Throwback Thursdays #4

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Breaker High. One of the three amazing "late-night" (and by that I mean from 8-10 pm, it was a different time back in grade 3. These days I'd kill to go to bed before 1 am) shows that were on YTV back in the day (the other two being RadioActive and Student Bodies). Looking back, the plot of this show made no sense. A school on a cruise ship that travels the world (if this was a real thing, how high the tuition would be? at least 100 grand a year?) and goes from Chile to Turkey in between episodes? It made no difference though as most of my weeknights ended with me watching the gang and their adventures. This was a great show back in the 90's and in my opinion is better than every single show on TV now that is tailored for similar audiences. Also, Ryan Gosling starred in this show playing the exact opposite role of the one he played in Drive. Back then if I had to pick one actor who I thought was going to make it big, it would have definitely been the guys who played Alex and Max. I didn't even have to Google that. I don't know if this is a good or bad thing but to avoid thinking about it, here are this week's songs.

Luka:

Dr. Dre ft. Snoop Dogg - Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang

One, two, three, and to the fo'. This line starts one of the best rap songs of all time. If you're a rap fan and don't like this song then you're not a rap fan. Off of Dre's classic album, The Chronic, 'G' Thang is a fairly simple and easy-listening song that hasn't gotten even a little bit old or played out since 1993. Another thing I think that's being forgotten  but shouldn't be (and this is caused by Snoop as well, did you really have to do a verse for Katy Perry?), is how great Snoop used to be. Listening to this or any other old Snoop song makes you realize how easy Snoop made rapping seem. Just great to listen to. This song is also what I would play if I was ever driving through a west coast hood (if this did happen, i would be feverishly dialing 911, not listening to music but still). The video is also great to watch and is exactly what I expect each West coast party to look like.

N*Sync - Bye Bye Bye

If I had to pick one song to describe the boy band craze of the 90's, this would be it. The simplistic lyrics, catchy beat, over-the-top video, and an insanely fun to sing hook all capture the good (or bad) characteristics of the 90's boy bands. This was the lead single from the ridiculously successful album No Strings Attached which sold 2.4 million records in the first week (I had this album, Space Cowboy was the shit)! This still holds the record for most records sold in the opening week. Haters gonna hate but this song is good to listen to and once played no one's having a bad time.

Superbowl Saints

Tweet Last week, Daki and Luka both sent me texts being like, “Damn Drew Brees played like crap today.” How in the world someone can claim that throwing for over 380 yards is a bad day is beyond me, but throwing 3 picks is clearly not the best game(even if 2 weren’t his fault). However, this week the Saints played the Colts in primetime and ran a clinic.

Whenever the commentators talk about Brees, the recurring word is “leadership.” Sure Drew Brees probably has the best accuracy in the league, but other than that, his skill set is not anything spectacular. The thing that separates Brees as one of the top 3 QBs in the league is the way he leads his team. Even with his head coach upstairs in a press box and the assistant head coach calling the plays, Drew seems to always be in command, changing plays at the line and keeping everybody focused on the gameplan. I could talk about Brees all day, but i’ll stop and just leave you with his stat line: 31/35 for 325 yards and 5 touchdowns...and the Saints decided to stop using him in the 3rd quarter.

There were a few other players on offense that showed they deserve to be in the Pro Bowl this year. Firstly, what is wrong with the San Diego Chargers? They develop a person into a force to be reckoned with, then simply let them go. A few years back, Marty Schottenheimer coached the Chargers to a league best 14-2 record. They lost a very close game to the Patriots in the playoffs, so SD decided that the most logical thing to do was to fire him as head coach. They also had this one running back that was pretty decent: LT. Once his contract expired, the future hall of famer had to beg to have his contract renewed. The Chargers gave him a 1 year contract and decided that he had too much left in the tank and that he could still contribute, so they decided to let him go. Darren Sproles is the most recent Chargers talented castoff, and I’m amazed that the Saints got him. Sproles is one of the most versatile players in the league and is a matchup nightmare for defences. Also, weighing in at about 180 lbs, he plays every game like he has something to prove. He’s averaging 7.4 yards/carry, 7.3 yards/catch, has 5 total TDs and can make anything happen on special teams. This week he had 12 carries for 88 yards (7.3 yard average) with 1 rushing TD and 1 receiving TD. Stay classy San Diego.

Anyone who has followed the Saints knows that since about 2006, they’ve had some talented receivers. Between Meachem, Colston, Henderson, and Moore, you never really know where the ball is going but you can be sure that someone’s going to make your defence look stupid. However, the new kid that everyone is raving about is Jimmy Graham. I watched Graham play a game at the U and must admit that I was sceptical when the Saints drafted him in the third round. In the game, he had 2 chances for HUGE 3rd down completions that he could have potentially turned to TDs, but watched them both hit him in the hands and turn into drops. The season that Jimmy Graham is having should be fully accredited to head coach Sean Payton. Graham brought the size and freakish athleticism, and Payton moulded him into the beast that he is turning into. Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth were pretty much having a Graham d***-sucking contest in the commentators booth last Sunday. Collinsworth went so far as to say that by the time Jimmy is retired, he’ll pass Tony Gonzalez as the best tight end of all time....ITS HIS SECOND SEASON!?!? Either way, this kid is someone to watch for. His current stats on the season are ridiculous: 45 catches for 674 yards and 5 TDs.

The only part of last Sundays game that had me a little bit worried was the defence. I’m a huge fan of defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and his blitz-happy, bend-but-dont-break style of coaching. However, for his defences to be successful, they have to be creating turnovers. The Saints D has been pretty average this season but average won’t be enough to win a superbowl. They only picked off Curtis Painter once last week, but hopefully they’re settling in like all other teams and will start racking in the turnovers.
Overall, it was a great week for the New Orleans Saints. They showed that they’re a top 3 team in the NFL and look to have another huge weekend against the lowly St. Louis Rams.



Last week I highlighted 3 things I was going to be looking for in Week 7 and I’d like to quickly cover them.

TIM TEBOW BABY. GODS GIFT TO THIS EARTH! Did you see the way he sucked for 57 minutes and didn’t even put his team in position to get a freakin fieldgoal!! Then he led a miraculous comeback against the superbowl contending Miami Dolphins. The truth is, once Tebow stepped up and started playing mediocre, his team (which is far more talented than the Fins) did most of the work. His line paved the way and the coaches called the plays to wreck Miami, but no one will ever talk about the other 52 players on the team. Tebow played like crap for all but 3 minutes of the game, but history will remember it as him leading a glorious comeback against a fierce competitor. BS

The Oakland Raiders are beyond screwed. They were absolutely embarrassed by the Chiefs this past week and didn’t even deserve to put up a single point. Kyle Boller started the game and posted a dismal 22.3 quarterback rating. Hue Jackson decided that it was time to give Palmer a shot, only a few days after he joined the team. Palmer showed that you dont just come out of retirement and shit on the NFL by posting an even worse QBR of 17.3....yikes. The future of the Raiders is in serious jeopardy. It scares me that my hopes for the Silver and Black lie with Terrelle Pryor.

Defences are finally back on track. This week featured 2 pillow fights (Browns 6-3 Seahawks and Jags 13-7 Ravens) and there weren’t as many offensive players taking over games by themselves. Granted, players like DeMarco Murray and Arian Foster demolished their competition this week, but that’s just the way the NFL works. I’m happy we’re back to the ways of some games turning into shootouts and others turning into toilet bowls.

The Eagles: Week 7

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I'm back. After a midterm/assignment week that was about as much fun as a shower at Shawshank, I am back and ready to talk some Philadelphia Eagles football!! (the exclamation marks are there because when are you not excited to say FOOTBALL!!) So what exactly have the Eagles done in my 3 week writing absence? They've gone 1-2 in that time while playing some insanely sloppy (think Deena and Snooki) football in their two losses while in their one win, which happened last weekend, Philly managed to make Rex Grossman look like... well Rex Grossman. This ushered in the John Beck era in Washington (have fun with that Redskins fans) and left me strangely optimistic (we beat the divisional champs at home, I don't care that their starting QB was so bad that fans started chanting for his backup who hadn't played a game since 2007. I can be excited, the season's been tough so far.). The Eagles of course had a bye weekend this week so on the one Sunday in the past 3 weeks that I had to relax and enjoy the NFL, my favourite team wasn't on the field (further proving I have angered the scheduling gods in some way).

If you're an Eagles fan i think you have to be cautiously excited for the rest of the season. Even with our record being a terrible 2-4, we are a couple of bounces here and there from winning at least 2 more of those games. In just the last 2 losses, the first being against the Niners (This loss makes way more sense 3 weeks later. San Francisco is very good, they have a great defense, great special teams, a sneaky good offense and a coach who prides himself in giving overzealous somewhat douchey but always entertaining post-game handshakes), Philadelphia could have won if rookie kicker Alex Henery had made one of his two very make-able fourth quarter field goals. The second loss against the Bills showed how unlucky Philly has been in the early part of the season. I'm pretty sure one of Vick's interceptions in that game hit every single person in Ralph Wilson stadium before falling into the hands of a Buffalo Bills player (just about).

FUCK MAN CITY

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Editors note: After building up so much frustration at last Sunday's game, my friend, a long time Man-U fan finally cracked and asked to vent his feelings on this site. Needless to say the result is delightful, I hope you enjoy this article, I sure did.

I assume if you are reading this sentence right now you have already read the title and you have an slight idea what the tone of this article will be about. I assume if your reading this article, you are also a soccer fan and that you have already watched the Manchester United versus Man City game that took place last Sunday. I assume very little or none of you are Man City fans, but if by some divine miracle you are a Man City fan then just go away, I don’t even want you to read this, just fuck off, just move your mouse to the top right corner of your window and click on the X symbol. Thanks for nothing you fucking wankers. I have so many hateful things to say, but where to start?

By now you have probably concluded that I am a Man U fan, and the event that took place last Sunday is not one that I want to stay in my memory. I remember October, 23, 2011 like it was yesterday, my day went a little something like this. I woke up late, missed the first half, went to the library, opened up the game to see the score 1-0 for Man City, then a minute later Balotelli scores to make it 2-0, went on ESPN to check who scored the first goal only to realize United were down to ten men, shortly afterwards Aguero scored to make it 3-0. Everything was all going so wrong so fast so I just decided to shut off my laptop. Then I slowly took out a gun out of my bag, placed it on my temple, and pulled the trigger to end the misery….

Firstly, just looking at United’s lineup on Sunday depressed me, the line up that Sir Alex put out wasn’t even close to full potential. I hated this starting lineup. First of all why da fuck is Evans playing over Phil Jones, WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Phil Jones has been the shining star for United and he’s the face of the youngsters that are coming through for the team. He faster, stronger, smarter, and a way better leader than Evans, but somehow he was on the bench and that piece of shit was on the field. I mean how can you trust a guy who makes tackles like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs88nvpF_gw . When Evans first came through I really thought he was going to be a star, but with time he only proved that he was mentally challenged. I don’t ever want to see him in the starting lineup, the only time I ever want to see Evans’s name in there is if Chris Smalling, Ferdinand, Jones, Evra, Rafael, Fabio, Valencia all cannot physically stand up, and Vidic only has one leg left to stand on, then and only then do I ever want to see his name in the starting lineup. I don’t like blaming Sir Alex for anything, but this was definitely a huge mistake that costs the game. Ferdinand is already way past his prime 3 years ago so I don’t even want to pick on him. To the new goalie, I have nothing bad to say about De Gea nor do I have anything nice, I know the 6 goals was not really his fault at all, but I feel like if Van der Sar or any of the other great United goalies in the same situation they would not have let that happen. Something about him just seems off and he just doesn’t seem like a United goalie, please bring the flying Dutchman back. I don’t know why im hating on United players but im just so irrational right now that everything is making me mad. I guess its because I haven’t let out the source of my hatred which is Man City…

Suarez, the EPL, and the Tabloids

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It's been a long time sense I felt like I could write another article about soccer.  Too many games missed due to a dreadful combination of school and work combined with some awful game times (8:30 am Sunday for derbies, really?) left me with insufficient knowledge or inspiration to write about anything.  Today I finally got that bit of inspiration and hopefully the following will sound as coherent as it did when I thought about it.

Many in the mainstream media (especially the British media, but that's for another time) will look at Liverpool's 15 points from 9 games as a major disappointment, while also taking shots at Liverpool's American owners and Luis Suarez.  A couple of thoughts on this, first of all, what Suarez is doing on the soccer field is absolutely incredible, he is easily the most exciting Liverpool player I have watched in my life time.  His talent isn't even the best thing about him, if there was an NBA season you would hear me bitch about guys who get paid and don't care, with Suarez it is the exact opposite.  He approaches games with the intensity of a starving wolf, he is genuinely pissed when he (or the team) is playing poorly, and hates being subbed off.  He really, really cares, we can't say the same thing about players like Tevez and Torres who always put themselves before the team, which by the way is something Suarez has yet to do (and in my opinion he wont).  It's too bad that if you are a supporter of another team you wont notice these things because every major British tabloid and sportscasting company is trying to convince us that Suarez is the Antichrist   Look, I get it he sometimes goes to ground too easily and does complain quite a bit; you know who else complains?  Wayne Rooney, Xavi, Iniesta (the Barcelona guys way more than anyone else) Why do these stars complain so much?  Because they don't feel the ref protects them enough.  Against Norwich, Peter Walton decided that the media was right and chose to ignore the numerous incidents of Norwich players tugging at and grabbing Suarez around the neck area because hey, he dives and bitches!  I would be fine with this were it not for the same media blowhards never treating Christiano Ronaldo like this.  Compare how Suarez and Ronaldo behave on the pitch, they wont be far off.  To the media's credit they eventually started treating Ronaldo like they are Suarez now only after the former got Rooney sent off in the World Cup, gee I wonder what caused them to start hating the guy all of a sudden?  I will avoid getting too much into Sir Alex Ferguson's (Phenomenal coach, putrid human being) hypocritical rant about Suarez's antics, keep in mind that this same man has Nani and Evra on his squad but I digress.  

Throwback Thursdays #3

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I thought I'd make the picture for this week's installment of Throwback Thursdays one of the Butabi brothers from the 1998 movie A Night at the Roxbury. If someone asks you whether you have seen/liked this movie and you respond with a no then I'm not sure I can be your friend (unless of course the no is followed by a yeeeesssss). In the year it was released, Shakespeare in Love won the Academy Award for best picture. Now, can anyone honestly say they legitimately enjoy watching Shakespeare in Love more than A Night at the Roxbury? I'm not talking about cinematic qualities, simply entertainment value. It's no contest. Roxbury wins that battle every time. I mean how could it not? It launched the movie careers of Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan (1/2 ain't bad), had a great soundtrack, and gave people everywhere a simple dance move that is fun to do. Now on to the music, as always Jovan and I will be sharing 3 classic songs with our thoughts to go with them.


Jovan:

Various Artists - We Are The World


Some of the best singers in the business came together to create this beautiful song with its strong and powerful message. They recently tried to replicate it, but it included a rap part that made me want to strangle myself.

Men At Work - Down Under 

Lyrically it’s sort of stupid, and I don’t know what to say about the video, but a popular hit back in the 80s that’s catchy enough to make it to my iPod.

NFL Week 7

Tweet It has been a while since my last post. I was actually going to stop writing articles on the NFL because the whole purpose of me joining millennium was to write about the Saints. However, living in Toronto has seriously ruined the way I watch football and I’ve only watched 1 New Orleans game this season....despicable.
However, too many things have been going on in the NFL recently for me to not write out my thoughts. So here is what I’ll be looking for in week 7.

Carson Palmer ruining Oakland– Anyone who knows anything about my football history knows that Carson Palmer is my most hated player in history. I would even go so far as to say that he is one of my most hated humans of all time. If you’ve read any of my prior articles, you might get the impression that I dislike Tom Brady, but compared to Palmer, I have a mancrush on Tom. Oakland gave up a 2011 First round pick and a 2012 First or Second round pick (depending how well they do in the playoffs these next 2 years) to acquire the least consistent player in NFL history. Carson was on pace to be a guaranteed HoF candidate in his first 3 seasons, but thanks to a very illegal hit from the Pittsburgh Steelers, Palmer’s career fell apart. Now, some of you are probably under the NFL analyst hype and would believe that Palmer was still a good QB after his injury. Though stats would back up that statement, anyone who has been a diehard Bengal fan over the past 8 years knows that Palmer is a catastrophe. Almost all of his picks come in crucial moments of the game when they need him to be playing at his best and some of his throws are so errand and off target that the commentator cant even guess who the intended receiver was. Unfortunately, the Oakland Raiders, who I claimed would be making the playoffs this year lost Jason Campbell to a broken collar bone and decided that Carson Palmer was the next best choice. Though Palmer is regularly a bad bet, he has to start this week after almost a year in retirement, no offseason practice with NFL players, and worse physical fitness than the 88 year old Brett Favre. My prediction for the Raider’s success is looking rather grim.

Tim “Jesus Christ is 2nd string” Tebow – Denver has asked for it all season and now they’re finally going to get it. Tim Tebow was announced as the starting QB for the Broncos this week. I don’t know if anyone else actually cares about his play, or if they just bought into the “Superman wears Tim Tebow pyjamas” hype, but I think the Broncos are in for a rude awakening. Kyle Orton was one of the few QBs in this league that you could count on. Some people will immediately bring up the argument that Orton’s numbers are good, but he hasn’t amassed wins, but realistically, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, AND Drew Brees wouldn’t be able to fix that team. Their defence is terrible, they have the least consistent offense in the league, and the overall team mentality is miserable. Orton has put up the stats since Cutler left the Mile High City, and that’s all that you can ask of an individual. I heard a comparison that Tebow is the best QB since Jesus graduated from Jerusalem High....I wish I was joking. People claim that his style of play may be unorthodox, but at least he’s a winner. Tebow has 11 more weeks to show the world whether he can become an NFL superstar or whether he was destined to be a college legend and nothing more.

Defence is back on track - I outlined in my first article that defences were weak this year....REALLLY weak. However, the reason for the lack of defensive play was just an unusual amount of rust. Now that we’re entering week 7, defences are finally starting to mesh and offensive play has calmed down a bit. I noticed that the D was finally stepping it up while watching the stat lines for last week’s games. QBs were held to much fewer passing yards and a lot of them had put up at least 1 INT. I’m sure no one likes a game that’s all about field position with 10 punts and 7 field goals, but I’m not a fan of the ridiculous college style shoot outs either. It was getting rather boring watching these games with ridiculous combined scores in the 80’s. Now that defences are coming back, we’re finally going to see some real football with plays on both sides of the ball and great strategic battles. Can’t wait.

This week’s line up doesn’t look very promising and it seems as though we’re going to have quite a few blowouts. However, the Saints are playing the Sunday night game, so I will finally be able to report on the team that I love and miss dearly.

The Patriots Report: Week 6

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What a day of football!  First we were treated to a Lions 49ers game (who would ever have thought that this would be the marquee match-up of the day?  The teams were a combined 9-1 with the one loss in OT) that featured a Montana-esque throw from Alex Smith to win the game.  Following that, we saw two coaches (well really only one, the media says they had to be separated but it looks like Harbaugh is just trying to get away from the lunacy of Jim Schwartz) get into a post game argument with team officials having to step in, how great would a playoff game be between these teams?  Also to coach Schwartz, you've been trash talking, yelling, and intimidating teams sense the season started you can't tell me that you're getting upset about what you love doing kind of sucks when it happens to you doesn't it?  Schwartz was just bitter that his team lost, and over-reacted to a harmless pat/slap on the back.  At that point Harbaugh could have said "nice game coach" and I still think Schwartz would have snapped.  The real shame here is that the confrontation will overshadow the 49ers performance.  They held Megatron to no touchdowns, extended their streak of not allowing rushing touchdowns or 100 yard rushers and themselves ran for 200+ yards.  In the process Alex Smith threw a pass that if Manning or Brady threw you would have to clean the post-game rooms following the analyst's reaction (I will let you figure out what would need to be cleaned) this team is legitimate!

Enough about San Francisco though, this is called the Patriots Report and was the second game of FOX's double header and it might have been better than the one preceding it.  The Patriots and Cowboys came in knowing that Buffalo lost to the Giants so a win for the Patriots would give them the sole lead in their division, and the Cowboys needed to keep up with the Giants (and maybe the Eagles).  The general consensus was that this would be some sort of 41-38 affair with defense taking a back seat.  It is really funny how the consensus can be so wrong sometimes.  The Patriots easily played the best defensive game of the season while their offense put out its worst performance of the year.  I think that they will be happy with the result because they now know that if their offence fails them they can hang around with their defense.  Furthermore, the Patriots now head into a BYE week riding a 3 game winning streak.  This gives coach Belichick 2 weeks to patch things up on the defensive side of the ball and if they manage to do that, they will have earned 'contender' status.  I wont hit you with boring stats anymore, I will just offer thoughts from now on (unless the stat in question is a major one).  The only thought worth mentioning this week is the brilliance of Tom Brady.  Did anyone else have trouble remembering Brady just destroying a team with execution in a 2 minute drill?  This is part of that mystique that the Patriots lost and this is another indication that they may be regaining it, this felt like the early 2000's Patriots: keep it close with defense, let Brady win it for us at the end,  Considering that this won them 3 Superbowl's Patriots fans should be happy to see it again.  There is still a very long way to go for New England, but today they took steps in the right direction, even if it meant doing things the old way.

Some information: Luka is MIA due to being swamped with exams, expect articles about the Eagles from him when he finishes them all (or attacks a helpless TA).


-Daki

Tupac's Top 10

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Hello millennium sande fans! I’m Igor and I’m really excited to be part of this blog. I was originally supposed to be writing a weekly report on the NBA season, but unfortunately the players and the owners have not come to terms on an agreement yet and the first two weeks of the regular season have been cancelled. Oh the sad time it is for an NBA fan. Since I have no basketball to write about and after reading Cabrock Jones’ article about OutKast’s top 10 songs, I decided to make a list of my favourite Tupac songs.

When I was 14, one of my friends introduced me to hip-hop, and specifically Tupac. We used to jam to his beats all the time back then and ever since I’ve been in love with his music. He’s got a great mix of everything, songs with great lyrics, party songs and beats to chill to. What was unique about him was that these songs were delivered with such charisma and passion. Tupac also addressed many themes about the world and life itself. Anyways, enough of the intro, here are my top 10 Tupac songs, with 5 honourable mentions.

Honourable Mentions (These won’t include best lyrics):

5. Me and My Girlfriend (7 Day Theory)
All I need in this life of sin is me and my gir…gun. One of the best metaphors for a song, and Tupac kills it. This is one of his most sampled songs, most notably used by Jay-z and Eminem.

4. Life Goes On (All Eyez on Me)

This was so hard to exclude from the top ten, almost left me in tears. Tupac wastes no time rapping over a nice soft beat about how his homies have passed away, while his life still goes..or went on. This one always gets to me.

3. Old School (Me Against the World)

A more “old school” beat comes on and Tupac starts rapping about all the old rappers that paved the way for him. This song makes be think of a really happy Pac just enjoying himself and rapping about his idols and the old school way. I wonder why no rappers nowadays pay some respect to the older rappers and make a song similar to this?

2. Keep Ya Head Up (Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z.)

I will probably get massive criticism for putting this so low, but I couldn’t move the other songs out of the top ten. This song has some amazing lyrics, really showed what a talent Pac was. The young Tupac raps about how women are being treated poorly by men, but that things will get better one day. Deep shit for a 22 year old.

1. All Eyez on Me (All Eyez on Me)

I don’t have much to say about this song, except just listen to it. The beat is perfect, lyrics great, it’s simply amazing.

The Top Ten

Throwback Thursdays #2

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Yes that's the cast of Saved By The Bell. No joke here because I have midterms to study for.
Here are this week's songs:

Luka:

Five - If Ya Gettin Down

Again, lots of school stuff so no long descriptions by me. First clip is of British boy band Five and their 1999 hit. I love this video for the way that the band members are taking this way too seriously (are they wearing body armor?) and that a young Ellen DeGeneres makes a cameo several times (just kidding but it does look like her) in it. Finally, this band was apparently signed by Simon Cowell which is kind of impressive. Note: I got this information from their Wiki page meaning that they could have put it there for some credibility.

New Kids On The Block - You Got It (The Right Stuff)

A great and easy-listening hit from 1988 that everyone knows as soon as they hear it. Also, New Kids On The Block? Is that the most currently misleading band name? Half these guys already have grandkids.

Euro 2012 Qualifying: Exchanging E-mails

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Luka and I decided to exchange e-mails during today's Serbia-Slovenia European championship qualifier, here is what transpired, my writing will be in italics, Luka's in regular font.

I decided to send this e-mail nice and early (10:30pm game is at 2:45pm the next day), whether this is because I did not want to study, or because I was so nervous thinking about the game I do not know. Anyways, after thoroughly enjoying Granland.com's e-mail exchange of two yankee fans, Luka and I thought this could be fun (or it could be a potential disaster).  So what is at stake today? Here is the breakdown: Slovenia cannot qualify for the 2012 European soccer championships but would LOVE to play spoiler to Serbia's hopes.  Serbia needs to win as a tie wont do them any good.  To be honest, I absolutely hate playing against a team that has nothing to play for, if we (yes we, deal with it) lose this game the disappointment would probably carry over to 2013.  As of writing this e-mail, I have no clue where I will be watching the game (most likely my faculty's computer lab) or exactly how stressed I will get, what I do know is that at least one person will help me through it, take it away Luka.

I am extremely nervous right now. Out of all the sports, watching serbia play soccer seems like the most life and death for whatever reason. I also hate that were playing a team wit nothing to lose, especially one we've never beat. We've played them 5 times and 5 draws. If I didn't have midterms to study for after the game, there may have been some heavy drinking. Serbias line up: jorgacevic, kolarov, subotic, vidic (he's baaaack!!!), ivanovic (makes me very nervous), stankovic, tosic, jovanovic, ninkovic, petrovic, and mrda (very interesting choice) and we've started. Already regretting that no drinking thing... 

I agree on all points, especially the drinkiing and Ivanovic nervousness ones.  I swear if he didn't score so many key goals for us I would never want to see him don a Serbia jersey.  There also may or may not be a class that I will skip because of this game, at which point is follwoing your country this passionately a bad thing?  By the way the game is in the 11th minute and Ive lost a month of my life for each one of them, we are NOT playing well at the moment, I swear it feels like we crossed half only once.  I am watching this game in a computer lab crowded with people trying to study, they are not happy with me right now.

Breaking Bad Season 4 Episode 13: "Face Off" Review

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Full spoilers below you proceed once you have seen the episode.


Wow, who would have thought that the episodes title would have such a double meaning. To be honest with you, I have no idea how to do this review, I have gotten so used to good episodes (we have been spoiled from episodes 4 through 11) that I am not sure if this episode was actually bad or just bad compared to the ones preceding it (which actually wouldn't be a bad thing). What I am sure of is that this episode is most definitely not a 10, or a 9, and might be lucky to get an 8. The initial reaction from most fans has been very positive and I can't understand why. Gus's death was nicely executed up until the end, I can't believe that someone allowed the writers to kill Gus off in such an unrealistic way. I'm not saying Walt's plan was unrealistic, but Gus being able to walk out, adjust his tie one last time and stand still for a solid five seconds was just blasphemy.

If you described what I just said to someone who has never seen the show, then asked them to guess how he dies these would probably be the responses: sniper, someone shoots him, etc. Then you would tell them "actually no, he JUST had a bomb go off one foot from his face, which by the way is half missing" The person talking to you would say something like "man that's unrealistic, how can he walk out of the room and adjust his tie... or even stand?". I have two explanations: firstly, the second season of 'the walking dead' is coming out soon and this was a good way to show how good their make-up artists are, and secondly the writers really wanted to send Gus off with a scene that would be iconic. The only iconic thing about it is that it destroyed any chance that Breaking Bad had of being remembered as a great TV show. Watch the scene again, it killed the beautiful build-up, acting, and music (man was the music good, I think it saved the episode) really disappointing stuff. Other scenes in the episode like Jesse being investigated by the FBI and being kidnapped in front of a police station just added to the unrealistic feeling of this episode. The FBI and Saul was a nice touch, as was Walter sending his neighbor into a very dangerous situation, but overall it felt as if this season could have done with 12 episodes instead of 13. Realistically, all the things that happened in this episode were just a dragged out version of last episode without anything dramatic. We didn't even get a nice plot twist! I kept looking at the time and knew that there was 15 minutes left when Gus died and 6 left when Jesse and Walt destroyed the lab. I kept waiting for something but it never came, oh wait it did! It turns out that it wasn't Risen that Walt poisoned Brock with; it was some berries off of the plant in his back yard. This would have been great had the entire fan base not predicted it last week, and yes the last four or so lines are pure sarcasm. I find it really hard to believe that after such an incredible season that we went out with a whimper and not a bang. Don't believe me? I went back and looked at the ratings I have been giving these episodes, after an average score of 7.2/10 for the first 3 we got this stretch: 9, 8.2, 8.4, 10, 9.4, 9, 10, 9.2, 9.3. My goodness.

So what the hell is season 5 going to be about? A few candidates: Jesse vs. Walt when Jesse finds out Walt poisoned Brock (it has to happen), Hank connecting more dots and Mike, good ol' Mike (I really hope they show us a scene of him leaving Mexico and seeing the carnage Walt left) are the prime story lines I can think of, the good thing is I don't think we can go wrong here. All in all it is really a bitter end to a season that was brilliant as a whole, it is just a shame that the worst episodes were at the start and at the end and this is all made worse by the fact that we have to wait a year to see how this all ends. If this review feels mailed in to you, then I hope its the same feeling you got from the episode, because man did they mail this one in. Breaking Bad: you are better than this

Overall Rating for this episode: 6/10 (any higher would be insulting your intelligence)
Best Scene: Anything with Aaron Paul, I refuse to say Gus's death here because it was so 'Hollywood' and not realistic at all.


Overall Rating for the season: This was tougher than I thought because the final episode was so disappointing but overall the season was a solid 8.5/10
Best scene of the season: Let's go with the fight between Jesse and Walt, there were many worthy candidates but that one was the most intense.


A different take on things (from Jovan):

I cannot fully agree with the above review. I understand that there were some unrealistic scenes, as there have been throughout the entire show, but even though most people had already called some of the events beforehand, it was still acted out and directed extremely well. Hector got his revenge, and he had nothing left to live for, so I can't complain with his suicide. What I didn't like is how Gus did not realize that when Hector visited the DEA, it was set up. Why would Hector just suddenly decide to go and talk to the DEA? He clearly talked to someone first. Another problem I have is Gus not noticing the bomb on Hector's chair. It was in a visible area and when Tyrus turned around the chair, one of the two should have seen it. Lastly, Gus exiting the room before dying is somewhat unrealistic considering he lost half his face, but it made the scene that much better. The episode overall wasn't as good as some of the previous ones, but it was a good ending to a great season, and even though there were no twists (except the Lily of the Valley poisoning Brock - so why did Huell search Jesse in the last episode? I want this explained), there needn't have been any. What happened needed to happen and now we'll have to wait another year to see how Jesse will deal with Walt when he finds out that Walt was the one who poisoned Brock.

Episode Score: 8.5 (Season Rating: 8.8, while episodes 4-12 get a 9.5 average rating)


Look for some more Survivor thoughts in a week with some individual projects coming from each of the writers soon! Thanks for reading

The Patriots Report: Week 5

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Just another step towards contention.

While the 30-21 point win over their arch rival (and the team that eliminated them last year) must have been sweet for both the Patriots and Patriot fans, the real story was how they went about it.  The Patriots went back to the ground game and were rewarded with a decisive win that put the Jets in an early season hole.  The game really reminded me of the 20-3 playoff win over the colts where Corey Dillon rushed for 144 yards.  I did not realize this, but when doing some research for this weeks report, I got this gem from ESPN:

"When the offense totals 25 rushes or more under coach Bill Belichick, the Patriots are 107-19"


107 and 19! That statistic almost feels made up.  The fact that coach Bill Belichick was unafraid to go to the ground (when he has one of the most potent air attacks in NFL history at his disposal) shows that he can still out-think his opponents in any given game.  This is a huge positive as most Patriots fans would probably agree, especially considering that the 'Patriots Mystique' has faded over the years and this could be the first step in getting it back.

I hate having to constantly bring it up every week, but the Patriots need to play better defense.  This was a game they easily could have won 40-3 but allowing the 'Sanchize' to post a 105.6 Quarterback rating and letting Greene get 4.0 yards per rush will not cut it.  While letting teams get 21 points in the regular season is fine, in the playoffs its a recipe for disaster.  There really is no point in talking about the offence, we know they are good and we know that Welker and Branch should send half their paycheck to Brady (especially Branch, people forgot he existed when he went to Seattle).  We know that their offensive line is arguably the best in the league and we know that their young tight ends are a luxury to such a great offense.  The most important thing we know however, is that offense will not win you a championship, you don't even have to look far for proof (18-1 sound familiar anyone?).  The reason I say that this game was a step towards contention is because that is just how things stand right now, the Patriots are not at the level of being called a contender in my opinion.

Back in the day just having the Brady and Belichick tandem was enough but teams have caught up to them and the Patriots lost three important things that defined their Superbowl runs.  They lost the ability to completely stun teams with their game plan (although today was an exception, I really miss seeing Vrabel catch Touchdown passes), they lost the once great defense, and maybe most importantly, they lost their 'underdog/no one believed we could win' status.  The Patriots used to thrive off of sneaking up on teams and winning games they had no business of winning.  Now they are favored to win almost every game and we have all seen how it turns out for them: watching the Superbowl at home.  With all of that said I still believe that New England can improve and develop into a legitimate contender before the season is done, at this point, with 11 games to go it isn't an issue, lets see how they look in week 15.

I will be following the Patriots progress throughout the season and writing weekly reports, not simply recaps but some additional insight.  Thank you for reading.  For more my twitter feed is Daki_4

Throwback Thursdays

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Why start a post with a photo of the Seinfeld cast? Is it to pay respect to the best sitcom ever (this is not arguable, there isn't an episode of Seinfeld that's not watchable and hilarious)? No. It is because no other TV show personifies the 90's as much as it does (seriously, every episode of Seinfeld would be ruined if someone had a cell phone). In Throwback Thursdays (no idea what else to call it), a weekly feature, Jovan and I will each pick 3 "throwback songs" (any song from the 00's and before), post the songs, and write a short excerpt about each one. It will let us reminisce about simpler times where the only things that tweeted were birds while the reader gets to enjoy some great good entertaining music. So without further ado,

Jovan:

Heaven Is A Place On Earth - Belinda Carlisle


If you’ve seen Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, you know the scene where they steal the truck and listen to those old songs (those songs which you might not realize you know and actually like until you hear them and start singing them yourself). Heaven is a Place on Earth is one of those songs. The 80s had a very distinct style of music, one that I miss, and I don’t mind hearing this song once every while to remind me of a great decade of music.

I've Been Thinking About You - Londonbeat

I listened to this one frequently in the 90s and had forgotten about it until recently when I heard it on the radio. The background music and beat are a joy to listen to, and paired with great vocals from Londonbeat, it is one of my favourite 90s songs. I also never thought someone saying “shi-pow-pow” in a song could actually make it sound good.

Becoming a Hockey Fan, the Odyssey

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If you have been reading our articles you have probably noticed that we like to make analogies about what we write about, more specifically you probably noticed that most of those analogies have used examples from the NBA and occasionally the NFL and never the NHL.  The reason for this is that, well, none of the writers here follow the NHL that much.  Obviously we are aware of who won last year (Boston) and who the important players are (Crosby, Ovechkin, the Sedin twins etc.) but when you compare our NHL knowledge to our NBA, NFL, and even soccer knowledge we are far behind.  We are the types of people who will flip over and watch a hockey game when we are chilling together, and even get together at a bar and watch the occasional playoff game, but beyond that nothing.  This year is different, this year I will make a concentrated effort to follow the NHL, and the team I have chosen to be a fan of is the Toronto Maple Leafs!  Why?  I live in Toronto, so there is that plus I tend to cheer for 'cursed' teams (Sacramento Kings, San Francisco 49ers, Liverpool) so the Leafs are a fitting choice, apparently I love heartbreaking losses.

So why now?  Why the sudden decision to do this?  Well, there were multiple factors, one being the ongoing NBA labor dispute (I cant even type about this, lets just move on) and the other was one of the games I watched with some friends last year which was Game 7 between Montreal and Boston.

I don't blame you if you did not watch the full clip, but to understand where I'm coming from just look at it from 14:16 and on.  We have Kerry Price going into God mode for several saves including the audacious one at the 15:38, followed by some great saves by Tim Thomas and then all of it culminates with the tying shot, an absolute snipe by Subban at around 14:44.  We know what happened next, Boston eliminated the Habs and that was it but the seed was planted.  I never had more fun (or gotten more excited) about a hockey game before and when Subban almost ripped the net (silencing the chilly 'lets go Boston!' chant in the process) a part of me knew that I could grow to like this sport.

So essentially what I'm going to do is dive head-first into hockey and write about the experience of following a new sport.  I have no idea if this will stick or how often I'll write or even what the hell I'm going to write about; but what I do know is that I am excited to do this and would regret not recording the experience in some way.  Hopefully some of you will find my 'Odyssey' interesting and hopefully I will be satisfied at the end of the journey, but in this case, the journey may be the funnest part.

If you liked this, or any other articles, leave a comment and follow me on twitter @Daki_4

Breaking Bad Season 4 Episode 12: 'End Times' Review

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Spoilers below, fair warning.

This episode of Breaking Bad was like watching a great athlete put the finishing touches on an MVP season.  Not sinse the third and fourth seasons of the wire (still easily the best show ever, this is not up for debate) have I had the pleasure of enjoying a television show this much.  Season 4 of Breaking Bad has really been a joy and it is a shame that there is only one episode left before a year of waiting.  This episode was not without its tense moments, but slowed down considerably from the last few.  This is a nice calming period before we get to next weeks finale (titled 'Face Off') and this episode felt more like a stage-setter much like the episode 'half-measures' was last year.

There is not really a point in discussing the minor happenings of the episode, because everyone on the internet is focusing on the question of who poisoned Brock?  The main theories are almost divided down the middle with one side saying Walt did it and the other saying Gus did it.  Before getting into that we have to acknowledge two more theories: first, Brock may have poisoned himself, very unlikely.  Second, Skyler somehow did it, again unlikely but not impossible; she has the connections with Saul, she was more sane than Walt as of last episode and seems to be cold and calculating so I do not put anything past her at this point.  Now that those are out of the way, lets get to it.

The Case that Walt poisoned Brock

The Patriots Report: Week 4

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This past week I heard many people saying that Oakland was going to beat the Patriots outright and that New England would be exposed.  Whatever.

Tom Brady shook off one of the worst games of his career and had a relatively quiet game throwing for two touchdowns and more importantly, having no turnovers.  The Patriots have played three out of their first four games away from Foxborough and are sitting at a record of 3-1, I think most coaches in the NFL would love to be in their position right now.  The Buffalo Bills loss coupled with (at the time of this writing) the Jets losing to the Ravens, means that New England will be atop their division once again (tied with the Bills).  With seven home games left, it's hard to see this team finishing with less than 10 wins overall.  Wes Welker once again dominated proceedings, did you know he already has 40 catches this year?  This game he had 9 of them to go with 158 yards, considering that only 16 passes were completed by Brady, this is huge!  He was responsible for more than half of the Patriots offence (by air), I feel safe in saying that if Welker gets injured and has to sit out more than 2 games that this team would be in some serious trouble.  Chad Ochocinco continues his relatively quiet season; today he had 2 catches (although he was targeted only 2 times) for 26 yards.  Cabrock speculated in his last article that this could be a result of him not understanding New England's offence yet. if this is the case then Chad has 13 weeks to figure it out if he wants to contribute to this team.  In the playoffs (assuming the Patriots make it) New England can not rely only on Welker as a primary wide receiver if they want to contend.

Defensively, the Patriots finally held a team to under 20 points, this is a good sign after being torched by Buffalo last week.  Vince Wilfork had another pick (his only 2 career interceptions have come this year) and continued to be a beast on the defensive line, continually drawing double teams.  Patrick Chung also came up with an interception and showed that he is a valuable player to this team (he missed the game against Buffalo).  For some reason, (and I do not know enough about the technical aspects of football to explain this) Safeties seem to be really important to defenses (more so than other positions) and teams that had great safeties tend to have great defenses (Ed Reed, Bob Sanders, Troy Polamalu, Lawyer Miloy etc.).  This is an open invitation to Cabrock Jones to try and explain this in writing, it is something I've been wondering for a long time, so Cabrock: Why do defenses in the NFL rely so much on safeties?  and why do defenses under-perform when starting safeties are out?  Anyways, today it was business as usual for the Patriots who now host the New York Jets next week.  If the Ravens keep kicking their ass this game could put the Jets in jeopardy of missing the playoffs, should make for a very good game.  Two quick notes:  Tom Brady passed his idol Joe Montana (while playing where he grew up no less) on the all time Touchdowns list.  Just another achievement to put on the hall of fame plaque reserved for him.  Second thing, Brady cut his hair, Think what you will about this; my guess is that Belichick told him he's tired of his pretty-boy shit and that he wants him to take this season seriously.  The only true contenders that have emerged so far are all in the NFC (Saints, Lions, Packers).  Belichick senses that the AFC is weak and that this could be the Patriots year.  Stay tuned.

NFL Week 4 picks

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Week 4 Lines:

Sunday:
Carolina Panthers at Chicago Bears (-6.0)

Buffalo Bills (-3.0) at Cincinnati Bengals

Tennessee Titans at Cleveland Browns (-1.0)

Detroit Lions at Dallas Cowboys (-1.5)

Pittsburgh Steelers at Houston Texans (-3.5)

New Orleans Saints (-7.0) at Jacksonville Jaguars

Minnesota Vikings (-2.0) at Kansas City Chiefs

Washington Redskins (-2.0) at St. Louis Rams

San Francisco 49'ers at Philadelphia Eagles (-9.0)

New York Giants (-1.0) at Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons (-4.0) at Seattle Seahawks

Denver Broncos at Green Bay Packers (-12.0)

New England Patriots (-4.0) at Oakland Raiders

Miami Dolphins at San Diego Chargers (-7.0)

New York Jets at Baltimore Ravens (-3.0)

Monday:Indianapolis Colts at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-10.0)

The Picks:

panthers
bills
titans
lions
steelers
saints
vikings
redskins
49ers
giants
falcons
packers
patriots
chargers
ravens
colts

Last week: 6-10

Overall: 23-25