Endor Bracket

Here we go, the start of the tourney. Luke and Han in the same bracket. Wow. Some good matchups - Count Dooku/Lando, Bilbo/Admiral Akbar, Sauron/Isildur rematch. Check em all out.


1. Han Solo: Bad-ass smuggler turned Rebel Alliance hero. Slick beyond measure. I really don't need to say much more about him.

16. Mon Mothma: She was the leader of the Rebel Alliance seen briefly in Return of the Jedi. She also provides an answer to the question "Were there lesbians a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away?"

9. Lando: Another badass turned hero. Lando turned Han, Leia, and Chewie over to Darth Vader, but then helped them escape and was the leader of the assault on the 2nd Death Star.

Best Smile in the Galaxy

8. Count Dooku: Sith Jedi who took Anakin and Obi-Wan to task in Episode II. He's a pretty powerful Jedi, with the blue lightning bolts coming out of the hands thing going on. His fight with Yoda was one of the coolest in either trilogy.

5. Sauron: The evil of all evils in Lord of the Rings. This is a tough one because he was so evil and caused so much destruction and war multiple times, but he didn't really have a physical form in the movie. I mean the Eye is scary, but how scary.? To give you a better idea, here are some of his alliases: Gorthaur the Cruel, Sauron the Deceiver, the Lord of the Earth, the Enemy, the Master, the Dark Power, the Dark Lord, the Lord of Mordor, the Dark Lord of Mordor, the Power of the Black Land, the Black Master, the Black One, the Lord of Barad-dur, the Lord of the Dark Tower, the Shadow, the Great Eye, the Red Eye, the Eye of Barad-dur, the Lidless Eye, the Evil Eye, the Unnamed, the Nameless. Yeah.

12. Isildur: LOTR king from the old age, the one who defeated Sauron (REMATCH) cutting the ring from his hand with the broken sword, but did not destroy the ring while he had the chance.

13. Greedo: Gotta watch out for the blaster under the table.

4. Anakin Skywalker: As you can see, I'm not going with the pod-racing-little-boy-Anakin or the crazy-red-eyes-wanting-to-kill-Obi-wan-Anakin. I'm going more for the just-slaughtered-the Sandpeople-not-just-the-men-but-the-women-and-the-children-too-Anakin.


3. Sam: Sam pretty much did all the work getting the ring to Mount Doom. He literally carried Frodo. Samwise the Brave. Followed him into the river eventhough he couldn't swim and came back to Frodo after he sided with Gollum. "A promise Mr. Frodo, a promise"

14. Jar-Jar Binks: I'm not even gonna put up a picture of this cat.


6. Bilbo Baggins: The Hobbit who started it all.

11. Admiral Akbar: Pretty freakish, but led the Battle of Endor. Could help playing on home turf. "All Forest"

10. Wedge Antilles: Here is one for the hardcore fan. For those of you that don't know, Wedge is a Rebel Pilot that was in all three movies! He survived the first Death Star, Hoth, and the Second Death Star. The only man to survive both Death Star runs. While Luke was off playing with Daddy, Wedge hit the shot that allowed Lando to take down the Second Death Star. Wedge is my darkhorse here, kind of like Davidson. He just has that everyman quality. He is also responsible for one of the most famous lines in the movie, when first approaching the Death Star: "Look at the size of that thing." (That's what she said)

7. Gimli: He doesn't like to be grabbed by his beard or be tossed.


15. Bail Organa: Jimmy Smits. (that guy in the background seems to have a thyroid problem)

2. Luke: Wait who was he? Oh yeah, the one who always saved the day.

Star Wars/Lord of the Rings Madness

Wow, it's already the last day of March. To continue the March Madness theme, I've decided to put together another bracket. This time, it's a non-holds barred, 64 player throwdown. It is also by far the dorkiest thing I have ever done. I mean, I've called myself out before for being a dork, but after this, there is no doubt, no hiding from it, no ever, ever denying it. In fact, if there was a dork convention I might be president.
Welcome to Dorksville, USA Population: Me

But c'mon, it kind of makes sense. Right? A huge bracket with characters from two of the greatest movie franchises ever. People have often tried to compare Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. It's a tough task. But how would Aragorn fair against Han Solo? or Gandalf against Obi-wan? or Merry vs. Pippen? These are important (Grade-A dork) questions. Nows the time you can help develop the answers.'
It's pretty simple. 64 characters in single elimination "matchups" to determine the best character of the bunch. Vote for who you like best I guess, not who would win in a fight, just who you think is the best character. Again, vote by posting or by email. I'll try to mess with some poll stuff for later rounds. 4 regions are Endor, Hoth, Mordor, and the Shire. My coolness never ceases to amazing. So vote, have fun, pick some upsets, but definitely check it out because this is by far the most work I have ever put into a post.

March Madness Thoughts

So, today is the last day of March. I was fully engulfed in March Madness until Friday when Stephen Curry and a bunch of white boys were raining threes from everywhere to beat my beloved Badgers. So another year, another disappointment, but that is part of the Madness.
I've decided to share a few thoughts on the first two weeks of the tournament.

- I'm pretty sure I could make Stephen Curry Cry with one hard foul.
- All #1 seeds - great teams, but kinda boring
- Memphis is not overrated
- Pretty much every year I regret filling out brackets, one because I always mess up badly, two, because it makes me root for teams I don't want to. Case in point UCLA/Texas A&M
- Joe Alexander is pretty sick
-My new favorite player (for like a day) is (was) Jamie Smalligan of West Virginia. Just look at him. Great. Horseshoe.
- My new favorite player as of Thursday night- James Keefe of UCLA. He is a bench player who had a career high in points and rebounds in the Sweet Sixteen, 10 points more than his previous college high and 5 more rebounds. And then he followed that up Saturday with a 0 point 1 rebound performance. And he is one of those players that announcers LOVE. Verne Lundquist was on his nuts. He was player of the game despite Kevin Love's 30 points/14 rebounds. Hustling white boy, pretty sexy plus he's got the James Bond-esque chest hair sneaking out of his jersey. Definitely what March is all about.
- Gus Johnson and bill Rafferty are vastly entertaining. Much, Much better than Jim Nantz and Billy Packer. I wish we could get Raffery or Johnson for the Final Four.
- A lot of cheerleaders look like they're about 12 years old.
- Duke sucks
- there is nothing like college basketball

Nintendo Madness Final Four

So. we've finally made it to the final four. We got 4 quality games here. Again, it was my sister's vote for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II that allowed it to advance. All she picked was that and Tiny Toons "all the way"
Four very different games. Pick your horse.


1. Super Mario Brothers 3

You got P-wings, frog suits, tails, memory games, big world, ice world, warp whistles, tons of great levels. Level 8 was extremely difficult. Plus, in this game you could go forward and backwards. And who can forget the king of each level being turned into some sort of weird animal? Great

VS

3. TMNT IIThe classic arcade game in your own home. Who could want more? Well, you got Bebop, Rocksteady, Baxter Stockman, Thousands of Footsoldiers, Shredder, and Krang in his giant, scary robot body. Very Nice.



1. Techmo Super Bowl

First great sports game. Great game play for nintendo, plus stats and season mode. Warren Moon, Rodger Craig, Bo Jackson, Randle Cunningham, Ronnie Lott and much, much more.

vs

2. Zelda II the Adventure of Link




Great RPG, introduced a lot to the genre. How important was it to keep perfect health to shoot that shiney beam out of your sword? And that horse guy in the first castle, man. Talking to the towns people was always a laugh. And the music is still engrained in my memory

Vote.
Sorry about that last post, sometimes I inexplicably get serious.

Good Friday/Easter

Good Friday and Easter have always been interesting for me. I took me a while to grasp why it’s called Good Friday, but that’s not what I’m caught up on anymore. The thing I have trouble with is the whole going from amazing sorrow to amazing happiness and joy in just a few days. You (or at least I) sit there on Good Friday and am flooded by my sins. I think of all that I do to continue to crucify Christ. I want to repent for all my sins. I think, “how do I die like Christ, so that others may live?” “would I follow Christ to the cross?” I look at all the times I deny him in my life, I look at all the shit I do, and I don’t like the answers to these questions. Most of all I ponder “Do I make the sacrifice of Jesus worthwhile?” The answer there is definitely no, which leads to the next question – “How do I make the sacrifice of Jesus worthwhile?”

I mean, in many ways, we can never be worthy. So Good Friday kind of makes me depressed. I reflect on my humanity, my unworthiness, my distance from God.

Then Easter comes and all this is erased with the Resurrection of Christ. Really? I mean maybe that is the way it should be, but not for me. I can’t just ignore my sins. I still participate in crucifying Christ everyday. I am still unworthy. I still waste all that God has given me. I can’t let the joy of Easter distract me from what I need to do. I don’t really know. It’s weird. I can’t fathom the quick switch from “I suck” to “I’m great with God”. I wish Easter would change me, but I know from experience that it will not. And I feel it this year, as I am far from God and the spirit, even more. Though Easter is joyous, and indeed, Christ’s Resurrection does wash away our sins, I don’t think it does every year. Part of it is false joy and avoiding the problems we may have. Easter and Good Friday and Holy Thursday are joint reminders both of our sinfulness, or inclination to failure and also the amazing sacrifice of Christ and the amazing joy we can find in that sacrifice.

Right now though, and most years, I find myself focusing on the bad over the good.

Just my thoughts.

Nintendo Madness Round III

To be honest, the bracket only seems to have one plump matchup- the 2/3 Zelda II vs Super Mario Brother/Duck Hunt. The others looks pretty cut and dry. But that's why we play the game (vote)


1. Super Mario Brothers 3
4. Base Wars

3. TMNT II
10. Ice Hockey


1. Techmo Superbowl
12. Super Mario Brothers 2

3.Super Mario Brothers/Duck Hunt
2. Zelda II



Nice. All Marios still in it. Mario pretty much IS nintendo. 3 sports games still in it. That is a bit more of a surprise. I guess this predated the time where there was a new game for everything each year that made the previous year's version absolete. One RPG (a really tough, long one for a little kid) and one straight arcade, level style game. Nice. Final Four will be posted Monday morning.
Vote.

Nintendo Madness Round II

Just a quick explanation of my seeding and picking criteria. 1.) I only picked games I've often played and ones I've owned were much easier to seed higher. Games like Mega Man and Metroid I never really played, so they were put in here based on the word of others. 2.) High seeding went to games I still would play. If you had a working nintendo today and played it over Wii or PS3 they must be some damn good games. 3.) Leaving out Double Dragon was a mistake. Don't know how I forgot them. That is my only apology.

Notable First Round Results:
15 seed Karate Kid defeats 2 seed Tetris. Wow. A huge surprise there. Two people refused to vote because they hated the games, one calling for both to "die". I think it was the ice chopping level that did it for KK
13 Blades if Steel beats Super Dodge Ball easily. I guess you guys never played Super Dodge ball because it is great.
Classic 12-5 upset with Super Mario Brothers 2 beating Dr. Mario and Ninja Gaiden beating Paperboy
My sister's vote for Tiny Toons broke the tie versus Track and Field
Two ties had to be decided by the seeding committee, Base Wars over Metroid and Ice Hockey over Battletoads. Good stuff.

Round II

1. Super Mario 3
9. Excitebike

4.Base Wars
12. Ninja Gaiden

3. TMNT II
6. Mike Tyson's Punchout

10. Ice Hockey
15. Karate Kid



1. Techmo Superbowl
8. Tiny Toons

12. Super Mario 2
13. Blades of Steel

3. Super Mario/Duck Hunt
6. Mega ManII

7. Contra
2. Zelda II (gold cartridge)

I like those 3/6 matchups.
Voting will be open until Wednesday morning.

Random Picture of the Week

Yak



Nintendo bracket will be up tomorrow evening. Yes.

Nintendo Madness

I got the bracket fever baby. Everything should be in tournament form.
We're starting with Nintendo games. I'm talking about the 8-bit original NES, jumping up and down when you got it for Christmas, blowing on the games, playing til your hands hurt from the rectangular controllers. Yes.
Now I wasn't one of those rich kids growing up. I got nintendo a few years after most people and I didn't have many games, but it was still great.

I guess to vote, or to question my selections, just post or email me. Just vote on the ones you want. Not really sure what the best system for this is yet. Next round will be posted Tuesday. (company ski and/or get drunk weekend trip) Once we progress I'll and pictures and game descriptions and stuff. Have fun.

1. Super Mario Brothers 3
16. City Connection

8. Micro Machines
9. Excitebike

5.Paperboy
12. Ninja Gaiden

13. Metroid
4. Base Wars

3.TMNT II

14.Rampage

6.Mike Tyson's Punchout
11. World Cup Soccer

7.Battletoads
10. Ice Hockey

15.Karate Kid
2. Tetris




1.Techmo Superbowl
16. Mappy-Land

8. Tiny Toons
9. Track and Field

5.Dr. Mario
12. Mario Brothers 2

13. Blades of Steel
4. Super Dodgeball

3. Super Mario Brothers/ Duck Hunt
14. PC Pro AM

6. MegaMan II
11. Duck Tales

7. Contra
10. Castlevania II

15. California Games
2. Zelda II

Survivor

So, I wasn't really feeling this season of Survivor until last week when they switched up the teams. It is much better now. The challenge last week where Joel was dragging Chet was great. And I must say I like the winning team better- James, Jonathon, Parvati, Eliza, new young guy with long hair, but not the creepy hair, two new younger nice girls, and that weird lady. James is a mountain of a man. Ridiculous. Did you see tonight's challenge? Wow. Parvati is hot as I mentioned in a previous post, great smile. And I like Jonathon even though he is a douche at times. He played the game. I was upset when he had to leave due to his injury. He loves the game. If people can cry in sports, why can't he cry when having to leave Survivor?
Good things. I would've done the same thing Jonathon.

Big Things Poppin'

Just letting you know that big things are coming to this blog for the rest of the month. I'm feeling the March Madness. To honor it, I'm making some brackets. Not for basketball but for pop culture things.
Check out the Lost Bracket
It's pretty nice, especially for all those Lost fans.
I'm not quite sure how it will work, as I'm not too good with the graphics and things, but I know it will need fan participation. Yes!
Up first - Nintendo Entertainment System Best Game Bracket. Woah!

Spam

At my new job I get a ridiculous amount of spam. I mean, literally 50-70 spam emails a day. It is crazy. I have never had anything close to this before. One of the more common ones is for replica watches. I get about 5 of those per day, so if you need some replica watches let me know. Also, these emails let me know a lot of people in Africa have money in banks, like $10 million, but they can’t access it without my social security number or me sending them a small amount of money to reactive the account. I also get emails dated over a year ago and once from like a week in the future, but they’re usually written in some sort of code. But by far, and not surprisingly, the most received spam is sexually orientated. Everything from celebrity sex tapes to penis enlargement. It’s funny too, because very few of then are regular. This spam is smart and won’t just write viagra or penis, so it will put random ‘ in words or use a lot of funny slang. Here is a collection of my favorites, and these are just the subjects. Very rarely do I ever open them.

Become a real man increase your male aggregate.

Dreaming of a larger love-stick?

Only losers have small jang

This one might be my favorite, jang- very nice

New presentation with Keira Knightley + 5 korean homosexuals!

Not really sure about this one

ErectileorganCosmicGinger

Ditto

Whip out the anaconda in your pants and watch her eyes light up with excitement.

Girls will be queueing up to stroke your shaft.

Want a bigger baby-maker?

Be the master of the universe, with a huge broadsword in your pants?

I like the question mark

Ram her like never before with your new, enlarged battering ram.

Now the increase of your jang size is not a dream

Good ole jang

Hilary wants to get laid

Really?

Yeah, so there’re some good examples for you. You got about one funny everyday. So that helps you to get by all the annoying ones.

Random Picture of the Week

Snake eating a Dog

The Greatness of Mario Kart

I am again living with a large number of people. Sometimes things are weird when you are bored, and this really isn't our house, so we don't have everything you need to stave off boredem. And for some reason I thought of pretty much the funnest thing I did back the last time I lived with a number of people- Mario Kart!

Yes, no doubt. The greatest video game ever. To get it's full potential, you have to play at least 3 players on 100 or 150cc. Four is ideal.
The last time I lived with a number of people was college (well except for this summer, but there was no boredom thanks to drinking, teachers, firefighters, and pub quiz, but mostly drinking) was in college. Five guys two floors of a house pretty nice. But during the week we were kind of lame. We played a lot of video games- Fifa, NCAA 2006, Mario Party, but nothing compared to Mario Kart. I am talking about the N64 version of course. We would consistantly play all 16 races in a row. And, because of the game play, it was always close and entertaining. Feelings were often hurt, names were called, lots of swearing and complaining the game was unfair, but always a great time. Such a simple game too.
My racer of choice: Wario
Best Levels: Wario's Stadium, DK's Jungle Parkway, Frappe Snowland
Hardest Levels: Yoshi's, Banshee Boardwalk.

Yeah, I'm pretty much a dork, but I hope Mario Kart will continue to bring race after race of fun.
Best video game ever!

Brett Favre

Is there any other possible post for today? March 4th, the day Brett Favre retired. I still don't believe it. Brett has to be coming out of that tunnel next fall. It is a sad day for Green Bay, Wisconsin, and all fans of the NFL. There are tons of great articles out there about Brett. The media loved him, rightfully so. Just check ESPN or SI or pretty much any sports site. One of the best I saw was by Don Banks. There was no argument that Brett was the best quarterback ever, just that his leaving will leave a huge void. Seems like a great way to describe it. No one was like Brett. No one can fill his shoes.



Here's my take:
Brett Favre played his first game for the Packers a few days before my 9th birthday. 16 years later he retires. He is everything I know about football. Every team will be compared to his Pack. Every new player will be in his shadows. Every Sunday for 16 years! That's a long time. Just think of your friends, significant others, co-workers- how long have you known them? And Favre, unlike some players, you feel like you know. He was human. He had family problems. He had a child before marrying his high school sweet heart. He had drug addictions. He showed his emotions everydayand you felt them with him. He loved the game. He showed us why sports are so great. I think Green Bay was the perfect match for him. You take the good- Superbowl pass to Rison, comeback against the Bengals, playoff TD pass to Sterling Shape over the Lions, playoff wins over the Niners, awesome run against the Falcons, underhand passes, run blocks, trash talking the player that just sacked him, OT wins, picking up players after TD passes- with the bad- interception against Giants, interception against the Eagles, 5 0r 6 ints against the Rams, playoff loses to the Cowboys, playoff loses at home, fumbles in Detroit. But despite all the bad, you still always wanted the ball in Brett's hands. You still always believed he will pull it out.
I will remember how happy he made my father with every great play, and how mad he made my father just a minute later, and then again back to happy. I will remember countless press conferences, the Southern charm, the off-season retirement speculation, the smiles.
I feel privilaged to have grown up with Brett Favre. I feel privileged to call him my own.
I guess now I will never again be that 9 year-old kick jumping up and down with every TD pass, and crying with every loss. Guess I got to grow up.


Thank you Brett, for the joy you played with and the joy you brought to those who watched you play.

Almost Big Dunc

The article below reminds me a lot of Big Dunc. I bet he has blinded someone before. Just another example of how Everton FC, the People's Club, is keeping it real. For those of you confused, check the posts about Big Dunc, the namesake of this blog.

Everton's Cahill dedicates goal to jailed brother

Everton have defended Tim Cahill after his controversial goal celebration against Portsmouth.

The Australian midfielder crossed his wrists as though he had been handcuffed and later revealed he was dedicating the goal - Everton's second in a 3-1 win at Goodison Park - to his older brother Sean, who was jailed for six years in January for partially blinding a man.

It is the first time that Cahill, 28, has publicly acknowledged the sentence. He told Sky Sports: 'Basically, it's for my older brother. Everyone knows my situation and I am just proud that he is happy and I am happy and I'm thinking of him always. 'My family means a lot to me and so does this football club. It's been a bit emotional but it's good.'

An Everton spokesman defended Cahill from criticism that the celebration might be seen as inappropriate. Saying that he knew some would not 'be in favour' of the celebration, he said: 'Goal celebrations are a personal matter and up to the player to decide - no-one dictates what the player can do as long as he stays within the laws of the game, as long as it doesn't result in a caution. 'It clearly was a very personal thing for Tim Cahill. 'Anyone who saw the pictures will see he was emotional and it meant a lot to him. 'As long as he keeps getting the opportunity to score goals, that is important. 'Tim is a highly intelligent young man and makes his own decisions and saw fit to send a message to his brother, if that's what he was doing. 'He is a very articulate young man and will have weighed up the pros and cons and decided to do it because it was a personal and emotional matter. 'I am sure Tim was fully aware that some people would not be in favour of what he did before he did it.' The midfielder also punched the corner flag several times - his trademark celebration.




Oh, by the way, there is a picture of me and Tim Cahill up at my friends restaurant, The Carleton Grange. After Tim scored a goal in the World Cup the picture was put on top of the Grange cash register. Cahill promptly scored the winning goal a few minutes later.
Yes!

Random Picture of the Week

I've decided to begin a new feature on this blog- the random picture of the week. It'll pretty much be just that, a random picture. I may give a little description sometimes if necessary, but really it'll just be a picture ranging from crazy to profound. And it's not one of those things I'm looking for a funny caption for. I pretty much dispise those. You know what I'm taking about, from the old SI for Kids or Maxim. Horrible.
Yeah, I already feel this is a lame idea, probably will only last for a few weeks, but we'll give it a try.