JUSTIFIED - Television Goldmine!

FX's new action series Justified debuted back in March and every since it has been on the air it is easily one of my favorite tv shows. I would even go as far to say that due to the extremely amazing cast, excellent storyline, and revenge style theme it ranks right up there with one of my favorite tv shows of all time and that's putting it up there with some heavy hitters!!

In short and very short, this show is based on a quickshot rogue type US Marshal named Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) who is sent back to Harlan, KY where he grew up after an incident in Florida has forced local law enforcement to get him away from the area for awhile. Right from the first episode drama and action ensues as Raylan comes back home and is thrust into hunting down an old best friend of his back from his mining days who has since become a serial criminal and is deep into the drug wars in Harlan, KY.

Last night we watched the thirteenth episode this year which was actually the season finale but thankfully not the "series" finale. It was confirmed that this show has been picked up for the 2011 season and will be back for another season and hopefully even more after that. Without giving away too much some of the major characters in this first season were killed off so it will be very interesting to see how it plays out come next year and what direction this show goes in. Will Raylan be headed back to Florida to go after the drug cartel's and mafia who are out to kill him? Has Boyd really changed for the better and become a new man? How will Raylan handle the situation with the two women in his life, his ex wife and recent fling with Ava?These are obviously questions only a season one watcher would know or understand and if you haven't seen this series I highly suggesting getting it on dvd when it comes out for sale or going online and watching it for free at fx's website because it is worth it, its that good.

I've always been a fan of Timothy Olyphant dating back to when I first saw him on Scream 2 and then for his role in The Girl Next Door as well as Live Free or Die Hard. He is a very versitale actor with amazing talent and he was the absolute perfect fit for this role, I couldn't imagine a better fit. To my surprise though (and I really shouldn't be surprised) the acting by the other main characters are almost just as amazing. I know that M.C. Gainey is a superb actor from many of his movies I've seen in the past but Nick Searcy is perfectly placed as Chief Deputy Art Mullen and even both the main female leads, Joelle Carter (Ava) and Natalie Zea (Winona - Harlan's ex) are great in this show as well. With all that being said Walter Goggins portrayal of Boyd Crowder is absolutely fascinating. He is so convincing and brilliant in his role and his calm, quiet demeanor and that of how he speaks mixed with his intentions is creepy beyond words. The transformation this character has taken in this first season is mesmerizing to say the least and I cant wait to see what's in store for next year.



I would highly recommend this show to anyone who likes a good action packed plate with its hint of vigilante justice on the side and an amazing cast and storyline to go with it. This first season was like the wonderful appetizer and next season will hopefully be the main course and with any luck we will all get a third season of Justified to satisfy our sweet tooth and culminate our evening with a dessert. One can only hope right?

Border Patrol agent kills Mexican teenager

Oh where shall I even start on this one?

So Mexico residents are outraged? Their President is outraged? Guess what, so am I! I'm outraged that thousands and thousands of illegal immigrants who come from Mexico infiltrate the state I live in every single year! I'm outraged that I have to live in a state where I hear almost as much spanish as I do english in everyday conversations! I'm outraged that I have to see spanish writing on billboards in the United States! I'm outraged at a lot of things regarding illegal immigrants as well but one thing I AM NOT OUTRAGED about is this shooting death of a teen from Mexico and here is why.

It is apparent that these border patrol agents felt threatened as illegal immigrants were throwing a barrage of large stones/rocks at these officers. Why would a group of illegal immigrants act so violently you may ask? To gain illegal entrance into the United States of America and make a new life for themselves in which they essentially get a free ride without having to worry about paying for healthcare, education, motor vehicle registration, and taxes among many other things. Its called Mexico's American Dream. You know basically a twisted version of the "real" American Dream where American citizens works hard and makes a good life for themselves and provides for ones family. The Mexican version basically wants everything for free while making it tougher on the real American citizens to obtain there American Dream. In short I'm calling these illegal immigrants pieces of trash who need to be sent home and need to be stopped from invading our great nation!!

Back to this particular incident. I'm smart enough to know that most the outrage over this one is due to the child's age, 15, however if a person is attempting to commit a crime and hurt someone else age doesn't matter one bit when defending yourself. For that sister of this child yelling "Damn them! Damn them!" Id like to ask you what you would like to say to the HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of spouses and children of the border patrol agents that have lost their life at the hands of illegal immigrants infiltrating our country? Would you also say "Damn them! Damn them!"? I support these border patrol agents 110% and cant even image the kind of filth and trash they are dealing with day in and day out trying to protect our borders. Personally I think our military should be called in to protect our borders but that's an entire different discussion.

As for the Mexican President he can go screw himself and invite Obama to do the same. It sickened me when I saw the Mexican President come to the White House earlier this year and freely trash Arizona's immigration law while our President sat there as a cheerleader. President Calderon said "will use all resources available to protect the rights of Mexican migrants." Why doesn't he take such initiative to protect his own citizens and maybe keep them in their own damn country? It's stories like these that make me want to move back east more and more each and every day and get the hell out of California where we have been infiltrated by illegal immigrants

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/09/sergio-adrian-hernandez-huereka_n_605557.html

2010 NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS LAKERS - GAME ON!

Tonight the 2010 NBA Finals begin with the two most storied franchises in NBA history going up against each other. Its the motherload of all motherloads when it comes to historic rivalries in sports and is easily the best rivalry in NBA History. The Celtics. The Lakers. Nuff said but Ill add some more. haha. There most recent meeting in June came back in 2008 where the Celtics prevailed by physically pummeling the Lakers and swarming Kobe Bryant and forcing others to beat them, which in the end we all know they did not. This years matchups are slightly different so will it change the outcome of the series? We will have to wait and see but until then I'm going to speculate to the best of my knowledge and give my prediction at the end of this blog. Here goes.

ADVANTAGES FOR LAKERS

* They are out for revenge and still have very bitter memories from 2008 so they will be on a mission and probably more focused then they have been in the playoffs in the past 2 years.
* They have Lamar Odom coming off the bench and "if" a big "if" he plays to his potential he is like a 6th starter for them out there
* They have a deeper bench overall. Farmar, Brown, Odom, and Sasha are better than the Celtics bench and the Celtics bench this year is weaker than in 2008
* They have Ron Artest who will guard Paul Pierce and make his world more difficult
* They have home court advantage this time around
* They have Kobe Bryant

ADVANTAGES FOR THE CELTICS

* Rajon Rondo is 100 times better than he was in 2008 (and he was pretty good back then too)
* The Celtics play a physical, mean, and nasty game inside and the Lakers don't like that and sometimes, notice I said "sometimes" falter with that kind of play
* The Lakers haven't faced a defensive minded team yet and haven't faced guys like Perkins, KG, and Big Bady Davis who will no doubt cause problems for their big men inside.
* 3 point shooting - Allen can get the shot off in 0.2 seconds if you give him room and he is known for running his defenders around screens all night long to get those shots and the Lakers are prone to struggle following him around
* The Celtics have come through the 2 teams with the best record in the NBA and teams who were head and shoulders better than Utah and Phoenix in the last 2 rounds. They also faced guys named Wade, James, and Howard so I'm sure the Celtics will have a plan to stop Kobe just like they did in 2008.

MY PREDICTION

I think this will be one of the most enjoyable NBA Finals in recent memories because I think it will be so closely played. I don't think one team has a "significant" edge over the other and you can come up with multiple reasons why one team will prevail over the other and vice versa but in the end we will all just have to sit back, relax, and enjoy what takes place but now back to my prediction.

I think Rondo's speed and effectiveness will surprise the Lakers initially but they will adjust and look for Kobe to defend at times. Fisher will try to post Rondo early in the series but will be unsuccessful. Kobe will have a good series, better than in 2008, but will still be limited due to Boston's swarm defense. Gasol will play well here and there but will be effected overall by the Celtics physical play. KG and Perkins will rack up fouls left and right and struggle to keep Gasol and Odom in check but will surprisingly out rebound the Lakers duo. Pierce will adjust to Artest's defense and get open for shots and drive the middle and allowing for open dunks by the Celtics bigs. Artest will struggle offensively as will Shannon Brown. Farmar will have a decent series but will struggle defensively whoever he has to guard. Sasha will come in just to pester the Celtics and get under their skin (which wont work). Odom will have great games at home but fizzle on the road. Bynum will be a non-factor throughout the entire series and if anything he will be a determent to the Lakers. Big Baby Davis will cause problems for the Lakers offensively but be detrimental to the Celtics defensively due to his size. Doc Rivers will again out coach Phil Jackson.

My prediction is that the Celtics will win the NBA Championship and do so by winning the 7th and deciding game on the Staples Center floor in Los Angeles, CA!

Fun Day at Disneyland

Most people who know me know that I am a big Disney fan, especially a Disneyland fan! I was fortunate enough to have parents who bought us passports when we were kids and my brother and I grew up going to Disneyland quite often. Some of my times at Disneyland with my family were the best of my childhood and I will always have long lasting memories of Disneyland. Even to this day my wife and I both have Disneyland passes as well and we go quite often but up until just a couple of weeks ago I hadn't been for quite some time (i.e.: probably 2-3 months). My wife on the other hand has gone quite frequently with her girlfriends and enjoyed their Girls night out at Disneyland. This blog is about my most recent trip, yesterday Thursday, 5/27/10.

My wife's company that she works for scheduled a work event at Disneyland where they got to enjoy a lunch at the exclusive members only Club 33. Originally I had thought I might be allowed to join her for this luncheon so I took the day off of work but later found out that was not the case but still kept the day off anyways. We had just renewed our passes a week earlier so I figured since I had the day off anyways why not head to the park and take in some rides myself before meeting with my wife after her lunch.

I got to the park at about 9:30am and by the time I parked, got off the tram, and into the entrance it was about 9:45am. I obviously headed towards the ride board (i.e.: where the list the queue times for each ride) and noticing that Indiana Jones Adventure was the long line (20 minutes) I opted to go get a FASTPASS for that and then head over to Space Mountain. By the time I got to Space Mountain the wait time went from 10-35 minutes so I skipped that and went on Star Tours which I practically just walked on to. I then headed to Matterhorn which ended up being closed so I thought Id head to some Main Street shops to browse at before going back to Indiana Jones. I found myself hanging around the Candy Palace the longest and watching them make Rocky Road Chocolate Chunks and then headed over to drool over the endless amounts of specialty sweets including Pecan Clusters, Assorted Mini Cupcakes, and Extra Large Chocolate Covered Strawberries drenches in peanuts. In case you are wondering this is the absolute worst place than an individual on a diet should be but don't worry I didn't buy anything, as tough as it was.

After that I briefly met up with my wife and walked over with her to Indiana Jones where she went to her luncheon and I used my FASTPASS to go on Indiana Jones. Always a great ride!! After that I browsed through a shop to check out some of the Alice in Wonderland merchandise right outside Pirates and then headed over to The Haunted Mansion. Another favorite of mine. Any ride that can tease my brain into thinking it is Halloween gets 2 thumbs up from me! I then headed over to Critter Country and went on the Winnie the Pooh ride, yes I said it. I hadn't been on it in like forever because ummm I don't have kids but I had some time to kill so I approximately killed about 3 minutes with this ride. Needless to say there was no line at all. After that I enjoyed my lunch at some benches under some tress over back by the restaurant that has the awesome Clam Chowder bowls. I had made my lunch at home and it consisted of 2 Chicken Sandwiches, a small bag of Baked Cheetos, and a Powerade. Yes I didn't purchase anything this entire day and that's pretty miraculous if you ask me.

After lunch I thought to myself Ill head over to Fantasyland to see if there are any short lines for any of those rides that I can go on. My all time favorite Fantasyland ride is Peter Pan so I waited about 15-20 minutes for this one. As I exited this ride I noticed waiting in line was a very familiar face. It was LeAnn Rimes with her new beau Eddie Cibrian with three kids as well. I believe two of them are hers and one his or the other way around, not too sure? Anyways they had a Disneyland escort with them so since I knew they would be finishing the ride and exiting right there I decided to get my camera on my phone ready for when they exited. I asked LeAnn if I could get a quick picture with her and she was very sweet and nice about it even though it was bound to bring attention to her when I'm sure they did not want that. Lets be honest though, it was LeAnne Rimes, I guarantee I wasn't the only one asking for a picture of her that day. I didn't meet her beau Eddie Cibrian because I didn't want to bring anymore attention to them then I already had but she was very cool and friendly and sans the 6 pack abs Eddie looked just like me. haha. Obvious joke there. After letting my wife know of the situation she stated, you should have gotten a picture of her boyfriend. haha.


After Peter Pan I hit up Big Thunder Mountain and then Jungle Cruise before meeting up with my wife. After meeting my wife I met some of her co-workers and we spent the rest of the day with them going on some rides. In all we went on or shall I say went on and watched Captain Eo, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters and then over at CA Adventure Soarin Over California and Toy Story Mania. On a side note Id just like to say that to this day I still have no beaten my wife in Toy Story Mania. I always think I'm going to but I just cant but one day I'm due for a big victory!! haha. So all in all it was a great day at Disneyland and in 7 hours time I managed to get on 11 rides, browse some shops, meet a celebrity/singer, and ended up not spending a single penny.

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland

I saw Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland this weekend on bluray and I must say I really really enjoyed it. Anyone who has a bluray player I would highly suggest seeing this one on bluray because it is exceptional. My wife did not think that there were as many bright colors as she expected however the vividness of this film on bluray was amazing. It was probably the most vivid bluray I have seen to date. With that being said below is my review of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.

Bluray comments aside (since we already know how I feel about that) I thought this movie was very good. I personally don't recall much of the original Walt Disney film myself so it was kind of of like a new movie all together for me. Knowing that Tim Burton was behind this was interesting too because you knew it would have some quirkiness involved and it did. I thought the story was original and kept the audience's attention and contrary to some reviews I read I did not feel it was too dark or scary for children. I thought that the actress who played Alice was wonderful, very natural and unassuming and she was a perfect fit for this movie. Johnny Depp was obviously my favorite with Tweedle Dee & Dum a close second. I would have personally enjoyed about 10 more minutes of screen time for these creepy looking dudes but oh well I guess it wasn't meant to be. Carter was awesome as the queen and a perfect fit and I couldn't help but think of Hans Gruber in Die Hard every time the caterpillar spoke and puffed. Die Hard fans will know what I am talking about. Anne Hathaway's hand motions and constant movements made you think she was in slow motion and became irritating the more she did it, which was always!! She was easily my least favorite character.

Back to the story. I felt the stroll through the forest was very cool but could have been a bit longer and I thoroughly enjoyed the Table scene where Alice first meets the Mad Hatter! Those characters were awesome and I love how Depp created a miniature dress in a second. There were plenty of other visual treats in this movie and one of my favorites were the floating heads outside the Queens castle!! Those were awesome. The hat tryout scene with Depp and Carter was cool and could have lasted a bit longer but was funny to watch but the beheading scene was classic - loved when the Cheshire Cat appeared.

Overall I think the visual effects were amazing and the characters were quite original for a remake, sort of. You can always expect the unexpected with Tim Burton and this was nothing different. The entire story leading up to the battle scene at the end was entertaining and unique and there were enough visual pleasures and odd characters to keep anyone involved and I thought that along with a pretty good (yet quite familiar) score from Danny Elfman made this movie a must see. It leads me to wonder what Tim Burton will remake next? Any suggestions?

DUKE CHAMPIONSHIP VIDEO'S I MADE THIS EVENING!!

DUKE BLUE DEVILS - 2010 NCAA CHAMPIONS!

So the 2010 Duke Blue Devils are the National Champions of the NCAA Basketball Mens Division 1, how do you like dem apples?? Now I could go on and write a long, detailed description of everything leading up to the title, how they became a Championship team, how many used to make fun of Zoubek just a year ago, and how others said this Duke squad would never make it to a Final Four but really, is there any need to do any of that? NO. They are National Champs simple as that so instead of dissecting it and spending time writing up on there historic run Ill use my time to browse through the 2010 Duke National Champs gear and pick out what I am going to get.

Just for fun I'm going to say it again - 2010 NCAA NATIONAL CHAMPIONS - DUKE BLUE DEVILS! Ahh that sounds so sweet!!