Ah the good ol' Wizards. Nothing builds confidence for an injury plagued team like a 97-82 loss in the playoff opener against the Cavs.
So I'm predicitng a sweep by the Cavs that will have the Wizards home this time next week.
What could have been one of the best series in the playoffs has been reduced to viewing that can be compared to the experiment carried out in A Clockwork Orange. No Arenas or Butler means no wins. The chemistry is gone and they are going up against one helluva team that includes Lebron James and Larry Hughes. How can we compete with that when Donnell Taylor plays 20 minutes a game?
The Wiz need to do a lot this offseason:
Lock down Arenas in a contract extension.
Draft someone who isn't going to be playing in eastern Europe for the next two years.
Hit the free agency hard. Remember Arenas says he'll restructure his contract in order to make cap room.
If not, trade for KG - Jamison and a draft pick should do the trick
Re-sign Stevenson... he's a lot better than a lot of people thought
We have a great team, but it needs to be better. Sorry fans... four and out and we'll see you next year.
Living next to Falls Church City, when I go out for some drinks and don't feel like dealing with the drunken, fight-seeking maniacs in Addams Morgan, the pretentious interns in Georgetown, or the preps in Clarendon, I go the short distance to Falls Church. Problem is there aren't that many bars to go to here.
My favorite bar and "homefield" is Ireland's Four Provinces where I can enjoy my Guinness in peace and bullsh*t with some of the clientele. If you haven't been there, go and support my favorite bartenders!
There's also Broadstreet Tavern which has a more, how do I say, redneck vibe which kind of turns me off.
Other than that there isn't much... until now.
Recently Clare and Don's Beach Shack moved from Clarendon next to the State Theatre in Falls Church and I have to admit I really like it. They have two dollar Pabst Blue Ribbons which I enjoy plus I don't have to break out multiple twenties when it comes time to pay my tab. The food is good (fried egg on a cheeseburger... got my vote) and I even found El-P and Murs on their jukebox. The atmosphere is pretty cool and in the summer the deck has the potential to become a hot spot for area residents.
Being a huge fan of the show I was excited to hear them both speak about their work on the show. Glover's being on-screen and Pelecanos' being off-screen as a writer and producer. The two men gave many details about what goes into making the series about politics, the school system, police, and criminals living in Baltimore.
There were many technical aspects discussed about how the show is produced and how the the writers come up with ideas... hotel, upstate New York, bar. But it was the characters they discussed which was really interesting. When Stringer Bell, a drug lord, was killed, one of his killers Omar was supposed to urinate on his dead body, but the writers liked the actor, Idris Elba, so much they decided to spare him that indignity. Also, Glover explained how his role as Slim Charles was only supposed to be one episode, but they liked him so much they made him a recurring character. Pelecanos impressed me with his straight forward talk about his dislike for now-Governor of Maryland Martin O'Malley, who he said ruined Baltimore and didn't do anything for its citizens, but lock them up so he could get elected. O'Malley also tried to shut the show down several times, but was always reminded that the show brings $10 million a year to the city.
The talk was interesting and let me into the world of The Wire even more which I was grateful for.
I mentioned this concert a few weeks back in one of my older blogs, but reall this festival is going to amazing. Woodstock for hip hoppers perhaps.
After few solid years in California, the Rock the Bells Festival has hit it big and have added an east coast date (July 28 - NYC) with a line-up that exceeded everyone's expectations. Rage Agasint the Machine, WuTang Clan, Cypress Hill, Public Enemy, EPMD, and, if my friend is not lying to me, A Tribe Called Quest.
To hell with Bonnaroo and Coachella! Go buy some tickets to this soon to be legendary show, so when your kids ask whether you went to the hip hop Woodstock you can say yes.
Maybe I'm just old school and still like reading newspapers rather than staring at a computer screen until my eyes bleed, but where the hell is the important news?
HEADLINE: ANNA NICOLE SMITH DIES!!! Oh yeah and a bunch of U.S. troops were killed also, but back to the Anna Nicole story. Are you kidding me? Who gives a sh*t? Is a person remembered for being naked and a gold digger really a month long news story? It's almost relieving that Imus said something derogatory to take her place in the non-news news story of the week.
And about what Imus said, sure it was wrong, but that's what him and his kind do - they try to shock the audience. It's not like his show was considered a viable news program (although I'm not sure viable news programs are viable news programs anymore). Anne Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, and Opie and Anthony have all said worse things on their shows and they're still blabbing away. Oh wait, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton needed some air time so they went for the jugular on Imus. And for what? He'll have a new show in a few months as soon as the public forgets about it and are transfixed by the next big story.
ANGELINA JOLIE BEATEN BY BRAD PITT or K-FED BUSTED FOR DRUG POSSESSION. You know, another story more important than global warming, genocide in Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan, risingtensions in the Middle East, our enormous trade deficit, or a receding economy. Who wants to hear about all that boring stuff.
And these damned news channels need to do something about it. Start with taking Lou Dobbs and Nancy Grace off the air. Dobbs' nightly immigration spiel is getting old and Nancy Grace probably made a woman kill herself when she all, but accused her of killing her own child. They are not giving us the news... they are corrupting America.
Another one I could do without is Anne Coulter who is a retarded person who wants to get gangbanged by the Bush administration for her birthday present. She make no sense and she just says all these crazy things to sell her books to more retarded people. According to Dante she will one day have a nice home in the 8th Circle of Hell.
Please bring the news back! If I have to hear one more thing about Phil Spector, Paris Hilton, or, as I saw on MSNBC yesterday, 30 minutes of an aerial view of a horse stuck in mud in Texas... and no I did not make that last one up.
Robert Rodriguez and Tarantino unleashed a masterpiece of horror, gore, sex, zombies, and psychopaths this past weekend with their newest film Grindhouse. To call it a film isn't exactly fair. It is a double feature with each director directing one 90 minute flick a piece, separated by fake trailers and adds for a crappy food restaurant next store to the theatre.
Most people already know what Grindhouse is about, so I won't get into too many details because that would, essentially, ruin the fun that is too be had viewing it. Rodriguez's Planet Terror, a B-movie fan's dream, is about a mysterious military outfit headed by Bruce Willis that unleashes a gas on a small town and next thing you know there are puss-oozing, skin-eating zombies running amok all over the place. It's up to a small group of survivors to battle the undead and make it to safety.
Planet Terror pays true homage to the zombie and splatter films of the '70s with its missing reels, scratched film, terrible cinematography, poor dialogue, and off-kilter dubbing. Sounds bad? Nope, it's great. Witty and violent, although not for everyone...my girlfriend was not amused, this film will please fans of the two directors and of exploitation flicks of the '70s.
The real treasure I thought was the casting for this segment of the film. '70s and '80s B-movie icons Michael Biehn, Jeff Fahey, and Tom Savini have large roles, as does, Michael Parks, reprising his role as Deputy Earl McGraw from Kill Bill and From Dusk Til Dawn. Tarantino's half of the film, Death Proof, is not as good, but still thoroughly entertaining. It is pure Tarantino though with homages galore and tons of razor-sharp dialogue. The dialogue is one of the problems with the segment because it goes on for too long and takes away from the action. But in the end the payoff is worth it. I don't want to ruin it but let's just say it involves a high speed chase, Kurt Russel screeching, and a woman on the hood of a car.
The fake trailers, directed by Rodriguez, Eli Roth, Rob Zombie, and Edgar Wright, are a gem in themselves. Werewolf women, Nazis, Mexican hitmen, a Thanksgiving Day serial killer, and a hilarious ghost story sum them up. If you want to see Roth's just click on his name above.
Being a fan of '70s schlock and newer "grindhouse" films such as Ichi the Killer and Hostel, Tarantino and Rodriguez have a slam dunk on their hands with their depraved, funny, and on- the-bulls eye new film.
In just 72 hours last week, the Washington Wizards saw their two best players go down for the season and with them went any hope of advancing very far in the playoffs.
All-star forward Caron Butler broke his hand trying to block a shot and just 3 days later Gilbert Arenas, the NBA's fourth leading scorer, went down after a knee injury in the first quarter of a loss to the lowly Bobcats. These two losses all but end the exciting and promising season the Wizards were having.
I know the Wizards wouldn't be able to win it all this year - they're a big man and some depth short of that - but after last year's duel with the Cavs, every basketball fan in America would have loved to see Agent Zero and his crew put on a show for two or three rounds this year. Now they can see a team without its stars and an injured bench. Goodbye second round, hello next season.
It's truly a shame that Washington fans will not be able to experience their time going on a another exciting playoff run.
