I Hate Summers

Not too long ago, I rented (500) Days of Summer from Netflix. People have been talking about it for a while and thought I should give it a watch. I really hadn't much of a clue as to what it was about but I did hear people say some nasty things about the character of Summer played by Zooey Deschanel.

Spoiler alert

Now that I've seen the movie... I'm still wondering why people hated Summer.

"She broke Tom's heart. And Tom was such a good guy! You saw how much he loved her! He did everything for her."

As I recall, Summer told Tom from the jump she wasn't looking for a serious relationship. Even when things got intimate, she was pretty insistent on not putting any sort of label on what they had. So why don't people like Summer?

I can't figure it out. Call me different but Summer is exactly what I'd like in a woman, from a personality standpoint. People are often saying they hate dealing with the "fakeness" of a person. Summer was honest from the very beginning telling Tom what she wanted from him. Men are always saying women are too complicated but here comes a woman that doesn't get much more simple, and you hate her?

I see Tom as a foolish young man who tried to convince a woman who knew what she wanted, otherwise. The result was the just as it is in real life, unsuccessful.

I speak from personal experience. Ask me 3 years ago, I might have hated her too.

Random Thought

I'm sure most people have had someone tell them "I've never led you down the wrong path before have I," in terms of a suggestion of some sort. Of course I'm paraphrasing and it could have been different words, but you get the gist of it.

To my point, every time someone says that to me, I immediately think to myself "yeah, but that doesn't mean you never would."

I'm a cynic, I know.
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Two-thousand-win

Just about a week ago, the Knicks were part of a three-team trade that landed Tracy McGrady in New York. Had this been 2001, I would have been doing cartwheels. And while T-Mac is still a very popular in the NBA (he was nearly voted into this year's All-Star Game by fans despite playing only a total of 46 minutes all season) and may sell a few more tickets at Madison Square Garden, there is only one reason I'm excited about this trade.

Cap space.

Prior to Tracy McGrady being traded, New York would have been under the NBA's salary cap and able to sign one of the top-tier free agents this summer (LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Joe Johnson). That would have been great but thinking about it logistically, what premier free-agent would want to come to a losing team where he could be the star? None of those guys I'd assume, they're all on a quest for a championship. However, with the acquisition of Tracy McGrady, and more importantly his expiring contract, the Knicks will now be able to sign two of those top-tier free-agents. Now imagine telling LeBron James, "Hey LeBron, we know you can't do it all on your own, luckily, we have enough money to also sign one of your buddies; D-Wade or Chris Bosh to help you rebuild this team to a championship contender." How awesome does that sound? Pretty awesome.

Considering all these guys played under Knicks current head coach, Mike D'Antoni during the Olympics in which we won a gold medal, I'm under the impression they wouldn't mind playing under him again. This time, as a paid gig.

Let's not fool around though, I'm not the one to put all his eggs in one basket but this time is an exception. I'm fully expecting LeBron James to sign as a New York Knick come free-agency time. If he doesn't, I will be extremely disappointed. Even if Dwyane Wade & Chris Bosh do sign here, it just won't be the same. LeBron James is what the New York Knicks franchise has subliminally promised us since Donnie Walsh took over in New York.

I can't take another season of losing. I really can't. This franchise has caused me a lot of grief and frustration in all my years rooting for it. It's time they redeem themselves. There have already been talks of possibly holding out until 2011 in hopes of signing Carmelo Anthony if they aren't able to sign LeBron James. Nope! Nuh-uh! I swear, I'd be done. I'd find another team to cheer for.

You're right for thinking I'm putting a lot of expectations on this team during the off-season but these past ten years have been an absolutely appalling. I'm not sure how Chicago Cubs fans can endure this time of losing for 100 years! It's only been 10 and I'm ready to write them off completely. All we can do is wait and see though. See ya in July.

requiem for a dream.

I apologize for trying to stick so much music down you're throat but it's all in good taste, I swear! Chances are though you've never heard of Spec Boogie. Neither did I up until a year or so ago. I can thank my homie Yvette for that. He's friends with the homies from Tanya Morgan and is part of the super group Lessondary (which includes members of Tanya Morgan). That being said though, Spec has this genius project going entitled Specflix in which he raps over famous movie scenes (movies include: Akira, The Warriors, Edward Scissorhands, Do The Right Thing, etc). He has an entire series dedicated to it.

My favorite scene so far has been 'Requiem For a Dream'. I cannot explain to you how utterly speechless I was after listening to this for the first time. In fact, it happens once and again even now when I listen to it. If it doesn't kill you to take four minutes out of your day to hear some truly amazing Hip-Hop, just click and play. Von Pea on the beat.

Spec Boogie - Requiem For a Dream

If you like it, the song can be downloaded along with all the other tracks from Specflix on Spec Boogie's website.

www.specboogie.com

How the South Was Won.

Stop. Hell must have frozen over. Why you ask? Because I'm a fan of a new-school Hip-Hop artist from below the Mason-Dixon. That's right, B.o.B aka Bobby Ray (@bobatl) is an up and coming artist from Decatur, Georgia. He has a fresh, new sound and I'm going to pull a cardinal sin here and compare him to a young Andre3000 of the famous Southern Hip-Hop duo, OutKast. Just a few days ago, B.o.B in collaboration with LRG, DJ Drama & DJ Sense released a mixtape entitled 'May 25th' in accordance with the release date for his album 'The Adventures of Bobby Ray'.

I've already given the mixtape several spins and I absolutely love it. No complaints whatsoever. It's at least worth the download.

B.o.B aka Bobby Ray - May 25th (The Mixtape)

Underwhelmed & Overachievement

If you had told me in September that the New York Jets would be amongst the final four teams competing for a spot in this year's Super Bowl, I would have been flabbergasted. Somehow though, they managed to accomplish this feat, all while being led by both a rookie coach and rookie quarterback. I can't tell you how happy I am.

Even harder though is to tell you how devastated I was Sunday night. There was no question going into the game that the Indianapolis Colts were the best team in football, whether they had a perfect record or not. If you're a Jets fan though, you're aware how magical this past month has been. And had that magic lasted just thirty minutes more, it may have been the Jets who would have been facing off against the New Orleans Saints in Florida in two weeks.

Many people want to make the argument that had the Indianapolis Colts & Cincinnati Bengals pulled their starters or played 100% those finals two weeks of the season, the Jets would not have made the playoffs in the first place. You know what though? They did, in order to rest their starters for the playoffs (and it paid off for the Colts). The Jets didn't play any less harder than they would have had it been either teams starters playing. They went out and did what they were supposed to, win their final two games of the season. The Jets shouldn't be persecuted for their opponents strategies. You can equate that to saying a team wasn't focused or any other BS you can muster up.

Enough about that though. Going into their matchup with the Colts this past Sunday had my hopes very high. The number one defense and number one rushing offense against the best team in football. Seeing as how "defense wins championships," along with our recent stretch of good fortune, you can probably understand why I had faith in my team to overcome this monumental task. Our rookie quarterback, Mark Sanchez had been playing better football the final weeks of the season, our rookie RB (third round pick) Shonn Greene had come into the spotlight with a few 100+ all-purpose yards games, and our defense has been that steady force that drove us all season. Unfortunately, the best cornerback in the NFL, Darrelle Revis hadn't been rewarded for his work with a Defensive Player of the Year award (highway robbery).

Only two quarters into the game, Peyton Manning, who had only been sacked ten times up until that point, had been sacked twice by the Jets secondary. The Jets offense, behind the running of Shonn Greene put up two touchdowns and a field goal. Thirty minutes away from Miami. But then Peyton Manning did what he does.. he dissected the Jets defense and made it look like child's play. All praise due to Peyton. Pierre Garҫon and Austin Kollie stepped up huge and proves that Peyton Manning can make damn near anyone look good.

Even with the loss, I am extremely proud of this team. The world got to see a glimpse of what's to come. A head coach who was the opposite of Eric Mangina and pumps confidence and bravado into his team, a QB with the potential to be very, very good and a defense that is something to admire. We may not get to the Super Bowl next year, we may not even reach the AFC Championship again next year but the New York Jets will certainly be part of the playoff-talks mix. And for a team who; had given up on it's head coach, had a Hall of Fame quarterback retire and un-retire within a matter of weeks while their ex-QB led his team to the playoffs, its a giant step forward in the right direction.

Bring on 2010-11.

Twitter.

I know I haven't mentioned it, but I do have a Twitter account. In case you don't want to click the cute little blue-bird on the top right, here's the link:

http://twitter.com/wunmic