April 16, 2016

This week: MLB quick hits, Reality TV Roundup, Parenting Story, and more...

March Madness, personal vacation, family visits, birthday parties, MLB Opening Day (read: Week), aggravating my cousin on Facebook :), and all the joys of parenting.  These were among the many things that kept me away from the keyboard these past few weeks.  It was nice to hear from folks who missed my posts; that was a pleasant surprise.  I truly appreciate the feedback and the interest.  

Trivia for my fans - Waaaay back in the day I used to be a trivia host and question writer for a restaurant promotions company in Atlanta.  It was a ton of fun and I met lots of nice folks along the way (including a really fun family that I'm still friends with to this day).  I'm throwing some trivia into my blog because it just seems fitting.  This is exclusively for your own enjoyment; the answers are at the bottom of the page but you'll need your secret decoder ring to read them :)

1. The 80s - Two instrumentals made it to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the 1980s.  Name them.
2. People - What TV personality appeared on a 1997 cover of Time with the headline "Yep, I'm Gay"?
3. Movies - What legendary actor's final big-screen performance was as the voice of Wylie Burp in An American Tail: Fievel Goes West?
4. World - The affluent beach district of Ipanema is located in what city?
5. Sports - Who is the active rushing yards leader in the NFL? (scroll down for a hint)

MLB not-so-Preview - I'm a little late on my entry into the predictions and prognostications portion of Spring Training, so I'll instead provide some quick hits and random thoughts about the first week or so of the season and the outlook for the marathon to October.

• The Braves are awful - I try to be realistically optimistic when sports seasons begin and I knew this team was going to have some growing pains, struggles, and head-hanging moments, but I didn't realize it would be so hard to win just one game.  They're currently 1-9 (a sneaky late-inning win on Friday night against the Marlins ended their futility) and the outlook isn't pretty.  I predict they finish April with 2 wins, maybe 3 but not more than that.  They're terrible.
• Youth infusion - Every season seems to introduce new and exciting talent at nearly every position and as a proud MLB.tv subscriber I get to tune in and watch guys like Carlos Correa, Francisco Lindor, Miguel Sano, Corey Seager, Trevor Story, Kevin Pillar, Kevin Kiermaier, and many others ply their trades.  Guys like Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Matt Harvey, Jose Altuve, and Manny Machado are already carrying the torch and making the game competitive and fun to watch.  
• Braves need a youth explosion - Seeing the youth insurgence is a bit bittersweet as a Braves fan, especially this season.  They've stockpiled their organization with a glut of young, elite prospects but their major league roster is a patchwork quilt of retreads (sorry, Frenchy & Bud Norris), past-their-prime vets (sorry, Gordon Beckham & Kelly Johnson), and young arms.  CF Mallex Smith made his debut this week and left the game looking like this. Seems like a fitting punctuation on the kind of season they'll have; constantly getting hit in the face.  I just hope that the next 24 months in Braves Country sees at least 2 of their minor league stars-in-waiting burst on the scene and move this team into contention.  
• Division races abound - I'll address the season as it goes along, but my early predictions are tight division races in the AL East, AL Central (the Royals will come back to Earth a little bit), NL Central (sorry, Reds, not you; you can carpool with the Braves to the support group meetings).  Divisional series will be must-see TV every night.  ASIDE: Wednesday night this week was the perfect scenario for my baseball passion.  E1 was finishing up The Magicians and I had 10 games on (2 four-game mosaics on my computers, a game on my phone, and a game on my extra TV).  It was amazing.  
• Wild Card Playoff Game - I have a lukewarm crusade to eliminate the one-game Wild Card Playoff from baseball.  Both leagues need to host a three-game series with a back-to-back doubleheader starting at 12pm on Monday at the home ballpark of the team with the better record.  A Super Bowl halftime-like atmosphere between games (they can get Journey, Metallica, or John Cougar Mellencamp to perform on the outfield grass) and then back on the field for Game 2.  Managers would have to manage their bullpens accordingly.  And if they split the doubleheader they jump on their awaiting chartered flights to the other city for a deciding Game 3 the following night.  I think that would be one helluva day of baseball.  If you have Rob Manfred's personal cell number, can you do me a solid? 

Sports trivia question hint #1 - Here's your first chance to use your secret decoder ring (aka, simple cursor trick...aka, copy but no paste). His first and last name are both monosyllabic.   You missed it, its back there.

The Internet Ruined My Life - Not MY life, its the name of a new show that me and E1 are watching on SyFy and its sobering.  It's a mismatch for SyFy, it should be on A&E or truTV, but its totally worth checking out.  Shot in a first-person confessional style, each episode chronicles two people's experience of having their lives upended by a simple tweet or Facebook post or Instagram pic.  Each story is different but the humanizing element of internet hounding is what drives the show's appeal.  Don't jump to a short-sighted, "people just need to get over it" or "it can't be that bad" conclusion too quickly without watching the show.  Granted, some of the victims were a bit too cavalier or heady with their fingers on the keyboard, but none of the subjects deserved the treatments they received.  Another show in this same vain is I Survived which I think is still hanging around in the archives of Hulu.

60 Days In - Another show that's caught my eye recently is a reality show on A&E (exactly where it belongs unlike The Internet Ruined My Life) called 60 Days In.  The Clark County (IN) Jail came under a new sheriff last year and in an effort to help learn more about the workings of his jail and, more importantly, to correct criminal behavior and corruption from his staff he created a groundbreaking program.  Seven citizens were selected from a candidate pool to be booked into jail and serve 60 days as a real inmate.  Only two people in the jail system know their real identities and each of the citizens were given backstories (i.e., outstanding warrants, embezzlement charges, forging checks, etc) and then processed into jail.  Its intense for a sheltered noob like me.  I made the mistake of watching the first two episodes right before bed; I couldn't sleep because I thought E1 was gonna steal my commissary.   

Sports Trivia Question Hint #2 - He's a former Hurricane.   This one's a dead giveaway.

Parenting Story - H2 is beginning her journey into the wonderful world of walking.  She's so close to getting one foot in front of the other without assistance and in an effort to help her along we're using one of those push-walkers from Fisher Price.  We went to the Land of the Walkers (aka, the mall) to take a few laps with her.  I was spotting her from behind, diaper bag slung over my shoulder and patiently escorting my daughter through each step (read: snail's pace).  It's a cherished memory I have from H1's learning steps and I enjoy being a part of that process with my daughter.  My kids are people persons and love smiling and giggling at strangers and making even the toughest souls grin, so its not uncommon to hear "oh my, she's so cute" or "you've got your hands full".  I have a small bank of ready-made responses like "yeah, she's a charmer" or "she definitely keeps me on my toes".  Its the normal single-serving exchanges that happen almost every day.  So, when I'm walking behind my daughter and watching all the foot traffic navigate around her I was completely unprepared and caught off-guard when a perfectly normal-looking woman walked right up to me with a smile on her face and said "your life is over, I can see it on your face".  I instinctively gave her one of the autopilot responses that seemed incredibly ill-fitting considering her out-of-the-blue declaration.  She could've walked up to me and said "Mondale was robbed" or "Frosted Flakes taste like sawdust" and I would've been just as unprepared for my comeback.  I can't seem to settle on a good explanation for her comments, but I trend towards "trying to be funny with the stereotypical nonsense about daughters stressing their dads out".  It just came off horribly and has hung around my frontal lobe all week.  

Trivia answers - A simple cursor trick = secret decoder ring.  Ask me privately if you're having trouble.

1. The 80s - Both the Miami Vice theme song (1985) and the iconic music from Chariots of Fire (1981) reached #1 for one week each.  FYI Axel F from Beverly Hills Cop peaked at #3 in 1985.
2. People - Ellen DeGeneres
3. Movies - Jimmy Stewart
4. World - Rio de Janeiro
5. Sports - Frank Gore

March 13, 2016

This week: UFC 196 recap, Reality TV tidbits, New Showtime series, and more...

DISCLAIMER: This week's edition features a section that isn't intended for all audiences.  I'm dead serious.  Some of you may shrug your shoulders and mock me for the warning, but others may appreciate the heads-up

Half an egg on my face - I felt like the perfect rube in the closing seconds of the Conor McGregor-Nate Diaz fight last weekend.  I fell hook, line, and sinker for all the showmanship and bluster that McGregor spewed in the fight hype that I completely overlooked all the obvious holes in his game that Diaz exposed masterfully.  It was a decent fight with an unexpected outcome, but it was one of those unique fight experiences where as the fight develops it becomes perfectly clear that the "underdog" is no underdog after all.  Diaz picked McGregor apart with superior jabs from his long range and eventually broke the Irishman's spirit to take any more punishment, forcing him into a desperation takedown attempt with limited ground skills and zero stamina to put up a fight.  I felt like Tommy Gunn's manager at the end of Rocky V when the fight momentum turned in favor of Diaz.  "You're losing everything!!!"  Alas, that's an overstatement.  McGregor still retains the Featherweight belt and his next opponent will certainly come from that division, likely at UFC 200 in July.  Stay tuned.  

The other egg half - McGregor's shortcomings aside, I did come out on the winning end of one of my predictions when Miesha Tate defeated Holly Holm for the Bantamweight title.  It was a bit of a seesaw battle with each fighter winning a round in the opening two frames.  But then Tate failed to capitalize on the fight momentum and entered the final round facing a "Finish her!!!" scenario and, boy howdy, did she.  If the UFC was sponsored by Sesame Street the closing credits would have noted that "today's fight card was brought to you by Ground Control, without it you'll end up purple-faced and blacked out".  Holm and McGregor both learned this lesson the hard way.  Tate secured an unrelenting hold on Holm in the 5th and never let go looking at one point like she might choke her out standing up.  It went to the mat and within seconds the lights went out on Holly Holm's reign atop the division.  

Any good cook knows what to do with cracked eggs - The UFC's master plan for McGregor went out the window (or, if you're an undying optimist, was temporarily postponed).  He's still a magnetic personality and young enough to develop a world-class ground game, but he'll cool his jets for the rest of this year and likely defend his title twice by December.  As for the Women's Bantamweight division, the Tate upset likely adds one extra wrinkle to the eventual Holm-Rousey II that everyone presumed prior to the Holm loss.  Provided Ronda Rousey is still looking for a fight and not looking to settle down and make babies, then I predict it goes like this:  Tate-Rousey III for the belt (possibly at UFC 200), Holm versus rising star Amanda Nunes for top contender status.  Winners face off for the belt in December.  Its a classic semifinal format.
  
Reality TV tidbits - I'm a fan of gritty docu-series, competition challenges, and home improvement chronicles.  Here are some quick thoughts about an assortment of Reality TV I've seen in the last few weeks:

• The Bachelor - The finale airs tomorrow (Monday, March 14) and Ben has 'lot of 'splainin to do after telling two women he loved them.  I don't care how you slice it, that's a bad move and the Squirm Meter is gonna be on 10 from the opening credits.  The Women Tell All Special was an uncomfortable walk down memory lane last week.  Overall, I must agree with Chris Harrison that Ben really is an admirable, swell, honorable guy and I could definitely see us hanging out.  I'd probably give him my number if I saw him out at my normal stomping grounds: Children's Museum, Sam's Club, every playground in a 15 mile radius.  Even Minnesota Twin pitcher Phil Hughes likes Bachelor Ben.
• Top Chef - The finale airs Thursday, March 17 and I like both contenders, but will definitely be pulling for Amar.  He is a great chef who's already won a shot at redemption by claiming the Last Chance Kitchen prize.  Worth noting, Amar was one of back-to-back chefs that got eliminated on frozen waffles and toast; he managed to recover from the soggy toast elimination and he'll hopefully claim the Grand Prize.
• Survivor & The Amazing Race - Unfortunately both of my faves got cut short due to some scheduling issues on CBS and poor recovery from my DVR.  I'll take this opportunity to inform you that CBS has finally joined the streaming services community with their own All-Access feature.  It works just like the other proven models of Netflix and Hulu.  Free 7-day trial gives way to a $5.99 monthly subscription.  Available on multiple platforms.
• H2 no longer exists - It was always an honorable mention/afterthought in my channel surfing, but H2 is gone and has been rebooted as Viceland.  If you're a fan of Vice, HBO's hit news magazine show (think gritty 60 Minutes), then Viceland is for you.  I started dabbling with some of their original programming this week and found Vice Essentials and Noisey to be my early faves.  Shows like that are always good for informing on topics you never would seek out on your own.  Case in point, I had no clue how bad things had gotten in Trinidad & Tobago and why.  But now I'm an expert and will be hosting a panel at the next neighborhood bake sale/fun run/yard sale.

Things I never imagined saying before I had children and now seem perfectly normal

• "its bedtime, we're not eating butt paste."

Redbox reviews - Had the good fortune of watching three movies this week with my lovely wife.  

1. The Martian - She read the book and saw it in theaters, but this my first time.  It was engaging, easy to follow, and surprisingly believable in a near-future kinda way.  I liked it and think you should check it out.
2. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation - I love the whole Mission Impossible franchise.  Tom Cruise is a certifiable whack-a-doodle but he makes fun action movies.  This one follows all the usual recipes from the previous installments and has two major action sequences that don't disappoint and a handful of quality fight scenes.  My Dad was always a sucker for action drivel and I feel I'm entering that stage of Dad-hood.  I don't wanna think too hard sometimes, just blow stuff up, beat up the bad guy, and get back the (insert irreplaceable/invaluable/top-secret heirloom here).  Aside from running about 30 mins too long, this movie hit all the right notes.  
3. The Intern - The kind of movie Redbox was perfectly designed for.  $2 for a cute, warmly satisfying, wholesome movie.  I would never spend movie ticket $$$ on this type of movie, but $2?  Yep.  Its relatively simple with one fun little reveal that I didn't see coming and one cliched storytelling device that I did see coming.  But, overall, its a sweet little movie that everyone with half a soul and a lukewarm heart would enjoy.  Some of you need not apply....you know who you are. 

DISCLAIMER: The final section may not be intended for certain audiences.  The subject matter may be discomforting or offensive.  Please read at your own discretion.

Let's get heavy for a minute - I generally prefer to keep my content light, easy, breezy, and anti-inflammatory....like Ginger Ale or jock itch spray.  But I will occasionally delve into slightly weightier fare when the time is right.  Showtime launched a docu-series earlier this year called Dark Net that addresses various topics related to the seedier side of the internet of which I was mostly ignorant.  I'd read the news stories about the Silk Road and had a limited understanding of the reaches of the nefarious types that surf around those outer reaches of the internet, but this show does an excellent job showcasing topics from the dark web that I never knew existed.  Long distance BDSM couples where the guy is the submissive and wears a genital cage for a vast majority of his week.  The woman who sees the value in RFID bio-chipping for humans and has one "installed".  The content moderators who suffer from PTSD after 6 months on the job.  But the most well-crafted, eye-opening, gut-wrenching, heart-sinking episode was, by far, the story on child pornography.  It was done responsibly, devoid of any sensationalism, and was exactly the gut punch you'd expect.  It was unsettling for sure, but it can't all be Fixer Upper and House Hunter reruns.  I feel a responsibility to turn a sensitive, informed eye to these topics to better understand the human condition and the human psyche.  Its not a show for everyone, but maybe you'll find something that speaks to you.