Here's my results for week 16 W-L-T record: 6-5
Season record: 68-56-5
Philadelphia Eagles (-8 1/2) Over Washington Redskins
The Eagles are one of those teams that comes around every now and then, a really talented team that underperforms, but starts getting it on just a little too late. They don't care about missing the playoffs now, but they do want to take it out on their opponents and prove to the other teams who make it they're lucky they're not there. The Redskins are the perfect team to prove it on...
San Francisco 49ers (-10 1/2) Over St. Louis Rams
The 49ers are trying to secure an opening round bye against a very weak team. They should take care of business...
Detroit Lions (-3 1/2) Over Green Bay Packers
The Packers don't have anything to prove at 14-1, while the Lions do...
New York Giants (-3) Over Dallas Cowboys
I've been a supporter of the Cowboys and Tony Romo all season. But he's injured to some degree, and the Cowboys have never lived up to to their potential all season. I don't expect them to change that in their final game, on the road against the resilient Giants...
Tennessee Titans (-3) Over Houston Texans
The Titans have an outside chance at the playoffs with a victory, and the Texans have nothing to play for...
Baltimore Ravens (-2 1/2) Over Cincinnati Bengals
The Bengal have underperformed all year against good teams, and the Ravens have an opening round bye earned with a victory...
Pittsburgh Steelers (-7) Over Cleveland Browns
Even if Big Ben doesn't play, the Steelers are in more than good hands with backup QB Charlie Batch...
Miami Dolphins (-2) Over New York Jets
I've been pro Jets all year, but like the Cowboys, they've never closed the deal. I don't expect that to change on the road against the Dolphins...
New England Patriots (-11 1/2) Over Buffalo Bills
The Patriots have two things to take care of: clinching home field advantage to the Super Bowl with a win, and gaining revenge on the Bills for a loss that still stings. They'll manage to do both...
San Diego Chargers (+3) Over Oakland Raiders
The Chargers are like the Eagles this year, which should lead to the same results of a decisive victory...
Seattle Seahawks (+3) Over Arizona Cardinals
The Seahawks are, to a lesser degree than the Eagles and Chargers, too little too late, but they'll still get the job done against the Cards...
All bets are placed at Station Casinos:
http://www.stationcasinos.com/
To check Las Vegas odds, The Konformist recommends VegasInsider.com:
http://www.vegasinsider.com/
Friday, December 30, 2011
Christmas Time
I realize that most of you are dying to know what Lindsey and I did for Christmas (I am guessing the majority of you saw us at some point). Also, I am sure you are all eager to hear about the awesome gifts I received. So, here it goes.
These are some pictures of our tree. Pretty obvious actually, unless you are blind, but then if you are blind, how would you be reading this?
You cannot see it, but I bought myself a pretty sweet Thor ornament. It is hanging somewhere on the tree.
The interesting thing is that we do not have all that many ornaments. Looking at our parent's trees, I realized that ornaments come from children, which could be problematic. Soooo, I am going to make it my goal to buy random ornaments throughout the year.
Also, you cannot see one of Lindsey's presents hiding in the tree. I am shocked that she did not find it.
Anyways, let me tell you about a gift I bought for Lindsey. She kept saying (since about October) that she wanted jewelry. In fact, about 837 of her friends had to tell me at some point that I should buy her jewelry. When I went shopping, I told her that I could not get her anything from a jewelry store because it was too crowded and the places pissed me off.
I then went to Kohls and bought her a necklace for $13. I allowed her to open that first, and I could tell that she was slightly disappointed. Then, after she opened everything, I told her to get the box out of the tree. She was quite pleased with the actual necklace.
We also did plenty of traveling from the holiday. On the 23rd we left here and went to Philipsburg (65 miles), to visit my Pap, Gram, and Aunt Sandy. Then we stayed at my Mom's house. The next day we woke up and went up to my Dad's house with my brother, Lora, and Aubrey.
That is my Dad with Aubrey (in case you were wondering, she is Lora's daughter, and if you were wondering who Lora was, well that is Adam's girlfriend). The guy wearing pajama pants (at noon) is my Dad.
We left Dad's house and went back to my Mom's and exchanged gifts there and watched the Steeler game. Then we left and went to Lindsey's dad's girlfriend's house, where we ate dinner and played some games. She lives in Westmont, which is 90 miles from Philipsburg.
The next morning we went to Lindsey's mom's house and exchanged gifts there. Then we left there and went to my Pap and Gram's house in Spring Valley (another 90 miles). We played poker and enjoyed great company, then came back home. Pretty much drove almost 350 miles in those two days.
So what did I get for Christmas? These are in no particular order and if I miss anything, that does not mean I did not like it, just that I cannot see it from where I am sitting.
-Quesadilla Maker
-Socks, boxers, undershirts
-My coat and scarf
-Steelers and Pens pictures (3 total)
-Dartboard
-Macy's giftcards
-Star Wars spatulas
-Beard trimmer
-Community season 2
-Beerfest
-Batman hoodie
-Pirate hat and a gray Clemente jersey
-Penn State shirt
-Money
-GPS
-Tie and a sweater
-Wallet
-Phase 10
-Sheetz giftcards and other assorted things
I am trying to convince Lindsey to write her own damn post about what I got her...
Anyways, it was a great Christmas and I want to thank everyone for the wonderful gifts. And the good times.
You cannot see it, but I bought myself a pretty sweet Thor ornament. It is hanging somewhere on the tree.
The interesting thing is that we do not have all that many ornaments. Looking at our parent's trees, I realized that ornaments come from children, which could be problematic. Soooo, I am going to make it my goal to buy random ornaments throughout the year.
Also, you cannot see one of Lindsey's presents hiding in the tree. I am shocked that she did not find it.
Anyways, let me tell you about a gift I bought for Lindsey. She kept saying (since about October) that she wanted jewelry. In fact, about 837 of her friends had to tell me at some point that I should buy her jewelry. When I went shopping, I told her that I could not get her anything from a jewelry store because it was too crowded and the places pissed me off.
I then went to Kohls and bought her a necklace for $13. I allowed her to open that first, and I could tell that she was slightly disappointed. Then, after she opened everything, I told her to get the box out of the tree. She was quite pleased with the actual necklace.
We also did plenty of traveling from the holiday. On the 23rd we left here and went to Philipsburg (65 miles), to visit my Pap, Gram, and Aunt Sandy. Then we stayed at my Mom's house. The next day we woke up and went up to my Dad's house with my brother, Lora, and Aubrey.
That is my Dad with Aubrey (in case you were wondering, she is Lora's daughter, and if you were wondering who Lora was, well that is Adam's girlfriend). The guy wearing pajama pants (at noon) is my Dad.
We left Dad's house and went back to my Mom's and exchanged gifts there and watched the Steeler game. Then we left and went to Lindsey's dad's girlfriend's house, where we ate dinner and played some games. She lives in Westmont, which is 90 miles from Philipsburg.
The next morning we went to Lindsey's mom's house and exchanged gifts there. Then we left there and went to my Pap and Gram's house in Spring Valley (another 90 miles). We played poker and enjoyed great company, then came back home. Pretty much drove almost 350 miles in those two days.
So what did I get for Christmas? These are in no particular order and if I miss anything, that does not mean I did not like it, just that I cannot see it from where I am sitting.
 |
| This is the stuff I bought with those giftcards |
-Socks, boxers, undershirts
-My coat and scarf
-Steelers and Pens pictures (3 total)
-Dartboard
-Macy's giftcards
-Star Wars spatulas
-Beard trimmer
-Community season 2
-Beerfest
-Batman hoodie
-Pirate hat and a gray Clemente jersey
-Penn State shirt
-Money
-GPS
-Tie and a sweater
-Wallet
-Phase 10
-Sheetz giftcards and other assorted things
I am trying to convince Lindsey to write her own damn post about what I got her...
Anyways, it was a great Christmas and I want to thank everyone for the wonderful gifts. And the good times.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
2011 in review
Another year gone by. What did we get up to in 2011?
* We did our best to promote Goblin Camp, with a let's play kind of thing and a bunch of other posts. The game is still a going concern, and although there hasn't been an update for a while, I'm assured there will be. Eventually. Back in February, I put together really epic camp. The website is here; if you haven't tried it, do.
* There was an election in Finland, that led to no noticeable changes in Finnish politics. We have some really good-looking athletes, though.
* They killed 'Usāmah; I was skeptical about that being the death-blow to terrorism. Sadly, terrorism took a different turn shortly thereafter with the senseless attacks in Norway, the background to which we discussed. Steve Jobs also passed away, and we felt that his eulogies went too far.
* Throughout the year, we were alarmed by the police, as despite the death of "Osama", new threats to our precious bodily fluids continued to emerge. To combat these, we got everything from American police UAVs and the German police going all Gestapo on the German Pirate Party to the Finnish police hacking your phone. I also lost faith in Radley Balko, of The Agitator, for hithcing up with the Kremlin's propaganda machine, and my post on the topic inspired a TV show host to discuss my underwear.
* There was a lot of Minecraft. At the beginning of the year, I was still hanging around Epic Island, and we were impressed by music. We also weighed in on the Mojang - Zenimax legal battle.
* Apart from Minecraft, we liked Harms Way, but were disappointed by Mass Effect 2 being a sexist white supremacist game and by EA's various antics. The future looked bleak. In other media, we liked Detroit 1-8-7 and Sucker Punch, as well as the fantastic Robot.
* We all enjoyed some excellent music!
* Some memes were participated in, and scientology was addressed. We also started a series of posts on the Bible.
* There was, of course, a lot of hockey. At the very beginning of the year, the wrong guy was made MVP of the World Juniors, and later on Winnipeg got an NHL team. Sadly, our favorite NHL player called it quits. However, there were the world champs. In my preview, I had a good feeling about Team Finland, and even though Mats Sundin assured us it was impossible, Finland actually won. We were a little disappointed by the overblown coverage given to one particular goal, though.
Sadly, in the words of Jonathan Toews, the summer of 2011 was the worst ever for hockey. Not only did three NHL players pass away during the summer, but the plane carrying the KHL's Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team crashed, killing the whole team. Earlier this month, the New York Times published a series of stories on Derek Boogaard, an NHL enforcer who died last summer. I highly recommend reading them.
**
Maybe that's a bit of a sad note to end this post on, but as the new year comes around, it won't hurt to take a moment to remember those who aren't around to see it happen. Having said that, though, I'd like to thank everyone who read this sorry excuse for a blag over the past year, and wish you all a happy new year! See you in 2012.
* We did our best to promote Goblin Camp, with a let's play kind of thing and a bunch of other posts. The game is still a going concern, and although there hasn't been an update for a while, I'm assured there will be. Eventually. Back in February, I put together really epic camp. The website is here; if you haven't tried it, do.
* There was an election in Finland, that led to no noticeable changes in Finnish politics. We have some really good-looking athletes, though.
* They killed 'Usāmah; I was skeptical about that being the death-blow to terrorism. Sadly, terrorism took a different turn shortly thereafter with the senseless attacks in Norway, the background to which we discussed. Steve Jobs also passed away, and we felt that his eulogies went too far.
* Throughout the year, we were alarmed by the police, as despite the death of "Osama", new threats to our precious bodily fluids continued to emerge. To combat these, we got everything from American police UAVs and the German police going all Gestapo on the German Pirate Party to the Finnish police hacking your phone. I also lost faith in Radley Balko, of The Agitator, for hithcing up with the Kremlin's propaganda machine, and my post on the topic inspired a TV show host to discuss my underwear.
* There was a lot of Minecraft. At the beginning of the year, I was still hanging around Epic Island, and we were impressed by music. We also weighed in on the Mojang - Zenimax legal battle.
* Apart from Minecraft, we liked Harms Way, but were disappointed by Mass Effect 2 being a sexist white supremacist game and by EA's various antics. The future looked bleak. In other media, we liked Detroit 1-8-7 and Sucker Punch, as well as the fantastic Robot.
* We all enjoyed some excellent music!
* Some memes were participated in, and scientology was addressed. We also started a series of posts on the Bible.
* There was, of course, a lot of hockey. At the very beginning of the year, the wrong guy was made MVP of the World Juniors, and later on Winnipeg got an NHL team. Sadly, our favorite NHL player called it quits. However, there were the world champs. In my preview, I had a good feeling about Team Finland, and even though Mats Sundin assured us it was impossible, Finland actually won. We were a little disappointed by the overblown coverage given to one particular goal, though.
Sadly, in the words of Jonathan Toews, the summer of 2011 was the worst ever for hockey. Not only did three NHL players pass away during the summer, but the plane carrying the KHL's Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team crashed, killing the whole team. Earlier this month, the New York Times published a series of stories on Derek Boogaard, an NHL enforcer who died last summer. I highly recommend reading them.
**
Maybe that's a bit of a sad note to end this post on, but as the new year comes around, it won't hurt to take a moment to remember those who aren't around to see it happen. Having said that, though, I'd like to thank everyone who read this sorry excuse for a blag over the past year, and wish you all a happy new year! See you in 2012.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
2011 At the Movies: The Best and Worst Films of the Year
2011 was an excellent movie year!
The beginning of the movie year may have started off on a bad note (the awful Season of the Witch being the first movie of '011) but as the months went on, some great movies came out (The Adjustment Bureau, Red Riding Hood, Bereavement).
As the summer arrived, a lot of cool films graced the silver screen(Captain America, Cowboys & Aliens, The Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Colombiana).
As the summer arrived, a lot of cool films graced the silver screen(Captain America, Cowboys & Aliens, The Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Colombiana).
And the fall season introduced a batch of wonderful movies (Drive, Straw Dogs, The Ides of March).
Unlike the start the movie year, the end of it, ended with a bang, with some really extraordinary and provocative films (The Artist, Shame, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).
Besides, the witch-less Season of the Witch, there thankfully weren't a lot of bad movies I had the displeasure of seeing. The French, Sleeping Beauty started off good but took a weird turn and ended so horribly abrupt, which is why it made it into the 'Worst' category.
Without any thought, the top film on my 'Best' list goes to the charming, romantic, ingenious, ode to Old Hollywood, silent and black & white- The Artist.
Second on the list is the indie The Perfect Host, a clever drama/borderline dark comedy about a dinner host who is perfectly demented.
Third, The Adjustment Bureau- a cool thought-provoking sci-fi romance about fate vs. freewill.
The mystery filled The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the American remake of the 2009 Swedish film, about the odd-paired tattooed hacker and journalist investigating the case of a missing girl, comes in next.
And making the top five, is the brutal yet at times- beautiful, horror Bereavement, sequel to 2005's Malevolence, telling the story of a young boy kidnapped by a serial killer who is trained to follow in his footsteps.
As well as categories:
Best Performances, Worst Performances, Coolest, Original, Disappointing, Scariest, Funniest, Violent, Action-Packed, Romantic, Sexiest, Saddest, Controversial, Best Cast, Worst Cast, Overrated and Underrated?
Without further ado, I present:
Cinemanista's
Best and Worst Films of 2011
BEST:
The Artist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK7pfLlsUQM
The Perfect Host
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVqMrcakPg0
The Adjustment Bureau
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHVU3fKhsjI
Dragon Tattoo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5XSmfFo7-8
Bereavement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQIYaD1BxQI
Drive
Trailer:
Shame
Trailer:
Trust
Trailer:
Cowboys & Aliens
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH7KZD5vGBY
Red Riding Hood
Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM8V3cHdSC4
WORST:
Season of the Witch
Sleeping Beauty
Season of the Witch
Sleeping Beauty
BEST PERFORMANCES:
The Artist
The Artist
Whose Performance?
Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo
as a silent movie star and an extra turned star.The Devil's Double
Whose Performance?
Dominic Cooper
as Latif Yahia, double for Uday Hussein and Uday Hussein.
Whose Performance?
David Hyde Pierce
as a dinner host.
The Girl with the
Dragon Tattoo
Whose Performance?
Rooney Mara
as a troubled, hacker.
Whose Performance?
Ryan Gosling
as a movie stunt/getaway driver.
Shame
Whose Performance?
Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan
as brother and sister- a sex addict and a nightclub singer.
The Ides of March
Whose Performance?
Ryan Gosling and George Clooney
as a campaign manager and a presidential candidate.
Trust
Whose Performance?
Liana Liberato
as a girl who falls in love with the online predator who rapes her.
The Double
Whose Performance?
Richard Gere
as a CIA agent.
WORST PERFORMANCES:
Season of the Witch
Whose Performance?
Nicholas Cage
as a knight.
New Year's Eve
Whose Performance?
The entire cast.
ORIGINAL:
The Artist
The Adjustment Bureau
Cowboys & Aliens
The Perfect Host
Bereavement
Super 8
COOLEST:
Cowboys & Aliens
The Adjustment Bureau
The Girl with the
Dragon Tattoo
Colombiana
Drive
Fast Five
The Rise of the
Planet of the Apes
Captain America
Cowboys & Aliens
The Adjustment Bureau
The Girl with the
Dragon Tattoo
Colombiana
Drive
Fast Five
The Rise of the
Planet of the Apes
Captain America
Thor
X-Men:
First Class
Sanctum
Lord of the Dance
3D
DISAPPOINTING:
SCARIEST:
The Thing
The Thing
Final Destination 5
Bereavement
Scream 4
FUNNIEST:
Bridesmaids
Bridesmaids
Mr. Popper's Penguins
The Hangover 2
ACTION-PACKED:
Mission Impossible 4
Battle:
Los Angeles
Colombiana
The Rise of the
Planet of the Apes
The Mechanic
Mission Impossible 4
Battle:
Los Angeles
Colombiana
Fast Five
Cowboys & Aliens
The Rise of the
Planet of the Apes
The Mechanic
VIOLENT:
Bereavement
Bereavement
Straw Dogs
Scream 4
Final Destination 5
DRIVE
The Mechanic
ROMANTIC:
The Adjustment Bureau
The Artist
Twilight:
Breaking Dawn
The Ledge
The Adjustment Bureau
The Artist
Twilight:
Breaking Dawn
The Ledge
SEXIEST:
Shame
SADDEST:
No One Killed Jessica
No One Killed Jessica
CONTROVERSIAL:
Shame
Trust
Devil's Double
The Girl with the
Dragon Tattoo
BEST CAST:
Cowboys & Aliens
New Year's Eve
Captain America
Thor
The Ides of March
Colombiana
The Mechanic
Contagion
Fast Five
Scream 4
Cowboys & Aliens
New Year's Eve
Captain America
Thor
The Girl with the
Dragon Tattoo
The Ides of March
Colombiana
The Mechanic
Contagion
Fast Five
Scream 4
WORST CAST:
Season of the Witch
Season of the Witch
Sanctum
OVERRATED:
The Hangover 2
Mission Impossible 4
UNDERRATED:
The Perfect Host
The Ledge
The Double
The Devil's Double
Bereavement
Trust
The Lincoln Lawyer
Contagion
Here's to the upcoming 2012 movie year, being even better than 2011!
***