Time to post something

I love Thanksgiving, 3rd favorite holiday behind Christmas and Easter for this guy. A holiday that has been broken down into just gluttony and football will always have a special place in my heart. First Thanksgiving I did not get my nap in, very disappointing.

Things I'm thankful for:
Family and friends. Can't imagine life without them.
The advancements in technology that allow us to never be far away from those we love.

What I'm not thankful for: Kurt Warner and Cedric Benson both giving up on me this week and having to play Matt Ryan who can't play with a stubbed toe the fucking East coast pussy. That just fucking ruined me this week.

Here something I don't often do, CD review? Five Finger Death Punch came out with a new album and it is phenomenal. The album art is amazing, but the music is VERY GOOD. It's not as hard as their first album, but they are more diverse. They re-do Bad Company and that is my favorite song on the album. Highly recommend purchasing the album if you are a hard rock fan of any kind. I firmly believe they are the best hard rock band these days.

I'm going to watch Zombieland at some point this week and I will let you know what I think about that one. I've heard it's pretty good, but my hatred for movies like that may blind me. So cheesy I could choke is what I'm guessing.

My Jaguars took a complete dump against San Francisco and are now in a VERY murky spot at 6-5 in the AFC and it's not looking purty. There are a lot better 6-5 teams is what I'm getting at.

Duke comes into Madison this Wednesday and I want nothing more than to be able to scream pure hatred at the players and coaches. I will not get the opportunity, but I'm sure others will pick up the slack.

I just recently re-found Amazon.com and bought Open, the Andre Agassi biography, The Book of Basketball by Bill Simmons, and the classic Instant Replay written by Jerry Kramer and Dick Schaap. I'll be reading those with great vigor. I'm reading a biography of Al Pacino written through various interviews done with him through the years by his friend Lawrence Grobel. Al Pacino is simply amazing in the fact that though he lacks formal education past I want to say the 8th grade he reads literature with more gusto than anyone I've read about. He regularly quotes Shakespeare and could without a doubt hold his own vs. any pretentious intellectual ass clown in a debate about it. His view on the craft of acting is amazing and he's an incredibly impressive human being. Was not a bad six dollars spent.

Sons of Anarchy woshipping

Anticlimactic episode before the season finale has me hurting, but there is hope for redemption in the finale. It is without question the most badass show on TV. FX has that, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The League, and Nip/Tuck. I can't imagine FX doing any better for itself on this one. The League is just hilarious and pairing it with IASIP you have a POWERHOUSE Th. that will be ruined by Thanksgiving. That's right, I'm complaining about their greatness being interrupted by the 2nd or 3rd best holiday there is. One of pure excess and gluttony. Family, football and food to the Nth power. Luckily we have a great Sunday night football game to pull us through, but I will sorely miss those shows, the Office, and the Community plaguing my Thursday.
If anyone has the first season of Sons of Anarchy please let me know because I have some serious catching up to do on that.
College basketball has started and that means there will always be a decent game on TV once conference starts. I can't wait for the Big Ten/ ACC challenge because this is the year the Big Ten takes it. Bucky gets to bring Duke in and show why Big Red is rougher than the so-called Crazies. A punch of pansy, rich east-coast kids don't know how to heckle like drunken Wisconsinites. I really believe if I were front row I'd make Jon Scheyer cry. I'd be screaming awful things I don't feel comfortable writing until my vocal chords fill with blood. Lots of interesting story lines, but the one I follow the closest and has the most potential to blow up in my opinion is Calipari jumping ship to Kentucky and taking a slew of recruits over to the Wildcats essentially performing a coup on Memphis. He left that team to bleed, but they have the best recruiting class coming in despite Johnny's slick-ass hair. I can't wait to see this season come to fruition with all the new freshman coming in to replace the old folks who are younger than me...
Watched the Informant over the weekend and Matt Damon is amazing as always. He's hilarious at times in a real limited role (think Fargo, only not as strong of a supporting cast, or as good a story, or accents...) It has some funny moments and I'd say it's worth a screening only because it's based on a very interesting true story. One of my friends from high school even works for the company in question in the film. Hilarious narration from Damon for the voices in his own head, and Scott Bakula.
Bottom Line: 6.3 out of 10. Rent it from NetFlix sometime, or wait for Showtime to pick it up in a couple of months.

Badgers, Packers, and Bucks????

So... Wisconsin sports just had a kick ass weekend the likes of which we've never seen in recent memory. I turned down $50 tickets that would've enabled me to watch Jennings drop 55 on Golden State, but I did watch some of it on TV and that kid can play the game. If Redd comes back he better just realize his role will be to stand on the 3-point line and wait for Bogut or Jennings to dime him, because he is no longer option #1, or even #2 with Bogut running the screen and roll as well as they are.

The Badgers will get overrated and play in a crappy bowl against probably some SEC team that will smack them up, but for now it's pretty decent to have only 2 losses. They done pretty well for themselves and John Clay is a legitimate stud, so there's hope to be GOOD next year. The Big Ten is down this year, but I feel no shame in taking advantage of that into a gaudy 8-2 record.

The Packers stomped the Cowboys in the most awful game I've sat through for an extended period of time. The defense was back in preseason form, probably due to the ENORMOUS game from Charles Woodson. When Kampman comes back they better not stop blitzing like possessed steroid enraged demons.

I'm so happy that nobody has praised the Yankees to no end about buying the World Series. Fuck them and their lavish ways. I hate a team that spends like Trump's recent divorcee's.

I watched Observe and Report this weekend and it was SUPER dark, but had a few funny parts that made it watchable. I would absolutely not recommend the film, but it was surprising and if you are a sick sadist you might find it to be hilarious. It was probably Seth Rogan's worst film and Anna Faris does not have a very large role AT ALL. I can't recommend this thing, but if it's on cable you should turn it on for some weird and sadistic laughs.

Bottom Line: 5.8 out of 10. It's just fucking crazy and I'll leave it at that.

Also watched Punisher Warzone and it was gore, violence, and action to a crazy extreme. Some of the acting it respectable, the villans are all just simply terrible at everything acting related. It starts out insane and ends similarly, but the middle is plot-filled and worthless and boring. It's entertaining enough if you like to see bodies splattered and destroyed in horrific ways.

Bottom Line: 5.5 out of 10 and only watchable if you enjoy horror movie gore disguised as an action movie with plot-like elements.

All Aboard the Brandon Jennings Wagon, I'm Driving

I just watched some of Jennings 32 point 9 assist explosion against a seasoned Nuggets team and was just blown away. How often does a 19-year old rookie demand the ball in the 4th quarter of a big game, though it's clearly early in the regular season, versus Chauncey Billups? Jennings has been given the reigns to the Bucks and has responded by replacing Michael Redd as high scorer, as well as Ramon Sessions & Ridnour. He could be the most talented prospect the Bucks have had since Sean Respert. In all seriousness I don't think anybody knew what to expect from the kid who jumped to Europe to play for cash instead of a year of seasoning in college. The Bucks have lacked an exciting player since....................... WOW, Vin Baker before booze? I wouldn't even put him near the class of Jennings in terms of talent. Scott Skiles is a pretty good choice for a coach to teach a young point guard since Skiles with limited athletic ability held down the position for ten years.
SIDE BAR: The Bucks drafted Skiles in 1986 and he had cocaine, pot, and a DUI in his senior year of college. He also dropped 30 dimes in a game, but WOW, character issues anyone?
I was nothing but blown away by Jennings and it gives hope to our lowly, sad franchise. If Redd comes back healthy it's entirely possible the Bucks could maybe be ranked as high as 5th in the craptacular Eastern Conference. I was actually a little impressed by the Bucks tonight and will be watching a little more of them this year I have a feeling, since I'm a pretty big fair weather fan for the Bucks.

What's with the Suns kicking so much ass? Is Shaq equivalent to carrying 330 pounds of garbage around the court every night?

South Park this season has been just phenomenal at going after really big douche bags. Tonight's episode wasn't too good, but it made fun of Glenn Beck, and in my eyes every yelling idiot who just throw's unfounded jabs at the government, and that NEEDS to happen.

FYI the League is hilarious with a lot of funny characters who you've seen before, but couldn't really name. Impressive ensemble cast with a funny subject that we can all relate to. Good call putting it on after It's Always Sunny in Philly as well. Two GREAT adult humor shows after the sophomoric Office is a pretty excellent Thursday lineup.

The NFL is crazy

week 9 has been really confusing and has clarified some things for us.

The Packers and Bears will not be in the playoffs so jump off the wagon.
The Cardinals are still an offensive juggernaut slowly awakening.
The NFC is respectable this year for sure and after the Eagles/Cowboys game the playoffs will be a little clearer with the winner of that game and the Falcons having the inside playoff track.
The Packers are not good.
The Saints are still undefeated, wouldn't have bet on that one to start the year. (Same goes for the Colts without Bob Sanders, who spends more time on IR the on the roster.)
The Giants keep losing games that they should win, finger-pointing to start next week.
Update your resume: Jack Del Rio, Jim Zorn, Tom Coughlin (What have you done for me lately?), probably Spagnuola (whoever coaches the Rams, like it matters.), Tom Cable, and I'll throw in the favorite target of Wade Phillips and Dick Jauron.
The Bengals are tough, that's a fact.
The Ravens D is not as good as in the past, but with Ngata in the lineup they are much better against the run. I hope they make the playoffs.
The AFC wild card will be a very tough out for whoever plays them in the first round.


The Brewers just traded JJ Hardy for Carlos Gomez and anyone who thinks the Brewers didn't get robbed on this one should really run into a wall face-first. Hardy is going to produce for the Twins and play near Gold Glove defense and hit .270 with 15-20 HR's and 80 runs and RBI's. Making room for Escobar is fine, but JJ is only 2 years removed from being an all-star, we got cents on the dollar for JJ considering he's such a fine shortstop and good shortstops are kind of hard to find. Maybe Gomez will play Centerfield everyday and become a poor-average leadoff hitter at best... awesome.

NBA?

So the NBA started and I have no idea what's going on. I do think the Celtics are going to be absolute beasts of the East this year and will carry that into the NBA Finals for another war with the Lakers, who I fucking hate to reiterate from last years ramblings. Early line: Celts in 6, go Bahstan.

The Yankees can go fuck themselves.

I lost by one point in fantasy football because Peirre Thomas scored 28 points, so fuck him.

The Jaguars are utterly useless and GOODBYE PLAYOFFS. I just watched Vince Young beat them like like they stole something. Here's a thought, give Maurice Jones-Drew the damn ball. He only had two 80-yard TD runs, so maybe throwing the ball 40 times makes sense.

Brandon Jennings in flourishing and Alexander has a one-way ticket to play elsewhere next year, so things are looking up for the Bucks. It's early, but Jennings is the lightning quick playmaker that a worthless, low-scoring NBA team needs to compete in a crappy Eastern conference for the right to limp into the playoffs and get shit-rocked by the Cavs or Celtics.

That pretty much catches things up I'm thinking. Hockey started, but I'm not paying any attention to that until MAYBE the playoffs.

Suck It Yankees

So it's nice to see those overpaid assclowns in NY lose their asses off in the first game of the World Series. It's better to know that over the last 13 Series' the winner of game 1 has won 12 of them. Cliff Lee is some kind of monster and deserves A-Rod money if he throws like this for the rest of the Series. Let's put this in perspective though, the Yankees make $202 million compared to the Phillies and their $114 million. It's just sickening that there is no cap of any kind. The argument is there that teams that pay out the most (See the Mets) aren't guaranteed success. That could be true, but when you pay over $71 million more dollars than the next team in line (Yankees to the Mets), you are going to win games. The Evil Empire snatched up Teixeira, Sabathia, and Burnett in a "down" economy while no other teams could put forth anywhere close to that kind of money. Figure something out that makes for some parity. I can't imagine a more unfair scale to compare it to. The NFL prides itself on parity and its success has far surpassed any other league. The NBA has the luxury tax to keep things fair, NHL has a strict cap, why can't baseball do something? The discrepancy between small market teams and the NY beasts is just unthinkably large. Jeter, A-Rod, and CC make more per year than the bottom 3 teams for sure and probably more than the bottom 6 teams realistically. The Yankees are a Godless abomination and anyone who cheers them on drives me nuts. It's like cheering for the great white shark vs. the seal. The seal merely can survive, it can't kill the shark. The Yankees will be back year after year doing the same thing until I'm old odds are. How is that OK? It's like USC vs. San Jose St. in college football year after year. Thank God Girardi feels it necessary to micro-manage himself into obscurity rather than let his horses do the work for him. Hopefully there will be epic failure for the Yankees and repeat success for the Phils, but that still won't completely satisfy my hatred for the Yankees.

Yankee hate post part 1

This is a preemptive strike because if/when the Yankees win the World Series or a few games and I have to hear the announcers slurping them, I will unleash unholy hellfire upon them. Fuck the Yankees for the most blatant competitive advantage in all of sports, namely 300 million bucks. Be patient my friends and thou shalt be rewarded.

Law Abiding Citizen

Figuring it was time to see a motion picture film I wondered into Law Abiding Citizen and was impressed overall. Gerard Butler has weird mouth movements to cover his accent, but he does a very good job. Jamie Foxx is solid as always and portrays the tireless working man torn between a job that commands 80 hour weeks at least and a family. Butler is legitimately crazy in the film and it's awesome. There are a lot of cool things that happen and it wastes no time getting into it. Butler has his wife and daughter murdered in front of him while he is stabbed and bound. Butler is the wrong man to fuck with and that becomes evident after one of the robbers rolls over on the other one for a reduced sentence. The one who rolls over on the other is the worst human being in the world essentially, but only gets 5 years because his testimony is needed to convict someone of the death penalty in this heinous crime as the DNA evidence is inadmissible. Butler is clearly not pleased and unleashes well calculated hellish fury on those involved. It is fairly disturbing at times and violent, but it isn't Saw or anything. It seems to come to a conclusion a little too quickly as I would have enjoyed more squirming from Jamie Foxx's corner, but the movie leaves nothing to chance. I will not buy the movie, but I'll probably watch it again when it comes to TV.

Bottom Line: 7.1 out of 10. Recommended for the people who liked The Kingdom and Body of Lies.

Public Enemies and the Broncos, pun intended.

I just viewed Public Enemies and will be one of the few people apparently who really enjoyed the film. It is far from a documentary on Dillinger, but was still a very good film that did have enough accuracy in it to sustain and not completely piss me off.
Depp is incredible and Christian Bale is very good as the relentless agent Perkins. Billy Crudup stopped flashing blue dong long enough to be J. Edgar Hoover and have a minor role, as well as STEPHEN DORFF, how the hell did he plummet so fast after Blade????
I feel the film is WAY too similar to Heat, what Micheal Mann hangs his hat on at the end of the night. Really similar film style, especially during action scenes. It has a love story that gets in the way of the good stuff, especially considering Dillinger was NOT a one woman kind of feller. He had several girlfriends and was not in love with the main interest as much as they portrayed. Also, the entire gang escaped at Little Boheimia in Wisconsin. Baby Face Nelson was shot nine times, but still gunned down the two federal agents and escaped only to die later in bed.
Dillinger's death was completely accurate in the film until his last words in the movie, which never occurred since a bullet went through his neck and out his face and he was shot two more times in the chest including one clipping his heart.
I really recommend seeing the movie and it will get a strong 7.8 out of 10 from me. I really wish it wasn't SO similar to Heat, but it stands enough on its own. Depp and Bale are excellent and Mann's style doesn't do it total injustice, I'd just like it less gritty and more polished for a stylized gangster film. Remember crime always fails because the government has infinitely more resources than you and they will utterly dominate you.
Editor's Note: It is totally like Miami Vice too with a worthless time wasting love story, over 2 1/2 hours of length, way too much grainy, close-up, fast moving crap. Heat, Miami Vice, and Public Enemies have identical plot lines to follow.

On to the Broncos being for real. McDaniel convinces whiny millionaires to not turn the ball over and to play hard. Brandon Marshall had a GREAT game vs. the Patriots and clearly isn't letting his 4-year old inspired tantrum ruin his season. Kyle Orton isn't turning the ball over and good defense + decent running game + not turning the ball over = a good team. It isn't scientific in the slightest way. Good coaches get players to buy into their system and play like I described above. McDaniels clearly has that team playing how he wants and they are pretty damn scary. Dawkins was a sensational pick-up in a secondary that already featured Champ Bailey, who is still probably the best cover corner in the league. How about Vonnie Holiday having himself a day? Ron Wolf wouldn't have drafted a failure. I buy the Broncos as a playoff team, clearly not a Super Bowl team since Neck Beard extraordinaire Kyle Orton is still not enough to carry a team that will need some offense to win during a playoff run.

Postseason baseball = Please God somebody beat the Yankees before I have to write a huge bitching session on how the salary cap needs to be in baseball so the fucking Yankees stop buying victories. They have proved if you keep throwing enough money at the free agent market consistently (See Texeira, Sabathia, Burnett for a cool 300 million) you can buy a championship in baseball. I'm saving this rant for later, it will be expletive laced, so don't let my family see it.

Kiss the Baby.