Oh South Bend

I have lived in Northern Indiana for my entire life. The only real thing that it has to offer is Notre Dame, and its relative closeness to Chicago. I have taken advantage of Notre Dame just about as much as I possibly can, and have seen the general scariness and overcrowding chaos that Chicago has to offer. So, now, basically it becomes increasingly apparent to me that Northern Indiana is so yesterday. Which means, that my tomorrow is about to take place somewhere else. Unfortunately, I have no way of getting there. I am trying to find a way, and I will try and use every advantage that the people within my life can offer me, but I am afraid that I will always be stuck here in my already happened. I am thankful to Indiana for what it has given me and what has taken place here, but its time for a goodbye.

Caught off guard

There are times in ones life when you realize that you may have missed the boat on something. Or in other words, you were so completely unaware of something that when it revealed itself to you, it catches you off guard. I had such an experience recently while watching one of my new favorite shows.

The show is Parenthood, and it is about the only good thing that NBC is doing right now. It is not really a show for everyone, but it has a few of my favorite actors in it, and its familial theme is one that I have always enjoyed in my television shows. Now, the thing that caught me off guard involves an actress who recently made a cameo appearance on the show. I was not really sure who the actress was while I was watching it, but what I did know was that she was beautiful and very pleasing to the eye. I had meant to go online and find out who this woman was, but before I had the chance to do so, another one of my favorite shows opened my eyes to the truth. This show, Sportsnation on ESPN, mentioned that the actress' name is Minka Kelly. This is what caught me off guard. I had heard the name Minka Kelly before and I was aware that she was engaged to Derek Jeter, but I was unaware of what she looked like. I was caught completely off guard by the fact that this woman I had only heard of ended up being heart breakingly beautiful, and somehow I had managed to not recognize it before now. I had missed her in Friday Night Lights, and American Dreams, and whatever other shows or films she had been in. I am surprised by this, mostly because I like to think of myself as someone who knows a hell of a lot about popular culture and sports. Minka Kelly, a person who crosses into both worlds, passed by me without me having any clue of how truly amazing she is. Sorry Minka, my bad. (I admit that certainly some part of her attractiveness is her awesome name)

Lastly, I want to warn you all of the second thing that caught me off guard. This happens to pertain the the movie The Spirit. It is about a superhero and is made to look extremely similar to Sin City. Sin City was and is glorious, however, The Spirit is tremendously terrible. It caught me off guard how truly terrible this movie is compared to how absolutely marvelous Sin City is. Stay away from The Spirit, otherwise yu will lose more time than you will want to spare on such a piece of crap.

So, About Me

I think the hardest thing anyone has to do is take a good look at themselves and come to whatever realizations they need to in order to improve themselves. For some reason I have struggled with this in my life, and to be honest with you, I believe that my entire family has had difficulties with it. I have had to learn to admit that my self-esteem or view of myself is not as strong or positive as it could be. I do not like to make excuses or attempt to put the blame for my feelings on anyone else. Therefore, I have to once again look at myself and realize that there are several improvements needed. The first time that I decided to make changes was in high school. I did a lot of work to change who I was throughout college and over time the changes took hold and I improved a bit. However, ever since I finished college I have struggled to find my way in life and now I know that I must once again do quite a bit of work to change who I am and begin to improve myself. So, it is with this that I let you know that I am excited and scared about the road ahead, but I plan to finish the journey with a brand new outlook on life and a brand new life in general. Thanks for reading

Finding A New Way

Yes, it has been a while since I posted on here, but to be very honest with you I have a lot to figure out. I have been contemplating several things and trying to come up with a new direction. I have begun to realize that things need to start changing and that the spark for all of this change can only come from me. In the past I had always been a firm believer in having a phrase or ideology that I would repeat in my head over and over to keep me going. I always had that one thing to help me focus and keep me going, and over the past year, I have lost my grasp on that practice. I guess, basically, right now Im waiting for the next phrase to come along that I can latch on to and focus my life.

However, until that meditative state takes over, I have a few other things to mention. The first, is that I along with most of the people I know have been completely taken over by Old Spice's add campaign this year. They have provided us with tremendous commercials as of late and I would love to thank them. Secondly, I just got back from a trip to Cincinnati over the weekend, and it is a pretty sweet place. I can only speak for the Hyde Park/Mt. Lookout area, but it is a very young and active area that provides a lot for the people who live there. I would recommend checking it out if possible, and if you do beware of the crazy amount of small lizards who shoot around the ground.

Finally, I think its important that I touch on the missed opportunity that was Gordon Haywards life on Monday night. He is by far Butler's best men's basketball player, and it was thrust upon him to take the final shot in the national championship game to try and upset the almighty Duke. However, Hayward missed by a tremendously small margin and went from possibly being remembered forever for hitting the greatest shot ever, to now probably a mediocre NBA player who really never got to the status that he could have been. Now, thanks to your miss I easily cruised to a dominant victory with my brackets over certain friends who like to talk a lot of trash, so I am thankful to you for that. In the long run though, Im sure you would have rather had it the other way around. Sorry Gordon, better luck next year my friend. Thanks for reading

End of an Era

Well well well. The other day I warned you of the upcoming possibility of awesomeness that can be brought on by Wrestlemania. I did not take it upon myself to view this event due to the fact that for the past year or so, the WWE has really been lacking in its creativity and entertainment value for me. However, apparently, last nights event marked the end of an era. A great and tremendous era at that. Shawn Michaels lost to the Undertaker in a Win streak vs. Retirement match. It was the Undertaker's 17 year winning streak at Wrestlemania vs. Shawn Michael's retirement. Therefore, last night marked the end of Shawn Michael's wrestling career.

I know what many of you are thinking. It is just a story line and not for real. I am here to tell you that from what I have read and heard from several insiders in the company and wrestling business, Shawn is done wrestling. He may perform other duties within the WWE, but he will no longer wrestle. This is truly a sad day, especially in the eyes of a young boy who first saw The Heartbreak Kid wrestle at Wrestlemania 4 and just skyrocket to superstardom within the WWE. He is and will likely always be my most favorite wrestler. Although The Rock is a close second with Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam not far behind, Shawn Michaels was and is the original show stopper and greatest in ring performer I have ever seen. I remember the days of watching him enter the Royal Rumble at number 1 and end up winning the whole thing, defeating Bret Hart in the first ever Iron Man Match, being a founder of the original D-Generation X, and lets not forget his pioneering efforts in the great Ladder Matches that he was a part of. Yesterday was truly the end of an amazing era, and I can only hope that the WWE get its act together and find a new air apparent to his throne.

I would personally like to thank Shawn Higgenbothom for all his efforts. He amazed and inspired me in several ways. I am not ashamed to say that he definitely made it possible for me to dream. He is not the biggest or strongest, but he showed me that all you need is heart and effort and you can truly do anything. For all of you who know that wrestling is fake and all made up, I am aware of this, but it does not mean that I cannot be awed by what this man (or Character) accomplished. Thanks for reading

Wrestlemania!

Tomorrow night renews a great American heritage. Tomorrow night is once again Wrestlemania. Unfortunately, Wrestlemania has not lived up to its name for several years. In fact, professional wrestling itself has not lived up to its name for quite a long time. In my opinion Wrestlemania 14 marked an end of an era, and ever since, the great tradition has struggled to regain its glory days. Wrestlemania 14 featured Stone Cold Steve Austin defeating the legend Shawn Michaels for the WWF championship. While there have been a few stars to come along since, this event marked the end of the legendary era of the WWF.

Now, the WWE, tries to make too many wrestlers into stars and the storylines only last about three or four weeks before another pay per view event airs and brings the conflict to a far too quick end. In my opinion, the WWE should cut its talent roster in half, keep only the best of the best, and dramatically cut down on pay per views in order to build better and stronger story lines. They should keep the legendary pay per views like the Royal Rumble, Survivor Series, Summerslam, and King of the Ring. Other than those the other pay per views are just too much. No doubt tomorrow night will have its moments, but I will not be watching, or for that matter caring, who wins what match or overcomes whatever obstacle they need to.

Professional wrestling used to be a great American tradition, but when the money hungry Vince McMahon got his hands on it, he turned it into a quick economic juggernaut that could not keep its standards up and still turn out enough profit. I would love it if the WWE would heed my advice, and the advice of several others who write about professional wrestling, and take things back to the old ways and contract itself into a smaller and much stronger company. Its time to cut the fat Vince and bring back the bigger than life feeling that professional wrestling has lost over the past several years.

What Happened Disney?

Several years back as a young boy I found myself thoroughly enjoying The Mighty Ducks Movies. To be honest I am completely surprised that Disney stopped themselves after offering us only three such films. In the past Disney has completely exploited all of its successful enterprises, however, in this case it would seem to me that they dropped the ball, or should I say puck. Once Disney realized how popular High School Musical had become, thanks largely in part to the same people who loved the Mighty Ducks, they jumped all over it and have already matched the Ducks movies and I would assume that they will surpass the Ducks within the next couple of years. All I am trying to say is that I am surprised by the actions of Disney as I look back at it. I realize that it would have been difficult to keep the same people involved, but that has not stopped the great Disney machine in the past. There will no doubt be new kids in the next set of High School Musical movies and or shows. Therefore, I find it very interesting that Disney basically chose not to continue with the Ducks and over all it would seem as if they have chosen to try and forget them altogether. I know that there were Mighty Ducks cartoons, but those involved actual duck type aliens flying around fighting bad guys, and also Disney used the name on a professional hockey team, but neither of those were in the same spirit as the films. I am not bringing this up in the hopes that Disney bring back the Ducks, but I am asking that they provide us with a new group of kids overcoming obstacles to fall in love with. Bring on the next generation of superstar kids who are ready to rise up from the gutter to the great heights of winning the olympics, or whatever else Disney can think up.

Never Forget

An interesting thing happens to all of us every single day. It probably happens hundreds of times every day to every single person. This thing that happens is called memory. Memory is absolutely nuts to me. You really are not aware of what exactly you remember until you remember it, and you never know when you will remember something until you do. It makes no sense to me. You may hear a song that you literally have not heard for years, and find yourself somehow remembering all the words and singing along. While this often happens without any effort, many of us struggle when we really sit down and try to remember something. There were several times during school when taking a test that I would come to a question that I know I covered when I studied the material, but no matter how hard I tried I just could not remember the information. Memory is nuts.

Memory can come and go. You may remember something one day and forget it the next. You may remember your best friends phone number from growing up, but you cant seem to remember your own phone number. You usually remember the name of the girl that you never talked to, but find yourself struggling to remember the name of the girl that you dated for a few months in college. I find myself wanting to know more about what makes us remember things, but I realize that I really only want to know what helps me remember. If I can unlock the secret to my own memory I could easily be King. Those people who have unlocked the secret to the success of memorizing what they need to and remember when they need to are the ones who are ruling the world. I want to be one of these people, but in all honesty I know that I wont do the work to make it happen.

In a weird way this gets me to a different topic. Not settling. I think that far too many people are settling in their lives all the time. I find myself becoming dangerously close to settling. I dont ever want to look back on anything and realize that I settled for something less than what I could have had. I am constantly thinking about ways to make my life better, but then find a new thing that catches my fancy or a reason to steer away from the original thought. As long as I keep thinking and keep trying to find what it is that will make me happy I know that I havent settled, and as long as I havent settled I am happy. Well, there it is. It would seem that as long as Im happy in always searching then Im happily searching. It probably does not make any sense to all of you, but it makes perfect sense to me. thanks for reading

Dear Tiger,

I myself am completely over Tiger Woods. I would absolutely love it if for some reason Mr. Woods would just disappear for the rest of time from the face of the earth. I no longer want to hear about him or any of his women. However, there is one piece of information that I want to know and am fairly certain everyone else is waiting for as well. All I want to know is what exactly took place on that fateful thanksgiving night that started this whole thing off. Thats it. Thats all. Tell us what happened that night and disappear forever. I know that if you dont leave us to our lives, we are going to have to hear about you forever. We will have to hear about how you either failed in your comeback or succeeded, whether or not you fell of your "sex addiction" wagon, if your wife smartened up and left you, or finally, whether or not you got your credibility back with the world. Please Tiger, let us know what in the hell caused you to crash your car that night and how bad did Elin kick your ass.

Yeah Bro or should I say Brah

This morning I took it upon myself to relive some of the great memories from the not so distant past. The main tool in this time warp was a television show that unfortunately only lasted three tremendous episodes. This show was Living Lahaina on MTV. It is the story of some surfer dudes who are supposed to be spending their days teaching surf lessons on the island of Hawaii. However, these totally awesome dudes spend most of their time partying and just living the life that I desperately want for myself. Although this show only lasted the short three episodes, it lead to at least one nickname for a friend and several quick laughs on a daily basis. I was able to watch the three episodes once again thanks to MTV.com and until now the idea of researching the show and the guys had not crossed my mind. I will definitely need to look into it and find out whether or not there are any more episodes out there to watch. Until that time I most definitely recommend that you take the time and enjoy some good bro action if you have the time. Also, this makes me realize that MTV has actually had quite a few shows that did not last very long, but were in fact great entertainment. Im not talking about shows like Laguna Beach, a great show for many reasons, but more so shows like 8th and Ocean and several others. It would seem that MTV might cut shows before they are really given a chance to thrive. So, MTV, I hope that you chill out in the future and let us enjoy the little things in the shows that we like. Thanks for reading

Combination=Glorious

This morning I witnessed a most glorious creation. Some of you are going to doubt this piece of absolute awesomeness purely due to the fact that I saw it on saturday morning cartoons on The CW, but I swear to you that it truly is amazing. It is called Turtles Forever and combines the old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cartoon from the late 80s with the cartoon from the early 2000s. It is awesome. I have not finished watching it yet, so I cannot clearly state its level of awesome, but I will bet that once I finish it, it will quickly surpass the second and third live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies. I would have to say that this particular combination is good, but a great combination would be combining the WCW and WWF of the late 90s with one another.

I am fully aware that they are combined now and have been since the early 2000s, but by the time they combined much of what would have made an earlier combination great was over. Im talking about how glorious it could have been to have the NWO vs. DX at their prime, or Sting vs. Austin, The Nation of Domination vs. Harlem Heat, or several other dream matches that could have taken place during this time. I will forever be left with the What ifs on that combination, but I can and do thank the creators of the Ninja Turtles for combining the two series and making it light and comical for me to enjoy. There are no doubt several other combinations that could be truly amazing, but I will leave you to thinking of your own and enjoying the possible gloriousness in your own head. Also, very quickly, if you get a chance try and watch Donald Glover on Comedy Central Presents this weekend. If you cant catch him there, he appears on Community on NBC, or go to youtube and check out Derrick Comedy. Thanks for reading

Bad Ronald Bad

Um, so yeah, I have two words for Mr. Ron Washington; I knew you were a druggie liar. As I made very clear yesterday, Texas Ranger's manager Ron Washington has had to have used drugs on more than the one occasion that he claimed he did, and today my beliefs were justified. Ron came out and admitted to using marijuana and amphetemines during his playing career. Now now Mr. Washington, thats not it and we all know it. You have used your entire life and I know it. You need to step forward and let us all know that you are basically the real life Tyrone Biggums.

On a much lighter note and far less spiteful, against a person anyway, is my feeling toward eye drops. I despise eye drops and am currently being forced to use them to attempt to clear up corneal ulcers which seemingly came out of nowhere and are causing me great discomfort. My hate of eye drops really has nothing to do with the drop itself, but more so with my hate of sitting there looking at the drop coming out of the bottle waiting for it to drop into your eye. Is the drop going to be super cold, somewhat painful, soothing, what? I cannot wait to finish these drops and finally get to put my contacts back in so that I can see further than ten to fifteen feet.

Finally my gaze is cast upon the NCAA basketball tournament. Last night The New Mexico Lobos won their first game. This made my father happy and caused me great despair as I had to listen to him brag about "his team" which I am fairly confident that he has never even seen play a full game. My only resort is to ask all of you to cast bad juju on the Lobos tomorrow as they play their second round game against the Washington Huskies. Go Huskies Beat Lobos. Thanks for reading

Ok Lets Talk

Apparently last summer the manager of the Texas Ranger baseball team admitted to and failed a drug test for cocaine. Ron Washington admitted that he would fail the drug test before it was even administered, and upon his failure of said drug test, claimed that it was a one time mistake and will never happen again. Washington has been tested three times per week since and has not yet failed another drug test. It seems that Washington has overcome his mistake and found his way back on to the straight and narrow, but I cannot help but completely not believe his story.

Washington claimed that it was a one time mistake. What? I do not think that a 57 year old man goes out one day and when given the choice all of a sudden decides to go ahead and partake in some nose candy. No sir. This man had used cocaine before and was not caught until this drug test. All you need do is look at this man. He looks like a crazy crack head tweeker looking for his next fix. Come on Ron, you gotta do better than that story, no one believes that you only used cocaine that one time and it just happened to come right before a drug test. Secondly, what are the Texas Rangers doing. Why is this guy still in charge of your baseball team. He is at least a former crack head. I would not want this guy in charge of Fifty Cents, much less my entire baseball team. So, Ron Washington, you better tell the truth, and Rangers you better get your act together.

On another topic all together, I recently saw an old episode of Step by Step. This viewing brought back all of my old memories of watching the show and all the other shows that were on TGIF back in the day. One character that stood out for me back then, and now, was the little tomboy daughter Alicia. Thanks to TMZ and my own curiosity I found out that Alicia or Christine Lakin in real life grew in to quite the attractive woman. I just wanted to share her transformation with all of you as well, so enjoy the pictures and thanks for reading.

March is Mad

The 2010 Men's NCAA basketball tournament begins tomorrow. This is always a very exciting time of year, and this year is no different. Well, no different in the fact that an exciting tournament is about to begin, but less exciting for me due to the fact that my personal favorite team is once again nowhere near being good enough to make the tournament field. That team is Indiana University, and as long as I can remember I was raised to love and cherish the IU basketball team. However, recent years have seen a tremendous rift within the Houston household over team loyalty.

You see, it all began in the year 2000 when coach Bob Knight was fired from the university. Although his firing was fairly controversial, I was left with only a little bit of sadness and despair over his departure. On the other hand, my father, the man who made me into the hoosier loving man that I am, found the whole situation very troubling and basically severed ties with the university and its basketball team. My father decided to change his loyalty to Texas Tech to follow coach Knight, and also more recently after letting go of the Red Raiders after Knight's departure from that team, he has found a new "love" for the New Mexico Lobos coached by former Indiana player once coached by Knight, Mr. Steve Alford. Now, while all of this has taken place I have kept my loyalty in its right place. I have stayed with the hoosiers through it all and will remain until I die.

My loyalty has not been easy. Recently, thanks to now former coach Sampson, the hoosiers have been scraping the bottom of the barrel. However, the season immediately after Knight left, the hoosiers made a glorious run to the national championship game. Looking back on it, it is no coincidence that as soon as Knight's tremendous yet tyrannical reign ended at Indiana, his players rejoiced and played with more vigor and zeal than they had in years, nearly culminating in another championship for the school. The team may be extremely far away from a repeat performance of this tremendous feat, but they continue to gain positive experience every year and sooner than later they will be back in the tournament and ready to make a run for another championship.

As far as this years tournament and the teams that are in it, I have a few basic opinions on how things will go. I am a little biased as far as some of the teams are concerned, which may lead you to not head my words as much as you should. First, I look to see the Lobos lose in the first round to Montana in the hopes of being able to rub it in my fathers face for years to come. Another team that I loathe, but respect, is Duke. This hatred may or may not be due to the fact that my best friend loves the Blue Devils, but either way I despise them. I am able to look through my hatred and realize that they are well coached and always play the best team basketball every single year. This year, Duke has the best team it has fielded in several years, and I am putting all my imaginary money on them winning the entire tournament. There are several teams that can easily defeat the Blue Devils and snatch the championship away, but many of them lack the team skills that Duke exemplifies and uses game in and game out to dominate.

Take the necessary steps to watch as many games of the tournament as you can, and if you do nothing else, please join me in cheering heartily against the New Mexico Lobos. Thanks for reading

You really cant make this stuff up

As I continue to go through life and look at the things that are going on around me and going on throughout the world, I keep coming to the same realization. You truly cannot make this stuff up. There are so many unimaginable things happening every single day that I am constantly amused and astounded by them. When I was younger I was either completely ignorant to the way things really were, or the world has changed so drastically over the past several years that the bizarre and insane has become the rule. I think that as a member of the younger generation in America that is struggling to find their place and figure out exactly what the real world is all about, that not only I, but we as a generation have been wronged by those who came before us.

I truly believe that my generation has been the one that everyone has been looking to throughout the past as the one who will have to deal with everything. I have thought about this in several ways, and I keep coming back to the same result. The people who came before us, sadly alot of our parents, brushed off alot of the difficult issues and problems of the day and left them directly for our generation to deal with. The obvious problems of the environment, the economy, and overpopulation throughout the country have been mostly ignored and even exploited by past generations and left for us to deal with. I think that we will eventually be able to find our way and actually fix several of these problems, but as really the first generation that has basically been left out in the cold by everyone before us, we have quite the journey ahead of us.

The biggest problem standing in our way of actually fixing these problems are the people who actually made these problems. Several of the people responsible for these problems and the ones who have benefited the most from exploiting them are still in powerful positions and actually still creating problems to this day. Therefore, I call for a revolt of my generation against all those who came before us. We are in a very interesting situation. We need to come together and help everyone else realize that if we as a country are really going to change things for the better we have to actually change things. We must get rid of the older "dirty" people who are in charge and begin to replace them with people of my generation who have ideas and the zeal to make the problems go away and fix this nation of ours.

It is time for the youth to revolt and make the changes that are necessary in our country. Rise up and take your place in the solution. Thanks for reading

Lil Wayne's World

Unfortunately Lil Wayne is now in jail probably trying to figure out what to do as a sober person who basically can just not go outside. However, before Lil went into jail he made sure that he made several music videos and songs to help hold us over while he is away. Lil Wayne basically appears in everyones songs anyway and is in way too many videos already so a break from him would be nice, but then again, who am I kidding he is most glorious.

Another one of Lil Waynes accomplishments has been to introduce us to the young hip hop stars that he has signed to his personal label. From what I have seen and heard there is quite a bit of decent talent among these young apprentices. The biggest of these stars in my eyes is Nicki Minaj. I immediately took a liking to her mostly because I thoroughly enjoy the sound of a female rapper, but upon closer appraisal, I have realized her true talent. I only hope that she is able to have more staying power than any other female rapper in the past. There has really never been a female rapper, other than Missy Elliot, to stick around for more than a few years. I believe that Minaj has the ability to beat this out due to her unique sound and lyrical style.

Lil has also brought about a new style and way of doing things that is beginning to bother me a little bit. I like to call it the stutter technique, or record skip. It is when a word or part of a word is repeated over and over really quickly for a couple of seconds. I like this effect is certain areas and in small amounts, but it is becomming far too prevalent on all of Wayne, and his apostles, songs. I am not completely out of love with this technique, but I am afraid that if we do not get this situation solved, that I will quickly begin to hate it. So, please lets tone down the stutter effect.

Its the beginning of a new week everyone, take a moment to enjoy it, and if you get a chance get out and watch the very funny She's Out of My League. Thanks for reading

The Haus of Gaga dominates

Lady Gaga has done it yet again. I viewed her new music video for Telephone yesterday, and ever since it has been dominating my mind. She is the best. No one else has ever come close in the past, or will ever come close to her skills. When I first took notice of Gaga a few years ago I never thought that she had the talent to reach these heights, but I can now say that I truly believe that she is the best performer in the world right now, and may in fact be able to become the greatest ever.

Now, I definitely realize that many people completely dislike Gaga, or perhaps do not understand her. I dont fully understand her, nor probably will I ever get it, but one thing that I can tell you is that she is most glorious. I mean what can be better than her rocking out in an American flag outfit, directly followed by killing it in some sort of crazy cat suit. You must admit that not only is her music catchy and fun, but her performances of the songs is totally next level. If you find yourself being a Gaga hater I feel sad for you, but also implore you to just sit back and enjoy it.

Revisited

How many times in your life do you think back to certain things that you enjoyed in the past and have wondered if you would still enjoy them. I tend to do this alot. I admit that I am often thinking back on the past and wondering if things will ever be the same again. Recently, I revisited a few of the things that I really enjoyed before. The first of these was a great band called The Meg and Dia Band. They came around a few years ago with the song Monster. It was a good song, and it appealed greatly to me because it was a hard rock song with a female singing lead. I have a huge weak spot for any group that lives up to this. So, a few weeks back I heard Monster again and found myself wondering what, if anything, The Meg and Dia Band were up to now. I really didnt find out the answer to that until I happened to come across their cd at the library. Needless to say, I checked it out, and I must say that it is absolutely tremendous. It is not as hard rock as Monster was, but it is still fairly fast paced pop rock still with a great female lead singer. If you are looking to broaden your music horizons you should definitely check out The Meg and Dia Band especially their cd titled Here, Here, and Here.

The next blast from the past comes to us from 2006, which I realize is not that long ago, but in my life four years is actually a very long time. It all came about one sunday when I was watching Another Cinderella Story (starring the glorious Selena Gomez) on ABC Family. Once, that piece of perfection was over, another one started. Step Up immediately followed, and I was quickly reminded how much I enjoy and crush on Jenna Dewan. Unfortunately she is actually married to Channing Tatum (her co-star in Step Up) in real life. However, this does not stop me from enjoying watching her movies. So, after Step Up was over I decided to imdb Ms. Dewan and found a few movies that she has done recently. I quickly took the time to watch them and although most people would call them cheesy if not bad, I thought that they were awesome. Therefore, if you take a liking to Ms. Dewan in the way that I do, I highly recommend watching American Virgin, and The Jerk Theory. She has also been a few other movies fairly recently, but I am still working on finding them, so until I am able to fully endorse them I will leave you with the previous selection.

I highly doubt most of you will actually take my advice to enjoy Ms. Dewan and The Meg and Dia Band, but lets be completely honest...I dont care. I love them and thats all that matters to me. So booyakasha. Thanks for reading

Cool Rules

As Americans, and plain normal people, it should come as no surprise to any of us when someone really cool comes along and grabs our attention. Throughout my life there have been many a cool thing or person to come along and rock it out. For me, it starts with the Teenage Mutant Turtles, continues on with Sylvster Stallone, and more recently there have been people like Clooney. However, today I realized who the newest cool guy is. This person has actually been around for quite a while, but it hasnt been until the past couple of years that he has stepped up to the cool lime light.

All of this came about today as I watched a movie that I feel like did not receive the credit and acclaim that it should have. The movie is Sherlock Holmes, and the star and new cool guy is Robert Downey Jr. I thoroughly enjoyed Iron Man a few years ago, and have enjoyed Downeys antics ever since, but after seeing Sherlock Holmes (and to an extremely lesser extent The Soloist) I cant help but find Robert to be totally awesome. His snide remarks and witty sense of humor keep me guessing as to what he will say and do next, and I love it. He reminds me of Clooney, just dirtier. Downey has indeed been around for a long time, but I think he let himself get in his own way, and now he is ready to be humble and just have fun with everything he does. Not to mention its probably easier to get good movies when you arent juiced up on whatever drugs Mr. Downey was into during the 90s.

No doubt there will be several others to take the cool torch as far as my opinions are concerned, but for right now there is non better than Robert Downey Jr. Take my advice and check out Sherlock Holmes as soon as you can and hopefully you will enjoy it as much as me. Thanks for reading

Even more interesting

Since I wrote the following post about Lindsay Lohan, it has come to my attention that she is suing Etrade for their commercial that aired during the super bowl claiming that it was about her. In the commercial the name Lindsay is used for the supposed "Milkaholic" baby. Lohan says that this is obviously about her and she is suing for 100 million dollars. Something does not seem right to me about this whole thing. In my opinion, Etrade is paying Lohan to sue them, or paying her to make it seem like she is suing them. This is some sort of weird advertising ploy or something like that. However, if it turns out to be a legitimate claim by Lohan I guess I wont be too surprised, but I just cant believe it for right now. It just seems to me that Etrade is trying to break away from the baby stuff and is trying some crazy attempt to use whatever is left of Lohans celebrity.

An interesting thing happened in 2004

As a member of the American people, I often cannot help but get a little too caught up in the private lives of celebrities. Our culture has gotten to the point that there are several people who are celebrities, or famous, just for being famous. These people did absolutely nothing to get where they are, but people still want and need to know everything about them. One person who has fallen into this crevice of humanity is Lindsay Lohan. However, Lohan at one point was doing something to earn her fame, and not only that, she was on the verge of becoming a big star, but something very interesting happened in 2004.

In 2004 a little movie called Mean Girls was released. This film was definitely designed to be a launching pad for Lohan, and to a lesser extent some of the other young female stars in Hollywood. However, the background actresses took charge and have ended up easily surpassing Lohan and have managed to stay relevant if not on the rise. No doubt Rachel Mcadams took off the most and has thrived ever since, Amanda Seyfried struggled out of the box originally but is now becoming a threat within hollywood, and lets not forget that an older star in Tina Fey also basically got her main start on this movie by acting in it and actually writing the flick. Also, you have to remember that Lacey Chabert was a member of the mean girls, and while she is not a huge star in hollywood, she is constantly working for several cartoons and in several bit parts all the while not being in the tabloids.

As you can see the film did not go the way that Lohan had expected, and I believe that her animosity towards the other people in the movie is what ultimately crushed her. She has never gotten over the fact that Mcadams and Seyfried have continued to work in great movies. There is no doubt in my mind that Lohan does not regret doing this movie and having people think of her verses Mcadams whenever they remember it.

Sorry about your damn luck. Lindsay, what you need to do is disappear completely for a long time, five or ten years and then come back in a dramatic or comedic role ala Travolta. Either way you better do something. Thanks for reading

Bad bad not bad good

Today I had the misfortune of watching the movie 2012. It is truly one of the worst movies I have ever seen if not THE worst movie ever. Please stay far far away from this movie. However, over the weekend I viewed a few other films that helped ease the terribleness of 2012.

The first of these that I would like to mention and endorse with a viewing would be Whip It. This movie about Roller Derby chicks reminded me of a mix between several coming of age stories with a bit more of a grunge edge to it. It is enjoyable. The next film is Jarhead. I decided to watch it after I saw the Hurt Locker, which won the oscar for best film yesterday night, and did not really enjoy it. Jarhead, on the other hand, I found way more intense and a much better movie overall. I will admit that my opinions on these two may be biased by the actors in the movies. I prefer Jake Gyllenhall and Jamie Foxx to the guys in the Hurt Locker any day. Either way, I just didnt like Locker and did enjoy Jarhead.

A couple other flicks that I would say are worth a look if you get the time would be The Princess and the Frog, Street Fighter: Legend of Chun Li (only if you want some mindless fun), and if you are into the Transporter movies I would recommend District 13: Ultimatum. You should definitely put these movies on the back burner. Do not rush out to get them, but if you have the time and resources I would say that they are worth a good natured look at some time.

If you take nothing else from your day today or from your reading of this blog, if you are still reading that is, stay far far away from 2012. It is awful. Also, get out there and find movies that you enjoy that may not be as streamlined as some of the ones that I bring to you here. Find your own way from time to time, its worth it. Thanks for reading

Team Oscar, Team Edward vs. Team Jacob

Tonight is the night in Hollywood. The Oscars will be given out. The Oscars usually confuse me quite a bit. There truly doesnt seem to be any rhyme or reason why one person or film wins over another one. It is all subjective, and to be honest with you that really bothers me. Who are these people who are subjectively determining what deserves to win an award and what does not. I would like for there to be some sort of guideline or set of rules to help determine what wins, but then again, there are no real guidelines to any sort of award ceremony. I guess it is subjectivity in general that bothers me, but then again it is subjectivity which helps to make all of us very different people. It is subjectivity that makes life worth living. It is only the subjectivity of things like an awards show that truly seems to bother me. I will just have to deal with it and watch the Oscars for their entertainment value much the same that I viewed the films that are being awarded.

As far as the other part of the title of this post is concerned, it is an obvious answer. It deals with the Twilight series and whether or not Bella should be with Edward or Jacob. This is a slam dunk decision in my book. Who in their right mind would want anything to do with the pansy that is Edward. The dude sucks and is totally annoying, whereas Jacob is the man. I do not understand the fixation with Edward, and for that matter the fixation with Robert Pattinson in real life. He looks like a tool, and I can almost guarantee that he is one. Jacob, or Taylor Lautner, looks like a bro who would be down to rock out no matter what was going down. In other words, I would definitely want Jacob in my corner in a dude fight, and would probably be wanting to punch Edward. Edward sucks end of story.

I did not really understand why people were arguing about backing Team Edward or Team Jacob, but after viewing the New Moon I definitely cant understand the argument. As I just stated, Edward is terrible. So, get your groove on, figure out if you are dumb enough to enjoy Edward or rock out with Jacob, and also, check out the Oscars and be entertained. Thanks for reading

They say ignorance is bliss

As I sit here and watch Forrest Gump I cant help but think about a phrase that I have heard several times throughout my life. Ignorance is bliss, or at least that is what Ive heard from time to time. Lets give this some thought. Is it really? Am I really better off not knowing? Is my life better because I dont know things about politics, cricket, or life in Russia? No doubt, I am definitely better off not knowing about certain things, but I would totally not say that ignorance is bliss.

For instance, some of the things I dont know anything about sadden me. I dont know what its like to live in a warm climate during the depths of winter, or what its like to have a great job with great pay, or what its like to rock out on stage for thousands of fans. Being ignorant of all these things and several others does not give me bliss, in fact it gives me the exact opposite feeling. So, I would say that ignorance is not bliss. However, the analysis of this phrase brings to mind a completely different phrase. The Grass is always greener on the other side.

This phrase is one that seems to follow me wherever I go, and into whatever I do. I cant stop thinking about how much better things must be somewhere else doing something else. Things will always seem better in those other places until you get there, then you realize that its just green dirt. As I get older and experience more things I have found that everyone is looking for that better place. There are no doubt those people who are extremely happy where they are doing what they do, but for the most part everyone is looking to find that better thing.

In the end, I say enjoy yourself as much as you can as often as you can. All you can do is make things the best you can. Have fun and rock it out. Thanks for reading

TV gave up on teens

I tend to think of myself as a man who has a good hold on popular culture. I tend to be able to keep up with certain trends and topics of importance within all sorts of genres. One interesting transition that I have noticed is how TV is giving up on teenagers. I remember a time a few years ago when a great deal of programming on television was definitely geared toward teenagers. This has changed. Perhaps the geniuses who decide what plays on television is trying to keep up with the people of my age group and trying to keep us as an audience. Im not sure what the reason is, but as you look around at the programming on television it is progressively becoming geared more and more to the 30 plus group, especially women.

The reason that this issue came into my transient thoughts is due to the fact that I am in need of another show that grabs my attention like The O.C. was able to. I am not saying that The O.C. was a quality show, but I am saying that it was awesome. It was most definitely geared to teens and was the last show of its kind as far as I can tell. Ever since the end of The O.C. most television programs have been geared for the tween group or the 30 plus group. It seems to me that the TV programmers are deliberately avoiding teenagers. This no doubt is probably a good idea due to the fact that most teenagers are not as involved in TV as they were even a few years ago when I was among them. Teens today are more concerned with what is on the internet or who they can text at that particular moment.

I do not blame you for your choices tv programmers, but I would like to ask you for another show like The OC. I need some good old teenage angst on my tv from time to time. Bring back a little love for the teens homeboys. Thanks for reading

Goodbye Luke

Finally, tonight is senior night for Notre Dame basketball and we can say goodbye to Luke Harrangody. Luke, in my eyes, is the worst All-American and Big East Player of the year EVER. He is an absolutely terrible team player. He is not even a great scorer or rebounder, especially for his size. I will agree that he scores several points and has quite a few rebounds, but for a player his size and "fame", he is far behind where he should be. He may be the worst player to ever play for Notre Dame. Notre Dame is a basketball team that needs all role players playing their specific roles. Whenever the team has a supposed star on it, they struggle mightily. This has never been more true than with Luke Harrangody. He is a massive black hole for their offense and is the main reason that they have lost every game that they have lost over the past four years. Also, he finds it absolutely necessary to shoot fade aways and crazy falling away layups instead of using is massive size to pound down low and just put the ball in the rim. He is the only bull who runs into the china shop and manages to tip toe around everything and not damage a single plate. He may have been the primary reason they have won a few games, but I guarantee that he is in fact the reason that they lost every game they have over the past four years.

My point, which I have proclaimed for all four years of his basketball career, has been proven over the past few games where the Irish have seemingly over performed by beating two ranked teams during Harrangodys absence due to injury. As soon as he sat down and the team was once again all role players doing their part within the teams offense, they have won, and won easily. Harrangody paralyzes the offense whenever he is on the floor by shooting the ball whenever he gets it and absolutely never passing to open teammates. My opinions of Luke are completely based on his playing career and are absolutely not based on an altercation in which he threatened to kill not only myself but my best friend Frank as we defended Reggie Miller's honor against Luke's hateful words. This was an unfortunate incident that no doubt was primarily caused by myself and Frank's brash behavior on a jersey wearing raucous evening completed by having curse words and pornographic images drawn upon my defenseless passed out epidermis.

As I have stated for four years, Harrangody is the worst team player to ever be given Player of the Year honors. He is terrible, and the Irish will always be better off without Harrangody. Not to mention, he is one ugly dude. So, it is with great pleasure and joy that I say Goodbye Luke. Thanks for reading

No Shame

Throughout my entire life I have heard the phrase "Chick Flick" tossed around like a little rag doll whenever a film with a certain set of characteristics is set to debut. With this term comes, or should come, a feeling within all males to hate and dislike these sorts of films. However, I have always found that I actually enjoy most of these films. More to the point, most of the other dudes that I know also enjoy these sorts of movies or shows quite a bit as well. From time to time there are definitely movies that fit into this genre that are no good or take the characteristics a bit too far, but I find that this is the same within every sort of movie genre.

Therefore, I am here to say for all the fellas that there is no shame in loving you a good "Chick Flick" every now and then. Recently, I took in a few of these movies and found myself once again enjoying them thoroughly. So, I am calling on all my bros who I know for a fact sit down and watch these movies, often on their own mind you, to stand up and join me in openly proclaiming an enjoyment of this genre. I am not saying that we revolt against the naming of the genre, mostly because I do think the name fits. All I am saying is that we as men can enjoy these movies as well without shame.

I say take in a viewing of Confessions of a Shopaholic or The Devil Wears Prada with pride and sing out in gratitude of the happiness that it brings you. It does not make you any less of a man to enjoy these films, and as I find it, they also give you several chances to take in some of the hottest actresses in hollywood for a good hour and half segment of your day. So, whatever your reasons my friends, stand up to the haters and get you a little piece of the "Chick Flick" pie. Its all good. Thanks for reading

Change is like a red sky in the morning

It is true, Change is the most difficult thing in the world, and at the same time one of the biggest necessities of life. It reminds me of the old sailors rhyme; Red Sky in Morning, Take Warning. In other words, when you are looking to make a change in your life, you must take warning and make sure to be quite cautious, otherwise bad storms may be just ahead. I, like everyone else believes that the grass is and must be greener on the other side. Most likely however, the grass is not greener, in fact it is at least as yellow if not completely brown. The past few years have been a never ending reminder and lesson of what the real world is and how difficult it is to get ahead and keep from drowning in yourself. As I have struggled to keep up and maintain pace, I have been able to take a few breaths and look around at my peers and friends just long enough to realize that most if not all of them feel the same. Change is terrible.

Well, change is necessary. I, along with almost all of my friends, am in need of a total change. I plan on doing what it takes to make this change happen and begin to make my life into what I want and need it to be. This may lead to a very difficult and tragic storm in my life, but in the same way as actual weather works out eventually in the end, I am positive that a metaphoric Rainbow will appear in my own personal sky. I realize that there really is no telling where my life will head as I begin this journey, but I have several examples and inspirations within my life to look towards for a guide along my path.

The past few years have been nothing but a mental beat down and gauntlet. It is most definitely difficult to lead myself along this path with confidence. I am well aware that there are many who would scoff at me and my situation, but I am sure that in the end I will be much happier knowing that I actually went through this hop scotch of an idea. It will no doubt take an extreme amount of time in order to determine if this gamble actually pays off for me, but the end product of a much happier me will be well worth any wait that is required.

Change is like a red sky in the morning, you must take warning. However, the necessity of that change will become so overly apparent within your life that if you dont attempt it, a much worse fate will come to you. The rainbow of happiness will persist from then on, and you will know that the worst is worth it to see the colors of a new life all over the faces of everyone surrounding you. Thanks for reading

So Close

The Americans fell just short of capturing the gold medal today, and with that, the hearts of all Americans. They pulled a goal out of nowhere to extend the game to overtime, but just could not overcome the Canadians in the end. What an end to a great hockey tournament. I do not think that it could have gone any better for the Olympics or for the NHL. Therefore, I will be the first to make sure to tell the NHL to keep allowing their players to partake in the Olympic tournament. It was something special and I am glad that I took the time to watch it.

Now, on to the next thing that is sparking my brain right now as I sit watching Track and Field on tv and listening to an absurd mix of music provided by the itunes self dj thing. You may ask yourself, what is it about these activities that have sparked any interesting topic in your head? I would have to respond, that it is the topic of performance enhancing drugs. This is a very huge topic in our world today. I cant help but sit here and think about all of the music that has been made under the influence of several drugs and where we would be as a society without it. Therefore, the obvious connection comes in while I watch Track and Field on tv at the same time that I cannot help but think that performance enhancing drugs should in fact be allowed in our sports today.

If these drugs are made universally available and permitted, then there would truly be no limit to what can be done. I know that there are arguments out there claiming that allowing them would be supporting their use, and these drugs are extremely dangerous and in the wrong hands can cause serious damage. My argument is that most things in life are the exact same way. Also, the use of such drugs will not be required and will be purely optional. I cant help but think about how things like driving are dangerous in the exact same way. Yes, I am aware that there is an age requirement to be allowed to drive in order to help make it safe, but lets be honest what is the real difference between some 13 year olds and some 16 year olds. I say if you want to use steroids and take whatever risks may come with that, then you should be allowed to.

Also, just think about how much more entertaining sports will become. If you think there are hard hits and fast amazing players now, imagine them juiced up by professional steroid doctors. People will become monsters. Look back to Rocky 4 when Drago, on steroids, killed Apollo Creed. A "clean" Rocky Balboa pulled off a tremendous upset, made the steroid riddled Russian bleed and knocked that bastard out. However, it is now common knowledge that Stallone is all about HGH, but at the time people really made him into a great American hero for destroying that drugged up Drago. This same exact sort of thing could run rampant throughout our sports if we allow for universal use of these drugs.

I think that our sports can only benefit from universal acceptance of these drugs. Many people will say that these drugs are cheating and will offer an unfair advantage to those who are using them over those who are not. I think that this will only add to the interest and intrigue in sports. Imagine how athletes who do not use drugs and still break records and win titles will be viewed. All that will have to be done will be to keep seperate stats. Every athlete will be tested and it will be known who is using and who is not and in the stat books there will be a denotation for those who use the drugs. Just imagine if someone who does not use steroids is able to continually beat out people who do use. That person will become the greatest American athlete of all time. I think that the use of steroids by certain athletes will only help to bring about a turn in the American psyche. Right now everyone who wants to get ahead looks to those popular athletes who secretly used steroids in the past as an example. What if we are able to change that and put clean athletes up on the biggest of pedestals that young people can look up to and vow to themselves that they will stay clean for their lives for the chance to be just like them.

Lets be completely honest here, most of todays athletes are either already on or have already used steroids at some point anyway. I know that there are those who have never used, but I will guarantee that the majority have. It is a problem throughout the entire American sports world reaching down through high schools and probably further. So, I say we eliminate the secrecy, allow these drugs to be used, and use this to allow for new clean heros to step forward and prove that great amazing things can be achieved without these drugs. If we really want to change things and protect our younger generations I think that we really must consider making this change. Consider it for yourself. Thanks for reading

Goldie Locked?

The 2010 winter olympics come to a close tomorrow evening, but not before the biggest event takes place. The final game between the mens US and Canadian team for the hockey gold medal should be an epic final showdown. I am ecstatic. The first game between these two teams just one week ago kept me captivated from beginning to end. I hope that this game will come somewhere close to that. However, as I predicted a week ago, I think that the Canadians are finally awake and ready to take on whatever they need to in order to take down their competition. My inner American spirit is calling out in contrast. I am so hopeful for an American victory that I cannot stand it. Now, I am not as crazy about it as say any Canadian is, but that does not mean that I cannot proudly cheer on my countries team. So, it will be with all of my might that I will sit on the couch and cheer the boys on.

I cannot even imagine what it takes to compete in anything at that sort of level, but it is pretty awesome trying. I can barely motivate myself to do even the most mundane of tasks on certain days, much less compete with the best athletes in the world on a daily basis like they do. I am inspired by the effort that it must take to do these things, but with that said I also admit that my current mental state is definitely lacking. I cannot wait until the moment that I find what it is that makes me tick. I cannot wait for that one moment that makes me realize that I am the best man that I can be and the man that I finally want to be.

So, tomorrow night, do whatever it takes to get yourself in a comfortable position to take in a masterpiece of a game. I guarantee that it will not only invigorate your senses and pride, but it will make you seek out the best in your personal life. These are the people who are achieving their dreams, and it should make you realize that the only difference between them and you is just a little bit more effort. Get out there and get your own personal medal, and dont forget to celebrate like a Canadian Female. Thanks for reading

Say What Say What!?

Finally, I have some time to write on the blog again. Sorry Ive been too busy over the past two days to really write anything good, but this will blow your mind. While I havent had much time to sit down and write, I have indeed had time to become dumbfounded by a few of the things that people are doing these days to make themselves feel and look better. The two things about to be discussed both freak me out and somewhat disgust me. The first of these things is done solely by women, and the second I find is primarily done by women. All of this only furthers my belief in the one main fact in life. Bitches be Crazy.

The first absurd thing that I must let you all in on is something that I came across a few days back, and to be honest with you I am surprised that I knew nothing about it until then. This thing is known as Vajazzling. I know, your thinking Vajazzling, it sounds dirty yet fun. Well, it is exactly that. Vajazzling is basically the practice of bedazzling ones Vagina. This is nuts. I just dont understand how this ever came about in the first place, much less how anyone decided that it sounded like a good enough idea to partake in. To let you know how "popular" this is, Jennifer Love Hewitt appeared on the George Lopez show and described this new bizarre trend and no one really seemed to know what to say. She even said 'it looks like a disco ball down there'. Also, apparently several Salon's offer Vajazzling now. Creepy Creepy Creepy.

The second thing that I realized is going on way too much is the practice of older people, especially older women, getting braces. I am against older people getting braces. I understand that they want better teeth and all that, but I mean come on, they have lived with those damn teeth for that long, whats another couple of years. Stop getting braces creepy old ladies, and if you arent going to stop, at least have the decency to get multi-colored ones and make them as bright as possible, that way we all have something to giggle at, instead of your ridiculousness that is.

So there you have it. Welcome to the world of Vajazzling and old creepy women with their child braces. I would put up pictures of these things, but Im concerned that the combination of bedazzled Vaginas and creepy old lady braces might get me kicked off. So, if your intrigued I suggest you do your own searching and find out whats up for yourself. Thanks for reading

Get your act together idols

So, this week is the beginning of the end for American Idol as far as I am concerned. The reasoning behind this claim is that the talent thus far is extremely sub par, no Paula, the terrible addition of Ellen, and the imminent departure of Simon. Idol has had several great moments and stars in the past but I say we just scratch this season right now while we are ahead of the game and put Idol to rest for good. Its time for another show to come along and catch our imaginations.

While Im at it, I might as well call for the ending of several other over played reality series. I think its fairly obvious to everyone which ones should go. Survivor, Amazing Race, and any sort of B star dating show on VH1 should all be cancelled immediately and never aired again. I know that Amazing race is currently on its 11th season and Survivor is definitely close to that. As far as the VH1 shows are concerned they reached their peak when Pumpkin spit into New York's face all those years ago.

I realize that reality series shouldnt be the only ones put under the microscope. Its also important to realize that I am really only bringing up shows that I personally dislike, but I would like to think that my preferences are basically in line with most people in this country. Lets get rid of 24, every CSI, every Law and Order, and anything having to do with teenage girls being pregnant. I will admit that from time to time the CSI and Law and Order shows have good moments, but I find it truly ridiculous that each one has several off shoots. I will allow each series to retain one show and maybe switch off characters from episode to episode. Otherwise, there is no excuse for 24 and 16 and Pregnant to have any hold on our television schedule.

Finally, there is one star, or family I guess, that we as a country need to eliminate completely from our lives. That would be Jon and Kate. I was a fan when their show first appeared on TLC, but after all of the drama and silliness, I can no longer take them, especially Kate. Lets get rid of all of these things now and for good.

Its time for us to take control of our television programming and get ourselves together. Thanks for reading

NFL be Crazy

Today I could not help but notice the fact that two NFL teams cut two big stars. First, the Chargers dropped Tomlinson, and later the Eagles decided to part ways with Westbrook. This is not the first year that this sort of thing has been happening. Every year there seems to be a player or set of players who have just reached the end of their usefulness as far as NFL football is concerned. Im really not sure what my thoughts are on this idea. I am aware that there is quite a bit of money involved in these decisions, but it seems to me that there just needs to be another way for these players to be let go.

I guess I am just another person who likes the idea of the hero being able to walk off into the sunset victorious. Professional sports, however, does not allow for this to happen as often as we would like. There have been many players who have been forced to just fade away into obscurity, or made to retire before they wanted. I think that both the Chargers and Eagles should have allowed these two players especially to stay on with the team. These two players have been huge stars over the last few seasons, and in the case of Tomlinson helped to bring a struggling franchise back to the brink of a championship.

Now, after saying all of this I cant help but to think of certain athletes who dont take the hints and stay far too long. My personal prejudices lead me to think of Bret Favre. I am aware that he had one of his best seasons ever this past year, but lets be honest, he was terrible for years leading up to this season. Also, players like Joe Montana and Sammy Sosa come to mind. These guys were forced to sign with different teams at the tail end of their careers because of inability to play at the levels that they once did. This makes me sad, but I also am able to see things the way that their former teams saw things as well.

I guess, that the main lesson to learn here is that all is fair in business. Sometimes the hero is allowed to finish things out the way they want to, and yet others, these guys are just forced to do what they have to in order to eek out all they can from their careers. Business is Business. Thanks for reading

Well Well

I hope that all of you took my advice and took in the Olympic masterpiece that took place last night. The hockey game between the Canadians and Americans was awesome. It was a great game and it went pretty much exactly the way that I had predicted it would go. However, now that the preliminary round is over, I look to the Canadians to bounce back stronger than ever and probably go through the rest of the tournament to win the gold medal. Im looking forward to the rest of the tournament and hope beyond hope that somehow that Americans are able to prove me wrong and pull out a tremendous overall victory.

Now, for all you hard rock fans out there, I would like to point you in the direction of a couple of bands. First, are two bands that are going to be appearing here at Club Fever. They are Halestorm and Adelitas Way. Im kind of excited about the fact that they are gonna be here and I am contemplating whether or not I should pop the 10 bucks and check it out. Also, you might want to check out Skillet. These bands are definitely good for some old fashioned head banging if you are in need.

Lastly, I feel it is important to make it known how truly glorious the tv show Archer is. I think it is the funniest show on tv right now. I love the fact that it can go above and beyond other shows due to the fact that it is a cartoon. It has a great cast to do the voice overs and the jokes are just hilarious. Make sure to check it out as soon as you can if you havent yet.

Big Sunday in Canada

Its all on you Canada. You better beat USA otherwise everyone north of the border will probably go into some sort of terrible depression. Im looking forward to a great game either way, and lets be honest I hope that the big USA gets the win, but its gonna be tough. However, it is possible.

For those of you who have no real affection for the game of hockey but still need something to get you through your sunday, I suggest you check out the Jonas Brothers music video for Bounce. This video isnt really an attempt for great music by the Brothers Jonas, but it is however a pretty funny look into what it is they most likely do with a lot of their free time. This video is pretty much the exact way that I wish I could spend every day of my life. It just looks like a blast.

Yesterday, and for about the past week, I have been singing the praises of car racing, especially Danica Patrick. In the Nationwide race yesterday she finished 31st. This may not seem like any sort of achievement at all, however, it is very important that she actually finished the race. This is a great way for her to start her career in Nascar. I think she is getting a lot of great experience in Nascar and she has and will only continue to get better in these races, and lets be honest, she is still hot. So, in the end, its all good.

No matter how you choose to spend the final moments of your weekend, I hope that it suits you well and that you enjoy it. If you are like me, get ready for a great hockey game tonight and get your popcorn ready. Thanks for reading

Find A New Way

A weird thing seems to be taking place over and over in my life. As I go through each and every moment the time feels like it is going by so slowly but in reality I am realizing more and more how quickly the time is going by. However, I am finding out more and more how important it is to find a new way to enjoy life and the moments in it. I admit that I have been struggling with this for a long time, but I am focused on learning to find that new way. I am both excited and somewhat fearful and anxious about the future. No matter how I feel about it, it will come, and I will welcome whatever it brings.

The very near future brings me another opportunity to watch Danica Patrick race in the Nascar Nationwide series. I am oddly becoming more interested in car racing, especially any car being driven by someone who looks like Danica. My new found interest in this sport is primarily driven (pun intended) by my interest in her. However, it is not lost on me that there are several talented individuals in Nascar.

Now, looking back on the very recent past I must tell you about a situation that I found myself in last night. I was preparing for some good sleep when I received a strange text message from a number that I did not know. So, obviously I answered back asking the person who they were. They then responded telling me that they knew me and that I should know them. I made it known that if I did indeed know them that I was sorry for not knowing or keeping their number in my phone. I was able to finally find out that this persons name was Dawn and she was looking for someone named Cameron, and creepily enough she asked me if I was white or black, because had I been black she would have been down to hook up. I did not respond to this final message and wish Dawn the best of luck in all her endeavors, especially in finding Cameron.

I know that this post has been a bit all over the place and most likely a little odd, but thats what you get. Hope you are enjoying your weekend so far, and remember, Canada vs. USA hockey tomorrow night. Thanks for reading

Road to Recovery

Its too hard to stay away from all of you. Once again sorry for the lack of inspiring and incredible words from myself. I am feeling much better physically, but I must admit that my mental state of mind these days is in need of work. No matter what my personal state may in fact be, I cannot be stopped from sharing several things with all of you.

The first thing that I must bring you is something that I stumbled upon but cannot take full advantage of. I am speaking of Chatroulette. This magical piece of internet trash is amazing. However, you need a web cam to use it, which I personally do not have. Basically this site lets you set up a camera on yourself doing whatever it is you want to be doing (I would suggest something absolutely bizarre) and then pairs you with another user who has a camera on them doing whatever it is that they are doing. It can be quite a journey through the weirdos of the internet. If you just want a taste of what type of things go on here, I suggest you go to youtube and search chatroulette and just check out some of the videos and if it catches your fancy, get on the real site and really mess with some peoples minds.

Recently I came across a word in an older rap song that I did not really know the meaning of. So, being the curious mind that I am I took the time and looked it up. Now, I will be sharing the knowledge that I gained with all of you. The word is fag-hag, and it refers to a single woman who enjoys the company of gay men. It would seem to me that most girls today are indeed fag-hags.

A big news story from the world today is the Tiger Woods statement. I sat down and watched this, mostly because I was already home sick anyway. I truly believe that Tiger has handled this entire situation poorly from day one. There are many ways that you could face this particular situation and honestly not facing it was really the only way you could mess it up. I think he should have stood up right away at the beginning and just admitted to it and kept on playing. I do not feel that he needs any sort of therapy or anything like that, and the only reason he feels sorry is because he got caught. I think he should have just stood up said yeah I did it so what, taken his medicine from Ellin and moved on. He should never have hidden from it allowing other people to come forward and basically make up whatever they wanted to about him and the entire situation. Big mistake Tiger. My only other problem with this situation is that it is still ongoing. I dont care about it, no one should care about it other than his family, and now this will probably carry on longer than Brett Favre's sad career.

Sunday is the big showdown in the Olympics. USA vs. Canada hockey. I have watched both of the USA games and really have not been too impressed by the offense, but the goalie is very strong and should be the key to the game. It will basically be the entire Canadian team vs. Miller. Canada blew out one team so far and then struggled last night to eek out a victory in a shoot out. In the end, I think it will be a hard hitting, fast paced game. I look to USA to pull out a win in this game, which will only fuel the Canadians to overpower everyone else, and eventually USA, for the rest of the tournament.

Enjoy your weekend everyone. Thanks for reading

Apologies

Sadly, I must let you all know that I am currently a little under the weather and am not up to my highest quality. I will return to writing about and delivering to you all of the crazziness that you no doubt have come to crave here. The wait will be well worth it my friends.

Big Five Zero

It has come. A day that I am sure that the homeboy has dreaded for quite some time. Leoj turned 50 today. It blows my mind that this day is already here. I remember being a young lad and thinking that my father was old when he turned 30. Obviously as I have gotten older I have realized how quickly time goes by and how you just cant seem to slow it down no matter what you do. So, it is with great respect and gratitude that I wish my father a happy 50, and look forward to this summer for my mothers big day.

Now, as this day has finally come I have no choice but to look back on my own short 23 years. As I think back most of the things that come to mind are snapshots of moments and oddly enough certain songs that seemed to play over and over during different periods of time. I think of things like skydiving with my best friends, nights of video game marathons in high school, crazy parties and whatnot in college, hours spent trying to get people to laugh at inappropriate or inopportune times. I think of songs like Sexy Back, Yeah, Alive, and weirdly enough in college anything by Kelly Clarkson. I have some truly amazing memories to look back on, too many to recount here, and thankfully I have great friends who I can look back on these times with.

Also, a day like today makes me look forward to my own future. It is true that right now for me and for most of you, right now is not nor has it been some of the greatest times ever, but I know that soon enough we will all begin to return to the great times that epitomized our earlier years. I cant wait to make new memories with all of you and be there when you make new memories in your lives. It has been a great ride and we will all get back on track and enjoy the rest of the journey together. Take some time for yourself today to look back on where you have been and to look forward to where you are going. So, in closing, another happy bday to the leoj and as always, Thanks for reading.

Struggling

Wow, what a weekend this past weekend was. It was basically an epic lesson in how to fail. It started with some major Olympics failures, first with the tragic death of a Luger that honestly could and should have been avoided, along with an Olympic cauldron lighting fail. The failing continued right on into the NBA all-star festivities that to be quite honest left so much to be desired. It all wrapped up with a pot hole showing up out of nowhere in the middle of the Daytona 500. Hopefully you were able to manage your real life in such a way as to avoid personal failures as well.

Although this weekend was full of sporting failures, my morning today was filled with movie watching. I started the day off with watching the newest Disney channel original movie called Starstruck. I would call this movie easily missable. It basically follows the exact type of storyline as High School Musical without all the excellent singing and acting. I cannot fully criticize this movie, because I was unable to watch the entire thing due to the fact that my recording ended short and I missed about the last ten minutes or so, so I will have to attempt to catch the ending this evening. The next film that I devoured is called In the Electric Mist, starring Tommy Lee Jones as a police detective in post Katrina New Orleans. It was a pretty good mystery/almost thriller flick, but had some problems with some of the halucination scenes that they used to try and help further the story, but I would say that this movie is worth a look if you can find it. I finished up the movie watching for the day with Aliens in the Attic. Now, this is definitely a little bit of a goofy movie, but definitely worth while. It kept me interested and the little aliens supply some good moments along with the actual people in the film. Its worth a look when you are in the mood for some mindless fun.

Some of you no doubt are aware that today is Presidents Day. This day really doesnt mean much to me, and that is totally my fault. Or, perhaps it is the fault of all of America. I really do not know of anyone who actually celebrates Presidents Day in the way that it probably should be. However, I have just the thing that can help you to celebrate this nations first President. Check out this video on Youtube and enjoy yourself some Presidents Day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbRom1Rz8OA

Tomorrow is Joely's big time 50 bday. If for some reason you feel the need to disturb him on this day and find yourself in need of a way to contact him, just text me for his phone # and I shall provide it as so that you can wish him well or curse him out for providing the seed that created me, directly leading to all the craziness that you endure reading right here. Thanks for reading

Rando Thoughtos

Happy Valentines Day everyone.

You have unfortunately ventured into another barrage of randomness. I do not have a single theme that is burning through my fingers today, so you will have to sit through some random thoughts that Ive been having.

First, something blew me away last night while watching the Olympics. It came during the speed skating coverage when Apollo Anton Ohno took control. Apparently, Ohno trains ridiculously hard and was working out 4 times a day for 2 hours each time. I truly do not know how to respond to this. As someone who used to rock two workouts a day and took part on ridiculous training regiments, I cannot even fathom what type of energy and will power it would take to workout like that. Then, I realized that there are no doubt athletes who work even harder than that. I dont know if I feel sorry for these athletes and all the work and pain they are struggling through, or if I feel jealous of them. I would love to have the opportunity to be able to have the chance to workout like that. I wonder what type of things I could achieve if I had that type of ability. In the back of my mind I always knew that high end athletes worked out quite a bit, but it was not until I heard some of the numbers that it really hit me, and as I said I am astounded. Truly amazing.

Next, I want to say a few things to a Mr. Jay Z. Jigga, we all get it, your life is awesome and you have everything you could ever want. I no longer want to hear about how awesome you and your life are anymore, so please stop rapping about it. I cannot get into your music anymore, because I cannot associate with it. I admit that I cannot truly associate with much of what is talked about in rap and hip hop songs, but I can relate to a few things from time to time. So, Jay Z, take my advice and just give up the rapping and just focus on your awesome life.

I am ashamed to admit to you all know that yesterday I found myself watching the Nascar Nationwide race. I tuned in to see exactly how Danica Patrick would handle her move into the Nascar world. I tuned in with the idea of having to put up with the boringness that is car racing just to get some looks and insight from Ms. Patrick, but in the end I found myself enjoying the actual racing and everything else that went along with the race. I came away caring more about the rest of the drivers and every other part of the race other than Danica. I have always enjoyed Jimmie Johnson, but he is in the big boy races, and now I must say that I am dangerously close to becoming a Nascar fan, which means that I am basically right on the edge of being considered an Indiana hick who likes to watch cars make a bunch of left turns. I say bring it on, because I love watching them cars go real real fast.

Hope you have found a way to enjoy your Feb. 14th, whether it is a traditional Valentines Day or you have joined the revolution and are enjoying your very first Valenguys Day with the Bros. Either way Thanks for reading

Hitting Extremes

Over the past few weeks lotee people and news stories have been trying to convince me to start running barefoot. This scares me. I think about some of the places that I usually run or places that I have had to run in the past and I just cant even imagine running barefoot through them. What about all the little pebbles and what not that you just cant avoid when running? That just has to absolutely kill your foot. As it is myself and everyone I know who enjoys running is fearful of any sort of injury or pain that will keep them from running comfortably.

In the past I have dealt with minor knee problems that took me out of the game for a little while, and even though I have no real reason to run as much as I like to, it still pained me to not be able to run when I wanted. However, my mind cant help but wonder if these people might have a point. They all claim to be much happier with their running, along with running farther and better than they ever have before after switching to barefoot. Plus, there is an interesting shoe type thing that might help to push me over the edge and give this unique sport a try. They are called Vibram 5 Finger shoes. They look like a sock and have five separate toe spots along with an extremely thin sole. These things interest me a great deal, but I still cant help but think that this whole idea might just be too extreme for me. Here is a web address about this very thing, along with a picture of the vibram shoes, check them out if youre interested in finding out why you should run barefoot. http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/02/12/barefoot.running/index.html?hpt=C2

Also, I feel I must let you in on another extreme item in clothing. This item started years and years ago. However, it has evolved into a particularly crazy thing. This item has taken extremes too far. It is ridiculous, and it is called the Hood Thong. It looks exactly the way it sounds, it is a hood with another line of fabric that wraps all the way down and back up around forming the regular thong where the regular thong would be. It is nuts, however, I would definitely be interested to see one in person. Here is a picture, but if you want more of a look I suggest that you check out HoodThong.com.

Extremes are always a dangerous situation. If I have learned anything about extremes through my own experiences is that you must be very very careful whenever such a thing presents itself. So, it is with this in mind that I caution all of you to be very cautious and careful if you so choose to take part in either one of these or any other form of extreme. However, if you go for extremes, make sure you leave nothing behind and go all out. Balls to the walls my friends. Thanks for reading