Breaktime

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More NBA Stupidity, Vol. 4439955

Guess what San Antonio Spurs, you are not the Los Angeles Lakers.

Therefore, you shall be punished.

In what will most likely be the stupidest penalty in the NBA since punishing bench players for helping out Steve Nash during the 2007 Western Conference Finals Foul Heard Round the World, the evil commissioner known as David Stern is going to fine and/or suspend Greg Popovich for sending most of his starters home as opposed to using them to play the Heat in a nationally-televised game. While it had been only the Heat’s 2nd game in around a week, the Spurs had been playing a 5-game stretch in around that same period of time.

Never mind that the stupid NBA season is now 82 games as opposed to last seasons’ seemingly-more-exciting 66 games. Never mind that the Spurs are among the oldest teams in all of sports (Tim Duncan’s rookie season occurred when LeBron James was only 13 years old). Never mind that we have not even hit December yet, making this matchup against the Heat rather meaningless. This would be similar to Bud Selig getting mad because the Yankees skipped C.C. Sabathia’s May start against the Red Sox.

Punishing the Spurs for this action is purely a commissioner going too far in his reign. He has no right dictating how a coach runs his team. He has no right telling the coach when the right time to rest all the starters is. And the dumbest part in all this is that Poppa has done this before, several times last season when the games clustered too closely. So why is it an issue now?

Because the Spurs were playing the Miami Heat.

No other reason.


Aside from the Horry Smash, the San Antonio Spurs had always played with humility, dignity, and class. But because the game was televised and it was against the NBA’s new favorite team, they are being looked at as a villain for throwing the bench against them.


David Stern, until your scheduling provides a little more fairness, and until you can cut down on the amount of games per season, older teams are going to have to rest every so often in order to survive playing basketball from October to potentially June---it is that simple. You can punish them for resting, but it is inevitable, they will find a way to rest, regardless of whom they are playing.

P.S. David Stern, would you be upset if they rested their starters against the Charlotte Bobcats?

Skyfall: 8/10

Good action movie that almost feels like a Bond flick. Almost.....


It still barely feels like Bond, but this is still the best of the latest generation bunch and the best since the 1995 gem Goldeneye.

Skyfall borrows from this recurring theme of cinema of taking well-known franchises and adding this dark reboot twist to give it a fresh perspective while also throwing some old-school flavor into it. The technique might be a bit odd, since this already happened in Casino Royale. Behind the camera is indie darling Sam Mendes, an accomplished director, to add some visual flair and technique to a film series that is mysteriously devoid of good directors and cinematographers. And Mendes' direction not only enhances the exotic film locations and exquisite action sequences, but also manages to hide most of the errors and setbacks behind the movie.

The movie immediately takes off from the getgo, revealing the conflict within the first minute, and leading to an extended action/chase sequence that rivals among the best Bond has ever been involved in. And then we get taken by one of the better title sequences in recent memory featuring another strong Adele performance. How on earth was this film going to maintain the momentum of the first twenty minutes? Here's a little hint: it barely does.

Daniel Craig has gotten a lot of criticism from the old-school Bond fans about his portrayal, and his performance here will not dwell the flames. That being said, Craig in his third round as the famed hero displays that he is indeed able to pull the charm, humor, sophistication, and suave of the other Bonds----if the writing staff can ever let him. But the writers and producers are hellbent on making sure that the Connery/Moore James Bond never makes its way back into the big screen.

And this is where the movie mildly stumbles, not in directing or acting, but in the writing department. Composed by a three-person team, the plot never allows for us to get too comfortable with any of the supporting characters; from the Bond girls to not even the main villain—whom doesn't even show up in the first act (Despite it being brilliantly done by Javier Bardem, even if his character becomes extremely uneven towards the end). The final third inexplicably treads into prologue territory, when it could have been used earlier when the agency was in disarray as the conflict elevates when the entire cast of protagonists are under attack. And lastly, they still fail to give the movie the special James Bond touch, that little catalyst that for decades has separated itself from the usual action movie fare.

Skyfall is part of the biggest enigma I face in cinema today: am I willing to accept this new direction of James Bond and his more brutal, dark, but more realistic look? Or should I yearn for the old-school days when it was hapless escapism that can hide any ridiculousness or stupidity with layers of charm, sexiness, and classy adult fun? These recent Bonds have been done with plenty of effort and quality, but what gets sacrificed is the little nitty-gritty sparks that made James Bond an icon in the first place. So I'm torn.

In the meantime, I will accept Skyfall as a good, perfectly-directed action movie that survives a third act flounder and some questionable writing and hangs on as the best Bond since Pierce Brosnan.

The Continuing Douchebag Adventures of Jeffrey Loria

Jeffery Loria, you are a douchebag.


A pure, true-blue no-holds-barred douchebag. And I never dedicate an article to just purely insulting one individual. But this man deserves every ounce of negative press that he could possibly receive.




I don’t think there’s enough time in the world to forgive your actions. You already destroyed the Expos last decade and pretty much ruined baseball in Montreal for eternity (Toronto baseball still surviving is a miracle, pure and simple), just because they would not help you build a stadium. Instead of finding alternate means, you went behind the back of Major League Baseball and moved the entire front office of the Expos to Miami, forcing the league to actually buy the team temporarily while finding a solution.



And now you have not only destroyed the Marlins for the third time in 10 years, but did so in a most disgusting manner....one that seemed planned from the beginning. 


The city of Miami FINANCED your damn stadium. The PUBLIC mostly paid for that beautiful ballpark. You managed to con the entire city to build a stadium for you, only for you to shred the team merely one year after making all the pickups. And there’s no way it’s because you were losing money, because with most of the new changes already paid for and the attendance increasing vividly throughout the 2012 season, I can guarantee you and bet you my entire life he was profiting off of this.

Loria (may have) wanted to win in one season, wanted to win immediately, and like a whiny little runt he engaged in a tantrum when things didn’t go his way. Let’s neglect the fact that we have had 9 different champions this millennium already (including…the Marlins, which got blown up quickly after) and neglect the fact that baseball is the toughest sport to win immediately and win consistently. Let’s also neglect the fact that the Marlins are in a nasty division with the Braves, Phillies, and even Nationals kicking arse in the second half.

He wanted to win as soon as possible.

And when it wasn’t soon enough, he blew up the team again, once again neglecting the city of Miami an opportunity to warm up and get used to the ragtag group of players in the Marlins uniform.

Just like in 2004.




And just like in 2006.



And remember the Marlins already lost a good group quickly after success back in 1998.


Can you imagine the Rays reacting that quickly towards Joe Maddon when he first started? Before Game 162, before winning the AL East in 2010, before the Surprise-Surprise 2008 season, Maddon had a 127-197 record in Tampa. Imagine if they had fired him and destroyed his young team before we had the chance to get to know them. Then NONE, repeat, NONE of the low-budget, subculture success would have occurred. It takes time for a baseball team to mold into a successful commodity. The Giants required years of building before becoming the oddest, yet most successful franchise in baseball currently with two of the last three championships.


And as a seemingly intentional spit at the face on Montreal, his Marlins trade away plenty of great talent to Toronto for pennies. The Marlins got essentially nothing but salary clearance, more savings, and more money for Loria to blow away doing stupid nonsense. So now the question is, with not even giving Marlins fans a full season to test out the lineup, is there a chance he baited the taxpayers with big names, only to send them all over Major League Baseball to save money on spending and cash in what he got from the Marlins Park?


It’s funny because before the season, I questioned the safety of rooting for the Marlins after its history of overreaction and cost-cutting on the oddest and stupidest of moments. And it is happening again. But this time, at the expense of all the locals in the area….which allows for this to sting a bit more….much more in fact.

So this will bear repeating:





Jeffery Loria: You are a douchebag.





Thanks for killing any chance of the Marlins building an eventual fanbase…again.

English-American Football? Pass.

So the NFL desires that in the near future we have a football team all the way out in London. No, not London in Ohio, not London in California, and not the London in Arkansas. As in, the actual legit London over in the United Kingdom in the European side.

I’m sorry, what?

The National Football League, a place that satisfies itself by calling itself America’s Game, wants American teams to travel all the way across the Atlantic to play football? Are you kidding me? The rumor is they want the Jacksonville Jaguars to become the London Jags. So wait, we aren’t looking north for football teams in Canada, and we aren’t looking just a little south for Mexico? London is really the solution for expansion? This idea is nine layers of silliness and stupidity, and would further my disdain for the current commissioner for turning this league into quite ridiculous pudding.

Honestly, outside the Northeast (sort of), every team in football would have a miserable time heading over there, across an ocean and several time zones to play one measly game. And before you scream “WHY are you defending players getting played millions to play a sport!?!?!?” consider this: will a team traveling 7 hours at least and run into a considerable amount of jetlag play their true-blue football? And what if a player suffers a concussion and can’t fly? That player could miss potentially two games over one hit.

And what about people wanting to watch the game? Some viewers may have to be awake by 11:00 in the morning to watch a late afternoon game as their team sloppily plays London. And now you have to throw in the potential Thursday or Monday Night game into the monkey wrench of a schedule. Imagine the Patriots having a Monday night game, and then flying over to London for the next game, with a Thursday night game down the road. Pure nightmare.

Roger, if you want to improve the brand of football and exposure of the NFL and their players, there are many other ways to pull this off. Start an American Football tournament of some sort every 4-5 years similar to what is happening with basketball and baseball with the FIBA Basketball World Cup and the World Baseball Classic. Both of the tournaments I mentioned have increased dramatically in popularity and appeal over the years thanks to improving technology allowing us to embellish ourselves heavily in all the games.

You can hold the tournament in Europe so countries like Ireland, Germany, England, Greece, and others can see professional football in their home turf. That way it minimizes the travel and provides a consistent time zone for viewing, as opposed to an NFL season the covers 9 time zones (it gets more and more ridiculous the more I think about it).

What about the Pro Bowl? Why not hold the Pro Bowl over in Europe every year? I am sure England and Germany would not mind seeing all the biggest stars of the league showing up to play a game. Its not like the Pro Bowl is actually even witnessed in the United States. I am pretty sure London would rather see Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers face off as opposed to watching 8 games of a pitiful franchise that mercifully was removed from Jacksonville.

The NFL is the biggest sport in the nation, but expanding to London is pointless, stupid, and downright atrociously cruel to all the players and teams that will have to adjust practically everything to accommodate traveling to another continent to play one game. Sorry, but with the potential of expanding to our neighbors (whom are much closer), there are dozens of other ways to expand the exposure of the league. And even if you truly madly deeply want Europe to be invested, then play the Pro Bowl over there. The explosion of the NBA’s popularity around the world happened because of the Dream Team in the 1992 Olympics. Sending your best players to display their talent is far better than sending a half-ass team to attempt to capture an audience that will eternally be invested to the original Football.

I have no problem with the NFL going over to Europe.

Just don’t make it a 16-week affair.

LucasArts: The Best Disney Purchase Since Pixar

The nerd world has once again gone nuts as Disney once again reaches into the subculture underground and gets their hands on another franchise well-known to the Cons and the Conventions.


[And of course, let’s not forget me, who had discussed Star Wars 7 one year ago, discussed how Star Wars could improve Hollywood Studios, and even brought up how to improve Star Wars Weekends. With not having to pay George Lucas, chances have automatically improved.]


The purchasing of LucasArts was a decision that was surprising while at the same mildly expected. Disney, George Lucas, and the world of LucasArts have had an outstanding relationship since the 1980s when plans for the Star Tours attractions was getting off the ground. Before you know it, Star Wars finds its way into several of the Disney parks as well as even some Indiana Jones appearances. And then add the fact that George Lucas has been mulling retirement for the longest time. All the industry experts secretly knew that if there was a place where Star Wars was going to land after Lucas passes on, it would definitely be Disney.

Similar to how Disney took over the Muppets (and eventually bought them) after the unfortunate passing of Jim Henson, Disney decided to grab the reigns of Star Wars with Lucas mildly throwing in the towel. And I am going to state this as fact: this is the best decision made by Disney since buying the powerhouse Pixar. This was smarter than getting the rights to Avatar (By FAR), smarter than purchasing Marvel (which still has their movie rights all over the map), smarter than expanding Fantasyland (the section of the Kingdom that needed the LEAST amount of help), and smarter than fighting to the death to get the World Cup.

There is absolutely nothing but good coming from this purchasing of the 4 billion company that has not been doing much in recent years. And this is in all aspects of entertainment, not just movies. Video games, the theme parks, merchandise, television, and potential crossovers with other franchises are all in the mix now that LucasArts is under Disney’s power.

But let’s start with the movies division regardless. We have Star Wars 7 within the next couple years, and I can damn near guarantee you that we will have more Star Wars in the future. Expect that part 8 and 9 that fans have been dreaming about. And then let’s not forget the 3-D remakes of all the other Star Wars movies that will be popping up throughout this decade. What I can see Disney doing is the Pixar effect, in which they hand the smaller companies good chunks of money and in return receive their product without attempting to interfere. It has worked quite well as Whedon’s vision of Avengers has generated nearly 2 billion in box office alone, and Pixar has produced 13 consecutive movies that has earned over $100 in the United States box office. 

Disney’s relationship with some of the better sci-fi directors in recent years remains quite good, so Disney can choose from Abrams, Whedon, Spielberg, Raimi, and perhaps even Brad Bird to carry the Star Wars mantle. Now, before you all scream about how this is still George Lucas’ creation, remember this: the best Star Wars was directed by somebody else. And if I have to tell you which Star Wars I am talking about, then shame on you.

And what if Disney wants to hand a part of Star Wars to Pixar? Can you imagine the animation staff behind Wall-E creating a Star Wars universe? I certainly wouldn’t object to that—although I still ponder why Pixar hasn’t gotten a Marvel project yet. And let’s not forget---we also have Indiana Jones.



Kingdom Hearts 3 already had potential out of the gate with the purchase of Pixar, Muppets, AND Marvel after the release of the original. Now we can add Star Wars to this. Kingdom Hearts 3 automatically has emerged as Disney’s potentially biggest gaming project if they decide to utilize this new purchase towards the long-anticipated game. It does not end there, as Star Wars games in general tend to do a decent job, with Rogue Squadron, Super Star Wars, and Knights of the Old Republic being good examples. And, perhaps, Knights of the Old Republic will also finally receive that third installment.

The boys around America have been shunned over the years with Disney princesses conquering the marketing of the theme parks and the television medium. Buying Marvel was purely a we-need-more-boys move. Now, with Star Wars, the mere idea of a Star Wars show FOLLOWING a Spider-Man show is enough for Disney XD to have a good run at the ratings peak on weekday afternoons and Saturday mornings. It also would not surprise me if they start airing all the movies constantly on ABC Family---anything to replace the Harry Potter movies that despite their success and (sometimes) quality it’s actually more fodder for the competition.



Lastly, how about the theme parks? Star Tours II isn’t exactly a smash-smash hit, but it still draws a loyal following. But can you imagine a Star Wars SECTION in Hollywood Studios? Equipped with an actual building for the Jedi Training Academy, a roller coaster based off one of the moments in the duel-trilogy, and perhaps even the Cantina bar being re-created for guests? I think the theme of the park should be Hollywood brought to life, not necessarily the Studios theme that they have unsuccessfully tried to manage over the years. Perhaps with this new focus, Star Wars will expand, giving us fans more to enjoy. And then there is the potential for expanding and improving Star Wars Weekends….

 Bottom Line: The big winner in this is George Lucas, for finally handing the reigns to a good company notoriously protective and passionate about their product---while making good money on the side. But Disney is no slouch here, as they are incorporating a new business strategy by purchasing creative companies whose limit is budget, which is something Disney has way more of. Imagine Star Wars with Disney budgets and marketing, from movies to television to other mediums. Even though it coast them several billion, I can still see the stock and shareholders of the company smiling and laughing all the way to the bank.










P.S. This needs to happen faaaaaaar more often now that we own it.

Wreck-It Ralph: 7/10

Fresh Story full of Familiar Flavor, Wreck-It Ralph is nostalgically entertaining, 2 November 2012


Wreck-it Ralph is Hollywood's latest foray in to the subculture world of gaming---a world that Hollywood essentially knows nothing about, with examples I refuse to mention so I don't have the sensation of throwing up. Except this time its Disney turning on the nostalgia while delivering a fresh story that involves a mixing of classic-style arcade games with the new-school arcade hits that we currently see. So what we have is a pure gamer movie, right?

Not quite. It is not a gamer's movie, it is really an animated movie with many, many nods to the world of arcade and console gaming. There is a major difference. You don't have the pacing, style, mood, and tone of a video game here unlike the visually stimulating whirlwind of a trip we experienced in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Seriously, if you have not seen this movie yet, get to it immediately). Instead you have a movie with a major Disney touch and essentially becoming the modern-day version of Who Framed Roger Rabbit---a new cast of characters being joined by dozens of cameos from old-school favorites.

Don't let this statement deter you, just let it allow you to hover your mind around the fact that the cameos you saw in the trailer was not a sample, it was a display of the entire menu. Luckily for this movie, the cast of characters featured are very likable, have their moments to shine, and do propel the movie forward when the plot (and amount of references) gets stuck in the mud. From the lovable baddie Wreck-It Ralph to the adorably filthy and sarcastic Vannelope (brilliantly executed by Sarah Silverman, an underrated comedic gem), you will feel for the characters much like when you immerse yourself in a gigantic video game. You will root for the two as they both fight for a place in gaming society, in a world that mistreats the outcasts, gaming villains, and anything too retro.

In a sort of ironic twist, Disney and Nintendo (the current gaming leader) are very alike in mannerisms, and also very similar in how their audience reach prevents them from fulfilling their true potential. With Nintendo they aim to remain looking hardcore while attempting to reach out into the mainstream. With Wreck-It Ralph, it was a kids movie full of sight and verbal gags that will giggle the children and tweens while severely pushing heavy and subtle gaming references to the 80s, 90s, and gamers of today even. There is a Leroy Jenkins reference for crying out loud. Surely everyone gets their spoonful of fun, but it prevents the movie from truly pushing towards something edgy, something more.

But what they do deliver, is a delightful movie that is chock full of nostalgia and originality. This awkward mix works for the company that saved the gaming industry, and works for the film that celebrates it.

41 Predictions of the 2012-2013 NBA Season

The NBA season is beginning tonight, testing to see if the success from the season before can carry over to 2013. Can the fans be as interested when the season runs a full 82 games? Or should the NBA honestly reconsider their schedule and start the season Christmas Day and have fewer games altogether? Either which way, as a Magic fan I am not very excited, while all my neighbors to the south are extremely enthusiastic as the Heat are looking better and better. Here comes my list of predictions for this upcoming season of basketball:

1) Derrick Rose will get hurt. Again. The Bulls will make the playoffs again but the injuries will prevent them from going anywhere…..again.

2) The Miami Heat have a legitimate shot at the NBA Finals, and winning the entire thing. Eric Spolstera you are a lucky son of a-

3) The Indiana Pacers are one of the sneaky-good teams in the NBA that can and will challenge the aging bums known as the Celtics as well as the upstarts like the Nets.

4) The Boston Celtics will remain bitter all season over the disappearance of Ray Allen, and their age will continue becoming their biggest flaw

5) Atlanta Hawks were sneaky good until they started losing players like clockwork. Expect them to be a lower-half seeded team with minimal hope

6) The Orlando Magic are going to suck, pure and simple. And we will STILL have a chance at the playoffs.

7) Expect way more minutes for J.J. Reddick, and he will be one of the most important players to any team this season.

8) The New York Knicks will disappoint severely and will regret losing Jeremy Lin as they watch Carmelo Black Hole Anthony eat up the season

9) The Philadelphia 76ers are a one-trick pony and will prove it to the world this season

10) The Milwaukee Bucks hate the NBA. For as long as the status of the NBA remains the same, nobody will ever find playing for the Bucks attractive

11) The Detroit Pistons will play better than last season, but its still not enough

12) See above statement, now change the name to the Toronto Raptors

13) The Brooklyn Nets are going to start a cool rivalry with the Knicks while battle for the final seed

14) The Cleveland Cavaliers are going nowhere.

15) Washington Wizards are going nowhere

16) The Charlotte Bobcats are going to continue to destroy the legacy of the Michael Jordan Post-Bulls days

17) The San Antonio Spurs will hang on to the title of the 2nd best team in the West

18) The Thunder are going to really regret losing Harden, as their chemistry took a nasty, nasty hit

19) The Los Angeles Lakers look good, but the current status of the NBA doesn’t need a good center—and Dwight Howard’s presence won’t change that that much.

20) The Memphis Grizzlies will quietly be a major threat to the top three seeds in the West

21) The Los Angeles Clippers will begin their ascent to Earth in 3…2….1……

22) Blake Griffin will continue to receive undeserved attention for his aggressive and selfish promotion basketball ways

23) The Denver Nuggets will have the worst uniforms in the entire league, and will play damn good too

24) The Dallas Mavericks will have to fight for a playoff spot, because their off-season was quite a disaster.

25) Expect at least 5 fines on Mark Cuban after his frustration reaches a boiling point a quarter of the way through

26) The Utah Jazz will contemplate moving to Pittsburgh so they can nab a 4-seed in the East

27) The Houston Rockets will become your surprise-surprise team of the West with the Harden-Lin combination

28) The Phoenix Suns will resemble the state of Arizona: miserable, no hope, an embarrassment, and an afterthought

29) The Portland Trail Blazers are going to flip when they see Brandon Roy succeed in Minnesota. And also suck.

30) The Minnesota Timberwolves are going to be one of the 5 best teams in the West----the season Roy, Love, and Rubio are fully healthy

31) Golden State Warriors will make vast improvements, and the owners will find a way to **** that up again.

32) The Sacramento Kings may have saved their franchise, but it will be years before they can save their team.

33) The New Orleans Hornets are going to be like the Milwaukee Bucks; they have a great player, but will then realize that with no help they ain’t goin’ nowhere.

34) The Heat will run into the Spurs in the Finals---because the Thunder got rid of Harden

35) The surprise team that can go very far in the playoffs this year will be the Houston Rockets

36) Interest in the NBA will not be as heavy as last season because we are back to the long-arse season consisting of far too many games

37) The flopping problem in the NBA will remain as the fines aren’t heavy enough

38) There will be a flop that will change the outcome of a game, leading to Stern flipping out.

39) Steve Nash is going to play his soul out playing for the Lakers

40) The Heat-Celtics rivalry will reach new new heights, although if Miami wins all 4 games can it be really considered a rivalry?











Final: The Orlando Magic will frustrate me, severely. And it has less to do with the loss of Dwight and more to do with the loss of Stan Van Gundy, a proven coach that could have weathered this storm a lot better than your average leading man. The Eastern Conference is weak enough that the Magic can be a sneaky good team if Jamieer can learn to Point Guard more, if Hedo can go back to his 2009 ways, and if the shooter-happy squad can land the shots. But like I said before, I really wish Van Gundy was here to coach at least one season to see what he could pull off with a depleted squad.
Is it baseball season yet?




Post-Note: With the NFL trying to expand to London, I still don't see why the Magic don't reach out to Brazil.....it could really help a fanbase that's truly madly deeply pisssssssssssed off.

War: The Best Potential Budget Cut

Dear Mr. President:



You folks say that we are in an economic crisis. You folks say that we are in financial debt with China and we have been improving very slowly in this seemingly endless recession. I understand this. And I also do understand that we have to make sacrifices and we have to make budget cuts in order to make ends meet. I also understand how taxes might need to be raised in order to bounce the nation as a whole away from the red ink. All this is indeed fine and dandy. But there is one place that is absorbing all of our money yet we do nothing to try to stop.



War.



You want to improve the economy? End the stupid nonsense in the Middle East. Let’s get the hell out of there, now. Immediately. Don’t argue this, let’s go now. Let’s stop with the nonsense in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, and any other nation that we might dig our noses into. Let’s just back away from that conflict, bring 95% of the soldiers home (we still need some to protect and help the Embassies around the world), collect the losses, and focus strictly on ourselves. It is that easy.


The Middle East has been fighting since before Jesus Christ himself. Seriously, look it up. And the last 5 presidencies have involved us having to head over there to do something, and spending good money while at it. We had Obama with ending the Iraq war and killing more terrorists and evil group members than any other president in recent memory---but still with hundreds of soldier deaths to attend to. And then there’s Bush with the beginning of both the Iraqi and Afghan wars, Clinton with the Kosovo incident, Bush Sr. with the Persian Gulf War, Reagan with sending troops to the Lebanon among other places and also selling weapons to certain nations over there, and lastly with Carter and the Iranian hostage crisis among other ordeals.


Can you believe that we have spent the last 4 decades having to deal with issues over there? Wouldn’t it be easier to just back off and leave it at that? These two wars in the past 10 years have cost us over 3 trillion dollars. To put that in a sense, that’s $9,550+ per CITIZEN in the United States!!! Can you imagine how much better things would be if you just wrote each of us a check for half that amount? Sorry, dreaming, back to topic....

In a more ridiculous sense, that’s over 30 BILLION tickets to the Magic Kingdom. With the money we spent overseas, we could have bought the New York Yankees over 1,500 times!!! There are so many ways we can use this money that doesn’t involve wars, sending soldiers overseas, using missiles, using bombs, using drones, using essential supplies, etc, etc, etc.

Not sure if the politicians in Washington have noticed, but the United States is in trouble. Poverty is getting intense, unemployment is still at a high number, we have had to save the auto and bank industry, there has been a growing angst amongst minorities that reared its ugly head after Obama was elected, religious tolerance has taken a big hit, the middle class is struggling a bit, education is a pure disaster, and the light at the end of the tunnel is getting smaller. Americans in a generality is not spending because of financial fears unlike what happened in the 90s and even for a short period from 2003-2006. Gas prices are still high, some states are in pure shambles, and worst of all America no longer looks like the go-to place for living and not even for visiting. Tourism used to be extremely strong, and unless you are Central Florida (which honestly finds ways to always succeed) no outsider wants to see you.

The United States was on a downward spiral, and the climb back to 90s glory remains painstakingly slow. The greatest way to begin the focus on what is most important is to just drop away from everything happening in other parts of the world and begin to focus on ourselves. We don’t have to be the World Police. Because a) we need help personally, and b) we seriously are incapable of saving everybody. If it’s not Iraq, then it’s Iran, then its Pakistan, then its Rwanda, then its North Korea, or most of the African nations under tyrannical rule. In order to improve others we have to improve ourselves in terms of finances and in terms of morality.

Nothing on the face of this planet wastes more money than war. And the sooner we can end our current conflicts and keep away from others, the sooner we can focus on rebuilding a nation that has been struggling mightily for a multitude of reasons. So please Mr. President, pull those troops now. I support them, they have done a fine job, but now is the time to fix the one country that’s been requiring help for several years now:

The United States.

End of Watch: 9/10

Intense Cop Drama with a Best Picture feel, 22 October 2012


The world may definitely end in 2012 because the best film of the year is one with a "found footage" style of filmmaking.

End of Watch is a spectacular, haunting, and intense journey through the lives of two police officers and their squadron as well as the families of the main characters involved. While I expected good material from the man that helmed the script for the eternally underrated Training Day, I didn't expect to be overwhelmed, moved, and totally embedded in the lives of the characters presented. Unlike most films about cops which usually are presented as dirty, lazy, or with cruel intentions, this one showcases cops as homeland soldiers in the brutal battlefield of the ghettos and the underworld. This film may possibly even change your stance on policemen.

The plot is simple; it follows two cops (Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena) in the course of around a year as they fight crime in the underbelly of one of the toughest parts of the country. Using secret cameras attached to their uniform they show the viewer the behind-the-scenes moments within the police department and then display some of the situations they get involved in—from the tiny disturbance calls to the more violent incidents that can occur in any time.

As if the writer used to be a cop himself (his research on the LAPD has definitely helped), David Ayer composed a script that not only throws our foot soldiers out into the crime world, but also gives us a glimpse into their social lives and how they remain connected with the job. And it is not just the script that made this cop flick unique, it was the cinematography. With the shaky found footage style, End of Watch comes off as much more realistic as the norm as the close-ups are intense, the action is right on your face, and sometimes the gruesome images find its way in center frame far longer than you desire.

Chemistry runs this film, and brings the dialogue to life. Jake Gyllenhaal is very hit-and-miss but delivers by far his best performance of his career as the hotshot cop with subtle issues that pops out every so often during the shift. Supporting him is the equally impressive Michael Pena as the Mexican cop that despite his obvious differences with his partner is an excellent companion as well as friend. Helping round out the cast are the hilarious sweethearts Anna Kendrick and Natalie Martinez.

This film doesn't have the summer blockbuster feel, it has the crime drama touch that combines itself with some hyperrealism through the kinetic filming style while adding the necessary humor and heart to maintain the film flowing without it becoming too overly dramatic or depressing. It is essentially the best film of the year because it delivers a powerful experience that never feels contorted, never feels cliché, and in a subtle manner celebrates one of the most heroic occupations in the country.

Kind of like Training Day.

And if your film deserves to be compared to that gem, then your film is worthy of recommendation.

Argo: 9/10

Argo is a tense but enjoyable cinematic trip with a 70s feel, 14 October 2012



Craving a tense, heart-pounding political thriller that doesn't let go of its grip until the end? Look no further, we have Argo.

Argo is a skillfully directed and shot film that keeps the audiences riveted with its colorful cast of characters, extreme moments of tension, tight script that doesn't offer any slow moments, and a subtle political undertone about the continuing crisis that occur in the Middle East between the ruthless leaders and the citizens that are always inches from exploding in pure anger.

Based off of a compelling true story that takes place in the Iran Hostage Crisis of 1979, Argo follows one man creating a fake film studio and film production so he can pose as a Canadian filmmaker as he searches for the missing Americans that fled the embassy that came under attack by angry mobs of Iranian citizens. The first half focuses on the planning, and the more riveting half focuses on the execution.

This movie has 70s political thriller written all over it, from the substance to the style. Ben Affleck gives his best directing performance here as he shoots the film with a 70s look and feel to add realism to the conflict while at the same time paying homage to classic dialogue-heavy thrillers like All the President's Men and Dog Day Afternoon.

His old-school, close-up style of filmmaking helped his first two features, and it definitely enhances the anxiety of the moments when the characters can be seen in the hostile environment of Iran. You will hear your heart as the cast drives through the heart of the rebellion.

The best of movies can successfully combine drama with humor, and the dark humor of Argo helps the viewer relax and breathe a little as the stakes get raised higher and higher. This movie is actually surprisingly funny, with the best lines being delivered by the veteran actors John Goodman (where's his Oscar?) and Alan Arkin. The rest of the cast does a wonderful job being likable and being people you want to root for during their highs and their low points.

Bottom Line: 120 minutes of heart-pounding drama and heavy content is what makes Argo one of the best films of the year, and pretty much certifies Ben Affleck as a successful and good director that manages to erase his ugly streak of bad movies. There isn't a dull moment here as you will remain glued to the screen up until the very end. Its good old-fashioned gritty filmmaking at its finest, with characters moreso than action running the show.

The Deteriorating Relationship Between NBC and Quirky

So we all know NBC sucks, right? Let's get that out of the way. The Olympics coverage was quite pathetic.

Anyway. Back to topic.



So NBC has decided to quietly attempt to kill one of their shows by taking the cult classic and moving it to Friday nights for no actual reason. They fired the original creator for no reason. Worst of all, there’s very little mention of when the next season is actually debuting. Folks, we are witnessing the attempted murder of the show Community---with NBC being the sole suspect. NBC has definitely attacked its chances of life in the past, but with the firing and movement to the Death Slot, it is only a matter of time before this gem of a program receives its final moments.
Let’s just sum this up nicely: NBC now hates quirky humor.

HATES it.

They used to embrace it and go out of their way to find it, but somewhere along the lines, the hatred towards the material began brewing. With Community about to go under, long gone are the days when NBC used to adore the likes of Scrubs, The Office, Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock, My Name is Earl, etc. But when the ratings weren’t the numbers of Friends, Seinfeld, or Will and Grace, I am sure the bosses were beginning to grumble. The bosses started desiring to move back to the clichéd sitcom style of comedy that has made Two and a Half Men the top-rated comedy in the last seven years.



They will never admit it, but this may have been their breaking point and the beginning of the end of NBC’s love for quirkiness. The fans loved the self-mocking humor, loved the fun Music Man reference, and loved how Conan was basically making fun of his own network while hosting a show on the SAME network. The acclaim for his hosting was certainly there, as his zany humor was a major breath of fresh air for the award ceremony. But, the ratings to this Emmys telecast dropped, their top-rated comedy was #68, something had to be done. The quirky unique comedies’ days were numbered.

Last Episode Year:

Scrubs: 2008 (Shut down unexpectedly)

My Name is Earl: 2009 (also shut down unexpectedly, with a cliffhanger)

Late Night With Conan O’Brian: 2009 (Shut down for Tonight Show—was not opened up when Conan left Tonight Show)

Tonight Show With Conan O’Brian: 2010 (Shut down extremely unexpectedly)

The Office: 2013 (slow death)

30 Rock: 2013

Community: 2013 (I predict)

Parks and Recreation: 2014 (I predict)


This is why Conan’s Late Night show failed miserably in their eyes so darn quickly (even though it took Jay Leno THREE years to win the ratings when he first started), this is why Parks and Recreation is slowly getting dismantled, this is why Scrubs got shoddy treatment towards the end, and this is why Community has never had any hope ever since its debut a couple years ago---with the rabid fanbase saving it time, and time again. Chevy Chase, a longtime NBC friend, talking trash about the show is most likely not helping it much either.

Conan’s humor was very college-esque, while also dwelling deeper into the subpop culture fandom than arguably any talk show host in history, with Jimmy Kimmel desperately trying to gain that audience. Remember those Chuck Norris Facts? They really didn’t take off until Conan started throwing in Chuck Norris clips in his talk show. Did the ratings improve? Not really, but the online exposure took a nice bump. Remember the feud against Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert? Comedy Central does, but NBC certainly doesn’t. Actually, NBC eliminated all evidence of Conan ever being on the network. That’s how vengeful the network became.

So what does this all mean? If your show has a fun sense of humor that appeals below the mainstream and into the hearts of internet junkies----and get picked up by NBC--expect not to last, no matter how good it may be. While I doubt NBC will attempt to nab a show with the Conan or 30 Rock type of humor, NBC has always been known for changing their minds like a person changes clothes. Katy Perry reference for the win.

Community was saved TWICE by the internet, while shows like Scrubs, The Office, and 30 Rock had to receive their fanbase through syndication as opposed to love and support from NBC. Remember Fox’s obsession over trying to make Arrested Development a hit? Have you seen ABC’s love towards Modern Family and its mediocre shows that precede and follow it? Has never happened on NBC.

And this is why NBC sucks.

And this is also why Community, one of the cleverest and hippest shows in years, will shut down far sooner than we desire.

The 2012 Tampa Bay Rays Seasonal Hangover

I still have not recovered fully from Game 162 2012 Edition. The emotions were there, there were definitely a lot of tears being shared in Tropicana Field (Once again, empty Tropicana Field—about 10,000 less than last season’s stunning finale), but the difference was that we were an amazing team that was going to miss the playoffs. As a matter of fact we were the best team in all of baseball to miss the playoffs---it was so bad that teams with worse records than us were heading into the postseason. Ah, the cruelty of the AL East division. But before we can get to my pick as the #1 reason why we did not make the playoffs, let me point out the other major points of the 2012 season of Tampa Bay Rays baseball.



Hot Dog What a Season
-------------------------

Let me just say, it was another fantastic season of baseball. Over half the teams in baseball at one point were in contention halfway through, records were raised, records fell, many amazing players had been playing their last season and experienced a fine goodbye tour, small-market teams were competing with the usual batch and started gaining interest in cities and states that had been turned off from baseball for a good period of time, and lastly there was the minimal controversy and stupidity experienced in the other leagues (Floppers, replacement refs, lockouts, etc.).

Years ago, we could more or less figure out whom was going places and whom was falling. Now check out some of the playoff teams: Washington Nationals, Baltimore Orioles, Oakland Athletics, Cincinnati Reds. Check out some of the teams that had a legit shot and just missed the mark: Tampa Bay Rays, Chicago White Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates----yes, those Pittsburgh Pirates. Even at one point the Mets, Blue Jays, and Indians had a strong running at one point.

The extra playoff spot was nothing short of brilliant, even though I was against it for quite some time. It raised the stakes, and made the final two months of the season extremely important as we had dozens of games down to the wire. The only way to perfect the baseball schedule now is including two teams and shortening the amount of games by a little. But with this extra spot, none of the big-market teams are safe, as momentum was driving all of the low-to-middle market teams, giving them extra layers of hope. This added to the attendance of baseball, which remains the ONLY league with increasing attendance in this tough economy.


Pre-Season Expectations
----------------------------------------






Last season was quite possibly the most improbable of the recent improbable years of the Tampa Bay Rays. What was supposed to be a re-building year after losing 12+ players turned into a dogfight in the toughest division in all of sports (I am deadly serious when I mention this)-----leading to us making it to the playoffs in the midnight hour in Game 162. This time the GM actually got mildly aggressive and got Luke Scott, Carlos Pena, and Jose Molina, while our young rotation was shaping up quite well to a point in which a former started became a bullpen buddy.

Nearly everyone else was coming back, giving the Rays hope that this time they might actually have a sure-fire shot at the World Series. If Scott, Pena, and Molina could trace back to their 2007-2009 numbers and produce the Kevin Garnett-drive to fight to the bare bones to win that elusive championship ring, then we would have some power hitting to balance the small-ball offense and ridiculous pitching. Well, we started the season sweeping the Yankees (always a delightful moment) and were on top of the division, on top of the league. I really felt like the World Series was not a ridiculous dream.


The Injury. The Downfall
----------------------------------------

Evan Longoria got hurt. And he got hurt pretty bad. We had no timetable, and at one point it seemed like we were going to lose him for the entire season---that’s what the rumors were saying. At first it didn’t dawn on the team how valuable he was, especially since the Rays had won with ridiculous odds for so long. But this felt different, something felt off. The defense dropped, the offense severely took a hit, and the Rays were losing their identity. We weren’t stealing as many bases, we were committing more errors, we weren’t scoring the runs, we weren’t supporting our pitchers that well, and we were looking quite lost in the batter’s box.

The Rays had dropped to fourth place at one point, even behind the Red Sox. We were barely fighting off the last-place Blue Jays. Whenever it seemed like we had things figured out, the offense goes into crazy streaks of nothingness. It was getting ugly.


The 2012 Tampa Bay Rays Failed Gamble
-------------------------------------



Part of what made the Rays successful over the years was the successful gambles that we had made towards under-the-radar players. Raphael Soriano, Ben Zobrist, Joel Peralta, Grant Balfour, Troy Percival, Fernando Rodney (2012’s greatest example)  among plenty of others were picked up by Tampa, and they improved under the wing of Joe Maddon and his staff.

But the 2012 Rays had a lot of gambles that just didn’t pay off. Luke Scott was batting horrifically---when he wasn’t injured. Made it worse because he was such a nice guy, and the same went with Carlos Pena. Pena’s best years were indeed with Tampa but age and all the injuries all the years were catching up to him significantly. Both men were batting around or below the Mendoza line. Molina was also not as effective as we had hoped, as the pitching staff was not as effective with him behind the bag as Kelly Shopach or John Jaso back in 2011. Worst of all was Hideki Matsui, who had a miserable outing with Tampa and led to him being cut extremely early in the season.

Sometimes, gambles don’t work. And Joe Maddon despite being amazing on his gambles, has a general manager that hadn’t been as lucky. We got several hitters that just couldn’t produce, and couldn’t get on base. They couldn’t draw walks to help with the small-ball, and it led to several games with little or no runs. Tampa had FIVE 1-0 losses, which is unheard of. It was the rest of the known staff slowly carrying the team barely past mediocrity and a third-place standing. The offense had always been bad, but never as obvious as it was in the 2012 season.  Offense had always been (and for as long as our market remains miniscule will always be) our biggest, most major flaw. We needed a wake-up call to wake-up those bats. Nobody was stepping up. Granted they tried, but nobody rose to the occasion. 



Then Longoria came back.


Evan Longoria: The MVP Nobody Discusses
-------------------------------------------------------



Evan Longoria is the most valuable player on any team in baseball, and nobody, not even Tampa Bay realized this until he came back in the second half.

Before August 6th:  56-52
After August 6th: 44-20
Overall: 90-72


Want to know what happened August 7th? That’s when Longoria came back. Want to know the winning percentage afterwards? A staggering .685 winning percentage. His numbers may not provide the evidence, but the team numbers will do the rest of the talking. Winning nearly 70% of the games means much more than coincidence, this is something special. The defense came back, the offense came back, the small ball play came back, and the confidence in a depleted ballclub virtually exploded. In August they were 7 games back, and were close to last place than the Wild Card. By the end of the season they were virtually a couple wins away from playing the Wild Card, while at the same time eliminating the White Sox, deflating the Red Sox, and were a couple tough games away from getting past the Orioles—the team that eventually took care of them. But it took 160 games to knock out the Rays. And with a .519 record in early August, that was darn impressive.

Longoria was on pace to nearly hit 40 home runs and drive in nearly 120 runs, while batting a cool .289 on a bad leg that never fully recovered the rest of the year. This fella was my hero; he saved us in 2011 with his home runs, and allowed us to make one hell of a run in September that was marred by the fact that the Orioles, Athletics, and Yankees were easily as hot.

One of the bigger What-Ifs I’ve ever seen in baseball is what would have happened if Longoria had remained healthy all season. Would the worthless bats of Pena, Scott, Molina, and Matsui waken up? Would the pitching staff have contributed even more to their historical 2012 run (They struck out more batters than ANY other rotation in the HISTORY of baseball)? Would we have seen the Rays wait and see who would win between the Rangers and Orioles as opposed to watch the game from home? The what-ifs are just as frustrating as having a disappointing year that fell short. 2009 was disappointing because we just missed the mark. This season was different; it featured an excellent team that lost their leader for 80 games, dropping them to mediocrity. This was similar to if the Yankees had lost Jeter for the season, if Hamilton had been lost to the Rangers for the season, if the Tigers had lost Justin Verlander. Surely its one player, but every team needs that one special player to keep the team going. Want a similar example?

San Francisco Giants 2010: 92-70
San Francisco Giants: 2011: 86-76
San Francisco Giants 2012: 94-68

Want to guess what happened in 2011? They lost Buster Posey for the season after a nasty collision. Just saying, sometimes it takes one baseball player. Longoria is that baseball player. Should he win MVP? Of course not, he missed 80+ games. But he remains the most valuable player towards his organization in alllllll of baseball.


We Were So Close. We’re Always So Close
------------------------------------------------------------

I made it a tradition to watch the final home game of every Rays season after what happened to 2011. I bought the ticket before we were eliminated, and decided to go through with the game regardless to congratulate the Rays on another wonderful season. The fact that I knew the game would not be sold out, nor the series would have any sort of attendance past 20,000 is sad, embarrassing, pathetic, and just adds to the frustration that is being a Rays fan. I poured my heart and soul into this season because I knew in my heart we had a World Series caliber team. But being last in attendance never, ever helps the chances. Low attendance means low support, which never adds to momentum, only subtracts.



The baseball game I witnessed was nonetheless special. Even though we were eliminated, I was able to see Longoria smash three home runs and further cement what could have been if he had not been hurt for so long. I witnessed Jeremy Hellickson pitch five innings of incredible 1-hit ball and finish off a decent sophomore year while having the third-lowest run support in ALLLLLLL of baseball. I witnessed Fernando Rodney quietly break an insane record for lowest ERA by a reliever with an unfathomable .060. I witnessed B.J. Upton’s final at-bat, and watched him cry his way back into the dugout after the surprisingly loud standing ovation he received by the 17,000 fans. Darn it, I will miss him.




It was a beautiful night, a beautiful way to end the season. And just like that, it was over. I even wanted to take one final picture of the empty ballpark and security got upset and essentially pushed me out.




We’re always so close.


*(@)$*$# it.


We’ve always been one extra hitter away from being a spectacular, unstoppable team. It has been this way for years. But, for as long as we don’t see the support, we will always be SO close, missing the necessary nucleus by [this ] much. If we don’t have the attendance, we don’t see the money generating. No fans = no money = no support = no extra revenue or incentive to spend more = more seasons of being so close yet so far which ultimately = young players like B.J. Upton leaving us before striking the prime. 

And this = me continuing to bitterly write about our pathetic stadium, pathetic fanbase, pathetic support, and once again, that ********* pathetic ballpark.

Where’s our new stadium?!?!?!?



Conclusion (Yes, There Is Going to be One)
-------------------------------------------------------------------


I am proud as hell for my team, I honestly am. The 2012 Tampa Bay Rays despite the circumstances (I didn’t even bring up the 10+ disabled list at one point in May) put up an amazing fight, an amazing August, and a nearly flawless September and came up just a bit short because the odds were not in our favor and because your division featured teams that also fought vigorously all season long (Derek Jeter deserves MVP votes, and the Orioles became the 2008 Rays).

I really put my soul and heart to this baseball season because I knew it was going to be something special—involving my Rays and involving the rest of the sport. We saw amazing games, amazing pitching performances, and some extremely touching moments. I don’t regret spending so much time devoted to a season that is missing a postseason.

But the truth is, history repeats itself. The Tampa Bay Rays reminds me a lot of the Brooklyn Dodgers---a very successful franchise that didn’t have the city’s support and before you know they traveled thousands of miles west towards a fanbase that is just as dedicated. And yes, I have pointed this out before.

The Rays consist of an incredible group of people, players, and coaches searching for a more consistent and more rabid fanbase. I promise you places like Vegas, Charlotte, Montreal, Portland, and Boston (Those Red Sox are going to be losers for a very long time) would love to be home to this young squad full of hungry go-getters. Tampa doesn’t appreciate winning 458 games in the past 5 seasons? I am sure someone else will. And I have a groing concern that the Rays will not be in Florida much longer.

But in the meantime I will watch the postseason with satisfaction for two reasons: one is because the playoff format is approaching perfection, and because my Rays despite not making it poured their hearts out to the very end.











Just like me.

The Diabolical Ways of the National Football League

So with the referee incident finally under the bridge after the ridiculous MNF disaster, the next question revolves around why the NFL has taken so long to work out this deal that would cost them a few pretty pennies and would barely cause a dent in the financial situation of the entire league and the owners. Why? Why would the NFL do this? Why?




It is extremely simple: The NFL is nothing but pure evil.


Roger Goodell is nothing but pure evil. In the past decade we have seen the NFL transform into a monster that cares nothing more than to make more money off the consumers while do its very best not to share its earnings with anybody else. When this lockout happened I wasn’t surprised, I wasn’t fazed. As a gamer I was able to see the evil far before the rest of mainstream America caught up.




Want the evidence? EA through an evil deal got the NFL rights so that nobody else could make football games---which means EA didn’t have to try as hard to making a decent product and it also meant that the NFL can directly influence just one company in the gaming industry. So what happens now? The NFL gets a nice paycheck from EA, EA becomes the only money-maker in the football gaming industry, and all of us gamers suffer as we see the likes of NFL Gameday, NFL Blitz (It supposedly made a comeback but we all know this is bullspit), and especially NFL 2K fade into oblivion. I wrote about this years ago, and it predates the rapid quality decline of being an NFL fan.


Want more evidence? The NFL didn’t do jack diddly squat about the issue concerning concussions and post-career dilemmas until the lawsuits came flying in. The league was perfectly fine in kicking back while watching ex-player after ex-player fade into nothingness financially, emotionally, and physically. The suicides had been occurring, the lifespan of football players had been depleting rapidly. But none of this really came into light until players starting suing the league. Now, granted these lawsuits are rather dumb (the sport has been notoriously violent since the 1930s, when people were dying over football-related injuries) but the threat of losing money perturbs the league into forcing itself to pretend like they give a darn about the high mortality rate amongst former players entering the mid-life crisis cycle.


Want more evidence? The Baltimore Ravens just played 4 games in a span of 17 days. Ten years ago this would have never happened. Now, in order to appeal to the digital/extra channel world of television, the NFL Network receivers get treated to games the rest of cable-trapped America can’t gain access to. Now, there are games on Sundays, Mondays, and Thursdays, with a few Saturdays most likely mixed in later in the season. The Thursday games used to just be a post-Thanksgiving tradition. Now, it’s a weekly feature, resulting in teams playing more games in less time—more often the more successful teams. Isn’t it great to be tortured because you make more money for the league?



Want to continue? The NFL continues its truly madly deeply evil blackout policy that punishes entire television markets just because the home games don’t sell out. Its not enough that the NFL does receive better attendance numbers than any other league, they want to sell out every single freakin’ game despite the economy remaining in the deep end in the past half-decade. Thanks to the NFL, I can’t watch a single Dolphins game on television this entire season. Instead, I get to see the Jaguars----on the road.


So, with the fake caring for player safety, destruction of competition in the gaming industry, continuing despicable blackout policy that layers upon layers worse than any other professional league, and now limiting even more games from the prime time public, why are you all shocked that the NFL stooped this low to risking player safety and the integrity of the league over a few extra dollars? If it honestly wasn’t for the pure Monday Night Football disaster that was the finish of the Packers-Seahawks game, I can sure as hell guarantee you those replacements would still be out there on the field.

And the worst part? The NFL audience will just sit there and take the abuse because we are incapable as a nation to survive a few weeks without football. Until we can learn to band together and truly fight the system, the NFL will continue to screw with our emotions and screw around with the integrity of the sport of football.




I will repeat this again: The NFL is nothing but pure evil.

The Potential Redemption of Bobby Valentine

Bobby Valentine is in serious trouble.

The Red Sox have had their worst season in over a decade as they watch the rival Rays and Yankees make their push towards the postseason. You would have to go back to the 90s to see the last time the Red Sox looked this bad. Even though its Valentine’s first year, he has been criticized from the very beginning, with the jeers becoming louder after he drove out Kevin Youkilis to the White Sox—whom are having a far better season too.

His firing seems to be imminent, right around the corner after the season ends. But, he has a chance. He can redeem himself.


This Red Sox season can be saved.

The Red Sox go to Baltimore for three games and then go to New York to close out the season. If Bobby Valentine truly wants to keep his job and/or not be remembered as the bum that soiled the Red Sox name for the year of 2012, he must end the season on a high note by potentially eliminating/knocking down the Orioles and/or the Yankees with sweeps or taking 2 of 3. What better way to close out a disappointing season than taking down the two teams responsible for your disastrous 2011 finish? What better way to close out the year then karmaing it up on Baltimore and New York?


The Red Sox in 2011 were well on the way to the playoffs when the Yankees (among other teams) started shredding them in September, allowing for Tampa to creep up. And on the last day, the Orioles knocked them out in a dramatic finish, leading to the Rays beating the I’m-not-trying-that-hard New York Yankees. Before you know it, Boston was in pure shock and disarray. The GM and manager took off running, leaving expensive players and an extremely uncertain future behind. Bobby Valentine tried picking up the pieces, but injuries, bad luck, dismal defeats, questionable decisions, and a crazy mid-season trade all but ruined the entire year.


Bobby Valentine needs to reach deep into his soul and find all his best tricks of the trade to make sure they can get the job done. The road to winning Boston’s heart lies in ruining the rest of the East Coast, starting from Tampa and heading north to the Bronx. He isn’t a bad manager, he just had the wrong first impression and to be honest his personality doesn’t mesh with the blue-collar environment. The solution to salvation is very simple:



To Win the Sox, you must Beat the Bronx.

Super Mario World 3: Block Blitz

So while the 3-D Mario franchise has been met with great praise and wonderful success in recent years, the 2-D aspect of it has been losing its luster recently. The creativity in the 2-D Mario games has gone downhill quite a bit. I have tackled this in another article before, but this time I am going to envision and describe what I think would be the perfect Mario game. This is my article about how I would handle the next 2-D Mario game.



For starters lets discuss the length. The original Mario World far back in 1991 had 72 levels. The fact that we have yet to try to overwhelmingly increase the quantity of levels since that gem leaves much to be desired. No more. A 1994 Game Boy game (Donkey Kong) had 100 levels, so why can’t Super Mario World 3? My game will have 110 levels—10 levels in 10 worlds and each of them contain a super-secret level that can be obtained if you collect all the gold coins scattered in each of the levels. Each level also has a star that you can receive if you can complete the random challenge that the level offers. The more coins and stars you collect, the more material you can get for your level editor. We will get to that later.



The plot is simple, but comes with a twist. Peach once again gets kidnapped from her castle and it’s up to Mario and Luigi to save the day. However, Wario and Waluigi, broke after recent financial disasters also want in on the action. While Mario and Luigi save the Princess to keep her safe and prevent the Mushroom Kingdom from being in the hands of Bowser, the anti-villains in purple and yellow are in it for the reward.



At the end of the game, you realize that the final boss isn’t Bowser but all the kids working together. To make matters more interesting it turns out to be Daisy that you saved, not Peach. Peach is actually being held in the castle of the 10th world, which can be reached only when you collect all the star coins of the previous 99 levels. You can play as Mario, Wario, Luigi, or Waluigi and they all lead to different endings depending on which character completes the most levels. As a bonus, Daisy becomes available after she gets rescued. As for the items; we shall go with these power-ups: classic mushroom, classic fireflower, classic raccoon, and for good measure a Hammer Bros. suit.



What will make this Mario game different from the others besides the playable characters is the emphasis on the block switches. Just like Mario World and its series of block switches, Mario World 3 will contain a dozen of them spread out through the game. You have to not only unlock all the switches to truly be able to beat the game, but you have to strategize when a switch should be on or off depending on the level. Having the right switches turned on and off allows for certain levels to be easier, allows access to unreachable coins and secrets, and can sometimes even lead to hidden exits. Entire levels have a different design depending on what blocks you have turned on. Similar to how Wario Land 3 was affected by the time of day in the environment, the environment in Mario World 3 is affected by the blocks that are unleashed/turned invisible because of the switches. Some levels can have three maybe four different looks depending on what blocks and platforms you are allowing to be revealed in the world.



As for Yoshi, we are definitely bringing him in, but it’s time to give him a little more room to work with. It’s time to transform Yoshi into the Yoshi from Super Mario World 2---which includes him hovering, stomping, throwing eggs, and spitting seeds. Make these specific levels Yoshi-exclusive, while at the same time keeping him away from the other levels. I am leaning more towards 7-8 Yoshi levels in the entire experience. And then let’s give each character their own movesets, as well as their strengths and weaknesses. Mario and Wario are the stronger characters, while Luigi and Waluigi are faster and can jump higher. Lastly, Daisy while being weak can float her way around the stages and reach previously unobtainable goodies.



Most importantly, Super Mario World 3 needs a color scheme and an art style. I want to see more of the hand-drawn sketchy look from the Mario and Luigi RPG games, Yoshi’s Island, and Mario World. The current 3-D look just doesn’t cut it in a 2-D plane. Games like Rayman and Little Big Planet while not being as good at platform gameplay are infinitely better in style, look, tone, and overall graphics. Super Mario used to have the best-looking games out there (Mario Bros. 3, Mario World, Mario 64) but in recent years the effort in the overall look of the Mario games has diminished quite a bit.


As a fun little addition, Mario World 3 will have that level editor that would be perfect for the WiiU tablet. Similar to Smash Brothers Brawl, this game will give you the chance to choose the terrain, obstacles, and anything extra that you want to add to the creation. And, the farther you progress and the more coins/stars you recover, the more goodies you can choose from when making the levels. Certain enemies, and maybe even bosses can be placed on the stage after you have proven yourself on the single-player mode. Then you can share it online for others to see, preview, and maybe even download. If Nintendo wants to take it a step even farther they can grab the best-made levels, group them up into collections, and make them downloadable for everyone that owns the game—while of course rewarding the creators with some extra credit for Virtual Console and WiiUWare.



Of course, this game is definitely multi-player.


Bottom Line: This is my Mario game. Super Mario World 3: Block Blitz will feature a longer-than-usual quest with more surprises than usual and then equipped with a new way of Mario platform gaming while also digging into the past to provide a fun and unique 2-D Mario game. Unlike previous titles, there will definitely be a true incentive to going back, finding secrets, and collecting things as they contribute to the actual and true-blue ending, as opposed to getting the ending without the necessity of finding every level. Mixing a little Mario World with Yoshi’s Island brings you Mario World 3: my vision of the perfect 2-D Mario game.