I have to admit I get a little sad when this blog doesn't get updated as much. It's kind of like the feeling when you have a Tamagotchi that gets neglected for a while and then when you come back to it, you discover it shat all over itself. So for the sake of new content, here's a link dump for y'all with the latest from the Blogdome that I frequent daily.
- Finally, if you haven't watched this HD trailer for Street Fighter IV at Kotaku then you don't have the raging nerd boner that's going on in my pants right now.
This week Ramiele was good, if uninspiring, but I think she'll rack up enough votes to stick around. Hopefully she returns to form next Wednesday and turns in a performance like last week's.
Last Tuesday, my boy Chikezie was just okay, but I was really feelin his performance from yesterday. He is the Christian Okoye of American Idol if only because he is the only black guy left.
“99 Cent II Diptychon," Andreas Gursky ■ You can always rely on coolkidsroom to provide you with up-to-date info concerning fatty affairs, so in recent news:
Taco Bell is now selling their Supreme Gorditas for only 99 cents. I love Taco Bell as much as real Mexican food, although after years of eating double-deckers and Mexican pizzas, I’ve come to realize that everything on the Taco Bell menu tastes exactly the same. Sure, it might come in burrito form, or they might throw a curveball at you and shape it like an octagon, but at the end of the meal the only thing that was truly different was the appearance. Not to take away from the deal or anything, because I still fucking love it.
My inside sources also tell me that Golden Spoon is giving away free frozen yogurt on Saturday, March 1st. I don’t know why, maybe it’s their anniversary or national yogurt appreciation day, but who gives a shit. Free-99!
■ To my amazement, the girls from FYSH N CHICKS survived another lackluster week on America’s Best Dance Crew, which means at least one more week of watching KOI FISH in action. Yes, that statement was probably borderline stalker-status, but I’m just glad to know that my 50+ texts last week made a difference in the voting.
■ The REAL love of my life though, Tina Fey, hosted Saturday Night Live this past weekend as part of the first episode of SNL since the end of the Writers Strike. Given that the majority of the entertainment industry has virtually been on hiatus for the past 3 months, it's good to know that Hollywood is back in business and everyone’s favorite shows (and Tina Fey, i.e. 30 Rock,) are back in production. Unless for some reason you were a loyal fan of “BIONIC WOMAN,” which got the axe recently, you’ll have to wait for something else to appeal to your peculiar tastes.
■ I came across a list of short news one-liners in the UCSD paper, The Guardian, this morning, and in particular, I found one quite amusing. It simply read:
Thursday, Feb. 21 10:03 a.m.: Medical aid --A 19-year-old male needed medical attention after taking “several shots.”
Go Tritons!
■ With the advent of the American version of Super Smash Bros. BRAWL soon approaching, my goal for this week is to somehow get my hands on a Nintendo Wii, no matter what the cost! Since Brawl is a completely new game with a number of differences from its predecessors, I swear I’ve been having nightmares of getting owned by everyone and never, ever, winning a Smash Bros. match for the rest of my life. Without a Wii of my own, I’m doomed.
■ After several months of speculation, the political scene and the bid for the Presidency has finally narrowed down to three, solid candidates. With all the pretenders weeded out of the race, it’s safe to say that the only serious contenders left are Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain. Regardless of who wins, it will be a historic moment for either blacks, women, or the undead.
...And there were no breadsticks to be found (because I ate em all...HARHAR, one less smartass comment).
Here's a quick rundown of some of the big Academy Award winners:
Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men Best Supporting Actress: Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton Best Actress: Marion Cotillard, La Vie En Rose Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood Best Director: Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country For Old Men Best Picture: No Country For Old Men I've never heard of Marion Coltillard or La Vie En Rose but congratulations anyways. She looked kinda strange tonight, but the magic of Google Images led me to IMDB and brought my attention to some of her better moments.
And by "better moments," I of course am referring to her stellar acting career...
Sometime this week I will be sure to catch the great Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood. This fool always has the most intense performances; he is pretty much the Kevin Garnett of acting.
And of course, I can't miss No Country For Old Men. Ever since he showed up in The Fugitive, every Tommy Lee Jones (aka Agent K) movie has been stellar...except maybe Space Cowboys.
My favorite comedy of the year (yes, I liked it better than Juno, even though writer Diablo Cody probably deserved her Best Original Screenplay award) was multiple Razzie winner (including Worst Picture),Norbit. Unfortunately it lost out in its nomination for Best Makeup to the Marion Cotillard movie but deep in my heart I hope that Eddie Murphy will get his Oscar someday. Let us all hope and pray for Coming to America 2. I will even settle for Nutty Professor 3. Make it happen Eddie.
Usually I try to avoid just straightforward posts that are just galleries or just videos. I'll try to add some prose to justify the media. Otherwise, I feel like I'm cheapening the intentions and quality of this site. But sometimes this shit is just worth it. I swear this girl never takes a bad picture.
Credit: WWTD for the pics, and the guys at KSK for some of my expressions.
After a long post about the dying arcade, it's nice to know that even though things change, for the most part its for the better. Street Fighter IV, to me at least, looks like it's going to be another SDA TV staple. And Ryu's face looks messed up, go Ken.
This has to be the worst idea for a remake ever. I heard they were planning this and just hoped deep down inside that it was gonna go away but I guess the poster makes it official. These whities are gonna ruin this perfect romantic comedy with their corny jokes and poor chemistry between the leads. They will never have anything on the original...
A Thought: It's strange really, how every now and then I get a feeling inside me that says, "Damn, I remember back in the day when..." and then my mind falls into a time machine imbued daydream, full of nostalgic thoughts of things that were at one point exciting, but nowadays just seem, well to put it bluntly, like a waste of time; a thing of the past. I'm sure the other writers of this blog, and many of our readers feel the same way. So I thought I'd attempt to start a trend, a series of blog entries entitled, Taking A Look Back, in which we take a trip to our fun-filled childhoods, where we'd waste money and do things when we could have been studying or training to become Olympic class athletes. But we didn't care, and we had the time of our lives anyway. To kick it off, I'd like to talk to you about something that to me personally seems so dead and gone, but at one point in my life was a prime activity, going to the Arcade.
I recently read an article in Kotaku about a man with a job in electronics and a passion for video games, who took on a task in which he bought old arcade games and restored them. Now he owns a private arcade with many of his favorite childhood toys, arcade games like Paperboy and Pacman, and can come in and play them anytime he wishes. In my childhood I spent many of my afternoons in the arcade. I guess you could even call the local arcade your old "stomping ground." In elementary school I'd go with my older brother to Nickel City, and with no more than five bucks split between the both of us, we roamed around and did things like take on the role of pilots in giant robot vehicles that fought each other, took a trip to the world of Jurassic Park and shot down dinosaurs, played that weird Japanese baseball game with 2 buttons, and so on. I remember the excitement that rushed through me every time I went; the flashing lights and crazy sounds, the way a person became an icon by beating opponent after opponent in Street Fighter, the way someone made their mark in our little world by achieving a high score unbeatable by the rest of our suburb, it really was something else. I remember coming to the arcade when they would get a new game in, and it'd be crowded, and stacks of coins would be laid up against the screen which symbolized your place in line, and so much more. Then there'd be the ticket games where we'd trade our money for paper, which we'd in turn use to get candy or other weird toys, and that's pretty much the closest thing to a child's casino. As we got older certain games received more attention. Games became more advanced like Gauntlet where you could save your character. DDR kept us in shape as we stomped on arrows to loud ass music. People got into crazier fighting games like Marvel Vs. Capcom, and they'd spend countless hours coming up with new character combinations and strategies.
But now being a bit older, and a little bit wiser, arcades seem like an afterthought. When people think of arcades, they think of smelly kids and creepy old guys who play pinball for hours, hoping to fulfill some sort of childhood fantasy. Our obsession for high definition and the power of the console keeps us at home on our couches instead of going out to the arcade, and all of this just makes me think, what happened? How did something so glorious turn into something that is so looked down upon? Someone sent me an GQ article once in which they talked about the way men spend time with each other. It stated that men bond through sports, video games, and then going out to eat, and that is in fact so true. Going to the arcade used to be such a cool thing to do, but for whatever reason it's not as appealing anymore.
I believe it's something about our weird transitional age that we're in. We aren't kids anymore, so time spent playing video games in an arcade just seems like the off thing to do, especially since the people in the arcade are no longer your suburban rivals, but little kids whose ages range from 5 to 15, and that isn't exactly the crowd we'd want to spend time with (unless your gross). Many of us aren't 21 yet, so options like Dave & Busters, where we could play video games and be with a crowd of our same age group, aren't available to all of us yet. So what do you do when your 20, go to the arcade? No. You get someone to buy you beer, and you chill at your friends apartment (or condo) while you play video games, watch movies, order a shitload of pizza, and just hang. So who knows, maybe when we're all 21 the idea of going to an arcade won't be so ridiculous anymore. Maybe that feeling of the past can be resurrected and fill us with a sense of happiness that we once experienced. While it won't be the prime activity that it once was, it'll still be something to do. But it's strange to think about the younger generation. What will our kids do during their younger years if arcades are dead? Stay at home and play video games? Something about that concept just isn't as exciting. Maybe some new "cool" thing to do will emerge that can give our kids the same feeling that we had when we were children. Something where they can witness the previously unseen, and be in an environment where their schoolmates would be there too. I know some of my little cousins spend a grip of time at home just playing video games, many of them playing computer games where they dive into the internet and play with other kids online (or old people), or using Xbox Live to play with their friends and stuff, but for whatever reason to me that's not as exciting as waiting in line for your turn to see if you can take down the king of the hill in Street Fighter.
So in the end, the thought of the dying arcade saddens me a bit. I did a Google search of arcades in the downtown Boston area, and the closest one takes a little too much effort to go to, but that's what Billiards is for. So what do you all think of the dying arcade? Do you guys share my thoughts about these places, or were they something else to you entirely? In the meantime I leave you with this...
It's funny how he sings and dances to the theme song.
EDIT 7:03 PM: Lance linked me to this Gamespot video which properly portrays the state of Arcades. It's actually from five years ago, but it's safe to say that nothing has changed.
Dwight Howard held it down at this year's Slam Dunk contest, takin' flight like Superman and and throwin the ball in the basket like it was a fucking trash can. YouTube videos soon hopefully...
So i don't know if everyones heard my drunk rants about how adonis looks like a filipino t-pain, but all of yall who have so little faith in my observational skills will soon eat your words. The day has come that i reveal my theories in the T-pain v. Dun dun case. Our readers will serve as the jury in this case.
Look at the distance between both defendants eyes it is almost IDENTICAL!
We all know our own dun dun of The Cool Kids is a fan of t-pain having heard him sing the lyrics to imma buy you a drank and bartender dozens of times (incorrectly) i might add. Now one could argue that a lot of people "like" t-pain, but lets stick to the issue at hand. How many people do you know that would go as far as to actually LOOK like t-pain.
I MEAN COME ON!
Their is a clear conspiracy going on here, the music industry is obviously making CLONES of t-pain so that when the apocalypse comes if one gos down their will be another there to sing melodic hooks and "buy you a drank." Think about it How does t-pain manage to make 10 songs on average in a week, that is impossible.
They even sleep-alike
Unless you have t-pain clones that is. The guy collaborates with every artist from baby bash to flo-rida how can one man handle all of those hooks. T-pain is clearly taking the industry by storm with little talent, but the ability to collabo with all of the music industry.
do not trust this man he is a filipino t-pain sent to take over the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo presidency in the philippines with his simplistic dance moves and lyrics. Not that that would really be a bad thing.
So let's think of some other "stars" that have had clones. Obviously the king himself. Cloning is harmless right...
Now i can live with that i mean honestly we could always use more elvis clones.
Moving on lets brainstorm on some other "stars" who have clones.
Oh i dunno i'm just throwing this out there, but their was this guy that been pretty big the past like 2 decades oh i dunno does
SADAM HUSSEIN RING A BELL!
These photographs obviously give proof that clones indeed exist and it is quite obvious that the threat of this technology being in the wrong hands is right in front of us. Now what you might ask t-pain has to do with sadam hussein their really is no relation expcept that maybe.....
T-Pain = TERROR-PAIN or TYRANNY-PAIN or TERRIBLE-PAIN and WMD's+ Weapons of Music Destruction. i'll let you be the judge.
I was picking up a few necessities at the local corner store today, you know the usual chips and Arizona Green Tea, then I came across these...
Wtf? Crazy! Chocolate Skittles, I'll let you know how they taste when I eventually eat them.
From Tina Fey to political news coverage, and now chocolate skittles. Guess you really do get a bit of everything here. EDIT: 4:53 PM: The five flavors are S'mores, chocolate pudding, chocolate caramel, vanilla, and brownie batter. When you first open the bag you get hit with the smell of tootsie rolls and Jello pudding. For the most part their tastes hold true to their name. Vanilla tastes like vanilla, the brownie one tastes like stale brownies, the chocolate pudding tastes like chocolate pudding. I guess the caramel and s'mores flavor taste like they're supposed to, but if someome had just handed me a few and asked me what they taste like I'd never say the amazing blend of chocolate and warm marshmallows sandwiched between two graham crackers. So what's the verdict? I'd eat them if they were free (but damn what wouldn't I eat for free), but they're not good enough for me to keep buying them.
Tonight's American Idol episode revealed this season's Top 24 who will all start performing next week. No real surprises, but here's my two favorites going in to the beginning of the performances and voting phase of the show.
Chikezie Eze
Every season, I like to get behind my favorite male R&B singer in hopes of a new record to listen to and sing along with in the future. I think Chikezie is definitely that pick this season, and he pretty much has the best name out of all the contestants.
Ramiele Malubay
Since Season 3 and Jasmine Trias, it seems like we've managed to get at least one Filipino in the Top 24 every season. Ramiele's cute and she sings very well, so there's the potential for Lance's Trias-Obsession Part Deux. Let the nationalist inside of us all rally and vote for her next week.
Sports Illustrated released its annual Swimsuit issue to newsstands today. You won't find me rushing there today because thanks to the wonders of the internet, I can avoid that awkward feeling when checking out.
The Swimsuit Issue isn't quite the cultural phenomenon nowadays with titties and cabooses running amok in the daily media, yet it still manages to cause a hooplah amongst supporters and antagonizers alike.
Personally, I will just appreciate it for what it is. In this case, that means more pictures of the lovely Jarah Mariano, everyone's favorite asian supermodel, and the subject of quasi-lesbian fantasies everywhere.
No I haven't been living under a rock, I know that the strike is over, but the reason I haven't posted yet is because today (Tuesday) the members of the WGA West and WGA East are voting to officially call off the strike now that a deal has been made. I held off on posting about it because the strike isn't "officially" over with, but since voting is today and many writers are already back to work I'm going to go ahead and say that yes, after months and months of picket lines, the WGA finally got a deal with the AMPTP which allows them to receive a cut on new media, basically an "if you get paid, we get paid" kind of deal.
Now keep in mind that the writers did not receive everything they asked for, but after being off work for such a long period of time, they had to come to a compromise, and that's what negotiating is, isn't it? Making sacrifices and having both sides come together to really work something out, and over the weekend that happened. Many say that the disaster that was the Golden Globes was the turning point for the AMPTP to come back to the table and get a deal going, but I'm glad that it's over. Hollywood as we once knew it is back to its usual routine, everyone is back to work, and production for many of our favorite shows is back in order.
Now it's not like we'll get new episodes of our favorite shows out of nowhere. Easier shows like 30 Rock and The Office will probably get a few new episodes airing around April/May, but giant production shows that revolve around a specific timeline like 24 won't return until January 2009. Pilot season as we know it will most likely not happen, and new shows that came out this year (Dirty Sexy Money, Pushing Daisies, Chuck) will probably wait till the fall for new episodes to air, but that all depends on how production goes. TV Guide keeps an updated list on the status of shows which can be found here.
So the important thing coming out of all of this is that the WGA, as well as all of the United Hollywood, fought for what they deserved, and for the most part it worked out. So now I'm going to eat the thai food I just bought and watch some reruns of Gossip Girl, PEACE.
Makes my finger injury look like a splinter. This is Richard Zednik of the Florida Panthers in some league called the NHL. In a freak accident his teammate's skate managed to nearly sever his carotid artery and easily could have gotten the jugular also if he wasn't so lucky. He had lifesaving surgery immediately after, and looks to make a full recovery.
Click the image for all of its gruesome glory. Credit Deadspin, this is one you won't find on ESPN. The guy who wrote the accompanying entry got it right too, that's a fucking "OH SHIT!" face if I ever saw one.
It's bad enough that I'm browsing ONTDand watching the GRAMMYS, but Kanye decided to rob me further of my manhood and made me tear up a bit during his performance tonight. I am now going to go to the movies to watch the new Rambo and then I'll stop by the gym to LIFT SOME WEIGHTS while listening to Wu-Tang.
(Edit: i goofed the headline and the tag the first time this was posted, so go ahead and shoot me)
Music's biggest award show aired tonight (and is actually still running on the west coast) and even if this wasn't my personal favorite year for music, there's still quite a few things worth mentioning. The thing I like about The Grammys, and all award shows for that matter, is that it introduces the masses to something that people might have looked over otherwise. Because of the Grammys, some of our favorite artists like Norah Jones and Alicia Keys got the mass attention they needed to really put their careers into high gear, so even if it is just an award that stimulates money for big companies, it does in turn do the public a service by showing them these artists and the amazing work they do.
I know that most readers of this blog are tired of Amy Winehouse and her oh so played out song "Rehab" but man she is an amazing artist. Her work received a ton of acclaim tonight, leaving with Grammys for Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, and more. I'd also like to point out that the producer of that album Mark Ronson also won for Best Producer of the Year, and if you haven't heard his work on Back to Black or his own album then you should really check it out. Credit also goes out to Kanye West for wins under Best Rap Song and Best Rap Album. My personal wish was that Justice win for Best Electronic album, but it's okay.
The full list of winners can be found here, now go out there and listen to music.
This is not so much of an endorsement for the rockstar Barack Obama, but mainly because I thought this poster just looked pretty cool. It’d probably make a nice t-shirt too.
Top-notch propaganda! While I haven’t thrown my full support for any one candidate just yet, I see the same imposing image in poster and sticker form all over campus; when I walk to class, when I buy food, when I smoke, when I take a leak, when I take a shit – So slowly but surely, I’m being effectively brainwashed by the Obama campaign.
I’m actually glad that OBEY is apparently rooting for Obama; he seems much more compatible with their style of artwork compared to the rest of the candidates. I highly doubt the same poster with Mitt Romney/Nathan Petrielli’s face on it would have the same, inspirational effect. That’d just be fucking creepy.
I have the feeling that any real dance team would kick my ass for comparing them to Marques Houston and Omarion’s ridiculous, over-hyped, over-dramatic, pathetically acted out movie, You Got Served!, which sadly, I still enjoyed nonetheless.
Luckily, former fat fuck Randy Jackson, of American Idol fame, is premiering his new show on MTV later tonight, called, America’s Best Dance Crew!, which seems much more convincing.
I actually never watch MTV for the most part, BUT, A.C. Slater is master of ceremonies AND, San Diego is being represented by the group JabbaWockeeZ, and UCI by Kaba Modern. While I’ve seen Kaba Modern perform a few times, I’ve honestly never heard of jabbawockeez until watching them in the audition episode, which pissed off my friend Jordan quite a bit. Shit, I couldn’t even pronounce their name at first. JabbaJabba? Jabba the Hut?
While I don't know jack-shit about choreography, I thought they looked good.
Confession: In spite of the the San Diego and Orange County connections, I’m actually rooting for another west coast team… FYSH N CHICKS. Yes, it’s fucking sad. Don’t’ get me wrong though, it’d be nice to see either Jabba and Kaba advance in the series, but I have my non-gay reasons for rooting for an all-feminist team who refuse to wear revealing apparel and instead wear baggy clothing to cover up… go figure.
Namely, I have a crush on one the dancers… KOI FISH!
Yeah don’t hate. I’m rooting for her tonight as well. Just watch when she is introducted (00:36 mark), and you’ll be in like too, guaran-fuckin-teed.
SUPER fucking TUESDAY was yesterday, essentially narrowing down the list of plausible nominees for both parties. My dumbass however, failed to put the spotlight in my starter kit on two Republican candidates who are currently, now front-and-center in the Presidential race. So, for all you conservatives out there…
A Political Booster Pack: Series 2 Conservative Edition! Collect them all!!
MITT ROMNEY: Supposedly, his supporters claim he is the reincarnation of former President Ronald Regan, something Republicans can feel all warm and giddy about as they wet their beds at night. An experienced businessman, Romney has led and invested in many successful companies, and also took over and saved the 2002 Winter Olympics from financial disaster. He also has a younger brother named Peter, and apparently has the ability to fly.
He was also a former governor of Massachusetts, and himself being a Mormon, that has to count for some shit for being able to run a state filled with crazy Irish Catholics. His critics, however, often point out his willingness to adapt his position on certain issues depending on what state he’s campaigning in. The current host of Def Comedy Jam, D.L. Hughley, jokingly mentioned Romney, saying “I thought the movie ‘Transformers’ was about a robot, but apparently it’s about this motherfucker here!”
JOHN MCCAIN: He is quite literally the walking dead, as this guy is fucking 70 years old already. Regardless if he can manage to live past the primaries, he is the closest thing to Rambo you’ll ever see for a Presidential candidate.
A former Navy pilot, McCain grew some balls of steel after he fought in Vietnam, where he was shot down and forced into a POW camp where he was beaten, starved, and tortured before being released after 5 fucking years. If one can imagine, that’s like being trapped forever in a Pho restaurant without ever eating the delicious PHO, and the waiters despise you because you asked for a fork. Now that’s some shit.
Once regarded as the ‘maverick’ within the party for his liberal tendencies, he is currently the front-runner for the Republican nomination and supporters argue he is the best hope for Republicans come November, whether facing Hillary or Obama.
McCain, suffering after years without eating any Pho.
fucking posers.
**In other news, the rockstar Obama is in close pursuit of the Clinton political machine, and things can get decisively nasty for Democrats as the final primaries wrap-up.
This past weekend I got hit with some serious sickness. While resting in bed, I relied on my TV with bunny ear antenna for entertainment, and the only thing I could really pick up in the morning besides the news was Maury and crappy game shows. After watching episodes of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and Drew Carey hosting the Price is Right, i said to myself, there has to be better episodes of this stuff. So I started looking up videos of these shows on YouTube, and this is what I found...
The first guy is a loser, but the second is kind of a badass. Oh and I also watched American Gladiators...man I need to get over this illness.
It's the classic tale of David and Goliath; the big, bad bully picking on the little guy, or in a more contemporary comparison, like Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller battling it out in the movie “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story!” (Note: one of the greatest movies of all time, IMO.)
Only in this case, the seemingly invincible juggernaut known as the New England Patriots were not embarrassed by a dashing, archetypal hero of the ages, but rather, by a goofy, awkward looking, sissy-man sometimes referred to as Elisha. It couldn’t have ended any better.
To think, after growing up reading inspirational literature and listening to the wise words of elders, 10 years from now I might have had to tell my children… “Son, nobody’s perfect… except Tom Brady." And to think, only 3 points made the difference between worshipping the Patriots as demi-gods, to arguably one of the biggest upsets in sports history. For any football fan, the amazing story of the Patriot’s fall-from-grace, in combination with one hell of a game, proved that Super Bowl XLII was indeed a memorable one.
...Unless of course, your one of the many disgruntled Chargers fans. While there was much to be proud of this season (i.e. the emergence of Antonio Cromartie, reaching the AFC Championship, etc.), there’s no question that the result of the New York Giant’s victory on Sunday left a bittersweet end to things. For instance, the fact that Eli Manning, the too-good for San Diego quarterback, now boasts a Super Bowl ring, after defeating a team the Chargers had an opportunity to beat themselves... But hey, at least Chargers fans can take comfort in the fact that Boston is probably up in flames right now.
On a personal note, it has also come to my attention that I’ve been stubbornly holding on to a certain Charger Girl for way too long, and her tenure as my wallpaper is way overdue. With the 2007-08 NFL season pretty much in a denouement, I must accept the cold, harsh, reality that the football season is over, and her place on my desktop is no longer necessary.
This is a sad day indeed, but I feel it’s only appropriate that I share the wealth and make one last, fitting tribute in her full-glory. Enter, CONSTANCE... (and schedule). Enjoy.
With that out of the way... Fuck you Eli, good season Chargers, farewell Constance.
