Random randomness

Got nothing big to write about today so here's a few random observations just to keep me active.

** The weather forecast is calling for rain every day until next Tuesday. And they say it never rains in Southern California. Well, Toni Tony Tone does anyways. Whatever happened to them?

** Bobby Lashley apparently requested to be released from his WWE contract today. No big loss as he never developed into the worker they thought he would. I suppose he still could but it's probably not likely. He's rumored to be looking into MMA as a new career option. Good grief.

** Rumors run wild that Brock Lesnar is penciled into headlining UFC 86 in a few months. Seriously? Talk about counting your chickens. I'm rooting for Brock against Mir just in hopes of seeing Lesnar vs Cro Cop but the sadist in me would like to see Lesnar submitted in 30 seconds just to punish him for his lack of gratitude to the WWE.

** Royal Rumble's this weekend. I'll be doing my annual Rumble predictions whenever the final lineup is released... hopefully soon.

** Lakers are leading the Spurs after one quarter as I write this. It's gonna be a two month dogfight for them to stay in a good playoff position as they wait for Bynum and Ariza to recover. Such a shame. They were really looking good.

** Don Mattingly is out already as the Dodgers hitting coach. Apparently he's having some family issues so he was re-assigned to a "special assignment" coach. So much for being the heir apparent, I guess. Hard to be groomed by Torre for the manager's job when apparently you won't be in the dugout most of the year.

** Good review for Rambo on AICN today. I've never seen any of the Rambo movies but I may have to change that in the near future.

** AICN also confirmed that Heath Ledger completed all his post-prod work on The Dark Knight so it'll be the final film to have a full Ledger performance in it. The autopsy came back inconclusive so they have to dig a little deeper [no pun intended.] We're thinking of having a Ledger movie night just to pay a little respect.

** Finished the second book in the Eragon trilogy the other day. It was okay. I was slapped across the face about 3/4 of the way through by how much of a Star Wars backbone it has. Almost too much. I suppose it's difficult to write a sci-fi/fantasy without either ripping off Star Wars or LOTR but man... this guy is blatant in a lot of ways. You have to be impressed that he was published so young but still... annoying.

** Almost time to reserve rooms for Comic-Con. The past year or so it has become increasingly hard to duck out of the Hollywood panels to some of the smaller comic panels even though there's always stuff I want to see. This year might not be so hard though as I haven't bought comics in probably six months. And after reading some of the stuff going on in Spidey, I'm pretty happy about that.

Heath Ledger found dead

Man, that's a bit of a surprise. I mean... there are certain deaths you expect to come at any moment. I've been expecting Britney to either OD or kill herself for a few months now so I'm prepared for that one. This one surprises me.

And yes, as the comic book guy, my immediate curiosity is how it affects The Dark Knight. That probably shouldn't be my reaction that quickly but I'll be honest and admit that it is. From AICN, it sounds like all the initial shooting is done but it's unclear how much post is done. Not sure what his role in the planned third movie [if any] was planned to be either. From all accounts, Ledger may have knocked this role out of the park so it's always sad to see a talented actor on the verge of even greater superstardom crash and burn.

Oh, and of course, there are drugs on the scene. Read into that what you will, I guess.

Never saw Brokeback or A Knight's Tale so until The Dark Knight hits the screen, the first Ledger scene that will always come to mind is him singing and dancing in the football stadium in 10 Things I Hate About You.

Anyways... just a few quick thoughts on the matter.

R.I.P. Heath Ledger

Picks Again

Alright, let's try this again...

UFC Fight Night 12

Date: Jan. 23, 2008
Location: Las Vegas
Venue: The Palms
Broadcast: Spike TV

MAIN CARD

* Josh Burkman vs. Mike Swick
* Patrick Côté vs. Drew McFedries
* Nate Diaz vs. Alvin Robinson
* Thiago Tavares vs. Michihiro Omigawa

PRELIMINARY CARD

* Alberto Crane vs. Kurt Pellegrino
* Gray Maynard vs. Dennis Siver
* Cole Miller vs. Jeremy Stephens
* Corey Hill vs. Joe Veres
* Justin Buchholz vs. Matt Wiman

Justin Buchholz vs. Matt Wiman
Odds: No action being taken
My memory sparks at Matt Wiman's name. A quick look shows him at 8-3 with nothing really impressive on his record. He's coming off two wins in a row. Bucholz is 7-1 with nothing really standing out for him either. Four straight wins for him. Not much to on on here.
MY PICK: Justin Bucholz by TKO in Rd 1

Corey Hill vs Joe Veres
Odds: No action being taken
Corey Hill was that lanky mofo from TUF. Veres is 4-2 with his last loss being a 9 second KO to Gray Maynard.
MY PICK: Corey Hill by TKO in Rd 2

Cole Miller vs Jeremy Stephens
Odds: No action being taken
Miller is 13-2 with 4 straight wins. Stephens is 12-2 with 2 straight and his last loss coming to Din Thomas. This looks pretty close actually. Miller has a lot of submission wins, Stephens has a lot of TKOs.
MY PICK: Cole Miller by decision

Gray Maynard vs. Dennis Siver
Odds: No action being taken
Siver is 11-4 with nothing of note in his record. Maynard's 3-0 with no big wins either. This could go either way. I always thought Maynard looked like he should be a badass so I'll go that way.
MY PICK: Gray Maynard by TKO in Rd 2

Alberto Crane vs. Kurt Pellegrino
Odds: No action being taken
Crane is 8-1 with the loss coming to Huerta back in August in his UFC debut. No shame in losing to Huerta. Pellegrino is 10-3 with losses to Joe Daddy and Drew Fickett. Both are coming off losses.
MY PICK: Kurt Pellegrino by submission [armbar] in Rd 2

MAIN CARD
Thiago Tavares vs. Michihiro Omigawa
Odds: No action being taken
Omigawa is 4-5. Pretty rare that someone with a losing record pops up on a UFC show. He does have a win in the past over Aoki though and is a Yoshida student. Tavares is 12-1 coming off a loss to Tyson Griffin.
MY PICK: Thiago Tavares by submission [armbar] in Rd 1

Nate Diaz vs Alvin Robinson
Odds: Diaz at -165, Robinson at +135
Robinson is 9-2 coming off a win over Jorge Gurgel. Nate Diaz is 7-2 coming off a two win streak incl. the TUF Finale.
MY PICK: Diaz by decision
BETTING: $10 on Diaz to win $6

Patrick Côté vs. Drew McFedries
Odds: Cote at -125, Drew at -105
Cote is 11-4 on a three fight win streak and coming off a win over Kendall Grove. McFedries is 6-2 with the losses coming to Nate Quarry and Martin Kampmann.
MY PICK: Cote by TKO in Rd 2
BETTING: $40 on Cote to win $32

Josh Burkman vs. Mike Swick
Odds: -175 for Swick, +135 for Burkman
Burkman is 9-4. His biggest win is probably over Drew Fickett. Swick is 10-2 and was on a 5 fight win streak before the decision loss to Okami. This is Swick's first fight in his new weight class as well.
MY PICK: Swick by TKO in Rd 2
BETTInG: $50 on Swick to win $29

Cross your fingers, folks!

UFC Picks Results

Well, that blew.

The fights weren't very good for the most part but I had a good time watching the show. But man oh man, were my picks all fucked up.

The final results?

Out of nine fights, I picked two winners correctly for a .222 score. I'll keep a running total throughout the year but this is a bad, bad way to start.

Moneywise, I did okay. I started with $100 in bets. I lost $80 on Gonzaga and Stevenson. The $20 that I bet on Rivera as an upset pick landed me $70. So, I total out at $90 for the show, losing only $10.

Picks Average For This Show: .222 (2 out of 9)
Picks Average For The Year: .222 (2 out of 9)
Money For This Show: -$10
Money For The Year: -$10

Next show is Wednesday for Fight Night so check back tomorrow or Wednesday morning for the next batch of picks.

Speaking of comic book movies...

According to the folks at Comics2film.com:

"Fox, Evans, Tatum Duke it out for 'G.I. Joe'

According to the report Chris Evans, Matthew Fox and Channing Tatum are the short list for the role in Stephen Sommers' super-toy-to-comics-to-film adaptation."

I've been following the casting of this pretty closely and they seem to have a decent job so far.

Chris Evans is the Human Torch in the far-better-than-expected Fantastic Four movies. He seems kinda young to play Duke to me but I'm not really sure what age they're looking to slot people in for this. I'm not really sure why Duke is in this one at all actually as he seems better to introduce in a sequel. I want Hawk, Snakes, Scarlett, Stalker... really, that'd satsify me for a first movie. Maybe add in Gung Ho or Rock And Roll or something like that. Put in Cobra Commander and the Baroness on the other side, I'd be happy. Of course, being a comic film they'll cast every character they can think of and run the Serpentor story in the opening credits.

Anyways... got off track. Chris Evans? I vote no. Matthew Fox? Hrmm... an interesting choice. I might buy that one. Channing Tatum... no idea who this guy is but he was born in 1980 and was in Step Up.

Fuck that guy.

Matthew Fox... got to get tough... Yo Joe!

Fight!

Saturday night is the latest and greatest in UFC PPVs. While I was a casual observer of MMA shows [mostly Pride] in 2005, I never would have imagined it would become the new "it sport" and involve my friends gathering every month to watch. It's a cool phenomenon to behold... especially the influx of people who suddenly become experts on MMA because they can identify a full mount.

Well, I'm about to reveal my level of bullshit expertness as I look over the card and give you my sure-to-be-horrific predictions. I'm also going to run a little experiment with myself by checking the gambling odds, using some faux money, and seeing how badly I would have won or lost my fundage. We'll use a fair amount of $100 to work with.

I'm going to go ahead and really be a jackass and pick the method and round of victory but to get the point for getting the prediction right, I only have to pick the winner!

DISCLAIMER: While I feel I have a decent amount of MMA knowledge, I'm pretty bad at picking winners and I'm lacking the familiarity of a lot of MMA fighters. So, you're going to get a lot of picks based off whatever info I can find on the Interweb. DO NOT take much stock in these picks. Enjoy!

Here's the card thanks to our friends at MMAJunkie:

UFC 80
Date: Jan. 19
Location: Newcastle, England
Venue: Metro Radio Arena
Broadcast: Pay-Per-View

MAIN CARD

* B.J. Penn vs. Joe Stevenson (for vacant lightweight title)
* Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Fabricio Werdum
* Marcus Davis vs. Jess Liaudin
* Jason Lambert vs. Wilson Gouveia
* Kendall Grove vs. Jorge Rivera

PRELIMINARY CARD

* Antoni Hardonk vs. Colin Robinson
* Paul Kelly vs. Paul Taylor
* James Lee vs. Alessio Sakara
* Per Eklund vs. Sam Stout

Blue's picks:

Per Eklund vs Sam Stout
ODDS: No action being taken
Crikey. First match and already someone I've never heard of. This will be a trend. I have no idea who Eklund is and only vaguely recall Stout. A quick researching online shows Eklund at 12-2-1 with a lot of pretty good wins in decent sized promotions. Stout is 12-3-1 with a lot of TKOs but seems like he might be susceptible to submissions [totally hoping I'm not talking out my ass here]
PREDICTION: Per Eklund via submission (Kimura) in Rd 2

James Lee vs Alessio Sakara
ODDS: No action being taken
Uh huh. I recall Sakara's name but nothing springs to mind one way or the other. Lee is 13-2 with a ton of submission wins. He's only had one fight go past the first round and that was a loss to Vernon White seven years ago. His last fight was a triangle choke win in 41 seconds which is pretty impressive. Sakara is 11-6 and fights with Brazilian Top Team. He's got losses to Houston Alexander and Dean Lister recently. Seems to have some heavy hands though. He's got the puncher's chance.
PREDICTION: James Lee via submission (RNC) in Rd 1

Paul Kelly vs Paul Taylor
ODDS: No action being taken
Riiiiight. No clue who either guy is. Kelly is 6-0 with 4 TKOs against... no one I've heard of. Taylor is 8-2-1 with a mixed bag of opponents. This is the "hometown" fight as they're both from the UK. This makes up for Bisping not being on the show? Total crapshoot here.
PREDICTION: Paul Kelly via TKO in Rd 2

Antoni Hardonk vs. Colin Robinson
ODDS: No action being taken
Hardonk sounds familiar. He's 5-4 with two losses to Frank Mir and Justin McCulley last year which is a bad sign for him. Colin is 9-3 with one of the losses coming in the UFC to Eddie Sanchez last year. Sanchez didn't look horrible against CroCop so I'm gonna guess Colin's respectable.
PREDICTION: Colin Robinson via TKO in Rd 1

MAIN SHOW!

Kendall Grove vs. Jorge Rivera
ODDS: BoDog's got Kendall at -500 and Jorge at +350
Holy shit! Two guys I know! Jorge is 14-6 and has lost to some pretty average fighters. Kendall's 8-4 with most of the losses way in the past but he's coming off a shitty loss to Cote. The question will be how Kendall responds to a shitty loss. I'm going to say Kendall rises to the challenge and takes this one but with the odds so high, this would probably be a good sleeper pick.
PREDICTION: Kendall Grove via submission (Triangle) in Rd 2
BETTING: $20 on Jorge for the upset with a $70 payoff if he pulls it off

Jason Lambert vs Wilson Gouveia
ODDS: No action being taken
More guys I know! Lambert's 23-6 with his last win coming over Babalu and his last loss to the human blanket, Rashad Evans. He also fights out of Apple Valley which makes him a bit of a sentimental favorite for me. Gouveia is 9-4 with his last loss to Jardine in '06. He's riding a four fight win streak into this one.
PREDICTION: Jason Lambert via TKO in Rd 1

Marcus Davis vs Jess Liaudin
ODDS: No action being taken
Uhhh. Who? Davis is on a roll. 13-3 record with a 10 fight win streak and the last loss coming via cut stoppage. Of course, wins against Shonie and Spratt don't exactly set the world on fire. Liaudin's 12-8 with a 5 fight win streak. Something's gotta give!
PREDICTION: Marcus Davis via submission [armbar] in Rd 1

Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Fabricio Werdum
ODDS: BoDog has it at -280 for Gonzaga and +220 for Werdum
More guys I know! Although I can't recall a lot about Werdum other than he had some decent hype coming out of Pride. Werdum comes in from Cro Cop's fight team at 9-3-1 with a loss in his UFC debut to Arlovski (that I vaguely recall.) Looking at his record, he seems to only lose to big names (Arlovski, Kharitarov, Noguiera) but hasn't beaten many of note. He does, however, have a win over Gonzaga from 2003 in Jungle Fight. Just a fun fact to consider. Gonzaga, of course, has the big KO highlight reel win over Cro Cop but came up short against Randy Couture in his heavyweight title shot. Gonzaga is 8-2 with his only losses coming to Randy and Werdum. This is a very definite pick 'em.
PREDICTION: Gabriel Gonzaga vis decision
BETTING: $30 for GG which would give a return of $11

MAIN EVENT: BJ Penn vs Joe Stevenson for the vacant lightweight title
ODDS: BoDog has Penn at -285 and Stevenson at +225
Whew. This is a tough one. I've liked Stevenson ever since his Ultimate Fighter challenge where he had to climb around his teammate's body without touching the ground... you know the one! But I've always had a soft spot for BJ Penn because he's such an absolute prick and he really should have beaten Matt Hughes before he gassed out. Going off records, BJ is 11-4-1 coming off a win over Jens Pulver after back-to-back losses to Hughes and GSP. The Pulver fight was BJ's only fight in 2007 due to some legal troubles. Joe Daddy is 28-7, trains at Cobra Kai for christ's sake, and is riding a four match win streak. He doesn't quite have the star power on his resume that BJ does though. Joe is prone to the bizarre loss though when he dropped a decision to Neer in '06. Hrmm. Honestly, I think this is going long and that tends to be BJ's area of trouble. He's known for bad conditioning and Joe Daddy is known for great conditioning. I haven't decided who I'm rooting for yet but I think my pick is solid.
PREDICTION: Joe Stevenson via decision
BETTING: $50 on the under dog which would give a return of $113


That's it, baby! Everyone tune in on Saturday night or check back here next week to see how right [or horribly wrong] I was.

Justice League DOWN

Rejoice! The first good news to come out of the writer's strike is that the JLA movie just got the brakes slammed on it.

What, you ask?! Blue is AGAINST a comic book movie coming out.

The script sounded bad, y'all. Real bad. Real, real, real bad. If we have any luck, when it comes back online, someone will give it a nice thorough rewrite.

Anyways... UFC predictions still to come later today but I wanted to share the good news that you can read for yourself from the good folks at AICN... here!

BJ Penn - Motivated?

Cripes. The awesome folks over at MMAJunkie.com just posted a pretty swank article about BJ Penn getting ready for his UFC Lightweight Title fight against Joe Stevenson this weekend. I usually pick fights on a little research and a lot of gut instinct because I have a lot of gut to spare [wocka wocka wocka!]

I was leaning towards picking Joe Daddy for this weekend but this article is giving me pause. BJ's motivated? BJ realizes he's never in shape? BJ wants to win the title in every division?

BJ wants a rematch with GSP?

Ahhh... there's the BJ I know. Completely capable of dominating but always looking beyond the person in front of him.

I think my pick may be safe after all... but the Penn fan in me almost hopes I'm wrong.

SIDE NOTE: EliteXC signs Ken Shamrock. That could be interesting.

UFC picks post to come tomorrow.

Aha! Fooled ya!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Wasting posts

You know, when you haven't written more than 3 blog postings in a calendar year, you really should probably save them when you get ideas for them. But I'm still awake and I was ranting about this earlier so...

My new UFC dream match is Mirko Cro Cop vs Brock Lesnar.

Now, why in the world would I be dying to see a guy who has lost two fights in a row take on a guy who hasn't even fought yet?

I love Mirko Cro Cop. Watching Mirko Cro Cop in Pride is one of the first things that got me hooked on MMA. And if you follow back the history of Cro Cop, you discover that one of the things that made him famous was his absolute domination of Japanese pro wrestlers who attempted to cross over into MMA. The Pro Wrestler Hunter-Killer. So, fast forward a bit and you've got Cro Cop struggling to adjust to the UFC with people saying he should hang them up.

Enter Brock Lesnar. Lots of hype, lots of potential. If he gets past Mir with any sort of good showing, I say book him against Cro Cop. If he wins, your big new project just knocked off one of the biggest name heavies in the world. If he loses, well, he was expected to lose and you get Cro Cop some credibility back.

And the cherry on top? Make this the main event for a UFC PPV in Japan!

Sure, it's a logistical nightmare but dammit, the Japanese LOVE Cro Cop. If you saw the vid clip of Cro Cop's pro wrestling appearance for HUSTLE on NYE, you saw them go apeshit for him and all he had to do was throw one kick.

Now imagine these same fans getting one more chance to see their hero knock off the biggest pro wrestling name to make the MMA jump ever.

Mirko Cro Cop vs Brock Lesnar in the Octagon... in Japan.

Make it so, Dana White. Make it so.

Insomnia = Inspiration

What do you do at 3:30 AM when you can't sleep?

Count sheep? Drink warm milk? Drink warm vodka?

Lessee... I played video games [the "new" Fire Pro Wrestling for PS2] until about 1:30 AM. The game just plain smokes the majority of wrestling games out there. And the addition of the MMA characters and fighting system just makes it that much cooler. I spent the last 30 minutes with the CRITICAL frequency on high using Cro Cop and trying to see how long it would take to KO people. Cro Cop via high kick CRITICAL Andre The Giant in 1:08. That... fucking... rules.

I watched Mitt Romney speaking at the Timberland corporate offices on CSPAN for about 20 minutes. I didn't vomit so that's a good thing. There must be good in him since Chuck Norris is a supporter but I haven't found it yet. He spent a few minutes answering a question about the environment where he tried to sell that people who want the government to invest in clean, green technologies because they were trying to save the planet had the same ultimate goal as people who want us to invest in them because they want us to be energy independent. Not sure I buy that. He did a lot of shilling of nuclear energy [which scares me] and some kind of "clean coal" which to be perfectly honest, I know nothing about.

After he finished, they showed Barack Obama's speech at some opera house in New Hampshire. In all honesty, the night before the Iowa Caucuses, I had a similar sleeping issue. That night, I stumbled upon an Obama speech in Iowa that literally gave me goosebumps. The man is an eloquent, inspiring speaker and there's no surprise on my end that he's motivating people to vote who generally don't. For quite some time, I've been leaning my support in his direction and I've yet to see anything to change my mind on that. The speech tonight was sounding very similar to the Iowa speech so I turned it off to try and go to sleep.

I gave up after about fifteen minutes and decided it was a good time to try to write. My lovely wife [still not used to writing that] bought me Final Draft for X-Mas in hopes that it would kickstart my lazy ass into finally writing. So, after two weeks of procrastinating, I decided to attempt it tonight. I'm a few pages in... better than nothing, right? Decided to post on here as well to try and keep the momentum going.

In case anyone was wondering, I did actually make it to the PWG show on Sunday night. Very good show. It's odd because every time I leave a PWG show, I think it was completely worth my money. However, this show was the first I'd been to in a year and probably only the fourth or fifth I'd been to in two years. They're getting ready to start running shows a little closer to home so hopefully I'll get to a few more this year.

Nothing new on the job hunt front. I went into the week before Christmas thinking I had a good chance at getting two jobs. One of them I know was given to someone else and the other one... well, the HR person who was setting up my second interview has gone off the grid. No clue on that one.

Golden Globes got canceled. As an aspiring writer, I get a little bit of joy out of seeing the corporations get fucked by the strike. It's their own fault so I have no pity for them. I feel bad for the creative folks who won't get their very public credit for their work over the past year but not for the network who won't be able to cash in on them showing up to get that credit.

How's that for a wide variety of topics? Until next time.


WRITING: A screenplay based off a song - an idea I've been cultivating for almost a year

DRINKING: Water as I feel like I'm battling a sore throat

PONDERING: Volunteering for the Obama campaign

The Rain In Spain Falls Mainly On The Plain

It's crazy outside right now. We could hear an insane amount of rain pouring down and when we opened the balcony door, it looks like we were trapped in a huge storm with rain pounding down and the wind blowing really hard.

I love the rain as long as I'm not stuck in it. I used to think I even loved the rain when I had to walk around in it until last year in Rome. Our first day out and about in Rome was absolutely miserable as we got drenched in rain, blown around by gusty wind, and generally got made cold and miserable by it all. So, yeah... now I think I love the rain as long as I don't have to walk around in it.

I hope it lets up some because I was planning to go to my first Pro Wrestling Guerrilla show in a year tonight. Driving in to LA through this mess doesn't sound like my idea of fun either so I really hope it lets up before I have to make a decision. The forecast is calling for "light rain" this afternoon so I hope it's right.

Rain, rain, go away... come again some other day.


Watching: Giants/Bucs NFL Playoff game [I'm addicted to football in HD. I've never watched as much football as I have this year.]
Wondering: If the person who was going to PWG with me is going to flake.
Reading: Just finished "The Heroin Diaries" by Nikki Sixx and haven't started anything else yet

A New Year!

So, it's a new year and as I look back to find I only did 3 posts on this blog in 2007, I'm a little annoyed. What a waste.

I also decided to let my web hosting lapse this year as I was barely using it so hopefully you managed to find your way back here.

For those who haven't "heard" from me lately, I'm unemployed once more having gotten laid off in November. So, you would think I'd be posting up a storm but I haven't just yet. I did just discover that I can post via my new Blackberry though so that's promising, right?

Ah well. No big New Year's Resolution to keep posting but I shall do what I can.

Happy New Year, all.

Bored

So, I'm bored.

Yes, yes... what else is new, I know.

I'm a week removed from Day One of Comic-Con, my yearly half-week to indulge my inner geek and pretend the world revolves around Batman, the X-Men, and mostly what movies look sweet.

It also tends to be a source of great inspiration for me. A couple of years ago, I sat in on a panel where Brad Meltzer said that when he first starting writing, he made a commitment to himself to write at least an hour every day no matter what... no matter how tired, how hungry, how much he wanted to go out, whatever... an hour a day at minimum. I pledged on the spot to follow the same plan.

I'm pretty sure I lasted a day.

It's no secret that my career goal for several years has been to go back to school, get a teaching credential, and become a writer while teaching... yet I never seem able to get there. There's lots of easy targets to blame... getting old, too busy at work, don't want to look at a computer when I get home, wedding planning to do, blah blah blah.

Is this the year that I snap out of it?

The amount of people on panels this year who are probably just a few years removed from being where I am is astonishing. It truly does inspire someone to reach for the stars.

But those grounded feet always seem to get in the way.

Oh, side note... I also pledged to start using this as an entertainment blog to see if I could get into the Con next year as Media. Cross your fingers!

Let's Get Ready To Rumble!

So, I did this last year and even though my WWE interest may be at an all-time low [I even gave up watching Raw since it conflicts with Heroes and 24]... I stick by my belief that even if I had given up watching wrestling altogether I'd still watch the Rumble and Wrestlemania every year.

And with that... my predictions based on the 30 wrestlers listed on WWE.com as participants:

No Chance... That's What You Got
---
Tommy Dreamer - Such a shame. You coulda been a contender, Tommy.
Chavo Guerrero - If you can't draw heat off your dead relative, you can't main event Mania.
Matt Hardy - No luck. He's gone right back down to the bottom of the barrel.
Gregory Helms - Nope. Not even JBL's hype job gets him a win here.
Chris Masters - Kinda a shame. He showed some potential before the Wellness Program kicked him down South. Since coming back, he's been booked like a joke.
The Miz - God no.
Sandman - Hopefully he gets to come in with the kendo stick. That'll make for a fun spot at least.
Kevin Thorn - Not even the curveball of the winner taking the ECW title shot makes him a contender here.
Viscera - King Mabel maybe. Viscera no.
Super Crazy - Only if Heyman gets brought back to book it.
Shelton Benjamin - Maybe a few months ago he'd be up one category... but not anymore.
Kenny Dykstra - In a couple years, perhaps... but not yet.

Slim Shot
--------
Carlito - Again, a few months ago I'd say he might have stood a shot. But I don't see him at the main event level yet... even in ECW.

Hardcore Holly - Could be, right? A fluke Royal Rumble winner for all those naysayers who say things are too predictable. Is Holly/Lashley for the ECW Title at Mania that unimaginable? Not really.

Kane - Not likely but always possible. Kane vs Batista would be alright. Kane vs Lashley would probably be fun.

MVP - Too soon for the rookie, I think but he's been getting a pretty big push so it's not completely impossible.

Sabu - I just can't see it. Gotta imagine a Money In The Bank is in his future.


Odds Are Slightly Better
---
Chris Benoit - Benoit being in a WM main event means it'll be worlds better than anyone else being in it. But I don't see it this time around as too likely.

Finlay - See above.

Jeff Hardy - Someone must have noticed that Jeff's been worlds better since his return, right? He just doesn't have a good match with any of the current champs. Turn on "Extreme Rules" and I can see a Lashley/Hardy match being fun. Do the title switch and Jeff vs Umaga would be fun as hell but probably not Mania main event material.

CM Punk - This is another one that would've been much more likely a few months ago. Now it seems like Punk is on the booking team's shitlist which makes it unlikely he'll get the green light yet.


Some Real Contenders
---
King Booker - No one wants another Booker/Batista match... but Booker/Cena? I'd buy that for a dollar. Booker jumping to Raw would give him an entire new slate of characters to run against. I don't see it as likely as much as I'd like to see it happen though.

Johnny Nitro - A real dark horse. I would love to see Nitro pick up the shocking win to reveal K-Fed as his trainer heading into Mania. K-Fed was a fun heel during his run and having him be part of the main program heading into Mania against Cena wouldn't hurt at all. Another one I'd really like to see but is super unlikely.

Ric Flair - With Rocky Balboa fresh in everyone's mind, it's the perfect year to run one last Flair For The Gold program. Especially if it was against Umaga. I'd love to see it but it seems to not be in the cards sadly.

Rob Van Dam - Rumor is that Vince is trying to keep RVD from jumping to TNA when his contract is up. Could a Rumble win and Mania match for the title keep him around? RVD/Cena would be fun again... not so fond of RVD/Lashley though.

The Great Khali - Khali/Cena would be a good way to pay tribute to Hogan/Andre but will they trust Khali to perform on that big of a stage. A guy who got pulled from one major PPV because of a lack of confidence in his skill seems unlikely to get the ball here.


The Cream Of The Crop
---

Edge - The MVP of Raw for 2006. He was robbed from his Mania main event last year and basically carried the entire brand as thanks. He was in almost every interesting program throughout the year. So, if you want to use the Mania main event as a "thank you", he'd be your guy. Edge vs Batista does nothing for me. Edge jumping to ECW with the title shot would boost that show a ton but would seem odd. Edge vs Cena has been seen a ton so there'd have to be a major twist to make it worthwhile again. I really like Edge so I'd love to see him win it but I don't know where you go with it.

Randy Orton - My fear. I like Orton to an extent but I have no desire to see him in any of the three title matches... nor do I have a desire to see Team RKO split up. Unfortunately, I have a bad feeling that he'll be your winner.

Shawn Michaels - Michaels vs Cena would be great. Michaels vs Batista would be... eh. Michaels vs Lashley... not so much. Michaels/Umaga would be a lot of fun though. He's gotta be an odds on favorite since the Rumble is in San Antonio and he's coming off the great performances on Raw lately. Probably who I would like to see win as there's the most possibilities of where to go with it.

Undertaker - All buzz shows Taker/Batista as the Smackdown main event so giving Taker the Rumble win he's never gotten would set that up perfectly. Can't say that I mind to see him winning here as long as he's winning at Mania as well.


Final results
---

Who should win: Shawn Michaels

Who will win: Randy Orton

Back In... Blue?

So, I'm back again for another year of trying to do this blog thing right. I just renewed my website for another year so hopefully I can contribute a bit more to society with it! Apparently I made 56 blog posts in 2006... wow... that really sucks. Let's try and get that higher for '07, shall we?

Here's an easy waste of time...

Go to iTunes... do a Smart Playlist to show songs added in 2006... sort by play count and see your favorite songs that you listened to in '06. In true Casey Kasem tradition of keeping my feet on the ground and still reaching for the stars, here's my [our] Top 200 of 2006...

(NOTE: This does have a margin for error as some songs may be artifically inflated by merging two files into one play count.)

200. The Distance - Travis
199. The Beautiful Occupation - Travis
198. Happy - Travis
197. Re-Offender - Travis
196. Gigolos Get Lonely Too - The Time
195. If I Ever Fall In Love - Shai
194. Steady As She Goes [Acoustic] - The Raconteurs
193. Three Or Four - The New Pornographers
192. Sing Me Spanish Techno - The New Pornographers
191. I Wish I Had An Evil Twin - The Magnetic Fields
190. Enterlude - The Killers
189. I've Changed [Alternative Version] - Josh Joplin Group
188. Fawkes The Phoenix - John Williams
187. Happy (Reprise) - Jenny Lewis And The Watson Twins
186. Holiday From Real - Jack's Mannequin
185. Heaven Adores You - Earlimart
184. 1st Instant/Last Report - Earlimart
183. Stable Song - Death Cab For Cutie
182. Brothers On A Hotel Bed - Death Cab For Cutie
181. Stop! - The Bens
180. Fired - Ben Folds
179. The Wrong Girl - Belle And Sebastian
178. All I Want To Do Is Rock - Travis
177. Why Does It Always Rain On Me - Travis
176. Of Montreal - The Stills
175. Pick A Part That's New - Stereophonics
174. Solitary - Skye
173. Wildwood Flower - Reese Witherspoon
172. Army Reserve - Pearl Jam
171. Wasted Reprise - Pearl Jam
170. Song Beneath The Song - Maria Taylor
169. The River Is Wild - The Killers
168. Bones - The Killers
167. Melt Your Heart - Jenny Lewis And The Watson Twins
166. Speed Trials - Elliott Smikth
165. I Wasn't Prepared - Eisley
164. The Crane Wife 3 - The Decemberists
163. The New Year - Death Cab For Cutie
162. Marching Bands Of Manhattan - Death Cab For Cutie
161. Hang On To Yourself - David Bowie
160. Hey Now Now - The Cloud Room
159. Suspended From Class - Camera Obscura
158. Cross-Fire - The Bens
157. Carrying Cathy - Ben Folds
156. Sleep The Clock Around - Belle And Sebastian
155. A Century Of Fakers - Belle And Sebastian
154. I Fought In A War - Belle And Sebastian
153. Cherry Blossom Girl (Hope Sandoval Version) - Air
152. The City Lights - Umbrellas
151. Sing - Travis
150. Square One - Tom Petty
149. Still In Love Song - The Stills
148. Love & Death - The Stills
147. Whatever's Left - Snow Patrol
146. Gleaming Auction - Snow Patrol
145. Just You And Me - Rie Sinclair
144. Steady As She Goes - The Raconteurs
143. Hey There Delilah - Plain White Ts
142. Come Back - Pearl Jam
141. Comatose - Pearl Jam
140. Mexico - Jump, Little Children
139. Bruised - Jack's Mannequin
138. Feel So Free- Ivy
137. Fire Island - Fountains of Wayne
136. Brightly Wound - Eisley
135. Hold On, Slow Down - Earlimart
134. Bruised - The Bens
133. Rockin' The Suburbs - Ben Folds
132. Roy Walker - Belle And Sebastian
131. I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor - The Arctic Monkeys
130. Everywhere [cover] - Yellowcard
129. Allison Krausse - The Stills
128. Break Your Mama's Back - Slow Runner
127. This Mess We're In - PJ Harvey and Thom Yorke
126. Parachutes - Pearl Jam
125. Time Bomb - Old 97s
124. Bling (Confessions Of A King) - The Killers
123. Is It Any Wonder? - Keane
122. Jackson - Joaquin Phoenix
121. Run Devil Run - Jenny Lewis And The Watson Twins
120. Bright Future In Sales - Fountains of Wayne
119. Got You Where I Want You - The Flys
118. My Lovely - Eisley
117. Munich - Editors
116. Live And Learn - The Cardigans
115. Annie Waits - Ben Folds
114. Step Into My Office, Baby - Belle And Sebastian
113. Wrap Your Love Around Me - The Village Green
112. Side - Travis
111. Flowers In The Window - Travis
110. Elevator Love Letter - Stars
109. Somewhere A Clock Is Ticking - Snow Patrol
108. Grazed Knees - Snow Patrol
107. False Alarm - Sloan
106. Fidelity - Regina Spektor
105. Use It - The New Pornographers
104. My List - The Killers
103. The Big Guns - Jenny Lewis And The Watson Twins
102. La La Lie - Jack's Mannequin
101. I'm Ready - Jack's Mannequin
100. Hung Up On You - Fountains of Wayne
99. Steadier Footing - Death Cab For Cutie
98. Summer Skin - Death Cab For Cutie
97. Shine Like A New Pin - Camera Obscura
96. Blackout - British Sea Power
95. Sundress (acoustic) - Ben Kweller
94. I'm Waking Up To Us - Belle And Sebastian
93. Asleep On A Sunbeam - Belle And Sebastian
92. Rubber And Soul - Arie Brun
91. Marker In The Sand - Pearl Jam
90. These Are The Fables - The New Pornographers
89. Polyester Bride - Liz Phair
88. Exitlude - The Killers
87. When You Were Young - The Killers
86. Cocaine Blues - Joaquin Phoenix
85. Dark Blue - Jack's Mannequin
84. Trolley Wood - Eisley
83. Memories - Eisley
82. Red Hot Drops - Chad Van Gaalen
81. This Modern Love - Bloc Party
80. Chicago - Sufjan Stevens
79. Chocolate - Snow Patrol
78. World Wide Suicide - Pearl Jam
77. Like U Crazy - Mates of State
76. I Don't Believe You - The Magnetic Fields
75. Lift Me - Madrugada feat. Arie Brun
74. Sam's Town - The Killers
73. Scratch - Kendall Payne
72. It Ain't Me, Babe - Joaquin Phoenix
71. Sgt. Major - Jet
70. You're Beautiful - James Blunt
69. Everyday Is a Holiday - Esthero w/Sean Lennon
68. The Hidden Track - Earlimart
67. Your Heart Is An Empty Room - Death Cab For Cutie
66. The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
65. Sometimes Always [cover] - The Brakes
64. I'm A Cuckoo - Belle And Sebastian
63. Hoppinpolla - Sigur Ros
62. Across The Universe - Rufus Wainwright
61. Get Through - Mark Joseph
60. I Think I Need A New Heart - The Magnetic Fields
59. Handle With Care - Jenny Lewis And The Watson Twins
58. You Are What You Love - Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins
57. Rise Up With Fists!!! - Jenny Lewis And The Watson Twins
56. MFEO: Part 1 - Jack's Mannequin
55. OLE! - The Bouncing Souls
54. Losing Lisa Ben Folds
53. Gone - Ben Folds
52. The Model - Belle And Sebastian
51. Piazza, New York Catcher - Belle And Sebastian
50. Dear Catastrophe Waitress - Belle And Sebastian
49. Blood And Peanut Butter - Camplight
48. Somewhere Across Forever - Stellastarr*
47. Are You True? - The New Amsterdams
46. Sometimes The Sun - The Lashes
45. Why Do I Keep Counting? - The Killers
44. For Reason's Unknown - The Killers
43. Stacy's Mom - Fountains of Wayne
42. Golly Sandra - Eisley
41. How To Be Dead - Snow Patrol
40. Who I Am Hates Who I've Become - Relient K
39. From California (acoustic) - The New Amsterdams
38. Uncle Jonny - The Killers
37. The Charging Sky - Jenny Lewis And The Watson Twins
36. Maybe Tomorrow - Goldenhorse
35. Baby's Been Bad - Goldenhorse
34. The Engine Driver - The Decemberists
33. I'm A Rocker - Bruce Springsteen
32. Wrapped Up In Books - Belle And Sebastian
31. You Don't Send Me - Belle And Sebastian
30. You Only Live Once - The Strokes
29. In The Sun - Michael Stipe w/Chris Martin
28. Hip Teens Don't Wear Blue Jeans - The Frank Popp Ensemble
27. Zak And Sara - Ben Folds
26. Rescued - Jack's Mannequin
25. Beautiful World - Colin Hay
24. I Hear The Bells - Mike Doughty
23. Read My Mind - The Killers
22. Sukie In The Graveyard - Belle And Sebastian
21. I Dare You - Shinedown
20. We Will Become Silouhettes - The Postal Service
19. High - James Blunt
18. Am I Just One - Carey Ott
17. We Are The Sleepyheads - Belle And Sebastian
16. Stay Loose - Belle And Sebastian
15. Forever Lost - The Magic Numbers
14. Jessica - Adam Green
13. Little By Little - Oasis
12. All You Need Is Hate - The Delgados
11. The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts - Sufjan Stevens
10. Flying High - Jem
9. I'm Gonna Make You Love Me - The Jayhawks
8. Kiss The Girl - Get Set Go
7. Drinking For 11 - The Mad Caddies
6. Crooked Teeth - Death Cab For Cutie
5. Why Does It Always Rain On Me - Travis
4. Adelaide - Old 97s
3. The Mixed Tape - Jack's Mannequin
2. Precious - Depeche Mode
1. Sunset Soon Forgotten - Iron And Wine

And it's right HERE that I realize iTunes fucked me by including 16 songs tied for #200 at the bottom of the list. So. uh... well, you do the math!

15. Kill The Messenger - Jack's Mannequin
14. If You Find Yourself Caught In Love - Belle And Sebastian
13. Butterfly - Weezer
12. Peace - Weezer
11. It Must Be Summer - Fountains of Wayne
10. Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want (cover) - Elefant
9. Defying Gravity - Wicked Soundtrack
8. Saint Simon - The Shins
7. Hackensack - Fountains of Wayne
6. Lord Anthony - Belle And Sebastian
5. Mi Mancherai (Il Postino) - Josh Groban
4. Crown of Love - The Arcade Fire
3. The Luckiest - Ben Folds
2. Telescope Eyes - Eisley
1. If She Wants Me - Belle And Sebastian

And another!

Quick giggle

Can't Be Witty Today

My friend who passed away earlier this year would have turned 30 yesterday.

...

I can't even begin to wrap my brain around that. It still seems completely unreal at times... almost impossible that someone I've known all my life is gone.

It's odd the things that'll spark him to memory though. Almost anything can do it.

I sat at the Bridge School Benefit watching Pearl Jam with a tear in my eye thinking how much he would have loved to be there.

I get e-mails from Master Replicas about their latest Star Wars collectible coming out and smile thinking how quickly he would have ordered it.

I see the Harry Potter trailer online and feel a bit of sadness that he'll never get to see how that story wraps up.

It's been a tough year for me... lots of changes personally and professionally. Turning 30 myself in about a month so that's always a... well, I guess "milestone" is a word to use.

But we continue to live. We smile, we cry... we perservere and live our lives the way we think is best. And hopefully the way he would have liked it.

We'll be getting together on Saturday night to play some poker and drink a whole hell of a lot, I'd imagine.

Just the way he would have liked it.

We miss you, buddy... and we'll never forget you.

Think He'll Have Buyer's Remorse?

And no, I didn't Photoshop this. This was a legit eBay page at around 7 AM PST this morning.