio
Ben hasn't looked very good so far this year and boy do we have to fix special teams. Maybe the bye week will help them.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Reports of my demise were false
It has been a long two weeks. Two weeks ago I went to a great game with my mom up in Pittsburgh. It was a wonderful trip and good to spend time with mom. She has a few things on her plate and I feel pretty bad I’m not in a position to help her more. The last time she went through some of this we had a baby on the way, no money at all, I worked two jobs, and lived 45 minutes away. Now I’m four hours away which basically means I’m really too far way to help. I will still help where I can. I’ve tried to blog more often but the past two weeks were tough. Other than an ambiguous update on my mother here is what has been going on.
Steelers 28, Dolphins 17 – Like I mentioned above that game was incredible. We stayed at the Pittsburgh Hilton which is right on the apex of the three rivers. Basically it goes Hilton then Roberto Clemente park, then three rivers. We had a Hines Field view room which was great. I’m going to have to make it a habit of going to a game in Pittsburgh at least once a year, it is just a blast. You can just feel the emotion in the crowd and the games are a blast. It was also a great to be at the game where the fans welcomed their Super Bowl Champion team home. They haven’t played a real game since the Super Bowl and even then all of the playoffs were on the road. The championship banner, Jerome coming in on a bus, the pre-game show, everything was insane! They’re now 1-1 in games I’ve been to in Pittsburgh, winning is better than losing.
Diamond/Alliance Summit – This was a quick trip to Baltimore right after my trip to Pittsburgh. It was only a two day show but it was in Baltimore. I really like the inner harbor area of Baltimore, lots of great places to eat and what not. I won’t really talk about the show, work stuff is boring to talk about.
Mitral Valve Prolapse – I normally don’t talk about my health issues, in print or otherwise. I do know some of my friends know I have a heart condition and others don’t. I actually have an offshoot of Marphan’s Syndrome which is what causes almost all of my health issues. Since I don’t talk about them I don’t think I will now, you have google, look it up. Either way I also know that some friends and family know that I went to the hospital last week because of it. I’m only talking about it because I want everyone to know that I’m doing fine. I missed a few days of work, had some pain killers, rested a lot. I have multiple follow up tests because I’m starting to get up there in years and I’m not in great shape so they want to make sure nothing has really changed. I have intermittent condition which apparently is very rare so it takes more tests than normal to check on it.
Star Wars Legos 2 – OMG is this game made fun. I loved the first one and this one is even better so far. Oh wait, I started this wrong. I should ramble on about how much I dislike Star Wars and George Lucas, damn him, he ruined my childhood!!! Joss Whedon and Peter Jackson are gods, Lucas and Speilberg are hacks. Screw that, I love Star Wars, why let any crap like how some hippie in San Francisco wants to change the movies bother me. If it is good Star Wars stuff (there has been a lot recently, Clone Wars, Potato Heads, Legos, the SDCC exclusive figure) I will buy it and enjoy it. If it is crap I will leave it alone. The reason I didn’t buy the Star Wars DVDs recently release has nothing to do with me hating Lucas and his ploy to get more money, it had to do with a new format on the horizon. Blu Ray and/or HD-DVD will be the standard, at least for people who own a TV like I do, and I don’t want to buy archive stuff. New stuff I don’t mind buying on DVD because it is usually pretty cheap and I really enjoy it. I will buy TV shows because they aren’t set up for HD anyways and very cheap archive stuff. I’m not going to buy something at normal price that I plan on buying again on the new format. Very few things do I plan on buying again if I already own it anyways but Star Wars is obviously some of them. Anyways back to Star Wars Legos, it is great! A great waste of time.
Firefly/Serenity – I finally finished watching Firefly. I bought the DVDs over a year ago and tried to watch it a few times. The first few didn’t quite do it for me so it was hard to watch them or at least make time to watch them. I had quite a bit of time being at home for 5 days not allowed to do much, even drive so I watched them. I then was able to catch Serenity on HBO HD on Friday. I enjoyed the series and the movie I don’t quite get the dedication however. Well that isn’t true, I know exactly why the fans are so die-hard, I just don’t think it does it for me. Anything that is viewed as having been wronged by the ‘man’ or anything that ends prematurely is going to always have a more dedicated following that something similar and Firefly has both going for it. Plus the Joss Whedon built in following and bam, the Firefly phenomenon. It did get Serenity made however and like I said I enjoyed both, so keep up the good work ‘browncoats’.
Jaguars 9, Steelers 0 – Not much to say other than shit. They played like crap the first half on the offensive side of the ball, beating themselves. The Jags played awesome on the defense in the second half and bam you have zero points. I hate the Jags, we always bring out the best in them and they bring out the worst in us. Next week in Cincy and a possible two game deficit by Week 3, ick. I hope you guys work hard this week, beat those loud mouths from Ohio.
Well back to your lives.
Steelers 28, Dolphins 17 – Like I mentioned above that game was incredible. We stayed at the Pittsburgh Hilton which is right on the apex of the three rivers. Basically it goes Hilton then Roberto Clemente park, then three rivers. We had a Hines Field view room which was great. I’m going to have to make it a habit of going to a game in Pittsburgh at least once a year, it is just a blast. You can just feel the emotion in the crowd and the games are a blast. It was also a great to be at the game where the fans welcomed their Super Bowl Champion team home. They haven’t played a real game since the Super Bowl and even then all of the playoffs were on the road. The championship banner, Jerome coming in on a bus, the pre-game show, everything was insane! They’re now 1-1 in games I’ve been to in Pittsburgh, winning is better than losing.
Diamond/Alliance Summit – This was a quick trip to Baltimore right after my trip to Pittsburgh. It was only a two day show but it was in Baltimore. I really like the inner harbor area of Baltimore, lots of great places to eat and what not. I won’t really talk about the show, work stuff is boring to talk about.
Mitral Valve Prolapse – I normally don’t talk about my health issues, in print or otherwise. I do know some of my friends know I have a heart condition and others don’t. I actually have an offshoot of Marphan’s Syndrome which is what causes almost all of my health issues. Since I don’t talk about them I don’t think I will now, you have google, look it up. Either way I also know that some friends and family know that I went to the hospital last week because of it. I’m only talking about it because I want everyone to know that I’m doing fine. I missed a few days of work, had some pain killers, rested a lot. I have multiple follow up tests because I’m starting to get up there in years and I’m not in great shape so they want to make sure nothing has really changed. I have intermittent condition which apparently is very rare so it takes more tests than normal to check on it.
Star Wars Legos 2 – OMG is this game made fun. I loved the first one and this one is even better so far. Oh wait, I started this wrong. I should ramble on about how much I dislike Star Wars and George Lucas, damn him, he ruined my childhood!!! Joss Whedon and Peter Jackson are gods, Lucas and Speilberg are hacks. Screw that, I love Star Wars, why let any crap like how some hippie in San Francisco wants to change the movies bother me. If it is good Star Wars stuff (there has been a lot recently, Clone Wars, Potato Heads, Legos, the SDCC exclusive figure) I will buy it and enjoy it. If it is crap I will leave it alone. The reason I didn’t buy the Star Wars DVDs recently release has nothing to do with me hating Lucas and his ploy to get more money, it had to do with a new format on the horizon. Blu Ray and/or HD-DVD will be the standard, at least for people who own a TV like I do, and I don’t want to buy archive stuff. New stuff I don’t mind buying on DVD because it is usually pretty cheap and I really enjoy it. I will buy TV shows because they aren’t set up for HD anyways and very cheap archive stuff. I’m not going to buy something at normal price that I plan on buying again on the new format. Very few things do I plan on buying again if I already own it anyways but Star Wars is obviously some of them. Anyways back to Star Wars Legos, it is great! A great waste of time.
Firefly/Serenity – I finally finished watching Firefly. I bought the DVDs over a year ago and tried to watch it a few times. The first few didn’t quite do it for me so it was hard to watch them or at least make time to watch them. I had quite a bit of time being at home for 5 days not allowed to do much, even drive so I watched them. I then was able to catch Serenity on HBO HD on Friday. I enjoyed the series and the movie I don’t quite get the dedication however. Well that isn’t true, I know exactly why the fans are so die-hard, I just don’t think it does it for me. Anything that is viewed as having been wronged by the ‘man’ or anything that ends prematurely is going to always have a more dedicated following that something similar and Firefly has both going for it. Plus the Joss Whedon built in following and bam, the Firefly phenomenon. It did get Serenity made however and like I said I enjoyed both, so keep up the good work ‘browncoats’.
Jaguars 9, Steelers 0 – Not much to say other than shit. They played like crap the first half on the offensive side of the ball, beating themselves. The Jags played awesome on the defense in the second half and bam you have zero points. I hate the Jags, we always bring out the best in them and they bring out the worst in us. Next week in Cincy and a possible two game deficit by Week 3, ick. I hope you guys work hard this week, beat those loud mouths from Ohio.
Well back to your lives.
Monday, September 11, 2006
Remembering
I don't really want to get sappy or anything like that. I know everyone will remember where they were five years ago today for the rest of their lives. I know people will talk about terror this or red state/blue state this or annoying security checks that. I even know there are people who say that it is either too soon for fiction based on it or even the crazy ones who believe part or all of it was set up or staged. Most of that will be written about by others who are much better writers than I am.
On September 11, 2001 I do remember where I was (for the record ready to go to sleep after an overnight shift at Toys R Us) and I will never forget it. I just want to say that I will always remember the tragedy, the loss suffered by the entire country, and the repercussions that have endured and will endure for years to come. To the many men and women who serve this country and their communities and the one who've given the ultimate price to make it safer or better for me and my loved ones, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.
On September 11, 2001 I do remember where I was (for the record ready to go to sleep after an overnight shift at Toys R Us) and I will never forget it. I just want to say that I will always remember the tragedy, the loss suffered by the entire country, and the repercussions that have endured and will endure for years to come. To the many men and women who serve this country and their communities and the one who've given the ultimate price to make it safer or better for me and my loved ones, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.
Thursday, September 7, 2006
Are you ready for some football!
Today is the day, the opening of the NFL season with the defending Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers (sans hero tackler and savior Ben Roethlisberger) hosting the Fish from Miami and their brand-new quarterback. I’m very excited not just because I’m here in Pittsburgh (with their free wifi) waiting on my mom’s plane so we can go watch the Steelers tonight but just because I love football. It should be a great season watching some great games.
I don’t hold out much hope for the Steelers to have a season that can match any sort of comparison to the previous two. In the last two seasons counting the playoffs the Steelers are 31-7, in games not started by Tom Brady or Tommy Maddox they are 30-2. They’ve played in two AFC Championship games and won one Super Bowl. I’m not really sure how much more you can ask of the Steelers and the Football Gods.
Since I’m still going to have to wait for another hour or so and I’m inspired by Jdub I will do my football picks for the upcoming season. Everyone else has an opinion, everyone who knows me knows I have an opinion, let me share mine.
AFC East
Dolphins
Patriots
Bills
Jets
I’m really not sold on the Dolphins but I’m also not sure the Patriots have enough magic to do it again. They have a tough schedule and are missing a lot of pieces and the Dolphins have some real talent. Either way it is going to be close all year. The other two teams just aren’t very good.
AFC South
Colts
Jaguars
Texans
Titans
I would like to think Peyton and Crew won’t be great again but they will. They are really good and can score points. The “Tampa 2” defense is a regular season monster, not that good in the playoffs, but they should win an easy division. I don’t think the Jaguars are that good at all but I know they will beat the Steelers next week, stupid Jags. I still can’t believe the Texans didn’t pick Bush or at least trade the pick but I think they win more games this year. The Titans just aren’t good yet, sorry Joe.
AFC North
Bengals
Steelers
Old Cleveland
New Cleveland
Man I want to Pittsburgh on top and no Jason it has nothing to do with the Football Gods. I think Ben is going to be out until the bye (three weeks) and that they will probably go 1-2 at best if that is the case. The Bengals can sure score points and force turnovers. Against actual good offenses, more importantly good QBs, the Bengals D will get their ass kicked, they are far too aggressive and get smoked. Still they win 11-12 games and Carson probably wins the MVP, man he is good. Old Cleveland is overrated but again I’m sure the Steelers will be lucky to go 1-1 against them, man I hate Old Cleveland. Plus I still have plenty of nightmares from playing against Steve McNair twice a year but then the Titans weren’t in our division anymore! Well now he is back, damn it, at least he is older and more broken now. New Cleveland and Charlie Frye with a hurt O-Line, in this division, good luck.
AFC West
Broncos
Chargers
Chiefs
Raiders
I think Shanahan is the best coach in football, Jake Plummer isn’t good but they will still win. I mean hell you can put them down for 7 wins at least for just the home games. Then they only have to win 3 or 4 on the road to get in the playoffs. The Chargers are too good for Rivers to matter much plus I think he is actually pretty good. I had earlier thought the Chiefs would win the division but too many injuries and too conservative of a coach. I like Herm don’t get me wrong but the press has it wrong. Going from Dick Vermeil to Herm Edwards isn’t an upgrade, Vermeil was really good. Sorry Triple G but the Raiders and Shell just don’t have it. They could win some games they shouldn’t however if they start using the Randy quotient.
AFC Wild Card Teams
Steelers
Patriots
Remind me again why there isn’t three wild card teams. I hope the Football Gods don’t mind me picking the Steelers to make the playoffs but they are really good and young. Tom Brady will steer the Patriots to enough wins to play in January.
NFC East
Giants
Cowboys
Eagles
Redskins
Eli is going to join his brother as an elite QB this year, probably only behin him, Brady, and Palmer. Tiki should have won the MVP and they have a decent D, should easily win the division again. I think Dallas should be fine with the TO fiasco plus that D is awesome. The Eagles will rebound with an easy schedule and the Redskins are the second most overrated team behind only Old Cleveland.
NFC South
Panthers
Falcons
Buccaneers
Saints
Probably the division that will have the most exciting games. Michael Vick, Steve Smith, Julius Peppers, and Reggie Bush all in the same division, fun, fun. The Panthers are probably the best team in football and should coast to the NFC Championship game. The Falcons could also win the division just depending on Vick, that guy can take over games if he would just figure it out. I think Tampa overreached last year. The Saints are still a year or two away but I will be watching some games, that Bush guy is nuts.
NFC North
Lions
Vikings
Bears
Packers
I think the Lions have enough talent and coaching to make the next step. I think the Vikings are a year away, sorry Jdub but Brad isn’t going to win championships at this point in his career for you. The Bears, I just don’t buy the offense plus now they have to play winning teams. The Packers, well Brett it was a pleasure to watch you for years but this will be a tough year. This should be the gimmick division, three teams, Bears, Vikings, and Packers run a version of the West Coast offense, Lions run the crazy Chargers offense from the 80’s, more recently the Rams and all but the Packers run the “Tampa 2” defense. At least they will know how to play against it.
NFC West
Seahawks
Rams
Cardinals
49ers
The Seahawks should buck the curses, both of them, and win 12-13 games again. The Rams with a ball control offense and improved D should bounce back. Unlike the Lions I’m not willing to go with the Cardinals until I actually see it. The 49ers, well this is what you get for cheating.
NFC Wild Card
Cowboys
Falcons
Not really much to add other than I think those are the two best teams who don't win a division. I still think there should be a third wild card team.
Well I'm ready for some football (and for my mom's flight to get here).
I don’t hold out much hope for the Steelers to have a season that can match any sort of comparison to the previous two. In the last two seasons counting the playoffs the Steelers are 31-7, in games not started by Tom Brady or Tommy Maddox they are 30-2. They’ve played in two AFC Championship games and won one Super Bowl. I’m not really sure how much more you can ask of the Steelers and the Football Gods.
Since I’m still going to have to wait for another hour or so and I’m inspired by Jdub I will do my football picks for the upcoming season. Everyone else has an opinion, everyone who knows me knows I have an opinion, let me share mine.
AFC East
Dolphins
Patriots
Bills
Jets
I’m really not sold on the Dolphins but I’m also not sure the Patriots have enough magic to do it again. They have a tough schedule and are missing a lot of pieces and the Dolphins have some real talent. Either way it is going to be close all year. The other two teams just aren’t very good.
AFC South
Colts
Jaguars
Texans
Titans
I would like to think Peyton and Crew won’t be great again but they will. They are really good and can score points. The “Tampa 2” defense is a regular season monster, not that good in the playoffs, but they should win an easy division. I don’t think the Jaguars are that good at all but I know they will beat the Steelers next week, stupid Jags. I still can’t believe the Texans didn’t pick Bush or at least trade the pick but I think they win more games this year. The Titans just aren’t good yet, sorry Joe.
AFC North
Bengals
Steelers
Old Cleveland
New Cleveland
Man I want to Pittsburgh on top and no Jason it has nothing to do with the Football Gods. I think Ben is going to be out until the bye (three weeks) and that they will probably go 1-2 at best if that is the case. The Bengals can sure score points and force turnovers. Against actual good offenses, more importantly good QBs, the Bengals D will get their ass kicked, they are far too aggressive and get smoked. Still they win 11-12 games and Carson probably wins the MVP, man he is good. Old Cleveland is overrated but again I’m sure the Steelers will be lucky to go 1-1 against them, man I hate Old Cleveland. Plus I still have plenty of nightmares from playing against Steve McNair twice a year but then the Titans weren’t in our division anymore! Well now he is back, damn it, at least he is older and more broken now. New Cleveland and Charlie Frye with a hurt O-Line, in this division, good luck.
AFC West
Broncos
Chargers
Chiefs
Raiders
I think Shanahan is the best coach in football, Jake Plummer isn’t good but they will still win. I mean hell you can put them down for 7 wins at least for just the home games. Then they only have to win 3 or 4 on the road to get in the playoffs. The Chargers are too good for Rivers to matter much plus I think he is actually pretty good. I had earlier thought the Chiefs would win the division but too many injuries and too conservative of a coach. I like Herm don’t get me wrong but the press has it wrong. Going from Dick Vermeil to Herm Edwards isn’t an upgrade, Vermeil was really good. Sorry Triple G but the Raiders and Shell just don’t have it. They could win some games they shouldn’t however if they start using the Randy quotient.
AFC Wild Card Teams
Steelers
Patriots
Remind me again why there isn’t three wild card teams. I hope the Football Gods don’t mind me picking the Steelers to make the playoffs but they are really good and young. Tom Brady will steer the Patriots to enough wins to play in January.
NFC East
Giants
Cowboys
Eagles
Redskins
Eli is going to join his brother as an elite QB this year, probably only behin him, Brady, and Palmer. Tiki should have won the MVP and they have a decent D, should easily win the division again. I think Dallas should be fine with the TO fiasco plus that D is awesome. The Eagles will rebound with an easy schedule and the Redskins are the second most overrated team behind only Old Cleveland.
NFC South
Panthers
Falcons
Buccaneers
Saints
Probably the division that will have the most exciting games. Michael Vick, Steve Smith, Julius Peppers, and Reggie Bush all in the same division, fun, fun. The Panthers are probably the best team in football and should coast to the NFC Championship game. The Falcons could also win the division just depending on Vick, that guy can take over games if he would just figure it out. I think Tampa overreached last year. The Saints are still a year or two away but I will be watching some games, that Bush guy is nuts.
NFC North
Lions
Vikings
Bears
Packers
I think the Lions have enough talent and coaching to make the next step. I think the Vikings are a year away, sorry Jdub but Brad isn’t going to win championships at this point in his career for you. The Bears, I just don’t buy the offense plus now they have to play winning teams. The Packers, well Brett it was a pleasure to watch you for years but this will be a tough year. This should be the gimmick division, three teams, Bears, Vikings, and Packers run a version of the West Coast offense, Lions run the crazy Chargers offense from the 80’s, more recently the Rams and all but the Packers run the “Tampa 2” defense. At least they will know how to play against it.
NFC West
Seahawks
Rams
Cardinals
49ers
The Seahawks should buck the curses, both of them, and win 12-13 games again. The Rams with a ball control offense and improved D should bounce back. Unlike the Lions I’m not willing to go with the Cardinals until I actually see it. The 49ers, well this is what you get for cheating.
NFC Wild Card
Cowboys
Falcons
Not really much to add other than I think those are the two best teams who don't win a division. I still think there should be a third wild card team.
Well I'm ready for some football (and for my mom's flight to get here).
Wednesday, September 6, 2006
Greatest Thing EVER!
Well maybe not ever but at least the greatest thing I've found in the last 20 minutes. Before I continue on my blathering about Steelers Football and how great it is I have some other greatness to share. SciFi.com is running 10 'webisodes' of Battlestar Galactica, two a week, starting this week running up until the beginning of season 3. If you haven't seen the end of the season 2, well shame on you (I know two readers who are waiting for DVD) but either way do not watch these. The first one is online now, the next one due up tomorrow. Check them out here!
Thursday, August 31, 2006
One week to go!
Yup, one week from today I will be in Pittsburgh ready to see the Steelers defend their Super Bowl title. It should be great time. The Steelers haven't looked great in pre-season but that doesn't matter. They return 19 of 22 starters, not bad.
Yesterday was also my last day on the infernal 'summer hours' at work. The only problem is that we aren't going back to 8-5 we're going to 7:30-4:30. Most of the office lives 10+ miles from the office and wants to avoid traffic. I actually think I'm going to prefer this change but I do love my sleep.
I'm also off to Dragon*Con today. Since 1993 this will be my 11th Dragon*Con. It has changed a lot over the years and morphed into basically just a big party. My first passion, comics, have really been removed from Dragon*Con yet it is still a pretty strong show for gaming. With us being based in Charlotte it makes sense for us to come down and run some tournaments.
Monday, August 28, 2006
One Monday closer to MNF!
ESPN and the NFL have been running various different promos/commercials/spots on Sportscenter about the Fantasy Football rules. Some of them are actually informative, some just funny, some shouldn’t have been filmed. The Reggie Bush mobile ESPN commercial and the NFL new guy fantasy player are both hilarious. I’ve played fantasy football for eight seasons in a row now. I usually only have one team but some years like this one I have more than one, this year I have two. I’m a much better fantasy baseball player, although this year I’m having a horrible time. I’ve played fantasy baseball since 1993 and have won multiple leagues including money leagues. This year I’m in three fantasy baseball leagues and will finish in the top 3 in one but get crapped out in the other two. Anyways, I typically make the playoffs with fantasy football but have only won one league.
This year I’m in two leagues, one had an ass late draft and I auto-drafted. If I do well so be it, if not oh well. The other league is the one I set up with friends from work and a few from outside. This one I wanted to take a lot more seriously, it would be nice to do well. Here is the team I ended up with.
Round One – Steven Jackson, RB, St. Louis Rams
Round Two – LaMont Jordan, RB, Oakland Raiders
Round Three – Anquan Boldin, WR, Arizona Cardinals
Round Four – Julius Jones, RB, Dallas Cowboys
Round Five – Jevon Walker, WR, Denver Broncos
Round Six – Todd Heap, TE, Baltimore Ravens
Round Seven – Jake Delhomme, QB, Carolina Panthers
Round Eight – Pittsburgh Defense
Round Nine – Tatum Bell, RB, Denver Broncos
Round Ten – Laveranues Coles, WR, New Jersey Jets
Round Eleven – Isaac Bruce, WR, St. Louis Rams
Round Twelve – Phillip Rivers, QB, San Diego Charges
Round Thirteen – Jon Kitna, QB, Detroit Lions
Round Fourteen – Santonio Holmes, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers
Round Fifteen – Jeff Reed, K, Pittsburgh Steelers
I’m not overly excited with this team. That doesn’t mean shit of course, I was excited over my fantasy baseball team that is going to finish in the bottom third. The stupid java program Yahoo uses kept crashing out on me and caused me two issues. I don’t think it will cost me much but it was annoying to constantly have to re-launch the program. In the round 1-2 turn, I had the 9th pick in a 10 team league I really wanted Willie Parker. I was worried that #10 would draft him but he didn’t. Well the app crashed out and drafted me LaMont Jordan instead of Fast Willie. I don’t think it will cost me too many points, I think Art Shell is going to run Jordan a good bit and I’m still not certain Fast Willie is an every down NFL back yet, still I wanted Willie! The other issue was when I reloaded it around round 11 or 12 I couldn’t get it to sort players properly, it kept not showing players remaining. By this time I had my queue set up to auto-draft so we don’t have a Jordan for Parker issue and I only had Phillip Rivers and Santonio Holmes in my queue and I picked Rivers. I didn’t see Kitna still on the board, I love me some Mike Martz QBs or I would have picked him. It isn’t the end of the world, hopefully Delhomme helps me out.
I do like that I have some Pittsburgh things to root for, defense and Jeff Reed, and who knows Santonio could actually see some playing time and Ben might actually throw some. I do find it odd and neat that I have three ex-FSU WRs, go Seminoles! I think Todd Heap is going to have at least the second best TE year, McNair loves the TE and I couldn’t resist Tatum Bell. I was an idiot and drafted Jones who has the same bye week as one of my starters so I needed a 4th running back and maybe Mike will give him some carries that week.
All of this really means though is that I’m ready for some football! Kickoff is one week from Thursday when I will be in Pittsburgh to see the Steelers take on the Fish.
This year I’m in two leagues, one had an ass late draft and I auto-drafted. If I do well so be it, if not oh well. The other league is the one I set up with friends from work and a few from outside. This one I wanted to take a lot more seriously, it would be nice to do well. Here is the team I ended up with.
Round One – Steven Jackson, RB, St. Louis Rams
Round Two – LaMont Jordan, RB, Oakland Raiders
Round Three – Anquan Boldin, WR, Arizona Cardinals
Round Four – Julius Jones, RB, Dallas Cowboys
Round Five – Jevon Walker, WR, Denver Broncos
Round Six – Todd Heap, TE, Baltimore Ravens
Round Seven – Jake Delhomme, QB, Carolina Panthers
Round Eight – Pittsburgh Defense
Round Nine – Tatum Bell, RB, Denver Broncos
Round Ten – Laveranues Coles, WR, New Jersey Jets
Round Eleven – Isaac Bruce, WR, St. Louis Rams
Round Twelve – Phillip Rivers, QB, San Diego Charges
Round Thirteen – Jon Kitna, QB, Detroit Lions
Round Fourteen – Santonio Holmes, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers
Round Fifteen – Jeff Reed, K, Pittsburgh Steelers
I’m not overly excited with this team. That doesn’t mean shit of course, I was excited over my fantasy baseball team that is going to finish in the bottom third. The stupid java program Yahoo uses kept crashing out on me and caused me two issues. I don’t think it will cost me much but it was annoying to constantly have to re-launch the program. In the round 1-2 turn, I had the 9th pick in a 10 team league I really wanted Willie Parker. I was worried that #10 would draft him but he didn’t. Well the app crashed out and drafted me LaMont Jordan instead of Fast Willie. I don’t think it will cost me too many points, I think Art Shell is going to run Jordan a good bit and I’m still not certain Fast Willie is an every down NFL back yet, still I wanted Willie! The other issue was when I reloaded it around round 11 or 12 I couldn’t get it to sort players properly, it kept not showing players remaining. By this time I had my queue set up to auto-draft so we don’t have a Jordan for Parker issue and I only had Phillip Rivers and Santonio Holmes in my queue and I picked Rivers. I didn’t see Kitna still on the board, I love me some Mike Martz QBs or I would have picked him. It isn’t the end of the world, hopefully Delhomme helps me out.
I do like that I have some Pittsburgh things to root for, defense and Jeff Reed, and who knows Santonio could actually see some playing time and Ben might actually throw some. I do find it odd and neat that I have three ex-FSU WRs, go Seminoles! I think Todd Heap is going to have at least the second best TE year, McNair loves the TE and I couldn’t resist Tatum Bell. I was an idiot and drafted Jones who has the same bye week as one of my starters so I needed a 4th running back and maybe Mike will give him some carries that week.
All of this really means though is that I’m ready for some football! Kickoff is one week from Thursday when I will be in Pittsburgh to see the Steelers take on the Fish.
Congratulations 24
Pretty Bird and I for some reason always watch award shows, well at least the two big ones, the Emmys and Oscars. We watched last night and overall it was a pretty good show. Conan was great as the host and Bob Newhart was as always very funny.
As for the awards themselves, I was really suprised at the number of nominations and as it turns out wins for shows that are no longer on, well that and any nomination for Two and a Half Men. I can understand it for shows like West Wing or Will & Grace that are just done but for shows that got canceled, well it proves yet again viewers, voters, and network execs all have different opinions than each other. As for Two and a Half Men, wtf. Sometimes the top rated comedy show is actually a really good show, All In the Family, M*A*S*H, Seinfeld, etc. or even others it is really good fluff, Friends or Everybody Loves Raymond but in this case the show is just awful. It stars Charlie Sheen, wtf.
With Alan Alda's win the West Wing tied Hill Street Blues as the drama with the most Emmy wins. I really would have liked to have seen West Wing win another award last night to give it the record all alone. I guess I most would have liked to have seen Martin Sheen win the award. I love Kiefer as Jack and 24 in general but to think of all the awards West Wing has won and none of them going to the Martin, oh well.
It was great to see 24 win. I agree a little with Dr. Heimlich that the past season wasn't the best or at least my favorite. I do think however the current, non-stop format really helps the show with more viewers. For people have a 24-rich office environment it isn't hard to keep up the hype even with delays but for most people they need to the ride to continue as quickly as possible. Having the show run 20/21 weeks in a row just helps make the show seem 'better'.
Now hopefully we can get the actual shows started.
As for the awards themselves, I was really suprised at the number of nominations and as it turns out wins for shows that are no longer on, well that and any nomination for Two and a Half Men. I can understand it for shows like West Wing or Will & Grace that are just done but for shows that got canceled, well it proves yet again viewers, voters, and network execs all have different opinions than each other. As for Two and a Half Men, wtf. Sometimes the top rated comedy show is actually a really good show, All In the Family, M*A*S*H, Seinfeld, etc. or even others it is really good fluff, Friends or Everybody Loves Raymond but in this case the show is just awful. It stars Charlie Sheen, wtf.
With Alan Alda's win the West Wing tied Hill Street Blues as the drama with the most Emmy wins. I really would have liked to have seen West Wing win another award last night to give it the record all alone. I guess I most would have liked to have seen Martin Sheen win the award. I love Kiefer as Jack and 24 in general but to think of all the awards West Wing has won and none of them going to the Martin, oh well.
It was great to see 24 win. I agree a little with Dr. Heimlich that the past season wasn't the best or at least my favorite. I do think however the current, non-stop format really helps the show with more viewers. For people have a 24-rich office environment it isn't hard to keep up the hype even with delays but for most people they need to the ride to continue as quickly as possible. Having the show run 20/21 weeks in a row just helps make the show seem 'better'.
Now hopefully we can get the actual shows started.
Monday, August 21, 2006
HDTV!
I'm sure I will eventually stop blogging about my new TV but not right now. Yesterday we had Direct TV come and hook up the HD receiver so now we can take full advantage of Toshiba's nice TV. The ads for HDTV and the displays at the store simply don't do it justice, until you watch it for 20 minutes in a row and/compare it to a regular broadcast you really don't know how good it actually is. We'll do a little Good, Bad, and Ugly to describe my 10 hour stint with HDTV yesterday, in reverse order.
Ugly - The only major problem (other than they actually are pretty expensive) with HDTV is they actually are incredible resolution, both good and bad. Incredible high res shots of John Madden, Jon Miller, Joe Morgan, Al Michaels, let me just say I could live my life without seeing that much detail of old white men. Squeamish or not, you can literally see random hairs, pores, you name it.
Bad - Well the cost. The other bad is the quality of education involved with the people who work at Direct TV. Now I love their service compared to cable and I almost always get a person who can help me. The problem is the first person you talk to on the phone. OMG, I'm suprised they know what a TV is much less how to help me solve my problem. They are obviously working from a script and rarely offer any useful information. The nice thing is they usually offer a higher level of person quickly and then I don't stay on hold very long. If you can get Direct TV over cable I highly recommend it.
One other bad is the guy who set up my receiver. He didn't tune but four of the five satellites which means I'm missing three HD channels. He also set my TV and the receiver up for a non-HD feed, I spend the first 10 minutes watching HDTV thinking my extra money was not being spent very well. If both of those things were done correctly then I wouldn't have spent 15 minutes on the phone fixing it and setting up a follow up appointment to get the 5th satellite. The nice thing is Direct TV offered me six months of the HD programming for free to make up for it.
The HD selection does leave a little to be desired. Right now I get HBO, Universal, HDMovies, ESPN, ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox. Some channels have very limited HD content like TBS or the NFL network. I also should be getting ESPN2, Discovery, and TNT but I'm missing them. My Sunday Ticket will also be HD and I can get pay per view HD as well.
Good - Where to start. Almost everything is good. The picture auto-resizes depending on the feed. HDTV is usually filmed widescreen so no black bars or distorted pictures to eliminate the bars. Like I've mentioned before the image quality is just off the charts good. You can make out individual blades of grass at the PGA Championship yesterday or the astroturf in the RCA Dome. Pretty Bird watched Prisoner of Azkaban today and was flipping over the detail that she'd never noticed before. To make out the texture of the Green Monster at Fenway to the paint chipping on a bench on the Colts sideline, good lord it looks good.
Battlestar Galactica. Universal HD runs the new BSG series everyday it seems and man it looks good. I can stand to look at close ups of Six all day long. To see the stiching in her dress probably meant I was looking to hard at her but it was still worth it.
The channel selection is a majority of my most watched channels. I got all the broadcast shows, football, Sportscenter, and HBO in HD. I just need SciFi and life will be good.
It will be fun to go through football season in HD or watch Jack Bauer beat up some Chinese guys. The quality difference between HD and my DVD player is making me hoping that the BluRay/HDDVD thing gets over soon, and of course for them to drop their price. $500 (or $1000 for BluRay which I think is going to win) is just too much.
I wonder if Reggie Bush will look any faster tonight in HD? Of course I probably won't be able to tell since most of the camera work will probably be TO pouting on the sidelines or me getting upset that they are focusing on TO and changing the channel.
Ugly - The only major problem (other than they actually are pretty expensive) with HDTV is they actually are incredible resolution, both good and bad. Incredible high res shots of John Madden, Jon Miller, Joe Morgan, Al Michaels, let me just say I could live my life without seeing that much detail of old white men. Squeamish or not, you can literally see random hairs, pores, you name it.
Bad - Well the cost. The other bad is the quality of education involved with the people who work at Direct TV. Now I love their service compared to cable and I almost always get a person who can help me. The problem is the first person you talk to on the phone. OMG, I'm suprised they know what a TV is much less how to help me solve my problem. They are obviously working from a script and rarely offer any useful information. The nice thing is they usually offer a higher level of person quickly and then I don't stay on hold very long. If you can get Direct TV over cable I highly recommend it.
One other bad is the guy who set up my receiver. He didn't tune but four of the five satellites which means I'm missing three HD channels. He also set my TV and the receiver up for a non-HD feed, I spend the first 10 minutes watching HDTV thinking my extra money was not being spent very well. If both of those things were done correctly then I wouldn't have spent 15 minutes on the phone fixing it and setting up a follow up appointment to get the 5th satellite. The nice thing is Direct TV offered me six months of the HD programming for free to make up for it.
The HD selection does leave a little to be desired. Right now I get HBO, Universal, HDMovies, ESPN, ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox. Some channels have very limited HD content like TBS or the NFL network. I also should be getting ESPN2, Discovery, and TNT but I'm missing them. My Sunday Ticket will also be HD and I can get pay per view HD as well.
Good - Where to start. Almost everything is good. The picture auto-resizes depending on the feed. HDTV is usually filmed widescreen so no black bars or distorted pictures to eliminate the bars. Like I've mentioned before the image quality is just off the charts good. You can make out individual blades of grass at the PGA Championship yesterday or the astroturf in the RCA Dome. Pretty Bird watched Prisoner of Azkaban today and was flipping over the detail that she'd never noticed before. To make out the texture of the Green Monster at Fenway to the paint chipping on a bench on the Colts sideline, good lord it looks good.
Battlestar Galactica. Universal HD runs the new BSG series everyday it seems and man it looks good. I can stand to look at close ups of Six all day long. To see the stiching in her dress probably meant I was looking to hard at her but it was still worth it.
The channel selection is a majority of my most watched channels. I got all the broadcast shows, football, Sportscenter, and HBO in HD. I just need SciFi and life will be good.
It will be fun to go through football season in HD or watch Jack Bauer beat up some Chinese guys. The quality difference between HD and my DVD player is making me hoping that the BluRay/HDDVD thing gets over soon, and of course for them to drop their price. $500 (or $1000 for BluRay which I think is going to win) is just too much.
I wonder if Reggie Bush will look any faster tonight in HD? Of course I probably won't be able to tell since most of the camera work will probably be TO pouting on the sidelines or me getting upset that they are focusing on TO and changing the channel.
Only two weeks left!
Today marks the two week countdown until I can stop having to be at work at 7:00am. Our company has this idiotic 'summer hour' policy. We work an additional hour Monday through Thursday to work only half days on Friday. Now I do like the half days on Friday, mostly, there are two major issues I have with 'summer hours'. First I wouldn't mind something like 8-6 or even 7:30-5:30, which is what it was last year but 7-5 is just too early. My other issue is that I don't get all of the half days. This year was much better than last year, last year I missed 9 of the 15 half days. This year I only missed 6 of the 15. I would much prefer to work a regular schedule the weeks I'm not going to have a half day, it isn't like I can't tell that they are coming or something.
I guess that brings me to my next rant, this stupid lack of even an unofficial comp time policy. This is my fourth salaried job and the only one without even an unofficial comp time policy. The theatre and Taco Bell both had an official comp time policy for extra days worked, you got them off later. Straight up one for one. You got zero time for extra hours worked in a day and the theatre had zero official holidays so you couldn't make those up. Decipher had an unofficial comp time policy, apparently Warren didn't like comp time but every department I can remember had the same policy. You got half a day later for any weekend you worked and a full day for any holiday you worked.
We have nothing, zip, nada. It wouldn't be that annoying but I will work an additional 21 weekend days, three holidays, and six half days in 2006. My favorite reply while I was complaning about it was "It isn't fair to the other employees if you don't come in on Monday because you worked all weekend. They don't see that you worked all weekend so it would be seen as special treatment." Um...what? That doesn't even make any sense. The other response is that it is made up on your bonus. Well my understanding is the bonus is company decided, by department, and position. Every manager level person I've talked to in my office got the same bonus percentage. I also don't like being lied to.
I'm not asking for an even trade here, not even close. I'm just asking for a little make up here or there. If I ran a company with salaried employees my policy would be pretty simple, you earn half per one extra required day worked. If you have to come in on Saturday because you can't get your workload done during the week that is a different type of conversation. If you have to come in on Saturday because you're required to be there that is different. Salaried jobs aren't 9-5 so I would not give, nor do I expect, any extra make up for when someone stays late or comes in early.
I didn't really want to turn this into a rant, I'm just upset about having to work more days than my counterparts.
I guess that brings me to my next rant, this stupid lack of even an unofficial comp time policy. This is my fourth salaried job and the only one without even an unofficial comp time policy. The theatre and Taco Bell both had an official comp time policy for extra days worked, you got them off later. Straight up one for one. You got zero time for extra hours worked in a day and the theatre had zero official holidays so you couldn't make those up. Decipher had an unofficial comp time policy, apparently Warren didn't like comp time but every department I can remember had the same policy. You got half a day later for any weekend you worked and a full day for any holiday you worked.
We have nothing, zip, nada. It wouldn't be that annoying but I will work an additional 21 weekend days, three holidays, and six half days in 2006. My favorite reply while I was complaning about it was "It isn't fair to the other employees if you don't come in on Monday because you worked all weekend. They don't see that you worked all weekend so it would be seen as special treatment." Um...what? That doesn't even make any sense. The other response is that it is made up on your bonus. Well my understanding is the bonus is company decided, by department, and position. Every manager level person I've talked to in my office got the same bonus percentage. I also don't like being lied to.
I'm not asking for an even trade here, not even close. I'm just asking for a little make up here or there. If I ran a company with salaried employees my policy would be pretty simple, you earn half per one extra required day worked. If you have to come in on Saturday because you can't get your workload done during the week that is a different type of conversation. If you have to come in on Saturday because you're required to be there that is different. Salaried jobs aren't 9-5 so I would not give, nor do I expect, any extra make up for when someone stays late or comes in early.
I didn't really want to turn this into a rant, I'm just upset about having to work more days than my counterparts.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
This just in
Matrix looks great on the tv as well. Why it took me so long to get this thing I will never know, man it is fun.
No time
I thought I would be able to blog much more now that I'm not traveling as much. Well it seems the new TV is taking much more of my, everything looks SO GOOD on it.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
A long time ago...
It seems like it has been forever since I've blogged, which it has, over a month. Well being the convention manager (in addition to being the tournament admin with Worlds coming up, retail relations guy, plus overall marketing guy, not to mention the other stuff I won't mention) has just kicked my ass. Let me just say Gen Con went really well, more players than I thought, I was under budget (four out of four shows under budget), and I get to see some old friends. In addition to my current crop of players I saw about 30+ old Rings players plus ex-D people Will, Kim, Andy, Kyle, Evan, Mark, Dawn, plus honorary D people Scott Martins and Jim Colson. I missed Tom, Joe, and Juz but they were only there for a day. Now Gen Con Indy is over and it is time to settle down some. Maybe I will only have 9-10 hours of work in one 8 hour day.
Now that I'm slowed down some I will hopefully blog a little more often. Although with my new toy I'm not so sure. Meet our new friend.
I know, I know, not the best picture in the world, sue me. It is obviously the opening scene in Star Wars on our brand new 50inch Toshiba DLP HDTV. Star Wars was literally the first thing we put on the TV, I mean seriously, how else do you break in a brand new TV? Right now the only HD signal item we have is the XBOX 360 and it looks great. NCAA 2007 on 720p is insane. The DVD player sends signals at 480p which is a huge step from 480i that regular TV broadcasts. The HD box is set up on Monday so next week I will be watching HDTV baby! It will be a little bit of time before I get an HD or BluRay DVD player however, I will let them fight it out. One last image to show off before I leave.
Now that I'm slowed down some I will hopefully blog a little more often. Although with my new toy I'm not so sure. Meet our new friend.
I know, I know, not the best picture in the world, sue me. It is obviously the opening scene in Star Wars on our brand new 50inch Toshiba DLP HDTV. Star Wars was literally the first thing we put on the TV, I mean seriously, how else do you break in a brand new TV? Right now the only HD signal item we have is the XBOX 360 and it looks great. NCAA 2007 on 720p is insane. The DVD player sends signals at 480p which is a huge step from 480i that regular TV broadcasts. The HD box is set up on Monday so next week I will be watching HDTV baby! It will be a little bit of time before I get an HD or BluRay DVD player however, I will let them fight it out. One last image to show off before I leave.
Saturday, August 5, 2006
Dragon*Con '06 done, up next Steelers Football!
Dragon*Con was fun as usual. Not as productive for the company as I would have liked but it was still okay. We sold a good bit of stuff and had plenty of people stop by, we just didn’t sell as much as I wanted to. It was also my first Dragon*Con since 1994 without Pretty Bird, that was a little odd. It was great to see some old friends, some of which I only get to see once a year at Dragon*Con. There was five (six if you count Jim Colson) ex-Decipher people there, still amazes me. It wasn’t a lack of intelligence or hard work that doomed it.
I leave for Pittsburgh on Thursday, I’m so excited. I’m of course a little less excited since I’m pretty sure the Steelers are going to lose without Ben. I think the Steelers are a very solid, very young team but the Roethlisberger guy is pretty damn good. Either way my mom and I are going to have a good time.
I leave for Pittsburgh on Thursday, I’m so excited. I’m of course a little less excited since I’m pretty sure the Steelers are going to lose without Ben. I think the Steelers are a very solid, very young team but the Roethlisberger guy is pretty damn good. Either way my mom and I are going to have a good time.
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