SWEET SIXTEEN PICKS
Thursday:
Xavier over West Virginia
UNC over Washington State
UCLA over Western Kentucky
Tennessee over Louisville
Bad night for schools starting W
Friday:
Wisconsin over Davidson :(
Stanford over Texas
Kansas over Villanova
Memphis over Michigan State
THAT'S ALL
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
I win!
So I did a little better with my Easter predictions, correct picks in bold...
Villanova over Siena
Texas over Miami
Tennessee over Butler
WKU over San Diego
Davidson over Georgetown (Upset Special!!!)
Memphis over Mississippi State
Louisville over Oklahoma
UNC over Arkansas
100% correct! Which sorta makes up for yesterday's dismal performance. I'll be making the rest of my picks a little later in the week. Now America's Sweetheart Stephen Curry just has to beat those God-forsaken Wisconsin Badgers and all will be right with the world. Of course, this will never happen now that I'm rooting for Davidson. They'll lose to Wisconsin just like State did in Hodge's senior year. I will always hate them.
I woke up at like 4PM last night so I just stayed up and did homework and worked out my playlist for the radio station today; I'm pulling a double shift for the guy who goes on before me. Lots of fun. It took me like two hours to get a decent list worked out, so I hope people actually like it.
SURVEY OF THE DAY: WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE STREET FIGHTER 2 CHARACTER???
Mine would have to be Guile.
GO HOME AND BE A FAMILY MAN!
Villanova over Siena
Texas over Miami
Tennessee over Butler
WKU over San Diego
Davidson over Georgetown (Upset Special!!!)
Memphis over Mississippi State
Louisville over Oklahoma
UNC over Arkansas
100% correct! Which sorta makes up for yesterday's dismal performance. I'll be making the rest of my picks a little later in the week. Now America's Sweetheart Stephen Curry just has to beat those God-forsaken Wisconsin Badgers and all will be right with the world. Of course, this will never happen now that I'm rooting for Davidson. They'll lose to Wisconsin just like State did in Hodge's senior year. I will always hate them.
I woke up at like 4PM last night so I just stayed up and did homework and worked out my playlist for the radio station today; I'm pulling a double shift for the guy who goes on before me. Lots of fun. It took me like two hours to get a decent list worked out, so I hope people actually like it.
SURVEY OF THE DAY: WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE STREET FIGHTER 2 CHARACTER???
Mine would have to be Guile.
GO HOME AND BE A FAMILY MAN!END OF BLOG POST
Sunday, March 23, 2008
The Upset Special!!! Happy Easter!
This is going to be painful, but let's look at my predictions for today's first round of hot hot NCAA Tournament action (correct picks in bold):
Duke over West Virginia
Kansas State over Wisconsin
Xavier over Purdue
Notre Dame over Washington State
Stanford over Marquette
Kansas over UNLV
Pitt over Michigan State
UCLA over Texas A&M
Only 4/8 on those, and Stanford and UCLA were trying mighty hard to make me wrong on their games as well. A pretty miserable record indeed, if I do say so. But tomorrow is a new day! So here's what I've got for tomorrow:
Villanova over Siena
Texas over Miami
Tennessee over Butler
WKU over San Diego
Davidson over Georgetown (Upset Special!!!)
Memphis over Mississippi State
Louisville over Oklahoma
UNC over Arkansas
I don't really believe in the Davidson pick but I hate to call for the favored team to win in every game. That said, it'd be cool to see them win!
---
Anyway, tomorrow (technically today) is Easter! A holiday that started out being about the rebirth of Jesus and somehow shifted to focus on chocolate rabbits that lay eggs and weird shiny fake grass in pastel-colored baskets! I'm hyped up!
My pick for best new (technically re-released, I guess) Easter candy this year is Orange Creme Hershey's Kisses. They're white chocolate with a pleasingly orange creamsicle swirl and they taste and smell surprisingly strongly of oranges. They're really sweet and you can't eat many at a time but maybe that's a good thing if you are predisposed to weight gain from eating candy! The texture is a little off-putting though; it doesn't have a smooth mouth feel like most Hershey's chocolate and kinda clings to your teeth like congealed vegetable oil. But if you can get around that, they're a nice little treat!
ACTUAL PRODUCT DOES NOT LOOK THIS JAUNDICED
---
THE DEPARTMENT OF TERRIFYING VIDEOS
This is the section where I will post Youtube videos that are unsettling in one or more ways!
#1 The Dancing Tongue Pig
Apparently this is from a 1907 film and it doesn't really get weird (relatively speaking) until the very end, when the giant dancing pig reveals his giant tongue and fangs. If you start watching this video, I require you to watch until the end! The music is awesome, though. I want an MP3 of it.
The pig reminds me of Bust Rod, the giant frog from the film "Forbidden Zone." He can be seen briefly in this trailer:
#2 It's Raining McCain
There are more terrible things than I can count about this video. It features John McCain's three youngest supporters doing a spirited reinterpretation of "It's Raining Men" about their favorite senile George W. Bush lapdog. I love how the white grandma lady's sweatshirt is close enough to the color of the greenscreen that her torso eerily fades in and out of existence at about a minute in. Not to mention the grandma lady's terrifying cougar faces throughout the whole video. Or the big black sumo woman splashing tiny John McCain bodies all over her face at 1:58.
Ugh.
THIS FACE WILL HAUNT YOUR DREAMS
Actually I guess that's really all I have right now. But that's more than enough terror for one blog post anyway. Check back tomorrow to ridicule my insane NCAA tournament prediction failings!
END OF BLOG POST
Duke over West Virginia
Kansas State over Wisconsin
Xavier over Purdue
Notre Dame over Washington State
Stanford over Marquette
Kansas over UNLV
Pitt over Michigan State
UCLA over Texas A&M
Only 4/8 on those, and Stanford and UCLA were trying mighty hard to make me wrong on their games as well. A pretty miserable record indeed, if I do say so. But tomorrow is a new day! So here's what I've got for tomorrow:
Villanova over Siena
Texas over Miami
Tennessee over Butler
WKU over San Diego
Davidson over Georgetown (Upset Special!!!)
Memphis over Mississippi State
Louisville over Oklahoma
UNC over Arkansas
I don't really believe in the Davidson pick but I hate to call for the favored team to win in every game. That said, it'd be cool to see them win!
---
Anyway, tomorrow (technically today) is Easter! A holiday that started out being about the rebirth of Jesus and somehow shifted to focus on chocolate rabbits that lay eggs and weird shiny fake grass in pastel-colored baskets! I'm hyped up!
My pick for best new (technically re-released, I guess) Easter candy this year is Orange Creme Hershey's Kisses. They're white chocolate with a pleasingly orange creamsicle swirl and they taste and smell surprisingly strongly of oranges. They're really sweet and you can't eat many at a time but maybe that's a good thing if you are predisposed to weight gain from eating candy! The texture is a little off-putting though; it doesn't have a smooth mouth feel like most Hershey's chocolate and kinda clings to your teeth like congealed vegetable oil. But if you can get around that, they're a nice little treat!
ACTUAL PRODUCT DOES NOT LOOK THIS JAUNDICED---
THE DEPARTMENT OF TERRIFYING VIDEOS
This is the section where I will post Youtube videos that are unsettling in one or more ways!
#1 The Dancing Tongue Pig
Apparently this is from a 1907 film and it doesn't really get weird (relatively speaking) until the very end, when the giant dancing pig reveals his giant tongue and fangs. If you start watching this video, I require you to watch until the end! The music is awesome, though. I want an MP3 of it.
The pig reminds me of Bust Rod, the giant frog from the film "Forbidden Zone." He can be seen briefly in this trailer:
#2 It's Raining McCain
There are more terrible things than I can count about this video. It features John McCain's three youngest supporters doing a spirited reinterpretation of "It's Raining Men" about their favorite senile George W. Bush lapdog. I love how the white grandma lady's sweatshirt is close enough to the color of the greenscreen that her torso eerily fades in and out of existence at about a minute in. Not to mention the grandma lady's terrifying cougar faces throughout the whole video. Or the big black sumo woman splashing tiny John McCain bodies all over her face at 1:58.
Ugh.
THIS FACE WILL HAUNT YOUR DREAMSActually I guess that's really all I have right now. But that's more than enough terror for one blog post anyway. Check back tomorrow to ridicule my insane NCAA tournament prediction failings!
END OF BLOG POST
Saturday, March 22, 2008
I already got beaten in the tournament
Alright, so here are my predictions from yesterday after a day in which three teams that lost to NC State advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament. Correct predictions in bold:
Tennessee over American
Davidson over Gonzaga (Upset special!!!)
Miami over Saint Mary's
Drake over Western Kentucky
Butler over South Alabama
Georgetown over UMBC
Texas over Austin Peay
UCONN over San Diego
UNC over Mount St. Mary's
St. Joseph's over Oklahoma (Upset special!!!)
Vanderbilt over Siena
Oregon over Mississippi State
Indiana over Arkansas
Louisville over Boise State
Villanova over Clemson (Upset special!!!)
Memphis over Texas-Arlington
That's a grand total of 10/16, or .625. Terrible for a single day of the first round. Then again, it's pretty incredible that both of the 12 seeds and both of the 13 seeds won. I wonder if that's ever happened before. Apparently 51 people in the ESPN tournament challenge are 100% right so far which is also pretty amazing given the circumstances. Vegas Watch says the odds of going 64/64 with your tournament picks are "One in around 7.2 trillion. Ouch. If you did this 300 million times, there's a 1 in 23,924 chance that you'd go 64/64 in one. If you did it 6 billion times, it's 1 in 1,197."
Anyhow, the UCONN and WKU games were both particularly exciting, so hopefully that will create some more good matchups on Sunday. But for now here are my picks for tomorrow's matchups:
Duke over West Virginia
Kansas State over Wisconsin (Upset Special!!! Also I hate the Badgers with a passion!)
Xavier over Purdue
Notre Dame over Washington State (Upset Special!!!)
Stanford over Marquette
Kansas over UNLV
Pitt over Michigan State
UCLA over Texas A&M
---
Here's something I heard today that I want to share but I know nobody else will actually listen to: The Most Unwanted Song. In 1996, Dave Soldier and Komar & Melamid undertook a project to try and quantify music to create both the most desired and the most undesired songs in the world, based on polling about what kind of genres, lyrics, instrumentation, and similar things that people liked and disliked.
The Most Wanted Song is a pretty boring pop song you could hear on any adult contemporary station, but The Most Unwanted Song is quite the adventure. It starts off with a harmonica/harp cowboy-style intro and segues into an opera singer rapping over tuba beats. It has accordions and bagpipes and childrens' choirs singing about holidays and telling you to "do all your shopping at Wal-Mart!" It's 22 minutes of some of the most incredible sounds you will ever hear. You can listen to it here:
And if you liked it that much, download it here. God how I'd love to play this on WKNC.
"Ramadan, Ramadan, lots of praying with no breakfast!"
END OF BLOG POST
Tennessee over American
Davidson over Gonzaga (Upset special!!!)
Miami over Saint Mary's
Drake over Western Kentucky
Butler over South Alabama
Georgetown over UMBC
Texas over Austin Peay
UCONN over San Diego
UNC over Mount St. Mary's
St. Joseph's over Oklahoma (Upset special!!!)
Vanderbilt over Siena
Oregon over Mississippi State
Indiana over Arkansas
Louisville over Boise State
Villanova over Clemson (Upset special!!!)
Memphis over Texas-Arlington
That's a grand total of 10/16, or .625. Terrible for a single day of the first round. Then again, it's pretty incredible that both of the 12 seeds and both of the 13 seeds won. I wonder if that's ever happened before. Apparently 51 people in the ESPN tournament challenge are 100% right so far which is also pretty amazing given the circumstances. Vegas Watch says the odds of going 64/64 with your tournament picks are "One in around 7.2 trillion. Ouch. If you did this 300 million times, there's a 1 in 23,924 chance that you'd go 64/64 in one. If you did it 6 billion times, it's 1 in 1,197."
Anyhow, the UCONN and WKU games were both particularly exciting, so hopefully that will create some more good matchups on Sunday. But for now here are my picks for tomorrow's matchups:
Duke over West Virginia
Kansas State over Wisconsin (Upset Special!!! Also I hate the Badgers with a passion!)
Xavier over Purdue
Notre Dame over Washington State (Upset Special!!!)
Stanford over Marquette
Kansas over UNLV
Pitt over Michigan State
UCLA over Texas A&M
---
Here's something I heard today that I want to share but I know nobody else will actually listen to: The Most Unwanted Song. In 1996, Dave Soldier and Komar & Melamid undertook a project to try and quantify music to create both the most desired and the most undesired songs in the world, based on polling about what kind of genres, lyrics, instrumentation, and similar things that people liked and disliked.
The Most Wanted Song is a pretty boring pop song you could hear on any adult contemporary station, but The Most Unwanted Song is quite the adventure. It starts off with a harmonica/harp cowboy-style intro and segues into an opera singer rapping over tuba beats. It has accordions and bagpipes and childrens' choirs singing about holidays and telling you to "do all your shopping at Wal-Mart!" It's 22 minutes of some of the most incredible sounds you will ever hear. You can listen to it here:
And if you liked it that much, download it here. God how I'd love to play this on WKNC.
"Ramadan, Ramadan, lots of praying with no breakfast!"
END OF BLOG POST
Friday, March 21, 2008
THE BLOG IS BACK
So I've been pretty busy lately and I admit that I have not tended to the ol' blog as I really intended to when I started doing this again. But I will try to rectify the situation!
---
IN POLITICS and tangentially in religion, I don't know if people still care about this issue anymore or not with the whole passport issue apparently taking root in the media now, but the full videos of the Jeremiah Wright sermons with the controversial soundbytes have been released and it's amazing how anti-American and racist they really aren't. I don't claim to know all that much about religion and what typically goes on in most churches, but I didn't find a lot to be outraged about here. If you still have concerns about this, please watch the following:
I'll grant you that the bit about injecting black people with HIV is factually incorrect, but technically I guess that did happen with syphilis...
By the way, I really like Rachel Maddow these days. Very sharp political commentary and the patience to deal with Pat Buchanan on MSNBC on a regular basis. Rachel, if you ever decide you like guys, let's get hitched, okay?
---
IN SPORTS I really haven't been following the NCAA tournament at all since this year's abysmal, no-heart-havin' NC State Turdpack pretty much made it impossible to enjoy basketball. JJ Hickson is gone, Gavin Grant is gone, and Sidney Lowe has just now gotten around to saying that maybe Brandon Costner should lose some weight. Add that to the fact that we still won't have a high-level ACC point guard or shooting guard next year and it's enough to make you sick. However, I understand that today Duke just barely squeaked by against a college for country music singers and the only upset of the day came with Kansas State beating USC (aka Michael Beasley beating OJ Mayo) which really isn't all that surprising. I guess I was kinda rooting for Baylor though.
As for tomorrow's games I'll take...
Tennessee over American
Davidson over Gonzaga (Upset special!!!)
Miami over Saint Mary's
Drake over Western Kentucky
Butler over South Alabama
Georgetown over UMBC
Texas over Austin Peay
UCONN over San Diego
UNC over Mount St. Mary's
---
IN POLITICS and tangentially in religion, I don't know if people still care about this issue anymore or not with the whole passport issue apparently taking root in the media now, but the full videos of the Jeremiah Wright sermons with the controversial soundbytes have been released and it's amazing how anti-American and racist they really aren't. I don't claim to know all that much about religion and what typically goes on in most churches, but I didn't find a lot to be outraged about here. If you still have concerns about this, please watch the following:
I'll grant you that the bit about injecting black people with HIV is factually incorrect, but technically I guess that did happen with syphilis...
By the way, I really like Rachel Maddow these days. Very sharp political commentary and the patience to deal with Pat Buchanan on MSNBC on a regular basis. Rachel, if you ever decide you like guys, let's get hitched, okay?
---
IN SPORTS I really haven't been following the NCAA tournament at all since this year's abysmal, no-heart-havin' NC State Turdpack pretty much made it impossible to enjoy basketball. JJ Hickson is gone, Gavin Grant is gone, and Sidney Lowe has just now gotten around to saying that maybe Brandon Costner should lose some weight. Add that to the fact that we still won't have a high-level ACC point guard or shooting guard next year and it's enough to make you sick. However, I understand that today Duke just barely squeaked by against a college for country music singers and the only upset of the day came with Kansas State beating USC (aka Michael Beasley beating OJ Mayo) which really isn't all that surprising. I guess I was kinda rooting for Baylor though.
As for tomorrow's games I'll take...
Tennessee over American
Davidson over Gonzaga (Upset special!!!)
Miami over Saint Mary's
Drake over Western Kentucky
Butler over South Alabama
Georgetown over UMBC
Texas over Austin Peay
UCONN over San Diego
UNC over Mount St. Mary's
St. Joseph's over Oklahoma (Upset special!!!)
Vanderbilt over Siena
Oregon over Mississippi State
Indiana over Arkansas
Louisville over Boise State
Villanova over Clemson (Upset special!!!)
Memphis over Texas-Arlington
Not too many bold picks in there, but then again, it's the first round.
---
MUSIC NEWS: Well I guess I don't really have that much actual news but the new Man Man CD that comes out on April 8 is awesome. Also, there is some band called Does It Offend You, Yeah? that obviously has a terrible name but some cool songs. Also worth listening to! Finally, Hercules and Love Affair have released a debut album that sounds like some straight up 70s disco and quite frankly I think we need much more of that. And you can listen to songs from all three of these bands' albums IN THIS VERY BLOG so do it okay:
---
WHATEVER ELSE IS LEFT:
I've been reading some really good food blogs lately and thought I would share with all 2 of you who actually read this thing in case you want to try making delicious foodstuffs or just learn more about food or look at pretty pictures like these:
And now it is bedtime.
END OF BLOG POST
Vanderbilt over Siena
Oregon over Mississippi State
Indiana over Arkansas
Louisville over Boise State
Villanova over Clemson (Upset special!!!)
Memphis over Texas-Arlington
Not too many bold picks in there, but then again, it's the first round.
---
MUSIC NEWS: Well I guess I don't really have that much actual news but the new Man Man CD that comes out on April 8 is awesome. Also, there is some band called Does It Offend You, Yeah? that obviously has a terrible name but some cool songs. Also worth listening to! Finally, Hercules and Love Affair have released a debut album that sounds like some straight up 70s disco and quite frankly I think we need much more of that. And you can listen to songs from all three of these bands' albums IN THIS VERY BLOG so do it okay:
---
WHATEVER ELSE IS LEFT:
I've been reading some really good food blogs lately and thought I would share with all 2 of you who actually read this thing in case you want to try making delicious foodstuffs or just learn more about food or look at pretty pictures like these:
- The Kitchn: This site has recipes, food news, sporadic book recommendations, cookware news and more. Very interesting to look at even if you don't plan to cook anything. Updated daily.
- Smitten Kitchen: Mostly recipes and general cooking advice, but they have some pretty cool links and whatnot, like this one, which allows you to search over 2000 food blogs for recipes: http://foodblogsearch.com/ Updated every few days.
- Simply Recipes: Pretty much what it sounds like. A little fancier than the other stuff here, I guess. Probably for true foodies only, but worth a look. Updated every few days.
- The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from a middle-aged housewife who seems like she went out of her way to be an awesome chef in her 20s and has gotten to the point where she knows all the shortcuts and has made it much easier. Some of this stuff looks awesome. Highly recommended! Updated every week or two.
- Use Real Butter: This one is more like a personal blog than one specifically about food, but they do have some recipes and awesome food photography. This lady's camera is extremely balleriffic.
And now it is bedtime.
END OF BLOG POST
Sunday, March 2, 2008
I bought the planet on Bamzu.com
So the other night I'm watching CNN when I see an ad for these Zorbeez super-absorbent towels that can basically suck up the entire ocean. Then an ad to help old people get a reverse mortgage. Then one for the Mantis garden tiller. Then one for a personal sound amplifier. Then one for Globe Life Insurance. What do all these have in common? Bamzu.com. Every single one of these products could be found at Bamzu.com.
Amazon doesn't let me buy life insurance, so I figured it would be worth a look. Apparently, Bamzu is owned by Ted Turner and only advertises on Turner networks (perhaps not coincidentally, it seems that very few others advertise on Turner networks). Further investigation shows that it's sort of an As-Seen-On-TV hub where there are links to pretty much every product that's advertised on those channels, which isn't quite as fun as I was hoping. Nevertheless, if I were selling life insurance, I don't think I'd want somebody to be able to buy a garden tiller from the same place.
I've actually seen some As-Seen-On-TV stores around, but none featured the selection and all-round inanity of Bamzu. Why, just take a look at some of your options here:
Bible on DVD
Black Forest Decor
Blazin' Reggae
BLENDY PENS
.
.
.
HARRY CONNICK, JR.
Hat World/Lids
HIP HOP GOLD
hobbytron
.
.
.
KIDZ BOP 10
KIDZ BOP 11
KIDZ BOP 12
Kidz Bop 13
KIDZ BOP 5
KIDZ BOP 6
KIDZ BOP 7
KIDZ BOP 8
KIDZ BOP 9
.
.
.
SUNDAY SCHOOL JAMZ
Sunsetters
Super Jeweler
SWEATING IN THE SPIRIT
Thanks Bamzu.com, I came for the KIDZ BOP 12 and BLENDY PENS, but I stayed for SWEATING IN THE SPIRIT!
END OF BLOG POST
Amazon doesn't let me buy life insurance, so I figured it would be worth a look. Apparently, Bamzu is owned by Ted Turner and only advertises on Turner networks (perhaps not coincidentally, it seems that very few others advertise on Turner networks). Further investigation shows that it's sort of an As-Seen-On-TV hub where there are links to pretty much every product that's advertised on those channels, which isn't quite as fun as I was hoping. Nevertheless, if I were selling life insurance, I don't think I'd want somebody to be able to buy a garden tiller from the same place.
I've actually seen some As-Seen-On-TV stores around, but none featured the selection and all-round inanity of Bamzu. Why, just take a look at some of your options here:
Bible on DVD
Black Forest Decor
Blazin' Reggae
BLENDY PENS
.
.
.
HARRY CONNICK, JR.
Hat World/Lids
HIP HOP GOLD
hobbytron
.
.
.
KIDZ BOP 10
KIDZ BOP 11
KIDZ BOP 12
Kidz Bop 13
KIDZ BOP 5
KIDZ BOP 6
KIDZ BOP 7
KIDZ BOP 8
KIDZ BOP 9
.
.
.
SUNDAY SCHOOL JAMZ
Sunsetters
Super Jeweler
SWEATING IN THE SPIRIT
Thanks Bamzu.com, I came for the KIDZ BOP 12 and BLENDY PENS, but I stayed for SWEATING IN THE SPIRIT!
END OF BLOG POST
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