Opinions On Eveything

I swear this has got to be one of the great things to ever come out on the internet. Yesterday I was bored and lo and behold I find 3 episodes of an '80s sitcom that I haven't seen in years. That sitcom is Perfect Strangers. That show was one of my favourites as a kid.

The plot is very simple and is one of the reasons why I think it was so successful as a series. I mean how can people NOT connect to a show that features a culture clash that PS had. You had Larry Appleton (Mark Linn-Baker) who was a high strung, cynical boob and Balkhi (Bronson Pinchot) his long lost cousin from the fictional island nation of Mypos who was kind, gentle, and a bit naive.

The great part of the show was the physical comedy. It was almost a Laurel and Hardy for the '80s. You'd see Larry going nuts and Balkhi trying to calm him down to no avail. I loved the adventures those two had. In fact, if the series was created a few years earlier I bet you dollars to donuts that there would've been a cartoon spinoff as well.

Anyways Youtube is so great cuz I got to see the pilot episode and one of the classic episodes of that series. I wonder why this show hasn't been put on DVD. It would be a pretty good seller.

On the negative side tho, Perfect Strangers gave way to their own spin off Family Matters. In fact late in PS' run there was a crossover episode with Urkel!

Every so often I look around youtube hoping to find a gem and i'm glad I found that little gem the other day. Now all we need is sportube. You know a site with full sporting events LOL....Not likely to happen tho.

I have a thing for the women of CNN. My first entry was going to be Carol Lin but I couldn't find a good pic of her. Anyways Heidi Collins is a very attractive anchor. I really like her sunny personality and those lips WOOOOO!

Actually I think she won some internet award a couple years ago for best hair in the news business or something like that. Anyways she really lights up the screen when she's on the air. Lately it seems she's been doing the "Jack of all Trades" schtick filling in for Paula Zahn and Anderson Cooper.

So last night I was bored so I decided to watch the Rhein Fire vs. Berlin Thunder in NFLE action. I wanted to see how well Drew Henson and especially Timmy Chang were doing. I don't know if it's the weather conditions or what but that was some of the most sloppy and unprofessional football i've seen in a LOOONG time.

I haven't watched an NFLE game in its entirety since it's original incarnation as the World League of American Football and I must say the overall level of play has gone down tremendously. I know this league has produced some good NFL'ers but I have to disagree with a poster from OS saying that this league's skill level is between college and pro level. It seemed there was either a penalty flag or injury every 2-3 plays for goodness sakes!

I know that the NFL has a somewhat working relationship with the CFL and I know the rules are a bit different but I really think that the NFL "minor leagues" as it were should be in North America with the CFL or even the AFL. At least with those leagues there are actual, you know FANS! In fact, the NFLE has been such a disappointment that all the teams (except one) are located in Germany. I guess the league should be renamed the Reich Football League LOL!

Anywho, watching the game I have to say Drew Henson is improving by leaps and bounds. He's shown great poise in the pocket, good arm strength and strong decision making abilities. That is definitely a step up from his limited time in Dallas.

Timmy Chang looked a lot better then week one as he looked more comfortable in the pocket and taking snaps from under center. He also has the ability to step up in the pocket and make strong passes.

I also liked one of the RBs for the Rhein club. His name is Frederick Jackson and he's a Bills alocated player. He has good legs and great vision. The same can be said for the other RB who's a TB Bucs property as he had great legs and strength to go with it.

Oh and one last note on this game. I sure as hell hope Rich Eisen won't call games on NFL Network next NFL season. He was just brutal and quite frankly sounded bored, then again i'd be bored calling an NFLE game. At least Rod Woodson provided good commentary and explained things well.

I also watched some of the Hamburg/Frankfurt game. There's a guy from the Frankfurt team who's allocated by the Cardinals and is a RB. His name is Roger Robinson and damn did he run all over the Hamburg defense. The man had 98 yards after one quarter of play for goodness sakes!

Oh and Brock Berlin sucks monkey balls. :)

Sorry for the lack of any posts lately. It's been a tough week or so as my uncle died. I've had relatives around as well so there hasn't been any real time to relax or anything. In fact this is the first day that i've actually have time for myself.

I'm sure i'll come up with some material by the weekend.

I recently acquired a copy of the highest rated MNF game of all time. The game pitted the 12-0 Chicago Bears against the 8-4 Miami Dolphins. This was the game where Miami beat the Bears and it was also a historic night as Walter Payton ran for 100 yards for the 8th consecutive game.

So let me give out some thoughts:

- You know you have problems when Frank Gifford is the anchor of the announce crew. OJ Simpson and Joe Namath were HOOOORIBLE! Well let me ammend that a little, Namath actually provided some good analysis but OJ was non-existent in terms of giving good commentary. It's a wonder that he wasn't fired in the middle of the season.

- When was the Delay of Game penalty put in place? I ask this because several times the Bears QB (Steve Fuller subbing for an injured McMahon) had problems getting the snap off. There were a couple times where the refs were practically begging Don Shula to get the crowd to quiet down. It wasn't so bad as the Vikes/Falcons NFC Championship game where the refs verbally told the fans to be quiet but it was very similar.

- I was amazed at Dan Marino. I didn't really pay attention to sports til about 1989 and while Marino was still pretty much in his prime he was starting to slow down. The Young Marino of 1985 however was a revelation to me. In the game he actually used his feet (tho the announcers made mention of the fact that he doesn't usually do so) and was actually quite nimble. Another thing that blew me away was his arm strength. The man chucked a ball 20 yards downfield at one point while back peddling!

- Marino also had an extremely quick release. He'd wait til the last possible second and he'd get the pass off with great efficiency and speed.

- Walter Payton, wow! I always thought he was amazing watching the NFL Films stuff but seeing him at full speed was just something else. He had the greatest footwork of any RB i've ever seen. The other thing I noticed was the fact he held the ball in one hand. It's something that a RB today would never get away with but Walter had great success.

- The game moved by very quickly. It's amazing how few comercials there were. It's a shame that commercialization has dragged sporting events to ungodly amount of time. This problem is most prevelant in college football. I also found the lack of graphical overlays and stats all over the place to be very refreshing. I think one thing that makes sports coverage seem boring at times is that we get distracted by fancy camera angles, overlays, stats, out of town highlights that we lose track of the actual game we're watching.

- This isn't about the game itself but the disc I recieved had an ESPN pregame show. Let's just say that the pregame show 20 years ago is like meat and potatoes compared to the razzle dazzle that we get today. There was actually a lot of analysis of the two teams and how they play. Chris Berman was VERY much muted. He just basically served as a moderator for Allie Sherman and Steve Sabol. Sometimes I wish sports broadcasting could go back to that serious style of presentation.


Overall, while the game wasn't great shakes I still enjoyed watching it. That was an era when football WAS football. At least back then you didn't have to focus a lot of energy on the police blotter or off the field problems with a team.

So I thought my next post would be about me reliving my childhood with Season One/Volume One of the Thundercats alas, that was not meant to be. It turns out that the packaging is wrong and inside the box are the discs for Volume Two!


D'oh!


So I will be going back to Wal-Mart either today or tomorrow to (hopefully) exchange for the right discs. I was so looking forward to watching a few eps today and seeing if my childhood memories held up.


Oh well.....I'll let you all know what happens.

Ah, sometimes I love the concept of blogging. I find it hard sometimes to have a strong and consistent voice on a message board, especially one as busy and large as OS so this gives me a platform to make a point and enlarge upon it.


Unless you live under a rock you know that the Barry Bonds story has taken a Woodward and Bernstein turn to hard hitting investigative journalism. Two writers from the San Fran. Chronicle are set to release a book that will shed enormous light on Barry Bonds. This book has been heavily researched with thousands of documents and over 200 people being interviewed. I think it's safe to say this isn't a hack job. Now I can easily turn this post into a "BWAHAHAHAHAHA I knew he was on roids all along" type of posting but I won't. What I will do is give a thorough opinion on the matter.

The book details the origin of Bonds' use of performing enhancers. In it they state that Bonds was jealous of the HR race of '98 between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. First of all, if this is true it makes no bloody sense on Bonds' part. Barry Bonds up to that time was viewed as a sure fire 1st ballot HOF'er despite his relations with the media. He was called the greatest baseball player of our generation. (ah I love revisionist and retroactive history as I recall this distinction being given to Ken Griffey Jr. at the time) Bonds was the epitome of the all around baseball player. He could hit for average and power, had very good speed on the bases and was a gold glove calibre OFer. (Not the greatest arm tho, but he was very smart in the field) Why would someone with those kind of credentials feel the need to potentially throw it all away by cheating for a record out of jealousy?

Did Bonds feel like he was slowing down? I find this highly unlikely because look at the 3 year averages between 1996-1998:

AVG: more or less .300
HRs: 39.7
RBI: 117.4
OBP: .448.3

Now those are great numbers no matter how you slice and dice it. Barry Bonds was just about to enter the last phase of his prime as he was 34 in 1999. So one can concievably say that Bonds still had some productive seasons left in him. If jealousy was the cause of Bonds becoming Mr. Chemical Man then that's a crying shame.

Now we're left with the fact that one of the greatest all around ballplayers of all time has cheated to break a record and inflate his stats to ungodly sums. This leaves baseball in a major qaundary. I mean, what if Bonds breaks Aaron's record? Bud Selig can't pull of that asterisk crap because there's no gray area in all this. Do you honestly believe Hank Aaron is going to say "Barry Bonds is the greatest HR hitter of all time" and not feel slighted? Selig either has to fully recognize the record or strike it from the books. Either way, he's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. I'm sure Selig is secretly hoping Bonds doesn't break the record.

Then there's the issue of the HOF.

Oh boy, this could have huge implications. I've heard during the Raffy Palmeiro situation that there's a strong contingent of writers who won't vote in guys who they feel had chemical assistance. It's now going to be VEEERY interesting as Mark McGwire is in his first year of eligibility in '06. Before this book has made headlines I would say that maybe some of the writers will soften on their stance and there may be just enough votes to barely get him in the hall. Now with the spectre of steroids and the revelations of the Crown Prince of the roids era is upon us it's going to give those writers a leg to stand on.

I'm willing to wager now that McGwire is going to wait a few years to even get into the Hall. (BTW I don't particularly think Big Mac is a HOF'er. He's only boosted to that level due to his power numbers.) If McGwire doesn't make it in his first year then it's a sign that the writers aren't bluffing about punishing players of the Roid Era. Barry Bonds when he's eligible is going to meet tremendous resentment and resistance. In many ways this is a tragedy as Bonds was a 1st ballot guy before this but he's so blatantly cheated and pissed all over tradition that one can't be comfortable with him in the Hall. I mean, if he's in then people will scoff and view him as a cheat. If he's out, then those who truly know and respect baseball will note Bonds' great career before steroids and note the shame of it all.

This whole situation didn't even have to happen. Yes, i'm sure he would've been accused and maybe even "outed" but if Bonds had been a better media person then he would've been given the McGwire treatment of forgiveness. Bonds has always been surly and boorish towards the media and in some ways Bonds revealed himself while taking those performing enhancers. It's noted that those who have chemical assistance will find their personality traits greatly exaggerated and out of control. Well if you look at Bonds' relationship with the media in the late 90s and beyond, you'll see that he became even more aggressive and antagonistic against them.

If Bonds was more media savvy he could've used his considerable charm to put the heat off him. Bonds has done the opposite; he has treated the media with contempt and little respect. If Bonds was only a little more friendlier then he'd have strong media supporters no matter how bad things get but instead he's now the most vilified man in all of pro sports right now.

Finally, I want to express concern. I geniunely worry about Bonds' health. This is a man that took every performing enhancer known to man, made home brewed concoctions and drank 20 pills at a time as part of his regemin. Pumping so many chemicals and God knows what else into one's body for 5 years is bound to cause serious health problems. I may not like Bonds personally but as someone who has a love and respect for his fellow man I can't help but feel some concern for his wellbeing. I seriously think Bonds won't live to see his 60th birthday due to all the chemicals he has pumped into his body.

He has made his own bed tho, and must eventually face the consequences. Hopefully if that does happen it will serve as a warning to those athletes who think performing enhancers is the way to go.

I don't have very much to say because quite frankly i'm in shock. I just want to give my condolences to his family and friends. May God bless you Kirby Puckett.

He was one of my early sports heros. I mean who couldn't look up to a big roly poly guy who played the game with the enthusiasm and joy that he did. I will always remember his play in the '91 World Series.

Yep I know i'm a day late, so sue me! Anyways as you can tell by the photo on the left TAFFT #2 focuses on music and my favourite singer of ALLLL time Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. otherwise known as the Prince of Soul Marvin Gaye.

So how did I get into his music? Well it was 1990 and I was going through my father's LPs and found a greatest hits compilation called Every Great Motown Hit of Marvin Gaye. I was hooked immediately but I only thought "well that sounds pretty cool. I wonder what happened to him?" When I heard of how his father killed him one day before his 45th birthday I was shocked and it led me to seek out any of his material I could find and to learn as much as I can about him.

Even before I knew the details of his life I found his music to be very powerful, not only musically but just hearing that voice one could feel the emotion and soulful yearning for peace and love that he seeked throughout his life. It was after I read what I, and many other Marvin Gaye fans feel is his official biography Divided Soul by David Ritz that I learned the story of this brilliant and troubled soul. It made me identify with him all the more. Marvin was at heart a decent soul but it was the abuse of his father and the dysfunction between father and son that started Marvin towards a confused and tortured life in so many ways.

The main themes of his music and ultimately his life was love (both carnal and spiritual) and love of God as well as spiritualism. He had the goal of bridging the sexual with the religious. Unfortunately he never quite accomplished what I think is pretty much the impossible. His closest to achieving that goal was the posthumously released "Sanctified Lady". The original title was "Sanctified Pussy" but CBS records overdubbed the offending word along with putting WAY too much electro-funk stylings onto the song.

Marvin's music still touches the soul of anyone who listens to it. Every song was personal to him even if he never wrote or produced it. (give a listen to "Where are we Going?" to see what I mean) There was the added quality of just about every song being something you can relate to. I guess that's how I got hooked. I could identify with the emotions that he brought to the fore.

So after explaining why I like Marvin Gaye here's my top 3 albums in order:

1. Here My Dear: This album is Marvin's most personal album ever. It chronicled the breakdown of his marriage to Anna Gordy. This album contained just about every style of modern soul music from the 1950s right on up to the late '70s. I guess it's fitting that only Marvin could do an album that would have a doo wop styled song ("I met a Little Girl") and a funk number ("A Funky Space Reincarnation") in it. My favourite track on the album is a toss up between the soul sermon that is "Anger" and the funky and funny "You can leave but it's going to cost you". If you do buy this album I warn you it could actually leave you kinda depressed afterwards. (The only other MPG album that has left me distraught and depressed is Trouble Man)

2. What's Going On (deluxe edition): If you thought the original was the be all and end all of soul music then you haven't heard the deluxe edition! Nothing needs to be said about the original album but I have to say this, as Marvin told Smokey Robinson "Smoke, this album wasn't done by me. It was done by God." and by God it was! There has never been album before or since that has the kind of impact that WGO had on soul music and social awareness. It was the first secular album to fully embrace religion and God to a full extent. It was the one of the first concept albums in soul music history. (Isaac Hayes beat him to the punch with Hot Buttered Soul ) It was also the first time since Elvis that an album had 3 consecutive #1 Billboard hits.

Whew that was a long intro. I needed to start a new paragraph! Anywho let's talk about the extras that make this a deluxe edition and why it enhances WGO. First of all this edition contains the original Detroit mix of the album. The finished product you hear on the original album was actually vocals that Marvin did off of a remix of the original arrangements. The Detroit Mix is a lot more rough but that doesn't mean it loses the gravitas of the finished album. In fact I actually like the Detroit Mix versions of "What's Going On" and "Inner City Blues (make me wana holler)" more then the finished versions of the tunes. The DE also includes the rare Marvin Gaye Day 1972 concert rendition of the album. This is one of those rare bits of history that you're glad is still around to be heard. Marvin was completely on his game that night. The renditions of "What's Going On" and "Inner City Blues" were just superb. I especially love how Marvin basically sent out a prayer to everyone in the encore of ICB. The DE has other goodies like the single version of "God Is Love" which I just LOOOVE. The slower and more intimate gospel sound fits the lyrics much better. You just gotta love Marvin harmonizing with himself. Finally but not least is the special instrumental version of the title track. It's kinda interesting. It reminds me of a theme for a night time soap LOL!

3 Midnight Love and the Sexual Healing Sessions: This is another one of those releases with the original album with "brand new" material supplementing it. I'll quickly say that this album is probably one of the most underrated piece of work that Marvin ever did. Most people today say "well it was a good album but "Sexual Healing" was the only truly good song" when in reality the critics were all over this album in a good way back in '83. This was Marvin's "comeback" after his self imposed exile in Ostend, Belgium. The man came back with a vengence and a sound that mixed funk, electronica, reggae, Rick James styled funk and Barry Whitesqe brassiness. The mix produced a sound that was totally Marvin. My favourite song on the album other then the title track is "Joy". The track had a funkiness to it that's infectious. The brief guitar solo (there's a longer one along with a sax solo in a promo version of the song) gives it a sound similar to James Brown and believe it or not Michael Jackson. The reason I love this song so much is the concert version where he dedicated it to his father. It was truly a song that celebrated his religious upbringing.

So let's get with the "brand new" material. This is the actual sessions that led up to the album. There are two things that stand out to me

1) the acappella version of "Sexual Healing" which is just mind numbingly good. I kinda wish Marvin did acappella versions of some of his hit songs. It could've made for some interesting listening. If that wasn't enough the original vocal/mix of the song is a lot better then the original IMO. It has a running 4 note beat that repeats and gives the song a bit of a funkier edge. I also find Marvin's vocals a lot more emotional in this mix of the tune.

2) The original conception of "turn on some music" with Marvin meditating on the powers that music has on the soul. It was to me a "sexual healing" for the spirit instead of the body. It's this version of the song that was sampled in Erick Sermon's "music" in 2001. The final version of the song that's on the album is good but I really wish CBS had gone with the original version of the tune as it was more musically complex and stronger as well. I honestly feel if they had gone with the original version of the song that it'd be just as big of a hit as "Sexual Healing" was.

The Sexual Healing Sessions gives the listener an in depth tour of a master at work and it's what propels what is a fairly good album with a unique sound into one of those required listening type of albums.


WHEW! That was a lot. This is definitely my longest post and I barely scratched the surface. I think I will do an in depth look at my favourite MPG songs next week.

Joe Gillis, an unsuccessful screenplay writer, escapes the finance men who are trying to reclaim his car by driving into the garage of an old mansion on Sunset Boulevard. Assumed to be someone else, he is led by Max the butler to the mansion's owner, silent film star Norma Desmond. Wishing to make a comeback, she hires him to rewrite her "Salome" script, then falls in love with him. Joe moves into the mansion as a kept man. Secretly, Joe is collaborating with a pretty young screenplay editor, Betty Schaefer, on another idea. Though she is engaged to his best friend, Artie Green, an assistant director, Betty falls in love with Joe. When Betty finds out about Norma, she asks him to leave Norma for her, but Joe can't unsettle her life, too. He decides, instead, to leave Hollywood. As he is leaving, a crazed Norma tries to stop him.

This is not the most revolutionary game. It's basically an MGS and Splinter Cell clone. The controls are definitely a bit touchy but still.....


THIS GAME IS GOOD!!!!


You would think the first two things I said would mean the game isn't so hot but au contraire my friends. This is one of the most immersive games i've played in a long time. I don't usually buy non sports games because quite frankly I suck at them. I do rent them sometimes and i'm very glad i've rented this one. 2K and their partners in developing this game should be commended for a very good job.

This game has everything a 24 fan could want. The presentation is just perfect as it truly feels like you're in the world of Jack Bauer. I believe all the characters you'd want are in this game and you get to do missions with them. Right now i'm in the 1:00 PM hour and i'm playing Jack's daughter Kim who's supposed to stealthily retrieve a disk. Sadly i'm having a little trouble LOL!

This game is helped by having the actual cast voice act for the game and the writing is straight out of the TV series as one of the writers wrote the storyline to the game. The in-game graphics are pretty good but what really knocks my socks off are the graphics in the storyline scenes. There are times when you can barely tell that it's a video game. There is a scene when one CTU agent is being picked up by a hellicopter and damn if I didn't think that was real!

Even tho those graphics are top notch there are times where it breaks down and looks clunky but for the most part it maintains the great quality.

This game is fun and highly addictive and i'd recommend it to anybody, not just 24 fans. I wish more games had the kind of immersion and intelligent writing like this as it would surely draw me into non sports games.

Overall I give this game an 8/10