2011 NFL Predictions

It is that time of year again, time for me to make ridiculous predictions about the NFL and actually get some of them right.  Last year I did okay, I nailed the Packers winning the Super Bowl over the AFC North champs.  I am that smart.

AFC East
Patriots
Jets
Dolphins
Bills

Lindsey's Pick:  Jets

AFC North
Steelers
Ravens
Browns
Bengals

Lindsey's Pick:  Steelers

AFC South
Texans
Colts
Jaguars
Titans

Lindsey's Pick:  Colts

AFC West
Chargers
Chiefs
Broncos
Raiders

Lindsey's Pick:  Broncos

Wild Cards:  Ravens and Jets

Lindsey's WC Picks:  Ravens and Patriots

NFC East
Eagles
Giants
Redskins
Cowboys

Lindsey's Pick:  Eagles

NFC North
Packers
Bears
Lions
Vikings

Lindsey's Pick:  Packers

NFC South
Falcons
Buccaneers
Saints
Panthers

Lindsey's Pick:  Saints

NFC West
Cardinals
49ers
Rams
Seahawks

Lindsey's Pick:  Seahawks

Wild Cards:  Bears and Giants

Lindsey's WC Picks:  Falcons and Giants

AFC Championship Game:  Ravens over Patriots
Lindsey's AFC Championship Game:  Steelers over Ravens

NFC Championship Game:  Eagles over Falcons
Lindsey's NFC Championship Game:  Eagles over Saints

Superbowl:  Eagles over Ravens
Lindsey's Superbowl:  Steelers over Eagles!!!!!

Walt Jr and his Bitchy Mom

One of my favorite things about Breaking Bad is Walt Jr. and his horrible speech impediment.  I know, this makes me a terrible person, but I seriously love imitating him and the best thing to say is "mom, you're being such a bitch."  Or something like that.  Here is a clip of him saying it to his mom.



On last night's episode they continued this great running joke with Skylar even acknowledging it.  She makes a comment about taking back the car and she then says that she will still be the bitch.  She is now the protector of the family from Walt. 

It was a pretty sweet episode.  Walt is seriously losing his grip.  Also, he is losing his father-figure status with Jesse, which is now being replaced by Mike.  Mike was actually impressed with how Jesse handled the meth-heads.  And then Gus came along and completely crushed the bond between Jesse and Walt by saying the one thing Jesse needed to hear:  I saw something in YOU.   Walt believes that everything Gus does is about him (and he could be right, but he never thinks about Jesse).  Honestly, how far can Jesse be from being able to cook the same recipe as Walt? 

Will there come a point when Gus decides that he no longer needs Walt and could just use Jesse as the cook?  At what point will Jesse just decide that he would be better off without Walt being a complete jerk to him all the time. 

Breaking Bad: Bullet Points

Sunday night's episode of Breaking Bad was pretty damn awesome.  Allow me to run down some of the great things:

-Skylar and Walt going over the story about Walt's gambling was hilarious.  Walt was being such a dick (rightly so) to her because she made him seem like such a degenerate.  I loved when he apologizes and she starts to get excited until she realizes that it is part of the script that he is improving. 

-Walt shows Hank up with the mineral (obviously not a rock) collection.  Explaining the chemistry behind the pink.

-The greatest video ever:


-I wonder if the seed has been planted in Hank's head that maybe Walt is more than he seems.  I think so, he seems to buy the gambling story, but at the same time, his instincts have to tell him that something is off.

-Jesse just shrugging off Mike was pretty great.  He seriously has no care that his money was stolen.  The worst part is the way Walt does not seem to notice how messed up killing Gale has made Jesse.  He probably thinks this is all because Jesse is just a screw up.

-The ending was pretty fantastic.  When Walt goes to Jesse's house and cannot find him, my heart sank.  Especially when we see him with Mike, who asks Jesse if he is going to ask where they are going and Jesse says "nope."  Jesse really does not care if he lives or dies.

-I honestly think Jesse could die this season.  Imagine what that would do to Walt.  He treats Jesse like a son (which is why I wish they would kill off Walt Jr.) and I think Jesse's death would be a wake-up call to Walt.  This is not a business he is in.  These people kill you when you make mistakes. 

-That being said, I do not think he will die next week.  I have no clue how he will get out of this mess, maybe he will have a nice conversation with Mike.

-The new identity that Saul mentioned will become an option to Walt (or maybe he will do this for Jesse).

-I wonder if Hank will work more with the APD.  I hate seeing him all depressed and mopey.  I honestly think Marie could be a character to die this season, something that will cause Hank to snap out of his funk and completely become engrossed in catching Heisenberg.

A Dance With Dragons

As most of you can imagine, I was pretty excited about the release of A Dance With Dragons.  I went to Wal-Mart after work on Monday around midnight hoping it was out.  I was informed by the girl old lady working that they did not have it.  I woke up the next day with a sense of purpose.  I went back to Wal-Mart because I was told that it might come on the truck in the morning.  Unfortunately, it was not there and there were no other bookstores in Ebensburg.  I asked Lindsey if there was a bookstore in Johnstown and she said yes.  I then checked my account and found that I had no money.  How depressing!

Lindsey came home from work and surprised me with a copy.  What an awesome girlfriend!  Although, it was probably a bad move for her since she barely saw me after that, haha.  Alright, fun story, but now for the thoughts on the book.

I have decided not to bore you with a lengthy recap.  Honestly, only a few of you actually read books and of that small group, only a few of those people read this series.  Instead, I have decided to just look at some of my predictions and see how close I am.

Jon's Parents
My prediction was Rhaegar and Lyanna.  Unfortunately, it really does seem like Jon is Eddard's bastard son.  More than one character has made a comment about Eddard's woman (I cannot remember her name).  I still believe that Rhaegar and Lyanna ran away together and were probably in love. 

Arya's Blindness
I was right about that and an earlier prediction was that she would become a great assassin.  She refused to allow them to give her the antidote to cure her blindness and she goes about continuing her training.  At one point she figures out who keeps hitting her with the stick and gives him the three things she learned as he wanted.  She also succeeds in killing the insurance agent.  It made me laugh as they explain to Arya what the man does for a living and she is completely astounded that people would waste money on gambling whether there ship makes it or not.

Dorne
Quentyn Martell makes his way to Daenerys and shows her the letter that was an agreement to wed Viserys and the princess of Dorne.  Viserys was to return to Dorne with an army and they would join forces to retake the Iron Throne.  Unfortunately for Quentyn, he is a little late, as Daenerys is about to marry a guy from Meereen.  In his desperation to prove that he is not a loser, he breaks into the pyramid holding the two chained dragons and wants to steal one.  He figures he has a little Targaryen blood in him, he will be fine.  HAHAHA, how does being burnt alive feel Quentyn?  Yeah, he died pretty horrifically. 

Daenerys
I predicted that she would raise an army and come to Westeros.  Well Meereen has been a slight detour.  She has an army and a bunch of enemies, but instead of being a conqueror, she has become a true ruler.  She worries about how to feed her people and keeping them from slavery.  After her wedding, she is almost assassinated by her own husband.

Fortunately, she is saved when Drogon comes to the fighting pit and starts killing people.  She is able to control her dragon and hops on his back and flies away.  They are out hunting together when they come on the khalasar of Khal Jhaqo.  Ser Barristan Selmy has led a coup against Meereen's new king (Daenerys husband, who Barristan believes tried to kill her), but unfortunately, the armies assembled outside have decided on war.

New Predictions
-I still believe that Daenerys will eventually return to Westeros and conquer it or at least become Queen.  I think with Drogon, she will cause Khal Jhaqo to join his khalasar to hers.  I believe that from the first book, when two khalasars met up, they would battle and then the survivors would form into a new one and the leader would be the new khal.  With her new khalasar, she will return to Meereen and defeat the armies outside her walls.

-The new dragon, and I am guessing the real heir to the Iron Throne, Aegon, will not survive.  He will cause a ton of problems and probably give Westeros a real scare, but in the end, he will be defeated by someone.  OR, he will ride one of the other dragons.  As will Victarion, with his horn, but he will turn against his brother and join Daenerys cause as well.  I doubt that last one though.

-Tyrion will reclaim Casterly Rock and become the other force that everyone worries about.  Actually to piss off his sister, he will lend his support to Aegon and eventually Daenerys. 

-What will happen with Jaime?  He is now in the hands of the resurrected Catelyn Stark (Lady Stoneheart).  I loved how he handled the situation with the Bracken's and Blackwoods.  If you combined all three Lannister children, that would make a great king (or queen).  Anyways, I am guessing that Brianne promised to deliver him to Stoneheart in exchange for her life. 

-Jon Snow will not be dead.  He is wounded and will probably be saved by someone.  I have a feeling he will still lead his wildling friends against Ramsay.  Hopefully Jon will kill Ramsay and become the new Lord of Winterfell.  Although, he is still a bastard and if Stannis is dead, he has no shot of being naturalized.

-In fact, is King Stannis really dead?  I just hate Ramsay.  I never liked Theon, but after reading about his horrible captivity, I really want him to go back to the Iron Islands and either claim his right as the king, or just ask his uncle to kill Ramsay.

-I also still believe that the Others will make their way over the Wall or at least make a very good attempt.  The Night's Watch will regret losing Snow, but they will be saved by an unexpected source:  Bran and his friends, the Children of the Forest.

-Speaking of Ned's children:  Rickon will be the new Lord of Winterfell.  Davos will find the boy and help him regain his position. 

I am sure I will think of other things, but since I will have a few years between now and then, I will definitely write more about this series.

Baseball First Half Results

What can I say?  This has been one helluva season so far.  There are all sorts of things happening around the league, but none of which are all that important because the Pirates are one game out of first place with a 47-43 record!  They are above .500 at the All-Star break!  That is absolutely crazy when you think that at the beginning of the year we were wondering if they would win 70 games.

Anyways, you can find my original prediction's here.

In the NL East, I have the division race pretty much on point except that the Marlins and Nationals are flip-flopped.  I was also right about how much Nationals fans are loving Werth.  Haha, suck it Washington!  My insane prediction was that Mike Stanton would hit 40 HRs, which probably will not happen, but he does have 18 and he missed games with a nagging quad injury.  Also, it took him awhile to really get rolling.  This kid is going to crush balls for a long time.

I completely screwed up the NL Central.  Who would have predicted it this way?  Ryan thought the Cubs would win the division, I think we can all agree that one is probably not going to happen.  My insane pick is actually way off:  the Pirates lost to Greinke and Halladay, but beat Lohse.  They have lost twice to Dillon Gee, but none of those were shutouts.  They have not faced the others yet.

My NL West picks are almost exact if you take out the D-Backs.  Apparently they decided to be pretty good as well.  Hey, Mat Latos started the season hurt and is not having a very good year.  He will probably not win 20 games.

My NL MVP was Troy Tulowitzki.  He is having a good season, but not the best player in the league type season.  Statistically speaking, Matt Kemp and Andrew McCutchen are having the best seasons, if the Pirates win the division or even break their losing streak, I think people will mention Cutch as an MVP candidate.  As of now though, the kind of guy that the writers love to vote for is either Jose Reyes (if he stays healthy all season, and stays in the NL) or Ryan Braun.

My prediction for Rockies players has not helped them at all.  It looks like the Cy Young award is a nice race between the Phillies staff and Jair Jurrjens (you could toss a few other names in there as well).  Honestly though, I think Roy Halladay will end up winning it from this point on.

ROY awards are difficult, they should be split into pitcher/hitter.  Espinosa seems to be the leader in the NL, although, Freddie Freeman is heating up and could possibly pass him.

Over in the AL East, I was almost completely right except for the Red Sox being in first place, fortunately they are only one game above the Yankees.  I was right about the Blue Jays not hitting as many HRs as last year, but what I hinted on was that Jose Bautista would not continue to destroy baseballs...I was way wrong.

Who knew?

I hate the AL Central, seriously.  At least I was right about the White Sox not being in first place.  Unfortunately, I did not picture the Indians and Tigers battling for first place.  This is still a long season, who knows what will happen.

I pretty much nailed it with the Rangers, but Ryan was close with his Angels pick as they are only one game back.  I was completely wrong with the A's though.  Minus the hitting part.

Naturally my picks in the AL awards races are way off.  Jose Bautista is the favorite for MVP and Weaver/Verlander are probably the main Cy Young candidates.  It looks like Mark Trumbo could probably win the ROY.

Anyways, there is still a good amount of baseball left and anything can happen.  Hopefully more of my predictions are right and if they are going to end up wrong, let us just make sure it is the Buccos that completely wreck my division picks.  I would love to have to buy playoff tickets...

The Fires of Heaven

Last night I finished reading the fifth book in the Wheel of Time series, The Fires of Heaven.  It was pretty damn good.  There were plenty of really great moments, such as Mat giving away his secret knowledge of war, or Rand losing his virginity. 

The big splash came at the end of the book.  It starts with Moraine dying while I also taking Lanfear with her.  Then, Rand's friends are killed, but he uses balefire to kill Rahvin and thus erase what he did to Rand's friends.  What an awesome weapon, something that can erase someone from existence.  The more powerful the blast, the further back in time it can erase.  I wonder what the consequences were for Rand's actions?  Did someone that Rahvin kill maybe end up living?  Is that who Asmodean was confronted by at the end?  That would be interesting...

Predictions
-Moraine and Lanfear are not dead.  I have a feeling they will come back after meeting with Mat's snake/fox people.  I think it was Lanfear that showed up and killed Asmodean, hence the reason for his surprise.  I also think that when Moraine does come back, she will be more powerful than ever.

-Speaking of snake/fox people, Mat will eventually meet up with Perrin.  Mat's army and Perrin's army will be a major force that will defeat the Whitecloaks and help Rand win the world.

-Elayne and Nynaeve will end up being full Aes Sedai, especially after Nynaeve shows that she has captured one of the Foresaken.  Or they will leave Salidar and head out on their own.  Probably head back to Andor, since Elayne will be needed since people think Morgase is dead.

-I really want to know what is in the letter for Thom from Moraine.  Could it be something about Thom being Elayne's dad?  Yeah, I predicted that last time, and I will stick with it.  Or maybe I am completely wrong.

Aside from predictions, I want to make an observation about the similarities between The Wheel of Time and the Dark Tower.  Both series have technological societies that have been broken and are now much less advanced.  There is an overarching fate/destiny that drives the story:  the wheel and ka.  In fact, there is a saying in the Dark Tower:  "ka is like a wheel."  Hmm, just something I found interesting.

The Killing

If you watch shows on AMC, you have definitely seen the previews for The Killing.  I watched the first three episodes (the season premiere was the first two episodes) and so far have enjoyed the show.  The basic premise is a girl is found murdered and the show is about the investigation of the killing and the effects this has on key people.  Also, the show keeps it creepy with the muted colors and eerie music.  Plus, they must have sent out a casting call that said "if people sometimes suspect you of murder or child molestation, please see the BlahBlah Casting Agency."

I am going to introduce the characters and give you my odds of them being the killer.  I do believe that the killer has been introduced.

Sarah Linden
The lead detective who is trying to leave Seattle.  Her boss is forcing her to stay and solve the crime before she can leave.  She must have been a smoker because she chews gum like a fiend.  Also, her son is miserable about moving to Sonoma.  There is no chance of her being the killer. 

Stephen Holder
Sarah's replacement.  This is his first homicide case.  He is a former narcotics/VICE detective and is used to making drug busts.  He is completely different from Sarah.  He gets in people's face, asks dirty questions, and generally shows little respect.    He also can be a bit creepy.  He goes to the high school and offers some young girls some weed and then asks where they could go party.  Apparently this is not actually a drug, but some kind of fake-marijuana that cops use...sounds shady to me.  At the heart of it though, he is still a cop and I give him only a very small chance.  1%.

Darren Richmond
The city councilman who is running for mayor.  The dead girl was found in one of his campaign cars.  Luckily for him, the car had been reported stolen.  His wife died at some point and that is how we see him at the start of the show, visiting her grave.  Also, he is sleeping with his adviser and there seems to be something kind of shady about the guy.  I honestly do not believe him to be a killer, but I would not rule out there being some weird serial killer deep inside of him.  5%.

Stanley Larsen
The girl's father.  I am going to have to put him on the zero list.  He has a great alibi and his wife would probably have noticed if he left their camping trip.  He seems like a good guy, since he allows the kids to eat chocolate chip pancakes for dinner.  I am going to give him a 1% chance though because shows/movies love to go with that unexpected twist (if he were the killer, it would be really dumb.)

Jamie Dempsey
Darren's campaign manager (who I think was wrongly framed for being the leak in the campaign).  I could see him either being a serial killer or him thinking that a murder like this would somehow help Darren's chances.  Or maybe he is a pervert and ran into Rosie after she had just been raped and decided to have some fun with her.  10%.

Bennet Ahmed
Rosie's teacher, who Stephen asked if he had a thing for the younger girls.  He seems to have a very creepy eye on Rosie and her friend.  My comment above about Jamie, really could apply to Bennet.  After the two deuscheboys had their way with her, she may have run out of the school crying.  Bennet saw this and probably caught up with her and tried to comfort her.  He then told her how he always thought she was beautiful and that is when things got out of control.  Main problem:  why did he end up stuffing her in the trunk of that particular car?  30%.

Rick Felder
Sarah's fiance and probably the creepiest character on the show.  He would have absolutely no motive, but from the creepy factor alone, I have to put him at 25%.

Jack Linden
Sarah's son.  He seems pretty pissed off about moving to Sonoma.  Maybe he killed Rosie in order to force his mom to stay in Seattle.  He may be small, but he is very strong.  Okay, that one is a stretch.  0%.

Jasper Ames and the other Kid
Jasper was Rosie's ex-boyfriend and apparently he is very rich.  He and his friend are seen in the video raping (well it appears to be rape, maybe Rosie was down with being gangbanged) Rosie at the school.  These two are the top suspects and at the moment I have to put them at 50%.  I go this low because there are ten episodes left, unless the rest of the show is about them trying to find the evidence they need.

2011 Baseball Predictions

It was only a matter of time before I posted my predictions for the upcoming season.  A good chunk of these will be wrong, but who cares.  Go ahead and give me your best shot in the comments.

NL East
Phillies
Braves
Mets
Marlins
Nationals

Most teams would kill to have Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels as their one/two punch.  The Phillies have somehow managed to have them as as their third and fourth starters behind two guys named Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee.  Unfortunately, I see this division being pretty close.  The Braves will be nipping at their heels all season long.  Normally I would pick the Marlins to finish above the Mets, but I have a good feeling.  The Nationals will most likely suck and fans are going to love Jayson Werth down there.

IDP:  Mike Stanton hits more than 40 HRs this season.  I think he will move into that elite power-hitter realm this year.  In fact, I think he will be pretty awesome this year.

NL Central
Pirates
Astros
Cubs
Cardinals
Brewers
Reds

Sorry, I have that upside down.  Allow me to fix that.
Reds
Brewers
Cardinals
Cubs
Astros
Pirates

I just do not see the Reds getting worse from last year unless there are some major injuries.  If they put Chapman into the rotation, they are solid, if they leave him in the bullpen, they are solid.  The Cardinals are going to be hurting without Carpenter Wainwright.  The Pirates should not be as bad as last year.  At least that is what I half expect.  I also expect them to maybe lose 120 games.

IDP:  The Pirates will beat the following starters:  Greinke, Halladay, Lee, and Lincecum.  They will also be shut-out by the following starters:  Jordan Zimmerman, Homer Bailey, Dillon Gee, and Kyle Lohse.

NL West
Giants
Rockies
Dodgers
Padres
Diamondbacks

Look what happens when a team with great pitching suddenly starts hitting.  The Giants were such a great story last year.  I look for Posey to continue to be good, but I guarantee that people will be disappointed with drafting him in the second round (I keep seeing him go there in mock drafts...)  The Padres are going to fall back to earth, just like they did the second half of the season.  Hell, they may even finish below the D-Backs.  The Rockies and Dodgers are a toss up, I just think if the Rockies are healthy and decide to play for a full season, they are a better team.

IDP:  Mat Latos will get hurt during the season.  Either that, or he will win 20 games.

NL Wildcard:  Braves
NLDS:  Phillies defeat Giants, Braves defeat Reds
NLCS:  Phillies defeat Braves
NL MVP:  Troy Tulowitzki.  I envision a big season from Troy.  .320 AVG/35 HR. 
NL CY Young:  Adam Wainwright.  I think he has another great season, but not the best of the NL.  He wins the award because of his previous great seasons, if you get my drift.  Apparently I am an idiot.  I take Ubaldo Jimenez.
NL ROY:  Aroldis Chapman.  I think he is still eligible.  If he is a starter, I think he wins 15 games and is actually in the Cy Young conversation.  My secondary pick is Freddie Freeman from Atlanta.
Pirates Record:  70-92.  Not the worst team in baseball...maybe.

AL East
Yankees
Red Sox
Rays
Blue Jays
Orioles

I know everyone is putting the Red Sox in first place, but I do not think you just dismiss the Yankees.  The Rays are young and still talented.  The Blue Jays are not going to hit 257 HRs this season, but the should also have a better batting average.

IDP:  Posada gets hurt early on and they bring up Jesus Montero.  He crushes the ball and people forget all about Jorge.

AL Central
Twins
White Sox
Tigers
Royals
Indians

Bold pick taking the Royals to finish above the Indians, but hey, I am a bold individual.  As usual this will be a tight division.  I just do not understand how so many people are so high on the White Sox.  I realize that Adam Dunn will make them better, but is it enough to win this division?  I doubt it.

IDP:  Grady Sizemore gets hurt yet again.  I know, pretty insane.  He then retires and considers doing softcore porn.

AL West
Rangers
A's
Angels
Mariners

Even without Cliff Lee, the Rangers are still the best team in this division.  The A's have great pitching, but no hitting.  The Mariners are still bad.  I do not think Dustin Ackley will save them.

IDP:  Jack Wilson gets traded to someone.  At least he hopes.

AL Wildcard:  White Sox  (I believe that the AL East teams will post winning records, but because of the number of times they play each other, none of them will have more than 90 wins).
ALDS:  Rangers defeat White Sox, Yankees defeat Twins
ALCS:  Yankees defeat Rangers
World Series:  Yankees defeat Phillies.  Fortunately after winning, Jeter/Posada/Rivera all retire as champions.  I can dream, right?
AL MVP:  Kevin Youkilis
AL Cy Young:  David Price
AL ROY:  Jesus Montero, but my secondary pick is Mike Moustakas from the Royals.
Royals Record:  71-91

The Dragon Reborn

It took awhile, but I finally finished The Dragon Reborn, the third book in the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.  It has nothing to do with how good the book was, more to do with the fact that I spent most of my free time playing NHL11.  Now that my season is finished though, I decided to finish the book.

It was a great book and I guess I have noticed a trend in these books:  stuff happens for awhile, little adventures and then everything gets a little crazy at the end.  It is a cool thing.  Most of my predictions are still a possibility, which is a good thing (it shows how smart I am).

There were only a few complaints I had about the book and most of them were pretty minor.  The first one is the whole Mat being this awesome quarterstaff wielder.  I get that most of his fights later in the book revolve around his luck, but the first one seemed kind of silly.  Also, I hated how the teacher tossed out the story about how the greatest swordsman of all time lost only once to a quarterstaff wielding farmer.  Oh and then Mat remembers how his father always won during the festivals, unless Tam beat him.  It just seemed so...pointless and convenient? 

There is really no need to make Mat a great fighter.  Rand and Perrin make sense, but Mat is the trickster, he relies on his wits.  Also, after awhile he started to seem like a similar character to Rand and Perrin.  I did enjoy that he started to deduce that his luck worked when things were more random.

The other thing I did not like was how Egwene read about the ter'angreal that influences the holders luck and she thinks how it would really help Mat.  And then, just like that all of Mat's luck seems to be good.  I am guessing that when Selene visited him she gave him something...and yes I still think that Selene is Lanfear.  I noticed that all the other Foresaken all use a similar phrase:  "so-called Aes Sedai." 

My favorite part was at the end when Rand takes the sword and decides to follow Ba'alzamon by creating a portal (he has no clue to where or how he did it) and before he steps in he says "Now I am the hunter."  That was a very cool part, as was the Aiel saying they were the People of the Dragon. 

I will change a prediction though.  Mat will end up with Elayne.  He is going to constantly rub it in to the three girls about them not really thanking him for saving him.  Their relationship will start off a little rocky.  They will be mean to each other and then they will realize they have feelings for each other.  Why do I think that?  It will basically copy Zarine and Perrin's start.

Batman: The Dark Knight Rises

I have had a few people ask me about this, so I figured I might as well write about it.  Remember when I wrote about the third Batman film after I saw Inception?  It appears that I was correct about Tom Hardy playing one the villain, unfortunately I got it kind of wrong.  Christopher Nolan says that Hardy will play the bad guy Bane.  In a surprise move though, Anne Hathaway has been chosen to play Catwoman.

I have no problem with the castings of either of them, yet I do have to wonder about how these two will tie into the idea of Batman rising up as the hero of Gotham.  Will Bane be written like he was in the original Knightsend story?  He was extremely strong because of the Venom drug, but he was also somewhat smart.  He wanted to weaken Batman before fighting him.  He released all the bad guys from Arkham Asylum and then when Batman was nearly exhausted he chose to fight him and break him.

I would imagine that the movie will start with Gotham being hit by some sophisticated cat burglar.  Batman will track the person down, only to realize it is a woman.  They will spar and flirt and in the end she will escape.  How does this tie into Bane though?  Will Bane come to Gotham to try and take over the gangs?  Does he want to take over the entire city?  Maybe he hires Catwoman to find out who Batman really is?

Have you seen the film Havoc?  Who knew she was such a dirty girl...

Anyways, here are some things I do not want to see in this film:

-Supernatural powers or backgrounds for Catwoman.  No cat-god powers, no nine lives, none of that nonsense.  Just make her a cat burglar who likes to dress like a cat or something.  Keep it simple.

-Bane as just some hired thug.  If the gangs hire him to kill Batman, it will be incredibly stupid.  I mean, did they forget how well it worked out using the Joker?

-Batman taking his mask off to talk Catwoman out of killing someone.  The downfall of Batman movies always seems when the actor playing Batman wants more lines or screen time.  Do you realize how often Batman takes his mask off in the comics?  Pretty much never.  Nolan has done a good job of keeping it on most of them, just do it again for one more movie.  Not even if Christian Bale starts screaming at him...

-Please Mr. Nolan, do not introduce some kind of new Bat-suit.  I am okay with a new Batmobile, maybe even splurging and seeing a Batplane, but the one thing I really hate is when they change the suit.  It just never makes sense.  Unless it serves the movie.  I mean, yes, in the last one, it made sense for Bruce to want a suit that would stop dogs and allow his head to turn.  I just do not want to see an all new design or some specialty suit, like the fire proof sonar suit.  Ugh.

I really hope they use a suit similar to this...

-The love story.  Obviously that is why Catwoman will be making her debut in this film.  However, keep it to her and Batman.  Do not bring in the idiotic Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne relationship.  In fact, make sure that Selina never knows Batman's identity.  And under no circumstances should they figure out each others secret by some stupid back and forth like "mistletoe can be deadly if you eat it...a kiss can be deadlier if you mean it."

Anyways, I am excited about the film and I completely trust Christopher Nolan.  I am sure he will make a great movie and that it will finish up his trilogy quite nicely.  And then in a few years, they can bring another director and actor in and completely screw it all up.

The Bowl Challenge Gets Better

The winner of the Bowl Challenge will win this awesome prize.

That is right, the winner will receive a 47" flat-screen TV!!!  Just kidding, the winner will get the cool Steelers gnome in front of the TV.  What the hell do I look like?  A generous guy?

Here is the link, only four people have joined so far, so your chances are pretty good.  Minus the fact that I am going to win.

And now for a close-up of the gnome.  Just think, this could be decorating your home!

The Great Hunt

Last night I finished the second book of the Wheel of Time series called The Great Hunt.  The book was excellent.  The story picks up right where the first one left off.  Rand wants to leave his friends and hide away somewhere so he does not hurt anyone.  Moraine seems to be pushing him to be the Dragon Reborn.

Then something unexpected happens:  Fain escapes from his dungeon and steals the horn and Mat's dagger.  The Amyrlin Seat sends an expedition after the horn.  Rand, Mat, Perrin, and Lord Ingtar lead a bunch of soldiers.  They have a bunch of adventures, but it is not until the end of the book that things go from exciting to super-intense.

Hawkwing's descendants come from the west with an army and a new technology:  a'dam.  These collars bind a woman who can channel to a woman with a bracelet.  They control these women and use them as weapons.  And they torture them.  Liandrin of the Red Shah takes Nynaeve, Egwene, Elayne, and Min to these Seanchan.  Egwene and Min are captured and Egwene is forced to wear a collar.  She is horribly tortured.  Finally, Nynaeve and Elayne find a way to rescue her and they discover something quite useful:  the bracelet wearers also can channel.

Also during this time, Rand and his men find the horn and also encounter Lord Turak, who is a heron-marked blademaster.  He wants to battle Rand.  At first Rand is losing, but then he slips into the void and easily defeats the Lord.  We then learn that Ingtar was the soldier in the prologue who was working for the Dark One.

Mat sounds the horn and the legends of old return and they follow Rand because he is the Dragon Reborn.  Rand then encounters Ba'alzamon and they battle again.  Rand defeats him, but his sword is destroyed in the process.  Unfortunately, the image of the fight is seen across the sky above the city of Falme.  Ingtar's men all bow to Rand now that they know Rand is the Dragon Reborn.

Predictions and thoughts for what will continue to happen:

-All of my old predictions are still valid.  Except that it seems like Min is also in the running for Rand.

-Selene is going to turn out to be Lanfeal the Foresaken.  I think that was pretty obvious, but I guess I'll voice it now in case it turns out to be the only thing I get right.

-Who is the other Black Ajah that we saw in the prologue?  So many options, but I really think it might be Verin.  It seems to make sense.  She is of the Brown, but why did she take such a sudden interest in helping Rand?  Even Moraine said she came on her own, that she did not send Verin.

-It always seems that in fantasy books, there is a point where you can say "if they just did something different, everything would have been so simple."  For example, in LOTR, if Gandalf would have used the Eagles to fly the ring to Mount Doom, it would have been a much quicker journey.  I know I have talked about this before.  Anyways, Jordan does a great job of eliminating this moment.  In other books, Rand would come off as whiny, but he seems to be at least somewhat accepting of his destiny, especially towards the end.

Bowl Game Pick 'Em

Hey everyone, I created a college bowl game pick 'em challenge over at Yahoo!  I made it a public group so there is no passwords or ID crap to deal with.  Just click the link and you can go over and try to beat me.  Maybe I will put together a prize for the winner.  It would definitely be something cool.

WE ARE...

Baseball Predictions: How Did I Do?

I think the title explains this post, right?  Unless you are an idiot...anyways, let us get started.

NL East
Okay, I got this division completely right from top to bottom.  The Phillies stumbled at times, but honestly, with that lineup and that pitching staff who could stop them?  My IDP about Josh Johnson was completely wrong, in fact he tried to make me look like an idiot.

NL Central
I at least got the third place team right.  The Reds came out of nowhere.  At the beginning of the year, the Astros were just as bad as the Pirates, who knew they would start winning and the Pirates would never win again.  Life is pretty unfair at times.  Homer Bailey almost made my IDP come true on May 12th.  He did not throw a no-hitter, but instead he shut-out the Pirates at home and only gave up four hits.  Also, he did not go 9-11, but instead 4-3 (nothing spectacular).

NL West

Wow, I got this one completely wrong.  I guess I did not take into consideration how good Buster Posey and Aubrey Huff were going to be.  That is actually pretty impressive to be that wrong.  Shows you that baseball is completely unpredictable.  Wow, I barely got this IDP right:  Adrian Gonzalez hit 31 home runs this year and obviously did not get traded.  Woo-hoo, 2 out of 3 on the IDPs.

AL East
At least I got the Red Sox right (oh and apparently Adrian Beltre was the answer, since he had a monster season).  I knew that the Rays and Yankees would be the top two and one of them would be the wild card.  I just got it backwards.  Sue me.  Also, I believe at some point I heard a rumor that the Red Sox were thinking about Garrett Jones (until Ortiz started crushing the ball and Jones showed that he was human).  So I will give the IDP a push.

AL Central
Another one where I got nothing right.  Wow, I really sucked this year.  My IDP about Bonderman was completely wrong.  He did not get traded, did not strike out a ton of guys, nor did he really get hurt.  Hell, he started 29 games...his most since 2006.

AL West
And absolutely none right again!  Woo-hoo!  I rock and roll.  My IDP about Ian Snell did not happen, but he did at least suck out there in Seattle.  I guess that was something I got a bit right.


Playoffs
I at least had the Yankees and Phillies in their respective championship games, unfortunately they played the wrong teams.  I cannot imagine many people predicted this years World Series.  Again, this is the beauty of baseball, the teams that everyone expected to win it, did not.  Cool.

Awards
I did get the two Cy Young winners right, which I think is pretty damn awesome.  This may have been my worst prediction year ever, but predicting two of the award winners is pretty damn impressive.  I realize plenty of people might disagree with King Felix winning, but if you look past the record, he was much better than the others.  Also pretty cool that I said Halladay would win over twenty games.

Since I am still not sure whether or not Escobar was eligible (not that he would have won this year), but my secondary pick was Heyward, who finished second.  So since I put him second, I will pretend that is what I meant.

I did not realize Neftali Feliz was still rookie eligible, but again, I cannot complain, my AL ROY finished second in the voting.  Pretty cool when you consider how many rookies are potentially out there and how it seems every spring you hear about someone and then they fizzle out.  Heyward/Jackson/Feliz all delivered this year.  I honestly did not think the Giants would bring Posey up this year, or maybe not until late in the year.

If you told me that Carlos Ruiz would have 12 more votes for NL MVP than Chase Utley, I would have called you mentally challenged.  Well, I would have been the one looking pretty dumb.  Joey Votto wins the award.  At least Pujols got second place.

I at least got the AL MVP correct!!!  Oh, umm, back in 2009.  Look, my predictive powers do not know the limitations of the earthly concept of time.  At least Longoria finished sixth in the voting.  I did not really see Jose Bautista or Paul Konerko jumping into the top five.

As for the Royals, I was only eight games off with that one.  Umm, unfortunately, none of us were even close with the Pirates.  57-105.  Goddamn that is a terrible record.  I look forward to next season, and not just because I get excited about the prospect of making insanely bad predictions...

The Eye of the World

I recently picked up the first three books of the Wheel of Time series.  Greg Howley constantly talks about the series (not just in his review, but also in many of the comments here).

The first book is fantastic.  The characters are great, my favorite is probably Perrin or Rand.  My favorite little thing from the entire book is the way that both characters wish they had the others ability to talk to girls.

At first I was not thrilled the way the book ended.  We kept getting this idea that Rand would face Ba'alzamon, but not for a long time.  I figured Rand would learn about his powers and become a master swordsman.  Instead (oh and this could be a spoiler), Rand becomes Superman and destroys Ba'alzamon (I doubt he is really dead though).

The more I thought about it though, the more I loved it.  By the end, Moraine realizes that Rand is the Dragon Reborn.  It sets up for Rand to become the true villain.  He may have a great inner battle to fight throughout the rest of the series.

Here are some of my predictions for the rest of the series:
-Perrin will at some point return with the wolves and maybe find others like him.  He will become the leader of an army of men like him and tons of wolves.

-Perrin will be the one to end up with Egwene.  When they were together, it seems that Perrin has feelings for her.  He would get jealous when she danced with that one guy and always felt awkward when looking for the right things to say.  Also, Min said that Egwene and Rand will not be together the way they want...

-Speaking of Rand, I think he will end up with Elayne.  She thought he was handsome and he thinks she is beautiful.  He will be the Dragon Reborn and she will be his queen.  Maybe he will destroy the world, but I think he will end up helping to rid the taint of the Dark One.

-The next question is who is Rand's father?  I am sure that his mother was his actual mother, but her father was someone extremely important.  Maybe a king, I am guessing he was one of those Anielman (was that the name?).  Lan must have been a body guard or maybe a Warder.

-Will Moraine be a good witch or a bad witch?  I have no clue.  Will she try to stop Rand (I think the term is gentle him) or does she want the Dragon Reborn to become powerful?  Maybe she believes the world needs men Aes Sedai...

NFL Predictions 2010

It is that time of year again.  Where I make idiotic football predictions that do not even come close.  So here we go.

AFC East
Jets
Patriots
Dolphins
Bills

AFC North
Ravens
Bengals
Steelers
Browns

AFC South
Colts
Texans
Titans
Jaguars

AFC West
Chargers
Broncos
Chiefs
Raiders

Wildcards:  Patriots and Texans

NFC East
Cowboys
Giants
Eagles
Redskins

NFC North
Vikings
Packers
Lions
Bears

NFC South
Saints
Falcons
Buccaneers
Panthers

NFC West
49ers
Cardinals
Seahawks
Rams

Wildcards:  Packers and Falcons

AFC Championship:  Ravens over Jets
NFC Championship:  Packers over Cowboys
Superbowl:  Packers over Ravens

I decided to go a little out there with some picks.  Why the hell not?  If I am right, I will look so brilliant.  If I am wrong, well then I guess there would be no shock.

How Are My Baseball Predictions Going?

Without getting into my division predictions, I want to share my thoughts on the different award contenders.  I will try not to use many statistics since I know that freaks some people out...

Let us look at the American League first.
MVP
I believe it comes down to these guys:  Josh Hamilton, Robinson Cano, Miguel Cabrera, and Evan Longoria.  As most of you know I picked Longoria in the preseason, so I am still pulling for him.  I know most people would say Hamilton, but I would have to give it to Cano.  He is giving you similar production, but from the second-base position.

Cy Young
I picked Felix Hernandez and I honestly think he could end up winning, oh wait, he has a 9-10 record.  That does not help his cause, even though he is still one of the best pitchers in the AL.  The contenders:  Clay Buckholz, David Price, Cliff Lee, and CC Sabathia.  Lee has the unfortunate record as well, but he has been the best pitcher this season in the AL.  Sabathia will probably win because he might end up with 20 wins, but if the Rays win the division, I could see David Price getting the award.

ROY
I picked Austin Jackson and he could win it.  Although, I just realized that Neftali Feliz qualifies as a rookie.  He could end up with 40 saves, on a division winner.  Yeah, he will most likely win the award.  He has been fantastic this year.  Jackson started the year playing ridiculous.  He then slumped for awhile and has now started coming back around.

And now on to the National League.
MVP
I think this comes down to Joey Votto and Albert Pujols.  They are battling not just for one statistic as the overall leader, but instead they are having a race for the Triple Crown.  It is such an impressive thing. 

Cy Young
There are some good pitchers in the NL.  I would say the debate will come down to Roy Halladay (my pick), Adam Wainwright, Tim Hudson, and Ubaldo Jimenez.  If you give the award out at the All-Star break, Jimenez would probably have been handed the trophy.  I still think Halladay is the best pitcher in the NL, but if Wainwright or Jimenez hit 20 wins, they might be seen as more deserving. 

ROY
My pick of Alcides Escobar kind of sucks.  At least I took Jason Heyward as my secondary pick.  I think many people would have given him the award at the beginning of the year, but now I think you have to look elsewhere.  Personally, I feel that Buster Posey is the best of the bunch (or maybe Starlin Castro, who I feel started out so slow, but I realize now is hitting over .300).  However, I could see Jaime Garcia winning the award.  I do not know how I feel about that though.

2010 Baseball Predictions

Normally I try to wait until sometime in March to post my predictions for the upcoming season, but I am way too excited for baseball to start.  Feel free to post your own predictions in the comments.

NL East
Phillies
Braves
Marlins
Mets
Nationals

I always want to dismiss the Marlins.  Yet every year they do rather well in their division.  The Braves upgraded a good bit, this must be their final push to win for Bobby Cox.  The Mets, wow what can you really say about them?  I do believe they and the Marlins should be pretty close all season.  The Phillies are the clear favorite, with some competition from the Braves.  The Nationals, well they are there.

Insane Division Prediction:  Josh Johnson, the Marlins ace, will have some sort of arm trouble this year and miss multiple games or have a terrible season.

NL Central
Cardinals
Cubs
Brewers
Reds
Pirates
Astros

Obviously Pujols will just lead his team to victory.  He doesn't even need a team with him.  If he started pitching, he would probably throw 26 no-hitters in a season.  Anyways, if Carpenter and Wainwright pitch like they did last year, they run away with the division.  I cannot decide between the Cubs and Brewers.  The Brewers do not have the pitching, and Cubs will all get hurt.  On a bright note, the Pirates may not finish in last place, the Astros do not look very good.

IDP:    Homer Bailey pitches a no-hitter against the Pirates.  Still goes 9-11 on the season.

NL West
Dodgers
Rockies
Giants
Diamondbacks
Padres

Every magazine, every internet article I read has the Rockies picked to win the division.  The thinking is that if Jim Tracey can get them to play like that all season...blah blah blah.  Remember when they went to the World Series, did they play like that the following year?  Exactly.  If the Dodgers stay healthy, they win this division.  The Giants have the pitching, they should just offer Bonds a one year contract.  Even without 'roids, and well into his 60s or however old he is, he can probably still hit more home runs than the current outfield.  D-backs and Padres, yep they play in the division too.  I do not think the D-backs will be quite as bad as last year, and the Padres will certainly prove that they suck.

IDP:  The Padres do not trade Adrian Gonzalez, and he does not hit more than 32 home runs this season.

NL Wildcard:  Rockies
NLDS:  Cardinals defeat Dodgers, Phillies defeat Rockies
NLCS:  Phillies over Cardinals
NL MVP:  Chase Utley...actually this will probably go to Pujols again, he is that good.  Utley could finish second though.
NL CY YOUNG:  Roy Halladay, I see him winning 20 games for the Phillies.  Lincecum finishes second and there will be a huge debate over who deserved it more.
NL ROY:  Alcides Escobar,  SS for the Brewers.  I believe he is still eligible as a rookie this season.  If not, then I need a secondary pick:  Jason Heyward, OF Braves.
Pirates Record:  72-90. A ten game improvement in one season would be HUGE.

AL East
Yankees
Rays
Red Sox
Orioles
Blue Jays

This is always a tough decision.  Well except for the bottom two, they were pretty obvious.  This will be a cutthroat race for those top three spots and most likely the wildcard will also come out of this division.  I think the Red Sox are going to see that maybe resigning Jason Bay would have been a smart thing.  I do not believe Adrian Beltre and Mike Cameron are the answers.

IDP:  After failing to trade for Adrian Gonzalez, the Red Sox will trade for Garrett Jones.

AL Central
Tigers
Twins
White Sox
Royals
Indians

At first I put the Twins up top, but then the more I thought about it, the more I really liked the Tigers.  They have some really good young pitchers, and still a very solid lineup.  Although if the White Sox sign Johnny Damon, it is all over...just kidding.  I want to root for the Royals this year.  I want them to improve and be the team that shocks the AL Central (much like how I predicted the Rays would do the same in the East...)  The Indians, they just suck.  It is actually kind of sad.

IDP:  Jeremy Bonderman pitches a few games for the Tigers, racks up a bunch of Ks, then gets traded away, and gets hurt immediately.

AL West
Angels
Mariners
Rangers
Athletics

I have a tough time believing the Angels win their division again.  Unfortunately, I just cannot see who would dethrone them.  The Mariners have the possibly the best 1-2 starter combo in the AL, yet they also could be using Ian Snell as a #3 or 4 starter.  If you want something to make you laugh, check these teams final W-L Expectancies for 2009.  They played much better than they actually were.  Except for the A's.

IDP:  Ian Snell takes a no-hitter into the sixth inning, then promptly gives up seven runs.  Gets demoted to AAA, where he kills his catcher for telling him to throw more inside fastballs.  No lie, this will happen.

AL Wildcard:  Rays
ALDS:  Yankees over Angels, Rays over Tigers
ALCS:  Rays over Yankees
World Series:  Rays over Phillies.  A rematch of two years ago, I think that was the lowest rated (television-wise) World Series ever, if I remember correctly.
AL MVP:  Evan Longoria.
AL CY YOUNG:  Felix Hernandez.  Gideon will probably have an orgasm because of this.
AL ROY:  Austin Jackson, OF, Tigers.  Although, my secondary pick is Jesus Montero, C, Yankees, mainly because if Posada gets hurt, Montero will get his chance and apparently he can hit.
Royals Record:  75-87.  I figured I needed an American League team to balance out my Pirates prediction. 

Think you can do better than me?  Prove it.

Football Sunday

Well today is Championship Sunday, and since I am keeping myself awake after working third shift, I figured I might as well make my picks.

NFC
I will be rooting for the Saints in this one.  I like the Saints, who doesn't?  Cool uniforms, great back story, and Drew Brees, what is not to like?  If the Vikings win, I will just tune out sports for the two weeks because I cannot imagine the idiotic crap I will be forced to hear about Brett Favre. 

AFC
This might be a pretty good game.  Great defense vs great offense.  Or it could end up being a really crappy game.  I will go with the second option.  Mainly because every time I think a game will be awesome, it ends up being boring and slow, with 46 punts.  Shoot me now.  Anyways, I will go with the Colts.  I like Peyton Manning, sue me.



And here is the new video from adultswim, but without my true father, Carl.  Try to make sense of anything Earl says, it is pretty rough.

Lost: The Final Season

On February 2nd, which should be a national holiday of some kind, I will be the happiest guy alive. Why is that you ask? The final season of Lost premieres. I know some of you have stopped watching (or continue to watch, but say you stopped watching), but I have no clue how you could not want to check this out.

I recently watched the final episode of last season again and was still blown away by how awesome it was. Here are some thoughts from my post about that episode and some of my predictions...

The statue is apparently not Set or Sobek, instead it was of Taweret, which is kind of interesting since she has something to do with pregnancy and as we know, the island is weird about pregnant chicks.

Who do Jacob and his friend represent? Well I guess we should call him Locke2. What will happen now that Jacob is dead? Will Richard die? After looking at Nick's comment, I wonder if Richard was on the Black Rock and somehow came to be involved in some "cult" of Jacob.

Jacob was reading a book when Locke fell out the window. It was a collection of short stories by Flannery O'Connor called Everything That Rises Must Converge. Interesting. Apparently the stories are about people learning moral lessons. Have the characters learned lessons about their own lives? I would say yes.

More interesting Jacob stuff. Apparently he touches all the people in the flashbacks and says sorry in some way to most. What does all that mean? I have no clue. Also, if you read plenty of other sites about this, there is a question about the guitar that he leaves in the cab with Hurley. I believe the guitar is Charlie's. In fact, I would not be surprised if Charlie is brought back somehow.

Many people think this is impossible since Charlie and Juliet both appear on new shows (both on ABC, and most likely, both with different filming schedules than Lost). I would be fairly shocked if they both did not make an appearance this season.

Anyways, let me know what your thoughts are on the upcoming season.