One Shining Moment...In Lego

The brackets are out, so let the Madness begin! What better way to re-live some of the greatest moments from NCAA Tournament history than to watch them in Lego?
Chris Webber, it's been 18 years...but I still love ya!

Duke DESTROYS UNC To Win The ACC Tournament

It's always a beautiful day when Duke pummels North Carolina in a beating for the ages to win the ACC Tournament. Balanced contributions from the whole team, Kyle Singler broke out of his slump vs UNC to have a big game, and Nolan Smith was on fire with 20 points and 10 assists.

I loved how UNC fans went nuts every time the Tar Heels got within 15 points, getting out of their seats...only to have to sit their powder blue asses down every time we extended our lead.

Selection Sunday tournament seeds get announced in 3 hours. Duke should be getting a #1 seed for sure.

Enjoy these photos from the game. (mouse over for captions)

Nothing Could Be Finer Than Duke Over Carolina...Again.

I'm honestly considering naming any future children "Seth Curry Furfaro." Or maybe "Nolan Smith's Career-High Furfaro." Possibly even "You Really Thought You Had A Chance, Didn't You Furfaro."

Well, that last one is a little outlandish...no need to get crazy.

Duke 79 - UNC 73.

Suck it, Tar Heels.

April 18, 2010: Odds and Ends

I looked at the posts for April here on my blog, and I realized that all I've really done so far this month is TV recaps for the shows I write on. That was kind of shocking to me as I usually write on a lot of different topics other than TV shows, and in general, I try to write 5-10 posts a week.

To be fair, I was in Las Vegas for a week, but I was still kind of surprised that I hadn't been updating in general. The last thing I want to be is the cliche blog writer who starts every post with "I can't believe how long it's been since I wrote my last post", so you'll be seeing more regular updates from me in the coming weeks...things will be getting back to normal.

You'll be hearing a lot about my Vegas trip, along with some pictures; you'll definitely get a tribute to my 2010 NCAA Champion Duke Blue Devils; it's been a really fun time with Lucas lately; so there's a lot to write about.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm really enjoying writing the TV recaps, which has evolved over the past 18 months from "Random Thoughts" to the form they take now. I'm especially enjoying writing on Lost, and the response it has been getting. For years I've been reading at DarkUFO for all of my Lost-related interests, and when I started writing my own recaps, it was suggested to me that I submit them to DarkUFO.

I didn't really think that my stuff was the caliber of what DarkUFO readers are used to in terms of recaps, but one of my friends (and regular readers) pressed me to just send it in. And when I did, and it was published, the response has been a little overwhelming (but in a good way). Now, only a few short weeks later, I'm seeing my name listed alongside what I feel are the top Lost recappers in the world (Erika Olsen, Vozzek, and Robz888), and it's a little humbling, to say the least.

So, thanks to Mark M. for pushing me to send my recap in, thanks to DarkUFO for publishing them, and giving me this unbelievable new audience, and thanks to the astounding number of new readers over the past few weeks. I'm glad you found my little hole in the universe, and I hope I can keep you coming back for more.

Now, with that little pre-amble out of the way, let's go old-school on some Random Thoughts:

- You may have noticed a slight change in my posts. Instead of just the date in the title of the posts, I've been including a Title Line as well. This should make things easier for you to find on the sidebar instead of just searching the tags. I hope it helps.

- The OHL playoffs have been pretty awesome if you're a Kitchener Rangers fan. Lucas had a chance to go to Game 2 of the Western Final last night against Windsor, and got a game puck given to him, which he was very excited about. For all of those people out there who insisted that this was going to be a Windsor sweep, the Rangers sure are opening a lot of eyes with a 2-0 series lead.

- Roll Up The Rim is winding down, and for those of you wondering what my stats were like this year after starting 0-for-43 last year (detailed in an earlier post), the final numbers for 2010 are 8-for-51. Much better.

- An angry and vindictive bully tried to use his intimidation tactics on me earlier this weekend, and when I didn't back down from him, he embarrassingly stumbled all over his words, muttering and searching for a verbal insult to use. The best he could come up with was, "Go write a blog!", which was pretty laughable. I find the only way to handle a malicious bully is to not allow their scare tactics to intimidate you. Then they invariably become like a whiny child throwing a tantrum, like that kid that "took his ball and went home" when he didn't get what he wanted.

- HPA is winding down after 11 months, and it's not looking like I'm going to repeat as league champion in Season 4. There's still an outside shot if I win next month, but I also need the top 4 players to have a bad showing. Stranger things have happened, but it's not looking good. Regardless, it's been another fun season, as always. Whether I win the trip to Vegas or not, I imagine I'll join the boys there for the WSOP to cheer them on and maybe play an event.

That's it for now...looking forward to getting back to normal in the next week or so. And as always, thanks for reading!

April 7, 2010: Goodbye Las Vegas

So, I'm sitting here in McCarron Airport in Las Vegas, looking out at our plane, and the mountains off in the distance. We'll be boarding in about an hour or so and heading home. It's been a fantastic trip, to say the least, and you can expect to hear a fair bit about it in the coming week or so.

Tonight when we get home, I'll be watching last night's episode of Lost, and trying to get my recvap up as soon as possible. For all of those new readers out there that have found their way here from DarkUFO--first of all, Welcome!--and I'm sorry to keep you waiting on my recap, but Vegas with your girlfriend vs. one episode of Lost is a pretty easy decision.

I'll also have to catch up on Survivor and Amazing Race, and while there will be no full recaps, I will still compile my thoughts into one post. PLUS you can expect to hear a lot about the 201o NCAA Champion Duke Blue Devils! Woo-hoo!

I'll be home soon...

March 29, 2010

Off To The Final Four. Duke Beats Butler to win the South Regional.
(18 years to the day after the Christian Laettner shot to beat Kentucky in the Regional Final.)

March 7, 2010

Duke 82 - North Carolina 50 = Happy Birthday Sean.

March 1, 2010

Now that the Olympics are over, it's time to re-focus on NCAA Basketball in preparation for March Madness. There are few things that make me as happy as the current ACC Standings.

November 24, 2009

I was announcing a basketball game at the University of Guelph on the weekend, and I was having a conversation with one of the students who works at the scorer’s table. Jon is a very pleasant young man who generally works the 24-second clock during Gryphons games, and is clearly a big basketball fan. He and I were discussing NCAA Basketball and the topic of my beloved Duke Blue Devils. Jon said to me that “Duke only recruits white guys,” and I took umbrage with that statement.

Now, let me preface this rant by saying that I don’t want this post (or this blog) to turn into a place for racial commentary, but I felt I had to defend this point once I heard it from Jon. This is about correcting Jon on the facts, not about the merits of black basketball players vs. white basketball players.

Now, back to the point. It’s a common criticism to accuse Duke of anything and everything under the sun (Bring it on Tar Heels fans!), but at least get the facts straight. My initial response was to point out that some of the best players in Duke basketball history--Grant Hill, Jason Williams, Elton Brand, Shane Battier, Johnny Dawkins—are black. And so many other big names within the program as well…players like Corey Maggette, Chris Duhon, Carlos Boozer, Luol Deng, Tommy Amaker, Chris Carrawell, William Avery, Antonio Lang, Gerald Henderson, and Shelden Williams.

Now, I’ll give you that it doesn’t get much “whiter” than Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, Mike Dunleavy Jr., and J.J. Redick, but it’s absurd to say that this team recruits only white players. And it’s insulting to even suggest that a world-renowned coach like Mike Krzyzewski would ever consider such a ridiculous practice.
Let’s take a look at the roster on the 2001 Duke Blue Devils, which is the last Duke team to win the National Championship. On this roster of 16 players, over 50% of them were black (9). On top of that, eight of the top nine players (Jason Williams, Shane Battier, Chris Duhon, Carlos Boozer, Dahntay Jones, Nate James, Casey Sanders, and Reggie Love) and 80% of the starting five were black.

I’m sending Jon a link to this post, and I’ll be interested to hear his response. Comments are open, but please keep it on topic.

October 15, 2009

If you’re a regular reader of the blog, you’ll know that I’m a huge fan of NCAA basketball, and specifically the Duke Blue Devils. I was a fan back in 1991 and 1992 when they won their back-to-back NCAA Championships, through the lean years of bottom-dwelling in the ACC when Coach Krzyzewski had his back surgery, through to the Championship in 2001, and to today. In 2001, I actually went to the NCAA Tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina, and got to see Duke play their first and second round games on their way to the 2001 National Championship.

Back in 1992, Duke played what is generally considered to be the greatest college basketball game in history, and if you’re not familiar with it, you’ll need to know it as background for this story, so allow me to recap what happened. In the East Regional Final, with the winner going to the Final Four, the #1 seed Duke was playing the #2 seed Kentucky. The game was awesome, and appropriately, it went into overtime, where the teams kept trading the lead going into the final minute. With Duke leading 102-101 and the final seconds ticking away, Kentucky scored on a layup to take the lead 103-102 with only 2.1 seconds left on the clock. Duke called a time out and set up their play. They were going to have to go the entire length of the court and score to win the game, which is virtually impossible with only 2.1 seconds left. The only real option is to throw a long inbound pass nearly the entire length of the court, which would have to be right on the money, and THEN still score. So it was looking bleak. Keep in mind that Duke was the defending NCAA champion, and had a 34-2 record, and it all boiled down to this play. If they don’t score, they’re out.

Duke came out of the timeout and set up the play. Christian Laettner was obviously going to get the ball, he was the top player in college basketball, and in this game he was an astounding 9-for-9 from the field and 10-for-10 from the free throw line. He hadn’t missed a single shot…I still can barely believe that when I say it. He set up on the foul line, guarded on each side by Kentucky’s 2 biggest players. Grant Hill, who was a rookie at the time, was at the other end of the court as the inbounder. When the referee handed him the ball, he threw a perfect pass over 80 feet into the double team and directly into Laettner’s hands, who turned, dribbled once and put the shot up as the buzzer sounded…and it went in! I get goosebumps just talking about it.












Here’s a clip of the end of the game, sorry about the poor quality, but it’s the best that is available. It was 17 years ago, after all.

So, now that you know all of that, let’s fast forward to 2007. Duke was a #5 seed in the NCAA tournament and they were scheduled to play Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in a first round game to be played in Buffalo, NY. I took the day off of work and headed to Buffalo alone because there was no way I was going to miss a Duke game when they were playing so close, especially in the NCAA Tournament. So I went down for the day and bought a single ticket off of a scalper and went in for the games. Duke vs VCU was the second game of the session, and it was a fantastic game, a back-and-forth battle between the #5 and #12 seeds, and the crowd could sense an upset. Everyone loves an upset if you have no affiliation to either team.
Heading into the final seconds, VCU had the ball and their hot hand was Erick Maynor, who had been hitting big shots for the entire game. He dribbled in and put up a shot that went in and gave VCU the lead with only 1.8 seconds left. Duke called a time out.

Sound familiar?

So, as Duke is in the time out, I say to the guy beside me (who I had been chatting with throughout the game), “Oh my God, this is the Laettner play. This exactly the same!” And then, you could hear the murmurs in the crowd as everybody realized the same thing…it was very surreal watching and hearing it without being able to explain what exactly was happening. Then, as if the scoreboard operator knew what we all knew, the giant screen above the court showed a picture of Christian Laettner…who was in the seats a few rows behind the Duke bench. Are you kidding me? He’s here? He’s just a few sections away from me?! The crowd went nuts since he’s from Angola, just outside of Buffalo.

Well, as much as I’d love to tell you that Duke made a spectacular play to win the game in the same fashion, unfortunately it wasn’t to be, and their last-second attempt missed, eliminating them from the NCAA Tournament in the first round. But the second that final buzzer sounded, I took off like a bullet out of my section and raced towards the section behind the Duke bench. I got there as people were filing out of the stands, and I tried to make my way down the stairs towards the bench. With everyone heading out, and me heading down, it was like a salmon fighting against the current to swim upstream, but I eventually found my way down to his row, which had emptied except for him. He was standing there talking to J.J. Redick’s parents, and he had his back to me about 8 seats into the row.

I walked into the row and up behind him just as he was finishing up his conversation. He turned around just as I got to him, and was slightly startled to see someone there, naturally. I said to him, “I know it’s not the greatest moment right now with the team losing, but I saw you here and had to come over and say hello. I don’t need an autograph or a picture, but I really enjoyed watching you play, and you’re essentially the reason I’m a Duke fan. I just wanted to shake your hand and say thanks.” He looked kind of stunned at first, and then smiled and said, “Oh man, that’s so cool. Everybody always wants something!” And then he gave me the half-handshake, half-hug, and said, “Thanks for coming over to tell me that, I really appreciate it.”

Laugh at me if you must, but I was like a giddy little kid, it was great moment. I head off on a solo day trip, and get to meet one of my favourite players of all-time, and a huge reason why I’m a Duke fan. I hardly even cared that Duke lost the game.

That’s a pretty good day if you ask me.

March 22, 2009

- Close calls yesterday for both Duke and UNC, but they both survived. I'm concerned about Thursday's game vs. Villanova, but if they win that one, I'm pretty sure they're going to the Final Four.
- Seriously, Tim Micallef and Sherman Hamilton need to SHUT UP when the games are on...it's driving me nuts hearing them yammering away about NOTHING instead of being able to hear the play-by-play. And last night, Sherman Hamilton referred to the Duke head coach as "Mike Kruh-shen-sky". I kid you not. Outrageous...
- Lucas isn't feeling well, he's getting a cold and and had a fever..so a perfect day to lounge on the couch and watch basketball. Poor little guy. I hope he's better for school tomorrow.
- I've really been enjoying a show I've been watching on Food Network called Chef School. I think I mentioned it before, but it really is a fantastic show, based right here in Ontario. I can't recommend it highly enough.

March 21, 2009

- First Day of Spring...here's to some warmer temperatures and spending time outside with Lucas this summer. Looking forward to it!
- Last night's NCAA games were great. I can't remember the last time that the night ended with two simultaneous overtime games. It was stressful switching between the two of them, especially when the Siena-Ohio State game went into Double Overtime. So what if my brackets got totally screwed by Wake Forest and FSU losing...it was a great night of basketball. My only pet peeve is with regards to the coverage on The Score. I love that they switch back and forth between games, but Tim Micallef and Sherman Hamilton have to STOP TALKING over the feed when they do. Let the CBS announcers do their job, we don't need a score update and analysis when you've only been away from the game for 30 seconds.
- The Duke-Texas game tonight in the 2nd round is in Greensboro, where I went to see Duke play in the 2001 NCAA Tournament when they won it all. Lucas was excited to hear that he was actually there in his mom's tummy when we went to the games.
- Colin showed me a great comic. Enjoy.

March 20, 2009

- It's NCAA Tournament time and I'm loving it. Too bad that Duke didn't get seeded in Philadelphia or Dayton, or I would have made the trip to see the first two rounds, but if they make it to the Final Four in Detroit, I think I'm going to have to fork out some pretty serious cash, because there is NO way I'm going to miss that. I'm 14-2 after Day One in my bracket pool, and if VCU hits that shot at the buzzer vs. UCLA, I would have been 15-1. It was very deja vu watching VCU's Erick Maynor with a shot in the closing seconds to upset a higher seed in the first round. Why couldn't he have missed that shot 2 years ago against Duke in Buffalo?
- Last week at this time, I had the opportunity to see the Foo Fighters twice in one week. See the post below for a clip from one of the shows, and there will be another one on Saturday. My friend Phil just made me a great T-Shirt that reads "Kurt Plus Shotgun Equals Foo Fighters." Love it!
- Lucas has been enjoying his March Break Hockey Camp, but the little man has been axhausted at the end of the day.
- We went to the OUA Women's Hockey Championship last weekend, and it was so much fun. The game was fantastic, and Lucas won Chuck-A-Puck at the intermission when his puck was the closest to centre ice. He won a really nice Wilson bag and planner, which he has been taking to Camp all week.
- Another win at WNP this week....running good right now in the tournaments. Let's hope it keeps up until the WSOP in June.
- Impressive to see Carleton win another CIS championship. I'll look back on this past 7 years as a pretty historic run when I'm older. Lucas and I watched some games on the weekend, and while we were watching Ottawa vs. Western, the announcer kept referring to Ottawa as the Gee Gees (which is their team name, of course), but at one point, Lucas turned to me and said, "Dad, the Kijiji's need to make a big comeback if they're going to win." Too funny!
- Final thoughts will be on this week's episode of Lost, so on that note:

JENN STOP READING

- I enoyed this episode, even if the overall perception of it was that it is a gap-bridger to set up the end of the season. I liked how they blended things together to get everybody on track. I was a tad disappointed that the baby 'only' ended up being Ethan, but it was weird to see Juliet delivering the man who recruited her to the Island. Sun cracking Ben on the head with the oar was great. And how awesome was Frank, landing that plane on Hydra Island...on the runway that Kate and Sawyer were helping to build in Season 3. More proof that Damon and Carlton knew all along what they were doing. I have to say, the scene with Christian Shephard was majorly creepy. And there's a screencap out there that shows a figure behind Sun when he's talking to her, that looks like it might be a blond woman. Could it be Claire? Take a look here and see what you think.

March 8, 2009

- Well, I couldn't be more thrilled to have won the HPA event last night. The script was perfect, to win for the third time this season...and on my birthday, no less...to lock up one of the top spots. It was a great night, and I had a couple of key hands, including one against Dick where I took down a lot of chips to take the lead...and a great heads-up match with Steve W. He had me outchipped at the start, and in the first few hands, took a LOT of my chips to bring me down under 100K. It was very confusing having never played him before...I was trying to adjust and not doing a very good job at all...I thought he was going to destroy me after that first few hands. But a quick double up brought us to about even in chips again, and then after I took a slight lead, on hand #22, this hand came up.

I have 79 offsuit, blinds are capped at 5,000/10,000.

Flop is K85. We both check.
Turn is 6, I have made the nut straight. He checks and I check behind.
River is an ace. He checks, and I overbet 31K into a 20K pot.
He raises to 75K. I think for a while, mumble something about him maybe making two pair, then go all-in...he instantly calls and turns over 47 offsuit for the smaller straight and my higher straight wins.

Steve played great and I enjoyed our heads-up match.

- It was brought to my attention by one of my friends (named Jenn) last night that I never specified which Jenn it is that is supposed to stop reading on my Lost ramblings. Well, to all the other Jenns that visit here, it's not you...read away. And to Jenn K., who mentioned this last night, I feel your pain with the beats you've been taking at HPA. You've been playing great and deserve better.

- Someone emailed me to tell me that all of my 2009 posts have had 2008 in the date. Duh...not sure how I didn't notice that. They should be changed by the time you read this.

- Lucas and I watched the Duke-UNC game this afternoon. Even though Duke lost, it was a great game. Is there anything I enjoy more than watching that game with my son? I think not. What a fantastic afternoon!

- Had a couple of good sessions recently at Brantford. I lucked into a good rotation of dealers the last couple of trips...thanks to Tyler, Sean, and Chad for some good times. And March Moustache Madness rocks!

- Just a reminder that comments are open, so please feel free to post!

March 5, 2009

I’m going to start off talking about Lost this week, so on that note:

JENN STOP READING

- Great episode last night. I generally don’t like the Sawyer-centric episodes because I’ve never really been a fan of his character, especially the last season-and-a-half where he basically became a wisecracking guy who just carried a gun and didn’t really do anything else. Kind of like a more mobile Jerry Orbach on Law & Order. But this was a good development to see what happened in the 3 years since John left and The Losties infiltrated the Dharma Initiative. I really like the Sawyer and Juliet couple, and I read a theory today about Horace being Jacob, which I could see making sense based on the cabin he was building in the forest in a past episode. I’ll be interested to find out who the baby is in the next episode. It was VERY exciting to see a shot (albeit brief and from behind) of the statue, which launched a whole new series of Egyptian theories related to the Island’s mythology. I’d love to post the pic of the statue, but since some people haven’t seen it yet, I won’t. The scene with Sawyer and Alpert was great, and the ‘eyeliner’ line made me laugh out loud. I can officially state now that this is my favourite season of Lost. Here is the link for this week’s Totally Lost video. As usual, I highly recommend it…and there’s a great scene at the end with Doc Jensen’s kids.

JENN YOU CAN CONTINUE READING NOW

- Duke vs. UNC this weekend, final game of the ACC Season. Going to be huge, as usual, heading into the ACC Tournament and NCAA Tournament afterwards. I love that the last game of the season is always around my birthday, it always makes for a fun little birthday present to see the biggest game of the year. Someday hopefully I’ll actually be able to see the game live, because (to quote Tina Fey), “I want to go to there.”

- Yes, it’s my birthday on Saturday, and that’s the day we’re having the 10^th HPA event of the year. Seems like a good script. Only 3 events left and I’m narrowly in the lead ahead of Tony and Steve. I need to stay ahead of those two guys, but the goal this weekend is to win outright. Another 1^st place finish would pretty much seal the deal of finishing in the top 2.

- I watched a couple of episodes of Jimmy Fallon’s new show, and it’s not bad, but it seemed pretty obviously scripted during the first few interviews. I’m sure he’ll settle into it, but I much prefer Craig Ferguson.

- Lucas had a class play at school today, and it was great to see my little man performing on stage!

- I just found out yesterday that a good friend of mine is having some health issues, and it kind of floored me. My thoughts are with you, and I'll be sending all of my positive energy your way.

February 13, 2009

A few other things before I ramble on endlessly about TV shows...

- UNC beat Duke at home on Wednesday night, how embarrassing. But at least to keep the night a positive experience, Lost was great (more on that later), and I won the WNP event for the second week in a row.
- I like that they've introduced H-O-R-S-E as part of the NBA All-Star Weekend, but I can't believe they're actually spelling G-E-I-C-O instead. Too funny.
- Keeping with basketball, GREAT trade for the Raptors today. Shawn Marion will be a better fit for them than Jermaine O'Neal.
- Since WHFS2 isn't streaming online anymore, I've been looking for a new internet radio station, and I've finally found one. It's called 92.3 and it's from Cleveland...it's actually pretty close to WHFS2, progran. Here's a link in case you want to listen along with me. Radio 92.3
- I was in Guelph last night shooting 3 stories for our basketball broadcast this weekend. I'm really happy with them and they should be shown on First Local as well next week. Tune in tomorrow (Saturday) on Rogers at 1 pm for the McMaster-Guelph games live, and you'll get to see all three of them.
- Ok, on to my random TV ramblings, and Lost will be first, so...

JENN STOP READING

- Lost blew my fricking mind this week. After a semi-slow episode last week, this one was great. The time jumping with Jin and the French crew was awesome, and answered some questions (but not all) about Smokey and the Temple, and why Rousseau was so bat-shit insane. Miles is being wasted thus far, so I hope they find more for him to do, and even though I saw it coming weeks ago, I'm disappointed that they killed off Charlotte. Although here reveal of Daniel being 'the crazy guy' who warned her not to come back was more than a tad creepy. But not nearly as creepy as Christian appearing to John down by the return of....wait for it....The FROZEN DONKEY WHEEL! (Best. Name. Ever.) Great episode, can't wait for next week.
- I've also added DarkUfo's site to the link on the sidebar. It's a perfect source for all things Lost.

JENN, YOU CAN CONTINUE READING NOW

- Top Chef was really enjoyable this week as well, although the last 3 eliminations have been so ridiculously predictable based on the contestants, you didn't even really have to have the challenges. Weeks ago, you could tell this was going to be the final four. Carla started off this season as a bit annoying, but she really grew on me, and part of me is rooting for her because she's become very likable. Stefan is a great chef, but annoyingly arrogant. I like Hosea, but don't really care if he wins or not. And I'm hoping Fabio wins because he is great...and his broken-English lines are the funniest thing on TV. My favourite Fabio lines from last night (verbatim, so you have to picture in a thick Italian accent):

(after he BROKE HIS FINGER in the kitchen and still kept cooking in the challenge--which he won--and someone suggested he should go to the Hospital)
"Hospital? I'll chop it off and sear it on the flat-top so it doesn't bleed anymore, and tomorrow, I will deal with nine finger."

(dealing with a finger splint while cooking)
"I got so many kick in my ass that sometime when I'm in the bathroom I still poop shoe out of my ass."

"It's Top Chef. Not Top Pussy."
(Which I still don't think is as funny as his comment on Jamie always cooking scallops: "It's Top Chef. Not Top F*cking Scallop.")

Now, while I still maintain that I do like Carla, I had to laugh at the comment made by Entertainment Weekly's Kate Ward, who stated that Carla's Green Eggs and Ham dish was "fitting, considering Carla looks like she was plucked right out of Whoville." I wasn't sure I agreed with her...until I saw this picture:



Yikes.

- On to Survivor, which premiered a new season last night. Not a lot to state just yet since I don't know much about the players yet, but off the top of my head: Sandy is crazy, Coach's mullet-rocker-head is fantastic, Jeff Probst is sneaky, who on earth doesn't know what 'ten paces' means, and why would you grab watermelons instead of WATER!? A couple of tidbits of recommended reading and viewing for you: Jeff Probst's blog, which he writes after every episode, and the EW.com video show Survivor Talk, which is hosted by Dalton Ross and the funniest man on the planet, Josh Wolk. I'll put the links up each Friday.

- Speaking of Josh Wolk, I will also add a link to his own blog, which is required reading if your sense of humour is even remotely close to mine (I'm talking to you, Salvatore! Don't make me get out the Scrabble dictionary again!). This Sunday is the premiere of a new season of The Amazing Race. Great, another TV show for me to talk about. (rolls eyes) Josh Wolk does the EW.com recap every Monday, and it is laugh-out-loud funny, every single time.

(Honestly, I'm not employed by Entertainment Weekly. This is starting to sound like a commercial for their site.)

- 30 Rock was great this week too, but I don't have anything to say other than the awesome scene of the door blowing open..."Too Soon!"

Until next time, party people...

February 10, 2009

- Ok, I'm pretty much done with Heroes. I'm just not into this new Fugitives arc. The characters are acting out of character, and frankly, just stupid. The writing is horrible, everybody over-acts, and I realized I don't really care what happens to any of them.
- Lucas and I have been watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy the last couple of nights. I figured he was old enough to deal with some of the scary parts, and he's been fine. We're halfway through the second one, and he is just LOVING them.
- I was flipping around the Grammys the other night and saw Kate Beckinsale come out to introduce someone, so since I'm kind of in love with her, I stuck around to see who it was, and lo and behold...it was Paul McCartney (yawn)...performing with Dave Grohl! (Woo-hoo!) Speaking of Dave Grohl, for anyone who didn't click the SNL video I put up 2 days ago on my last post, I would highly recommend you watch it, Dave makes an appearance around the 1:00 mark.
- I had a craving for wonton soup the other night, so instead of heading out to buy some, I made my own broth and homemade wontons....soooo good.
- I'm really enjoying the new season of Scrubs. The music has been fantastic, as it always has been, the closing songs are always perfect to fit the mood and tone of the episode. Ted's new girlfriend, The Gooch, is great (not to be confused with The Gooch, the bully from Diff'rent Strokes), and Jimmy The Overly Touch Orderly makes me laugh every time he shows up.
- HPA didn't go exactly as planned the other night, but I still came 6th. And I'm back in first place overall with only 3 events left. However, I'm only a half point ahead of Tony, and only 3 points ahead of Steve (588.5, 588.0, and 585.5). Gonna be a tight race coming down to these last 3 months. Congratulations to Tony on a very impressive win.
- We're hosting a charity poker tournament next Thursday the 19th with the proceeds going to support the Waterloo Arts Festival. There are some great prizes, so anyone who is interested in playing, send me an email and I can send you details and register you.
- Duke vs. UNC tomorrow night, and I'm going to be out. I can't even tape it since I have to tape Lost. (Not sure if you noticed, I'm a bit of a Lost junkie.) Those of you who know me well, know that there isn't much that I would miss taping a Duke-UNC game for...but I guess Lost is on that list.
- Here's a funny link for you. I haven't watched the whole thing yet, but it is a compilation of EVERY curse word from the entire six-season run of The Sopranos, in chronological orders. Warning, it is 27 minutes long, and most definitely NSFW. (duh!). Check it out here.

February 1, 2009

I can't possibly give a month's worth of 'random thoughts' in one post, so I'll just go with what's been happening lately and take it from there.

- First and foremost (and for all those new readers, get used to my TV geek-dom if you plan on coming regularly), The fifth season of Lost is absolutely blowing my mind. And we're only three episodes in! When Richard said 'Put your gun down, Widmore.' in the last episode, I was shocked. And I'm thinking that Elly has to be Mrs. Hawking. I hope the shot of Sawyer's bloody foot is just a red herring to attach it to the concept of the four-toed statue. As I was recommending the Jeff Probst blog during Survivor, if you enjoy reading recaps of the show, make sure to read the following:

Doc Jensen at www.ew.com
The Lost Diary at www.thelostdiary.com
Erika's recaps at www.longlivelocke.blogspot.com

(I'll put links to the last two on the sidebar before Thursday so you can link to them right from here)
I'd be happy to talk Lost anytime, feel free to email me, but I'm not reading any spoilers. I'm enjoying the surprises too much.
- Are the Arizona Cardinals really in the Super Bowl? Really????
- I might be going to Manitoba for two weeks in March. Why, you ask? More info to come in the future...
- Lucas and I have been having a blast playing Rock Band and Rock Band 2. We started a World Tour with our band, The Furfys (of course!) and now have just over half a million fans, bought a plane, and played our first gigs in Europe!
- Lucas finally lost his front tooth on the top. It had been loose forever.
- Duke finally made it to #1 this season, and then lost to Wake Forest last week with 0.8 seconds left in the game. ARGH!
- At the Gryphons game last week, during warmups there was this guy in the stands dancing along to the music, and it was hilarious. Ryan from the scorer's table took some video on his iPhone, I need to find out if there's a way to post it on here...soooo funny.
- I'm enjoying CSI with Laurence Fishburne so far, and I'm glad they didn't bring him in as the leader of the lab. Although last week's episodes that had the CSI's working with 'the FBI', who ended up actually being criminals from a mental institution, I had to think to myself "That never would have happened under Grissom's watch."
- The University of Guelph did a profile of me as the new "Voice of the Gryphons" this year. Here's a link if you're interested. It's worth it for no other reason than the 'deer in the headlights' picture.
- Comments are open....feel free to leave one if you're a new reader.