Here are bunch of links to pieces from this past month.
I wrote a pair of album reviews: Mac Miller’s GO:OD AM, and Demi Lovato’s Confident. The Lovato one was an interesting challenge.
Kathy Griffin came to Storrs. I went to watch, and as she frequently pointed out, “straight white men” may not have been the target audience.
Does your fantasy football team suck? Do you want it to suck more? Take my advice! This is a total Matthew Berry rip-off, but without the 14,843-word introduction about how he’s famous or some s**t.
I LOVE potato chips. Lay’s annual ‘Do Us a Flavor’ contest lets normal Americans make their own weird flavors for lunatics like me to eat. I tried all four of the 2015 flavors.
That’s all for links, but I have a bunch of random thoughts on various subjects to share after the break. They need to get out.
I wrote a pair of album reviews: Mac Miller’s GO:OD AM, and Demi Lovato’s Confident. The Lovato one was an interesting challenge.
Kathy Griffin came to Storrs. I went to watch, and as she frequently pointed out, “straight white men” may not have been the target audience.
Does your fantasy football team suck? Do you want it to suck more? Take my advice! This is a total Matthew Berry rip-off, but without the 14,843-word introduction about how he’s famous or some s**t.
I LOVE potato chips. Lay’s annual ‘Do Us a Flavor’ contest lets normal Americans make their own weird flavors for lunatics like me to eat. I tried all four of the 2015 flavors.
That’s all for links, but I have a bunch of random thoughts on various subjects to share after the break. They need to get out.
1) I picked up Halo 5 this past week, and I haven’t played it enough yet to have an opinion, but it’s crazy how prevalent the ‘playing card micro transactions’ are in video games today. I’ve been addicted to Madden Mobile for a month now, which hooks its players by offering random packs of NFL players for your in-game currency, which is also purchasable with real world money.
I thought I escaped this addiction with Halo, but now there is a system in place that hands out cosmetic armors and consumable weapons through, you guessed it – random packs of cards purchasable with real world money. I haven’t spent real money in either game, but don’t we all make it to Vegas eventually? I worry for my ability to hold back when staring at all the colorful slot machines.
2) I also played the beta for Star Wars Battlefront, a game that I’ve been eagerly anticipating for years. It’s a lazy, shallow mess of a shooter with no content, but it successfully makes you feel like you’re right in the middle of the Battle of Hoth, and that’s f***ing awesome. The Force can’t wake up fast enough.
3) By no means am I a Donald Trump supporter, but his antics have jumpstarted a personal interest in politics for the first time, and I’m sure that I’m not the only one.
4) Loosely related to that subject, Kanye’s 2020 presidential bid might come before his next album at this rate. What the hell, Kanye? Your most recent fashion show looked like it belonged on Tatooine, not Earth. Please go back to music for a bit.
5) I have a radical idea for education reform: exam questions should ask about material taught in the course. Crazy idea, I know, but it just might work.
6) Bill Simmons is simultaneously the most insufferable human being on the planet, and the most entertaining listen on sports topics (occasionally pop culture as well). I don’t understand how this works. For real, Boston fans aren’t allowed to complain about s**t for at least another decade.
7) I didn’t do any NBA preview stuff, because that would force me to think about the Brooklyn Nets, and thinking about the Brooklyn Nets makes me very, very sad. Try to find a more depressing franchise in professional sports. You can’t.
So, here’s a few things I think: The Bucks and Jazz are going to be worse than everyone thinks, and the Knicks are going to be better in that regard. The East won’t be as easy for the Cavs as it seems, although they will still win it. Jahlil Okafor easily wins Rookie of the Year, as people begin to lose patience with the Sixers. The Warriors repeat.
8) The Red Bulls finished first in the MLS regular season to claim the Supporters Shield, their second in three years. They are going to choke in the playoffs anyway, so this isn’t a jinx or whatever.
I just find it odd that new crosstown rival NYCFC (co-owned by the Yankees) brought in three of the world’s best players, albeit aged – Villa, Gerrard, and Pirlo – and still finished eighth in the conference standings. They are an expansion team, but how did this happen? I’m not a soccer expert by any means, but is established chemistry really that important?
9) Mets fans like to ask Yankees fans why they don’t support the Mets in the playoffs. Here’s why: Mets fans would root for a team of Chase Utleys in Braves uniforms over the Yankees in the World Series.
10) Brandon Marshall keeps getting passed around the NFL, and I don’t understand why. Marshall was acquired for a fifth-round pick! Did that guy stab Jay Cutler or something?
Character issues are extremely overblown in certain cases. My favorite case is Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict, who was projected as high as the No. 5 pick in 2012 but went UNDRAFTED after a “loose cannon” reputation and a weak combine performance. A year later, he went to the Pro Bowl after leading the league in tackles. Who could have seen that coming?
I thought I escaped this addiction with Halo, but now there is a system in place that hands out cosmetic armors and consumable weapons through, you guessed it – random packs of cards purchasable with real world money. I haven’t spent real money in either game, but don’t we all make it to Vegas eventually? I worry for my ability to hold back when staring at all the colorful slot machines.
2) I also played the beta for Star Wars Battlefront, a game that I’ve been eagerly anticipating for years. It’s a lazy, shallow mess of a shooter with no content, but it successfully makes you feel like you’re right in the middle of the Battle of Hoth, and that’s f***ing awesome. The Force can’t wake up fast enough.
3) By no means am I a Donald Trump supporter, but his antics have jumpstarted a personal interest in politics for the first time, and I’m sure that I’m not the only one.
4) Loosely related to that subject, Kanye’s 2020 presidential bid might come before his next album at this rate. What the hell, Kanye? Your most recent fashion show looked like it belonged on Tatooine, not Earth. Please go back to music for a bit.
5) I have a radical idea for education reform: exam questions should ask about material taught in the course. Crazy idea, I know, but it just might work.
6) Bill Simmons is simultaneously the most insufferable human being on the planet, and the most entertaining listen on sports topics (occasionally pop culture as well). I don’t understand how this works. For real, Boston fans aren’t allowed to complain about s**t for at least another decade.
7) I didn’t do any NBA preview stuff, because that would force me to think about the Brooklyn Nets, and thinking about the Brooklyn Nets makes me very, very sad. Try to find a more depressing franchise in professional sports. You can’t.
So, here’s a few things I think: The Bucks and Jazz are going to be worse than everyone thinks, and the Knicks are going to be better in that regard. The East won’t be as easy for the Cavs as it seems, although they will still win it. Jahlil Okafor easily wins Rookie of the Year, as people begin to lose patience with the Sixers. The Warriors repeat.
8) The Red Bulls finished first in the MLS regular season to claim the Supporters Shield, their second in three years. They are going to choke in the playoffs anyway, so this isn’t a jinx or whatever.
I just find it odd that new crosstown rival NYCFC (co-owned by the Yankees) brought in three of the world’s best players, albeit aged – Villa, Gerrard, and Pirlo – and still finished eighth in the conference standings. They are an expansion team, but how did this happen? I’m not a soccer expert by any means, but is established chemistry really that important?
9) Mets fans like to ask Yankees fans why they don’t support the Mets in the playoffs. Here’s why: Mets fans would root for a team of Chase Utleys in Braves uniforms over the Yankees in the World Series.
10) Brandon Marshall keeps getting passed around the NFL, and I don’t understand why. Marshall was acquired for a fifth-round pick! Did that guy stab Jay Cutler or something?
Character issues are extremely overblown in certain cases. My favorite case is Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict, who was projected as high as the No. 5 pick in 2012 but went UNDRAFTED after a “loose cannon” reputation and a weak combine performance. A year later, he went to the Pro Bowl after leading the league in tackles. Who could have seen that coming?