Wednesday, May 28, 2008

From the Vault #3: One by Metallica (1989)

"One" is a Grammy Award winning song performed by heavy metal band Metallica. One of Metallica's most famous songs, "One" appeared as the fourth track of, and was released as the third single from, the band's 1988 album ...And Justice for All. Metallica won their first Grammy Award in 1990 for "One", winning Best Metal Performance. "One" was also the band's first Top 40 hit single, peaking at #35 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Manchester United Beats Chelsea to Win UEFA Title


With Moscow drenched in rain, Manchester United beats Chelsea 6-5 in penalty kicks after a 1-1 regulation tie.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

From the Vault #2: Mr Brightside by The Killers (2004)

"Mr. Brightside" was the song that made The Killers break out in America. The song is featured on the group's debut album "Hot Fuss" .It hit #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart and was one of the biggest hits of 2004. The song was also nominated for a Grammy in 2006 for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, but it lost to a live version of "This Love" by Maroon 5.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

The Always Old Morgan Freeman




For as long as I can remember, Morgan Freeman has always looked old. From "Glory", "The Shawshank Redemption", "Bruce Almighty", through his Academy Award winning performance in "Million Dollar Baby", and to his upcoming film role in the batman sequel, "The Dark Knight", he has been the wise old actor that has dominated the big screen (and movie narrations). His gravitas and his presence are among the many reasons why he's had staying power in Hollywood. But I must ask this question...do you remember Morgan Freeman ever looking young?. Even when he was on "The Electric Company" television show, where he taught many illegitimate hippie offspring (just kidding) how to read, he always looked older than his actual age. Recently, Mr. Freeman has complained that he seems to get the same type of roles every time, the distinguished and wise authority figure. I can answer as to why this is so, it's because since we can remember, he's always looked old.

I almost wrote a different article. It would have been titled "The Always Young Drew Barrymore".


DBlock

Kennedy Hospitalized With Two Seizures


Senator Kennedy is in stable condition after two seizures he suffered earlier this morning. I hope the Liberal Lion of the Senate will keep on roarin'.

Vote Harvey Dent for DA on July 18th, 2008



I know I will...

Friday, May 16, 2008

Tropic Thunder Trailer

Robert Downey Jr. as a black guy...classic

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Califronia Supreme Court Overturns Gay Marriage Ban


I wonder if in the future we will remember this day as one of the most important days in the history of the U.S.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

From the Vault #1: Undone-The Sweater Song by Weezer (1994)

This is a weekly series profiling great songs/music videos from the past.

This song is by the American rock band Weezer, released on their self-titled 1994 debut album. It was released as their debut single in 1994. Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo has commented on the song, saying:

" "Undone" is the feeling you get when the train stops and the little guy comes knockin' on your door. It was supposed to be a sad song, but everyone thinks it’s hilarious".

This was Weezer's first hit, reaching #6 on Billboard Modern Rock Tracks and #57 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart here in America.

Probe This: The Arlen Specter Story














Republican Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter wants a probe. After the debacle that was wrought from the congressional hearings on steroids in baseball, and the subsequent Mitchell Report, Senator Specter is now suggesting the an independent probe be implemented to investigate cheating in the NFL. This all started with an investigation done by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell into the New England Patriots' alleged videotaping of opponents' sideline signals. Known as "Spygate," the investigation led to the Patriots losing their first round draft pick in last month's NFL draft, as well as fining the team a total of $750,000 ($500,000 of which were fined to coach Bill Belichick). The man who was responsible for the videotaping, Matt Walsh, handed over six videos which spanned since 2001. The controversy seemed to have been coming to an end yesterday when commissioner Goodell and Walsh met for a few hours, and Goodell came to the conclusion that no further punishment was necessary.
First of all, I think it's about time to retire this tired tradition of slapping the suffix 'gate' onto every scandal that comes along. Watergate was an interesting and important historical event, and every time writers relate some lame 'controversy' to Watergate, it just makes it into an increasingly sadder joke. Every time I hear 'gate' being added to then end of a word, I sink deeper and deeper into a swamp of dumb. I'm at beak level now; much more of this, and I won't be able to breathe. But I digress.
I realize the government and sports are not completely autonomous from each other, with the anti-trust status and such, but this is getting ridiculous. With all of the pertinent issues in our country right now, does Senator Specter have nothing better to do with his time and your tax money than to engage in a modern-day Salem witch trial? Specter is McCarthy nouveau. Of course, the implications of this witch hunt are not nearly as dire as they were during the Red Scare, but I can think of at least one person *furbish cough*Roger Clemens*furbish cough* whose life has been completely inverted as a result. Perhaps he brought it upon himself, but perhaps many if not all of the allegations against him are false.
When McCarthy said, "communist," it smeared those who really had no way to prove they weren't, except to say that they weren't. It was he said/she said. By that same token, whenever the word "steroids" was invoked during that circus known as the congressional hearings, and subsequently the Mitchell Report, people could either say they never failed a drug test, or admit that they did. Usually the players who admitted they did were forgiven and forgotten, while those who didn't, such as Mark McGuire, were just assumed guilty (though his testimony essentially was an admission of guilt by...stupidity). And thus, any investigation by anything having to do with our federal government will merely be an attempt in futility -- and a wasteful one at that. What is supposed to be accomplished with this? To rid the sport of the evil art of figuring out the other team's signals? That's small potatoes. It has a minimal impact on the game, and it's something that the NFL obviously already looks out for, otherwise the Patriots wouldn't have been caught in the first place. If Arlen Specter wants a probe, well, I've got a probe for him all right. And since he's a Republican, he probably already knows what to do with it.

- The Furious Furby (Guest Blogger)

DBlock's Great Films #1: This is Spinal Tap (1984)


Every week I will profile a classic film. The first one in this series is "This is Spinal Tap" (1984)

Cast:
Michael McKean as David St. Hubbins
Christopher Guest as Nigel Tufnel
Harry Shearer as Derek Smalls
Rob Reiner as Marty DeBergi
Directed by Rob Reiner

Its 1982 and Spinal Tap, proclaimed "One of England's loudest bands", is touring the US in support of their latest album, "Smell of the Glove". Marti DeBergi, a director of television commercials, films the tour and interviews the band members throughout. Topics such as bad reviews of former albums and the various instances of drummers dying under odd circumstances. It is said that one died from a "bizarre gardening accident", another "choked on vomit" (someone else's) and yet another died from "spontaneous combustion". David St. Hubbins, the band's guitarist and lead singer is quickly reports that "Dozens of people spontaneously combust each year. It's just not really widely reported."

Spinal Tap, once a popular band that frequently sold-out packed arenas, is now a pretentious has-been band out of the limelight relegated to intimate venues and even Air Force bases. The band members are so innocent that they don't see their declining significance which causes us to feel affection for them. Spinal Tap's concerts are repeatedly canceled due to low ticket sales and it finds itself in a battle with its record label over the sexist cover of "Smell of the Glove". The record label decides to release an all-black record cover to the surprise of the band (reminiscent of The Beatles' "White Album")

The three prominent band members are shown to musically talented but otherwise very stupid. One classic and hilarious scene is when Nigel Tufnel, the band's guitarist, plays a piano piece he came up with to Marti Dibergi. Dibergi, stuck by the beautiful of the piano piece being played asks for its name, Tufnel responds that its called "Lick My Love Pump".

The arrival of St. Hubbins' girlfriend Jeanine throws a wrench in to the already tense tour. Tufnel, who has been friend with St. Hubbins for almost 30 years, seems to have a crush on his best friend and becomes jealous at the sight of her. She becomes a "Yoko" to the band, eventually forcing the band manager and Tufnel to quit near the end of the tour. Both come back as one of their songs, "Sex Farm", is a surprise hit in Japan. Everything is back to normal and the band is enjoying themselves as they find salvation in packed arena's far away from where their old success occurred.

The three main actors and director wrote the screenplay (which was mostly improvized) and songs themselves. The concert scenes of the band are great as the songs are genuinely good and provides some of the movie's funniest scenes such as when Derek Smalls, the band's bassist, is stuck inside a prop and another scene where an error produces a minitaure mock-up of Stonehenge that is almost crushed by a couple of little people on stage.

"This is Spinal Tap" is one of the funniest and most original movies of all time. In its release, it hit too close to home for many rock 'n' roll bands. Singer Tom Waits claimed he cried upon viewing it and Eddie Van Halen has said that when he first saw the film, everyone else in the room with him laughed as he failed to see the humor in the film. I see "This is Spinal Tap" as like a warped episode of "Where Are They Now?". A band's decline is nothing real bands want to see. It played on the stupidity and ego of these bands, for them it took a mocumentary to truly see themselves.

Edwards Endorses Obama















Clinton's WV victory celebration cut short as Obama receives coveted Edwards endorsement.

Video games don't create killers, new book says











http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN0725760620080509?sp=true

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Playing video games does not turn children into deranged, blood-thirsty super-killers, according to a new book by a pair of Harvard researchers.

Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl Olson, a husband-and-wife team at Harvard Medical School, detail their views in "Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do", which came out last month and promises to reshape the debate on the effects of video games on kids.

"What I hope people realize is that there is no data to support the simple-minded concerns that video games cause violence," Kutner told Reuters.

The pair reached that conclusion after conducting a two-year study of more than 1,200 middle-school children about their attitudes towards video games.

It was a different approach than most other studies, which have focused on laboratory experiments that attempt to use actions like ringing a loud buzzer as a measure of aggression.

"What we did that had rarely been done by other researchers was actually talk to the kids. It sounds bizarre but it hadn't been done," Kutner said.

They found that playing video games was a near-universal activity among children, and was often intensely social.

But the data did show a link between playing mature-rated games and aggressive behavior. The researchers found that 51 percent of boys who played M-rated games -- the industry's equivalent of an R-rated movie, meaning suitable for ages 17 and up -- had been in a fight in the past year, compared to 28 percent of non-M-rated gamers.

The pattern was even stronger among girls, with 40 percent of those who played M-rated games having been in a fight in the past year, compared to just 14 percent for non-M players.

One of the most surprising things was how popular mature games were among girls. In fact, the "Grand Theft Auto" crime action series was the second-most played game behind "The Sims", a sort of virtual dollhouse.

Kutner and Olson said further study is needed because the data shows only a correlation, not causation. It is unclear whether the games trigger aggression or if aggressive children are drawn to more violent games.

"It's still a minority of kids who play violent video games a lot and get into fights. If you want a good description of 13-year-old kids who play violent video games, it's your local soccer team," Olson said.

The researchers also try to place video games in a larger context of popular culture. The anxiety many parents voice over video games largely mirrors the concerns raised when movies, comic books and television became popular.

"One thing I like about their approach is that they've tried to historicize the whole concept of a media controversy and that we've seen this before," said Ian Bogost, a professor at Georgia Tech known for his studies on video games.

The book urges a common-sense approach that takes stock of the entire range of a child's behavior. Frequent fighting, bad grades, and obsessive gaming can be signs for trouble.

"If you have, for example, a girl who plays 15 hours a week of exclusively violent video games, I'd be very concerned because it's very unusual," Kutner said.

"But for boys (the danger sign) is not playing video games at all, because it looks like for this generation, video games are a measure of social competence for boys."

Many video game fans have embraced the pair as champions of the industry, a label that makes them uncomfortable.

"We're not comfortable doing pro and con. We've been asked to do the pro-game side in debates, and I don't consider myself a pro-game person. Video games are a medium," Olson said.

(Reporting by Scott Hillis; editing by Patricia Reaney)





I wanna see a study that discusses if people who play racing video games are more likely to drive aggressively and/or get into car accidents.

There Will Be Vader

A dark lord of the sith and an evil oil prospector have more in common than I thought

Hillary Wins Big in West Virginia

Hillary Clinton wins in a landslide in WV, Obama looks ahead to the general election

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

My 25 Favorite Songs of 2007


1.“D.A.N.C.E.” by Justice
2.“Makes Me Wonder” by Maroon 5
3.“The Way I Are” by Timbaland
4.“Snow (Hey Oh) by Red Hot Chili Peppers
5.“Apologize” by Timbaland ft. OneRepublic
6.“Stronger” by Kanye West
7.“Rehab” by Amy Winehouse
8.“This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race” by Fall Out Boy
9.“Ayo Technology” by 50 Cent ft. Justin Timberlake & Timbaland
10.“Wait For You” by Elliot Yamin
11.“International Players Anthem” by UGK ft. Outkast
12.“Give It To Me” by Timbaland ft. Nelly Furtado & Justin Timberlake
13“Cupid’s Chokehold” by Gym Class Heroes
14.“Because of You” by Ne-Yo
15.“Smile” by Lilly Allen
16.“I Get Money” by 50 Cent
17.“Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)” by Jay-Z
18.“No One” by Alicia Keys
19.“Lying is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off” by Panic at the Disco
20.“Beautiful Girls” by Sean Kingston
21.“Lost Without U” by Robin Thicke
22.“LoveStoned/I Think She Knows” by Justin Timberlake
23.“Kiss Kiss” by Chris Brown ft. T-Pain
24.“Grace Kelly” by Mika
25.“Say It Right’ by Nelly Furtado

Honorable Mention
"P.D.A. (We Just Don't Care)" by John Legend
“Lips of an Angel” by Hinder
“What Goes Around...” by Justin Timberlake
“Good Life” by Kanye West ft. T-Pain
"Teardrops on My Guitar" by Taylor Swift
"Buy U A Drank" by T-Pain
"Bartender" by T-Pain ft. Akon
“I Don’t Wanna Be in Love” by Good Charlotte
“Whine Up”by Kat Deluna
“Paralyzer” by Finger Eleven
“Last Night” Diddy ft. Keyshia Cole
“Umbrella” by Rihanna
“Gimme More’ by Britney Spears


My 5 Least Favorite Songs of 2007

1. "This is Why I'm Hot" by Mims
2. "Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne
3. "A Bay Bay" by Hurrican Chris
4. "Soulja Girl" by Soulja Boy
5. "Lip Gloss" by Lil Mama

Beyonce's Male Bashing


Before I start my rant I must first say that Beyonce Knowles is one of the most beautiful and talented women in the world. While some may say her songs with Destiny's Child and her most recent solo work encourage the empowerment of women, i see it differently. Throughout her history in the music business, the lyrics of her songs have bashed men quite harshly...here is my evidence:

"Bills, Bills, Bills" (with Destiny's Child)

calls men "triflin'" and "good for nothing"

"Bug-a-boo"(DC)-A bug-a-boo is a significant other that is very bothersome. "Boo" is a slang term for a boyfriend or girlfriend. The term is further explained in the lyrics.

You make me wanna throw my pager out the window Tell MCI to cut the phone poles Break my lease so I can move 'Cause you a bug a boo, a bug a boo I wanna put your number on the call block Have AOL make my e-mails stop 'Cause you a bug a boo You're buggin' what? You're buggin' who? You're buggin me And don't you see it ain't cool.

"Jumpin' Jumpin" (DC)- tells women to leave to their men and go to the clubs

Ladies leave your man at home....


"Say My Name" (DC)- suspect men of cheating

What's up with this?
Tell the truth, who you with
How would you like it if I came over with my clique


"Bootylicious" (DC)- The song "Bootylicious" features lyrics of a confident woman taunting a man, suggesting that he is not ready because her body is "too bootylicious".

I can't help but wonder why is my vibe to vibalacious for ya babe,
I shake my jelly at every chance


"Me, Myself, and I" (Solo)- another cheating boyfriend song, pretty obvious its anti-men from the title of the song

"Ring the Alarm"(S)-Lyrically the song explains the feelings of a woman who knows she should get rid of her man because of how he is treating her, yet she is worried that he will find someone else and this thought makes her jealous. The thought of another woman benefitting from what she has taught her man causes her to 'ring the alarm' because she'll be 'damned" if she sees another chick on his arm.

"Irreplaceable"(S)- another cheating boyfriend song

You must not know about me.
You must not know about me.
I could have another you in a minute,
matter fact he'll be here in a minute - baby.

These lyrics are just plain mean Beyonce!!

All i gotta say is that Jay-Z better control his woman!!!!!!