The (Ho-hum) Return of Toonami

Toonami is back.


Sort of.



Not really.


Not fully, anyway.

We spent years grieving over the elimination of one of the best spots of all of television. Weekday afternoons were dedicated to that three hour block that gave American audiences one of their first good tastes of consistent anime and teenage/adult-aimed shows. Dragonball Z, Sailor Moon, Gundam Wing embedded themselves into the underground cartoon scene thanks to Toonami. And now that we have gotten the return, it doesn’t quite feel complete. Surely some Toonami is better than no Toonami at all (Especially with Adult Swim heading towards the shallow end in quality) but something is missing.

The Toonami spots in the weekday afternoons, late at night, and extremely early mornings were more than just great cartoons airing one after the other. Much more than that. It was like a subculture for all the kids involved to enjoy. It had a style and a marvelous personality about itself, manifesting with the excellent space bass music, excellent animated montages, and grand commercials about upcoming cartoons. Then there is the lead character Tom who would review video games, introduce new cartoons, and even once in a while throw in a music video. Toonami was more than a block of television, it became a hybrid of different mediums interacting with each other within that timeframe.

Now, Toonami is limited to just Saturday nights, just three hours every week overall. Long gone are the awesome montages, the great commercials advertising the animated series within the block, and we don’t even get the great long introductions that would hype us up before the cartoon even started. Hell, I don’t even see any potential in upcoming movies every once in a while invading Toonami like back in the day.

This might all be premature bickering, but at the same time it’s hard for me to truly believe its back. As of now it looks like a thrown in consolation prize for all the complaining. If Cartoon Network truly believes in Toonami like it did back in the day, they should turn it into a weekend event, or bring it back to the weekday afternoons, and actually put forth some effort in all the promos, commercials, and extra goodies that used to sprinkle the three hour block back in the day. Bring back some more of the classic animes we all grew up and loved, and perhaps bring them uncut since now you are turning Toonami into an Adult Swim staple. Try to throw in some more interactivity with the Facebook and Twitter pages, and lastly don’t be afraid to throw in some surprises.

I think it would be awesome to once in a while do another Month of Miyazaki or throw in some full-length Japanese animated movies like the Dragonball films, Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Grave of the Fireflies, etc. They don’t even have to be Japanese, maybe pit the Batman movies, or other under-the-radar animated films like Iron Giant, Lord of the Rings, Hunchback of Notre Dame, etc.

I am more than happy to see Cartoon Network realizing its mistake for cancelling Toonami in the first place. But, now is the time to actually strengthen it to the level of quality we all remembered.


Cartoon Network, don’t squander this gem again. Please. 

New York Knicks: How to Destroy Your Own Momentum

New York Knicks, are you kidding me?


You are not going to sign Jeremy Lin?


You are not going to sign the biggest (good) news to happen to the organization since the 99 Knicks shocked the NBA world? On a business standpoint and on a quality standpoint, this was a dumbfounded stupid move to the utmost level.

The business side of me marvels at the fact that a player that has worldwide appeal just as well as stateside appeal isn’t being considered. The Knicks back in February were practically the biggest name in Taiwan, Vietnam, and China. The merchandise sales virtually exploded in the Far East coast when his name started dropping everywhere. Not signing him means someone else can ride the hype of the Linsanity and help their economic status in a league that has only 3-4 teams making legit money. The Rockets, Magic, Mavericks each can benefit greatly from a little extra positive exposure from Jeremy Lin. Quoting lightly another writer, isn’t it more than just coincidence that the one team with a heavy Asian market in the past (Yao Ming anyone?) ran after Lin with full fury?

And then let’s go to the quality standpoint. Jeremy Lin saved the Knicks’ season. They were on the ropes, down for the count. And then Carmelo Anthony goes down, and New York was practically waiting for baseball season. Jeremy Lin rises from out of nowhere and with his fast-paced energy, selfless style of play, and gambling style of point guard behavior transformed the Knicks into a legit playoff team. All in a span of a month. Basketball was exciting in the Big Apple for the first time in forever.

But they still want it to be Melo’s team, even though that has yet to work in their favor at any given moment. Even if it’s Melo’s team, Lin could have been an excellent bench player that can spark energy and life into the Knicks at any given moment. I don’t care how much he will be making on the third year, the Knicks actually looked fearful for the first time in ages—I would pay top dollar to continue this trend. Few players can influence and inspire a whole team and fanbase. Jeremy Lin accomplished this and who knows what could have happened if he had remained healthy at the start of the playoffs. For the record, you decided to sign an aging Jason Kidd over an emerging burst of energy known as the Linsanity.

I am beginning to believe you guys just don’t want to win.

Dark Knight Rises: 7/10

I wanted to truly enjoy Dark Knight Rises.

I honestly did. I wanted to appreciate the grand direction, the excellent acting performances, superb cinematography, obvious amount of effort, and excellent wrapping of a trilogy that revived Batman and DC Comics from the Quality Dead.

I wanted to appreciate the obvious (and subtle) nods to the classic Batman comics and other works of literature. I wanted to appreciate and truly adore the way they fleshed out the Batman arc with containing story lines of the other two installments. I wanted to truly engulf myself in all this and hail this as the ultimate chapter in arguably the greatest superhero trilogy in the history of film.

However…..

I can't get past the fact that the running time was zooming past 160 minutes, when 30 minutes could easily have been cut. I can't get past the fact that the appearance of Batman himself was reduced to just a couple appearances, getting far less screen time than many secondary characters (especially the villains Catwoman and Bane). I can't also get past the fact that Batman is contradicting some of his fiercest creeds. Rather ironic that two of our biggest criticisms of the 1989 version of Batman were happening here. I can't also get past the fact that within the first half hour, there were about four story lines rummaging around and we had to wait until the end of the entire first act to even get the Dark Knight.

What most strikes me about Dark Knight Rises is that the utter lack of catharsis. The trilogy has always suffered from this, replacing payoff moments with moment after moment of despair. The gloom and doom of Batman works as long we have smaller tuned moments to exhale and relax the nerves. Dark Knight Rises has absolutely none of this throughout the nearly-three hour affair. Yes Batman is the antithesis of your Marvel heroes, but a little humor and deviance from the main conflict couldn't hurt the movie. Even Spider-Man 2 in the midst of all Peter's dramas still had the escapades at the Daily Bugle to infuse some relief into the movie.

While the ending definitely redeems the preceding hour of tragedy and tension with plenty of twists and surprises (Thank goodness), and the final act was far better than the first two, I still can't help but miss the fun of the superhero subculture. Dark Knight Rises is definitely a well-crafted finale to the massive story arc, but it's not exactly a ride you'll want to experience over and over again.

Milking Pixar Classics......again.

Finding Nemo 2?

What is this movie going to be called Pixar? Finding Nemo Again? Relocating Nemo? Finding Marlin? Finding Dory? Forgetting Dory? Finding Bruce? Let’s be serious here, why on earth are we re-opening this story? Pixar’s obsession with sequels and prequels recently is leading to yet another installment to a movie that didn’t ask for one---along with Cars and Monster’s Inc---and rumor has it Toy Story.

Andrew Stanton has confirmed that his next project is going to be the sequel to the mega blockbuster masterpiece that only remains one of Pixar’s biggest success stories, but also one of the best animated films of all-time. However, not all excellent movies inquire a sequel. Can you honestly imagine a Shawshank Redemption 2? Pulp Fiction 2? Fight Club 2? City of God 2? I certainly could not, and I have no idea how and why they would continue a story that already contained an excellent ending.

What happened to originality? Whatever happened to creative stories? And on one hand we are spoiled because it took 4 years before Pixar created their first sequel, and then it was another 11 years before we received another one. But, between 2010 and 2016, we will have 3 sequels and one prequel, with a potential fourth one lingering about (Toy Story 4).

Pixar to the animation and film majors was our one shining light as they took major risks, gambled with some potentially financially disastrous projects for the sake of pushing the medium to new heights (Wall-E, especially Ratatouille). While Dreamworks, Sony, and Blue Sky milk franchises straight down to the ground, Pixar had always been there with an original story right around the corner. For every Dreamworks gem, Pixar has 3-4 of them. Not a single computer animated studio has yet to top Toy Story 1-3, Finding Nemo, Up, Ratatouille, and The Incredibles. But it becomes like an act of betrayal when we hear of yet another Pixar sequel in the works. They used to take pride in their original tales...but are slowly drifting away from its usual approach to filmmaking.



Then again, maybe it will be--stop it, stop it!! We found Nemo already!! Don't continue that story!!!




Please, no more sequels. Toy Story's sequels were good and all, but does it really justify milking other franchises from the past on a near-consistent basis all of a sudden? We want more Up and Brave as opposed to Cars 2.

Dreaming about beating the Dream Team

Kobe Bryant, what are you drinking?


What are you smoking?


Lastly, what on earth fell on your head?

You honestly believe you can beat the 1992 Dream Team, the greatest basketball team ever assembled? You honestly believe that you can beat the team that has a line-up full of Hall of Famers (11 of the 12 players are in the Hall)? Kobe Bryant, do you honestly think that you could take on a team that had Jordan, Pippen, Stockton, Robinson, Ewing, Malone, Barkley, and Mullin at their performing peak?

Give me a break. Seriously.

This current Dream Team squad consists of a slew of the best players in the NBA getting together to try to win Gold. The 92 squad consisted of among the best players in HISTORY getting together to win gold. Not even all the best players in the NBA are in the current squad---where’s Dwight Howard and Dwayne Wade? The only flaw in the 92 team was Christian Laettner, and even then he wasn’t that bad a player.

Are you serious to tell me that Chandler has a shot against Ewing and Robinson? Are you serious to tell me that Durant and Carmelo have a shot against Larry Bird and Scottie Pippen? Kevin Love and Blake Griffin would have had to take on Charles Barkley and Karl Malone. And lastly, Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, and James Harden would have to take on Michael Jordan, the greatest player ever and John Stockton, one of the best defender/passer combinations ever to play the game. Nowadays the NBA is a heavy pick-and-roll team-----Stockton and Malone created arguably the most successful pick-and-roll combination in NBA history. The only men that could possibly successfully take on the backcourt is LeBron James and Kevin Durant—even though Durant doesn’t always give his 100% (See NBA Finals).

I don’t have stats to back this up, but I don’t need stats to back me up. It is common sense. Jordan, Magic, and Bird in one team with several other Hall of Famers in the background---this current NBA would be extremely delusional if they think they can take on the original Dream Team. It is fine to have some confidence in your squad, but this is arrogance to the nth degree if you believe that you have even a remote shot against the team that forever changed the game of basketball.

Kobe Bryant, lay off the sauce, lay of whatever it is that is making your head spin. Because stupid statements like the one you just made do nothing more than drop the I.Q. level of everyone that listened.


Don’t make me laugh Kobe, your team has a great shot at gold----but no shot towards the 92 legendary team.

The Wild Ride of the MLB All-Star Game

So it’s the tenth year that the All-Star Game actually mattered in terms of season play for Major League Baseball. The winning league gets the home-field advantage, as opposed to the previous system which alternated the home-field advantage between leagues. The opinions range from loving the idea to hating the idea to the holy heavens, and not really much in between.

The argument in favor of adding the value to the All-Star game is that the expedition game will never end in an atrocious tie that we experienced a decade ago on that fateful Milwaukee night while at the same time will pretty much require for the players to put forth an effort to win.

Can I please repeat my disdain for that All-Star Game that ended in a....ugh...tie?

This required effort will prevent the All-Star Game from transforming into the atrocious Pro Bowl on the NFL. Because let’s be honest, baseball’s all-star game is far better than that of the NBA and the NFL. That way the viewers get their money’s worth, as well the advertisers and the fans that watch the game.

Now, the argument against the inclusion of value to the game is that it is pretty darn unfair to determine who has more home games in a World Series with an exhibition match. They say it’s not fair that a bad performance by the American League led to the Rangers having to lose the World Series in St. Louis last season. It also took away the fun and carefree attitude of the game that we used to experience back in the day. The baseball players don’t really get a break---and with 162 games in the season, we can definitely argue that they deserve one.

But in my opinion, the biggest reason behind the dropping of ratings is because the inclusion of interleague play, which damaged and tarnished the mystique of the drastically different American and National League. The rarity of seeing a Yankee go up against a Pirate is diminished mildly because now Interleague exists, and it occurs several weeks a year. It has nothing to do with the players involved, because the talent pool has expanded everywhere, and we get about a dozen teams that compete until August. But as long as Interleague exists, the All-Star Game loses a little interest.

For me, I believe we should remove the value of the All-Star Game, make it a fully fan-run voting process, and hand home-field advantage to the team whose league won the year before. This will add more interest to the World Series, as teams like the Braves and Marlins can (just for a few days) actually root for the Cardinals for the chance to get the Home Field the next year. But the All-Star game should be back to its carefree fun games, even if it won’t increase the ratings.

MLB, saving the All-Star Game is next to impossible because of the way the world works today. If you want to make it more of an experience, it requires destroying interleague, eliminating the value tag, and truly giving the fans the ultimate power to vote everybody in. And then throw in some surprises like cameo appearances, performances prior to the game, and just a more in-depth look to the players that are in the All-Star game.

There are ways to improve the Midsummer Classic.

Having it determine the World Series home field?





Nah.

The Wimbledon That May End All Arguments

July 8th, 2012 could be the day.

This could be the day in which we have no other choice but to honor Roger Federer as the greatest player in the history of tennis. The arguing can die down, all the counterpoints can be discontinued, and there is nothing else we can do but marvel at his greatness.

~16 majors.
~#1 for four years in a row at one point
~Tied more most semifinal appearances
~Has won all four majors at one point
~Just one week behind Pete Sampras for most weeks as the #1 player

Despite all he has accomplished, there’s still debate on who is the best player of all-time. John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Rod Laver had been mentioned in conversation over the years whenever Roger gets compared to recent dominant winners. But if Roger can beat Andy Murray when England in its entirely is not on his side, if he can beat Murray after surviving upset bids, outlasting Nadal’s run, and ultimately beating the strongest player on tennis today in four quick sets, what more could this man possibly prove to make sure he is considered the best of the sport?

I will be the first to admit that Pete Sampras had held my #1 ranking for the longest time, even after each of his records were getting shot down by Federer himself. However Federer in recent years has won me over by his ability to stay in tune with the far younger and still spectacular competitors like Nadal (who may also be considered one of the best), Djokovik (currently the strongest man in tennis), and underrated folks like Andy Murray and David Ferrer.

This is where we stand: Roger Federer can win his 17th major, can get the #1 ranking once again, and can win his 7th Wimbledon title all in one swoop. And all this is happening at age 30 (approaching 31) ---in a sport when age 28 is considered old. Despite Murray being far younger, Federer is still the favorite to win. At age 30 being the favorite to win a Grand Slam? That’s definitely impressive. And that is sign of greatness.

And come tomorrow, it could just be another piece of evidence showing that Roger Federer is indeed the greatest player of all-time. We can argue it all we want today, but if Wimbledon 2012 is won by Roger, then no arguing will be allowed. Similar to Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth, and Muhammad Ali, Roger Federer will be the undisputed king of his sport.

"It was Supposed to be our Year"

Let's repeat it again----------
It was supposed to be our year.


As a sports fan of any team every once in a while you will start a season with high aspirations, high expectations, and the heavy thirst for the championship. But there’s nothing worse than not meeting those expectations. There’s nothing worse than watching your talented team not deliver---and with baseball it’s even worse because the season is so long.

In my case, we have the current Tampa Bay Rays roster lingering in fourth place---in the toughest division in all of sports. Now granted it’s been a lot of bad luck with over 10 players on the DL at one point, and currently a half-dozen players still roaming the disabled list, we still don’t look like the Rays organization that eeks out wins and finds a way to frustrate their opponents.

Our luck with rookies has definitely run its course as we see the likes of Jennings, Moore, Cobb not really provide the firepower upstart rookies in the past have provided. And our luck with pickups have faded this season as Matsui, Pena, Scott, Lobaton, and especially (especially) Molina have not really helped out much of anything throughout this season. Even worse Molina’s supposed abilities as a catcher have not been on display yet, as our starting pitching’s numbers have not been as strong as last season. Our defense has gone a few steps down with our apparent abilities of making errors in costly moments, and even our clutch small ball abilities have not been as good.

Someone at ESPN jinxed us because they picked the Rays to be in the lower end of the division before the season started because they believe their luck with the pickups, rookies, and has-beens was eventually going to run out. And this is what is occurring as injury after injury plague us, and close loss after close loss continues to hamper us. Do we still have time to turn things around? Oh most definitely, but with this always-competitive division you can only fall off the track for so long before you lose the chance to ever catch up to the rivals. The Yankees are killer, the Red Sox are finding their steps, and even the Orioles won’t be backing down anytime soon (I predict August).


Watching the Rays this year has been frustrating not just because we are low, but because this was supposed to be the time that our recent rookies started improving, that our new rookies were supposed to be fresh off the gate, and our pickups were going to provide the extra oomph we needed to take control of the division and reach the playoffs again. And as of now, none of this is really happening. We aren’t playing Tampa Bay Rays baseball, and it hurts. But hey, as a baseball fan, there’s still hope. Every season is a marathon, not a sprint.

A marathon we are currently losing.

The thought still lingers:

“This was supposed to be our year”