Throwback Thursdays #7

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No intro this week so just enjoy this pic of GZA, RZA, and Bill Murray hanging out instead. Songs down below.

Luka:

Lionel Richie - Hello

 My first song is Lionel Richie’s Hello. There’s no point in me describing how great of a song or how many weeks it spent on the charts since this is all well-known. Everyone loves this song and with good reason. It has good lyrics, a good melody, it’s extremely catchy and to top it all off, it is sung by one of the best singers of all time. The chorus is especially fun to sing with everyone attempting a seductive “hello” in hope of mimicking Lionel but always end up sounding more like Uncle Leo. The main reason I picked this song though is its insane/weird video that naturally makes it very fun to watch. The basic plot of the video is that Lionel is crushing on a girl who is the subject of the lyrics. Sounds normal right? Yeah, until you figure out that Lionel is the girl’s teacher. Here are some highlights of the video. :21 – The name of the fictional character in the video is Billyboy..? Really? They could have picked anything else and it would have been less weird. :55 – We meet Lionel’s crush in the video, his student Laura who appears to go to the same barber as him (they randomly have strangely similar hair). 1:44 – Unrelated but how fucking old is that guy? 1:55 – No one in this school finds it weird that the drama teacher is stalking his student in the hallway? Nobody? 2:21 – Laura’s friends save her from a Lionel sneak-attack from behind. 3:41 – Creepiest moment of the video (big accomplishment), Lionel calling his student late at night only to sing “Hello, Is it me you’re looking for?” before hanging up. 4:34 – One of Lionel’s students (who looks to be the same age as him) tells him something’s up in the sculpture class. 4:57 – Laura made a sculpture of Lionel’s head and then begins touching his face. 5:25 – Thank god this video ends at this moment because if it hadn’t, I’m pretty sure we’d all be witnesses to a crime. Great song. I’m kind of sad that videos like this don’t get made anymore. 

Ja Rule ft. Jennifer Lopez - I'm Real (Murder Remix)

It was late 2001 and I was just turning 10. What else was happening at the time? Ja Rule and Jennifer Lopez were releasing this great song. I don’t know anyone who hears this and doesn’t immediately start having a good time. It has that laid back summer vibe that just makes you want to put on your doo-rag and go play ball in the Bronx (or is that just me?). The song has J-Lo on the chorus as well as trading lyrics back and forth with Ja Rule who was huge at the time (if you’re young and reading this, you’re just going to have take my word on this one). The video has Ja and J-Lo (J-Lo is in her full ‘Jenny from the Block’ persona in this one. Also, how well has she aged? She looks just as good now as she did back then. Unreal) just lounging in their neighborhood, in front of a basketball court, and on the hood of a car. A simple concept for the video but you don’t really need anything too complicated for a song such as this one. What the video does have is two clothing styles that sadly disappeared after the early 2000’s. One being the Doo-Rag (pretty sure that’s how it’s spelt) which every single rapper wore back in the day. These seemingly all disappeared at once and are now nowhere to be found. I personally blame Kevin Federline for this. After he starting wearing them in the mid 00’s the African-American community probably got together and just decided that they had to go. Thanks K-Fed. The second thing in the video that you never see anymore is the “one sleeve pulled on, the other on top of the shoulder” style of wearing your shirt. I blame people’s common sense for that one since I can’t believe people ever thought that looked good. 

Mad Men - 'A Little Kiss' Review

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Full Spoilers ahead for Season 5, episode 1 of Mad Men (if you haven't seen it there's no reason to read this)

Ah Megan. After a year and a half hiatus (caused by a dispute between Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner and AMC), Mad Men finally returned on Sunday night giving us (the audience) a better look at the woman Don Draper proposed to in an unexpected move at the end of season 4. And speaking for myself, after this episode I don't blame Don. However, the episode did not start with Megan but rather with several advertising executives (we later learn they are of rival ad company Y & R)  throwing water bombs out the window at African-American protesters down below. This scene sets up the social situation at the time which from a poster on the window is revealed to be 1966, seven months after the Season 4 finale.

At the beginning of the episode we also get to see the three Draper kids with Sally (growing faster than any child I've ever seen), Bobby, and baby Eugene who is no longer a baby sleeping over at their father's house for his 40th birthday. It is through this that we get our first glimpse of Don after his marriage to Megan and he seems more patient, polite and in generally a happier mood than we've ever seen him before. By the time we get to the office we see where Pete and Roger are after the 7-month break and they couldn't be more different. Pete seems to be the boss of the younger workers at the office and generally the busiest guy at SCDP (Sterling-Cooper-Draper-Pryce) while Roger seems to be around for solely comedic value now as he drifts around the office seemingly doing nothing productive (unless you want to count him paying Don's secretary to come sit outside his office).

Joan as a mom is seen in this episode too taking care of hers and Rogers baby (her rapist, douche husband doesn't know this), Kevin. She is being helped out by her mother but it is obvious that Joan isn't one for the housewife role as she misses the office and gets mad at her mom for saying that Greg (Joan's douche husband) will essentially control whether or not Joan can work. Back at the office we see Don, Pete, Roger, and Lane (Bert Cooper is still in the office but he somehow does less than Roger, seems like he is completely out of the business end of things at the company) having a meeting in the hallway with Pete again taking charge of the proceedings and speaking for the group. Pete mentions to Don that he's working on getting Mohawk Airlines again (a company they passed over in hopes of getting American Airlines) to which Don reacts with indifference. The new Don Draper seems to have one thing on his mind, Megan. This thought is supported by him failing to even attempt and save Peggy's failed Heinz presentation (it being "the bean ballet", I don't care what the Heinz guy said, that'd be a cool commercial) but rather politely and patiently saying they'll work on something better. Even Peggy notices it saying to Stan that "this is a new Don"

Pete vs Roger seems to be a main point of emphasis in this first episode as Pete gets upset at finding Roger already at his Mohawk Airlines meeting. Strangely enough as Ken points out, the fact that Roger was there probably helped Pete in the long run but Pete is having none of it as he stubbornly continues to bitch at Roger's dis-usefulness at the company (hard to argue but then again Roger is hilarious). Megan who works under Peggy at the office in a strange repetition of the early Don and Peggy relationship decides to throw Don a surprise birthday party only to have the surprise funnily ruined by Roger and Jane (seriously, Roger is comedy gold). At the party we get to see more of the culture divide that began in the last season. Stan and Peggy's boyfriend arguing with Cooper over the merits of the Vietnam war. Roger and Don looking confused as Megan chats it up with the band playing at the party. We also see Ken's wife for the first time who is none other than Alex Mack (look up the show if you don't know who this is).

At the party is when Megan decides to perform a birthday song for Don (video up above) who seems uncomfortable the entire time. After the party we finally get to see some of old-school loner, brooding Don as he dismisses Megan for embarrassing him and wasting her money on a party like this. Nice to see the seasons 1-3 Draper even if it was for just a few minutes. The performance by Megan gave us some great bits at the office the next day with Roger singing Frere Jacques to Don in a "seductive" voice and Harry (the guy no one likes) vividly telling Stan what he'd do with Megan if he could without realizing Megan was right behind him the whole time. Funny stuff.

The Roger and Pete showdown continued later in the episode as Pete demanded to switch offices with Roger since he does more work and is more important to the company. This leads to this great exchange, Pete - "I say we take it to a vote", Roger - "I say we take it outside". Needless to say Pete did not get Roger's office but he did end up switching with Harry who Roger paid off in order for everything to work out. Pete ends up getting the last laugh this episode as he gets his secretary to set up a fake appointment at 6 am knowing Roger would go. Can't wait to watch the interactions between these two the whole season.

After seeing a want ad from SCDP for "equal opportunity employees" in the newspaper, Joan returns to the office with her baby to make sure people haven't forgotten her. What she doesn't know is that the want ad is just a prank by Roger on the Y & R people. Joan realizes that she has not been forgotten and is sorely missed as Lane tells her how much the agency needs her around. Both Lane and Joan seem similar this season in the sense that they both look to be very lonely even with several important things in their lives. Megan, after not taking Don's scolding well leaves the office early only to be followed by Don back home (when would the old Don Draper ever leave work for a woman he mistreated?). It is here where she begins cleaning the apartment in just her bra and panties provoking Don by saying things such as "you don't get to touch, you only get to watch". This of course excites Don who loves when women 'neg' him and leads to a passionate hook-up right there on the carpet.

The episode ends with the lobby at SCDP being filled with African-American applicants answering the "want ad" in the newspaper. The 5 partners (mostly Lane as he is still the main voice of reason in the office) decide that they will hire one of the women to be the secretary in front of the office. This development will sure to cause an even larger culture clash within the office and I can't wait to see what sort of racist things will come out of Roger's mouth in the weeks to come.

Some random thoughts: We got no Betty or Henry in this episode which might mean that they are slowly being phased out of the show (no complaints here). Pete seems to be the new Don Draper with everything from the house in the suburbs, the wife he appears to not love as much right down to the obsession over work. Will be interesting to see how this develops. Finally, even though the Don-Megan relationship appears to be working out at the moment, I have a hard time believing that it will work out because as we've seen through 4 seasons, Don can never have a healthy relationship with a woman and will surely find some way to get out of this one.

Overall a very good way to start the season. I love how Mad Men doesn't care about conventional TV pacing and uses its slow pace to build the characters up making every small interaction more important.

Rating: 8.3/10

-Luka Milanovic
@Luka_M91 on Twitter

The NBA: Where We Stand 3/4 of the Way Through

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Here we are! The NBA season is roughly 75% complete, so that means it is time for my quarterly look at the season. If you have read the ¼review and the half-way point post, then you know what to expect; some awards, some opinions, and some observations about all things NBA. The trade deadline, as well as some key injuries, probably changed things quite a bit for some teams and we will get to those points later, but for now let’s hand out the awards that are sure-fire locks.

The Lock-it down Award

This goes to two guys who carry ‘James’ in their names. Of course I am talking about Lebron James being a lock (or at least, he should be) for the NBAs MVP award, and James Harden being a lock for the NBAs 6^th man of the year award. Realistically, these have been decided for a solid month, with Lebron’s season ranking higher (in terms of PER, John Hollinger’s mathematical formula to judge a player) than any other season since, well ever. Harden on the other hand could easily start for most teams, and many argue that he should start next to Westbrook on the Thunder. Coach Brooks however, likes to use him in the ‘Ginobili’ role, where he is the primary creator and is always on the floor in crunch time. It would take a serious collapse for these guys not to win their respective awards, as of now they are the least exciting award ‘races’ that the NBA has.

The “We will make a lot of people mad, but can’t really do anything about it” award, given to the coach of the year so far.

Unlike Lebron and Harden, who are already making space on their shelves for their awards, the race for ‘coach of the year’ is completely up in the air. There are so many worthy candidates this season that it feels unfair to pick just one winner, but that’s what I will try to do anyways. Firstly, the way injuries and playoff races have changed since the all-star break we can remove Rick Adelman, George Karl, Nate McMillan, and Kevin Mchale (last cut) from the race. That leaves us with Byron Scott (who has done a masterful job on the Cavs, they should not be where they are right now), Gregg Popovich (defying everybody’s predictions about San Antonio’s demise for what feels like the 10^th year in a row), Scott Brooks and Tom Thibodeau (number one seeds in their respective conferences), Stan Van Gundy (through all of that idiotic Howard drama, he has this team playing really well), Doug Collins, Lionell Hollins, and Rick Carlisle round out the long shots. I would be fine with any of these worthy candidates winning, and I didn’t even talk about Alvin Gentry, who has done a really good job with Phoenix. Expect a very interesting distribution of votes for this category at seasons’ end.

The “Our criterion for awards needs to be better” award for the NBA’s very vague requirements for winning certain awards goes to the Defensive player of the year award race.

I hate the DPOY award. It almost always goes to a defensive big-man, and nobody really explains why. Is the award meant to be given to the best help defender? The guy who blocks the most shots? The guy who plays the best individual defense? It is 2012! We should be able to figure this out. On that note, a lot of people say that Dwight Howard should win the DPOY award because the quality of big-men in the league is terrible; my counter: perimeter players dominate this league (Lebron, Wade, Kobe, Ellis, Durant, Westbrook, Nash, Paul, Williams, I could go on for another 30 players but you get the idea). So what this means is that on any given night, a guy like Tony Allen will be matched up against a guy who can score, and score a lot, whereas Howard is guarding scrubs that can’t score at all. This enables Dwight to stay close to the rim, and provide a lot of off-the ball help, but when matched up against someone who knows what they’re doing (Bynum) he gets outplayed! What I am trying to say is that if there were more quality big-men in the league, Howards defensive impact would be minimal. The DPOY award should take into account man-to-man defence as well, or have a guard and a big-man category. It goes without say that if I had a say, I would vote for Tony Allen as the defensive player of the year.

The “Dilemma” Award

This goes right back to the vague criteria argument. Do you realize that one of Durant, Lebron, and Kevin Love can’t make the All-NBA first team because they are all forwards? For some reason the NBA insists on making everything about positions, so we get outraged every year when it comes to all-star selections, but almost never when it comes to the all-NBA ones. The All-NBA selections are the most underrated awards each year, but they may finally get the attention they deserve when some significant snubs are made. So for this award, I will dish out my selections for all 3 teams, using my own criteria.

All-NBA first team: Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Kevin Durant, Kevin Love. I do not care what anyone says, these five guys have had the best seasons in the league, and should also finish the top five in MVP voting.

All-NBA second team: Russell Westbrook, Rajon Rondo, Lamarcus Aldridge, Andrew Bynum, Dwight Howard. Yes, I realize that I have Howard and Bynum on the same team, so what? I can’t fairly pick one over the other in terms of who has had a better year, so I am calling it a tie. If you find yourself questioning the Lamarcus Aldridge selection, watch a Portland game then get back to me.

All-NBA third team: Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade, Dirk Nowitzki, Blake Griffin, Marc Gasol,

A former regular season MVP, a former Finals MVP, and the reigning finals MVP all grace our third team! I think that it is very safe to say that the NBA is in a very good place at the moment. One thing I should mention is that Marc Gasol has had an amazing season. He was effectively Memphis’s only reliable big man while Zach Randolph was injured and has developed to the point where he may be better than brother Pau. This guy elevates his game in big moments, and plays the game the right way; he absolutely deserves to be recognized for his achievements this year.

That will wrap up this edition, with the final one coming sometime at the end of the regular season. In the mean time, we have some Mad men, some more NBA, and other cool stuff coming at you later this week. Cheers!

-Follow us on Twitter @MillenniumSandE

The NBA So Far (part 4)

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As promised here is our continued look at the NBA. For the last installment of this series (on the top 8 teams) we might switch things up a bit.

13. The Portland Trail-Blazers (72points)*

The Blazers started off this season as one of the best teams in the West and they looked like they could potentially pull off a few upsets in the playoffs and get to the finals. Their starting five was solid on both offense and defense, but they also had key contributors off the bench. Then things started trending downwards and the team has not been able to pull it together. McMillan decided to sub Crawford into the starting lineup instead of Felton (who apparently forgot how to play basketball) which was obviously not going to work, since Crawford will never primarily look to pass. He is a great scorer off the bench and can go off for 50 (did so while playing for three different teams) on any given night, but he should not be forced into playing like a distributor. The other move McMillan made was subbing Batum in for Matthews, which turned out great for Batum, but put Matthews in a giant shooting slump. So then came the trade deadline which involved rumours surround the Blazers. Will Crawford go to the Wolves? Will Felton go to the Lakers? Well neither of these two happened, but the team said fuck it and just traded just about everyone else away. Camby was shipped to the Rockets, Wallace to the Nets (I still don’t get why the nets did this…it’s not like Wallace will make Deron stay), Oden was waived (go to Pheonix, it’s your only chance at playing again!), and McMillan was fired. What did the Blazers gain from this? Not much to be honest, except more playing time for their younger players. Where will they finish the season? At home on their couches watching the NBA playoffs (hopefully Felton stays away from whatever he was eating prior to this season). Now the Blazers can look forward to the NBA lottery and hope the team rebounds next year, since they do have some good pieces to surround Aldridge with.

-Igor

*Editors Note: It really speaks volumes as to how much this team fell off from the start of the season.

12. The Denver Nuggets (72points)

When we initially picked the teams that we wanted to write about, I jumped on this Nuggets squad. They were playing a fun, up-tempo style and were winning games without a true star, but unfortunately, injuries got the better of them and they were unable to sustain their red-hot start to the season. As of this writing (insert joke about how out-dated some of these rankings are) the Nuggets are in a three-way tie for 7^th in the Western conference, but are a half game out of fourth, and four games out of third. The West basically breaks down to nine teams fighting for the last five spots, as the Thunder, Lakers, and Spurs have created separation from the rest of the pack. So where do the Nuggets fall in that mix? If I had to choose, I think 8^th is the spot that they will end up with. For starters, Denver is still not fully healthy, and the constant flux of line-ups and minutes has not allowed them to be consistent whatsoever. Secondly, the Nuggets have only six (!) home games remaining in the regular season, are they good enough to scrape some road games? Yes. Can they win more than 54% (their current winning percentage) of them? Probably not; From April 13^th to April 25^th Denver plays the Lakers, the Rockets twice, the Clippers, the Suns, the Magic, and lastly the Thunder in that order. That stretch of games will determine whether or not they make the playoffs, but until then all they can do is try to keep winning games and hopefully get healthy for the playoffs. If Denver makes it in I firmly believe that anything can happen, even Mark Cuban is on record as saying that “seeding has never mattered less”. So the key is to just make the playoffs and hope that the match-ups work out in your favour. Until the playoffs actually start however, we know nothing.

-Daki

11. The Orlando Magic (82 points)

So after much speculation, Dwight Howard has decided to exercise his player option for the following season and remain with the Orlando Magic. It would have been interesting to see how he would have fared in New Jersey with Deron Williams, which seemed to be the only plausible city Howard was going to end up in. The Lakers were not going to trade Bynum, and no one else was offering any trade the Magic would be willing to accept. So now that Howard is still with the Magic, they have the exact same team they’ve had all year. They’re 3^rd in the Eastern conference, which is impressive considering the inconsistencies they’ve been battling all season, especially from Jameer Nelson, who seems to be finally picking up his pace and playing the way he should have been playing all season. Howard has had his usual great season, and hopefully his level of effort picks up now that he knows he’s going to be staying in Orlando this year. One of the biggest surprises for the Magic this year has been the improved play of Ryan Anderson, who is leading the league in both threes attempted and threes made. The Magic are playing well right now and they are 3^rd in the league points allowed per game. They have the ability to go far in the playoffs, but they’ll need their starters to be more consistent more often. However, it will be difficult to beat the Heat in the playoffs, as they are, in my opinion, still the favourites to win the title this year.

-Jovan