Break's Over...Maybe Even More?

So as the title clearly states, my week of pure lounging has come to a close. It was a well timed week off, but I am glad to be getting back to school. Some things just seem natural at this point...maybe I can squeeze a couple more years out of my dad for this whole college thing. With the 0% chance that I acquire free cash from my dad to keep hanging out in school, I guess that means I will be moving on to bigger and worse things. I should mention that I am doing everything I can to prolong my stay, so maybe one of these days something will come to fruition.

The second part of my post is a bit depressing. I have been a big University of Arizona basketball fan ever since I was little, for I grew up watching Damon Stoudamire split double teams and take my dad's alma mater to the Final Four. Ever since then I have loved them, and Mr. Stoudamire has found better things to do with his time. This time of year is one where I usually put all my hopes into one basket and pray for a National title. However, this year is a bit different. Arizona's season has been flat out awful; dealing with injuries, inconsistent play, players who can not make layups, and ones with IQ levels that have never been approached by college students. So when a team is built to last like these hard fighting Cats it really takes away from my enjoyment of March Madness. I'll still fill out my brackets and root on Arizona and the quickly fading Indiana Hoosiers, but the dreams of both of those teams have been flushed down the drain for different reasons.

And since no one likes to end things on a down note, let's talk music. Bruce Springsteen is in Indianapolis this coming Thursday, and I can not for the life of me think of a better way to spend that night. The Boss is known for putting on tremendously long and unbelievable shows, and I am quite sure that I would like to be in attendance. So, if I can muster up the good $100+ for nosebleed seats, I promise to write you a nice long post on the New Jersey boy. This also means that tonight's tune is going to come from the song I am listening to now, "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)." I hope you enjoy, this is probably my favorite Bruce song of all time, and one of these days I am going to unleash to you my all my favorites...just not tonight.

Cubs Opening Day in 15 days!!!

Good Clean Fun

I want to devote this post to a few movies I saw recently, Juno and Donnie Darko. Now Juno has only been out since the holiday season, but Donnie Darko has been out for several years and I just now got around to seeing it.

First, I'll talk about Juno. I thought it was completely hilarious. If there is a 16 year old girl who talks like Juno McGuff, I would really like to meet her and see if she is like Juno. Everything she said and did was hilarious. While the movie has its down parts, the storyline and way everything is handled is exceptional. Many people won't like the idea of teenage pregnancy at all, but if you can get by the sarcastic nature of the film, it is very enjoyable. I laughed nearly throughout and ended up feeling good about life after the film. I guess that's one thing you can ask for out of a movie. It is not all that often that I honestly feel really good after a movie, which is why this movie succeeded in my eyes.

Second, Donnie Darko. I actually just saw this movie tonight with a few of my friends. I wasn't sure what to expect, as I've heard several people tell me different feelings about the movie. I was in for a psychological joy ride. The movie really did its best to screw with my mind in every way possible. Several things in the movie represented other people or symbols, which I won't get into in case you have not seen the film. Tremendous storytelling, the movie really took me to a different state of mind. I guess that is another thing you can ask for out of a movie. And as a note, when the movie is finished and you've analyzed in your head everything that has just happened for the last 90+ minutes, you realize that you have just seen something that is truly worth watching. An extremely well written piece of work, and also the reason I am haunted and wide awake right now at 4 am.

Check out both films if you haven't seen them yet. Two very different movies that I think many people would enjoy in different ways.

My final note of the night also revolves around the night I had tonight. To begin, I saw my grandparents that I have not seen in quite some time and honestly enjoyed my time with them. I had my laughs, some good memories and came out feeling lots better about seeing them. After that I saw a friend that I had not seen in at least 6 months or so. His life may be headed in a different direction than mine, but it's still nice to know that we can still hammer out a few good laughs and have a good time. I also realized that I am the most inconsistent bowler in the country while alongside a couple of my great friends. Then I watched Donnie Darko and put my night into somewhat of a theoretical debate. I couldn't have asked for much more, great times often come from the strangest of areas.

I got a recommendation to start linking the songs I post in my blog, so I guess that isn't too hard, I will start doing that. Makes it much easier for all of you to hear what is going into my thoughts. So, in the spirit of Donnie Darko, my song choice for the time being has to be "Mad World" by Gary Jules. Enjoy!

Sleep Deprivation

I can not for the life of me find out why I'm still awake. However, since I am just thought I'd pass along some thoughts.

First off, I have 30 HD channels at home. And I love Giada and her weekend getaways (if you understand this, please tell me, she's beautiful).

Second, I'm going to the Blackhawks game tomorrow and I'm really fired up. Live hockey is so awesome.

Third, Erin Andrews in HD is absolutely stunning. If you haven't noticed I love HDTV.

Fourth, since this is going absolutely nowhere, I thought I'd mention that I am on pace to gain 6 pounds over break. I'm still not sure how this happens, I just eat everything in sight when I'm home. Just had leftover chicken for no reason about an hour ago.

Fifth, and finally, we lost an hour tonight, and thus I am going to be punished tomorrow. Can't wait for a week of absolutely nothing.

Oh, and real quick. I forgot how much the song "Radiate" by averagesuperstar meant to me. Unsigned band + awesome song + best Captain Morgan commercial ever (pizza delivery one) + terrible circumstances = a song that I'll always enjoy. You can listen here . Okay, that's all for my fruity ass.

Love

B

Hillary Won't Die

As I sit in my room watching CNN coverage for the 7th straight hour, contemplating to myself how it's possible that I can't read 3 chapters for a class during that time, Texas' primary voting has finally finished. Hillary finally won, taking 3 of 4 states tonight, although there is a Texas caucus that is going on now.

I really thought it may have been tonight that would put her under, I was real wrong. The looks of this is that it is definitely coming down to an August Convention that is going to be unreal drama. The superdelegates are going to end up deciding this, and both Hillary and Barack are going to push them for why they should be the Democratic representative. For the first time in awhile I'm kind of worried that Barack is going to find some trouble. I'm not sure why, but I just am not interested in seeing either Hillary or John McCain as our next president. Guess I'm drinking the Obama Kool-Aid.

Anyway, it's going to be a long night, thought I'd take my mind off of studying a bit more. Tune to check in on, "Box of Rain" by Grateful Dead off of the American Beauty album. Great tune, great band. I may actually get some flak for taking this song over their others, but it's just so good that I can't help it.

What Perfect Weather Does to Me

This week is an absolute killer right before Spring Break, so there probably won't be another post in the near future. This one is even a cop-out in itself, but I'm swamped until Thursday. Between the school work I'm just gearing up for Opening Day at the end of the month. Hopefully I'll be in the bleachers for that one vs. the Brew. Maybe it's the optimist in me but I'm really feeling like we're going to have a great year. Really expecting great things out of our big guys.

On the other side of things, both of the college hoops teams I follow lost tough ones yesterday. IU getting absolutely destroyed up at Michigan State. Who would have thought that they'd mail in a game that would have given them at least a split of the Big Ten title. Very telling for future big games they have to get up for. As for Arizona, what a tough loss. Bad last possession, but we'll move on...hopefully they can do enough to get in the tournament. I don't want that 23 straight season streak to be broken.

Yesterday was the nicest day of the year. And probably in turn was my favorite day so far of 2008. I mean, can you really beat sitting outside all day, getting your arm loose and tossing bags around while sipping a few brews. It was a good enough day to just lie in the grass and look at the clouds, as soft as that may sound it happened. Cook a good meal out of the grill on top of that and you've got a perfect day. Finish off with a nightcap out on the porch with Van Morrison playing. I don't know if you can beat it.

Well, that's all I've got for today, so til my next poorly written post, go about your daily lives and maybe listen to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon with the lights off...or something wild like that. Also, I guess I'll make it a thing to make a song recommendation per post. So today's has got to be "Romeo and Juliet" by Dire Straits. Not really sure why, it's just come on my iTunes a few times lately and I dig it. You and me babe, how 'bout it.

Songs Stuck in My Head

Well, the title gives it away, here are some songs I've been liking a lot lately.

Pete Yorn - Splendid Isolation. This one is actually a cover of the late, great Warren Zevon's song. I just happen to like Yorn's version more.

The Beatles - Money (That's What I Want). Wow, happens to be another cover, and again, the Beatles version is catchy as ever.

Cassino - New Jerusalem. Shout out here to an unsigned band that I believe is one of the best in today's world. I absolutely love them, and turns out they are 2 of the remnants of what used to be Northstar...although they aren't huge on talking about them.

Sam & Dave - Hold On, I'm Coming. Little old school funk/soul action for the Memphis '60s-'70s era.

Third Eye Blind - How's It Gonna Be. I saw them in concert, they were delicious. This song is my favorite from them...although there's several other close calls.

Paul Simon - Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes. Off the great Graceland album. This one's my favorite. By the way, I love Paul Simon. What a cool guy, I wish I knew him personally.

James Taylor - Mexico. So many good ones from JT but this one sticks in my head for weeks after I hear it. I honestly hum it in my sleep.

The Postal Service - The District Sleeps Alone Tonight. I kept seeing the UPS commercial that uses their song Such Great Heights, and then I turned my iTunes on and this was the first song that came on...such a good one.

Steve Goodman - A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request. Just because baseball season is right around the corner. God Bless this man.

There's a diverse number of songs in there, I'm halfway impressed with myself. Maybe check these out if you get bored. I really like them all, but then again my musical tastes have been called terrible by people who I thought knew nothing.

Quick note, I got ripped into by one of my three readers recently. He said, "We're old, all we're looking for is something every other day at least. You're awful at this." Well, thanks, and here you go. I figure you won't enjoy this.

Lean Nights and Great Jams

Let's face it, I have to be the worst regular blog poster in 11 surrounding states, but here's a little something for you about my last couple weeks.

Starting off with big events, I journeyed to Wabash University for a concert of a band that I've liked since the first time I heard them, Third Eye Blind. Now, I was skeptical because they haven't put out a decent new song in about 8 years, but I still gave it a shot. Their self-titled album was so good that it could easily be recognized as one of the best of the '90s. My hope for the concert was that they would play a lot of their old stuff. Well they did not disappoint. Steven Jenkins came out rocking with Never Let You Go, off of the Blue album. They went on to play all their hits, played a 4 song encore and had me in a drunken daze of wonder and sweat. At one point the hair was flying around spraying perspiration around like I just got out of a pool. You can only imagine what I looked like at the end of the show. Let's just say I didn't appeal to many females.

After the show, Scott and Nick decided to stay with me at Wabash and have a great time with all our high school buddies from back in the day. The night was fantastic and I can't wait to do it again. And in all honesty, I have got to say that of the concerts I've been to, this ranked at least in the top 2 or 3 (discussion for another day), and possibly the best of all time. Absolutely great show, I can't say enough about it.

Anyway, onward to more recent events, especially the political race. Those of you who know me closely know that I've never been one to pay attention to current events or political news closely. That is until now, I don't know what's gotten into me but I really can't pull myself away. If you don't know, I have become a big fan of Barack Obama has to say. For some reason he really resonates with me and I enjoy hearing him talk. He has some great things to say.

I know it's been awhile because I haven't even written about Super Tuesday. Scott and I decided to follow the coverage in the classiest way we knew how...drinking 40's of Mickey's Malt Liquor. Always a fine decision, and we would continue to pay for it the next day. Like I'm honestly ever going to grow up, even with political talk there's the presence of cheap liquor from Compton. Back to real events, on that night he lost a couple of the big states but won across the country, and to this point its still the last time that he lost. Barack has won 10 straight primaries and actually looks like he is now the favorite to become the Democratic representative for the Presidency. All I can say to this is Bravo, he has done a great job gaining faith of the American people, and I hope he can take his great words into the White House and give us the change that we can believe in. To continue taking his words, yes we can.

For those of you not interested in my political interest BS, we move on. The NBA trade deadline just passed and as many of you know, I am a huge supporter of the Association. I thought there were some HUGE deals that went down, really a lot bigger than the previous few years. I guess I'll give you my opinion on the trades.

• Lakers acquire Pau Gasol for just about nothing. Anytime you can gain a 27 year old All-Star center for some expiring contracts and bad attitudes, I am going to say that you made a dominant trade. I really think that when Andrew Bynum gets back to game shape this is a Championship caliber team.

• Suns acquire Shaq for Shawn Marion and a horrendous contract. This trade is getting ripped on a lot since a lot of people don't think Shaq can run and gun with the Suns in the desert. Well, I tend to agree with them, I really don't think this is the move that is going to help them win a title down in Phoenix. The fit to me just isn't there. However, I will say that Shaq is going to be rejuvenated and I never would like to bet against a team that runs on Diesel fuel. I can't wait to see a Kobe Shaq meeting in the playoffs. Please make this happen.

• Of course, we've also got the big one that happened yesterday; the three-team deal sending the Cavs, Bulls and Sonics some new players. I think Big Ben and Z can be formidable down low, and then a 2nd line of Joe Smith and Andy Varaejo isn't too shabby either. I really like the deal for that reason first off. Second, you get the underrated Delonte West to run the point for you, I like it. Third, another gunner added in Wally World. I like this move. But also I like it from the Bulls standpoint. I've just got the feeling that Larry Hughes is going to thrive in Chicago. Definitely not living up to the contract he got, but if this guy gets to control the ball in the offense, he's going to make a positive impact. On top of that, the Bulls got a solid post scorer in Drew Gooden and can open up some more time for Ty Thomas' high flying act and Joakim Noah's hustle hour. Good deal all around.

• Hornets add bench depth. Solid trade, opens up a spot for Jannero Pargo with the departure of Livewire Bobby Jackson, and adds Bonzi Wells. That is the biggest part, Bonzi's ability to take smaller guards in the post is only going to add to Chris Paul droppin' a few more dimes a game.

• I also liked the addition of Kurt Thomas to the Spurs, giving them some bench depth. And rumor is they'll get Brent Barry back through waivers so it's even bigger.

Let me just say that I'm ready for the Playoffs to begin, and I absolutely can't wait for the action that it's going to bring this spring and summer.

One final note, on one of my favorite times of the year. Pitchers and Catchers reporting to Spring Training. I can not wait for the start of the season. I really like the makeup of my favorite team, although I think they could use some help at SS, but we'll see where it goes. You'll have my season projections by the end of Spring Training, don't worry.

And to close, let's toss out a tune that appeals to me in so many ways - Almost Cut My Hair by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young off of the Deja Vu album. Such a great song written by David Crosby about his hippie lifestyle among other things. I just felt like I owed it to someone to post that note. Check it out.