Ananas

I've never seen the TFC attack look that good on the road. They were varied, they had pace, and with the exception of Barrett they had finish. The back line continues to be a big question mark, but I think they're one defender away from being a serious contender. Nonetheless, a seriously encouraging start to a team that has never won to open a season before.

Damn, you started good with CD's with stickers. My first PA CD was Mase's "Double Up"

I voted 6, "Joshua Tree" and "Where the Streets Have No Name". My instinct is that it's hard for me to rate them "average" or worse, but the strength of their earlier work (which at the end of the day was just strong mainstream arena rock for the most part) isn't enough to make up for the vapid shit I've had to put up with on the radio since "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb". Full disclosure: it's not helpful that my local modern rock station played "Get On Your Boots" hourly for weeks.

I Love You, Man - 7/10 I'm so happy that Paul Rudd has ascended through the ranks of Apatow supporting roles to find himself a legitimate star. Last year's "Role Models" showed his ability to carry a movie on the back of his Chevy Chase-esque delivery; this time around he couples that with a performance similar to some of the more subdued roles of earlier in his career and tackles a character suspiciously more complex than is usual for frat-comedy-fare. Jason Segel follows up his sleeper hit "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" with a role that actually takes him even further over the top. He commits with just as much enthusiasm, and delivers the greatest Andre the Giant impersonation I've ever heard. It's a bit uneven in places, but the encouraging result is that the Frat Pack seems to be maturing a bit and the result is a funny yet entirely relatable comedy.

Recently: Watchmen - 8/10 Paul Blart: Mall Cop - 3.5/10 He's Just Not That Into You - 3.5/10

I just want to point out two things. One, to I Love Pokemon: Biggzy wasn't using "Sherdog logic", and wasn't saying you don't understand MMA. He was saying that most of the time, the people who fully understand Machida's specific style quite enjoy watching his fights because they're witnessing an artist at work. I happen to both agree with Biggzy on this point and that Machida is an artist. He wasn't saying that anyone who doesn't like Machida is ignorant, he's saying that followers of that style are more likely to enjoy Machida. MMA is a wide and varied sport, and its followers prefer a wide variety of disciplines. The reason Machida is such a lightning rod is that his discipline is so rarely practiced, which makes him a unique entity at the upper levels of the sport. I for one think a unique fighter with the ability to overcome the odds time and time again is the very definition of a fighter I enjoy watching. The other is about BJ Penn. Penn has every right to file a complaint, and really he probably should. Where he loses any kind of goodwill and ventures into lunacy is the part of what Fitzy posted where he is asking the commission to suspend GSP and overturn the decision. This not only completely contradicts his prior statements (where he doesn't blame GSP personally and where he admits GSP was the better fighter that night), it absolutely reeks of bitterness and vindictiveness. The way he's dragged this whole thing out baffles me, as he has struck me in the past as someone who knew how to play the game and how to put fights and himself over. Really, the complaint should have been filed swiftly and asked for no more than to perhaps ask for a bit of GSP's win cut and the afforementioned rule changes. Instead he comes off as a petulant little child, asking for absurdly hyperbolic reactions to make up for getting pummeled by a better fighter. I just don't get it.

That was definitely the highest scoring game I've ever been too. Jokinen gets his hat trick in the third, then Grabovski responds with his gimme hat trick a few minutes later. It wasn't pretty, and we didn't look at all like the better of the two sides, but, um, we aren't, so I'm not particularly concerned. I can't really say Gerber's doing much to earn a back-up gig for next year, and we looked like shit on the PK, but this is the season of lowered expectations so I have a hard time getting upset about it.

I kind of missed the boat on this discussion of the Group Stages, so let me just say that despite the massive disappointment that was Team Canada this year (really? 2 runs against Italy?), there was some great baseball at the Rogers Centre. Group C was book ended by two sensational ball games, both exciting and close right up until the final out. The Venezuelan pitching really held it down in their second go around with the Americans, and if they can get that kind of consistency from their guys in the pen then that heart of the order is really going to be tough to contend with. I'd also like to give kudos to the Venezuelan fans, who really made the two go-arounds with Italy into cultural experiences if not particularly spectacular displays of baseball on-field. They were upbeat, singing, dancing, clapping and really felt like they were there because they loved the game. This is something that is all too rare in Toronto, and I was pleased to be around these fans. Now trying to tell an upbeat, singing, dancing, clapping Venezuelan who doesn't speak English that it's time to leave because the cleaning crew is coming in? Not so pleasing. And I was at the Leafs game so I missed it on TV, but the States got fucking MERCIED?! Holy fuck!

I just have to say to the notion that Slumdog won technical categories because the critics liked it: there is absolutely no basis for that. Technical categories are voted on by luminaries in those specific fields, not the entire Academy membership. So you may have some friends who work in sound who thought Slumdog wasn't deserving of Achievement in Sound Mixing, but a plurality of Academy member sound people saw differently. Also the notion that Slumdog is somehow some small arthouse success with no support among mainstream audiences: the movie has almost grossed one hundred million dollars domestic. More than, for instance, Hellboy II. People LOVE this movie. The fact that you are not one of those people does not in any way effect it's Oscar worthiness one way or another.

Dominic Moore just about took his place in Rock Em Sock Em great goals infamy. He blocked a shot and broke his stick in the process, but broke out down the ice kicking the puck with him before kicking it over to Blake with a big chance.

Fallon will not be to blame for Ferguson being the #1 at 12:30. If I'm not mistaken that's no longer a rare occurrence anymore. As for Fallon, I definitely agree with you. A lot of people forget that Conan himself started rough and needed to improve a ton to get to where he is now. Fallon has the advantage of having much more experience in front of the camera and may have a much smoother learning curve. But yes, he has very big shoes to fill. Letterman, Conan, now Fallon. Late Night has one hell of a legacy.

I think I might be more excited for this if they hadn't done the whole reunion with Wes Borland thing, leading to The Unquestionable Truth.

Only if Velasquez brings the kind of underwhelming shit he brought at the last UFN again, Couture will knock his fucking head off.

See, that's what I'd heard, but now apparently Ricciardi is saying that Snider has to "win his slot". Building a team based on spring is a terrible idea, but I'm assuming Ricciardi was just grandstanding there. Anyway, this team won't be terrible. They've only got two starters and a bunch of ifs, but the offense should be better based solely on the law of averages. The bullpen needs to come up huge this year, but I see us breaking .500 again this year. And beyond that? Well, it's a long season I guess. That's what I love about spring training. Everyone's got a perfect record. The perfect time for a longtime fanboy to delude himself yet again.

The new Kreator is 40 minutes of pure awesome. I'm not the most consistent metal fan, but I see this being one of my most listened to records in 2009.

You have to put those ratings through the Friday scope. Compared to other FOX's other Friday shows, it was a tremendous success. It built on SCC's lead in by 25%, and was their highest demo performer on Friday in years. That said, it's not to much the opening number as it is the likely drop-off in subsequent weeks that will give me pause. Although since it's a Friday maybe it'll hold reasonably steady. And I'm pretty sure Whedon has a deal in place to ensure that the entire episode order airs, so give me 13.

There's no way the NFL goes to England before it goes to Toronto.

I dunno. I agreed that the first reversal was definitely not a fumble, but I thought the slow-mo replay of the last play showed that Woodley had a hand on the ball before Warner went forward. That said, it was a tremendous fourth quarter and one that the Steelers were undoubtedly lucky to escape. The defence did not look good at all, and I was really worried about giving Warner one last chance to put the ball up. Roethlisberger took 55 minutes to really get his shit together but man he showed a shit load of poise when the game was on the line. Warner was awesome all night though, and kudos to him for taking a 9-7 team to within a minute of the Super Bowl. And really, if he'd gotten a bit more discipline out of his teammates, maybe he'd be the one celebrating. Great game to cap off a ridiculously awesome weekend of sports.

Spoiler: Click here to viewEveryone in the cast took one episode off to cut costs. I'm guessing this was Sarah Chalke, Judy Reyes, Neil Flynn and Ken Jenkins' episode off and that Janitor will soon return.

This move makes sense if you understand the minds that made it. This along with cutting their heads of drama, comedy, marketing, casting (because really, it's been the CASTING that's to blame for the colossal failure of the past two years), the head of the television studio and the EVP of the network really serve no purpose other than to shift the blame from the two places it should land: NBC Universal chair Jeff Zucker and NBC Television chair Ben Silverman. Their abject stupidity over the past two years has scared away proven hitmakers, sullied the network's reputation for quality and pushed the 18-49 ratings down even further. Now they're cutting costs fully realising that the replacement programming will not bring in the same kind of viewers the existing 10pm programming does because, as Zucker says: they're "managing for margins not ratings". None of this will change until Zucker and the golden child are fired.

I'm looking forward to seeing whether kicking Bob Rock to the curb can rescue Our Lady Peace's music the way it did Metallica. Neko Case and AC Newman have new albums out next year, so that should be good. Kanye and k-os, ditto. And Fitzy insists that Black Market Hero will have a new album out next year, so that. Plus perhaps solo records by both Outkast members, and I'm happy with anything that gets us closer to "10 the Hard Way".

"My teams don't get run. My teams run people." -Brian Burke, November 29, 2008- I think one thing's for sure. Andre Deveaux is going to drop the gloves tonight.

Listening to the first half or so of the new record, the one album that keeps popping into my mind is "In the Wee Small Hours". Now that's probably one of, if not my favourite album of all-time, so I'm not trying to compare the two in quality. It's just that biographically speaking, Kanye and Sinatra were both coming out of failed relationships and dealing with pretty obvious depressive issues and turned to music as a vent. If anything this album is even more cynical, although one can understand that what with the loss of his mother. It's really good, though. I always need a couple listens to really get a feeling of how I feel about any given Kanye record, but so far I'm impressed. To the people who say Kanye doesn't live up to the hype, I couldn't disagree more. If anything, not matching your hype is a quick ticket to obscurity in this modern media and he's still as hot as ever in the industry. And I always love hearing from people who dislike someone's music so much that they'd "like to punch him in the face". It's the ultimate in internet snark, and as patently hollow a suggestion as they come.

I'm sure the idea is that the perennially low-drawing Anderson Silva can expand his fanbase amongst the casuals with a win over Chuck. Nobody who knows anything about MMA doubts Silva can fight. The point is to expand that awareness to the general public like they did with GSP.

There is zero reward to UFC for agreeing to promote such a fight. If Brock wins, then he basically wins the support of smark MMA fans, people who already buy UFC PPV's anyway. By even promoting the show, they acknowledge the legitimacy of Affliction, Fedor and the WAMMA belt. And if Fedor wins? A huge embarrassment for the company and Fedor becomes a marketable star for Affliction to promote shows with. From UFC's perspective, the only way they want Fedor to become a star is if they get him.