Stinger503 Caledonification

Some updates and reflection

2011-10-23T22:50:00.000-07:00

What a summer! It's hard to believe that I actually went to GeoWoodstock this year, it seems like years ago now. Some of the other highlights:

GHAGAFAP X
Over 100 caches in one day!
100 days in a row with a cache!
Placing 15 caches!
An amazing day at Dairy Daze!
Introducing my cousin to caching (He now has over 100 finds!)
A double event day
A September with over 180 caches.
Starting Waymarking
Caching with legends like Bruce Iroquoia, Pasha 88, Surly2 and Karen Renora

Whew. This month I have less than 20 caches. It's because, well, partly laziness. But a lot of it is the shorter days combined with disorganization. Add in school and a job then well, you get the picture.Thankfully a no-school week should bolster my numbers. In fact I'll give you a preview of what's coming up.

Caching partner Sharon12 will be getting her 1000th cache this week. She's chosen Deerbait, an old cache that dates back to 2001.
BFL Night is coming up, this will be my first attendance and I'm excited. I'll report back to you.
I will be getting an iPhone 4S as early as tomorrow. I'll be reporting on how it compares to my Magellan in a few weeks.
A ton of ideas for new caches.
Visiting the GPS Maze in Toronto.

This Week in Fantasy Football: A mixed bag

2011-10-05T22:04:00.000-07:00

First up was the Caledonia Maulers who lost 90-69 against the Boston Celtics. This was a complete fumble by my team, the highest scoring player was BGE with 13 pts. Even if I hadn't bench Eli Manning I still would have lost by 6 points.

Next up is the Hamilton Stingers who led a great 92-74 victory over the Honey Badgers. Michael Turner did most of the work netting 20pts and Graham (TE) and Kasay (K) got 19 and 11 pts respectively.

Now the Hamilton Thunder lost out to NAA 119 to 91 unfortunately Fitzpatricks failure and Austin being sidelined with injury lost us the game. The rest of my players did well though, all having over 10 pts.

Finally the Tornadoes preformed a come-from-behind victory 91-89 against the Waterboys as Bernie Wells got an amazing 31 pts. Mike Williams 6 pts gave us the win on Monday night.

A Sweep of a Different Sort TWIFS

2011-09-27T10:57:00.000-07:00

I don't want to talk about this. Last week my teams were on overdrive. This week however, we lost Miles Austin, Beanie Wells, and had a complete melt down of our Running corps.

Let's start with the Maulers who lost 107-89. Starks (RB) and BGE (RB) got -2 and 1 respectively. Grossman (QB) got 12. Shout outs for Gronkowski, Wallace and the Steelers D for keeping it in shooting distance.

Now on to the Haldimand Thunder who lost 101 to 94. Again BGE had 1 point which f'd us. Dieon Branch had 0 points which didn't help. Ryan Fitzpatrick and McFadden both scored over 20 pts so props to them.

Next is the Hamilton Stingers, who were wiped out 156-87. This game was pretty much unwinnable.

And finally the Tornadoes lost 103-92. Beanie Wells out and Mendenhall got 3 points. The Eagles DST had 3 pts too. Thanks to Stafford, and the Johnsons for keeping this close.

It's A SWEEP! TWIFF Week2

2011-09-18T21:28:00.000-07:00

Let's start with the Caledonia Maulers who picked up the Steelers DST from waivers to get 19 pts! A big shout-out to Miles Austin for 32 pts. But really the whole line was amazing! Kasay (K) had 14 pts, Moss and Wallace (WRs) had over 30 pts combined, waiver wire pickup Starks (RB) had 11 pts and Green-Ellis (RB) had 13 pts. Finally waiver wire pickup Grossman (QB) snagged 19 pts!
Final Score: 158 Maulers - 68 Domination
Analysis: Damn! Even my Bench did well (Packers DST 14 pts and Henderson (WR) 16 pts). The guy who gave up the Steelers must be kicking himself! I believe this is probably my highest score in fantasy football thusfar.

Now for the Hamilton Thunder who in addition to Austin (32 pts remember) had both RBs (Fred Jackson and D. McFadden) getting 49 pts combined! Vick got 17 pts and throw in Henderson's 16 and Kasays 14 you get...
Final Score: 148 Thunder- 85 Trollshrouds
Analysis: Another unbelievable performance by everyone involved.

Next is the Hamilton Stingers, they had Tony Romo getting 25 pts, Ben Tate and Michael Turner (RBs) combining for 30pts, Austin's 32, Steve Johnson's 15 and Kasay's 12
Final Score: 146 Stingers- 93 Wreckin' Crew
Analysis: Simply amazing. Another blow out win. Austin has earned his pay.

Finally its the Tornadoes, who were going against my father's team the Rhinos. If you followed my fantasy teams last year you'll know that I suffered a devastating loss to them in the Championship. Out for blood, Matt Stafford (a risky draft pick) snapped up a monster 33 pts. Mendenhall (RB) had 13 pts, the Johnson's (WR) totaled 30 pts. Rob Gronkowski had an amazing 20 pts at tight end and Kasay again had 14 pts.
Final Score: 118 Tornadoes - 100 Rhinos.
Analysis: Finally some revenge. A dish best served with a 4 team sweep.

Welcome Back to TWIFF 2011: WEEK 1

2011-09-12T22:49:00.000-07:00

This year rather than having college teams I've elected to have 4 NFL teams. Let's see how they did:

First is the Caledonia Maulers. With Peyton Manning injured, his brother Eli had to step up, snagging 14 pts. RBs Steven Jackson and Green-Ellis totaled 20 pts combined. My WRs and TE totalled 46 pts and kicker David Akers put the cherry on top with 15 pts.
Final Score: 106 Caledonia Maulers - 96 Leathernecks
Analysis: Great first win, team looks good, going to have to pick up someone to replace Peyton, busy waiver wire this week.

Up next is the Hamilton Stingers. Starting QB Tony Romo played well getting 21 pts. Primary RB Michael Turner got 12 pts. My receiving corps totaled 44 pts (Miles Austin, Jimmy Graham and Steve Johnson). The Chargers DST and John Kasay rounded out the team with 24 pts.
Final Score: 105 Hamilton Stingers - 63 Mother Green
Analysis: Another great win, Romo played great, and the whole team looked brilliant.

The Tornadoes are part of the league that my family is playing in. I took a late pick with Matt Stafford as QB which payed off with 28 pts. Green-Ellis got my 9 pts on RB, but it was my receiving corps that was the monster 52 points. The Eagles luckily made up an error on my part (Hartley was out and I didn't have time to change him) with 19 pts.
Final Score: 110 Tornadoes - 83 AJ Crushers
Analysis: Should be even better once I get an active kicker

Finally the Haldimand Thunder played well too. Michael Vick scored 26 points and McFadden got 15 pts. My tightend and kicker both fell short.
Final Score: 105 Cowboys - 93 Thunder
Analysis: Going to get some new TE & K, over a good start

E3 2011

2011-06-08T09:05:00.000-07:00

The title of this post is deceiving, since this is mostly a message to Microsoft (Don't get me started on the Vita or Wii U).

Microsoft, buddy, we got some issues to talk about. We (gamers) have been growing concerned over the last couple E3s but its gotta stop. Here are some of my observations of your press conference.

Stop it with the kid shit. Disneyland Adventures and Sesame Street have no fucking business even being at E3, better yet the Xbox 360 briefing! Why? People watching E3 are not the target of these games. Do kids even know about E3?! No one watching E3 got excited and said "I can't wait for Disneyland Adventures!". Even parents don't care, a father who plays video games isn't watching E3 for gift ideas.

"But," you say, "this is showing off the Kinect!" Shut. Your. Whore. Mouth. A lot of gamers already hate the Kinect, why are you making it worse by showing games for 6 year olds? Its even worse when you show child actors or whoever playing the games, pretending to have fun. I have a Kinect, so stuff like Ryse, Ghost Recon and Star Wars were actually pretty cool. But then you show dumb shit like people playing football. I don't think there was a single person watching who didn't facepalm at that. Next year I'll have a drinking game where every time something like this happens, I take a shot. I could die of alcohol poisoning Microsoft, do you want that on your conscience?

Now that I've vented a bit there's also some good stuff I haven't mentioned, like Halo 4, the Halo 1 remake, MW3 and Gears 3.

Now how do we fix the embarrassing issues? The first step is simple: if someone comes to you and says "We should show (insert game for kids 8 and under here) at our E3 press conference", you slap them and tell them to get the fuck out of your office.

The next solution is send it to me. Honestly, type up an itinerary and e-mail it to me. I will tell you what I think for free.

Overall, E3 this year has been lackluster, with the exceptions of MW3, Dead Island, and Bioshock Infinite.

The Death of Guitar Hero

2011-02-10T21:46:00.001-08:00

First let’s get the obvious “our thoughts are with the people who were laid off” out of the way.

Now, how does it effect Rock Banders (and gamers in general)?

Well we could see the signs at least a year ago. Rock Band 3 was announced with the “real guitar” and piano hardware, what was Guitar Hero’s response? Warriors of Rock? Although the game has a bunch of good songs (most notably Rush 2112), it seemed like a desperate last gasp in comparison to RB3.

It’s only a wonder this didn’t happen sooner. Think about it, how did Rock Band advertise? It didn’t. Game sites and word of mouth made Rock Band popular. Now look at Guitar Hero and all those Bob Seger commercials. How much did those cost?

And then of course there’s the market over saturation. Seriously: Warriors of Rock, Guitar Hero Smash Hits, Guitar Hero 4, Band Hero, DJ Hero, Guitar Hero Aerosmith, Guitar Hero 5, Guitar Hero Van Halen, DJ Hero 2, Guitar Hero Metallica. And those are just off the top of my head! What was the logic in this? I could go on for hours, so let’s get to the benefits.

The immediate benefit is that Rock Band is suddenly a monopoly over the genre. And since Harmonix is a pretty well liked by everyone, this is sort of like having Santa as president or something. If a band wants to be in a music game they pretty much have to go to Rock Band.

The next big thing is that it forces anyone who is a new entrant to the music genre or a Guitar Hero fan to go to Rock Band. This will greatly help the franchise which is frankly no prize right now either.

What are the problems? First is the people who are saying this is the death knell of music games. It’s not. It’s sort of like saying HD-DVD dropping out of the HD wars was signifying the end of HD movie discs. Yet Blu-Ray is still around.

Even then, it’s not some sort of revelation that music games are in a slump. The problem is the image this presents might turn off artists from using Rock Band.

Finally the worst part is how shaky it makes Rock Band look. If a well established game like Guitar Hero can just collapse, can the same happen to Rock Band? A couple of songs and I could have been a Guitar Hero player. That’s a lost investment in hardware, software and downloadable content. They can at least use the hardware for RB3 but even then, what happens if Harmonix closes? Then where would we turn?

Game Review: Rock Band 3

2011-01-13T06:10:00.000-08:00

Rock Band 3 was a long time coming. Rock Band 2 was released way back in 2008. Unlike the Guitar Hero franchise which has a seemingly endless amount of sequels and spin-offs, we only had The Beatles: Rock Band and Green Day: Rock Band to tide us over. After such a long development, will Rock Band 3 be the pinnacle of music gaming it's supposed to be?

In some ways yes. Consider that I haven't played with the actual stringed Rock Band guitar or the other advanced guitar. I have had experience with the Rock Band ~~Piano~~ Keyboard (smart ass EB Games employees). Well let's start with the piano then. It's fun. A lot of fun actually. The keyboard itself is well-made and the charting is stupendous. Two complaints:

The bar to activate overdrive and effects is way on the left side, which more often than not causes you to lose focus.
This is a big one, upgrading songs from Rock Band 2 and DLC for Rock Band 3 Keyboards costs the FULL PRICE of the song. Yup, apologists can "but they have to re-license the songs" to the cows come home cause that's horse shit. Sorry there's no way I can be nice about this. If they had been up front about it, say, a year ago and said "Yup your going to have to re-pay for the songs for Rock Band 3" then they'd have my sympathy. Instead they didn't announce shit and waited until two weeks after Rock Band 3 was released and the first DLC came out. Fucking cockbites.

Okay I have to calm down. Let's get to the good part, the music and game play. If your a metal lover than your probably going to be disappointed with Rock Band 3. Thankfully I hate metal, so Rock Band 3's soundtrack was amazing (albeit confusing: Who the fuck asked for Rock Lobster? Or that llama song?). Huey Lewis, INXS, J Geils Band, Joan Jett, Dire Straits, Ozzy, Police, Who, Doors, Hendrix, Bowie and the Beach Boys? HELL YES!

I thought the feel of Rock Band 2 couldn't get any better. I was wrong. Rock Band 3 feels so solid its unbelievable. The menus are much better (although switching users is still a pain in the ass) as well. What about the campaign? It's a disappointment. The idea behind it is great: go to different cities on Tours playing your choice of various setlists with different challenges. That's totally fun. The problem is it's too damn short! I never completely finished Rock Band 2's campaign, but Rock Band 3's campaign can be done in a day! They spent way too much time on their goal system when they need to expand the campaign. This is inexcusable when they've gotten rid of other various player modes.

Overall the game is a shame. A shame that they had such good bands and good game play ideas that they cocked up the best single system multi-player game with too much other crap and (to me) shady tactics.

7.5/10

P.S. Where the FUCK are the goddamn pianos? I have not seen one single Xbox 360 Rock Band 3 piano at any store I've been to (including Buffalo and Toronto). What is this shit? I'm sure we all thought that Mad Catz would be on top of this but it's FUCKING JANUARY! And now they're just talking about not having enough MIDI connectors? And they're only shipping 4000? How many games of Rock Band 3 were sold? I'm pretty sure they sold more Stage Kits than that!

MADCATZ! PIANOS! NOW!

Game Review: Call Of Duty: Black Ops

2011-01-05T02:35:00.001-08:00

I’ve finally gotten to finish Black Ops (except Zombies, but I really don’t care for zombies). Understand that I came into Black Ops sceptical. In the first trailer the first thing you see is these explosions that look like ass. From then on I kept me expectations low. And even after the release I still didn’t pick the game up for several weeks (problems with MW2 made me finally buy it). Here are my thoughts…

Single Player

Single Player is so-so. Some missions are pretty good for their use of history. Executive Command for example has you destroying a Russian Missile which is similar to an actual accident. Operation 40 has you on the Bay of Pigs Invasion. The Vorkuta Prison escape was also really well done.

On the other hand, the Vietnam, Kowloon and Laos missions were pretty bland. The mission WMD has some good moments but the whole spy plane is such a waste. Why did they even bother on something that you spend more time getting into than actually using? Some other complaints: Why was there no introduction to the RC-XD Car? The story isn’t great and a lot of the forced scenes are tedious and its annoying that you have to go through them EVERY TIME WITH NO SKIPPING! Some objectives aren’t clear… I’m looking at you Khe Sanh Napalm Barrels.

Multi Player

The multi-player is good. There are to big problems though. #1 is the maps. They’re all pretty uninspired and too small. Rundown time:

Array: Good
Cracked: Bad
Crisis: Boring
Firing Range: Meh
Grid: Meh
Hanoi: Good but rarely comes up
Havana: Okay
Jungle Meh
Launch: Not bad this is probably the most interesting map
Nuketown: Okay
Radiation: Boring No one ever goes under ground, they wasted time on a useless door opener
Summit: One of the better maps
Villa: Really good sniping map
WMD: Meh

Maybe I’m just hard to please.

The #2 thing wrong is the money/experience system. There’s a lot of little reasons so I’ll try my best to explain. For me moving Modern Warfare 2 along required unlocking weapons, unlocking the attachments and completing various challenges (usually gametype challenges). So I would play like this: Level Up, Get Gun, Get Attachments, Complete Gametype Challenge (Deathmatch, S&D, Demolition, Etc.) until I Prestige.

In Black Ops all that is thrown out the window. You only need to unlock Pro Perks. Everything else can be bought. So I focus on Pro Perks, which are a pain in the ass. I can’t really go into S&D if I’m trying to get PPs so I have to stay in TDM. So my experience so far has been level up in TDM until I get the AK47 and then just play that till I either get all my PPs or prestige (so far its only been the latter).

Another complaint: Noobs. Now I’m usually not one to complain about this, I mean, were all new at some point, right? But the issue I have is that people seem to be just taking their Xbox out of the box, putting in the game and then JOINING MY MATCHES AND GETTING 0-32! It’s ridiculous! And it happens all the time that I go to check their gamercard and the have 0 gamerscore. WHAT YOU COULDN’T BE BOTHER TO PLAY THE FIRST MISSION? YOU HAD TO COME STRAIGHT INTO MERCENARY TEAM DEATHMATCH AND YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW THE FUCKING CONTROLS??!?!?

Sorry, I just had to vent there.

There’s various other problems which you can find out for yourself (just search “Black Ops Sucks” you’ll get what your looking for)

Sound

The sound is actually top notch. Excellent voice over cast and good licensed music including Rolling Stones and CCR.

Graphics

Graphics weren’t impressive. They seemed worse than MW2 for some reason.

Positive Notes

There are several great steps though. First is the fact that you can play online with a guest. The theatre mode is good too.

Overall 7/10

I don’t think Black Ops is a worthy successor to the Modern Warfare duo. It’s good and fun to play, but it just doesn’t have the same impact that they had story wise and game play wise.

Championship?

2010-12-30T15:25:00.000-08:00

Here we are, the end of the season. My 3rd season to be exact. It’s been a long journey from September. Let’s see how we did.

Starting with the Moscow Maulers going up against the Piper Downs. Well the Maulers lost 93-63. Although Tamme, Vick and BGE all did pretty well, unfortunately VJackson, Mccoy, Bryant, the Chargers and Wes Welker all had under 10 pts, mostly under 5pts. Andre Johnson being called out of the game at 3PM was the nail in the coffin. Congrats to the Piper Downs (the team my father owns by the way)

The Norfolk Maulers also lost their championship game to the Nessquick 99-62. Vick, Torain and Britt (a good waiver pick) all did well but Boss, Akers, the Gianst DST, Benson, Branch, and Jackson all had 4 pts or less. Congrats to Nessquick.

Finally the Hamilton Stingers are the NFL vs CFL league CHAMPIONS! They beat the Eazeland All-Stars 114-105 a bunch of player came through for me including Vick, Foster, the Patriots DST, Bowe and Williams.

So now to do something I haven’t done before, MVP awards.

MVP: Michael Vick. With a season high off 57 pts and low of 19 (barring injury) he pretty much got my teams into the playoffs. Vick also wins for Waiver Wire MVP.

Draft MVP goes to Arian Foster who did very well.

WR MVP goes to Dwayne Bowe and Andre Johnson who both did well and not well at times.

TE MVP goes to Tamme who did great replacing Shiancoe for me

K MVP goes to David Akers who with Vick did really well

DST MVP goes to the Patriots who had the most points in the final game

Worst Injury: Dez Bryant this hurt the receiving corps on my team greatly.

Lucky Break: Michael Vicks injury made another team put him on waivers, I picked him up.

Big Bust: Shiancoe and Bernard Berrian.

Congrats to the HAMILTON STINGERS WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!

This Week In Fantasy Football PLAYOFFS - WERE GOING TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP!

2010-12-19T21:33:00.001-08:00

THE MOSCOW MAULERS ARE GOING TO THE PLAYOFF AGAINST THE PIPER DOWNS! The Maulers won their game against Johnnyblaze 113 to 75, mostly thanks to Michael Vick dropping bombs and the Chargers Defense. The Piper Downs defeated Teammitchell finally putting to rest the ultra competitive Central Division.

This weekend will have a classic East vs West showdown. The Maulers and Pipers faced off before in Week 7, where the Pipers beat a team missing key players (Michael Vick injured and Andre Johnson on BYE) 97-78. Will the Maulers get their revenge in the biggest game of all?

Meanwhile The Stingers and Norfolk Maulers still have a Monday game to go through.

To Play: Maulers- Bennett (WR) or Rice (WR), Yojimbo- Forte (RB) and Olsen (TE). I have a healthy 37 pt lead (107-70) but I’m still worried. The opponent they’ll face is still up in the air: Nessquick is leading Facemob 104-93 but Facemob still has Adrian Peterson to play.

Finally the Stingers have all but sealed their win against Westside, leading 134-72. Westside has A. Peterson to play as well. They will likely battle the Eazeland All-Stars barring some sort of miracle that allows the 49ers ATW to overcome a 38 pt deficit.
I will update tomorrow!

UPDATE: The Stingers won their game by default with Peterson injured. The Stingers will face the Eazeland All-Stars who downed their division opponent. The last time these teams met the Stingers had a blowout loss by a humiliating 60pts. Can the Stingers get their revenge and get the underdog win?

The Norfolk Maulers also won their game 109-81 with Benson, Torain and of course Vick getting a majority of the points. Nessquick won its match against Facemob who also had Peterson. Ouch. Remember what I told you last week about the Maulers and Nessquick? We're still battling it out for the most wins (12-3) and now the championship. Last time these teams battled it was a 51 pt route for the Maulers. GO TEAMS GO!

This Week In Fantasy Sports: Semi-Finals

2010-12-15T00:25:00.000-08:00

NFL vs CFL matchups are
The Hamilton Stingers vs Westside
Eazeland Allstars vs 49ers All The Way (Copperheads actually lost out by a tie).

Westside barely won the West Division by a tie. Westside and the Stingers met in Week 8 with the Stingers winning 115-72. Westside's roster has great players such as Tom Brady, Adrian Peterson and the Steelers DST. However they have a weak Receiving core and their Running Back team is lacking. This should be a difficult matchup. The computer has me up by 17.

The KFP league will have
The Moscow Maulers vs Johnny Blaze
Piper Downs vs Teammitchell

The Moscow Maulers met Johnny Blaze in Week 4, handing us our second loss in a 3 game losing streak. To say the Johnny Blaze are a powerful team is an understatement, with MJD, Calvin Johnston, Miles Austin, Hines Ward and the Steelers DST (again? PLEASE New York Jets, beat the Steelers to a pulp (note that the Steelers play Carolina the week after, is that a guaranteed championship?)) The computer has me up by 11.

VAPO League has
Yojimbo vs Norfolk Maulers
Nessquick vs Facemob

The Maulers face Yojimbo in Week 7 and beat them by a little over 10 pts. This could come down to a battle of the Quarter Backs with my Michael Vick going up against Mark Sanchez. I should note that Nessquick and the Maulers are battling for the most wins. The computer has us up by 15.

This Week In Fantasy Sports

2010-12-13T23:32:00.001-08:00

Since all my teams were going to the playoffs, I decided to experiment with alternate players and it was quite successful. 2/3 teams won their games.

So how do the playoffs look now?

The Moscow Maulers won their game and improved to 8-4 and win the West Division title (with a 4 game lead on 2nd place to boot). The East Division title goes to Piper Downs who also has an 8-4 record. The Central Division was a lot closer with Team Mitchell and Johnnyblaze being tied at 8-4. Razorbacks were kept out of the running by the Chickenhawks who beat them this week keeping them at 7-5.

KFP League

East Division is Piper Downs
West Division is Moscow Maulers
Central Division is Johnnyblaze
Wild Card is Team Mitchell

Hamilton Stingers lost their game leaving them at 9-5, still finishing first in the Central Division. The West is lead by the Eazeland All-Stars. The East Division with Copperheads beating Westside today is in a tie at 8-4.

NFL vs CFL League

Central Division is Hamilton Stingers
East Division is Eazeland All-Stars
West Division is Westside
Wild Card is Copperheads

Finally the Norfolk Maulers won their game, winning the East Division 11-3. Facemob won the Central Division 9-5. Nessquick won his West Division 11-3. Yojimbo secures the wild card spot at 9-5.

VAPO League

Central Division is Facemob
East Division is Norfolk Maulers
West Division is Nessquick
Wild Card is Yojimbo

Updates on matches tomorrow

This Week In Fantasy Sports 06/12/10

2010-12-06T20:40:00.001-08:00

Moscow Maulers have cemented their playoff spot this week with a 120-54 win over the Tigers. Analysis: Vick, Bradshaw, McCoy, Welker and Johnson all had monster games which made up for poor play by the rest of the team.

Playoff wise the Detroit Lions are out being 2 games back even if they win both weeks they can’t catch me. In the Central Division Teammitchell looks to take the lead with Razorbacks and Johnnyblaze down a game. The East Division is being led by the Piper Downs with the Bone Crushers back by a game. They face off next week. Next week Maulers face the Detroit Lions.

The Hamilton Stingers won their game against 2nd place Big Boy Ballas 86-65. Analysis: Vick and Foster gave the team an awesome start. Which the team almost blew with 5 players having less than 5 points.

Eazeland All-Stars easily has the East Division down and the Westside leads the West by a game over Copperheads and M.O.H.

Finally the Norfolk Maulers won their game 103-73 against the Underdogs. Analysis: Mix bag here, Vick and Benson played well. As did Akers and the Giants D.

Standings wise this puts me easily in the playoffs. Facemob still dominates the Central and Nessquick sealed the deal in the West division.

This Week In Fantasy Sports 29/11/10

2010-11-29T19:52:00.001-08:00

The Hamilton Stingers won their game in a monstrous fashion beating division rival TopRushers 144-58. Analysis: Vick, Foster, Hillis and Bowe all had over 20 pts! Which easily made up for the no shows by Bryant and Jackson.

Standings wise, I go up two games (8-4) on the Bad Boy Ballas (6-6) for the lead in the Central Division. Meanwhile Eazeland All-stars continue to lead the East by a comfortable 3 games. Finally the race for the West has been blown wide open with Westside 7-4-1, Copperheads 7-5, MOH 6-5-1 and Hombres 6-7.

The Moscow Maulers continue to march into the playoff defeating the Saints 100-89. Analysis: Close game, Green-Ellis, Vick and Tamme all had good games. Everyone else seemed to have problems (Johnson fighting, Rice injury, etc).

This raises the Maulers to 6-4 and keeps them one game up on the Detroit Lions. In the Central division, the Razorbacks continue to fall apart now 7-3 and tied with Teammitchel and Johnnyblaze.

The East division is still wide open with Team Decap and Piper Downs at 6-4 and Bone Crushers 5-5.

Finally the Norfolk Maulers is still on going. Currently I have a 10 pt lead on Katy’s Bratpack. Playing for me is Crabtree, and for Katy is Gore. I just received word that Gore is not going to be playing the rest of the game, meaning the Maulers win. This brings them to 9-3 assuring the Maulers a playoff spot!

In the Central Division Facemob also has a 9-3 playoff spot. The West Division is still wide open though, Nessquick went to 9-3, the PCB Bengals went 8-3, Yojimbo and GBD are at 7-4.

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!

2010-11-29T12:28:00.001-08:00

The Fenix Firecrackers won their Championship game 123-97 with Darron Thomas (QB) led with 33 points but almost everyone else had 10 pts or more! Congratulations FIRECRACKERS!

Unfortunately the Spartans lost their game, 151-39. Mostly due to the poor play of Robinson (QB). I admit I should have switched him, had I we would have won easily.

So that wraps up this season for college football. I’m afraid this may be my last because of various factors (player pools too large, too many teams, too many games). Maybe I’ll change my mind. NFL teams updated tonite!

This Week In Fantasy Football SWEEP!

2010-11-22T21:19:00.000-08:00

Let’s start with the college semi-finals!

The Fenix Firecrackers were up against Auburn, leader of the West Division. Unfortunately, the majority of Auburn’s players were on BYE, resulting in a easy 107-49.5 win for Fenix. FENIX IS GOING TO THE FINALS! Who is their opponent? The Eastern Division leader Blastmen went up against Eastern wildcard Trojan Warhorses. And although Blastmen were the favourites, the Trojans won 134-109.

So this weekend Eastern rivals Fenix Firecrackers and the Trojan Warhorses will do battle for the CFL title.

The Western Leaders, Caledonia SPARTANS, went up against the West Wildcard Medford Drewids. The Spartans have only had two losses, one was to the Drewids. This week the Drewids put up a daunting 159 points. The Spartans put up a 183.25 point win! Meanwhile the East division rivals Pink Ladies and Jump Around faced off. Pink Ladies won 144-111. Interestingly, the Pink Ladies are the only team that the Spartans haven’t won against.

So this weekend West battles East as The Caledonia Spartans battle the Pink Ladies for the ORFPA Title.

Whew. On to the NFL now.

The Moscow Maulers seemed to sneak out a win on the Team Decap winning 94-87. Analysis: Poor play by Bradshaw (0pts!), Andre Johnson (3pts) and Janikowski (3pts) led to a poor overall performance, it wouldn’t have taken much to beat us. This moves the Maulers to 5-4, 2 games up on the Detroit Lions who lost their game. The East Division is all tied up at 5-4 as well and the Central Division lead is still within a game.

The Hamilton Stingers had an easy 135-86 win over the Destroyers. Analysis: Can you say hot streak?! This brings them to 7-4, 2 games up on the Big Boy Ballas. Eazeland-Allstars still lead the East division and the West is still at a deadlock between Westside (6-3-1) and Copperheads (6-4).

Finally the Norfolk Maulers beat Monsta 97-93. Analysis: Again another sneaky win due to poor play by Crabtree (1pt) and the Cardinals DST (0pts!). Luckily strong play by Benson, Fred Jackson, Vick and David Akers led to a win. The Maulers go to 8-3, 3 games on Katy’s Bratpack and Boston Pats. The Central Division is still led by Facemob 8-3 by 4 games and the West Division is now led by Nessquick who broke the 3 way tie. (There is now a 3 way tie for 2nd).

This Week In Fantasy Sports Monday Edition- SWEEP

2010-11-15T23:31:00.000-08:00

The astounding performance of Michael Vick easily won the games for all three teams.

The Moscow Maulers, who were losing before todays game 66-107, won 137-107. This keeps the Maulers (4-4) one game up on the Detriot Lions (3-4-1) in the West Division. The East Division has a 3 way tie for 1st at 5-2. The Central division has three teams within 1 game of each other.

The Hamilton Stingers easily dominated the M.O.H 159-66. In addition to Vick. Dwayne Bowe, who was predicted to have a bad game, scored an amazing 30 pts! You also had Jones-Drew who got 24 pts. The Stingers go up 6-4, tied with Big Boy Ballas and one up on the 5-5 TopRushers. Eastland Allstars still leads the East 8-2. Copperheads and Westside are battling over the lead in the West at 6-4/6-3-1.

Finally the Norfolk Maulers won over Nessquick with a score of 150-99! Again, aside from Vick there was Fred Jackson who had 26 pts, as well as Crabtree, DeSean Jackson, Williams and Akers with 12-15-14-11. This takes the Maulers to 8-3, 4 games up on Katy’s Bratpack and Boston Pats. Facemob continues to dominate the Central 4 games over Urlacher. West division is still wide open with the PCB Bengals one game over G.B.D., Nessquick and Yojimbo.

Again a special thanks to Michael Vick for scoring an outrageous 57 points!

This Week In Fantasy Sports: College SWEEP!

2010-11-14T02:03:00.000-08:00

First off the Caledonia Spartans won their game against the Buckeyes 107-86. The Medford Drewids lost to Pink Ladies. Here is the final standings: * = going to playoffs

West

Cal Spartans 9-2 *
Medford Drewids 6-5*
Flames 5-6
Stuck@ISU 3-8
Wild Juice 3-8

East

Jump Around 8-3*
Pink Ladies 7-4*
Buckeyes 6-5
D.V.L.Z 5-6
West Side Blapper 3-8

Meanwhile the Fenix Firecrackers beat the Crusaders 184-86 (LSU DST had an astounding 47 pts!) Here’s what the final standings look like:

West

Blastmen 10-1*
Fenix Firecrackers 8-3*
Trojan Warhorses 7-3*
Vancouver Islanders 4-7
CC’s Irish Thunder 3-7-1

East

Auburn 9-2*
U.D.M. 5-6
Bulldogs 4-7
Crusaders 2-9
Kansas 2-9

So both teams are going to the PLAYOFFS! Cal Spartans go up against the Medford Drewids in what looks to be a spectacular rematch from only 2 weeks ago (198-133 for Medford). 1st place Jump Around will take on the Pink Ladies (who gave Jump Around a loss in Week 3).

The Fenix Firecrackers take on Auburn and Blastmen take on the Trojan Warhorses. ONLY TO GAMES LEFT! LET’S TAKE HOME THE CHAMPIONSHIP BOYS!

This Week In Fantasy Sports Monday LIVE

2010-11-08T21:04:00.001-08:00

Benson just got a touchdown! 102-97 now. 9 minutes left

Benson made a good catch for 2 pts 104-97. 2 minutes left.

Less then a minute, 2nd down Cinci on the 30. Stay there!

4th and 5 not, DO NOT CONVERT PLZ!

YES!

Cinci called it’s time outs, 22 left.

Game over! MAULERS WIN! 104 to 97!

Analysis- Benson most definitely did not screw us this week. 13 points ftw. Standings wise the Maulers go two up on the Boston Pats and Katy’s Bratpack. Nessquick was upset and so was Facemob.

The Hamilton Stingers final score was 165-94.

The Moscow Maulers got 132-86.

This Week In Fantasy Football Sunday SWEEP!

2010-11-07T21:52:00.001-08:00

Let’s start with the Norfolk Maulers, who are leading the Urlachers 91-80. To Play: Maulers- C. Benson RB Urlacher- M Wallace WR

Analysis- Let’s hope Benson doesn’t screw us here. We’ve got a healthy 11 pt lead. A win would get us two games up on the Boston Pats and Katy’s Bratpack. Elsewhere in the league Nessquick (7-1 tied for 1st league wide) is being upset by Okie Boyz (2-6) and looks to become tied with West Division rival GBD (7-1 with todays win). Facemob (tied for 1st 7-1) is also looking at a possible upset to Yojimbo (4-4). So while the Central is still being held by Facemob and I’m starting to run away with the East. The West Division looks to be blown wide open.

Hamilton Stingers have an almost certain win leading the 49ers 165-76. To Play: 49ers- C. Ochocinco WR, M Wallace WR

Analysis- Remember what I said yesterday about a team firing on all cylinders? Yeah that’s what the Stingers did today. Seriously the RBs and QB together total 89 points! Everyone had 9 pts or over! Hell even my reserves were performing well. Standings wise this keeps me tied with Toprushers and bigboyballas at 5-4 in the Central Division. Eazeland Allstars move up 3 games on the 49ers in the East Div. and the West Div. is still wide open.

Finally the Moscow Maulers hit their stride going 132-82 over the Bone Crushers. To play: Bone Crushers- J. Shipley WR

Analysis- Michael Vick dominated, along with the Saints DST and Bradshaw RB how all got 20pts or over. Overall most of my team did very well. Things are heating up in the West Division as the Maulers will remain only one game up on the Tigers and Detroit Lions. The East Division has been blown wide open with all teams within 1 game of each other. The Central division is the same way.

This will be an interesting 6 weeks, full scores tomorrow!

This Week In Fantasy Sports College Edition

2010-11-07T10:15:00.001-08:00

Fenix Firecrackers beat CC’s Irish Thunder 98-92. The difference here? R. Tannehill, my waiver pickup who contributed 19 points to the WRs. Standings wise FF goes to 2nd in the West Div with 7-3 (a wild card spot) while the Trojan Warhorses go to 6-3-1 for 3rd. Blastmen continue dominance with 9-1 and Auburn leads the East Division with 8-2.

Meanwhile the Caledonia Spartans lost their game against Medford Drewids. 198-133. What can you say here? 5 players over 20 points! If a team is firing on all cylinders and then some, there’s no way your going to win. Period.

A minor setback though, since C. Spartans still lead the West Division 8-2 over Medford’s 6-4. In the East division Jump Around goes to 7-3 for 1st. Pink Ladies & buckeyes4ever tie for 2nd at 6-4.

Next week is the final week before playoffs. Spartans go up against the buckeyes, sure to be an excellent game as buckeyes struggle for a playoff spot.

The FF go up against the 2-8 Crusaders, I’m not taking this lightly as the Trojans are right on my heels.

Movie Review Update

2010-11-06T21:24:00.000-07:00

Figured I might as well give some quick ratings to movies I’ve seen recently. No full reviews.
Name | Rating (out of 5)
Bangkok Dangerous ***
Raising Arizona ***
The Road *****
Up *****
Date Night ***
The Informant **
Smart People ****
Up In The Air *****
Slumdog Millionaire *****
Taken *****
Kick Ass *****
Inception *****
Repo Men ***
1984 ****
Code 46 **
Reservoir Dogs *****
The Blind Side ***

Waiver Wire Win

2010-11-02T00:50:00.001-07:00

My waiver wire pickup for Tannehill went through for the Fenix Firecrackers, I only wish I had done it for the Spartans now. Lord knows the guy who picked him up (Jump Around) will probably end up beating me in the championship cause of this.

Monday Edition of TWIFF

2010-11-01T20:48:00.001-07:00

Moscow Maulers won by 98-49

Hamilton Stingers won 115-72

And the Norfolk Maulers hold on for a 76-63 win.

This Week In Fantasy Football

2010-11-01T14:36:00.001-07:00

Fenix Firecrackers lost to the Bulldogs 141-131. Analysis: Embarrassing, mostly because my reserves were LOADED (35-26-17-22-21!) The big letdowns were Martinez my QB with 11 points, Fleener my TE with 1 pt and JK my WR with 1 pt. This leaves FF 6-3 and 3rd for the West Division. This week looks to be huge as The Trojans (2nd in West) go up against the East Division leader Auburn and the Blastmen (1st in West go up against UDM 2nd in East). FF faces CC’s Irish Thunder, 4th in West standings (behind FF) but on a 3 game winning streak.

Caledonia Spartans won, but with the skin of their teeth. 130-126 against Jump Around. JK (again), Paulson WR and Beall RB were all disappointing. Spartans improve to 8-1 and are going against the team 2nd in their division, the Medford Drewids (5-4).

**WAIVER WIRE UPDATE** THIS COULD BE THE PICK OF THE YEAR! The Fenix Firecrackers are trying to pick up Ryan Tannehill, a WR in FF who is now the starting quarterback. What does this mean? This means rather than having 1 solid QB and 1 chancey WR, I could now have 2 solid QBs. I’m pretty low on the wire but I’ll keep you updated!

Meanwhile in the NFL…

The Norfolk Maulers are up by 13 pts on Yojimbo. 1 player to play: Yojimbo’s Derrick Ward the secondary RB for Houston. Analysis: I’m praying that Arian Foster keeps this guy out. Seriously this would be an embarrassing loss, he has 2 players on BYE and his 1st RB and QB combined only got 11 pts. Standings wise, a win would put some space between me (5-3 if win 4-4 if lose) and Katy’s Bratpack (3-5) who are 2nd in the East Division (I’m 1st)

The Hamilton Stingers have won their game 93-72 against Westside with Arian Foster (Stingers) still to play. Thankfully Cassel played well (Vick, Cutler and Flacco were all on BYE) as did the rest of the team (everyone over 5 pts). The Stingers improve to 4-4 and tie for 1st in the Central Division.

Finally the Moscow Maulers won against the Chicken Hawks, 61-49 with M. Hart, Andre Johnson and J. Tamme still to play tonight (let the slaughter begin ) Fitzpatrick played well. The Maulers go up to 2-4 and 1ST in the West Division (it’s a terrible division, what can I say?) Moving the Detroit Lions down to 2nd with 1-3-1 with the Tigers in 3rd at 1-5.

A special thanks to the Rams DST who I picked up in a last minute move for all 3 teams. They got 21 pts.

How I Fought Sexism and Was Banned… IN TWO HOURS

2010-10-29T02:58:00.000-07:00

I can’t even believe it. A feminist blog called Shakesville posted an article about the Christine O'Donnell Gawker smear and it caught my eye. It turned out to be full of nonsense. Some how it was misogyny and a crime against women.

Of course politics is full of political smears. So this really isn’t anything new. So I said so, even using Rand Paul’s “kidnapping hoax” as a recent example: “Whiny nonsense. It's politics. Where were you when they tried to accuse Rand Paul of kidnapping? I guess if it happens to women, its sexist misogyny. If its a man, well, that's just politics.”

Two responses to that, the first: “I'm confused. Was there something in the accusations against Rand Paul that was male-specific, that specifically sought to degrade and humiliate him in a way that couldn't be done if he were a woman? 'Cause that right there would be sexism, and we don't like that here. The point here isn't that someone said something mean about a woman somewhere. It's that someone tried to sexually humiliate her in a highly public way. They didn't go after her principles, her stances on issues, her political experience or lack thereof -- they went after the fact that she doesn't wax her vulva.”

To which I replied “Just like how in SC they went after McCain for having an adopted child. Or in Canada they went after Chretien for having a deformity. Those weren't on the issues either. A smear is a smear.”

To which someone else said “BAWWWWWWW” which appears to mean Bitchy and Whiny. This shows the blatant hypocrisy in that A. Bitch is supposedly a sexist word. B. It’s insulting (the comment rules list this as a “safe place”) C. The fact that me pointing out men are smeared as well is considered whining which is not only sexist but, again, hypocrisy.

The second response was “Shorter: What about the menzzzzzz?” To which I quickly responded “Or: how is it sexist if the same thing happens to everyone?”

Her reply “It doesn't. You're being willfully obtuse.” Interesting, after a little research I quickly came upon several articles about political smears, this one I felt best fit her requirements of sexual and humiliation: “Here's an article of a political smear against a man accusing him of being a pedophile. http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/1707494.update_sex_smear_councillors_political_career_over/” I replied.

To which the same poster who said BAW said “Thanks for posting this! It's very informative. But it should probably go in one of the blog-a-round posts.”

Not quite sure what a blog-a-round post is. But anyway, a short while later, I was banned. Not just banned from posting, but seeing comments all together. I can still see the site, so I checked the comment rules. I quote “Differences of opinion are welcome; no one has ever been nor will ever be banned on a difference of opinion alone.”

I guess there are firsts for everything. We certainly can’t have one voice of dissent among probably over 100 others. NO SIR!

The rest of the site is filled with misandry (a particular line that stood out: “Rape is as old as penises”. You can be certain this won’t be the last post about misandry and sexism.

College Fantasy Football Preview

2010-10-28T10:00:00.001-07:00

Only TWO weeks left in the college FF season. I’m going to give you a quick preview of the upcoming game and how the playoffs play into them.

Fenix Firecrackers this is as close to a must win game as it gets. At 6-2 they are behind the 7-1 Blastmen and 6-1-1 Trojan Warhorses. I go up against the Bulldogs this week, a 2-6 team. Meanwhile the Trojan Warhorses and Blastmen are playing each other. Could this be a preview of the semi-final? Also even if I end up losing out #2 spot against the Trojans, I still have a good chance at the #2 wildcard. Here’s how the league currently looks:

Blastmen (7-1) West Division
Trojan Warhorses (6-1-1) West Division
Fenix Firecrackers (6-2) West Div & Auburn (6-2) East Divison
UDM (5-3) East Division

So as long as I’m ahead of UDM, I can grab the 2nd wildcard.

Caledonia Spartans things are a little less serious here. My team is currently the league leader at 7-1. In my division the next two teams are 5-3 and 3-5. So there’s a almost definite chance of me either getting the leader spot or the wildcard. This week unfortunately I go without Blackmon, who is probably my MVP, because of a suspension.

Monday Edition of TWIFS

2010-10-25T21:30:00.001-07:00

WHAT A DISASTER!

The Norfolk Maulers were destroyed 131-51 with only 2 players over 10 pts.

The Moscow Maulers went down 97-78 after with Tony Romo out for probably the season (I also have 4 players on bye this week)

Finally the lone bright spot is the Hamilton Stingers who won 119-72, improving to 3-4 and tied for 2nd only 1 game behind 1st. (6 out of 9 players had over 10 pts)

This 2 Months in Fantasy Sports

2010-10-24T14:23:00.001-07:00

Yep I got lazy, between work and geocaching, my blog has taken a backseat. So I’m going to give you a update of the past 2 months (with an extra NFL Team)

College Football

The Fenix Firecrackers are 6-2 on a 4 game winning streak and ranked 3rd in the West Division and tied for 3rd league wide.

The Caledonia Spartans are 7-1 on a 4 game winning streak too. They’re ranked 1st in West Division and league wide.

NFL Football

The Hamilton Stingers are 2-4 and 3rd in the Central Division.

The Norfolk Maulers are 4-2 and 1st in the East Division

The Moscow Maulers 1-3 and 2nd in the West Division

Welcome Back to Fantasy Football! College Edition

2010-09-12T19:36:00.000-07:00

Welcome back, after last years disappointing losses, I look forward for another championship drive.

Let's start with the college teams:

Canadian Football League: Fenix Firecrackers
Roster*
QB - Taylor Potts - Texas Tech
QB - BJ Daniels - South Florida
QB - Sean Renfree - DUKE

RB - Montel Harris - Boston College
RB - Stepfan Taylor - Stanford
RB - Anthony Allen - Georgia Tech
RB - Damien Berry - Miami

WR - Ryan Broyles - Oklahoma
WR - Randall Cobb - Kentucky
WR - Uzoma Nwachukwu - Texas A&M
WR - Dane Sanzenbacher - Ohio State

TE - Kyle Rudolph - Notre Dame
K - Phillip Welch - Wisconsin
DST - Clemson

* As of Sept.12

Week 1
Fenix Firecrackers v CC's Irish Thunder
Final Score: Firecrackers 134.5 - Irish Thunder 107
Opinion- This quick rout was exactly what I wanted for my team in the first week.

Week 2
Fenix Firecrackers v Blastman
Final Score: Firecrackers 145.5 - Blastman 141.5
Opinion- A close but good win, for the 2nd week in a row I'm the team with the highest score. These early wins are going to help drive me to the playoffs.

Only Real Fantasy Players Allowed League: Caledonia SPARTANS
QB - Taylor Potts - Texas Tech
QB - Blaine Gabbert - Montana

RB - Bryce Beall - UCLA
RB - Alfred Morris - FAU
RB - Roy Helu - New England
RB - Noel Devine - West Virginia

WR - Justin Blackmon - Oklahoma State
WR - Ronald Johnson - University of Southern California
WR - Malcolm Williams - Texas
WR - Doug Baldwin - Stanford
WR - Greg Childs - Arizona

TE - Ladarius Green - LALAFAY
K - Ross Evans - TCU
DST - TCU

Week 1
Cal. SPARTANS v Medford Drewids
Final Score: SPARTANS 90.75 - 90 Drewids
Opinion: HOLY CRAP! I though I had honestly lost this game (scores hadn't updated properly), both of our teams WRs were terrible.

Week 2
Cal SPARTANS v Flames
Final Score: SPARTANS 158.25 - 105 Flames
Opinion: That's more like it! After a couple waiver grabs the team is moving forward. Shout outs for Potts, Beall, Blackmon, TCU and Green (15 points for a TE!)

So far both teams have had great starts!

Geocache Update: Wild Saturday

2010-05-30T01:10:00.000-07:00

Today I originally planned on no caches. My first two, happened before picking someone up at the train station. One was a unique cache by Dex and another was a cool magnetic.

After that me and Sharon12 went out to Tiffany Falls to get her 199 and 200th cache. It took some time, but we eventually got to Stephanie Falls and made a find. After that we went to Oasis by the 403 and found one I had missed. A good GPS makes all the difference.

After we returned home I found that there was another cache placed reasonably close, so I went solo to get the FTF, but came up 15 minutes short. After returning home again, I saw there was another cache, this one too was grabbed before I got to it. One of these days...

Geocache Update Victoria Day Weekend

2010-05-24T13:42:00.000-07:00

Well let's start off with Friday, which was Ancaster. My first two caches were busts. During my 3rd attempt which led me to a house, unfortunately it wasn't at the house and the owner gave me a hint that it was next door. I found it and made an exchange for a turtle. After that I was wandering around a park trying to get my older GPS to work. Finally it did work and I got my 2nd cache.

Next was Bowling for Micros, which I tried with Sharon12 a week ago. It took awhile but I did find it. In a spot that I should have looked in before, but the coordinates were a bit off. The next one was a quick find by a little bike path. My 5th was a pain, it took me behind a church and my GPS led me around in a huge circle. The next one was a historical magnetic cache, and a quick find. My 7th and 8th were also quick micros.

Now Saturday was going to be my first event. Unfortunately, my older GPS (ironic) screwed me and sent me to the Queenston Bridge at the border. Being Victoria Day weekend in Canada, the line up was an hour, with no way out. So good bye 15 minute flash mob.
When I finally did make it there I immediately set out to find the caches around, including the Floral Clock cache, the Lake Pogo Multi and the Centennial Lilac Gardens Multi. Being that it just had rained, walking through foot high grass soaked my shoes and pants.

Pressing on I went into Queenston and down a trail by the Niagara River, it had beautiful views and I could see jet boats going by. I picked up three caches by Dex on the trail and then grabbed another a short ways away that was a magnetic on some antique equipment. The next was a Virtual that led me from Brock's Monument down to Queenston, I haven't received confirmation yet so it hasn't been submitted yet. Since I was already in Queenston, I decided to skip going back up and do the Tour of Quaint Queenston. A very nice Puzzle cache which takes you on a walking tour through the historic Queenston. After that I attempted another multi but couldn't find the second stage after A LOT of bushwhacking. Short on time I left.

On the way home I wanted to round off my day with a 10th cache. So stopped at a nearby cemetery cache and came up short. So I went to another nearby cemetery and after a little searching I made the find. Then back in Ancaster I found a cache that I had skipped yesterday. I searched for two more but the light was dwindling and called it a day at 11 caches.

On Sunday I did succeed in getting to an event. The Introduction to Geocaching in Cayuga was at a great spot I'd never been to before in Ruthven Park. Although I didn't learn much that I didn't already know about caching, I did get to test drive two GPSs. After finding an on site cache. My sister and I went into Cayuga and did the Cayuga Warrior series. To finish we had some hot dogs and a drink before going back to the Park. After that we headed home. So my total for the whole weekend was 25 caches. Sweet!

Geocache Update

2010-05-21T07:45:00.000-07:00

Been awhile since my last big geocache hunt, last Wednesday to be precise, and with Sharon12 down in New York geocaching (lucky bum). I think it's time to do a little tour of Ancaster. After that I'm going down to Niagara Falls tomorrow for a Flash Mob geocache event and then on Sunday it's Cayuga for an Introduction to Geocaching Event! Busy weekend!

I also had my 150th cache this Wednesday. I wanted to help get Sharon12 a travel bug before she went to New York, so at about 10PM we decided to detour and grab a new cache. It was fun, tons of decoys, and it was our first night cache too, without a flashlight we were going by GPS and cell phone light. But in the end someone else grabbed the tb earlier in the day. Too bad.

Book Review Halo: Contact Harvest

2010-05-16T19:23:00.000-07:00

This is probably my first Halo novel not featuring SPARTANs or Captain Keyes. So rather than a simply prequel, this was an extension on the Halo universe. By Joseph Staten, the book can be divided into four main narrations: For the Humans there's Avery Johnson (a key character from the video games) training and fighting with the Harvest militia, and Mack and Sif, two Harvest A.I.'s. For the Covenant there's Dadab and Lighter-Than-Some, a Grunt and Engineer respectively, and the politics of the Prophets on High Charity.
Avery is haunted by his fighting with the Insurrectionists and his decisions. Undoubtedly the stars of the book to me were Mack and Sif. Their bickering is humorous and their development as characters is fantastic.

Dadab and Lighter-Than-Some's segments are great too. It's amazing that A.I. which speak through text and Engineer which speaks through sign language are the most fascinating characters in the book. The Covenant segments are confusing until you get used to the names.

The politics with the Prophets on High Charity is about as interesting as it sounds. Of course you want to get back to Avery and Dadab, but it helps weave the back story together, so it has its place.

The fighting sequences are great and a joy to read too. Overall if your a Halo fan or not, the book is a great read. I definitely recommend it.

New Love?

2010-05-06T03:00:00.000-07:00

I know, I haven't been updating lately. I'm appalled. A lot has been going on lately and I'm far to busy to do proper posts. I guess my first thing to introduce is Geocaching, geocaching is a game (although I don't like calling it that) in which you use coordinates to find caches that other "players" hide. I enjoy it because it basically combines everything I love: history, geography, nature, exploration, finding stuff, technology. It also gives me a much needed reason to exercise.

It started as a solo thing but I quickly got my mom and girlfriend into it. I'm already at 137 finds! Which is shocking to me because it seemed like I was just at 100 a week ago. I guess I have to set some sort of goal for myself. So if I get to 399 before it starts to snow (so Nov. Dec.) then I'll buy a Premium Membership a Geocaching.com and likely get a GPS for Christmas. If I can somehow keep my current pace it should be no problem.

Places I've Geocached:
Welland
Caledonia
Port Colborne (met Dex4 a veteran geocacher)
Brantford
Angola
Hamilton
Pelham
Petrolia

2010s Stinger503's Video Game Awards

2010-02-16T19:58:00.000-08:00

2010s Stinger503's Video Game Awards

Biggest Game I Didn't Play But Wanted To
Nominees:
Battlestations: Pacific
Ghostbusters: The Video Game
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
Wolfenstein
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Halo 3: ODST
Winner: Halo 3:ODST - No doubt the biggest upset of the year was that I did not play ODST. It just didn't drum up enough interest in me as Modern warfare 2 or Beatles Rockband did.

Worst Game
Winner: None for 2009, I just never played a bad game this year, not saying there weren't any.

Best Music
Nominees:
Band Hero
Lego Rock Band
Modern Warfare 2
Beatles Rock Band

Winner: Beatles Rock Band, tons of great Beatles music. Undeniably good.

Best Cinematics
Nominees:
Halo Wars
Resident Evil 5
The Beatles Rock Band
Winner: Resident Evil 5 - Just amazingly well done.

Best Voice Acting
Winner: - Billy Murray as Captain Price in Modern Warfare 2

Best Accessory
Nominees:
Facebook
Twitter
Wireless Headset
Winner: Wireless Headset

Best Multiplayer Games

* Best Two-Player One System

Nominees:
Resident Evil 5
The Beatles: Rock Band
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Left 4 Dead 2
Winner: (Tie)Modern Warfare 2 & Left 4 Dead 2 - Definitely equal, because of how good they are, but also by how limited they are. Modern Warfare 2's Spec Ops were great but only offline multiplayer is a huge issue. Playing Left 4 Dead with a friend is how it should be.

* Best Online

Nominees:
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Resident Evil 5
Halo Wars
Winner: CoD Modern Warfare 2 - By adding attatchments, weapons, titles, callsigns and killstreaks, they revolutionized online play again.

* Best Overall

Nominees:
The Beatles: Rock Band
Lego Rock Band
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Band Hero
Left 4 Dead 2
Resident Evil 5
Winner: The Beatles Rock Band - Just magnificent fun, especially adding microphones, just completely enhances the experience.

Best Xbox Live Arcade Game
Nominees:
Braid
Castle Crashers
Battlefield 1943
Shadow Complex
Peggle
Winner: Shadow Complex - Amazingly well made game. Great year for arcade games.

Best Music Game
Nominees:
Band Hero
The Beatles Rock Band
Lego Rock Band
Winner: The Beatles Rock Band - Build off of the great Rock Band games with more microphones, better unlocks and great music.

Best Racing Game
Winner: Burnout Paradise - Fortunately its demo wasn't fully indicative of the game. The game was quite good.

Sports Game
None- Just wasn't a big year to me for sports games.

Best RTS/RPG
Winner: Halo Wars

Best Action
Winner: Resident Evil 5

Best Shooter
Nominees:
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Left 4 Dead 2
Left 4 Dead
Winner: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Yet again one of the best experiences in shooters this year.

Best Level
Nominees:
Left 4 Dead- Final Stage of Dead Air
Modern Warfare 2- Second Sun
Resident Evil 5- Volcano
Shadow Complex
Winner: Second Sun - Turns the game on it's head. Completely unexpected.

Best Story
Nominees:
Modern Warfare 2
Resident Evil 5
Lego Rock Band
Shadow Complex
Left 4 Dead 2
Winner: Resident Evil 5 - Definitely one of the best stories of the year. Also has a ton of history behind it.

Best Game
Nominees:
Halo Wars
Resident Evil 5
The Beatles: Rock Band
Lego Rock Band
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Band Hero
Left 4 Dead 2
Left 4 Dead
Shadow Complex
Winner: Modern Warfare 2 - Although the campaigns a little lack luster. The Spec Ops and Multiplayer more than make up for it

Prediction for Next Year:
Alan Wake (again), Splinter Cell Conviction or Rock Band 3

PEYNTKAL Part 2

2010-02-01T10:59:00.001-08:00

BE SURE TO READ PART 1
The Dharma Initiative-
A group of scientists who performed tests for the islands abilities and set up stations throughout the island.
Arrow- Basically the armory. Mostly empty when found by the tail section survivors, probably ransacked by the Others.
The Swan- The Swan is the station found by Locke and holds the button that contains the islands strong electromagnetic pulses. This is what brings down Flight 815. Desmond lived in the Swan for 3 years prior to 815. Locke causes the Station to explode.
The Flame- Communications station.
The Pearl- Basically used for monitoring the other stations. Quite small.
The Orchid- A greenhouse disguises the underground temple like area which Ben uses to teleport away from the island.
The Hydra- A zoo complex where tests on polar bears (and likely sharks) took place.
The Staff- A hospital, usually used for the birth problem.
The Looking Glass- An important station that resupplied and guided submarines, as well as block communications from the island.
The Tempest- A chemical lab that could release poisonous gases throughout the island
The Lamp Post- An off island station that's main use it to find the island.
Basically the Dharma Initiative was destroyed when Ben betrayed them and all the people in the camp were killed.

The Others: A group of people who have been on the island for quite some time. Members include Faraday's Mother, Ben Linus, Richard Alpert, Whitmore, Ethan, Juliet, Tom and Mikhail.

Ben Linus-
Ben's mother died in childbirth and his drunken father became a janitor for the Dharma initiative when he was a boy. Ben befriended Sayid as a boy and helped him escape but Sayid then shot Ben to try and prevent him from growing up. Ben was healed by the Others and became one of them. He became leader of the Others and killed his father and the rest of Dharma. Ben took a liking to Juliet who did not feel the same way. Ben developed a tumor and required Jack to remove it, so he went to the 815 survivors and was freed by Michael. He did get the surgery. He also raised Alex after stealing her from her mother. Whitmore's men killed Alex to try and get to Ben but Ben teleported himself to the real world, moving the island in the process. Ben then used Sayid to kill Whitmore's men and killed Locke before returning to the island and killing Jacob.

Richard Alpert-
Richard is probably one of the biggest mysteries of the show. He doesn't seem to age. He acts as an adviser to the leader of the Others.

Juliet-
Juliet went on the island to help her sister, who Ben promised he would aid. Her job on the island was to solve the birth problem: every mother impregnated on the island would die midway through her pregnancy. Unfortunately she couldn't solve the problem and wanted to leave, even though Ben liked her. Juliet then got into a relationship with Jack. Once they were split up however, she went with Sawyer. In the last Season finale, she fell to the bottom of a pit and activated the bomb.

Alex Rousseau-
Alex was born on the island by Danielle Rousseau, before being stolen and raised by Ben. She falls in love with fellow Other Karl, who Ben disapproves of. Danielle is reunited with her mother. But both Karl and Danielle are killed by Whitmore's men. Alex is then killed in an attempt to get Ben to surrender himself. An enraged Ben attacks Whitmore's men with the smoke monster.

Supporting Characters:
Danielle Rousseau-
Crashed on the island pregnant via a French Research vessel. Danielle later would end up killing the rest of the crew who became sick. After giving birth to Alex, who is kidnapped by Ben. Danielle leaves a message on the radio tower. She also lays traps throughout the island. She is reunited with her daughter Alex. But is later killed by Whitmore's men.

Charles Whitmore-
A member of the Others, he is knocked off the island by Ben. He then becomes a wealthy businessman and father to Penny Whitmore. Penny becomes engaged to Desmond but Whitmore disapproves. Whitmore also sends a crew out to find the island. Ben after his daughter is killed, finds Whitmore and promises to kill his daughter, Penny but fails.

Desmond-
Desmond was a former member of the British army, in order to impress Penny's father Desmond travels around the world by boat. Unfortunately he crashes on the island. He then spends 3 years pressing the button. After being discovered by the survivors he tries to leave the island but cannot. When Locke destroys the Swan computer, Desmond activates the fail safe. The explosion causes Desmond to not only see into the future, but also interact with the past. Desmond is reunited with Penny and they have a son together. After Ben tries to kill Penny, he ends up in the hospital.

Whitmore's Science Team:

Dan Faraday-
A physicist, comes on the island looking for answers. Faraday has done tons of research before coming to the island. Faraday's mother was an Other and kills Faraday in the 60s and neglects to warn him. Faraday falls in love with Charlotte. In the end he is the one who tells Jack to blow up the island, in order to try and bring back Charlotte. Faraday worked at Oxford University.

Charlotte-
An anthropologist, Charlotte was on the island as a child with the Dharma initiative, which causes her to become ill faster. Charlotte begins to fall in love with Faraday but dies before Faraday can save her.

Frank-
Frank is an experienced helicopter pilot. He flies the Oceanic 6, Desmond and himself off the island. While off the island, Frank becomes a pilot and ends up being the pilot of the plane bringing the 6 back to the island. He is currently on the island in the modern era.

Miles-
Is a medium who communicates with the dead. He ends up in the 70s with the Dharma initiative.

Illana-
Arrives on the island with the Oceanic 6 but appears to know a lot about the island

Jacob & The Black Dressed Man-
Jacob IS the island, or the owner of the island or something. Regardless, it appears that Jacob and TBDM are enemies. They cannot kill each other though. Jacob is throughout all the Lost characters history, for example Jin & Sun's wedding and right after Locke is knocked out of the window. Jacob is killed by Ben in the finale.

So where is everyone?
On Island:
In 70's- Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Juliet, Miles, Faraday (Dead), Sayid, Jin, Hurley,
In Present- Ben, Frank, Illana, Locke (Dead), Jacob (Dead), Sun
Claire?

Off-Island:
Desmond, Penny, Walt, Whitmore, Aaron

Practically Everything You Need to Know About Lost

2010-02-01T08:46:00.000-08:00

I first recommend you watch a summary video, to get a small gist of the story this is a pretty good one.

The Island: The island is a character itself. It has the ability to heal and has other strange properties including magnetic, a smoke monster, and the island itself can travel.

Here is the timeline of the island (note decades are pretty much guesses):

? Jacob and the man in black, The Others
17-1800s: slave ship Black Rock crashes on island (Used by 815 Survivors for explosives)
1950s-60s: US military attempts nuclear testing on the island but are fought off by the Others
70s-80s: Dharma Initiative begins tests on the Island, setting up a number of research stations
80s: The French ship crashes on island
90s: Drug running plane crashes on island
late 90s early 2000s: Desmond's vessel crashes on island
2000s: Flight 815 crashes

Flight 815 Survivors:
Jack Shepard-
Jack is a surgeon, his half sister is Claire (he did not know this before the crash). Before the island he fell in love with a patient but that relationship ended badly. He was on Flight 815 to transport his fathers body from Australia, he and his father had a difficult relationship and his father appears as a ghost on the island to people. Jack and Sawyer have a conflicting relationship because of their different personalities but also because of both their intimate relationships with Kate. He also has a conflicting relationship with Locke. After being heartbroken by seeing Kate and Sawyer together. Jack begins a relationship with Juliet. After they are split up and Jack becomes part of the Oceanic 6, Jack and Kate become a couple. After returning to the island Jack agrees with Faradays plan to blow up the island because he wants things to have happened with Kate without Sawyers involvement.

*Note: Jack met Desmond before coming to the island before Desmond left for his trip

Sawyer-
Sawyer's parents both died when he was young because of a conman. Sawyer spent his entire life looking for revenge. He found it when Locke needed Sawyer to kill Locke's father, who was the conman. After this he found relative peace. Sawyer was on the plane because he believed the conman was in Australia, and kills the wrong person. Sawyer has a relationship with Kate until she becomes part of the Oceanic 6. Then, as part of the Dharma initiative he becomes involved with Juliet.

*Note: Sawyer makes up nicknames for every one on the island (ex. Freckles is Kate)

Kate-
Before coming on the island Kate was on the run for killing her step-father who was abusive to her mother. Kate became involved with Jack and then Sawyer. She left the island with the Oceanic 6, was acquitted of her crimes and became a couple with Jack, taking care of Claire's baby Aaron.

Claire & Aaron-
Claire is Jack's half-sister. She came on 815 to give up her baby for adoption in America. Claire gave birth to Aaron and was fond of Charlie. Aaron ended up with Claire's mother after Kate gave him to her. The whereabouts of Claire are a mystery as she disappeared from the rest of the survivors.

Charlie-
Charlie was part of the band Driveshaft with his brother. However the band fell apart after going into drugs. Locke mentored Charlie out of drugs and Charlie began taking care of Claire. After being told by Desmond that he was going to die, he said goodbye to Claire and Aaron, and drowned while turning off a Dharma station, allowing rescue for the other survivors (and warning Desmond of the impending attacks). Charlie is also good friends with Hurley.

Sun & Jin-
Sun was born to a wealthy family and Jin a poor farmer. They married and Jin in order to earn her father's respect, began working for him by intimidating others. This changed Jin's personality and Sun began having an affair and was going to run away to America. Sun decided against this in the airport and stayed with Jin. On the island she learned she was pregnant and Jin learned of her affair. Jin was thought to have died in an explosion but survived with the Dharma initiative. Sun meanwhile as part of the Oceanic 6 took hold of her fathers company and raised her daughter before going back to the island for Jin. Jin is good friends with Hurley, Charlie, Sayid and Michael.

Michael & Walt- After years of separation Michael becomes Walt's father again and tasked with protecting him on the island. Walt meanwhile has supernatural powers. Michael loses Walt to the Others and becomes distraught, eventually shooting Libby and Ana Lucia to free Ben and get off the island with Walt. Walt lives with his grandmother after learning that his father killed and Michael becomes depressed, returns to the island and dies in an explosion that saves Jin. Michael was friends with Charlie, Jin and Hurley. Walt is friends with Locke, and is currently still off the island.

Boone and Shannon-
Boone and Shannon were step-siblings. Despite this Boone developed an attraction to Shannon but her feelings were not the same. Boone befriends Locke and dies early in season 1 while scaling the drug plane.
Shannon becomes intimate with Sayid but is killed by Ana Lucia.

Sayid-
Sayid worked for the Iraqi Army as an interrogator. While in the army he met a girl who he fell and love with and was searching for. On the island he made friends with Hurley and Jin. He later fell in love with Shannon and was distraught when she died. After leaving the island as part of the Oceanic 6 he found his true love but she was killed by Whitmore's men and then he joined forces with Ben to kill them. When back on the island Sayid was captured by the Others attempted to kill the young Ben.

Hurley-Hurley's father left him when he was a boy. Later he won a multi-million dollar jackpot using "the numbers" which reunited them. After this he became cursed, having many bad things happen to him. He quickly became friends with Charlie, Sayid, Jin and Michael. He also became friends with Libby, quickly becoming intimate, before she died which crushed him. He left the island as part of the Oceanic 6 and checked into a mental hospital. Hurley went back to the island with rest of the 6.

John Locke-Locke before the island was conned by his father into giving up his kidney. When Locke was going to report him to the police, his father pushed him out of a window, resulting in him being in a wheel chair. Locke then worked at a box factory, and had a telephone relationship with a woman. He traveled to Australia to go on a walkabout but wasn't allowed. On the island he regained the use of his legs and became a man of faith. He discovered the hatch and attempted to expose the button for being a lie, which caused an explosion. Locke became leader of the Others and attempted to get the Oceanic 6 back to the island. Ben killed him and then an impostor Locke got Ben to kill Jacob.

Ana Lucia & Libby: Ana Lucia and Libby were both in the tail section of the plane which landed on the opposite side of the island. After being attacked by the Others, they made their way to the rest of the 815 survivors. Libby started a relationship with Hurley and before the island was a mental patient, her story was never finished before both were killed by Michael.

Mr. Eko- Also from the tail section, Mr. Eko's brother was the drug runner on the drug plane which crashed on the island. Eko was also a drug lord but became a priest. He attempted to build a church on the island and was killed by the smoke monster.

Other characters: Rose & Bernard- These two were ended up on separate parts of the island but eventually found each other. Rose had cancer but the island kept it at bay. The pair didn't go with the rest of the survivors and it's believed they are the Adam & Eve skeletons found in the cave.
Nikki & Paulo- Their story is told in one episode. Essentially they make major discoveries but don't inform the rest of the survivors and are buried alive.

END OF PART 1
Part 2

Happy Blog Day!

2010-01-20T09:33:00.000-08:00

Image by Robotconscience via Flickr

Well today is my second blog day. It seemed like only yesterday that I was starting this blog. To celebrate, I think I'm going to go out and buy a sub. But anyway, thanks to those of you who've read my blog and a happy 2010!
P.S. As per usual, I changed up the design, hope you like it!

Game Review: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

2010-01-14T00:46:00.000-08:00

Modern Warfare 1 was easily one of my favourite games of all time. It had a great story and excellent multiplayer. Let's get "No Russian" out of the way. Yes it's pretty crazy, but it at least has some context (your a CIA operative and are trying to get close to a terrorist). Think about Grand Theft Auto, a series practically built on the ability to kill civilians. And in the rest of the game you fail if you accidentally kill a civilian, so it balances out.

Now further on in the story it gets ludicrous. Russia invades the U.S. basically the plot of Red Alert 2, instead of Kirovs there's choppers and planes. Where was my iron curtain?

So from there it becomes your standard "We're the US fightin off the ruskies". And that's the same problem MW1 had, the fun parts are when your the English team, not fun is with the US team. Why is that? My favourite missions are when your methodical, not frantic getting hit from all sides.

Now getting away from the story is multiplayer. Which is fantastic! The upgrade for weapons keep the game fun. It's just a blast to play. There seems like a limited number of maps, amd of course it has the love hate relationship with me as always. There's also the co-op which I felt should have been integrated with the story.

Programming: 9/10 : Overall pretty good, but the glitches such as the javelin glitch and the "private ranked match" glitch show that there could have been a little more time spent
Graphics: 9/10 : Good, but starting to show it's age
Story: 7/10 : Kind of ridiculous
Atmosphere: 7.5/10 : Not as fun as MW1
Multiplayer: 10/10 : Improves on MW1 10 fold
Overall: 9/10 : Overall still a great game, but not a classic like the first.

P.S. I thought they were joking on Bleep Bloop when they said Dick Cheney quotes show up when you die. Sure enough, they do. *facepalm*

Game Review: The Beatles: Rock Band

2010-01-13T22:44:00.000-08:00

What I liked about Beatles: Rock Band is that it gets us to the core of the Rock Band and Guitar Hero game which is simple: Playing kick ass music. It's not about who gets the best score, it's about enjoying the music.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

First off lets get this out of the way: not being able to export Beatles songs does suck. BUT it needed to establish itself as it's own game, and it does that perfectly. We never really wanted to pop in Rock Band 2 and play that instead, we just kept going from song to song and having fun.

The inclusion of having three microphones was just a brilliant move, and I hope it's applied to other Rock Band games. The game is being well supported with DLC and I hope that continues to happen.

One of my favourite parts is the bonus material, such as pictures, factoids and videos. If anything I want more! The game plays well and is a little more picky with notes than Rock Band, in my opinion anyway. The story is loyal to the different periods of the Beatles music and was a blast to play.

Programming: 10/10 : 0 bugs, game loads quite fast
Graphics: 9.5/10 : The gang is captured perfectly and everything else is standard for Rock Band
Story: 9/10 : Could have been a little more, but addresses the history of the Beatles well.
Atmosphere: 10/10 : Captures the essence of Beatlemania perfectly
Multiplayer: 10/10 : The more the merrier, adding three microphones is something I hope to see in Rock Band 3
Overall: 9.5/10 : I don't think I could ask for a better Beatles game. Highly recommended.

P.S. When is Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da coming?

Busy Weeks

2010-01-10T19:26:00.000-08:00

Up ahead I'm going to have several busy weeks, so here is what you can expect: An ass load of movie reviews including Hurt Locker, Avatar and Youth in Revolt. My 2nd blog day is coming up in 10 days as is my Video game awards.

This Week in Fantasy Sports: The Final Countdown

2009-12-22T17:04:00.001-08:00

Well here we are, no the Maulers aren't here but the Stingers are in an epic battle against the Patriots this week. Here's the stats:

Stingers

Record: 10-5-0 (W3)
Coach Rating: 91 (4th)
Schedule Difficulty: 4th
Passing Rank: 8th
Rushing Rank: 7th
Receiving Rank: 1st
Defense/ST Rank: Tied for 3rd

So as you can see my terrible rushing is definitely a hindrance but is made up for by my wide receivers and defense.

Patriots

Record: 10-5-0 (W2)
Coach Rating: 91 (5th)
Schedule Difficulty: 12th
Passing Rank: 7th
Rushing Rank: 2nd
Receiving Rank: 7th
Defense/ST Rank: 11th

You can get several things from this, the first is his great rushers but terrible receiving, defense and passing. In fact, he has an over saturation of rushers with 3 good rushers in reserve! The second thing you can tell is how he got in the playoffs. My team had to claw its way into the playoffs with the 4th hardest Schedule, meanwhile he cruised on his rushers with the easiest schedule in the whole league!

Preview:
Caledonia Stingers by 12

Current Lineup:
QB- Warner
RB- Grant
RB- Moats
WR- Austin
WR- Johnson
WR- Rice
TE- Gates
K- Hartley
DST- Vikings

Possible Wavier Claims:
Morris RB, Bush RB

GOING TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP!

2009-12-21T11:48:00.000-08:00

The Stingers won their game against DogvsDog in an upset 103-85. It was a battle the whole way, here's a breakdown:

Quarter Backs:
S- Warner 17
D- Romo 20

I wish I had played Roethlisberger who got an astounding 38 points. But Warner at least kept it in reach.

Running Backs:
S- Grant 9
Moats 4
D- Jackson 12
Johnson 13

My terrible running back issue from the season follows me into the playoffs. Note to self, next year pick good running backs.

Wide Receivers:
S- Austin 19
Johnson 19
Rice 4
D- Holmes 7
Welker 4
Cribbs 0

What I lack in running back, I make up for in WRs. Both my healthy WRs did amazing and Rice played sick, so I'll cut him some slack. DvDs WRs had bad games.

Tight End:
S- Gates 9
D- Gonzalez 9

Goes to show that if you want to get into the playoffs, you need a decent tight end.

Kicker:
S- Hartley 5
D- Prater 15

Hartley had an okay game, but meanwhile Prater had an amazing game, I was praying "Don't let me lose because of a kicker!"

Defense:
S- Texans 17
D- Packers 5

In my opinion, this gave me the game. True, I would've won without any points from defense at all, but this just gave me the security that I needed.

So it looks like that unless my division rival J&J can get at least 26 points with Steve Smith tonight, I will be facing Central Division Leader Patriots.

This Week in Fantasy Sports: Stingers in, Maulers out

2009-12-16T11:03:00.001-08:00

Good and bad news as you can tell from the title. The Maulers didn't make the playoffs. Looking back it's a very disappointing season, we were on our way to an easy glide into the playoffs but suffered a 4 game losing streak coming into this week (we won our last game though). Unfortunately, my trade for Vincent Jackson didn't help us until this week (and the guy who got Romo is in the playoffs now). My biggest problem was my Running Back draft decisions. In week 1 I started with Jerious Norwood (total of 25 points the WHOLE SEASON!), Darren McFadden (only 41 points), Kevin Faulk (who did okay) and Marshawn Lynch who didn't perform nearly as well as I needed (especially since he started suspended). Another disappointment was Steve Smith who has had a wonky season. My Eagles DST also was a disappointment along with Tom Brady at times. What can I say? That's my whole team!

Most disappointing was that we actually had a good team in the end. Strong WRs, good RBs, great TE and Kicker. We definitely had a shot at the championship had we won.

The Stingers took different approach, having with RBs, Kickers and WRs, and QBs being injured CONSTANTLY. Almost every week seemed to alternate between winning and losing. I don't know how we finished in the first position for the East Division. I'm going up against the extremely tough DogvsDog, who is the overall 1st place in standings, with a SEVEN game winning streak! Currently it's projected to be a tie, but we both know the Stingers are gonna have a steep hill to climb.

Stinger503's Report of Toolbaggery 11/12/09

2009-12-11T11:24:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't know, Australia's game rating system doesn't allow games for people over 18 years of age. To put this in perspective, imagine if we had no 18-A or R rating in North America. How many good movies, that aren't appropriate for children, would we be missing?

Well probably one of the biggest toolbags of the year is Australia's Attorney General, Michael Atkinson, who says "I accept that 98 per cent, 99 per cent of gamers will tell the difference between fantasy and reality, but the 1 per cent to 2 per cent could go on to be motivated by these games to commit horrible acts of violence," he added. Yeah buddy, that's how society works. Only 1 to 2 percent of people flying are terrorists but let's not allow anybody to fly.

To quote Pink Floyd "We don't need your education! We don't need your thought control!"

What a toolbag!

Playoff Run Update

2009-12-07T05:10:00.000-08:00

I'll be posting This Week In Sports tomorrow, however today I'm posting the projected standings. Currently both teams are in the playoffs, however the Maulers are in a 5-way tie for 4th, leaving the whole thing wide open, so next week will be key for the Maulers chances.

The Stingers meanwhile are in a 4-way for second. Again it's wide open, but I like our chances here better.

25 Holy Crap Moments in Gaming

2009-12-03T22:44:00.000-08:00

25. Left For Dead: Dead Air
In the finale to Dead Air, you step out onto the tarmac to prep the military plane for flight. When you first come out you see a plane coming in and crash, throwing debris everywhere! Video

24. Halo: 343 Guilty Spark
Just simply iconic Halo level..."I've got a bad feeling about this..." Video

23. Metal Gear Solid 2's Ending
So your playing this game and then suddenly your in a 20 minute cut scene about the new world order. As you just crashed into downtown New York and then battle it out from there. Video

22. Braid's Ending
Although overrated in many cases still a solid mysterious ending to a extremely well made game. Vide o

21. F22 Lightning II's Big Honkin' Air War
Basically self explanatory, its you and your team vs the other team, with literally dozens of aircraft flying around, its enough to make Maverick from Top Gun crap his pants.

20. Call of Duty 4's 1st Level
Although this isn't what most people remember Call of Duty 4 for, it certainly set the tone. Basically you are a national leader captured by a rebelling force and are being taken to be executed. You can't do anything but look around as your country is being overrun by rebels. Basically Infinity Ward's way of saying: "You ain't seen nothin' yet" Video

19. Call of Duty 4's AC130
The moment you pull the trigger and blow up a house, you simply want more. An amazing level and fun to play. Video

18. Half-Life 2: We don't go there anymore.
Only moments after she told you that Ravenholm is a hell hole, Alyx tell you to go through this festival of haunted nightmares (that's right nightmares that are haunted as well). Video

17. Splinter Cell Chaos Theory's Mexican Standoff
There's was definitely a holy crap moment when your faced with shooting Sam's war friend Douglas. Video

16. Gears of War 2: Riding horseback
Definitely the best moment in the Gears series was riding on the Brumak and blowing the hell out of everything in sight. Video

15. Prey's Opening
Prey was probably the biggest sleeper of 2006. I still remember the feeling I had playing the demo. The first level starts you in a bar where you explore the area, interacting with objects, and then the UFO comes. It's a great opening, and it only gets better too. Also: Killer soundtrack (needs more cowbell though) Video

14. Red Alert's Ending
I giant WTF happened when I played Red Alert to the end of the Soviet campaign as NOD leader Kane comes out of nowhere and shoots the Nadia who just poisoned Stalin. "I AM the future" Damn! You don't screw with Kane. Video

13. Halo: The Pillar of Autumn
The opening level of Halo perfectly sets up the franchise and multi-million dollar money maker. Starting of with some light diagnotics they drop you straight into some fighting. Video

12. Splinter Cell: The CIA
The is just something inherently awesome about breaking into the CIA. Video

11. Call of Duty 4: Ghillies in the Mist
One of the most badass levels of all time, just wonderfully developed. Period. Blowing off a guys arm and then jumping out of a building as it explodes is awesome. The Last Stand, avoiding soldiers, and just the amount of detail put into the old Soviet city is simply amazing. Video

10. Fallout 3's Ending
No I'm not talking about its crappy ending. I'm talking about it's HOLY CRAP THAT ROBOT IS BLOWING THE HELL OUT OF EVERYTHING ending. Video

9. Titanic Adventure Out of Time
One of the best games I've ever played. But the ending takes the cake as you run around the ship as it sinks, trying to figure out how to do everything right while not getting killed. Video

8. Half-Life 2: Meet the Antlions
You're in your little car and getting carried over a ton of giant bugs ala Starship Troopers and over course the DROP YOU! Of course no one tries to help or anything either.

7. SkiFree's Abominable Snowman
You probably don't remember it now, but when you were just skiing around having fun and then all of a sudden a monster comes out of nowhere and eats your skier alive, you likely said holy crap. Video

6. Red Alert 2: Intro Movie
I still say holy crap whenever I watch this. Drive Friendly. The Texas Way.

5. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's Final Battle
One of the best games I've ever played and probably one of the best endings in a game I've ever played. Having beaten Gannondorf, you run out of the crumbling tower and then in the collapsed ruin you fight the monstrous Gannon in an epic ending battle. Video

4. Halo 3's Ending
What more do I need to say. Just the perfect finish to the great series. Video

3. Portal
You knew this game had to be here. One of the most perfect games of all time. Especially the ending where the entire building blows up and then you have GLADOS sing you Still Alive. Video

2. Call of Duty 4: The Nuke
Of course I wouldn't dare not mention this. During the game you thought you'd play as to characters. Instead, your American character gets his as blown up in a huge nuclear explosion and then you get to walk around like its Fallout 3 as ash rains down on your fallen comrades. Video

1. Doom's Ending
No one could ever have expected to be teleported to a pitch black room full of monsters, but that's exactly what happened. The "what the hell is this?" is the icing on the cake. Video

Black Friday Indeed

2009-12-03T22:34:00.000-08:00

I'm not going to do a This Week in Sports because I'm annoyed. First the Stingers lost the championship game. It didn't come as a surprise, the death knell was Texas vs Texas AM (I have Texas Defense and AMs QB) and that happened Thursday. It was still rather close so I'm not too disappointed.

Meanwhile NFL was a complete disaster. I have RBs injured everywhere. Both Roethlisberger and Warner were out so Stingers went without a QB. Guess how that went. I made a bunch of good grabs on waivers and have a small chance at Sim-Walker today. In fact, I'll check right now...

Hasn't gone through waivers yet so we'll see.

Surprisingly my best players were the tight ends Shiancoe and Gates. Go figure.

Update: I did get Sims-Walker, hooray!

I read that this is the kind of week that makes people want to quit fantasy all together. I just wish I had a league that allows walk ons dammit!

This Week in Fantasy Sports: ON TO THE FINALS!

2009-11-21T20:44:00.000-08:00

Niagara Stingers vs Big Red Crushers : Projected- Stingers by 23
Actual: Stingers 147 to 82 Crushers
Analysis: A decisive win against my Division rival, the Big Red Crushers. We were fortunate for two things: A lot of his players were on BYE/injured and my players played extremely with almost everyone getting at least 5 points (Williams-WR got 2). Johnson-QB got 33, Batch-RB got 30, Locke-RB got 28, Childs-WR got 10, Hankerson-WR got 20, Barden-TE got 6, Waldon-K got 8 and our Texas D got 10 points. (Varner-WR who was on the bench got 21 points and could replace Williams for the final)
Final: The final will be against Salem Downpour. Who is a wild card also in our division and pulled a 167-128 upset over Kiss the Baby, who was #1 in the standings with a 8-2 record. Salem only had a 5-5 record. In our last meeting Salem beat my team 161-118 in week 8. The fact that they got 167, and we had 147 gives me a ton of hope (If we did have Varner in the game we would have won against them too).

This Week in Fantasy Sports BAD EDITION

2009-11-17T18:52:00.000-08:00

College Football
Maulers vs Shrek : Projected- Shrek by 11
Actual: Maulers 142 to 135 Shrek
Analysis: Finally my defense pulls through. Air Force (who I used earlier this season) got a strong 12 points. Ingram-RB got 26, Williams-RB got 18, Broyles-WR got 21, Pettis-WR got 38. Johnson-QB only got 8 points, which could have cost us the game. But everyone else got atleast some points.
Trades: Unfortunately the Maulers didn't make the playoffs. Which is sad too, because we finally got the ball rolling. The Maulers' season closed with 5 wins and six losses. Tied 3rd in East Division, Tied 4th in the league. Good to go out with a bang

Niagara Stingers vs MBSU : Projected- Stingers by 22
Actual: Stingers 63 to 72 MBSU
Analysis: The only thing that stood out is Texas Defense with 28 points, after that no one did better then 9 points.
Trades: Fortunately the Stingers are moving into the playoffs. Our Division final is against Big Red Crushers. Who we defeated in week 4 135-112.

NFL Football
Caledonia Stingers vs Seachickens : Projected- Stingers by 13
Actual: Stingers 96 to 99 Seachickens
Analysis: Warner had another good game with 25 points, Rice-WR, had an amazing game with 20 points. The Vikings defense got a sturdy 12 points and call out to Betts-RB who I brought in as a BYE replacement with 17 points. Big busts were Austin and Wallace this week.
Trades: Hopefully the Texans getting off BYE will help us a lot.

Hamilton Maulers vs Lord Dinkins: Projected- Maulers by 27
Actual: Maulers 71 to 80 Lords
Analysis: Both RBs were busts as well as the Eagles Defense. Brady got a strong 31 points. Crotchery got 12 points and Smith finally got 15 points.
Trades: Benson, who's been a key player, maybe injured. I also have a trade in voting period with the Trippers for Vincent Jackson in exchange for Romo

Commentary: Football Overtime

2009-11-16T21:02:00.001-08:00

Overtime is a tough subject in sports. In hockey it goes to from sudden death to a shootout. But in football it's even more confusing. NFL football has a sudden death overtime where a team just needs to put a point on the board. While NCAA & Canadian football have a shootout like system where a team gets a chance to score and then the other team gets a chance until one is eliminated. Both systems are flawed.

Here's why: NFL's system means that a team only has to get a half decent run or pass and then they can kick a field goal for the win. That's no fun because it's extremely hard to defend against (given that the team starts with decent field position), it's not because "the other team doesn't get the ball".
The Canadian & NCAA style isn't really fun because it's too complicated. It doesn't give the sense of urgency that you get in sudden death.

My solution: Six Point Sudden Death Overtime. Capitalizes on both systems. Scoring a touchdown is difficult. So reward the first team who gets a touchdown a win. No disrespect to kickers, but a game should not hinge on a single field goal. So the reason for six points is that it requires two field goals to win. Which means that if one team goes for the field goal, the other team would get a chance at the ball, which they could use to score a touchdown and win flat out or tie the game with a field goal of their own.

Now your saying, "But then the other team doesn't get a chance to play if a touchdown is scored" which is right. Like I said, it puts the game in the hands of the defense and offense rather then kickers, but it should reward the team the gets a touchdown. If the team can't hold them to a field goal, they don't really deserve try themselves.

So imagine your at the 30 with a 4th down. Do you throw for the end zone, looking to win the game? Or do you kick a field goal and put it in the hands of your defense? That's why this system works, it equalizes the risk. This creates strategy.

And that's what's important. Football is a game of strategy. And with the NFL's overtime that strategy becomes limited to "Get lucky with a pass/run or get field goal". But this still keeps the excitement.

This Week in Fantasy Sports NFL Edition

2009-11-10T12:43:00.000-08:00

NFL Football
Caledonia Stingers vs Tenacious Timberwolves : Projected- Stingers by 21
Actual: Stingers 130 to 61 Timberwolves
Analysis: After last weeks colossal failure, I in no way intended to play Kurt Warner. In fact last week I said I would consider trading Kurt. But for some reason Sunday morning, I looked over my team and noticed around 70% of Kurt's owners were playing him. Looking at the projected scores, and every other detail I could, I couldn't see a reason to play Kurt over Big Ben. But, I figured, they MUST know something I don't.
Luckily my hunch was right. Kurt scored 40 points! But over all my whole team was amazing. I would have won, without Kurt at all! My Falcons Defense (who I got because the Vikings are on BYE) got 17 points, Grant-RB and Slaton-RB got 15 and 8 each. Austin-WR and Johnson-WR both got 10 points and Wallace-WR got 12 (more on that in the Maulers analysis). Gates-TE got a reasonable 6 points and finally Carney-K got an astounding 12 points.
Trades: Ugh, the Texans are on BYE which means I'm down three players (Slaton-RB, Johnson-WR and Moats-RB*reserve). Luckily the Vikings are playing Detroit, so I should be able to shed the Falcons and bring in an RB and simply move Rice into Actives.

Hamilton Maulers vs A League of Their Own: Projected- Maulers by 26
Actual: Maulers 89 to 88 ALOTO
Analysis: Can you say: "By the hairs of his ass!" This is kind of sad because he didn't have a TE, K, and was missing a WR. But still, a win's a win. Brady-QB did alright with 19 points. Benson-RB got 17 points, Carney-K got 12 points and my Eagles D got a disappointing 10 points. So at the end of Sunday it was 77 to 88 for the Leagues and only one player on my team was left, Wallace-WR. I watched the game on Monday and you wouldn't believe how elated I was when Wallace caught a touch down catch to give us the win.
Trades: Moats is on BYE but now Lynch is back so we're good.

This Week in Fantasy Sports College Edition

2009-11-08T06:48:00.000-08:00

College Football
Maulers vs Hurricanes : Projected- Maulers by 11
Actual: Maulers 80 to 106.25 Hurricanes
Analysis: I was so optimistic for this game too. Our two early week games yielded a 17 point game by Williams-RB and 16 point game by Pettis-WR. Then yesterday Johnson-QB got 20 points and Ingram-RB got 15 points. So guess what f'd me in the ass! My newly brought in Oregon Defense, got 0 points. UGH! Guess how USC Defense did? 22 points! AHHHHH! Cobb-WR also got 0 points, no excuse either because it was a 37-12 win.
Trades: Picking USC back off waivers, I'm number 1 so I should be able to get it.
STANDINGS NOTE: Drops me into possibly last place with 4-6 I'll update on Greens game tonight, don't hold your breath, he'd need a 26 point game to get us there.

Niagara Stingers vs Sacramento Thunder : Projected- Stingers by 26
Actual: Stingers 63 to 62 Baby
Analysis: I'm not going to hold my breath here, after last weeks shifts I would not be surprised if I lose by 46 or something. But I hope it stays the same. Johnson did okay with 20 points, Texas Defense got 14 and everyone else did pretty poorly. Exception being my kicker Sturgis with 9 points.
Trades: The big problem this week wasn't that my players are bad, it's the match ups. I should have known better than to but my players up against NC and FL, but what can you do? Trade away for poor players and hope for the best later on?
STANDINGS NOTE: If the win stands it keeps me tied for number 1

This Week in Fantasy Sports NFL Edition

2009-11-05T20:09:00.000-08:00

NFL Football
Caledonia Stingers vs Dirty Dogs : Projected- Dogs by 4
Actual: Stingers 55 to 113
Analysis: Well first problem right of the start, Big Ben was on BYE so I had to put Warner in as my QB. He got 9 points. Really Warner? 5 pass interceptions? AND a fumble. Second problem, Slaton-RB got -1 points, and he's a player I depend on! Apparently he fumbled on his 2nd play and the coach benched him! WTF? Third problem, mediocre play by everyone else except Austin-WR who got 13 points.
Trades: Had to bring on Moats in case Slaton doesn't play this week. Other than that I had to bring in the Falcons Defense since the Vikings are on bye. Collie will be playing since Rice is on bye as well. Big Ben will definitely be play, I think if Warner doesn't start performing I might drop him.

Hamilton Maulers vs Trippers : Projected- Trippers by 23
Actual: Maulers 80 to 68 Trippers
Analysis: Their QB did bad. Our did good, pretty much sums it up. Other than Romo with 27 points, only my Eagles Defense and Steve Smith-WR were able to get over the 10 point barrier. Both my RBs were slacking off today.
Trades: Luckily my usual RB, Benson, is off bye now so he'll be playing. But now Lynch is on bye so I brought Moats on to the team and if he plays that's good, but if not I have Jamal Charles on backup. Cotchery-WR is on bye to so I have Austin Collie in his position.

This Week in Fantasy Sports College Edition

2009-11-01T03:16:00.000-08:00

2nd UPDATE: The score of the maulers game changed again, Page actually score 22 points making it a 125-108 win! Hooray! Also wtf CBS?
UPDATE: The score of the maulers game changed to a 101-101 tie, yay
College Football
Maulers vs The Knights : Projected- Maulers by 25
Actual: Maulers 102 to 106 Knights
Analysis: AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry had to let that out. My QB, Johnson, did great with 37 points. Hardesty-RB got 25 points! Royster-RB and Pettis-WR got 17 and 12 points each! HECK my kicker Lawrence got an astounding 11 points! And look at the other teams QB, ONLY 5 POINTS! This should have been an easy win.
But then... Page-WR, Smith-WR and Green-TE: 0 points. Guess who else got 0 points? My USC number 3 ranked defense! 47 points against! THAT'S EMBARRASSING!
Trades: Definitely bringing on a different defense. 3 games in a row with under 10 points! WTF USC?

Niagara Stingers vs Kiss the Baby : Projected- Baby by 2
Actual: Stingers 149 to 107 Baby
Analysis: I called Johnson perfectly on both of these games. Luckily my Texas D didn't let me down, in fact the got 32 points! And they're rated 6 behind USC! Also Batch-RB matched Johnson with 37 points. Everyone else got 2 points or more.
Trades: Not sure, see what pops up on waivers, very happy were back on track.

This Week in Fantasy Sports

2009-10-26T04:36:00.000-07:00

College Football
Maulers vs Greenville Tigers : Projected- Maulers by 55
Actual: Maulers 71 to 149 Tigers
Analysis: Well, what more can you say? The projection showed me by 55, then the other team won by OVER 55. Just complete team failures across the board. QB Reesing? Who's lowest score was 14? Only 9 points! My USC defense? Who I thought would bounce back from last weeks off game? 6 points! No one got over 12 points! And then look at the other team with three players with over 25 points! He could have just had those players play, left the rest off, and still would have won. Sad.
Trades: What can you do really? It was pathetic. I'll look through the wavers, but they just need to play better. I'll also let Johnson play over Reesing.

Niagara Stingers vs Salem Downpour : Projected- Stingers by 19
Actual: Stingers 118 to 161 Downpour
Analysis: Another rout. My team has been getting hit hard with players going cold. Wake Forest, a former powerhouse giving me tons of points, seems to be crashing like the Red Baron. Dez Bryant, my #1 drafted WR, was suspended. My team that was unbeatable two weeks ago, now has suffered an embarrassing loss.
Trades: Fortunately it's not all bad. This week has pointed out where the holes in the ship are and hopefully I can plug the holes. Unlike the Maulers, the Stingers are trying to maintain their lead, not playing catchup. This is good because I can start to look at the final weeks coming up.

NFL Football
Caledonia Stingers vs DogvsDog: Projected- Stingers by 13
Actual: Stingers 129 to 115
Analysis: Roethlisberger, only got 13. As did my reserve Warner. Luckily both my RBs, Grant and Slaton, did amazing, with 20 and 18 points respectively. But BOY did patience play off when I picked up Austin last week while he was on bye. He gave me 29 points! Wouldn't have won without him. My Vikings Defense, Rice-WR, and Carney-K, all did well too. Gates also put up respectable points.
Trades: Johnson-WR got injured late in the game, but will hopefully be good to go next week. My team very strong. Even with Roethlisberger's weak game, we were still the best team in the league (of course there's still a game on tonight)

Hamilton Maulers vs First Down Syndrome: Projected- Syndrome by 2
Actual: Maulers 127 to 63 Syndrome
Analysis: Brady did well and Benson-RB got a great 24 points. Lynch-RB, Collie-WR, Smith-WR and Wallace-WR all did well. Carney again did well. Finally, the Eagles Defense put me in front of the entire league. Which is great.
Trades: Miller had another weak game, have to find another TE.

This Week In Fantasy Sports NFL Late Edition

2009-10-17T22:34:00.000-07:00

NFL Football
Caledonia Stingers vs Patriots Nation: Projected- Pats by 2
Actual: Stingers 100 to 88 Pats
Analysis: Roethlisberger-QB, Johnson-WR and my Vikings Defense did great. Special thanks to bye week replacement Miller-TE who got 11 points. Everyone else did badly.
Trades: Replaced my WRs and got some more players.

Hamilton Maulers vs The Punishers: Projected- Maulers by 18
Actual: Maulers 80 to 61 Punishers
Analysis: Not exactly a rout, but my QB, RBs, and Eagles Defense did well. Unfortunately my WR's, K, and TE feel weak. Hopefully players coming off BYE will help
Trades: Took on Collie-WR in reserve to see how he does, Holt is a replacement for Crotchery who's injured and brought on Crabtree who should beef up my WRs if he's good.

This Week In Fantasy Sports Double College Edition

2009-10-17T21:53:00.000-07:00

College Football Week 6
Niagara Stingers vs Smelly Sox: Projected- Stingers by 3
Actual: Stingers 130 to 100 Sox
Analysis: Sox is basically out of the league at this point
Trades: Whole bunch

Maulers vs Flying Legends : Projected- Maulers by 13
Actual: Maulers 94.75 to 137 Legends
Analysis: Sad loss, a 45 point game by Legends WR Barnes and mediocre play by my team sealed the loss. Maybe if I played some others it would have turned out differently.
Trades: Supporting my weak WRs

College Football Week 7
Niagara Stingers vs GA Bulldogs : Projected- Bulldogs by 2
Actual: Stingers 89 to 89 Bulldogs
Analysis: Can you say by the hairs of on my chin. It was close, Bailey-K saved the team with an astounding 15 points (almost won it too). Johnson-QB disappointed me with 19. Wake Forest did awful which means 2 of my WRs did awful (didn't realize they were on the same team). And Peek, my replacement TE did bad too.
Trades: Possibly my WRs and hopefully players coming off bye will help.

Maulers vs I am Tebow's Son : Projected- Maulers by 19
Actual: Maulers 112 to 48 Tebows
Analysis: Exactly what my Maulers needed. 8 of Tebows 9 players got 10 points or less. My USC defense, Page-WR and Rudolph-TE had bad games. But everyone else did well.
Trades: Find a better TE and just scope out other players as well.

This Week In Fantasy Sports SWEEP EDITION!

2009-10-06T12:00:00.000-07:00

Allow me to say "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Because we got the SWEEP!

NFL Football
Caledonia Stingers vs Dirtydogs: Projected- Stingers by 20
Actual: Stingers 115 to 105 Dogs
Analysis: I was worried a little bit when Dogs RB Brown got 23 points and QB Manning got 25. But Roethlisberger-QB matched him with 25 points, but the star was antonio gates-TE with an astounding 24 points. Everyone else did well too, great in a match up where every point counts.
Trades: Ugh half my team is on bye week. Gonna have to get rid of Henderson-WR, he's not performing well anyway. Hartley-K and Carney-K (both New Orleans) are both on BYE this week, and they aren't saying who is going to play yet since Hartley just got out of suspension, so I have to keep both which sucks.

Hamilton Maulers vs Bangkok Stars: Projected- Stars by 45
Actual: Maulers 108 to 72 Stars
Analysis: I was a bit worried when Stars RB Brown got 23 points. Luckily their QB, Brees, only got 7 points. Meanwhile my QB, Brady almost matched Brown with 21 points. But the star of the team was my BYE week replacement for the Eagles, my Saints Defense with an astounding 34 points! I watched the Saints game live and I was shouting "GO GO GO GO!" When they got an interception for a touchdown. Definitely gonna keep them around.
Trades: Eagles are off by and Saints are on BYE so that's an easy switch. My kicker is on BYE so I'll have to get a replacement. Unfortunately injuries are plaguing the team, McFadden-RB is injured and not playing well anyway. Buckhalter-RB, an extremely reliable player is injured. Along with Norwood-RB, who is just coming back from an injury in week 2-3 and a BYE in week 4. Mario-WR was brought on two weeks ago to replace my weak WRs but hasn't preformed well at all. Luckily my team is mostly off BYE and my strong players are ready to play.

College Fantasy Football Standings Update

2009-10-04T23:14:00.000-07:00

Five Weeks (Only four games though, late start)
League: College Blitz
Team: Niagara Stingers
Conference: East Division
Division Standing: #1/5
League Standing: #1/10
Record: 4-0
Streak: 4 Weeks
Analysis: The Stingers are strong. We barely got by in Week 2 with a 58-50 win, Week 3 had a strong 126-95 win and week 4 had a just as strong 135-112 win. This week was an 82-58 win, closer than previous weeks. However my Defence, WRs and Kicker were all on BYE, this means next week they'll be fresh, and I won't have to worry about them on BYE for the rest of the season.

Five Weeks
League: Out for Blood
Team: Maulers
Conference: East Division
Division Standing: Tied for #4/5
League Standing: Four way Tie for #6/10
Record: 2-3
Streak: 1 Week
Analysis: We came out so strong in Week 1 but got destroyed in Week 2 but Shrek QB Tebow, who got 46 points. Week 3 had a heart breaking 100-98 loss to BFTE, followed by a devastating 139-89 loss to standings leader gospokes. Luckily there's light at the end of the tunnel. This weeks 148-53 win hopefully will right us out of the death spiral and back into contention. I still have to pick my players carefully, because several teams would have still beaten me. Time will tell.

This Week In Fantasy Sports NFL Sun. Edition

2009-10-04T23:02:00.000-07:00

Caledonia Stingers vs Dirty Dogs: Projected- Stingers by 20
Current: Stingers 94 to 105 Durty Digs
To Play: Stingers-

Donald Driver- WR
Vikings Defence
Dirty Dogs-
None

Analysis: I'm actually quite happy. If Vikings do well then I win, if they do poor and Driver does well, then I'll probably win too. Not gonna raise the victory banner yet though.

Hamilton Maulers vs Bangkok Stars : Projected- Stars by 45
Current: Maulers 108 to 56 Stars
To Play: Maulers-
None

Stars-
Vikings Defence

Analysis: I'm surprised we are dominating, my Saints defense got in the 30s! Pretty good for a backup team off waivers (I think I might keep'em around). Am I afraid of his Vikings defense? Not really, not trying to jinx my stingers but even if they had an amazing game like the Saints it wouldn't be enough.

Tune in tomorrow for the possible SWEEP!

This Week In Fantasy Sports College Edition

2009-10-03T22:24:00.000-07:00

College Football
Niagara Stingers vs KSU Wildcats: Projected- Stingers by 28
Actual: Stingers 72 to 50 Wildcats
Analysis: Not impressive when you consider the Wildcats were missing an RB and a QB. Johnson saved the team on QB. But I'm am happy because most of my team was on Defense.
Trades: I should be able to just switch the team back to normal next week.

Maulers vs PSU National Champs!: Projected- Maulers by 46
Actual: Maulers 126 to 49.5 PSU Champs
Analysis: Johnson-QB got 26, Ingram-RB got 25, Banks-WR got 15, Pettis-WR got 18, and my South California got 22pts.
Trades: Page-WR got 0 points, Evans-K got 3 points and hasn't been good as kicker.

That's two wins! TOMORROW WE GO FOR THE SWEEP!

This Week In Fantasy Sports Late Edition

2009-10-03T21:55:00.000-07:00

Okay straight up, busy week for me. Not busy as in, I had a lot to get done (which I did) but that I just wanted to get through the week. So I'm just gonna post the scores of the games from last week so I can get to this week.

College Football:
Maulers 89.25-139.5 GoSpokes09
Summary-Gospokes had a 31pt QB, 24pt RB, 26pt WR and 28pt defense. No chance. My guys put up mediocre stats except for Todd Reesing QB (29pts) and USC defense which got a solid 18 pts.

Niagara Stingers 135-112 BigRedCrushers
Summary-Johnson QB had an amazing 53pt game! My Texas Defense had an amazing 36pt game! Throw in Buckner-WR 19pts and McCalebb-RB 14pts and that more than makes up for the lack luster performance of the others.

NFL Football:
Hamilton Maulers 75-59 Underdogs
Summary- All my players contributed decent numbers, meanwhile Underdogs had three people with 0 points and 2 with only 2 points. Their Ravens Defense kept them in the game with 24 points.

Caledonia Stingers 104-94 Polar Bears
Summary- Roethlisberger got a strong 21pts, McGahee-RB and Driver-WR got 16 each and my Vikings Defense got 15 points. Everyone else did decent as well.

So overall a really good week. But I was kind of disappointed that the Maulers lost on Sat. eliminating any chance for a sweep.

This Week In Fantasy Sports NFL Sun. Edition

2009-09-20T21:04:00.000-07:00

There isn't going to be a Monday edition this week.

Niagara Stingers vs The Fish: Projected- Stingers by 50
Actual: Stingers 105 to 66
Analysis: Johnson-WR got a great 26 points, both my QBs seem to be back in form. Slaton and Crayton both did poorly.
Trades: Slaton-RB and Crayton-WR will likely be reserved, but I'm 2nd in waivers, so we'll see.

Hamilton Maulers vs Sweet Leafs: Projected- Tie
Actual: Maulers 52 to 94 Sweet Leafs
Analysis: Complete team collapse. Brady-QB got a miserable 6 points and back up QB (Romo) got only 10 as well. Only stars were McFadden-RB and Smith-WR, but even they barely got over 10 points. Miller-TE didn't get a single touch, Norwood-RB got injured. My Eagles D had a 48 point loss.
Trades: Lynch cannot come back soon enough! We'll see.

This Week In Fantasy Sports

2009-09-19T20:17:00.000-07:00

Niagara Stingers vs GA Dullbogs : Projected- Dullbogs by 15
Actual: Stingers 125 to 97 D
Analysis: Johnson-QB did amazing with 43 points, Bryant-WR got a strong 27 points. Everyone else did well too.
Trades: The only one who got no points was Spencer-WR who's team won with 45 points, but he didn't put out a single yard. I'm wondering why. Unfortunately my reserve WRs got low points too, so we'll see.

Maulers vs Beast From The East : Projected- Maulers by 23
Actual: Maulers 98 to 67 BFTE
Analysis: Excellent, Beast left one of their RB and WR empty and then their QB and another WR got 0 points. Reesing-QB did excellent this week getting 36 points, Royster-WR got a strong 19 points with others getting a decent amount of points usually.
Trades: Banks-WR has only gotten 10 points, in all three games, combined. Same with Adams-WR. I might switch one of them with Nunez and pick up a different WR, I'm 2nd in waivers so that should be good.

This Week In Fantasy Sports NFL Mon. Edition

2009-09-14T19:07:00.000-07:00

Here we go:

Hamilton Maulers vs Blueblood : Projected- Blueblood by 35
SUNDAY: Maulers 78 to 104 J&J
To Play: Maulers-

Tom Brady- QB Points Made: 25
Darren McFadden- RB
BlueBlood-
Patriots Defence Points Made: 12

Analysis: After a weak 1st half Brady came back in the final minutes and got me within shooting distance, and the weak Patriots defense helped a lot. It's all on McFadden to get me 11 points.
CURRENT: M 103-114 BB
To Play: Maulers-
Darren McFadden- RB Points Made: 4
Analysis: It's only a couple into the game and McFadden is already putting points on the board (104). McFaddens movin up (107). Grabs another yard before going to the 2nd quarter (108). Fadden fumbles it, back to 106. Brings it back up to 107. McFadden makes a play later in the 4th 108. Another good play 109.
Final Score: M 109-114 BB
Final Analysis: If I put Romo in instead of Brady (which I should have because Brady just got back) I would have won. Sadface :(

Caledonia Stingers vs J&J : Projected- Tie
Current: Stingers 73 to 90 J&J
To Play: J&J-

Terrel Owen- WR Points Made: 4

Analysis: Terrel Owens poor performance kept it close. I'm optimistic.
CURRENT: S 73-94 JJ
To Play: Stingers-

Antonio Gates- TE Points Made: 7
Analysis: Gates (and San Diego for the most part) gets little play in the 1st quarter. Gates gets on the board with a point 74. Picks up a deuce, 76. Makes a play in the 4th, 77. Makes another play, 80. Late play with 45 secs left, 81. TOUCHDOWN PLEASE??? Nope
Final Score: S 81-90 JJ
Final Analysis: Both my benched WR and RB got almost 20 points a piece. Sadly, more than anyone on my active team got. Sadface :(

P.S. On a positive note, for a first week, still getting used to my lines, players still getting used to getting back on the field, my teams actually did well. Hopefully they'll be strong next week.

This Week In Fantasy Sports NFL Sun. Edition

2009-09-13T20:58:00.000-07:00

Caledonia Stingers vs J&J : Projected- Tie
Current: Stingers 73 to 90 J&J
To Play: Stingers-

Antonio Gates- TE
J&J-
Terrel Owen- WR

Analysis: It's a long shot, but if TO plays really badly there maybe a chance. J&J's TE got 21 points, why can't mine?

Hamilton Maulers vs Blueblood : Projected- Blueblood by 35
Current: Maulers 78 to 104 J&J
To Play: Maulers-

Tom Brady- QB
Darren McFadden- RB
BlueBlood-
Patriots Defence

Analysis: This is in reach, Brady better have a damn good game, because I benched Romo and he got 32 points. I have to hope that the Patriots D performs poorly, and McFadden does well hopefully

This Week In Fantasy Sports

2009-09-12T20:00:00.000-07:00

Niagara Stingers vs Decatur Bandits : Projected- Stingers by 2
Actual: Stingers 57 to 51 Bandits
Analysis: Gods be praised! The Bandit's owner left on 3 of his players who were on bye this week (TE, WR, WR) and his QB and 1 of his WRs got stomped in a 35-3 loss. Even then I still scrapped by. Gresham, my Tight End, is having surgery and will be out for the year! THANKS FOR TELLING ME CBS! Warren (WR) failed to get any points but got 7 yards. My trade yesterday for McCalebb (RB) saved the day, with 17 points. Relf (my traded QB) got only 4 points in a 49-24 loss. My Texas D got 12 points and the RBs and WRs split the rest. It was close because Bandits Boston College D stomped Kent State 34-7 and his RB Dixon got 17 pts.
Trades: Obviously Gresham is gone. Hopefully my team will be strong since my QB and RBs aren't on bye anymore. My reserve WR, Spencer, got 7.5 points and might replace Warren.

Maulers vs Shrek : Projected- Shrek by 2
Actual: Maulers 112 to 155 Wildcats
Analysis: This was a hard game to win by any standard as Shrek QB, Tebow, got 46 points and 1 of his RB and 2 of his WRs got a combined total of over 60 points. His kicker got 10 points even! Reesing (QB) didn't do as well as he should have, getting only 14 pts in a 34-7 win. Bolden (RB) has been the work horse of the team, getting 35 points, getting us in the ball park at least. Royster (RB) also did really well with 22 points, so I have a strong RB section which is good. Adams (WR) failed me with 0 points and Banks (WR) only got 3 points. Pettis (WR) was exceptionally strong with 17 points in a 34-0 win. Slate (TE) got a point in a 52-10 loss, Flint (K) got 8 points and my USC D got 12 points.
Trades: I'll consider trading my WRs but I'm last on waivers so I doubt I'll be getting anything decent.

The Return Of This Week In Fantasy Sports

2009-09-08T18:03:00.000-07:00

Finally football season is here! I'm doing the same thing as last year, 2 college and 2 NFL teams, here's the low down.

College Football
Out for Blood League
Team: Maulers
QB- Todd Reesing- Kansas
QB- Juice Williams- Illinois
RB- Chris Brown- Oklahoma
RB- Evan Royster- Penn State
RB- Jewel Hampton- Iowa
WR- Kris Adams- Texas-El Paso
WR- Brandon Banks- Kansas State
WR- Juan Nunez- Western Michigan
WR-Austin Pettis- Boise State
TE- Cody Slate- Marshall
K- Morgan Flint- Oregon
K- Ross Evans- Texas Christian
DST- Southern California
DST- West Virginia

Fantasy College Blitz League
Team: Niagara Stingers
QB- Jerrod Johnson- Texas A&M
QB- Jevan Snead- Mississippi
RB- Darrell Scott- Colorado
RB- Jay Finley- Baylor
RB- Michael Smith- Arizona
WR- Jason Barnes- South Carolina
WR- Dez Bryant- Oklahoma State
WR- Brandon Warren- Tennessee
WR- Owen Spencer- North Carolina State
TE- Jermaine Gresham- Oklahoma
K- Dan Bailey- Oklahoma State
K- Hunter Lawrence- Texas
DST- Texas
DST- South Carolina

**Guess what? Both my Qbs have bye this week and 2 of my RBs have it too! I'm gonna have to drop my SC defence and Lawrence-K

College Football Week 1
Maulers vs Hurricanes_09 : Projected- Hurricanes by 18
Actual: Maulers 104 to 89.25 Wildcats
Analysis: I really dropped the ball here, Hampton-WR was out for the season, Oregon did terrible so Flint-K didn't get anything. Reesing-QB, Slate-TE and my South California defense did really well. Royster and Pettis did good too.
Trades: Definitely getting rid of Hampton ASAP, got 5 WRs on waivers, so I'll see who I get tomorrow.

NFL Football
NFL Canada Champions League
Team: Caledonia Stingers *Note I did not get to participate in the draft because of scheduling*
QB- Kurt Warner- Arizona Cardinals
QB- Ben Roethlisberger- Pittsburgh Steelers
RB- Ryan Grant- Green Bay Packers
RB- Steve Slaton- Houston Texans
RB- Willis McGahee- Baltimore Ravens
RB- Johnathan Stewart- Carolina Panthers
RB- Fred Taylor- New England Patriots
WR- Lee Evans- Buffalo Bills
WR- Andre Johnson- Houston Texans
WR- Antonio Gates- San Diego Chargers
WR-Patrick Crayton- Dallas Stars
TE- Antonio Gates- San Diego Chargers
K- Garrett Hartley- New Orleans Saints
DST- Minnesota Vikings

Kings of Fantasy League
Team: Hamilton Maulers
QB- Tom Brady- New England Patriots
QB- Tony Romo- Dallas Stars
RB- Marshawn Lynch- Buffalo Bills
RB-Darren McFadden- Oakland Raiders
RB- Kevin Faulk- New England Patriots
RB- Jerious Norwood- Atlanta Falcons
WR- Steve Smith- Carolina Panthers
WR- Jerricho Cotchery- New York Jets
WR- Ike Hilliard- Tampa Bay Buccaneers
WR- Steve Smith- Carolina Panthers
TE- Nate Washington - Tennessee Titans
K- Robbie Gould- Chicago Bears
DST- Philadelphia Eagles
DST- Indianapolis Colts

Pink Floyd: Rockband

2009-08-09T22:27:00.000-07:00

Here is how I would do a Pink Floyd Rockband game.

The Early Years:
Piper At The Gates of Dawn
-Astronomy Domine /A Really Good Starter Song\
-Interstellar Overdrive /A really fun guitar instrumental\
-Bike /Would be fun for a vocalist and drums\

A Saucerful of Secrets
-Let There Be More Light /Listen to it, it's the Doom theme!\
-Corporal Clegg /Has a Beatles/David Bowie feel to it\
-Saucerful of Secrets /Crazy Instrumental\
-See-Saw /Interesting Song\

Ummagumma
-Careful With That Axe, Eugene /An 8 Minute Pink Floyd Epic\

Meddle
-One Of These Days /Awesome guitar instrumental\
-Echoes /How could I not use this epic 20+ minutes song to wrap up the Early Years\

Hitting It Big:
Dark Side of The Moon (Full Album)
-Speak To Me/Breathe /The Drummer starts by pedaling the heartbeat, which goes into the sound effects, vocals screaming, then the awesome guitars start with a sweet drum beat. It would be amazing to sing as well\
-On The Run /I think this would be possible to do (Instrumental)\
-Time /What can you say? Classic song, epic solo\
-Great Gig In The Sky /Almost has to be done, thought of has just a piano song but has good guitar pieces and drums\
-Money /Classic song period\
-Us And Them /Great to sing\
-Any Colour You Like /EASILY Pink Floyd's best instrumental WOULD be amazing on guitar (especially if they could both be guitars\
-Brain Damage /Great Vocals\
-Eclipse /One of my favourites\

Wish You Were Here
-Shine on You Crazy Diamond (I-IX)
-Welcome To The Machine
-Have A Cigar
-Wish You Were Here

Is There Anybody Out There: The Wall (Live)
Stop. Why The Wall live you ask? "People are going to ride the whine train all day!" you say. I'll explain it in the songs.
-Master of Ceremonies: ATMOS & In The Flesh (LIVE) /These are just to great not to go together. The singer would say the announcement part. (Which is okay since there's an instrumental)\
-The Thin Ice /Great lyrics, There's an extra bit of instrumental in the live version too\
-Another Brick In The Wall Prt. 1 /Not really to much difference here\
-The Happiest Days Of Our Lives /The originals a bit better, but I also like the lives stronger beat\
-Another Brick In The Wall Prt. 2 /I'll be honest this is the only song not as good as the original, the singing and guitars don't sound as good. However the 2 minutes of extra instrumental is pretty awesome\
-Mother /Again another song with extra guitar solo, yes please\
-Goodbye Blue Sky /Both equally good. The orig. has better light parts, while the live has better dark parts\
-Empty Space & What Shall We Do Now /If for no other reason, What Shall We Do Now is the reason that you'd have the live version of the Wall. Just a cool song. There's a drum solo and a big rock ending!\
-Young Lust /The starting solo guitar makes it so worth it to go with live\
-One Of My Turns /The guitars sound a little better live, but not much difference\
-Don't Leave Me Now /Again, not much difference\
-Another Brick In The Wall Prt. 3 /The guitar is better in the live version\
-The Last Few Brick & Goodbye Cruel World /An awesome instrumental live only, would lead into a pretty much singing solo ending song\
-Hey You /I like the guitars more in this one\
-Nobody Home /Pretty much the same\
-Is There Anybody Out The /There is a ton more to do for the singer in the live version\
-Vera & Bring The Boys Back Home /Basically the same on both\
-Comfortably Numb (LIVE) /solo has an extra minute of badassedness on it. It is literally THE best guitar solo in any Pink Floyd record released. It also ends with a big rock ending.\
-The Show Must Go On /Basically the same, some extra lyrics in the live version\
-Master of Ceremonies: Atmos? & In The Flesh /Just a ton more loud, especially drums\
-Run Like Hell /I love the guitars a ton more live, and the opening speaking to the fans would be great to do\
-Waiting For The Worms & Stop /Basically the same\
-The Trial /Basically the same\
-Outside The Wall /There's nice background singing in the live one\

TOTAL SONGS: 50

Debate: The Wall
In my opinion after completing the game, or completing a challenge like: "Do the entire Wall: Live as a setlist with 5 stars on every song" then you'd unlock the original Wall. However, there's also a possibility of making it DLC, if they did this they could offer Another Brick In The Wall Part II as a freebie with the game. Or the entire Wall as a freebie with a pre-order.

Downloadable Content:
Singles
-Apples and Oranges
-Candy And A Currant Bun
-It Would Be So Nice
-Paint Box
-Point Me At The Sky

Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
-Lucifer Sam
-Matilda Mother
-Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk
-Flaming

A Saucerful Of Secrets
-Jugband Blues
-Remember A Day
-Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun

Music From The Film More
-The Nile Song
-Cymbaline
-Ibiza Bar
-More Blues
-A Spanish Piece & Dramatic Theme

Ummagumma
-The Narrow Way: Part I
-The Narrow Way: Part II
-The Narrow Way: Part III

Atom Heart Mother
-Atom Heart Mother Suite
-If
-Summer '68
-Fat Old Sun
-Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast

Meddle
-A Pillow of Winds
-Fearless
-San Tropez

Obscured By Clouds (Full Album)
-Obscured By Clouds /Instrumental\
-When You're In /Instrumental\
-Burning Bridges
-The Gold It's In The... /solo could easily be mistaken for AC/DC\
-Wot's... Uh The Deal
-Mudmen /Instrumental\
-Childhood's End
-Free Four /Cool Solo\
-Stay
-Absolutely Curtains

Animals (Full Album)
Pigs On The Wing Pt 1&2
Sheep
Dogs
Pigs (One Of Three)

Final Cut
-When The Tigers Broke Free
-Fletcher Memorial Home
-Your Possible Pasts
-The Hero's Return
-The Final Cut
-Not Now John
-The Post War Dream
-Two Suns In The Sunset

Momentary Lapse of Reason
-Learning To Fly
-The Dogs Of War
-One Slip
-On The Turning Away
-Yet Another Movie
-Terminal Frost
-Sorrow

The Division Bell
-A Great Day For Freedom
-High Hopes
-What Do You Want From Me
-Poles Apart
-Marooned /Instrumental\
-Wearing The Inside Out
-Take It Back
-Coming Back To Life
-Keep Talking
-Lost For Words

On An Island
-On An Island
-The Blue
-Take A Breath
-Red Sky At Night /The Sax would be amazing to turn into a guitar solo\
-This Heaven
-Smile
-Where We Start

Game Review: Resident Evil 5

2009-07-09T20:44:00.000-07:00

Resident Evil 5 has an amazing story. Really epic. So for that alone, at least rent the game.

But the best part of the game is the co-op, yelling "HOLY CRAP!" and coordinating with your teammate is a ton of fun. The graphics and locales are well done.

But here's the problems. The single player is ass. It's just not fun playing by yourself. The second problem is the controls are kind of sluggish. I tried replaying a couple time but it was just a struggle. So I ended up reselling it too.

Programming: 5/10 : Controls felt kind of sluggish. Single player teammate AI is horrid!
Graphics: 9/10 : Graphics are really great
Story: 10/10 : Story is thrilling
Atmosphere: 10/10 : The various African locales are really well done
Multiplayer: 7/10 : The co-operative is really fun
Overall: 7/10 : There's an exceptional game here, I think it just gets bogged down a bit.

P.S. I love the main character because his name is Chris, memo to developers: NAME YOUR CHARACTERS CHRIS!

Game Review: Halo Wars

2009-07-09T20:26:00.000-07:00

Halo Wars is an RTS based in the Halo universe. The plot is nothing special, Covenant take a thing, try to blow up the world... yadda yadda. In the end it doesn't have an impact on the Halo universe we know and love.

The problem I have with the game is that the pace seems kind of slow. Also a thing that bothered me was that you could on build a couple buildings and defences. And they can only go in specific places around the main construction base. I like the Red Alert scheme where you could build building anywhere around a building you own. It let you be creative with your bases. But they did it for easier controls.

In the end there's nothing wrong with the game. It has some interesting scenarios. However when I finished and looked at the achievements, I thought "ugh". And I knew right then, if playing through levels was feeling like a hassle, I was done. I traded it in for money.

Programming: 9/10 : Very well made game, controls really well too.

Graphics: 7.5/10 : The graphics are pretty good for a RTS

Story: 5/10 : The story kind of weak because of the low impact on the Halo universe.

Atmosphere: 9/10 : The Halo units are done really well

Multiplayer: NA/10 : Didn't really play multiplayer

Overall: 7/10 : Like I said I didn't hold onto the game.

Movie Review: Public Enemies

2009-07-09T19:40:00.000-07:00

Public Enemies stars Johnny Depp (Edward Scissorhands) as John Dillinger, a bank robber. The movie starts off with John breaking his friends out of prison. Marion Cotillard (La Vie en rose) plays Billie Frechette, John's wife.

While John robs banks, Christian Bale (Dark Knight) plays the man whose hunting him down, Melvin Purvis. With Billy Crudup (Watchmen) playing J. Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI.

The movie follows John as he goes through his life. There is a couple really good action scenes. The camera work is superb. A problem with the movie is that there's no one to really latch on too. Both sides have their faults. The 30s feel is amazingly done.

Acting: 9/10
Story: 8/10
Atmosphere: 10/10
Overall: 9/10
Rated 14A (ONT) R (USA) I liked it

P.S. There was a scene with a singer and I thought I recognized her. I nailed it. (Cameo was Diana Krall)

Movie Review: Defiance

2009-07-09T19:08:00.000-07:00

Defiance stars Daniel Craig (Casino Royale) as Tuvia Bielski who along with his brothers Zus Bielski (played by Liev Schreiber, The Manchurian Candidate), Aron Bielski (George Mackay, and Asael Bielski (played by Jamie Bell, King Kong) are hiding from Nazi German oppression in the forests of Poland.

Soon their story spread and they are joined by many other Jewish people. The movie follows the struggles of their camp and the differences between the brothers.

Overall it's an entertaining movie.

Acting: 7.5/10
Story: 8/10
Atmosphere: 8/10
Overall: 8/10
Rated 14A (ONT) R (USA) I liked it more than Pyjamas

Movie Review: The Day the Earth Stood Still

2009-07-09T18:32:00.000-07:00

Keanu Reeves (The Matrix) stars as Klaatu an alien representative. Co-Starring is Jennifer Connelly as microbiologist Helen Benson. Kathy Bates (Revolutionary Road) plays the Secretary of State, who's a constant pain. Jaden Smith (Pursuit of Happyness) plays Jacob Benson, Helen's step-son. John Cleese (Monty Python) plays a professor and friend of Helen.

Helen eventually finds out Klaatu's here because they are going to destroy the Earth, or rather, protect the Earth by destroying us. Yeah it's sort of environmentalist propaganda but let's keep going. So the majority of the movie is Helen trying to convince Klaatu not to end humanity.

While this is happening the American Army (led by Robert Knepper of Prison Break) is doing various attacks on the ship/sphere and Gort, a giant robot.

The movie is interesting but doesn't have the pizaz of Independence Day or Day After Tomorrow and the story is too shallow. So it fails as a disaster movie and an action drama.

Acting: 7/10
Story: 6.5/10
Atmosphere: 6/10
Overall: 6.5/10
Rated PG (ONT) PG-13 (USA) Okay movie

Movie Review: Frost/Nixon

2009-07-09T18:05:00.000-07:00

Frank Langella (Goodnight, and Goodluck) plays a post Presidential office Richard Nixon. Looking to rebuild his political career (and a little bit of money) he agrees to an interview with journalist David Frost (played by Michael Sheen, The Queen). Frost is trying to rebuild his career and is taking a huge risk by spending a ton of money for the interview.

The supporting cast includes a rock solid Kevin Bacon as Nixon's advisor Jack Brennan. Sam Rockwell (Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy) as James Reston, Jr. who along with Bob Zelnick (Oliver Platt, Year One) and John Birt (Matthew Macfadyen, Pride & Prejudice) study up on the former President for Frost.

The dialogue is well done and humourous at times and is actually quite tense at moments (which is surprising for an interview)

Great camera work, acting and writing make this movie amazing.

Acting: 9.5/10
Story: 8.5/10
Atmosphere: 9/10
Overall: 9/10
Rated: PG (ONT) R (USA) Overall really well done

Movie Review: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

2009-07-09T17:43:00.000-07:00

Newcomer Asa Butterfield stars as the young Bruno, son of an SS Officer (palyed by David Thewlis, Harry Potter) who is stationed at a Nazi concentration camp. Bruno's family includes his mother (Vera Farmiga, Nothing But The Truth) and his sister Grettel (played by Amber Beattie who's also in her first major role).
From his window Bruno notices a "farm" with people wearing "striped pyjamas". There he meets a boy named Shmuel (played by Jack Scanlon who again is new) and they become friends. Another key character is Lt. Kotler, a young SS officer played by Rupert Friend (The Libertine).

The movie has an interesting story, and is well done.

Acting: 7/10
Story: 7.5/10
Atmosphere: 8/10
Overall: 7.5/10
Rated 14-A (ONT)* PG-13 (USA) Overall a good movie

P.S. Spoilers: I was left wondering if the father really did get the point? That what they were doing was evil? Or was he just sad because his son died?

*I couldn't find this so that is my best guess, though it could be PG

Movie Review: Year One

2009-07-09T16:27:00.000-07:00

Year One stars Jack Black as Zed and Michael Cera, his sidekick, as Oh. They start off as small time hunterer/gatherers at a tribe and dream of going over the mountains, which Oh believes is the end of the world. After eating the forbidden fruit and being banished they are exiled from the tribe and begin their journey.

David Cross (Kung Fu Panda) plays Cain (of the famous Cain and Abel brothers). Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Superbad) plays Issac and Hank Azaria (Godzilla) plays Abraham, his father. Juno Temple (Atonement) and June Raphael (Bride Wars) play Eema and Maya, Oh and Zeds love interests from the tribe. Oliver Wilde (House M.D.) plays the Princess of Sodom and there are several other small parts and cameos throughout the movie.

The one who steals the show is Cera with his Eore like attitude, which make every line he says pretty funny. I'll admit the movie is far from perfect. There's a couple of gross moments. But overall I thought it was pretty good.

Acting: 7.5/10
Story: 7.5/10
Atmosphere: 8/10
Overall: 7.5/10
Rated: 14-A (ONT) PG-13 (USA) If you like Jack Black or Michael Cera you'll probably like this movie

Movie Review: The Taking Of Pelham 1 2 3

2009-07-09T16:06:00.000-07:00

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 revolves around Ryder (like train rider) played by John Travolta (Hairspray, Wildhogs) who takes over a train, full of hostages, and demands a ransom. The man he talks to over the radio is Walter Garber, a man who's worked on the subway system for years, played by Denzel Washington (Deja Vu, American Gangster).

Ryder's motive is unclear, but what is clear is that he has a beef with the Mayor of New York City (played by James Gandolfini, the Sopranos) and the "man" in general. The main problem with the movie is that there's only a few "tense" moments. And even they seem contrived, and some don't even involve the characters in the movie. The movie doesn't really go anywhere until the end as well.

The second big problem is that this has already been done. And done better. The Italian Job, Phone Booth, Die Hard and many others have tread these grounds before. Heck, Inside Man was released in 2006, so even Denzel has been here before. Denzel and John both do well but there isn't much to work with.

Acting: 7/10
Story: 4/10
Atmosphere: 5/10
Overall: 5.5/10
Rated: 14-A (ONT) R (USA) Exciting at parts but not enough

P.S. A lot of the "twists" could be seen from miles away

Movie Review: Terminator Salvation

2009-07-08T16:48:00.000-07:00

The movie stars Christian Bale (The Dark Knight) as John Connor, leader of the resistance against the robot overlords (i.e. Skynet). Sam Worthington (The Great Raid) plays Marcus Wright, a man who was on deathrow in the past but doesn't remember anything now.

He finds a young Kyle Reece (played by Anton Yelchin) and they, along with Star (played by Jadagrace). Michael Ironside seems wasted as a leader of the resistance. Moon Bloodgood plays a pilot who also plays a key part in the story. The rest of the characters play minor parts.

Overall the movie had some great cinematics. The gas station scene was epic in my opinion. Also if your going to compare to the previous movies, keep in mind that this one had to play a different tune and couldn't just go with the "single terminator going after Connor" theme.

Acting: 7/10
Story: 7.5/10
Atmosphere: 9/10
Overall: 8/10
Rated 14A (ONT) PG-13 (USA) I thought it was definitely worth seeing

P.S. I thought I saw a seen where there were people watching them go to the death areas. If true, what could it mean?

Movie Review: Bottle Shock

2009-07-08T16:27:00.000-07:00

Bottle Shock is a movie about the taste testing contest between French and Californian wines in 1976. The movie stars Chris Pine (Star Trek) as Bo Barrett the son of Jim Barrett (Bill Pullman, Independence Day) who is following his dream of owning a successful winery. Rachel Taylor plays Sam (fitting perfectly as a California girl) an intern at the winery. Freddy Rodríguez play a young man who has a passion for wine and is friends with Bo. Eliza Dushku plays a small part as a local bartender.

Finally the one who steals the show is Alan Rickman (Harry Potter) as an English "wine snob" trying to run a wine store in France. He comes up with the idea to do the blind taste contest and begins searching California for the best wines. Every scene he's in is excellent

However most of the movie revolves around the troubles of the Barrett winery and the relationship between Bo and his father. There's also a small love story but it seems kind of uneccessary.

Overall the movie is great.

Acting: 8/10
Story: 8/10
Atmosphere: 8/10
Overall: 8/10
Rated 14A (ONT) PG-13 (USA) Very interesting movie

P.S. Alan Rickman is also in one of my favourite movies Galaxy Quest

Movie Review: Revolutionary Road

2009-07-08T16:05:00.000-07:00

Revolutionary Road starts off with the Wheelers, Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio, Titanic) and April (Kate Winslet, Titanic also), having a fight, and you immediately know that the gloves are off for this movie. The movie for the most part revolves around them. The other standout performer was Kathy Bates. The rest play more minor roles but do well none the less.

April has dreams of going places, not staying in your standard 50s suburban neighbourhood. Frank, also had these dreams but that part of seems has given in to the pessimism of working at his job (the same company that his father did too).

Both Leo and Kate do exceptional here. Director Sam Mendes (Jarhead, Road to Peredition) does a great job with the camera. The fifties clothing and settings were also done very well.

Acting: 9/10
Story: 7/10
Atmosphere: 9/10
Overall: 8/10
Rated: 14-A (ONT) R (USA) Well done movie

P.S. Didn't realize this was based off a book

Movie Review: Crossing Over

2009-07-07T23:47:00.000-07:00

Crossing Over is several stories about immigrants in the United States. The first is Harrison Ford as Max Brogan, a immigration officer who tries to get an illegal immigrant her young boy back.

The second is Claire Shepard (played by Alice Eve) an Australian actress who wants to make it big in the U.S. and meets Cole Frankel (played by Ray Liotta) an immigration official.

Another story is Gavin Kossef (played by Jim Sturgess, Across The Universe) a friend of Claire, also seeking citizenship, and is using his Jewish faith to get in.

Taslima Jahangir (played by Summer Bishil) is a member of a family who is partly illegal and ends up being arrested for a school report she did. She is taken care of by Denise Frankel (Ashley Judd, Double Jeopardy) who is an immigration lawyer and takes care of another immigrant child.

Finally Cliff Curtis plays Hamid Baraheri who is involved with a death in a family. And the last story is an Asian family, who's eldest son is getting involved with gangs, only weeks before he's to become a citizen.

Overall they're all kind of enjoyable, but it doesn't really stand out on it's own.

Acting: 8/10
Story: 7.5/10
Atmosphere: 7.5/10
Overall: 7.5/10
Rated: 14-A (ONT) R (USA) Good stories

P.S. I was annoyed with the opening speech by Taslima. Also I didn't realize that Austrailia was such a hell hole.

Movie Review: Fanboys

2009-07-07T23:27:00.000-07:00

Eric Bottler (played by Sam Huntington, Superman Returns) reunites with his old high school buddies Linus (Christopher Marquette, The Girl Next Door), Hutch (Dan Fogler, Balls Of Fury) and Windows (Canadian Jay Baruchel, Tropic Thunder) and refire their dream to go to Skywalker Ranch and see the Phantom Menace before anyone else.
Zoe (Kristen Bell, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) is a co-worker and friend of Hutch. The gang heads west in their van and get involved with a ton of hijinks.

I loved the movie for it's various cameos, Star Wars related humour and humour. I definitely reccomend seeing it.

Acting: 8/10
Story: 8/10
Atmosphere: 8/10
Overall: 8/10
Rated: 14-A (ONT) PG-13 (USA) Hilarious movie

Movie Review: Nothing But The Truth

2009-07-07T22:58:00.000-07:00

Allison (played by Kate Beckinsale, Click) is a journalist on the verge of releasing a huge news story: the wife of a government official is a CIA agent. backed by her editor (Angela Bassett, ER). She goes ahead with the story, knowing it will cause controversy. Immediately the government wants the source from her, getting a special prosecutor for the matter (played by Matt Dillon, Crash). Things go downhill from there.

Noah Wyle (ER) plays the lawyer defending her for the newspaper. While Alan Alda (Aviator) plays a lawyer defending her and does a really great job. I thought Kate did a really good job too. David Schwimmer (Friends) plays her Allison's husband and one of the stand outs was Vera Farmiga who plays the ousted CIA agent.

Nothing but the Truth suffered the same problem that Stop Loss had I felt. The movie is good but it doesn't really provide answers.

Acting: 8/10
Story: 6/10
Atmosphere: 7.5/10
Overall: 7.5/10
Rated: 14-A (ONT) R (USA) Overall an okay movie

Movie Review: Adventureland

2009-07-07T22:34:00.000-07:00

Adventureland is a good mix of teen comedy and drama. Set in 1987 James Brennan (played by Jesse Eisenberg) is just leaving high school, looking forward to college. But his parents are short on money, so he picks up a job at the local theme park. There he meets a unique cast of characters including Bobby the manager (played by Bill Hader, Superbad), co-worker Joel (Martin Starr, also in Superbad) and Mike Conell (a shady guy played by Ryan Reynolds, Waiting...).

But James sets his eyes on Emily Lewin (played by Kristen Stewart, Twilight) and they begin a relationship.

The acting is fine, mostly because of a good supporting cast. I think Kristen did well for one of her first movies and Jesse also did well for one of his first big movies as well. The story moved at a good pace and it wasn't raunchy like most teen comedies are. A little moreso than Juno.

Acting: 7/10

Story: 7/10

Atmosphere: 8/10

Overall: 7.5/10

Rated 14A (ONT) R (USA) I liked it

P.S. Why do I always mix Ryan Reynolds with Dane Cook?

Major Update

2009-07-07T22:24:00.000-07:00

That's it! I'm batting down the hatches. I'm going to review all the movies I've been to lazy to up until now. Including:
Adventureland
Nothing But The Truth
Fanboys
Crossing Over
Revoultionary Road
Bottle Shock
Terminator Salvation
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
Year One
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Frost/Nixon
The Day The Earth Stood Still
Defiance
Public Enemies

As well as video game reviews of Resident Evil 5 and Halo Wars.

Look At: Talladega

2009-06-30T23:43:00.000-07:00

Today I read an article at CBS sports in which, more than once, Talladega was called a crapshoot.
Yup, Talladega is just a random race, where there is no discernable skill involved what so ever.

Of course Talladega is one of my favourite tracks, so allow me to prove them wrong:

I took the race winners from 1999 onwards to see if there was a pattern:

1999- Both won by Dale Sr.
2000- Jeff Gordon
2000- Dale Sr.
2001- Bobby Hamilton. "Oh!" Your saying, "guess your wrong." Let's read the wikipedia article, shall we?

"The entire 500-mile race was run caution-free...A physically and mentally exhausted Hamilton slumped to the ground after exiting his car and was given oxygen from a tank before giving the standard post-race Victory Lane interview while sitting on the ground, leaning against the drivers door."

I think he deserved it.

2001, both 02 and 03- won by Dale Jr.
2003- won by Waltrip (when DEI was in it's prime remember)
2004- Gordon
2004- Jr.
2005- Jarrett (Don't make me have to argue Jarrett being a good driver. Don't embarass yourself)
2006- Jimmie Johnson
2006- Vickers (Remember he had to push Jr and Johnson out of the way to get the win too)
Both 07- Gordon
2008- Kyle Busch (one of many for Busch last year)
2008- Stewart
2009- Keslowski (Crashed out Edwards on the final lap)

So maybe that'll help clear the air of all the bull anti-dega people like to spill.

Thoughts On Microsoft's E3 Conference

2009-06-01T13:06:00.000-07:00

Damn! First off, DAMN!
That was amazing. Now before I continue I must throw this in:
CALLED IT!
Alan Wake did indeed have an EPIC demo and looked amazing!

Modern Warfare 2 looked great, but it felt like the demo they showed was rushed, in opposition of Modern Warfare 1's slower demo.

Beatles Rockband will indeed have Back In The USSR, I'm Sold.

SPLINTER CELL CONVICTION! HOLY SHIHTZUS! Looked jaw droppingly good!

Then Natal. I'll admit, parts were a little corny. But goddamn! Milo was creepy but even more amazing!

Then throw in Facebook and Twitter. Left 4 Dead 2, Crackdown 2, and
HOLY CRAP DID HALO ODST LOOK GOOD

My Hopes for Beatles: Rock Band

2009-05-07T08:42:00.000-07:00

UPDATED- AUG1409 If Real (BOLD = CONFIRMED) (Italics = DLC)
I Want to Hold Your Hand
Twist and Shout
A Hard Day's Night
Day Tripper
Drive My Car
Help!
Ticket to Ride
Taxman
All You Need Is Love
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Strawberry Fields Forever
With a Little Help From My Friends
Birthday
Revolution
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Come Together
Here Comes the Sun
Get Back
My Favs
Back In The U.S.S.R. - Would be fun on every instrument
Magical Mystery Tour- Just a cool song period
Oh! Darling- Love the blues feel
Carry That Weight- Would be great if they do have multiple singers possible
Let It Be- Epic song
A Day In The Life- CLASSIC
Hey Jude- I believe there are UN resolutions that forbid not having this song in the game (Apparently not)
Blackbird- Great song
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da- Probably my favourite Beatles song

Also Confirmed
I Feel Fine
I Saw Her Standing There
I Am The Walrus
Here Comes The Sun
Octopus's Garden

10 Best Halo Multiplayer Maps

2009-04-27T12:34:00.001-07:00

Read this post today and found it interesting. Did a little research and remembered some of my old favs.

1. Boarding Action - My dream is to have a remake of this map, half Covenant ship with a huge hole in it, half human ship.
2. Ivory Tower - Had a love/hate relationship with this map but I wish it were in Halo 3
3. Blood Gulch - Classic
4. Elongation - Loved this map for it’s design, colors and gameplay. Loved Swat and Snipers.
5. Beaver Creek - Classic map
6. Hang ‘Em High - Loved sniping here.
7. Terminal - Yes, I miss being hit by a train.
8. Zanzibar - I remember E3 when this was unveiled as part of Halo 2’s multiplayer. The spinning wheel and opening doors were amazing.
9. Blackout - I probably like Lockout more but I love the Human setting redesign
10. Backwash - Sort of out of left field, but I really loved the feel of this map

Honorable Mention: Containment, Foundation, Headlong, Relic, Colossus, Warlock
Least Favourites: Waterworks, Burial Mounds, Turf, Foundry, Isolation and Snowbound

Stinger503's Report of Toolbaggery 18/04/09

2009-04-18T12:40:00.000-07:00

I can't let this go. Sorry I can't.

You know what? I worked as a dishwasher for a couple years, and yeah it was boring, tiring, soul-stealing work that I hated. But guess what? I NEVER allowed a dirty dish through, because I had the COMMON FUCKING SENSE to know that people would be served food on those dishes, people like MYSELF! JESUS CHRIST! What's wrong with these people?! It's unfuckingbelieveable! Their attitude is so idiotic as well, no sense of "Hey if we're doing this to people's food, maybe someones doing it to our food. I wouldn't like that, so I won't do this."

And then they release it on youtube. To the public. With no attempt to hide their faces and I think they even say their names! Now it seems as if they want the internet to just forget this happened. I hope it's a damned joke. Sorry but if your that big a toolbag then you deserve to have the hammer of the internet brought down on you:

Lookin' Ahead 2009 Edition

2009-04-04T01:24:00.000-07:00

Last year I did a thing looking ahead at 2008. And boy was I right, 2008 was a blast. Now I know I'm doing this a little late. But here we go:

Already happened: Halo Wars (Review Soon), Resident Evil 5 (Review Soon), Hasbro coming to Live Arcade, Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.
What else?

Modern Warfare 2- A sequel to a game so good it doesn't even need to be called Call of Duty any more
Alan Wake- A game that's building anticipation via silence. I expect an EPIC demo at E3
Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams- You. Play. A. Big. Daddy.
The Beatles: Rock Band- As long as there's Back in the U.S.S.R.
I Am Alive - A game where you have to live through a huge earthquake in Chicago, battling for water and trying to save your girlfriend? Count me in!
Survivor- Another survival game, except multiple disasters including 9/11 and the Titanic
Ride to Hell- A GTA Lost and the Damned like game. Where do I sign?
Primetime- Can't wait to see how this is implemented.
Huxley- The First real MMO game for the 360?
Red Dead Redemption- I love western games.
Max Payne 3- Never got into the first 2 but the same thing happened with Resident Evil 5
Velvet Assassin- Historical game based in World War II, starring a female spy and featuring Splinter Cell like game play? Who says WWII is dead?
Mafia 2- The 1st game looked interesting on the computer, but dated when finally released on the Xbox. I think this maybe a lot better. Love the era.
The Saboteur- Game based in occupied Paris circa WWII. Hell yes.
Splinter Cell: Conviction- There's been a long media blackout since the negative reception of the first information. Will they be out this year? I'm not keeping my hopes up.
Sundown- Zombie apocalypse game. Need I say more. Hopefully out in '09
Cipher Complex- Interesting Splinter Cell like game.

And that's not including what I can only imagine are going to be huge announcements from E3 '09 in a few months.

Game Download Review: COD:WAW:MP1

2009-04-01T07:22:00.000-07:00

Today I'll review the Call of Duty: World At War: Map Pack 1, I won't be reviewing the Zombies map though, just the multiplayer maps.

First is Nightfire: basically a night map in the streets of a German city (Berlin?) in flames. Now as a sniper the map is okay, it's not as big as Seelow and there's a couple of okay sniping spots. The map is pretty fun for objective based games like sabotage. And there is a variety of strategies one can use (ex. go through factory, alley, across street to sniper or enemy base, etc.) so you have to be on your feet.
Overall: 8/10
It's fun but there are areas for improvement.

Second is Station: Basically a recreation of the subway tunnels from the campaign, this map is a bit of a bitch because it seems as though there's ALWAYS someone behind you. This is because of the multiple tunnels that link from the main big tunnel to the secondary tunnels. There aren't any lighting issues here either. Also fun for games of sabotage. Sniping can be done here but it's kind of lame.
Overall: 8/10
Pretty good, sort of like the map Elongation from Halo 2.

Finally there's Knee Deep: This is definitely my favourite Pacific based map. It's quite large and features various sniping spots. Great fun for objective games and death match games alike. Starts out kind of boring but it really grows on you. Favourite map from the pack, better than the other Pacific maps like Makin and Courtyard (not sure of the name).
Overall: 9/10
All round very good.

BUY? Yes

Regarding This Red Eye Fox News Canada Fiasco

2009-03-23T23:36:00.001-07:00

Here we go:
0:00-0:55 : Wow this is a horrendous, terrible, disgraceful, despicable, disgusting portrayal of our army and a slap in the face to the dead soldiers. NO IT ISN'T. Our army is pathetic. We're ranked 46 on a list of largest armies. And about our lost soldiers, a lot of them died because of shitty equipment. And the guy even points out our lack of tanks, which isn't a joke, it's true. People should be more outraged at how under funded the army is.

0:55-1:05 : I'm terrified of the U.S. invading us! Remember, ranked 46? U.S. is number 2, and we have more fresh water, oil and other resources than them.

1:05-1:20 : Doug Benson, 2006's Stoner of the Year (High Times Magazine) talks. Enough said.

1:20-1:32 : He has a point. But to be fair, countries like Ireland, Denmark and Norway don't have large armies either, and those countries are in former Hitler territory, so you'd think they'd know better. Also they shouldn't be talking considering even with their big army they got hit on 9-11 and tons of illegal immigrants are pouring into their country.

1:32- God I really don't like this guy so I really don't want to watch this...
1:32-1:55 : Arrogant stereotyping of Canada. We do have normal police. Christ even mounties don't where red most of the time. Oh good a nice lady is going to be fair to us.

1:55-2:40 : Please don't defend us again lady. First off let's straighten something out, Canada isn't "taking a year off". We're withdrawing our troops which was planned and decided by our government. Something your inept governments haven't done (yes both democrats and republicans) And then you throw in this Cold War era crap. "The Front Lines with Russia" what decade are you living in? The Cold War fear mongering is worse than anything.

2:40-3:13 : I wonder why Norway's government isn't whining about this? Maybe cause they have better crap to do then watch youtube videos of late night Fox news "comedy" talk shows?

3:15-3:30 : The first part makes sense, but then he just goes on and on. Is he talking about American forces? Canadian forces? Iraq? Afghanistan? Doesn't really make sense. Mostly conservative nonsense.

3:30-3:50 : The only thing you have to worry about for Mexico is when their army will be patrolling your streets. Just noticed something, isn't strange that our army is coming home, the U.S. is beefing up theirs overseas and we (Canada, US, Mexico) can use our armies in each others countries now?

3:50-4:00 : Wow is this a joke? Siesta gets point out as a stereotype but throwing mounties and cold don't bat an eye?

4:00-End : "Evildoers"? Enough said.

The Real Problem with the Music Industry

2009-03-16T23:37:00.000-07:00

It ain't downloading. It's quality. No ones buying albums because there's nothing to buy! They just don't make music like they used to. I will show you a clear cut example. See how many future classics you can find in 2008:

2008 #1 on charts:
Low by Flo Rida?
Love in this Club by Usher?
Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis?
Touch My Body by Mariah Carey?
Lollipop by Lil Wayne?
Coldplay, whatever
I Kissed A Girl, a song no ones gonna give a shit about in a yea...oh wait we already don't give a shit
Disturbia by Rihanna?
Whatever You Like by T.I.?
So What by Pink?
Live Your Life by T.I. Featuring Rihanna?
Womanizer by Britney Spears??
and finally Single Ladies by Beyonce?

That's the best 2008 had to offer? What a joke! Let's look at 1978:

Some Beegees, Wings, Rolling Stones, Anne Murray Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer

How about 68?:
Beatles right off the bat, Simon and Garfunkel, The Doors, The Rascals, More Beatles, Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross

This year is even WORSE!

We've got Just Dance by Lady Gaga?? My Life Would Suck Without You by Kelly Clarkson? Crack a Bottle by Dr. Dre, Eminem and 50 Cent? Right Round by Flo Rida? Fuck me who listens to this shit!?

Lets look at 1979 then shall we?:
Bee Gees, Chic, Rod Stewart, Gloria Gaynor's "I will Survive", Doobie Brothers, Blondie, Donna Summer, My Sharona by the Knacks, Michael Jackson, Eagles, Styx and a bit more Barbra Streisand.

How about 69 then?:
Marvin Gaye's "Heard it Through the Grapevine", Sly & The Family Stone, Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Archies' "Sugar, Sugar", Temptations, More Beatles, Steam, Diana Ross and fucking Elvis!

I REST MY CASE.

P.S. I should also note you would have also had guys like Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Supertramp, Tom Petty, CCR, George Baker Selection, Bob Marley, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Cream, David Bowie, and many other all making ground breaking music at that time too.

Movie Review: Watchmen

2009-03-15T18:40:00.001-07:00

I loved the Watchmen. No I've never read the comic novel and probably won't, I'm kind of lazy, I've got 5 other books I still need to read. Also I think watching the movie gave me a clean slate. I don't like dabbing into different medias with the same subject. I haven't seen the Harry Potter movies, but loved the books, for example. Where do I start?

The Watchmen is sort of like Lost, there's the now time line, and there's a bunch of flashbacks. Basically there's an alternate history where during the 1930s a few people put on masks to fight crime. This eventually became outlawed and now most of the people live in hiding.

Patrick Wilson stars as the Nite Owl, a character who misses the old days, but mostly keeps to himself. Jackie Haley plays Rorschach, an angry guy who only wants to keep justice. He's probably the most entertaining of them all. Billie Crudup plays Dr. Manhattan, a person who works for the U.S. government as both a weapons and scientist, he is the only character with true powers. Malin Akerman (A Swedish-Canadian hottie!) plays Silk Spectre, who is romantically involved with Dr. Manhattan but feels them pulling apart. Adrian Veidt is played by Matthew Goode, he is the "smartest" man in the world. Finally Jeffery Dean Morgan plays the Comedian, who dies early on.

The movie revolves around who killed the Comedian and why? While most of the group don't care, Rorschach is trying to figure it out. The movie is very stylish, in almost a noir kind of way, but not. I really don't want to explain anymore, just know that there is nudity/sex and gore/violence. Definitly see this in theatres, there's no way a T.V. screen, no matter what size, can do this movie justice. Just don't bring the kiddies.

Acting: 10/10
Story: 10/10
Atmosphere: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Rated: 18-A (ONT) R (USA)

P.S. Try and notice the staged/false flag terror plot in the movie!

Movie Review: Traitor

2009-03-15T18:22:00.000-07:00

Traitor stars Don Cheadle as Samir, a Islamic man who has ties to the C.I.A. His handler, or boss, is Carter played by Jeff Daniels. Guy Pearce plays an F.B.I. agent who doesn't know this and is hunting Samir.

The tension is that Samir's father was killed by a car bomb as a child and it isn't known which side he's really on. Does he help the terrorists or save lives?

Just like in the last review I did, Body of Lies, there's a false flag terror attack committed by the good guys.

To me the movie was bland, again like Body of Lies, it just didn't drum up enough excitement. I liked Jeff Daniels in it but he doesn't play a role long enough. The story just seems boring, it's a lot like the Siege but without any of the material that made the Siege so interesting.

Acting: 8/10
Story: 7/10
Atmosphere: 7/10
Overall: 7.5/10
Rated: 18-A (ONT) R (USA)

P.S. The movie was written and produced by Steve Martin, which I thought was kind of strange