Oh Baby!

The summers where we had a wedding/wedding shower every weekend have officially ended and we have moved on to the baby phase! No news from my womb but pretty much every single one of our friends is expecting or have just had a baby. It is so much fun seeing our friends become mommies and daddies. As I write our friends Tim and Christy (mainly Christy) are in labor and are having a baby boy who we can't wait to meet.

We got to meet sweet Sadie Kay on Friday night. Rob and Kay had her on April 24th and she has the most hair I have ever seen on a baby...good thing her mama does hair! She was so fun to snuggle with and we are so happy for them.

New favorite show.

Deadliest Warrior, the ridiculously masculine series on Spike, just earned a spot on my DVR roster. Here's the description from Spike's website:

Each week on Deadliest Warrior, a new episode will pit two of the most feared warriors civilization has ever known against each other. Along with the use of 21st century science and the latest in CGI technology, each episode enlists warrior-specific world-class fighters and experts to provide insight into what makes these combatants tick, analyzing every facet of their unique skills of destruction, culminating in a head-to-head final fight between two legends of the battlefield that will produce the deadliest warrior.

Like I said, ridiculously masculine, basically a show for meat-heads, but I love the premise. I myself have had these type of questions/discussions/arguments with friends (when I was 12 years old, mind you, but as a matter of fact, one review actually reads, "If you love non-self-aware comedy or are a 12-year-old boy, stay tuned..."). These hypothetical scenarios make for good TV, and taking it a step further, great stories since most comic books and movie scripts are written based on these setups. Who would win a fight? Superman or the Incredible Hulk? Abe Lincoln or Ghandi?

Most of the time, the results of these match-ups are determined by the personal preferences of the writer. For example: Superman over the Hulk; Honest Abe over Ghandi (he's a pacifist for cryin' out loud). What Deadliest Warrior does is add a little objectivity to the process. Breaking down the weapons and then running all the determining factors through a program that simulates a 1,000 battles.

Other highly-anticipated showdowns this season include: Pirate vs. Knight, Viking vs. Samurai, Green Beret vs. Spetznaz, Maori vs. Shaolin Monks, William Wallace vs. Shaka Zulu, and Ninja vs. Spartan. Superman vs. Lincoln must be next season.

Incidentally, I am aware that this blog is quickly becoming the dorkiest thing on the Internet. I apologize. Actually, I'm sorry that I'm not sorry. This is my geek-outlet. And Leeanne doesn't post anymore, so it is what it is - all "He Said."

Winner: Supes

Nerd alert.

I first read J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings in college. From that point on I was hooked on all things Middle Earth. I would joke with Leeanne when we were engaged (and even yesterday when we were talking with some friends about wedding rings) that I wanted the "one ring" as my wedding band. It was that or a Batman ring, both of which unbelievably are available in the Skymall catalog, here and here. Pick one up for yourself next time you fly. Then when the movies came out, I, along with countless others (except for, inexcusably, my brother-in-law Jeff), became super-geeks upon seeing the universe Tolkien created faithfully given cinematic life. I love those movies, and while they are long, I'll watch them every time I come across them on TNT or AMC (same goes for Braveheart or Godfather II). Also, even though watching the entire trilogy would take a solid nine hours or so (not even including the indispensable bonus features) it takes considerable less time than reading the books - that takes true commitment, easy readers.

While all of the LOTR fans are waiting for the next movie to add to the collection - The Hobbit, split into two separate films, produced by Peter Jackson and directed by Guillermo Del Toro - in the meantime, here's something fun.

A group of "incredibly proactive dork- er, Lord of the Rings enthusiasts," recently shot a 40-minute, high-definition film in North Wales with an all-volunteer crew of 150. On Sunday, May 3rd, it will be released, online and free, at TheHuntForGollum.com. Check out the trailer below. Cheesy? Undoubtedly. Legal? Uncertain. Awesome? Undeniably.
Does it make you wonder how many of these dudes live in a basement and showed up to the audition already in full costumes their mothers made? Indubitably. And it's that kind of commitment I want out of film-making fans if I'm going to sit down on my couch and waste my time watching something for free.

THE HUNT FOR GOLLUM - FULL Trailer 1 from Independent Online Cinema on Vimeo.

Rumble grumble.

The NBA playoffs are here and the Mavs have made it into the postseason. While I love the Mavs and am a Cuban-certified MFFL (Mav Fan For Life, probably not the best initialism, say all the mo-fos out there), I'm afraid my hopes and dreams don't extend past the first round. Sad, I know, but that's just how I feel.

Also in NBA news, the inaugural season of the Oklahoma City Thunder did not end with a trip to the playoffs. No one really expected it to, but that's not why I bring them up. This is a little old, but I was asked to comment on it. Bringing almost as much controversy as the relocating of the Sonics to OKC was the introduction of the Thunder's mascot, Rumble.

Now I love mascots, especially dunking ones. Dallas' own Mavs Man? Genius. He's made out of basketball. Of course he can do a somersault-jam off a trampoline.Then there's Rumble. Don't get me wrong, I don't think he's all that bad, in fact, I'll go on record as saying I think Rumble is O.K. I like the fact that he's a bison - very appropriate choice for an Oklahoma team, tapping into the local culture. Way more thought must have gone into this than the team's actual name (still disappointed in "Thunder," I think "Marshals" would have been a much cooler and certainly less generic name, but at least "Rumble" as a name works for both a bison and thunder). But the fans and the media (at least the obscure segment of the media that deems this type of item worthy of comment) have given ol' Rumble a tepid reception and a resounding, "meh."

I think most of the people's beef has come from the fact that he looks very much like Teen Wolf. Though it should be noted that, in the relocation of the team from Seattle to OKC, the mascot came along as well. The Sonics' costumed representative was another hairy bugger called Squatch. Squatch was loved by the fans in the Pacific Northwest. Why? 1. Because he was hairy, 2. because he was part of local culture (yes, Bigfoot is an indiginous creature to Washington) and 3. because he could shoot t-shirts out of a canon (r.i.p. Maude Flanders). Rumble does all these things, and in reality, he is Squatch, albeit with a different head and jersey. But then again, isn't the team itself (different head and jersey, that is)?

And the Teen Wolf thing? How can that be bad? Have they ever seen Teen Wolf, he was awesome at basketball (ignore Teen Wolf, Too, I'm trying to make a point). Come to think of it, why hasn't anbody used him as their mascot? For further evidence read this - COVERING TEEN WOLF: ONE COACH'S GUIDE.

So, I think I've adressed that adequately, Rumble is perfect for the Thunder. Sadly, one other comment I read on a sports blog I have no defense for, and that is:
"This mascot will have sex with your wife." I mean, look at that guy. He's got bedroom eyes.

"They lifted the curse."

Today, Pearl Jam is releasing a remastered edition of their first album Ten.

Every time I hear anything off that record I can't help but be reminded of that time of my life, around 1991, when Pearl Jam and my burgeoning love of music coincided which ultimately created in me a mental autobiography marked by songs as much as events.

One of the seminal tracks from Ten is the song "Alive." Below is a clip from a few years ago when PJ did an episode of Storytellers on VH1, and Eddie Vedder tells a really beautiful story about the meaning behind that song and its transformation over the years.




Incidentally, Pearl Jam make the list below at #60 with a bullet. That's above average, but like I said, it's not a strictly scientific study.

Music that makes you dumb.

I love this. A guy named Virgil Griffith did this little study, comparing favorite musicians/bands (compiled from Facebook) with SAT/ACT scores (gathered from CollegeBoard) of those who listen to them, which ultimately is good news for folks who like Beethoven, Sufjan Stevens, Counting Crows, U2 and Radiohead - bad news for fans of Beyonce and Lil Wayne.

Go to this site, musicthatmakesyoudumb, to see how he did it, as well as a couple more interesting visual representations, like the one below, of the data.

While understanding that this is far from pure science, I am more than a little pleased that I have so many faves in the upper tier. Click here to see the straight list. Click on image below to embiggen.

Working on the world wild web.

I just noticed there's been no updates for a month. For shame on me (Leeanne I think has given up all together, but perhaps she just needs some encouragement?).

Part of the reason why is that I am working hard on getting my online portfolio up and running. Jeff is helping me out big time on this. First and foremost, he & Linde secured the domain name for me and staked out the little corner of the internet where it will be residing. Plus, he's helping me with all the dots & dashes/bleeps & bloops that make the internet work. So, hopefully, we'll be launching it soon!