Thoughts, News, and other things...

Get Him to the Greek

2010-06-24T08:00:00.001-05:00

As I become older, the less and less I enjoy comedies at the movies. For some reason, the big screen seems like a showcase for action and drama, while the small screen seems suited for comedy in half hour segments. This isn’t without its exceptions; I thought the Hangover was great. So going into Get Him to the Greek I was a bit skeptical. However, I did enjoy the movie.

The movie depends on the physical and awkward humor of Jonah Hill and the over the top performances from Russell Brand and Sean Combs. All of them seem perfectly cast in their roles. Hill seems to spew physical, awkward humor while also giving a little heart. Brand naturally seems like a strung out rock star. Both of their characters back stories’ attempt to make them more human. I’m not sure if it works in the end and I didn’t really feel for either of the characters. The movie benefits from the action and problems Hill has in dragging Russell to each appearance. Hill’s problems provide plenty of humorous moments. The physical humor and jokes at Hill’s expense could get tiresome, and nearly does, but Combs brings fresh energy near the end to push the movie to its conclusion. The end of the movie tries to give the characters heart, but it seems a little too awkward and rushed. Overall, it's a decent movie that I’m glad I saw, but don’t know if I’ll be seeing again.

NBA Finals

2010-06-17T10:35:00.000-05:00

At the beginning of the series, I had thought the Boston, despite having a less than impressive regular season, but a brilliant playoff run would have the edge. I thought that the Lakers would have difficulty defending guards Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo. Either Derek Fisher or Kobe Bryant would be matched up against them. Derek Fisher seemed overmatched and Kobe, I thought, would be worn out having to chase around Rondo or fighting through screens guarding Allen. I thought Paul Pierce on Ron Artest and Kevin Garnett on Paul Gasol would be interesting matchups.

Now with the series at 3-3, the series and the NBA season comes down to one game. Thus far Kobe Bryant has been the MVP. If the Lakers lose on Thursday and Kobe receives the MVP award, which he deserves, he will be the second player ever to win the MVP after Jerry West in 1969 (Boston fittingly beat the Celtics 4-3). Kobe showed why he deserves the MVP in Game 6. He scored 26 pts (he has scored more than 20 pts every game) and was active all game. He brought energy by jumping after loose balls and playing an active role on defense.

The series is not as I expected it. As I wrote before, I thought the guard play would favor the Celtics, but Kobe has played well all series and Derek Fisher was big in the 4^th quarter of Game 3. Both Rondo and Allen have played below expectations. Allen was huge in Game 2 (8-11 3pt and 32 pts) but has been very pedestrian otherwise. Rondo similarly had a great Game 2 (19 pts, 10 ast, 12 reb), but has also very pedestrian in the rest of the series. The Celtics have held the Lakers down with good defense and vice versa. In Game 5, the Celtics forced Kobe to be a one man show, which is what they will have to do the win the series. Boston’s most consistent performers have been Pierce and Garnett, who has hit some key shots and has looked good since the series moved to Boston. The Lakers defense of Rondo looks laughable, but it works. They are begging him to take a jump shot. Kobe and other defenders are giving him 3 to 4 feet of space. Rondo has to get a jump shot in the off season or he should expect this type of defense all season. Teams used to play Derrick Rose this way until he convinced them that his jumper can be equally as deadly.

I give the edge in Game 7 to the Lakers only because of home court advantage, but in my mind it is a toss-up. As the commercials said, “legacies are at stake”. I’m sure Kobe will show up the question is who will for the Celtics? They can’t have another performance where they score 67 points (Game 6). Give credit to the Lakers for being up to the task of shutting down a Celtic team that has multiple weapons.

Stargate Universe Season 1

2010-06-10T10:00:00.002-05:00

Looking back at Season 1, I am excited about the promise and progress of the show. This is not like former Stargate series. It’s darker, less action, more drama, more conflict, and less friends. I’m a fan of the series. The best part of the series is the Col. Young and Dr. Rush. It’s extremely interesting to see their characters develop and interact violently at times. Although the show sometimes falls into the trap of dealing with one Armageddon-like catastrophe each week, conflicts and past disagreements are often carried over throughout the series.

It seemed early on that the show was using a bunch of devices to carry the story and build characters (kino and communication stones), but they have drifted a bit away from that (well the kino-storytime parts at least). I think it was probably necessary to build up some of the characters. One thing I do enjoy is no aliens. Although there was the attack on the ship, the aliens did not dominate the storyline and the drama was more built on the characters reacting to the situation rather than aliens being equal in importance.

The series, like any other, isn’t without its faults. The show has a cast of thousand, not literally, but there are a lot of characters and a lot of storylines that just die or are never seen again. (For example, what about the civilian leader on earth telling Camille Wray to take control on board? Or what about Lt. Scott’s feud at the end the season) These might be little seeds for future seasons, but the some of the characters still suffer from underdevelopment. (For instance, Camille Wray) Rush and Young are much stronger characters and she is usually the one complaining while Rush and Young drive the action. This might be interesting to watch down the line, but too many times we see one episode designed to explore a character’s past and then don’t really explore it further. Maybe it helps build background, but there are too many characters to do that with and the focus is sometimes lost. There is no intense, intimate relationship we have with the characters like in Dexter.

The season ended with a storyline built over the last few episodes about the Lucian Alliance using Dr. Rush in Col. Telford’s body (who had been brainwashed) to dial the 9^th chevron and boarding the ship. I think it was the best part of the season. It was interesting and exciting to see the crew deal with this new threat with their underlying conflicts present. If the season has shown anything, it shows that while Wray, Rush, and Young don't get along normally, they will work together against a common enemy, or problem. I thought there could have been a little more action and intrigue (like The Negotiator), but I was still excited to see each episode. The rays potentially killing everyone aboard also was a nice wild card thrown into the mix. I was also extremely pleased to see Col. Young’s notion that he can save everyone go down. I felt that was the downfall of the previous Stargates. There was always a way to bring back a character and they never left anyone behind even if it meant a bigger disaster unfolding. Col. Young knows he cannot save all the hostages held by the Alliance, but still is determined to (and if he could I would have lost respect for the series.) and it is interesting, but not surprising that Rush is the one to tell him it.

The really disappointing part of the season was that it didn’t end. The mid season ending had more of a finale feel. I understand the attraction for a cliffhanger, but it’s like they just forgot to show the last 10 minutes. Nothing was resolved just pushed until next season. I much rather prefer the way Chuck did it this season (unveiling a new storyline) or Dexter did it. (I won’t say again how expert it was to finish the season that way.) They both finished a major storyline, but made you want to continue next season. So now I feel obligated to watch the first episode, not that I wouldn’t have anyways. Despite my disappointment, I still am looking forward to see what they have planned for next season after they finish this one.

Basketball thoughts

2010-03-03T08:00:00.002-06:00

This week has been a bit hectic so I'll make it short and sweet this week. My two basketball teams, the Illini and the Bulls find themselves at a crossroads to the postseason.

Illini
I went to the Minnesota game on Saturday and it was pretty ugly in the 1st half. I was just hoping we'd make it into double digits in the first half. The second half was pretty exciting. I have never seen a comeback before and every 3 made was incredible. Even though the Illini lost it was a good game to experience, but it was my first loss at Assembly Hall. Because of this loss and the loss last night against Ohio State, I think to be safe for the tournament, the Illini need to win at home versus Wisconsin and win at least one Big Ten tournament game. If they lose against Wisconsin, they might need to get to the Big Ten Championship game to prove their worth. The problem is inconsistency which has plagued them all season. This is true not only from game to game, but half to half. Bad early losses to Utah and Bradley. Good wins at Wisconsin and Clemson and versus Michigan State.

Bulls
The Bulls came out of the break with a good string of wins against less than stellar teams (T'wolves, Knicks, Pacers, Sixers), but are hobbling now. In yesterday's practice, Rose, Hinrich, Noah, Miller, and Deng all sat. Noah and Deng sat out in the Atlanta loss. The problem with the Bulls is that they are facing a long stretch without Noah and nagging injuries on your starters. The trades have left the Bulls with a lack of big men although they recently just resigned Chris Richard for the rest of the season. Besides Richard, your looking at an hobbling Noah, a aging Miller who can't put extended minutes, Taj a rookie also with a foot injury, and Hakim Warrick. The Bulls are also about to hit a rough stretch of playing some good teams (Dallas, Utah, Orlando, Cleveland). Right now they are 2 games up on the 9th place Bobcats.

Despite all the recent injury news, I thought the trades were pretty good. Warrick and Murray seem to fit well and the Bulls seemed to be running the break more. Additionally, the Bulls cleared space for a potential free agent. I think they struck the best balance they could by competing this year and still trying to land a free agent. Warrick seems like a more reliable Tyrus who plays with energy and runs the floor. Murray also runs the floor nicely and has some nice offensive moves.

Avatar

2010-02-24T08:00:00.001-06:00

I was debating whether to do a Bulls/Illini post or an Avatar post because I saw the movie on Friday night. I went with Avatar, but a basketball post may be in the near future. Anyway, I saw Avatar in 3D last Friday. I know its been out a while, but I really don't see too many movies anymore. I should start from the beginning. When I first saw previews for this film a while back I thought, "This is going to be horrible." When I heard how much it cost to make I said, "This is going to be a disaster." I wasn't really interested until I heard how much money the movie continued to make so naturally I had to see what all the fuss was about. Standard spoiler warning applies.

3D Glasses. So this is the first, non-Disney park movie I've seen in 3D. I had a little problem with viewing it at first. It kinda strained my eyes for the first half hour. I really took me out of the movie, because I couldn't really get comfortable. I eventually got used to the glasses even if they were a bit over sized and would occasionally fall down my nose. I'd like to see it again without 3D to see the difference.
Storyline. The storyline was a bit predictable. From the moment, you see Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and the Navi you realize there's going to be a Pocahontas/Dances with Wolves theme developing here. You also get a bit of a Last Samurai feel the way Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) teaches Jake how to be a Navi and train like them, which results in Jake leading them against the enemies with the advanced technology which he is familiar with. The movie doesn't seem to dwell too long and Jake's decision to accept Navi culture. From the start he is curious about it, so it seems as though the movie accepts that you must know the building theme. The only real suspense storywise happens near the end of the movie. I was curious to see how dark James Cameron would take the story. Would Jake lead the Navi over the humans and their profit driven ways, or would the machines of industry continue to destroy the nature world and rid it of its wonder? Well Cameron chose the safe side and lead the hero to victory, but I wonder if the movie would have held more meaning or if it would have been too moral or preachy they other way.
Graphics/Visuals. The visuals were very impressive it the way that you accept the environment. I sat there watching the film and about 30 minutes after arriving on Pandora I realize that I'm not looking at anything real. This planet it fake. Its plants are not real. The Navi are CGI. The ground does not light up under their feet. I think that's a real credit to the movie that the visuals are so impressive you forget its computer generated. I remember watching the Matrix Reloaded and seeing the scene where Neo fights the Agents Smith in the courtyard between two buildings. The graphics were obviously trying to mix CGI shots with live action. The CGI was apparent and it took you out of the moment. Avatar was different.
Empathy. I also liked the movie, because of the empathy Cameron creates with the Navi. They are these large, blue human-like beings who dwell in a large tree. Besides the obvious underdog status, if done wrong, the audience could be made to not care about these beings at all. But you get a sense for their way of life and how they think they are smarter than the "Sky people" because the Sky people don't understand certain things about life and nature.
Negatives. One thing I though was very annoying was the name unobtainium. Really? Unobtainium? I almost laughed when I heard it. Sounds like something they would make up on a children's cartoon. I also didn't understand the character of Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi). I understand he's like the on site company executive who seems to have a conscious, but still driven by profit. He also seems vindictive too when Jake and Grace (Sigourney Weaver) fail to evacuate the Navi from the tree. I guess he's there to show the business side as opposed to the Science side (Weaver) and the miltary side (Stephen Lang as Col. Quaritch). Maybe I'm nitpicking but the character didn't seem very consistent. Another nitpicky thing was the names of the Navi. Now this ends up not really mattering, but I couldn't tell you the name of any of the Navi without looking it up. Its harder to remember unfamiliar names without a memory device.
Connectivity. This is the part of the movie I enjoyed the most. The contrast between the humans and the Navi. The humans get in large armored vehicles which they control. The Navi use organic connections to control flying and horse like animals. Humans enter in data in computers and other informational networks to keep track of it. The Navi are connected to the past and their surroundings by an organic network of trees and electrical impulses that connects the environment. It's kinda of a science fiction way of looking at Native American view of the connectivity of all lifeforms. All of that said without central aspect of the film, the Avatar. Now Avatar, the movie, really ignores the moral implications of growing a lifeform to take it over. This is something which probably distracts from what Cameron was trying to achieve, but what I think is a very unexplored side. Do the Avatars have thoughts besides what the humans think? Do the Avatars dream? Is there no consciousness in the Avatar? Is it right to grow a being just to use it essential as a tool? Once again, very unexplored but not the aim of the movie.

The movie is definitely worth a look and far surpassed my very low bar for it. If nothing else it is visually stunning and crafts enough depth to make it a good movie.

Psych

2010-02-17T08:25:00.001-06:00

Over the past weekend, I was able to catch up on a few shows. I have to admit I've started to follow the USA weekday line up of Psych, White Collar, and Burn Notice. USA shows are in general an hour long and some combination of action, comedy, and a little drama. Psych is pretty light on the drama, but heavy in comedy with a little action. The show is in its 4th season. I started watching at the end of last season. The show is based around Shawn (James Roday) and Gus (Dule Hill) who run a psychic detective agency. Of course, Shawn is really not psychic, just really observant. They are regularly hired by the police to solve crimes, thus their involvement with most of the other main characters

The show is pretty formulaic with each hour revealing a mystery and solving it. The reason to watch the show isn't exactly for the drama or the deep characters. The show is successful due to the comedic exchanges between Shawn and Gus. Shawn also has funny exchanges with his dad (Corbin Bernsen) and Det. Lassiter (Timothy Omundson). Juliet (Maggie Lawson) is there to as a romantic attraction for Shawn, as well as to balance out the overly straight-laced Lassiter. The plot of each show is mildly interesting as the viewer often is guessing, along with Shawn and Gus what the answer is to the unsolved questions.

From my limited viewing of the show, I think Psych is a good balance of humor and action. Don't expect things to get that deep or last longer than the hour it takes to watch the show. This was particularly apparent as Juliet makes a difficult decision with her brother in one episode, yet seems completely unaffected by it in the next episode. The only thing that seems to bridge episodes are the love connections. However, if you want to be entertained for an hour Psych is a good show to sit back, let the TV take over and watch.

Super Bowl thoughts

2010-02-08T08:00:00.001-06:00

Well, I wish this was a post about the Bears, but the closest we got was a commercial redoing the '85 Bears shuffle. Anyway, this game was built up to be a battle of the QBs, Peyton vs. Brees, and it was. Many predicted that Indy would cruise to a victory. I didn't think so I thought that the Saints had a good shot at this game. The Colts seemed too often to be digging themselves out of a hole and although they may have missed a perfect season by one half of Peyton sitting on the bench, they never seemed to have the domination factor the Patriots did a couple season ago. But they had Peyton and a slew of unheralded, impressive receivers, similar to the Saints. Speaking of the Saints, I knew that Drew Brees was good for my fantasy team. I was impressed by how Brees could spread the ball out to so many receivers. I liked the toughness of Pierre Thomas, although I have some U of I bias. I also thought both teams defenses were underrated due to their strong offenses.

Dual of QBs Fates. This was a battle of the QBs in my mind. They combined for a Super bowl record 63 completions. Brees, the MVP, was an impressive 32 for 39 going 288 yards with 2 TD. Meanwhile, Peyton was 31 for 45 going 333 yards with 1 TD and 1 interception. Those may seem like ordinary numbers for those two QBs in a regular season game, but both QBs took what was given to them. Both either had a lot of time to throw of was able to locate a check down. Both teams passed about 70% of time (IND: 45 passes in 64 plays NO: 39 passes in 57 plays). The crucial stat was there was only 1 turnover. As the game progressed, I felt that which ever team made a mistake first was going to lose. In this case, Brees and the Saints stood firm while Peyton and the Colts blinked.

Saints outplayed Colts in all but 1st quarter. The Colts owned the 1st quarter, but the rest of the game was won by the Saints, starting with two Garrett Hartley field goals in the second, the onside kick to start the half in the third, and the Tracy Porter interception in the fourth.

Gutsy calls by Payton. Sean Payton made some gutsy calls in this game. Two that immediately come to mind are going for it on 4th down and goal near the end of the 1st half and of course the onside kick to start the 2nd half. Payton was definitely seemed like he was going to take the risks to try and get the reward. Luckily for him it worked. If the onside had not worked, the decision to go for it and give Peyton Manning the ball on his own 40 would have definitely been questioned. Especially after the Saints had just worked their way to a 10-6 margin.

Content to take whats underneath. Too many, the game seemed a little lackluster for such a close game. I think this is because of the way both teams approached each other. Both teams were afraid of a total aerial assault, so they were willing to give up the short plays. As a result there didn't seem to be too many huge plays for large gains. It was methodical drives down the field with each team gaining just enough to advance the ball.

Garrett Hartley, Pierre Thomas, and Joseph Addai. An impressive day for Garrett Hartley easily kicking field goals of 46, 44, and 47 yard, the first kicker to kick 3 40+ field goals in a Super bowl. Hartley not only put the ball right down the center, he kept the Saints from sliding out of the game in the early going, bring the halftime score to a 10-6 match. Although Pierre Thomas only went 9 carries for 30 yards and a TD, he was hard to bring down and was very impressive in his one TD. Ditto of Joseph Addai who bested Thomas with 13 carries for 77 yards and 1 TD. I was impressed at how Addai exploded through the hole. He also had 7 receptions for 58 yards.

2010 November Notion

2010-02-05T08:25:00.001-06:00

Dexter Finale

2010-02-01T16:56:00.000-06:00

So finally a Dexter post. The season's only been over for half a year. Michael C. Hall and John Lithgow have already won Golden Globes. Anyway, this year's Dexter finale was intriguing. It wasn't has anticipated as the Season Two ending, but I was interested how they would tie everything together. There are a couple codes the show lives by: Whoever finds out who Dexter truly is killed (his brother, Lila, Doakes, Jimmy Smits) and Dexter always why he should follow Harry's code and pays the price for straying. It was clear in the finale that the Trinity killer (John Lithgow) was going to be killed. I thought that Deb would find out as well. What was unclear to me was how was Dexter going to pay the price for straying from Harry's code. Throughout the season, Dexter had grown to accept his role in his new family. It almost seemed as if he had outgrown the code. Gone from the latter half of this season was the incessant urge to kill. Could Dexter truly outgrow his nature? Spoiler alert.

Of course he couldn't. The writers definitely delivered in the finale. They took care of the obligatory killing of the Trinity Killer. As I was watching, I was thinking this is a very average and mundane ended for Dexter. It seemed like it could have been the ending to any episode. Then I looked at the time. There seemed too much time left and that's were the excitement really kicked in. What could happen in a few minutes? Is it going to fit in with the plot? Is it going to be out of the blue? Is Deb going to confront him? Then the reveal that Rita was killed, presumably by the Trinity killer, truly shocked me. At first, I didn't like it. I thought this is horrible how could they just unexpectedly kill her.

The more I thought about it the greater I thought the ending was. The whole season was how Dexter was growing into this suburban role of father. A role he first idealized in the Trinity killer. Throughout the season, he grew less attached to Dexter the killer and more to the family man. There was a light at the end of the tunnel. By killing Rita, it completely dashes all of that. The season was building him up just to destroy all he had built.

Now the speculation about the next season begins. First of all, I think the writers, looking back at it, had to kill his suburban life. I don't think we could have gone through another season trapped in suburbia with a happy Dexter. Second, this gives the writers a great opportunity to go back to a dark Dexter who nexts to control his urges. As Michael C. Hall alluded to after the finale, Dexter might be even darker than past seasons, seeking revenge instead of justice. There is the additional question of what happens to the rest of the family and his son. Additionally, I think there is the opportunity to start the next season right were the last one left off. I can see them investigating Dexter for Rita's murder. Dexter has no alibi for when she was killed (he was killing Trinity). She was killed is a specific manner, which Dexter the blood analyst knew about. Masuka saw Rita cheat on Dexter. Quinn saw Dexter clearly upset. I don't know if they go this route, but I can see a clearly frustrated Dexter early next season. He feels the urge to kill because of Rita, but can't because of the eyes watching him because of Rita's death. I just hope my expectations aren't too high.

Bears: Season Awards

2010-01-13T15:05:00.003-06:00

So I'm back from a longer than expected hiatus. And I will try to keep up better, but I've been busy/lazy lately. Anyway, I'll be talking about other things than Bears in the future, but I thought I'd at least conclude my season long series.

Well at least the season ended on a good note. Wins against 2 division opponents is never bad. Now we wait to see who our coordinators are going to be. The Bears kind of took the same approach as the Illini, give the head coach 1 more season to prove himself and fire the coordinators. Either way its looking like Lovie must make the playoffs to keep his job. As far as personnel, I would start with both lines. The offensive line needs to improve. I really don't have any answers, but we can't have a non-existent running game and Cutler getting knocked around every other play. The D-line needs to provide better pressure on the QB. The Bears finished just over average with 35 sacks. Other needs would be a safety to solidify at least one safety position and a solid, experience receiver to help make the Cutler-receiver connection more stable.

Offensive MVP: Greg Olsen. This is a very reluctant pick. I don't really think there was an MVP, but if I have to pick I'll go with Olsen who led the team with 8 TD receptions. He also had 60 receptions for 612 yards. He still needs to make some plays on balls thrown his way. Olsen kind of wins this by default. You cannot pick Cutler with all the picks he had. The O-line as a unit was dreadful early in the season. They improved in the latter half of the season with Chris Williams having a particularly good game against Jared Allen and the Vikings. Forte improved with the O-line and as Kahil Bell appeared. The receiving corp didn't have consistent play or receptions which hurt them. Hester was injured. Knox started out hot, but still made rookie mistakes. Bennett is probably the runner-up. I can't recall him dropping too many balls and has played well, but often disappeared in games (not that it's his fault).

Defensive MVP: Lance Briggs. This was an easy one. The Bears only Pro Bowler, who is not playing in the Pro Bowl, led the team with 93 tackles. Briggs was the most consistent player and is also fairly easily the Bears overall MVP. To think there was a time where he was almost certainly going to be an ex-Bear. Runners-up include Tillman and Hillenmeyer who filled in adequately for Urlacher. Tillman was the Bears best corner and played through injuries all season.

Special Teams MVP: Robbie Gould. This also was a fairly easy pick. Besides a notable miss in the 2nd Minnesota game, Gould was pretty much automatic making 24 of 28 kicks and hitting every extra point. Brad Maynard had a decent season as well averaging 41.4 yards per punt. Kick coverage was good, but too often seemed to give up a big return. Kick and Punt returns were fairly good with a cast of Hester, Bennett, Knox, and Danieal Manning providing good returns.

Rookie of the Year: Johnny Knox. No doubt here Johnny Knox had 45 receptions for 527 yards and 5 TDs. He also returned 32 kicks for an average of 29 yards and 1 TD. Al Afalava gets an honorable mention for starting at safety and learning as the season progressed.

Most Improved Player throughout this Season: Chris Williams. As I mentioned before Williams had a very good game in Minnesota and began to get settled once he moved to left tackle. He played a lot better compared to how he and the rest of the line looked in the beginning of the season. Honorable mention to Zack Bowman who seemed more confident as the season progressed. Again compare the first Lions game where he was torched by Calvin Johnson to the 2nd game where Johnson still played well, 86 yards and 1 TD, but was not as big of a factor.

Bears: Is it over yet?

2009-12-21T15:23:00.002-06:00

I watched the season finales of Californication and Dexter last week (I still want to do a Dexter review) and as much as I didn't want those shows to end, I want the Bears season to end soon. It is very apparent that this team is mostly moving backwards. I just want it to end before too much damage is done. Sunday's game was one of the most painful to watch. There were some good signs. The running game continues to improve which is an extremely good trend. The Bears were also able to contain Ray Rice after the initial bursts. I guess the player I've seen regress most is Cutler. Early on his passes were lightning quick and the interceptions were often half the receivers fault or a tip ball. But recently his passes have been short not on target or intercepted. I hope that off-season workouts with the receivers can improve that. Cutler's troubles are worrisome because this is the player that will most likely outlast the current coaches and GM. With all the speculation and talk about the safety of certain jobs, it is very apparent that everybody is focusing on the next season, which is the same I am doing. I can't wait to see what happens to Hank Moody and Dexter Morgan. As for the Bears, I'll watch with cautious pessimism.

Bears: Again

2009-12-14T14:36:00.003-06:00

Well I really want to talk about the Dexter finale (which was much more interesting than the Bears game), but I'll stick to the Monday Morning (or in this case afternoon) Quarterbacking. Well I could probably rip the script from a few of my other posts: Bears down early, make a comeback, lose the lead, failed two minute drill, game. I don't want to sound like a broken record, but once again the Bears were a two minute drill away from at least a tie. I'll also clarify that this doesn't make the Bears a good team, but points to the fact that the parity exists and no team is unbeatable any game. This game was a little different, at least it had a little different feel. Maybe that's just want happens when the Bears and Packers meet for their biannual meeting that only means something to one of the teams.

Running. I actually thought Forte and the run game looked decent this game Forte only got 51 yards, but averaged 4.3 a carry. It's been slightly under the radar, but the run game has gotten better even if underused.
Penalties. Killer. Too many line penalties. 13 for 109 yards. Yikes.
Challenge. One of the worst coaching decisions I've seen. Using two timeouts (one timeout and 1 challenge) and not effectively using either. If you were going to challenge, should've just thrown the flag to begin with and if you had a timeout to watch it you should have gotten it right. Although I thought the challenge could have gone either way.
Defense. The Defense played well after a few lapses early on. There some definite bend not break moments, but for the most part the D played well.
The Cutler Connection. Killer again. Turnovers and penalties killed the Bears. Those under throws were deadly. This is actually the 1st game where I clearly saw what practically everyone else has been saying about the weak receiving corp. If Cutler had more trust and more experienced receivers would he have 20+ interceptions, probably not. I still think its not a offseason priority. I think you allow the receivers to grow into that role.

Bulls

2009-12-11T15:19:00.002-06:00

I've avoided talking about the Bulls so far this season. I wish I would have wrote something sooner because early on I was about to write a glowing review. How things change after the circus trip. To briefly summarize the season, the Bulls started out well with big victories against the Spurs and Cavs in Cleveland. Things were looking up before the road trip out west. The Bulls had a sputtering offense but a much improved defense. Ben Gordon gone = sputtering offense and better defense. The world made sense. Luol and Noah also looked to be much improved with Rose struggling early on.

The Circus trip even started out well with a victory over the Kings who had had a 4 game winning streak. Then, the Bulls played the Lakers, Blazers, and Nuggets and have never looked the same. I don't think anyone was surprised that they lost those 3. Without Tyrus, the Bulls were forced into a short lineup depthwise and heightwise. However ever since then, the early season strong defensive effort has disappeared. Kirk Hinrich missed games, which probably hurt the defensive effort. But recent blowout losses and a loss to the at the time 1-18 Nets, have me yearning for the Skiles days. At least in those days the team seemed to be more than the sum of their parts. There was a good effort every game. So I'll try and breakdown the ups and downs thus far.

Ups. Taj Gibson looks like a veteran. He played 4 years in college and it shows. I don't remember the last time I saw a rookie as composed as he is. He plays with a lot of energy and under control. He also has a nice mid-range jumper. Derrick Rose has bounced back from a slow start with a bad ankle to look impressive in recent games. Noah and Deng look like they can be locks for a double double nearly every game. Deng has bulked up and is a stronger presence when battling for rebounds.
Downs. Well, I'll be brief since there's a lot. I agree with Stacy King, they need to reduce the screen roll and let Rose navigate the floor free of other players. Also, we need a more complicated offense. If I were an opponent, they basically have to be ready for the high screen roll and thats about it. The high screen roll doesn't work when the do a hard show on Rose and Noah gets the ball 17 feet from the basket. Salmons needs to go harder to the hoop. I like it when he drives, but he often fades away from contact which he needs to go after to get some foul calls. James Johnson looks very raw. I hope someday he looks smoother. But it looks like he is forcing things on offense and lost on defense. Pargo looks like Ben Gordon lite and has been forced to play longer with Hinrich out. I think the plan was use him as a spark off the bench. While he has done that in some games, he seems more like a defense liability.
The Worst. It seems that the team suffers from a lack of concentration and effort often. It seems that the other team just wants it more. I've already seen in the Nets game some of the players playing for themselves and attempting to make their own shot instead of find something through the offense. I saw Johnson, Deng, Salmons, and Noah all do this. Nothing speaks to this whole situation more than the Bulls final possession against the Nets. The Bulls were unable to inbound to Rose so Salmons got it. Salmons made a move and launched a 3 point shot with 7 seconds left when we were down 1 point. While its already bad that the Bulls couldn't get it to Rose, Salmons made it worse by throwing up the 3 with 7 seconds left. Down 1 point he could have tried to draw a foul or taken more time to find something. 7 seconds is a lot of time.

Bears: Better than 1-10

2009-12-07T10:57:00.007-06:00

What can you say after a victory like that? Well we're better than the worst. Let's face it losing yesterday's game would have been a disaster and made this a disastrous season. Right now were at a disappointing season. The game overall reminded me of the last Bulls win (1-7 since the Sacramento win) against the very depleted Pistons (no Rip, Prince, Villanueva, and an hobbled Gordon). In the game, the Bulls were clearly the better team, but could not break free of the Pistons. Even when the Pistons came close you never really thought they would win it. I had the same feeling yesterday. Even when the Rams could have tied it at the end, I never really felt that they would.

Give the D credit. The defense had a solid game yesterday only allowing 9 points and playing most of the game with the Rams having a short field. Jamar Williams was a monster with 18 tackles and the Bears were able to create pressure on Boller. On the other hand, the Rams have the lowest scoring offense in the NFL. It's nice to see a team with more problems than ours. There offense would have looked completely inept without Steven Jackson.
We are a running Team? The difference yesterday was a conservative game plan with the 38 rushes and 18 passes. Forte had 24 carries and Bell had 11. The game plan looked similar to year's past: let the defense win the game and score just enough points on offense to squeak by. I think the emergence of Bell is good, because Forte seems to be running harder. Maybe a little competition from behind provided a little fire. What Forte seems to be missing this year is that little spurt from the crowd. What I mean is those plays where he would spurt through a gap and stumble a head for 3 to 5 more yards. This year he has looked more hesitant and running into a brick wall on most plays.
Please no more wide receiver screen. Please. Another disappointment was not seeing Aromashodu do too when he received significant time. It would have been nice to see more of what he can do. All I remember is a dropped screen pass and a pass catch out of bounds. Also, I noticed a lot more writers wanting the Bears to test out young backups like Gaines Adams, Jarron Gilbert, and DJ Moore.
Special Teams. The special teams played uncharacteristically bad allowing Amendola too many good returns. Punt returns were an adventure after Hester left. There was the timeout before a Maynard punt when there were too few men on the field. There was also the unsuccessful fake FG. To be clear though, I thought the fake was a good idea. Why not mix things up? It's not like the season is on the line anymore. I'm not sure of Olsen would have made it anyways, but it was good recognition by the defender.

Stargate Universe

2009-12-04T11:00:00.006-06:00

Stargate Universe is the 3rd TV series based on the 1994 movie Stargate. I was a fan of the original show Stargate SG-1 because the story initial interested me, but it kind of lost me in the later episodes. For those of you who have never seen the movie or the original series, the movie's premise is that an archaeological dig in Egypt found an artifact which turns out to be a "stargate" a gateway to another world. A military team is sent through the gate and finds that the ancient rebelled against an alien being posing as the Egyptian god Ra.

The series SG-1 built upon that concept by introducing the possibilty of an infinite amount of gates to other worlds with other Goa'uld (the alien race posing as gods). A rivalry was set up between the Goa'uld and Earth. The show evolved to include other threats I also thought the show was too formulaic, one world one show. Everything seemed neatly cleaned up every episode. Additionally, the SG-1 and the whole operation seemed too idealistic. They would do things that were ethically the best without considering the inherent danger in the situation. I'm pretty sure earth should have been destroyed many, many times.

I started watching Stargate Universe just because it peaked my interest. I didn't watch Stargate Atlantis because I premiered when I was still turned off by many of the later plot lines. The premise of the show is that the Ancients, the builders of the stargate system, have a ship named "Destiny" to explore gates that had been deployed by another ship. In the first episode, Stargate personnel come under attack during an gate experiment. The personnel flee through the gate to "Destiny". Destiny at this point is millions of years old and millions of light years away from Earth. Much of the early show involved surviving on the ship. If your thinking of a comparison, its kind of a combination of Lost and Stargate.

The cast is an ensemble with many characters, but a group of regulars. Interesting developments include:

A power struggle and distrust between Dr. Rush (Robert Carlyle) and Col. Young (Justin Louis),
A power/personal dispute between Col. Young and Col. Telford (Lou Diamond Phillips)
The social and psychological aspect of trying to survive.
The opening of new sections of Destiny.
The grumblings of the lower level crew who wonder about the decisions of leadership.

The Good.

I'm fairly exciting about this show because it is a good concept and there is plenty of space for this show to grow. The communication stones, which link them to Earth, are a good idea and allow us to return to Earth as viewers so that we are reminded of more familiar settings. The amount of unknown passengers on Destiny also allow the writers to easily introduce new characters.
I like that, at least early into the series, plot lines seem to be running through the season rather than only through episodes.
Also it is nice to see significant conflict between the main characters which builds better natural drama in leiu of action in which drama is often forced.
I especially like that this show seemed to better explore the darker side of human behavior and our weaknesses.
I liked the idea that a disease is infecting everybody. The episode gave a weak out, but it is something that really bothered me about SG-1. You'd think that diseases from foreign planets would be a major problem. Just think about when Europeans came over to North America, the Native Americans mostly died of diseases.

Weaknesses.

They seem to be falling into the trap of one planet, one episode a few times. There's nothing wrong with it, I just hope they don't get lazy and continue to do it.
As I mentioned before, there seem to be a few weak outs so far. Don't get me wrong characters have been killed off, but it would be nicer to see things just magically get better.
With many characters, it is easy to forget some and focus to strongly on others giving away the rest of the show. If the story is spread too thin, its hard to truly develop any of the characters.
The show has lost the humor of the original SG-1 series. Eli (David Blue) is inserted for humor and balance, but it would be nice to see some humor from the other characters who generally seem depressed.
The logistics seem to be mostly taken care of but... (1)Those clothes have got to be getting old, (2) why is there multiple rooms and life support facilities on an abandoned ship, (3) is there really a bathroom with toliet paper and stuff like toothbrushes and combs. I know that it is TV but some of the actors looked too well put together.

Overall, this is a step towards Stargate being a legitimate drama. The show has some depth and but has not really fully explored it thus far. The show seems to be what is on the surface, but is still in the development of characters and conflicts. However, the premise of the show gives the writers endless directions and conflicts to explore and has tremendous potential.

Bears: Not much to say

2009-11-30T09:28:00.004-06:00

There's not much to say after a game like that. The game pretty much went as expected. I thought it could have been a lot worse. The Vikings just more pulled away rather than sprinted ahead like the Cardinal and Bengal games. I struggle to watch the game flipping to Cinderella Man during commercials. Maybe I'm just hoping that this one time former playoff contender can resurrect itself at some point, well not this season.

Stopping the Run. For the most part the Bears stopped AP. He went for 85 yards on 25 carries for an average of 3.4 yards, 1 TD and 2 Fumbles. That's actually, the same average as Forte. On the other hand we traded that for Brett Favre going 32 of 48 for 392 yards and 3 TDs. But the main goal this week was to stop AP and it appears for the most part he was and that's gotta count for something right?
3rd Down. 3rd Down was a killer though. The Vikings converted 12 out of 18 3rd downs. It seemed whenever they needed it Favre always found one of his receivers to convert. For the most part the Bears played well on 1st and 2nd downs but had trouble on 3rd down.
Offense. The offense seemed like a non-factor. In fact, I'm struggling to remember an offensive play in the 2nd half. The Bears went for -3 offensive yard in the 2nd half. Definitely a forgettable half.

Rerun

2009-11-23T10:10:00.004-06:00

I wish I was talking about Rerun from What's Happening!!. I'm wondering if I should have been watching The Departed or Goodfellas, excellent Scorsese films that were on Sunday night. Don't get me wrong, I love watching the Bears even in defeat. However I feel like I've seen this game before, just. Follow me if you will through Goodfellas and 4 of the Bears losses (GB, ATL, SF, PHI) this season. The Bears open poorly get beat on both sides of the ball. Henry gets a job at the Cab stand misses school and gets beat by his dad. The Bears put together a few long drives to get back in the game. Scorsese uses a couple long shots to introduce you to Henry's adult mob life, the most famous of which goes through the Copacabana. The Bears momentum fades and the Bears do what they can to stay alive. Cutler does his best Joe Pesci impression unleashing a tantrum as NBC goes to break. Henry gets sent to jail starts to deal drugs to get through it. The Bears' opponents take back the lead late. Henry starts seeing helicopters and gets arrest for dealing drugs. Cutler frantically leads the Bears on a 2 minute drill but flushes the Bears hopes down the drain when he gets intercepted. Henry frantically gets home to get the drugs he left before he was arrested but finds that Karen has flushed the drugs down the toilet. The Bears lose another close one and will now probably watch the post-season on tv like schmucks like everyone else. Henry enters the witness protection program and now lives like a schmuck like everyone else.

Cutler. This was actually the first game since Green Bay I thought Jay was off. In other high turnover games, I thought Cutler's interceptions were more a product of unfortunate circumstances and the reality of playing 3 TDs down. I felt Cutler kind of lost his edge. He wasn't forcing many balls, as a result many of the passes were Orton dump downs. He also missed on balls to open Olson, Hester, and Knox.

Red Zone. The key to this season is probably in the Red Zone. With better play in the red zone, the Bears, probably defeat the Falcons, Packers, Niners, and Eagles. Twice the Bears were in the red zone in the first half and only came out with a field goal.

Defense. I thought the defense played reasonably well. Its not the defense that wouldn't allow more than 20 points, but its also not the same defense that we saw against the Bengals and the Cards. You can tell the Bears miss that inside stabilizing force of Brown and Urlacher. I thought that Alex Brown and Marcus Harrison showed great recognition, complete blowing up a couple screen passes. Charles Tillman showed why he is the best at causing fumbles. I'm actually going to name it a Tillman any time a corner causes a fumble on a slant route just after the ball is caught. It also appears that Bowman can grow into his role. I think they just need to stop switching the DBs positions and start to develop some players in one role.

Turner. I've defended Turner in the past, because you can't always blame the coordinator for the miscues of the players. However, I thought there were a few instances were I would have called things differently. First of, after the success of the screen pass last week, why didn't he call a screen pass to Forte until 11 mins left in the 4th quarter. Second, that wide receiver screen has got to go, especially on long yardage situations. Third, a straight run play up the gut on 1st and 20?

At the end of the day... One of my favorite overused expressions in sports, but at the end of the day this loss likely ends whatever was left of the Bears season. So why play? To show improvement. I doesn't even matter in draft position because we don't have 1st or 2nd round picks. If I was Lovie, I'd say just go out and have fun. There's no pressure to make the playoffs because its so unlikely that it will happen. Just play free, get some hits, and score some TDs.

Improvement

2009-11-16T11:57:00.002-06:00

So the narrative that began in the 2nd quarter and has continued in the 3rd quarter of the season is what is going to happen next year. I was mostly on board with that narrative after last week's lost to San Francisco. That is, until I saw that the Bears at 4-5 still have a chance at the playoffs with the Wild Card leaders only at 5-4. There are 5 teams between the Bears and a spot. I still think this team will not make it, but its something to think about.

I also think there were some encouraging signs from Thursday's game, of course anything would mostly be encouraging after the Cardinal's game. But I'll start with the bad.

The Bad. Penalties and Turnovers absolute killed the Bears. Offensive mistakes lost a very winnable game. The Bears finished with 10 penalties for 75 yards along with 5 interceptions. Many of the holding, false start, and unsportsmanlike conduct are mental errors and should be fixable. I'm going to blame half (2.5) of the interceptions on Cutler. The interceptions at the goal line were dumb and the interception where the ref got in the way he probably should have seen. Hester falling on the turf and the DB knocking down Kellen Davis are ones I'm not going to blame him for.
The Good. The defense after the Cardinals disaster played well only giving up 10 points and 216 yards. The D-line looked a lot better, I'm particularly remembering a Tommie Harris run stop behind the line and a number of times Alex Smith was under pressure.
The Encouraging. Despite the turnover problems, the offense was still able to move the ball with 350 total yards. The offensive line seems to be giving Cutler a little more time and those screen plays to Forte have looked great. Might there be a link between those two? I've already said that the defense looked better last week and the special teams have been pretty solid, save for a couple awful looking returns.

Looking ahead this week's Sunday night game is looking pivotal if the Bears want to sneak into the playoffs. The Eagles along with the Packers (who we play in Week 14) are both ahead of us in the wild card. I know it's been looking gloomy but if somehow this team puts together a solid game (with both offense and defense playing decently) against the Eagles, we would be a step closer to NFL relevance.

Well that was horrible

2009-11-09T15:01:00.002-06:00

Last week I said that this team was middling and that it would have to prove itself over the course of the next 4 weeks or so. Well I hope that wasn't our answer. Halfway through the season and we are right where we started, record-wise. Perception-wise we have been through a half season of football if you just compare the questions this team faced 9 weeks ago. Heck, just a few weeks ago the questions centered around getting Cutler more time to and Forte more space to run. Now the defense has collapsed against two opponents. I mean utterly collapsed. You can't get much worse than 0 defensive stops in the 1st half. There's just no way our offense can keep pace with that. There's a whole lot of negatives out there, so lets look at the silver lining.

O-line looked decent. The offense line actually looked okay giving Jay a reasonable amount of time to pass. I don't know how much of that was due to Arizona being up by 20 points or what, but in the pass we couldn't even defend against a 4 man rush.
The D played better in the 2nd half. Again, I don't know how much that had to do with the offense Arizona was running, but they couldn't stop anything in the first half. For that mini-comeback stretch, our D actually look like it should.

I'd say the most depressing thing about the past few weeks, the thing that's affected this team's fans the most, is the entertainment value of these games. This game and the Cincinnati game were horrible to watch for obvious reasons and the Browns game was equally as boring as it was frustrating. At least the 1st quarter of the season featured some action and exciting finishes.

Review: Dexter

2009-11-05T14:59:00.003-06:00

I've been looking to add a review post each week, but up to now have been unable to (thanks Veto Session). For my first review, I'll look at Dexter which I only recently started watching. Dexter is probably, other than 30 Rock, the show I most look forward to. For those of you who have never seen Dexter, Dexter is a serial killer who works for Miami Metro and kills killers who have gotten away. The series in its 4th season I believe. This season is premised by the question: Can Dexter continue his ways while being married with kids? To assist in this question this year's serial killer counterpart is the Trinity Killer, who has successfully killed without being caught for 30 years. The standard spoiler alert applies.

Who? Since I started watching, the main question I have is who is going to find out who Dexter really is? So far everyone who has learned his identity is dead. But he has stuck to the code and never killed a non-killer who has learned his identity. My theory is that this season will be different. I think Deb will find out who Dexter is. She already is investigating Harry's (Dexter's father) former informants (and lovers which include Dexter's real mom). She knows that somebody took Lundy's stuff after he was killed. She is also starting to deteriorate after Lundy's death. I don't know what Dexter will do if she finds out, but the Trinity killer reenacts his family's deaths and I wonder if the same theme will play in Dexter.
The Code. Another theme throughout the series is how closely Dexter follows Harry's Code. Everytime Dexter has deviated from the code he has learned to regret it. But he we are again, Harry is warning Dexter about juggling his family, his job, and his obsession, but Dexter thinks he can control all three. It will be interesting to see if Dexter or Harry is right.
Secrets. I read in a review somewhere that Dexter is really not about killing, but about secrets. I buy that Dexter is about keeping secrets and how to hide a dark side. Harry has said about the Code, that it will keep him alive. Dexter isn't killing as some morality play. He is killing in order to control his urges and following the code to insure that he can survive. Part of that survival is keeping his secret.
Why I Enjoy. The storyline is the backbone of what makes this series enjoyable. It presses on in each episode and makes you look forward to the next episode and the conclusion of the season. Overall, it makes me wonder how all of these side plots will converge in the conclusion. Another interesting aspect throughout the series has been the duality in Dexter between his public persona and his blood hungry inner self. The show relates that relationship to how everyone puts on a different face in public, because Dexter puts on a show for everyone else. Only his victims know Dexter for what he really is. I think they are touching on that a bit this year with Dexter's problems with Rita and how she feels he is being disingenuous. I also like how the show makes you understand Dexter. Part of the reason the show did not seem attractive to me at first was that I didn't think that I could feel sympathy and watch a serial killer. I felt it would be a dark CSI. Dexter in the show is really guy with normal problems that are complicated with an obsession to kill.
Negatives. I few things irritate me about the show. The music, while usually great sometimes gets in the way, especially when they play Dexter's theme. I've just heard that song too many times. The Trinity Killer. Did Lundy really never notice that the Trinity Killer always kills mothers and fathers with two kids? I made the connection that it was a family of four 2 or 3 episodes before Dexter? Was that really a big revelation? I am also always a bit aggravated that things always work out for Dexter. They don't always at first, but they do in the end. At the end of the 2nd season, Doakes found out who Dexter was and Dexter had a problem, he couldn't kill Doakes because it didn't fit with the Code. But he got lucky and Lila did it for him and Doakes was framed as the Bay City butcher. Also, Dexter left blood at the scene where George King was killed, but they never found it. He also has found a reason to kill everyone who has found out.

Overall, Dexter is a great show. For a while I believed that you watch comedies on TV and dramas on the big screen, but Dexter has changed my thoughts on that. It is a series that you'll watch and talk about the next day.

Middling

2009-11-02T11:34:00.005-06:00

This week's Bears review is going to be about the bottom line, because reading reviews and hearing comments you would have thought we lost the game. Bottom line: The Bears won the game and are now 4-3. Was it a spectacular dominating performance? No, but remember this is a team that plays to the competition. Was it a win? Yes. Does the NFL judge based on the quality of a win? No. I was planning on doing some kind of quarter review after Week 4 or after Week 9, but this seems like a good point seeing as how the doubters are rampant and the teams only get tougher (Cards, Niners, Eagles, Vikes). So I'll say it was a win. Did we struggle in the Red Zone? Yes. Did the Defense play well after looking like they were going through a scrimmage last week? Yes. Do I wish we played better? Yes. Did we win? Yes. Part of being a good team is beating the teams you are supposed to beat and the Bears took care of business. All the rest, well that's to prove for next week.

The Basics. Wins against the Steelers, Seahawks, Lions, and Browns. Losses to the Packers, Falcons, and Bengals. So I'll say 1 quality win and 1 utter defeat. Losses to the Packers and Falcons were by about a touchdown. Against the Packers, Steelers, Seahawks and Falcons the Bears have shown they can play to the competition, whether that be up or down.
The Passing. In my view, this has the potential to be a very good offense, maybe this year, maybe next year but there is potential. Cutler has thrown 11 TDs and 11 INTs for an average of around 240 yards per game and a passer rating of 80.8. Not to impressive, but with more protection I think he could start to pick apart defenses. The receivers as I have said many times are better than advertised, thanks in part to Cutler. While Knox, Devin, Earl, Olsen, and Dez have made some spectacular catches, Jay made it possible. With the time he has to throw, he has been as good as I thought. If Kyle Orton was back there would he do the same, no. Don't get me wrong I like Kyle and always thought he was miscast here due to his rookie year, but he has had much more time this year than in past years. Does Kyle make some of those crucial 3rd Downs or make a quality pass while getting blown up? I think not.
The Running. I saved the O-line part mostly for here, because this is the biggest hole in the team thus far. The O-line has struggle with rushing and passing. Forte did break free for 90 yards and 2 TDs, but still too many times he has looked like Anthony Thomas running into the offensive line at the line of scrimmage. It doesn't get much better when they provide pass protection either. If Jay had more time, just think of how dynamic the passing game could be (I'm aware I titled this section Running.) The fact remains that the Bears have been a running team traditionally and I believe you must have a strong running game to be a good team. How else are you going to put teams away with a lead?
The D. Fairly decent. The strongest position is Linebacker which is also the most injured. Hunter provided some stability this week and Lance Briggs is the MVP of the D if not the team. The line has provided some pressure, but not as much as necessary. The also need to try and stop the runner at the point of attack. The secondary is young, but I think it has some potential. Danieal Manning had a good game against the Browns. Bowman I think has played decent. He's gotten burned a few times, but generally keeps things in front of him.
Special Teams. Special Teams is generally pretty solid with a couple glaring missteps (Mannely's audible and Maynard's punts this week). Gould, Maynard, Hester, Manning, Knox, and company are usually pretty good.
Solid. The linebacking and receiving corps, special teams, and the quarterback have been solid. Also, in general the 2nd halves of games have been better as well.
Needs some polish. When my junior coach cut me from the basketball team, he told me along with the others that we need some more polish. So the following areas need some polish: O-line, D-line, the running backs, and the secondary. 1st halves and red zone scoring also need to improve.

Overall, its not time to panic we have a team that has shown thus far that it can stay in games against some of the best teams. Whether or not that continues is another story. The word to describe this team: Middling. A team that can look great some halves and look like the Browns in others. If the Bears can perform more consistently, they have a chance. And not like the Bulls have a chance. Because lets face it, it will probably be the Celtics v. Lakers. In the NFL, with parity the way it is, a key injury here, a nice run of wins there can make a season and produce a title.

Horrible

2009-10-26T09:03:00.002-05:00

That's a game where you want to hit the reset button. Just failures in nearly every aspect of the game. If your looking for positive takeaways, Lance Briggs seemed to play decent, special teams while not doing anything special, did not do anything horrible, and Earl Bennett had a couple nice catches. This game was hard to watch, harder to digest. Let's just move on to Week 8. Here's a little humor to get past this one. http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/jay-cutler-superstar/2009/10/chicago-bears-as-simpsons-characters.html

Is that who we thought they were? and we let them off the hook?

2009-10-19T11:14:00.003-05:00

The quote obviously refers to Dennis Green's famous rant after the Devin Hester induced miracle win in Arizona a few seasons ago. Is this who the Bears are, a team that can stay with the good teams, but cannot shake off mediocrity? and didn't we just let Atlanta off the hook? We can compete against the good teams, GB, Pit, Atl, but can we win consistently? Last night, was the first game all three phases shot themselves in the foot at some point. And even with all those mistakes we still had an opportunity to tie at the end. Are we a team that is mediocre and cannot take advantage of opportunities or are we a team that will punish teams like Atlanta that give us chances.

The whole night was summed up by Zach Bowman's interception. Yes, he intercepted it! Can we take advantage? No don't fumble! Did we recover? We lost 15 yards but at least we still have the ball. Wait, wouldn't that have been the same as a punt? Overall a frustrating game to watch.

On Cutler. Cutler started out shaky with 2 interceptions, but finished strong with a line of 27 of 43 for 300 yards, 2 TDs and 2 Ints. We was more than willing to take a shot both with the ball and after he released the ball. He even tucked and ran for 30 yds, evading one defender in the process. I think he should probably do that more often.
On receivers. Again, I think we have to say the best offensive phase of the game was the receivers. How many amazing catches did Clark, Devin, and Olsen make? I saw a few dropped passes, but nothing like what Michael Jenkins did and we've seen that before.
On pressure. Way too much pressure on Cutler with a 4 man rush. I guess thats what happens when your QB is your top rusher with 34 yards.
On the goalline. Why couldn't we just sneak it in on the 1? Why did we do play action followed by two fumbles to Forte. Instead of jumping around, pitching or using play action just trust Olin Kreutz and push ahead.
On edge. Maybe this is just my feelings during the game, but I felt like I wasn't hoping for a fantastic play from the Bears, I was hoping they just wouldn't screw up. How many times did we let the ball slip through our hands? I just felt that after a while they were just hoping to make the catch and not fumble.
On paper. the Bears won the game Total Yards 373 to 253. Rushing Yards 83 to 68. Passing Yards 290 to 185. Time of possession 33:54 to 26:06. First downs 21 to 16.

Random thoughts arounds the league.

Vikings. Please someone beat the Vikings. 6-0? Just make the field goal.
Patriots. Running up the score?
Buf v. NYJ What an ugly, exciting game.
Oak v. Phi What happened? The upset no one saw or cares about.
KC v. Was, Stl v. Jac Are these games necessary?

Today's headline

2009-10-09T14:12:00.001-05:00

I'll probably be late on today's post so I'll offer up today's headline for a major newspaper:

OBAMA WINS NOBEL PEACE PRIZE, NASA BOMBS THE MOON

Special Bears Team

2009-10-08T00:30:00.003-05:00

So I'm late this week with this week's review, sorry. So the question is can special teams win a game? Probably not by itself, although in the passed with an anemic offense we just might have. But Sunday's game was a special game for special teams. There's a nice article in the Sun-Times today about Dave Toub. If you look at the box score, we were out gained 398-276, we lost time of possession 36:30 to 23:30, and we were out thrown 308-125. But if your starting field position is the Lions 46 and Lions is their own 18, well you don't need much offense. With the 1st Quarter done the Bears stand 3-1 with me hoping this team eventually find two good halves in a row.

Again. 21-21 at halftime. Not exactly as planned. The offense and the defense seemed to alternately struggle throughout the 1st half. But the Bears once again weathered the storm and came out strong in the 2nd half. It was nice to know the outcome of the game before the closing minutes.
Punt Return. Devin Hester returned 1 for 24 yards and Earl Bennett filled in nicely to return 4 for 63 yards for an average of 15.8. But Bennett benefited from some extra practice this week. From the Herald, In Bennett's case, it makes one wonder whether Toub sensed Hester would get hurt Sunday. Toub had Bennett do some return work in practice this week. The Lions had a hard time getting the return man down.
Kick Return. Speaking of return men how bout Johnny Knox's 102 yard return TD. It seemed like that return took the wind out of the Lions sails. While the Bears are good enough to survive a sucker punch and a uneven half the Lions can't, although the showed promise. Anyway I guess the return was a counter, "It was a counter," Knox said. "Set up one way and bounce the other. Coach (Dave) Toub said this was going to be a good return for us coming in from halftime." Also, he did drop the ball before the endzone according to reviews.
Punts. I'm often most impressed by the most easily overlooked aspect of the game and this week it was definitely Brad Maynard. Maynard, who does most of his work as people are headed to the bathroom or kitchen, hit 4 punts inside the 20 including one on 2 yard line and one on the 6 yard line. I can't even do that in Madden.
Kicker. Well of course we have to talk about the kicker. Robbie hit 2 FGs including his career long of 52. He finally got that 50 yard barrier monkey off his back.
Lance Briggs. Another Pro Bowl quality game for Lance with 9 tackles.
Forte. Finally a running game, but without those 2 long runs, 10 carries for 23 yards? I know you can't "leave those out", but it would be nice to see runs of 5-9 yards more regularly.
Cutler's hits. Officially the Lions had 2 sacks, but it seemed like Cutler got knocked around, mostly due to his own doing. His first spectacular TD as evidence. Also, Cutler seemed to be okay getting whacked while he was waiting a for a receiver to get open. Just something I'm a bit concerned about.
Progress. 21-21 at halftime, a disappointment. A last minute win, a very question laced bye week. A blowout 48-24, progress.

Around the League

Saints crash Jets flight. Well it had to happen eventually. I guess I'm just surprised it was against the Saints and without any passing TDs (Thanks Drew Brees). But maybe the Saints are for real (Wins over Det, Phi, Buf previously)
Will someone please stop the Vikings? Will someone please stop the Vikings? Not this week with a trip to St. Louis.
Titans? Not even going to talk about them this week. Jacksonville? Really?

Friday Reviews

2009-10-02T11:20:00.005-05:00

This summer I've managed to catch a lot of shows that I normally don't watch so I thought I'd post about TV shows. Here's a list of shows I'm watching...

Shows in regular rotation: Daily Show, Colbert Report, PTI/Around the Horn/Sportscenter (why did they move to LA?), Chicago Tribune Live, The Soup
Shows this past summer: Weeds, Warehouse 13, Psych, Eureka, Royal Pains
Shows to watch: Breaking Bad, Californication, US of Tara, 30 Rock, The Simpsons
Shows that are intruging: Community, Caprica, Stargate Universe, The Next Iron Chef
Shows I should be watching: Mad Men, The National Parks: America's Best Idea, Dexter

I'll try to review these shows in the upcoming weeks.

What kind of team are the Bears going to be?

2009-09-28T10:39:00.006-05:00

The main question coming out of Sunday's victory in Seattle is what kind of team are the Bears? Are they the kind of team that plays up to and down to the competition? Are they a team that will dominate teams once they can put together two good halves? Are they a team that is 4 gimme field goals away from 0-3? To me it looks like they will be a team that plays to the competition, although we should be closer to an answer next week versus the Lions. It's clear that this team can win close games, but it would be nice to dominate once.

3rd down. One of the biggest problems in the first half and most of the game was the Bend, but not break defense. Too many times the Bears let the Seahawks off the hook on 3rd downs and 3rd down and long. The Julius Jones TD comes to mind. However, the Bears did stop them when it counted. Just look at Olindo Mare's line 4-6 FGs. 6 FG attempts?
Receivers. I said this last week, but it seems clear that Bears management was correct in the face of widespread calls for a free agent wideout. Devin Hester picked up a few passes off the turf and caught the game winning TD. Earl Bennett somehow hung on to a Cutler fastball that was somehow threaded through 2 defenders.
Running game. This is another question. Are the Bears going to be a running team? Sunday should have been a breakout party, but we will have to wait until next week to see. There was some improvement in the 2nd half, but 85 yards is disappointing versus a team that is giving up an average of 139 yards a game. The Lions are giving up 111 yards a game going into next week. The running game needs to get going for the Bears to become higher tier team. I don't know if we can rely on a 4th quarter drive every game.
Cutler. Or maybe we can. The main difference with Cutler is the confidence he gives even to the fans. Last year, if we had the ball in the same situation as the 1st 3 weeks, with a chance to win, I would have felt the impending doom. I call it Cubs syndrome. With Cutler, I felt confident we would convert a 3rd down, complete a pass, or somehow make a play.
Linebackers. Good thing LB was our deepest position. It has shown on the field with Lance Briggs playing Pro Bowl solid defense, Nick Roach running all over the place and pushing Julius Jones to end the Seahawks last possession.
Kickers. At some point the opponent's kicker will convert those kicks. Next up Jason Hanson.
Daily Herald. There was a good quote by Mike Imrem in the Herald. http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=324644

"It's a road game," Bears quarterback Jay Cutler said. "It's hard to go on the road and beat somebody."
Hard? Heck, for the Bears it was like they were trying to pass a kidney stone before they finally squeezed out a 25-19 victory at Qwest Field

Thoughts on the rest

Reports of the demise of the Patriots were exaggerated. Many TV analysts picked the Atlanta over the Patriots. Although its clear the Patriots are not the same team that went without a loss, they still are very highly rated team.
Jets again. Well the Jets beat another team that was highly touted before the season started. They've made me a believer.
The other side of the coin. What happened to the Titans? I was strongly on the Jeff Fisher bandwagon before the 0-3 start. They've lost some to close games to Pittsburgh 10-13, Houston 31-34, and now the Jets 17-24. I'll be more concerned if they lose to Jacksonville, but it doesn't get any easier with Indy and New England on the schedule after that.
86 yards total offense. Really Tampa? 86 yards?

2009-09-21T12:12:00.003-05:00

Ludacris and Glenn Beck?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/weekinreview/20segal.html

Lovie's Fav Five?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-24-haugh-sep24,0,1718620.column

Sydney?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/23/AR2009092300448.html?hpid=artslot

Bears steel one

2009-09-21T09:29:00.009-05:00

Let's face it as good of a win as this was it wouldn't have happened without two Reed FG misses. On the other hand, getting a W and staying with the defending champions is a lot better than 0-2.

Notes on the game:

Bears running game: Non-existent. 44 yards? Forte: 13 carries for 29 yards? I'll give them a pass this week against a strong Steelers D, but we need to see the run at some point this season. Aren't the Bears a running team?
Stopping the run: For the second straight week the Bears have held tough against the run. GB: 76 yards, Pit 105 yards. The Steelers started to run the ball well near the end of the game, but the Bears D stuffed them on a number of plays.
Lovie's calls: A big difference on D, at least to me, is the play calling. Since Lovie took over the play calling the Bears seem a lot more effective on defense balancing coverage with selective blitzing.
1st quarter: The 1st quarter was awful. It look as though the Steelers were going to rollover the Bears on both sides of the ball. Luckily, I left the TV on and was surprised.
2 FG missed: I don't know if we can rely on 2 missed field goals every week.
3rd Down: Another difference this year with Cutler seems to be the offense's ability to pick up the 1st down on 3rd down. 7 for 14 yesterday is not bad. It always seemed like the offense was able to convert a crucial 3rd down.
Special teams: Robbie Gould was solid as usual, but some of the coverage on punts needs to be improved. Maybe I'm just spoiled with good coverage, but it seemed that the punt returner got free a couple times. Although nice fumble to end the game.
Faith in Management: It seems that Bears were justified in having faith in their wide receiving corp despite widespread criticism. So far I think Hester, Knox, Olson, Davis and Bennett have looked very good.
Hanging around: It ain't too bad to hang around the defending Superbowl champs for the whole game.
Week 3 preview: Bears @ Sea (1-1). Bears 21-10. Bears finally get a running game semi-going with Forte running for 80 yds and a TD. The Bears D for the most part shuts down Seattle bending a little at times.

Around the NFL

Jest to Jets: Shutting down two of the best offenses two weeks in a row (Hou 24-7, NE 16-9). Headlines today even have national reporters doubting the Brady's ability after coming back from injury. The Jets have not allowed a offensive TD yet against Tom Brady, Randy Moss, and Andre Johnson.
49ers: 2-0 victories against two division rivals (Ari 20-16 and Sea 23-10) have the Niners in a strong spot to start the season. The question is how will the do outside the division. Next week is Minnesota.
Cedric Benson looked good for the Bengals. A week after 76 yards on 21 carries and a TD against Denver, he has a monster game (141 yards on 29 carries) against the same Packers defense that the Bears struggled against (86 rushing yards). A comparison in for the first two weeks looks like this: Forte: 84 yards rushing, 33 yards receiving and no TDs Benson: 217 yards rushing, 32 yards receiving and 1 TD.

Tuesday Morning Quarterbacking

2009-09-15T03:04:00.005-05:00

Bears v. Packers game notes:

Green Bay should be a contending team this year.
With the Steelers next week the Bears can easily start out 0-2, but the season will be far from over.
Tales of the second coming of Rex Grossman are greatly exaggerated. The Bears offensive while non-existent in the first half began to click in the second half. Remember the offense looked very shaky against the Bills in the preseason opener, but looked impressive versus the Giants in the next week. Although it was Rexy when you throw an interception to end the game.
The Bears Defense with the exception of the Jennings TD looked very impressive versus one of the better offenses in the NFC. The big losses in this game were the injuries.
Linebacker is where the Bears have the greatest depth. While nobody can replace an Urlacher, Hillenmeyer, Roach, and Williams are quality replacements.
Pat Mannelly makes mistakes once every decade.
4 Sacks and one safety is not bad day for a D.
Brad Maynard averaged nearly 50 yards in 4 punts.
Devin Hester (4 catches for 90 yards and a TD) and Earl Bennett (7 catches fo 66 yards) both established themselves as respectible receivers.
It did hurt to lose one that was that close, to a division rival, to the Packers, when we didn't play our best

MJ mania

2009-09-10T15:45:00.003-05:00

So Jordan gets inducted into the Hall tomorrow, but if you haven't looked yet there's a lot of coverage going on.

Comcast is going to run 23 hours of MJ (even if some of it looks like it will be repeated or incorporated into its normal schedule).

I've mentioned it before but Bulls.com along with Sam Smith have commemorating the event with articles about Jordan and the team for each year he played and includes interviews with former teams and Bulls personnel.

Also, the Bulls have a ton of video (some of it taken from old NBA VHS tapes with the classic Frontline style narration) of Jordan. Look under team highlights.

Also the Tribune has almost a mini-book posted online.

I would strongly encourage you to check these out. It brings back a lot of memories.

Random Thought of the Day

2009-09-04T15:33:00.003-05:00

Why is it that when it comes to rules especially NFL rules everyone seems to be a constitutional scholar? You ask to name a famous Supreme Court case they will draw a blank. You ask them about the tuck rule and they cite Patriots v. Raiders. Everyone knows that replays have clear, controvertible evidence or that the reciever must have both feet inbounds with complete control of the ball. However it may still be counted as a catch if the receiver is pushed out. Just an observation.

2009-09-03T09:50:00.002-05:00

Time Capsule missing... http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=318467

A must see... http://www.nba.com/bulls/video/2009/04/14/nba_jordan_20090407_top10.nba/index.html

Another cool video
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-talk-budweiser-chicago-adsep03,0,6015861.story

2009-09-02T11:12:00.003-05:00

Muhammad Ali Irish? I didn't know. http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=318119

To exercise more you should drink more...http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/chi-talk-drinking-and-exercisesep01,0,5057050.column Well not really but it is interesting.

But recession can be good for our health according to the Canadian Medical Association Journal. http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=recession-just-what-the-doctor-orde-09-09-01

2009-08-31T14:56:00.001-05:00

Here's a little footage of the Cracker concert I was at on Saturday. They were pretty good, although I wish I heard a few more of my favorites.

A post to make you hungry

2009-08-27T11:00:00.000-05:00

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/dining/chi-090826-chicago-burgers-pictures,0,3869240.photogallery

2009-08-25T14:54:00.001-05:00

Bulls.com is running a series of recollections and stories about Jordan running up to his induction. I've read the first few.

http://www.nba.com/bulls/news/jordanhof_2009.html

Curry Pizza in Seoul

2009-08-25T01:26:00.001-05:00

Interesting article...

2009-08-18T15:31:00.001-05:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/science/18angier.html?_r=1&em

2009-08-14T11:35:00.002-05:00

Another step in creating super humans...
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/health/research/14sleep.html?hpw

Harry Potter

2009-08-13T15:29:00.002-05:00

So I saw Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince a while back, but haven't reviewed it yet. Overall, I was pleased. I am actually interested how the whole series will appear after all the movies are shot. One of the main themes, throughout this movie was love as Harry and crew seem to be increasingly noticing the opposite sex. A corresponding ingredient was the emphasis on potions. There seemed to be a little too much weight on these to points. I think it was supposed to show how the kids are growing. There are plenty of slightly awkward moments between them which provides some humor. I also thought there were an awful lot of abandoned or empty corridors or storage rooms in Hogwarts. Instead, the movie probably should have focused more on the main story of Voldemort and Harry, not to say that it is lacking in this department. On the other hand, the movie fully establishes that the kids are getting older and the times are more serious. You can see that in the conflicted Malfoy, whereas before he merely appeared to be a small bully or annoyance.

I have to say this is the most confused I have been about a Harry Potter movie until the end. I had the most questions about the characters and where the plot was headed. The movie answered all of my questions, but not until the very end. Speaking of the end, without giving anything away, this is probably the best ending of the series so far and definitely leaves you wondering about the conclusion of the series. While the last couple movies definitely left the me wondering what comes next, this ending is more enticing.

2009-08-12T11:31:00.001-05:00

Controlling the Climate... A little scary
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/science/11tier.html?hpw

Storm over Des Moines

2009-08-10T14:58:00.002-05:00

The Kite Runner

2009-07-31T14:22:00.003-05:00

So last weekend I saw the Kite Runner on TV on Demand. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. (Although I wondered why the kite strings wouldn't just tangle up, but I don't know much about kite flying.) The movie and story combines the timeline of the present and past very well. You could see how the young Amir grows to be the older Amir. The story is about redemption for Amir for something he did (and didn't do) over twenty years earlier. You can see the deep seated guilt the older Amir has for the events that happened before he fled the country with his father. You can see that he still carried it even though he was young at the time. As Rahim Khan says this is Amir's chance to become good again. The story mostly centers on Amir and his friend Hassan, who along with his father is Amir's family servants. Hassan is "the best kite runner in Kabul" because he always know where the kite will land after it is cut. He is also fiercely loyal to Amir and defends him at every turn. Hassan is also a different race from Amir which causes conflict among other boys, beside the fact that his servant is also his best friend.

The changes in time also allow you to see the contrast between life before and after the Soviet invasion. Kabul late in the film seems dead and dangerous as opposed the Kabul earlier in the film with its streets full of people. Similarly, Amir and his father, who appear quite wealthy in Kabul, later appear to be struggling to making it when they are shown in the US.

The film also gives you a peak at the cultural norms. Family, respect, and perception seem to be very important to many of the main characters. The perception aspect seem especially strong at the end of the film.

The Kite Runner has a great story and plot. The movie is rich with situations that allow characters to grow, symbolic importance, and redemption.

2009-07-31T10:20:00.001-05:00

Seinfeld reunion, kind of. Too bad I've never had HBO otherwise I might have been a fan.
http://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/index.ssf/2009/07/tca_seinfeld_reunion_on_curb_y.html

2009-07-30T12:29:00.002-05:00

I've been watching the Ascent of Money on PBS for the past week and have found it very interesting. You can view all 4 hour episodes here http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ascentofmoney/. The host uses money to explain our current crisis along with other historical events. While I think he might put too much emphasis on the role of money, it is a very interesting history of money and how finance and financial products have evolved. By describing the origins of today's finance system (bonds, stocks, insurance, derivatives), you get a better understanding of the economic history and how it relates to the present. I would definitely recommend watching.

2009-07-29T10:57:00.001-05:00

Computers are taking over and there starting with Wall Street...
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/business/24trading.html?_r=1&hp
But Shaq can't
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2009/07/shaq_denied_entrance_by_the_wh.html?wprss=dcsportsbog“

The Hangover

2009-07-28T14:54:00.001-05:00

So I doubt I'll have time to post this often, but I'll try and keep it up. Anyway, I saw The Hangover this week and although its been out a while I thought I'd share my thoughts.

The Hangover was one of the funniest movies I've seen in theaters since Wedding Crashers. (On the other hand, I don't see many comedies in theaters.) All three leads, Bradley Cooper (Wedding Crashers), Ed Helms (The Daily Show, The Office), and Zach Galifiankis (Out Cold, various, and in this Fiona Apple video ) were all terrific. There were many funny situations and exchanges. Among my favorite was Carlos the Baby, Ed Helms missing a tooth (which I heard is actually true and incorporated into the movie), and when the valet pulls up in a police cruiser which they arrived in last night. A one of my favorite exchange goes something like this

Alan: I can't lose anyone else not after my Grandpa died.

Phil: I'm sorry, when did he die?

Alan: World War II

Phil: Fighting?

Alan: No, Vermont...Skiing in Vermont.

Zach Galifiankis was probably my favorite. He plays the loner/odd/slightly creepy/fiance's brother very well, if not over the top. Many of his lines are gems. The movie also sports a couple actors in bit parts from Old School. (One of them is the director and the other is the wedding band)

Anyway, if you looking for a smart comedy, a movie with a lot of depth, or a dramedy this probably isn't the right film for you. If you're looking for a movie with a lot of cheap laughs, immature humor, and a slight mystery this movie is probably what your looking for. A great film to unwind to.

2009-07-27T10:57:00.002-05:00

If I only had a few million to spare...
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-bargain-mansions-27-jul27,0,3574823.story

Didn't I say computers were taking over?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/science/26robot.html?hpw

The Password is food

2009-07-23T09:40:00.003-05:00

Lunch?
http://www.pioneerlocal.com/evanston/news/1675651,pioneer-press-chuck-072309-s1.article

Maybe not...
http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/la-fi-hot-dog23-2009jul23,0,792015.story

Well tweet the location...
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/23/business/smallbusiness/23twitter.html?em

2009-07-22T09:59:00.003-05:00

Lou Dobbs....Hulk...Smash
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/la-et-onthemedia22-2009jul22,0,5102780.column

Cutler a newspaper column saver?
http://dailyherald.com/story/?id=308480

Springfield never gets this bad
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/when-legislators-attack/?hp
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2008/12/19/chaos-in-south-korean-parliament-as-politicians-brawl-plus-the-top-10-political-punch-ups-115875-20981066/

Y! Sports all-time non Super Bowl lineup
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AuT8HXxpr6xb5i56O8syyf45nYcB?slug=jc-nonsuperbowlteam072209&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

2009-07-21T10:49:00.001-05:00

I thought I was losing my hearing...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/20/AR2009072002984.html?hpid=sec-world

Slowly reving the engine

2009-07-20T11:33:00.002-05:00

After a long absence, I'm thinking of restarting the blog. Here are a few interesting stories:

ESPN aims to take over the world starting with Chicago http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/20/business/media/20espn.html?hpw

A Darwinian vision of Japan's cellphones
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/20/technology/20cell.html?hpw

A subprime mortgage company by any other name...
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/20/business/20modify.html?hp

Boozer?
http://blogs.dailyherald.com/node/2291
http://www.nba.com/bulls/news/smith_090720.html

FYI

2008-10-07T09:16:00.003-05:00

I haven't been around lately because I've been busy on campaign. I'm working on the Ryan Gailey for State Senate campaign out of Dekalb. His district covers Dekalb, Belvidere, and parts of Rockford. I won't be updating regularly until after Nov 4th. If you know anyone in those parts let me know so I can build some contacts.

Clips

2008-09-25T11:45:00.002-05:00

The StL Post-Dispatch has some good cartoons http://stltoday.mycapture.com/mycapture/enlarge.asp?image=20386123&event=157573&CategoryID=0&picnum=6&move=F#Image

http://stltoday.mycapture.com/mycapture/enlarge.asp?userphoto=0&image=20513238&thispage=1

http://stltoday.mycapture.com/mycapture/enlarge.asp?userphoto=0&image=20528549&thispage=1

The single life gets a week
National Unmarried & Single Americans Week began in the 1980s as a way to celebrate the single life and raise awareness of the estimated 100 million single adults in the United States. Some groups call it simply National Singles Week.

Bret Michaels in Springfield for an eye exam?
Just weeks after the former Beatle stopped to use the men’s room in Springfield en route to St. Louis, Bret Michaels, frontman of the ’80s hair-band extraordinaire, got his eyes checked Tuesday afternoon at LensCrafters in White Oaks Plaza.

Wednesday Afternoon Quarterbacking

2008-09-24T14:44:00.002-05:00

So I was going to do one every tuesday but yesterday was a bit busy and I was a little depressed about Sunday's game, but here is a shorter version.

This team was designed to control the ball get an early lead and dominate with defense and well it has done that for a good part of the season, just not the last quarter. The past two weeks have shown that the offense can move the ball for a couple series and score. The D has been solid until the last quarter, creating turnovers and points. We just need to work on finishing games and putting the game out of reach. While the Offense sometimes seems anemic the Bears have scored 29,17,24 pts respectively and that should be enough for the quality of D that they have.

The mistakes made were mostly mentally, like the Tillman call at the end of the game. While I understand why he did it, that doesn't make it smart. The Bears have been penalized 27 times 1 less than the league worst. Although it seemed like in the Carolina game the Panthers couldn't run a play without an O-line penalty the Bears kept pace with them penalty for penalty.

You just hope that his game is like the Browns game in 2005 when the team came together and said enough is enough and went on to win 8 straight. It's going to be a tougher road this time, with the AFC and NFC South teams on the schedule, and the Eagles ahead, but this is a team that I think can play up to and down to the level of competition. Hopefully, I don't get proven wrong.

Vid of the Day

2008-09-19T10:56:00.002-05:00

Another Random thought: The bookmarks I set for work are websites of newspapers I have to remember to check. So they're not really my favorite thing to do. When I press the favorites tab, it feels like I should be going somewhere fun

Tuesday Afternoon Quarterbacking

2008-09-16T15:05:00.003-05:00

Well everything pretty much went to plan in the first half. Special Teams play check. Offense moving the ball check. Solid Defense check. Then the Second half was marked by an inability to move the ball on offense and the inability to stop Jonathon Stewart in key situations.

The Bears in the first half far out played the Panthers, but the score 10-0 didn't reflect this and the Panthers were able to play well enough in the 2nd half to stick around and steal a win. This is a game that got away from the Bears. The Bears gave it away as much as the Panthers won it.

The game was plagued by penalties. The difference was the Panthers were eventually able to overcome them. It seemed like every punt or kick off return had a penalty forcing the offense to start with horrible field position. The fact that Brad Maynard had a poor game also didn't help. The mistakes eventually made this game to much to handle for the defense. The Olsen fumbles, the block in the back, the poor kicking, false starts, and the overthrown balls.

Offensive MVB: Matt Forte, second week in a row, didn't turn the ball over got the most out of every play
Honorable Mention: O-Line once again a decent game, but not as good as the first one. Orton didn't seem like he was in too much danger all game

Defensive MVB: Kevin Payne, he came back from a shaky week one start to force a fumble and play solidly

Lesson to be Learned: The Bears need to step on the gas when they have a team on the ropes. I felt that after the win at Indy they felt like they could hold on to a win here and just run out the clock . They needed to go after a win and finish off the Panthers before they could get the momentum on their side again.

Today's Song Tom Petty "It's Good To Be King"

2008-09-12T12:08:00.002-05:00

Not sure about the Lion King video, but the song was stuck in my head

Today's Chuckle

2008-09-11T11:17:00.002-05:00

Spellcheck for Outlook recommends changing my last name to Moonboot

Tuesday Afternoon Quarterbacking

2008-09-09T16:01:00.004-05:00

Bears v. Colts

Well I had this game going one of two ways:
1. Bears keep pace with Colts for the first half, but Colts offense is just too much to handle.
2. Colts score easily on the first two drives and make it a blowout

Obviously I and 98% of people were wrong. New stadium and all. I have to say it all went according to plan for the Bears.
1. Solid, turnover generating defense.
2. Solid special teams, aside from Hester's boneheaded decision.
3. An offense that makes 3rd downs (10-16) an moves the ball with a strong running game and enough passes to get the job done.

This team seems more than the 2005 Bears that won with a amazing defense and a 3 and out offensive that just didn't turn the ball over. With Forte, Clark, Olson, and hopefully an array of receivers the Bears can be more offensively competent

Offensive MVB: Easy, Matt Forte (23 Car for 123 yds, 1 TD)
Honorable Mention: O-Line, big question mark performed (2 Sacks)
Defensive MVB: Stopping the run from the backside all game Adewale Ogunleye (Safety, 6 Tackles)
Honorable Mention: Charles Tillman (6 tackles, 1 FF) made the key play when it mattered

Dumbest Play: Hester bringing out the ball from the end zone after Vinateri booted it over his head
Honorable Mention: Ogunleye headbutting a Colts player
Honorable Mention #2: Refs not seeing the Colts O-Line holding the majority of the game

Biggest Drive: 3rd Quarter following Hester's mistake and a Manning to Wayne TD. The Bears, with a slim 15-13 drove from their own 26 to the Colts 34 before Orton was sacked at the 40. Maynard then punted it to the Colts 16, but the drive took up nearly 7 mins, allowed the defense a breather and changed field position. A 3 and out would have been deadly.

Best Sight: Seeing #86 Marty Booker back on the field making a catch. Sure he's not the same player, but it brought back a lot of memories.

Today's Randoms

2008-09-03T12:03:00.003-05:00

Today's Jumble Wisdom

"Too many square meals can make one ---"

Well "Rounded"

Today's Stat

The Illini have given up 101 points in the last two games if you go back to the Rose Bowl.

Rose Bowl: USC 49 - ILL 17
Last Weekend: MIZ 52 - ILL 42

Political sign

2008-09-02T14:44:00.002-05:00

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/the-platform/satire/2008/08/sign-of-the-times/

Blood and Death cab

2008-08-29T11:55:00.003-05:00

No more blood drives?

An American team has found a way to turn the parent cells of other types, human embryonic stem cells, into significant quantities of functional oxygen-carrying red blood cells.

Also, a song thats been stuck in my head

More Illini move overseas & US Basketball

2008-08-28T15:12:00.002-05:00

It looks like Randle is going to play in Israel and Pruitt is going to the Czech Republic.

http://media.www.dailyillini.com/media/storage/paper736/news/2008/08/28/Sports/Randle.Signs.Contract.With.Israeli.Team-3406769.shtml

http://media.www.dailyillini.com/media/storage/paper736/news/2008/08/28/Sports/Pruitt.Follows.Wave.Across.Atlantic-3406751.shtml

The popularity of the game has opened up many new markets around the world. I watched pretty much every USA basketball game in the Olympics (besides US vs. Argentina, the one I really wanted to see, but it was during work). It seemed apparent that while other teams can compete with the US for a while, the pure athleticsm and depth of the US seems to dominate. That assumes that they play as a unit as well. Spain stayed with the US until the final minutes of the game so all of it wasn't a cake walk.
Other things to I noticed....

Wade looked really good. Watch out for the Heat this year, Wade looks back to his NBA finals form.
LeBron was a force. LeBron just dominated the game at times on both sides of the court. We stole the ball, blocked it passed it well, and muscled shots through. I saw one play where the opposing team just hacked him while he was shooting and he went on to muscle through it and make a shot. Not like Jordan did, when he would make a miracluous shot out of nothing, but he just lifted his arms up and shot it like no one had hacked him at all.
International teams couldnt handle the athleticsm of our big men, particularly Dwight Howard.
The US definitely took advantage of Intl rules, by taking shots off the rim and pressing their defense harder.
Chris Paul looked good, but he wasn't able to penetrate as much as he does in the NBA.
Carlos Boozer must have somehow wronged Coach K because he barely got in.
How will this effect these players later on in the season? Will there be fatigue issues?

Australia Pic

2008-08-19T02:38:00.002-05:00

Giant Spider Thursday

2008-08-14T15:30:00.002-05:00

you'll have to check out the picture

http://edwardsvillejournal.stltoday.com/articles/2008/08/14/news/sj2tn20080813-0806edw-giantspider.ii1.txt

The spider just appeared one day, Akins said, hanging from a web.Not fearing the creature, Akins grabbed her camera and took a few pictures of the species.The spider has since disappeared, but Akins sent the photos of the spider to biologists at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

"It's either a pet that got away, or one that hitched a ride on a shipment of goods or produce, possibly from South America," Theodorakis said. "It was probably hidden."

Theodorakis said the wandering spider is a species with a bite that is dangerous to both humans and animals.

Happy Belated Birthday

2008-08-13T09:52:00.001-05:00

This is to my friend (and huge Beatles fan) Nikki whose birthday was yesterday. Sorry I forgot to post this yesterday and since she's in Korea right now its two days late.

Foo Fighters

2008-08-11T15:21:00.000-05:00

2008-08-05T16:04:00.002-05:00

Miscanthus to the rescue?

Surprising Things That Affect Memory(Negatively)
Tofu
Carbohydrates
Hot Flashes
Smoking
Statins (Positively)
Thyroid Disorder
Depression, Anxiety
Chronic Pain
Marital Status (Positively)
Fish (Positively)

'Major discovery' from MIT primed to unleash solar revolution

a revolutionary leap that could transform solar power from a marginal, boutique alternative into a mainstream energy source, MIT researchers have overcome a major barrier to large-scale solar power: storing energy for use when the sun doesn't shine.

Until now, solar power has been a daytime-only energy source, because storing extra solar energy for later use is prohibitively expensive and grossly inefficient. With today's announcement, MIT researchers have hit upon a simple, inexpensive, highly efficient process for storing solar energy.

Inspired by the photosynthesis performed by plants, Nocera and Matthew Kanan, a postdoctoral fellow in Nocera's lab, have developed an unprecedented process that will allow the sun's energy to be used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. Later, the oxygen and hydrogen may be recombined inside a fuel cell, creating carbon-free electricity to power your house or your electric car, day or night

Illini greats to reunite for alumni basketball game

Members of the 2004-05 and 1988-89 Final Four teams are expected to be well-represented. Williams, Dee Brown, Luther Head, James Augustine, Roger Powell, Kendall Gill, Stephen Bardo and Kenny Battle have all committed to participate. Others who have confirmed attendance are: Brian Cook, Kiwane Garris, Marcus Griffin, Sergio McClain, Victor Chukwudebe and Frank Williams.

Photo appears to show McCartney at Clear Lake Circle K

News Bits U Of I edition

2008-08-01T11:51:00.002-05:00

New ethanol study shows grass outperforms corn

In the largest field trial of its kind in the U.S., researchers at the University of Illinois have determined that the giant perennial grass Miscanthus x giganteus outperforms current biofuel sources, including corn and switchgrass, by a large margin. The researchers reported that using Miscanthus as a feedstock for ethanol production in the U.S. could significantly reduce the acreage dedicated to biofuels while still meeting government production goals.

Weber boots Jamar Smith off team, says he had 'no other recourse'

"Jamar's decision to violate the terms of our personal agreement for his potential return to our basketball program has left me with no other recourse but to rescind that opportunity," Weber said in a statement. "At this time, Jamar and his family need to focus their attention on the issues that have brought Jamar to this point.
"For the good of our program and players, we need to move forward and prepare for the 2008-09 season. While Jamar will always be a part of the Illinois basketball family, I have made the decision that he can no longer be a part of our team."

U of I Olympians
Williams' Olympic dreams now reality

Good luck to our Illini Olympians
Justin Spring for gymnastics, Emily Zurrer for soccer, Chris Robinson for baseball, Gakologelwang Masheto for track and field, Kevin Anderson for tennis and Deron Williams for basketball.

Sarah Castle, Patty Cisneros, Carlee Hoffman, Jennifer Ruddell, Emily Hoskins, Christina Ripp, Stephanie Wheeler, Steve Serio, Adam Lancia, Patrick Anderson, Tracey Ferguson, Edina Mueller and Grant Mizens for wheelchair basketball.

Adam Bleakney, Joshua George, Anjali Forber-Pratt, Jessica Galli, Amanda McGrory, Tony Iniguez and Tatyana McFadden for Paralympic track and field.

Kari Miller for sitting volleyball and Norm Lyduch for wheelchair rugby. GO ILLINI!

From Canada to Beijing: The journey of one Illini soccer player
Former Illini tennis star Anderson set to compete at Games

The Joker

2008-07-29T13:49:00.002-05:00

The Joker was such a great character in this movie. His mysterious beginnings, his motives, and the acting. I tried to not be influenced by the rave reviews of Heath Ledger's performance, but there were definitely spot on. I actually saw part of "Ten Things I Hate About You" and won't believe its the same actor. Again, I do give away parts of the plot so you have been warned.

Anyway, the Joker is not after money, as the mob is, but seems to be out to prove a point. He seeks to create chaos, but show that everyone has a price, everyone can be bought. He shows this over and over, whether it be money or to protect loved ones. When Batman and Lt. Gordon are talking near the end, they say the he sought to prove that the best of us (Harvey Dent) was corruptible. I saw on TV they said that the Joker seeks to prove that law and the rule of law is a joke, because everyone has a price and the rules and laws of society can be broken for a price, so the laws that make everyone feel safe are a joke. I don't know if I believe that or not, but its an interesting take on the Joker. But that's the intriguing about the Joker.

Another interesting thing about the Joker is the situations he puts people in. The choice between faced by the two boats, the choice between Dent or Rachael that Batman has to make, the choice of killing Coleman Reis or destroying a hospital, or anyone of the policemen who are asked to betray Dent and Rachel in order to protect their family.

He also remains a step ahead of the police, the mob, and Batman as he intentionally gets arrested, supplants the mob, and has free reign over the city (he makes everyone panic and try to leave). In fact, the Joker destroys the mob as much as Batman does. Throughout the movie, you constantly wondering how he stays one step ahead of the game, even though as he claims to Dent/TwoFace that he doesn't have a master plan and that everyone else has plans and intentions.

The other interesting aspect about the Joker, but more about the movie is the aspect of terrorism. As the Joker says, think what I did with a couple barrels of oil, a few guns, and some knifes. What he did was push Gotham to the brink. As his escalation of terror picks up, he causes panic across the city and that is what terrorism is about, using terror and fear as weapons. Killing a few people, militarily is not going to bring down a large city, but inject those murders with a public displays and random killings and you have terrorism. In this respect, I feel the movie moves beyond the comic genre and makes political commentary about today's world. His acts are intentionally fuel the flames of fear.

As the movie climaxes the Joker gets to each of the three heroic characters. Harvey Dent obviously cracks and turns into Two-Face. Lt. Gordon's familiy is in danger. He, of course, antagonizes Batman the entire movie. The question becomes how far is Batman willing to go to rid himself of the Joker, who is threatening the city and Batman's very being. Will Bruce Wayne reveal himself? Will Batman kill the Joker? Is he willing to invade everyone's privacy to do it (another political statement)? How will Alfred's and Lucius's advice be taken?

The question is who will be around for the next movie, if there is a next movie. Both lead villians from this movie seem not to be able to return. There is still the Scarecrow, but that seems like a road we've been down before. Some have speculated it could be the Riddler (Coleman Reis or Mr. Reis although I don't know the comic stories) or Catwoman, with the mention of cats and body armor. Also, how will that movie compare with this one. After the success of this movie, the next one would have astronomical expectations.

News Bits

2008-07-28T15:30:00.005-05:00

Employing microbes as sources of sustainable biofuels

Thus, their ability to capture sunlight energy and make biomass is at least 100-fold greater than can be achieved by plants. Also, they do not need to grow in arable soil and compete with food supply.

Nutrionist who helped create Cap'n Crunch dies

Robert O. Nesheim, a nutritionist for Quaker Oats who helped develop popular breakfast cereals like Cap'n Crunch and Life, has died at age 86.

Definitely a different era. I'll try to write something up on the Joker tomorrow

Dark Knight

2008-07-25T13:04:00.003-05:00

So I've resisted writing a review until I saw it a second time or until other people have seen it. I generally don't like to read reviews until after I see the movie (which kind of defeats the purpose of a review), because I want to see it for what its worth and then hear what others have to say. So I wouldn't read the rest of this if you plan on seeing Dark Knight in the near future, but if you do don't read past the next two paragraphs.

That being said my reaction was pretty much wow. I don't remember walking away from a movie quite like that one. It's a dense movie with rich characters and story lines. I could probably go on and on about different aspects of the movie. I still am trying to remember everything that happened (which why I wanted to wait, but oh well).

In this movie, a sequel to Batman Begins (2005) the Joker emerges to be Batman and Gotham's main antagonist. The mob, reeling from losses from Batman and an a energized police force, turns to the Joker to eliminate the problem. The Joker, then starts a campaign of terror aimed at terrorizing Gotham and calling out Batman. The Joker sets out to destroy Gotham much the way the "League of Shadows" does in "Begins", except he prays on people's fears through terror acts rather than a neural toxin. The Joker continually antagonizes Batman and Gotham to test their limits and rules they play by. Meanwhile, Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), the new DA, acts as the "White Knight" to Batman's "Dark Knight". He is a hero who doesn't need the mask. He also is involved with Rachel Dawes (this time played by Maggie Gyllenhaal), who was Bruce Wayne's love interest in "Begins", and is caught between the two. Lt. Gordon (Gary Oldman) also has a beefed up role as always one step ahead of the mob, but two behind the Joker. Alfred (Michael Caine) and Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) also reprise their roles as advisors to Bruce as he struggles with the problems he has created by becoming Batman.

The first thing you notice about this movie and "Begins" is the realism aspect. Although clearly, you must step outside of reality the movie tries to portray a modern American metropolis. Gotham is no longer a fantastic-looking city, but a modern city (Chicago). This is also shown in the characters as well. All of the characters with the exception of the Joker are people, who are fallible. They have their own positive and negative aspects. The movie does a great deal to make Batman's equipment and actions plausible. It all together makes the movie stand on its own as a movie and not typecast into a superhero movie.

The movie benefits from the first, because it doesn't take the time to build up the characters you already know about. The Joker definitely drives the movie, he is the cause of all the action. You could even argue that without the Joker, there is no Batman. Batman in this movie almost takes a backseat to the development of these new characters at times. He is the one reacting to the Joker's moves. He is the one proping up Lt. Gordon and Harvey Dent. There characters are further developed while Bruce Wayne is a known quantity. In that respect, (and I know this is an odd comparison) Batman almost plays Seinfeld opposite the Joker's (Kramer) antics and Lt. Gordon and Harvey Dent's (Contanza) struggles to keep up with the situation. But as in Seinfeld, Bruce Wayne has his own struggles while being the constant through which all the other actors play off of. He wonders what he should do with the Batman symbol, should he give it up for Rachel, give it up to save people, or how far Batman can go to save Gotham.

Anyways this is getting kinda long so I'll continue later

Local H

2008-07-24T11:43:00.002-05:00

So the new album has been out for over two months now. It's a concept album about a breakup going through each month. As I said a while ago I saw them at the Metro and heard a lot of the new album. I think it compares very well with what they have done in the past. Here are a few links to reviews online:

http://www.jimdero.com/News2008/LocalH.htm

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/50790-12-angry-months

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/60238/local-h-12-angry-months/

http://www.lostatsea.net/review.phtml?id=1635907512482834927c579

http://wm10.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:kxfpxzrjldje~T1

They talk a lot about the content of the songs, which I normally don't follow that closely. If you listen to the lyrics they are a bit they are angry, but that's how its supposed to be. On a side note, after the concert one of my friends who had never seen them before asked why everyone there seemed so angry with the jumping, pushing, and crowd surfing. I had to explain that its just a high energy show and everyone isn't angry, but its just a release. As soon as someone falls everyone is always there to pick them up that's the great thing about the shows, you recognize a lot of faces and everyone picks each other up. Anyway, Local H is always a better live band than a CD, but this album more than others had more layers of sounds than I remember on other albums.

The One with "Kid"
Great opening song. Good intro before it gets down to business.

Michelle (again)
Another great song that fits right into their style. I feel like this could be single as well.

BMW Man
Didn't really like this song at first but it is growing on me.

White Belt Boys
An intense song obviously angry, "I hope you live a lonely life." Once again, this is a song I really didn't like, but is growing on me.

The Summer of Boats
This is definitely a departure from what you would normally expect from them. There's none of Brian's dominating drums coordinated with Scott's guitar. It's a song you'll probably never hear live, but I like it and its one of my favorites.

Taxi-Cabs
This is a song I instantly liked, but has faded on me. Now it feels droning and tired.

24-Hour Break-Up Session
This is the first single, which also features a cover of Wolf Like Me from TV on the Radio.

Jesus Christ! Did You See the Size of That Sperm Whale
Another classic H song with the line, "You're not a junkie, just a groupie, but only a groupie would ever want to love me". Very classic H.

Simple Pleas
Another one of my favorites, that I was suprised they played at the Metro. Lighter and maybe too melodic.

Machine Shed Wrestling
A song that has a nice, tight guitar sound with Brian's drums rumbling in the background.

Blur
A shorter song, which is still growing on me although I'll probably need to hear it more.

Hand to Mouth
A highly instrumental song, that is also among my favorites. A nearly 9 min song which shows how well they can put a song together.

Overall, this album was not as heavy as others with songs like Summer of Boats, Simple Pleas, and Hand to Mouth, but it still packs a punch with other songs. I find myself liking the lighter songs, but every once in a while you still want to hear Fritz's Corner or High Fivin' .

Vid of the Day

2008-07-18T15:08:00.001-05:00

I saw this last night and I won't give anything away right now, but you should go see it. Chicago is very visible in the film

News Bits

2008-07-17T12:36:00.003-05:00

Logo Development costs U of I $383,000 to $816,000 annually

Couldn't believe this when I read it I mean $383,000 for logos? But someone pointed out that letterheads, signs, and other symbols have to be changed.

Taz evolving in front of our eyes

"Since 1996, a kind of infectious cancer that causes facial tumors has been killing them off. It’s spread by biting, something devils do for social interaction, especially when mating.The tumors grow so large and fast that infected animals no longer can eat, so they starve to death. In some places, devil populations have fallen by as much as 90 percent."

Before the cancer appeared, virtually all female devils reached sexual maturity at age two and produced several litters of young by five or six. Very few female devils were capable of breeding at age one.These days, very few Tasmanian devils reach prime reproductive age; most die at two or three years. But the number capable of breeding at the age of one — what scientists call “precocious breeding” — has jumped 16-fold

Jim Edmonds marries

James Patrick Edmonds and Allison Jayne Raski, both of Creve Coeur, were couple No. 11 of the 25 who got married Wednesday at the St. Louis County Courthouse in Clayton.Edmonds, now a Chicago Cub, was better known to Cardinals fans for whom he patrolled center field at Busch Stadium for eight years as Jim Edmonds or "Jimmy Ballgame.''

Biking and Doughnuts

2008-07-15T11:44:00.002-05:00

I've heard about this event before http://www.thetelegraph.com/news/donuts_16095___article.html/tour_cyclists.html

I think it would be cool either to see or compete. The race takes place in Stauton and the surrounding area and is 32 miles and 5 minutes is taken off for each doughnut eaten. Stauton is between Springfield and St. Louis From the video they look like Mel-O-Creams, brand I hadn't heard about until coming to Springfield.

Dee finds a place in the NBA

2008-07-11T11:44:00.003-05:00

Dee Brown signed with the Wizards to be their third point guard. He had been playing in Turkey.

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/illinois/cs-080710-dee-brown-washington-wizards,1,3786228.story

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/10/AR2008071002564.html

It should be interesting to see when the Wizards come to town. Dee is still very popular in Chicago. In fact, the original Bull, Jerry Sloan, (He was the Bulls first draft pick) was booed last year when the didn't put Dee in the game despite the fact that the Jazz had sealed the game.

Crazies of the Day

2008-07-10T14:08:00.002-05:00

Recent Letters to the Editor. The first two are halfway down on the same page

blacks have no loyalty to their country
Opposed to Obama
I see that Colin Powell is going to support Barack Obama for president. I am shocked. There's gambling going on in Rick's cafe.
Colin Powell was secretary of state under George W. Bush, the first black man to hold that post. Powell's decision just reinforces my contention that blacks have no loyalty to their country, party of ideals. They are blacks first and foremost. Just ask the Clintons.
Letter writer Pauline McCottrell says that Obama is for all people, not just blacks. Oh really? Why then did he attend a black liberation church for 20 years where racism and anti-Americanism are preached on a regular basis? If he didn't believe in their philosophies, why did he stay there? Last year he contributed $26,000 to this church.
McCottrell also tells us not to play "the race card." Well, she's a day late and an Obama short. Blacks have already played the race card, as more than 90 percent of them voted for Obama in the primaries. Obama says he is going to change America. Sure he is, just look at his great record. He reformed his hometown of Chicago and transformed Illinois so that it is an example for the rest of the country. Yeah, right.
Perhaps Chicago and Illinois are a little too tough for Obama, maybe he should start somewhere easier like East St. Louis.
Leon Anderson
Collinsville

Gays taking over McDonalds
Not on the menu
Did you know that the McDonald's Corp. USA has added the gay agenda to its menu?
Richard Ellis, vice president of communications for the company, joined the board of directors for the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. This was confirmed by a senior member (director) of media relations for McDonald's who said, "McDonald's is indeed a corporate partner and organizational ally of NGLCC."
Do you care? Call 1-800-244-6227 or e-mail them at mcdonaldscorporation@mcd.co. And by the way, I see in the paper that "gay pride" has come to Belleville. Big Mac, anyone?
Barbara Bertschinger
Belleville

WallE too violent

"Just another desensitizing movie brought to you by Pixar (Disney) hoping to cash in on the fears of children. Frankly, I’m through with any and all Disney / Pixar movies. Within the first fifteen minutes of this “should be” PG rated movie"

Read through all the comments too and you'll find this gem.

"You probably let your daughter watch crap like “Dora the Explorer” - which is a propaganda cartoon brainwashing our children into believing that illegal immigration is good, and that we should all speak Spanish. Or, Teletubbies - the “mushroom/LSD” inspired show about 4 beings who can’t speak a word of english and are obsessed with “tubby toast”."

I think Bambis Mom is correct on this one and has a good name.

"Puh-leaze…if everything has to be som homogenized that every kid has to react the same exact way to every movie that is geared toward the, you’d be watching the same movie all the time."

Vid of the Day

2008-07-09T11:37:00.001-05:00

And then test your skills http://www.gamedesign.jp/flash/worldmap/worldmap.html

Song of the Day

2008-07-08T22:55:00.000-05:00

Counting Crows- Another Horsedreamer's Blues

Invisibility Cloak Possible

2008-07-07T13:18:00.003-05:00

Suntimes and News-Gazette have a story about two U of I professors who created a proof to build a invisibility cloak

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1030085,CST-NWS-invis29.article

Harley Johnson, an associate professor of mechanical science and engineering, and research associate Dong Xiao offered mathematical proof that coating a container with multiple concentric rings -- made of silicon and separated by air -- could, in fact, cloak an object from human sight.

The U. of I. scientists' simulation demonstrated that those wavelengths can be bent around a container coated with the rings so you wouldn't notice the container or its contents. Another layer of rings blocks the light from penetrating the container, further cloaking it from view.

The next step in the cloaking research is to re-create the experiment in a lab -- which Johnson says he hopes will be done within the next several months with the help of colleague John Rogers, another professor on the Urbana-Champaign campus.

"It wouldn't be hard to scale up to some extent,'' Johnson says.

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/u_of_i/2008/07/06/science_fiction_might_soon_evolve_into

Bondi Beach

2008-07-02T16:51:00.003-05:00

I went in the morning so thats why no one is there. It is a perfect crescent moon shaped beach and one of Sydney's most famous

Blue Mountains

2008-06-27T23:52:00.000-05:00

Rose

2008-06-26T19:48:00.002-05:00

So it's official Rose. I'm excited to see what he can do. On the other hand, he is still very young. Just a season ago he was a high school senior.

What's next? Well according to Pax working out deals for Gordon and Deng. It's obvious someone has to go. My concern is who is going to handle the ball. You have Rose who will grow into the role, but is still young. After that who is there? Duhon is likely gone. You don't really want Sefolosha or Gordon handling it. Possibly Hughes, but that not ideal. That leaves Hinrich who I still trust with the ball. It's clear that Hughes will probably have to stay due to his contract. Sefolosha is a player still developing. That leaves Hinrich and Gordon. Although you like Gordon's shot making ability you have think he is undersized, can't trust him to make point guard like decisions on the court, and he's asking for too much. I guess that begs the question, well who will want him then. I think the fact that he can score very easily will always be an asset to a team. Plus, in the right package it could work out.

I guess I'm just saying this because everyone is pointing at Hinrich to be traded. I'm saying ideally it would be wise to keep another ball handler around. Besides, he has a favorable contract (which makes him attractive as well). Regardless, next season will be exciting to watch.

2008-06-25T00:54:00.001-05:00

2008-06-24T10:17:00.000-05:00

Well i forgot to post yesterday. Oops I'll post an extra picture later today to make up for it. But I saw Local H this weekend. They have a new album out which is a bit mellower than previous ones. It's called 12 Angry Months. Here's a video of the first single off of it on Carson Daly. It's called 24- hour breakup session. I'll probably do a more in depth review later

2008-06-20T08:56:00.002-05:00

Completely agree with this article. http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/columnists.nsf/berniemiklasz/story/42BAAAF86025FA598625746D0014AB03?OpenDocument

I usually don't rant on anything. But this rings true for all Boston teams. At first you rooted for them.

Patriots over the Rams the underdogs.
Boston over the Yankees cause everyone hates the Yankees.

Now not so much.

Celtics won with team completely built in a year. Didn't build a franchise, but just moved in franchise players
Patriots with the spygate scandal and arrogance had me cheering for Eli Manning?
And the Red Sox don't get me started on the Red Sox. At first, you were glad that they hated the Yankees so much. They had a chip on their shoulder. The Yankees were the evil empire buying (and also destroying) any star they could. But now that they've won the World Series twice now, the still taunt the Yankees with Yankees suck. I mean its like watching Luke Skywalker defeat the Empire and then have him taunt them on their way out.

Anyway thats today's thought more pictures to come

2008-06-19T17:04:00.002-05:00

I posted another one yesterday, but apparently it didnt get up. So here's another one. Here's a Koala from the Taronga Zoo. We were able to get pretty close to them.

2008-06-17T18:27:00.002-05:00

So I haven't posted in a while, mainly because I was in Australia, so I'll try and post Monday through Friday for the near future. Anyway I'll start by posting pics from Australia

A Rose by any other name

2008-06-03T14:05:00.002-05:00

So it's been a while, but I should be able to post more often with session over.

So let's get down to it. The Bulls, so much to talk about. 1st pick, coach, direction. I'll try and focus on one topic for now, the #1 pick.

Derrick Rose. I'll admit that I didn't watch too much college basketball, but I did see both of them play in the tournament. I thought both were impressive. Beasley was a force down below and Rose seemed in control of the game. You wouldn't have guessed that he was a freshmen. Derrick Rose seems like a better choice given that good quality point guards don't come along too often. Beasley may be a talent, but forwards are plentiful. I think if you look at this season you see Chris Paul, Deron Williams, and Rajon Rondo contributing extensively to their team, not to mention Tony Parker.

I think Paxson agrees, despite some reports that the Bulls have settled on Beasley. In the days following the draft he talked about leadership and how Rose being from Chicago would be counted against him. Paxson has always gone the route of college success and character. Rose would seem to make sense.

On the other hand, the Bulls would still be missing that difference maker, that guy that changes the game and as much as we like to believe Rose will do that, I don't know if that will happen. So there is that hole that need to be filled. That's why the Bulls need to think big this summer. Big as in big name. Do what they should and pull together the plethora of spare parts around and make a deal for a big name player. But that player has to fit within the scheme. I could go more into it, but I'll save it for later. For now the name is Rose.

Steamed Hams

2008-05-27T14:24:00.002-05:00

Something just made me think about this scene today

Skinner: Superintendent, I hope you're ready for mouth-watering hamburgers.
Chalmers: I thought we were having steamed clams.
Skinner: Oh, no, I said, "steamed hams." That's what I callhamburgers.
Chalmers: You call hamburgers steamed hams.
Skinner: Yes, it's a regional dialect.
Chalmers: Uh-huh. What region?
Skinner: Uh, upstate New York.
Chalmers: Really. Well, I'm from Utica and I never heard anyone use the phrase, "steamed hams."
Skinner: Oh, not in Utica, no; it's an Albany expression.
Chalmers: I see.

Chalmers: You know, these hamburgers are quite similar to the ones the have at Krusty Burger. Skinner: [laughs] Oh, no, patented Skinner Burgers. Old family recipe.
Chalmers: For steamed hams.
Skinner: Yes.
Chalmers: Yes, and you call them steamed hams despite the fact that they are obviously grilled. [shows Skinner the grill marks]
Skinner: Uh ... you know ... one thing I sh-- ... 'scuse me for one second.
Chalmers: Of course.

Skinner: [faking a yawn] Well, that was wonderful. Good time was had by all. I'm pooped.
Chalmers: Yes, I guess I should be -[notes entire kitchen is on fire] Good Lord, what is happening in there?
Skinner: Aurora Borealis?
Chalmers: Aurora Borealis? At this time of year? A this time of day? In this part of the country? Localized entirely within your kitchen?
Skinner: Yes.
Chalmers: May I see it?
Skinner: Oh, erm... No.

Japanese Ambassadors

2008-05-19T10:45:00.004-05:00

Japan now has two cartoon ambassadors. Doraemon was declared its anime ambassador earlier this year. Now Hello Kitty has been named Tourist Ambassador to China and Hong Kong.

The article also says that Hello Kitty lives in London with her family

Oreos

2008-05-19T09:27:00.000-05:00

Reminds me of a certain Simpsons episode

14 tons of Oreos spill on IL highway
ASSOCIATED PRESS
05/19/2008
MORRIS, Ill. -- Got milk?Police say a trailer loaded with 14 tons of double-stuffed Oreos overturned Monday morning, spilling plastic sleeves of cookies into the median and roadway.Illinois State Police Sergeant Brian Mahoney says the truck's driver was traveling from Chicago to Morris on I-80 around 4 a.m. Monday when he fell asleep at the wheel and slammed into the median.Mahoney says the force of the crash ripped open boxes of the cookies, but their plastic wrappers kept them from covering the ground.The crash about 50 miles southwest of Chicago remains under investigation.Mahoney says no charges have been filed but both lanes of traffic remain closed while authorities remove the cookies.

Chicagopedia

2008-05-16T13:14:00.002-05:00

A couple new ones at Chicagopedia

Witchya - witchya / witt cha / prep. phrase. "With you." As in: "You mind if I come witchya?"
Nodjew? - nodjew? /no d'jeww/ Phrase. Much-contracted way of saying: "No, did you?" Often used as an answer to the question: "Jeetjet?"
Elgin-O'Hare Expressway - Elgin-O'Hare Expressway/ el GIN oh HARE ex press way / n./ An optimistically named suburban highway that is the butt of many jokes because it reaches neither Elgin nor O'Hare -- and is often backed up. The roughly six-mile road, located near Schaumburg and Roselle, opened in 1993 with ambitious plans to someday link Elgin to the airport. Yet it now only connects Hanover Park to Itasca, ending at U.S. Route 20 to the west and I-290 to the east.
588-2300 - 588-2300 /five ate ate too three hun dred/ n. The phone number and catchy jingle, drummed into our heads for decades, of Empire Carpet, now known as Empire Today. The jingle was penned and performed by ad man Lynn Hauldren of Evanston, who has also portrayed the mustachioed Empire Carpet Man since 1977. It's his former barbershop quartet singing the jingle, which now includes the "800" prefix. Remarkably, despite decades of advertising, Empire operators have been known to ask callers, "How did you hear about us?"

Ten weirdest computers

2008-05-07T17:19:00.003-05:00

Here's an interesting article I found about computers

Ten weirdest computers

Optical Computing - light signals to process data
Quantum Computing - using qubits which can be both 1 and 0 (Bender would be confused)
DNA Computing - Not really sure sounds like has to do with DNA reading input and running progrmas
Reversible Computing - reusing the output signals
Billiard Ball Computing - using chain reactions there's a video explaining
Neuronal Computing - using living cells to compute which can be used to create cyborgs like in the video at the bottom
Magnetic Computing- not too sure
Glooper Computer - ions a chemical goo
Mouldy Computers - using slime mold to find the shortest route in a maze
Water Wave Computering - again not sure

Beer can coffin

2008-05-05T10:49:00.003-05:00

I'll let this story speak for itself, no comment.

Click here to seek a picture and story

Man Uses His Coffin As Beer Tub

An Illinois man says he hopes to get his money's worth out of his new coffin, eventually. In the meantime, Bill Bramanti of South Chicago Heights says that his specially designed silver casket is serving as a beer cooler. The 67-year-old Bramanti recently ordered a coffin designed like a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.

The coffin's interior has a black liner to prevent seepage. On Saturday, Bramanti hosted a party and filled his red-white-and-blue casket with ice and PBR. The 67-year-old administrator for the village of Glenwood figures he can fit about 15 cases of Pabst inside. Bramanti ordered his coffin from a Chicago Heights funeral home and had a local sign company design the PBR can. He says he doesn't know yet how much the coffin will cost.

Illinois man orders custom beer-can coffin
The Associated Press
SOUTH CHICAGO HEIGHTS, Ill. --Bill Bramanti will love Pabst Blue Ribbon eternally, and he's got the custom-made beer-can casket to prove it. "I actually fit, because I got in here," said Bramanti of South Chicago Heights.
The 67-year-old Glenwood village administrator doesn't plan on needing it anytime soon, though.
He threw a party Saturday for friends and filled his silver coffin - designed in Pabst's colors of red, white and blue - with ice and his favorite brew.
"Why put such a great novelty piece up on a shelf in storage when you could use it only the way Bill Bramanti would use it?" said Bramanti's daughter, Cathy Bramanti, 42.
Bramanti ordered the casket from Panozzo Bros. Funeral Home in Chicago Heights, and Scott Sign Co. of Chicago Heights designed the beer can.

Today's Music Video

2008-05-01T15:39:00.001-05:00

Ebert Fest

2008-04-28T13:53:00.005-05:00

So i went to the Ebert Film Festival last weekend and saw 2 movies, The Hulk and Romance and Cigarettes. It was a pretty good weekend. John and I got on the News-Gazette website under the photos section. I believe we are the 3rd photo. The best part was hearing Ang Lee speak after The Hulk.

The Hulk I thought was better than I was expecting. It probably would have done better if he had not been a comic book character. The movie was more character driven and not a struggle between a villain and hero, although his father is the villain it isn't exactly clear that this is the case throughout the movie. With superhero movies you probably want to have a clearly laid out villain and hero throughout the movie. Also the visual effects were a bit off. That being said, I liked how the character was developed and I liked the split screen throughout the film. The split screen gave it a comic book feel, while allow you to see different angles. I especially like the split screen shots of different faces which allow you to see how the different actors react at the same moment.

Ang Lee spoke after the film about his U of I experience and film making. He said he came to U of I because he wanted to act, but couldn't do it because he did speak English. He also said that his relationship with his dad fueled much of The Hulk's emphasis on father-child relationships. Surprisingly enough, Ang Lee also was the Hulk. He put on the motion capture suit to make many of the Hulk movements on screen. Another interesting moment was when Joe Pantoliano, who was in town for Canvas, asked him a question about how he deals with actors. He said that when actors believe they are giving a good performance, they are often overacting. So he says he picks them apart or confuses them when necessary to get a good performance. He said he is the 3rd eye in the sky for them. One of the more interesting things he said was that he was burnt out after Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Hulk so he wanted to do a small movie that no one paid any attention to and only showed in art house movie theaters. After all he said in his own words, "Who would want to see a gay cowboy movie?" Of course, that movie was Brokeback Mountain.

Romance & Cigarettes is actually a musical starring James Gandolfini. Other big names include: Susan Sarandon, Mary Louise-Parker, Mandy Moore, Christopher Walken, Kate Winslet, Eddie Izzard, Steve Buscemi, and Aida Turturro. It's loosely based on the family life of John Turturro. who has been in movies like Rounders, Do the Right Thing, Quiz Show, and Transformers. It wasn't a traditional musical because while the actors were singing, they were singing with the original tracks from the original artists over the actors. In fact, it wasn't a very traditional movie at all. Best line I heard from the discussion afterwards, "Christopher Walken does a great Christopher Walken". It has some odd age arrangements. Aida Turturro plays James Gandolfini's adopted daughter, whereas in the Sopranos they play brother and sister. Mandy Moore and Mary Louise-Parker play sisters, but in Saved! Mandy Moore plays Mary Louise-Parker's daughter's friend/nemesis. Overall the movie was pretty funny and I really liked the ending too.