2010 Music Awards

2010 might have been the best year for new music, but it was good none the less. My iTunes playlist for 2010 is made of 353 songs, all added since last Christmas.

Once again "of 2010" means it was released in 2010, while "new" just means added to my iTunes since last Christmas. Here it goes:

Best New Artist: Dan. P (of MU330)
Runner up: Toh Kay

• These were the only two artists who were added to my iTunes this year, from the split album "You by Me Volume 1". I enjoy Dan's revisions of the Streetlight songs more than Toh Kay's of MU330, but both are good.

Best Song of 2010: "I'm Shipping Up To Boston (Live)" Dropkick Murphys featuring the Mighty Mighty Bosstones

Runner Ups: "All Ages Show" (Bomb the Music Industry!), "A Moment of Silence" (Dan P.), "Monumental" (The Flatliners), "Animaniacs" (Less Than Jake), "Punk Rock Girl" (Streetlight Manifesto)

• I bought the Dropkick live album because I saw that the Bosstones were on the final track, and I loved it when they did that live in 2008. The album version does not disappoint.

Best New Song: "Oolooloo" by The Pietasters

Runner Ups: "Safe European Home" (The Clash), "July! August! Reno!" (The Flatliners), "I'm Shipping Up to Boston Live" (Dropkick Murphys ft. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones), "Mother Theresa Chokeslames The World" (The Flatliners), "Look At Me I'm a Winner!" (The Aquabats!)

• While not their greatest song, it is my favorite after their latest album (named after one of their older ones) and it does crack my top 100 songs.

Best Live Performance (Single Band): Less Than Jake at Sonar

Runner ups: The Aquabats! (at Rams Head Live!), The English Beat (at Rams Head Live!), The Flatliners (At 9:30), The Gaslight Anthem (At 9:30), Mustard Plug (At Ottobar)

• Less Than Jake put on the best live show I have ever seen. They played all of 'Losing Streak' in order plus others. I hope they top it in January

Best Live Show (Whole Show): The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, The Flatliners, Teenage Bottlerocket at 9:30

Runner Ups: Reel Big Fish/The Aquabats!/Suburban Legends (at Rams Head Live!), Fishbone/The English Beat (Rams Head Live!), The Players/The Toasters/The Pietasters (8x10)

• That line up was just great all around.

Best Album of 2010: 99 Songs of Revolution Vol. 1 by Streetlight Manifesto

Runner Ups: Adults!!!... Smart!!! Shithammered!!! And Excited By Nothing!!!!!!! (Bomb the Music Industry!), "American Slang" (The Gaslight Anthem), "Cavalcade" (The Flatliners), "TV/EP" by Less Than Jake

• The first of the long-awaited "99 Songs of Revolution" Streetlight delivers 11 great covers.

Best New Album: 99 Songs of Revolution Vol. 1 by Streetlight Manifesto

Runner Ups: "The Great Awake" (The Flatliners), "All Day" (The Pietasters)

So let's see what 2011 brings

2010 Music Awards

It has been a good year for music for me, especially with this. I counted down my 100 favorite songs and 75 favorite bands (too lazy to link). I've seen many of my favorite bands live this year, and seen some interesting new ones too.

As I did last year, I have kept track of all the songs new to my iTunes in 2010. And by 2010 I mean since Christmas of 2009 because that's when I get most of my music. Tomorrow....or when I get around to it, I'll recap my favorites of this past year.

Once again I'll be doing it in two different respects. Some will be for the best "new" music, some will be for the best of "2010". "New" means new to my iTunes, so all songs are eligible. "Of 2010" means the music was released in the 2010 calendar year. Some may overlap from "2010" to "new", I've yet to decide these things yet.

Yes, I Like to Watch TV

As I sit here not studying for Footdick and instead watch "30 Rock" online, I suppose I should address the show as I did not with my other TV posts. I very much enjoy "30 Rock". Three months ago, I did not. I tried to watch some "30 Rock" in like season 2, and I was just not enjoying it. It was billed as the next "Arrested Development", which to me is like saying Fall Out Boy are the next Beatles. However, I can admit that I was wrong, and "30 Rock" is indeed, a good show. Rull funny.

I've been wrong about shows before. I HATED "Parks and Recreation" at first and it is now my favorite show "on" TV (BACK JANUARY 20!!!). Based off the commercials, I thought "My Name is Earl" was going to be horrible but I did very much enjoy it throughout its airing. I didn't watch "Chuck" at first because I thought it looked stupid, I was wrong there. Also the first promo for "Community" I saw was discouraging, but I'm glad I've watched that since the beginning. As of non-NBC shows, I wasn't a fan of "Cougar Town" until I watched it a bit more this season, much better than what I saw last year.

So even though I didn't do posts on all the shows I watch, nor did I talk about the shows no longer on like I planned, here is a list of shows that I suggest watching

Current

• How I Met Your Mother
• Chuck
• Modern Family
• Cougar Town
• The Middle
• South Park
• Tosh.0
• Futurama
• Psych
• Community
• 30 Rock
• The Office
• Parks and Recreation
• The Big Bang Theory
• Mad Men
• Breaking Bad
• The Walking Dead
• Weeds
• Dexter

Former Shows

• Arrested Development
• Scrubs
• Andy Richter Controls the Universe
• Titus
• Better Off Ted
• Seinfeld
• Malcolm in the Middle
• My Name is Earl
• Freaks and Geeks
• Undeclared
• Arrested Development

Musics

Last night's show I went to was very good. First up was Koo Koo Kangaroo, who kinda stunk and didn't really play music so I won't really talk about them. Next up were Suburban Legends, a band I saw 5 times in 07-08 and hadn't seen since. SL really steered away from a ska sound in favor of more disco-dance oriented music with their last 2 albums but it seemed they were back. The songs I didn't recognize I enjoyed a lot and I'm looking forward to whatever new music they'll have soon. In no order, here was their set:

Come Back Home
Hey DJ (Opening Song)
High Fives (Closing Song)
Bright Spring Morning
Just Can't Wait to be King (Lion King song)
3 or 4 songs I didn't recognize

Next were the Aquabats! I had never seen them before but always wanted to. You could tell that the crowd was pumped and the band did not disappoint. They only got into one battle on stage, scientists from the National Aquarium attacked them for killing their sea monkeys and starting to play a new song. A lot of The Aquabats! songs I don't really like, but they seemed to only play ones I like so it was perfect. In no order, here was their set:

Fashion Zombies! (Opening Song)
Nerd Alert!
Look At Me (I'm a Winner)!
Super Rad!
Red Sweater!
Captain Hampton and the Midget Pirates!
Martain Girl!
Pool Party! (Closing Song)
Pizza Day!
Lovers of Loving Love!

Finally was Reel Big Fish. I've seen them many times, so this time I just sat back and watched the set. Overall it was very good. With Reel Big Fish, I know what I'm getting so it was right at my expectations. Here is their set in no order:

Good Thing
Ban the Tube Top
Brown Eyed Girl
Monkey Man
Another F.U. Song
(They started to play Cannibal but then went into Beer)
Sell Out (Opener)
Trendy
She Has a Girlfriend Now
Snoop Dog, Baby
Beer (Closing song)
241
Everything Sucks
S.R. (Reggae, Punk, Death Metal, Country, Disco)
Kiss Me Deadly
The Bad Guy
Your Guts (I Hate 'em)
The Set Up (You Need This)
Thank You for Not Moshing
I Want Your Girlfriend to be My Girlfriend Too

Overall, very good show.

2010 MLB Awards

The awards so far haven't been too upsetting, but I still need to weigh in on some of the results.

Silver Sluggers are all fine.

AL Gold Gloves
C: Joe Mauer
1b: Mark Teixeira
2b: Robinson Cano
3b: Evan Longoria
SS: Derek Jeter-OK, as a Yankee fan even I know this was stupid. He is awful at defense, but his fielding % was so high cause he doesn't make errors on balls he doesn't get to, and late throws aren't errors. BUT, since it's voted on by the league, not the writers, you can only blame the AL coaches and managers
OF: Carl Crawford
OF: Ichiro Suzuki
OF: Franklin Gutierrez-ok, Brett Gardner should have gotten one, he led the AL in dWarp
P: Mark Buehrle-If he didn't win it last year I'd say this was bull shit, but he did so he didn't just win it from his opening day play

NL Gold Gloves
C: Yadier Molina
1b: Albert Pujols
2b: Brandon Phillips
3b: Scott Rolen-Ok, I guess if Derek Jeter's corpse can win so can Rolen's. But trust me, if he didn't hit out of no where this year he'd not win it
SS: Troy Tylowitzki
OF: Michael Bourn-Yeah, I know he's fast but is he really that good at defense?
OF: Carlos Gonzalez-Offense wins Gold Gloves
OF: Shane Victorino-Ok, offense and past years success
P: Branson Arroyo-Sure, why not

NL Cy Young: Roy Halladay-Yes, he deserved it without question. But NOT ONE anti-Phillies writer voted this year? I mean even one person didn't vote for Mauer last year

NL Rookie of the Year: Buster Posey-Sure, he's a good white catcher.

AL Rookie of the Year: Neftali Feliz-Who wasted votes on Austin Jackson?

NL Manager of the Year: Bud Black-Correct!

AL Manager of the Year: Rob Gardenhire-OK, it's not quite as bad as Mike Scioscia winning last year, but Washington, Francona, and Maddon all had better cases

AL Cy Young: Felix Hernandez-While I'd have no objection if CC or Price won, this was the right choice.

Still to come....

NL MVP: This should be Pujols but I have a feeling voters won't want to give it to him 3 years in a row because they're self richous. Votto was very good, but I'll take Pujols over him any day.

AL MVP: There are 3 correct choices for this. But one is a Yankee, one is an alcoholic who is on a non-playoff team, and one is a born-again Christian who kicked his nasty drug and alcohol habits. Guess who will win?

Arrested Development

It's been a while since I did a post on my favorite TV shows (or any post for that matter), and I know I said I was going to do one for all of my favorite past and present shows, but that won't be happening. To resume I'm going to do a post about my favorite TV show of all time, "Arrested Development".


Now I wasn't sure if the readers of this (believe it or not, I have found out people do read this thing...) would be fans of the show already, or if they had never seen it and/or didn't love it. I wasn't sure if I should use a picture that captures the general nature of the show for the new fans, or do one that hardcore fans of the show appreciate. I decided to do one of each. First is a general picture from the first season. Later, will be a picture that out of context will make absolutely no sense what so ever. However, if you are a fan of AD, I hope the picture below will make you laugh as hard as I did just looking at it.

For new fans...


And for the already existing fans...



Now trust me, if this picture looks like something 100% abstract and absurd you're right. And yes, it is exactly what it looks like, a man and a puppet in a recording studio.

"Arrested Development" had "3" seasons. The first season has its moments of craziness, but overall is a pretty believable story. Season 2 starts the same but then switches to some more ridiculous plots. Season 3 is as unrelateable and absurd as possible....and that mix is what I love about the show. I love it when because it was relatable and I love it because it was so outrageous that there is no way it could ever happen. You need to give the show a try to appreciate that, and it is easy to get turned off. Here's all I ask; watch the first season as quickly as possible. One right after the other, but finish out the whole season. If you are liking what you saw, move on. If not, well it's certainly not for everyone but I still would suggest trying season 2 as well.

All that being said, let's get into what these posts were really about...

Brief Plot Synopsis: The opening credits say it all. "Now the story of a wealthy family that lost everything, and the one son who had no choice but to keep them all together. It's Arrested Development".

Good Episode for Beginners: "Pilot", "Top Banana" (Season 1, Episodes 1 & 2)

Favorite Episode: If I had to pick one, "Let Them Eat Cake" (Season 1, Episode 22)

Fox cancelling "Arrested" has led me to boycott the network with the exception of Baseball and a few other things (Malcolm in the Middle" finale, NJ bank robber on "America's Most Wanted" come to mind). There really isn't much I can say to convince people to watch it besides just give it a try. Introducing it to at least 3 or 4 people has led them to LOVE the show as much as I do. And yes, if you don't "get it", you're simply not smart enough to "get it" (yeah, I said it). If you like the subtle humor in shows like "The Office" and "Scrubs", you'll love "Arrested Development".






COME ON!






Video for the veterans

ALCS Recap/World Series Preview

Now you're probably thinking, "Gee Brian, the Yankees lose a series and you take your sweet time posting about it? Don't the Rangers deserve some praise? You're just bitter". If you are thinking that, you are correct. I am bitter. I'm miserable. The Yankees we're HORRIBLE that whole series and I didn't want to talk about it. Kudos to the Rangers, enjoy your rings (more on that below). It'll be interesting to see what kind of panic mode the Yankees go into this off season (Phillies too).

So here is my last baseball post of the season. I might chime in about the awards, but this Series is very uninteresting to me (as a baseball fan, not as a bitter Yankee fan) so I'll so my match up and then it'll be back to me talking about TV shows you don't watch.

Catcher: Bengie Molina vs. Buster Posey. Advantage: Giants. They dumped Molina for Posey this season, and Posey is tearing it up so far in October
First Base: Mitch Moreland vs. Aubrey Huff. Advantage: Giants. A better choice for Comeback Player of the Year, Huff hit well all year and has kept it up.
Second Base: Ian Kinsler vs. Freddy Sanchez. Advantage: Rangers. Rangers are just better there.
Third Base: Michael Young vs. Jaun Uribe. Advantage: Rangers. See above.
Short Stop: Elvis Andrus vs. Edgar Renteria. Advantage: Rangers. See above.
Left Field: Nelson Cruz vs. Pat Burrell. Advantage: Rangers. Yep, still better.
Center Field: Josh Hamilton vs. Andres Torres. Advantage: Rangers. Not even close.
Right Field: David Murphy vs. Cody Ross. Advantage: Even. Both are having really good post seasons.
DH: Vlad Guerrero vs. Pablo Sandoval. Advantage: Rangers. Again, not really close.
Starting Pitching: Even. It's pretty close all around, Lee and Lincecum match up, as do Cain/Wilson and Lewis/Sanchez.
Bullpen: Rangers. One bad outing for the Rangers against the Yanks but other than that it went fine.
Closer: Neftali Feliz vs. Douchebag Wilson. Advantage: Rangers. Yeah, I hate Wilson, and I've seen him implode and haven't seen Feliz do it. I'm sold.
Bench: Rangers. Giants use Uribe, Renteria, Fontenot, and Sandoval in platoon roles, while the Rangers guys are solid there and know their role. Might sound weird, but I'll take the bench players over the fill in "starters".

Overall Advantage: Rangers. Even pitching and they can actually hit the ball. Rangers in 5.

ALCS Game Five

No time for this, Yanks did what they need to. That made me happy

ALCS Game Four

This damn team doesn't deserve to win shit. Thank God Cano, Jeter, and Gardner are getting on base at least.

ALCS Game Three

Thank god the image uploading is down on this site because yesterday's game was brutal. I will say Pettitte pitched one of the best games of his career to waste, and I know Lee is good, but yesterday was just pathetic. Here are the "Bucks"

Yankees

Andrew Eugene Pettitte: 4 Bucks. Yes he got the loss so normally I'd give him three, but he was the ONLY bright light for the Yankees yesterday and gave up 2 runs on 2 shit swings. Hamilton was just strong enough to poke it over on a great pitch. As far as I'm concerned he gave up no runs.
Yankees Offense: 0 Bucks. That was just disgraceful
Yankees Bullpen: 0 Bucks. See above

Rangers

Cliff Lee: 4 Bucks. That was pretty impressive to say the least.
Michael Young: 4 Bucks. He's one of my favorites and very underrated, showed why yesterday.
Every hitter who came up in the 9th: 3 Bucks. It'd be 4 but 3 had to make outs along the way.

ALCS Game Two

Crappy game from the Yankee's fan perspective. Lee-Pettitte should be good tomorrow. Here are the Bucks


Yankees


Robinson Cano

At least one Yankee was showing life at the plate.

Yankees Bullpen

Joba, Robertson, Logan, Mitre....5 innings, 2 hits

Phil Hughes

Just the complete opposite of his ALDS outing

Rangers

Rangers Bullpen

3 and a third, one hit, huge improvement

Colby Lewis

First time facing the Yankees since 2003...I think he did alright

David Murphy

Big homer...but pinch hit for?

ALCS Game One

Wow. What a come back. One of the best innings I've seen the Yankees put up since 8th inning, Game 7 2003 ALCS. But that game is done, now it's time to focus on game 2 later today.

New face time awards, going with a Baltimore theme. A manager who turned the Yankees around in the early 90's and the Rangers around in the late 90's.

Yankees

Yankees Bullpen

Joba, Mosley, Wood, Mo....5 scoreless innings.

Brett Gardner


Great hustle to lead off the inning, pressure never went away.

CC Sabathia

Well let's hope his next outing is a bit better.

Rangers

Derek Holland

Only Rangers reliever to shut down the Yanks, came up big when they needed him to.

CJ Wilson

Great start, but went to waste unfortunately for him.

Rangers Bullpen not named Derek Holland

2 relievers, 2 pitches, 3 runs.

ALCS Preview

Yankees-Rangers start tonight, here's my breakdown.

Catcher: Jorge Posada vs. Bengie Molina, Advantage: Yankees. Molina had a good DS series and is valuable, but I'll take Posada's bat in any series.
First Base: Mark Teixeira vs. Mitch Moreland, Advantage: Yankees. Not really too close.
Second Base: Robinson Cano vs. Ian Kinsler, Advantage: Yankees. Probably one of the closer match ups but Cano might be the MVP (but probably not) and Kinsler is inconsistant.
Third Base: Alex Rodriguez vs. Michael Young, Advantage: Yankees. Just like in the DS, Young is very good but doesn't quite match up with the likes of Longoria and A-Rod
Short Stop: Derek Jeter vs. Elvis Andrus, Advantage: Yankees. Maybe next year this would go the other way but Jeter walks more so the OBP at the top of the order will help.
Left Field: Brett Gardner vs. Nelson Cruz, Advantage: Rangers. Cruz hits for very good power, and a high average.
Center Field: Curtis Granderson vs. Josh Hamilton, Advantage: Rangers. Hamilton WILL be the MVP.
Right Field: Nick Swisher vs. Jeff Franceour, Advantage: Yankees. Swish had a great DS after a great season.
Designated Hitter: Lance Berkman/Marcus Thames vs. Vald Guerrero, Advantage: Rangers. Guerrero is much better than either of the Yanks options.
Starting Pitching, Advantage: Rangers. Wilson, Lee, Lewis...one of the better rotations in baseball.
Bullpen, Advantage: Even. Yankees didn't really get a chance to use their pen too much while the Rangers did. The pen's will be very important in the best of 7 series.
Closer: Mariano Rivera vs. Neftali Feliz, Advantage: Yankees. It's Mo.
Bench, Advantage: Rangers. Rangers have some guys on their bench who are possible starters (Cantu, Murphy), Yankees bench doesn't get much use.

I don't like to do predictions with the Yankees. While the Yanks might seem to have more in their favor, where the Rangers excel they are very, very good.

NLCS Preview

Championship Series are set, I'll do my best to talk about the NLCS here between the San Francisco Giants and the Philadelphia Phillies

Catcher: Buster Posey vs. Carlos Ruiz, Advantage: Even. Both aren't bad, I like the spark from Posey and the experience from Ruiz. Call it even.
First Base: Aubrey Huff vs. Ryan Howard, Advantage: Phillies. Huff is the lone star in SF's line up, Howard is better.
Second Base: Freddy Sanchez vs. Chase Utley, Advantage: Phillies. Utley is better, nothing else to it.
Third Base: Pablo Sandoval vs. Placido Polanco, Advantage: Phillies. Kung Fu Panda is struggling, and that'll bring him down more than Polanco's injuries.
Short Stop: Juan Uribe vs. Jimmy Rollins, Advantage: Phillies. J-Roll can hit for power just as well as Uribe, but Rollins is a much better base runner.
Left Field: Pat Burrell vs. Raul Ibanez, Advantage: Phillies. Close, but Ibanez is pretty good at coming up big in October (at least he was last year)
Center Field: Andres Torres vs. Shane Victorino, Advantage: Phillies. Victorino is just much better...not much to it.
Right Field: Cody Ross vs. Jason Werth, Advantage: Phillies. Ross had a great first series...but Werth is better...yet again.

Starting Pitching, Adantage: Phillies. Giants pitched GREAT in the DS, Halladay gave up no hits in 9 innings. When Roy Oswalt makes your bad start you're in pretty good shape
Bullpen: Even. I'd say that the Giants have a better pen, but it wasn't amazing in the series and the Phillies didn't use theirs really.
Closer: Brian Wilson vs. Brad Lidge, Advantage: Giants. I gotta give the Giants at least something on this. That being said, it is pretty close to even.

Series Prediction: Phillies in 5. The match ups say it all.

ALDS Game Three

I've been super busy the past couple days so I haven't had the time to do this recap. Pretty busy now, so it'll stay short. Nice to see a relaxing series win, hoping the Yanks get to have the same thing happen next series. Here are the last Roy's:

Twins

Orland Hudson

At least someone on the Twins was able to drive in a run

Denard Span

Two hits, deserves some mention

Brian Duensing

See you next year

Yankees

Marcus Thames

Another DH coming up with a big homer

Nick Swisher

Couple hits including a homer, nice way to end the series

Phil Hughes

7 Innings, 4 hits, one walk, 6k's...pretty good I guess