Monday, January 17, 2011

Movie review: The Town

Something bad happened late yesterday afternoon. To take my mind off it, I watched "The Town" last night. Mission accomplished.

"The Town," directed by and starring Ben Affleck, kept me entertained throughout. It's about four expert stick-up artists from Charlestown, one of whom (Affleck's character) wants to put an end to his criminal ways in search of a better life. But of course, a loose-cannon sidekick and an Irish mob boss manage to throw some wrenches into those plans. (And by "wrenches," I mean "guns.")

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

NFL playoff seeding rules: Fine just the way they are

The NFL playoff seeding rules are under fire thanks to the Seattle Seahawks, who managed to snag the fourth seed in the NFC playoffs despite their 7-9 record.

Under the current NFL playoff seeding rules, the four division champions in each conference get the top four playoff seeds. The Seahawks won the championship of the lowly NFC West, so they got the fourth seed -- and a home game -- even though the two wild card teams (New Orleans and Green Bay) had much better records (11-5 and 10-6, respectively).

There's an outcry over the NFL playoff seeding rules this year because the Seahawks are the first losing team to ever win its division. But, as Tom Jones would say, it's not unusual for division winners to have worse records than wild card teams. In fact, this year marks the fourth consecutive time it has happened. Take a look:

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Surprise! Brett Favre says he's retiring

Brett Favre of Minnesota Vikings says he's retiring after 20-year career - ESPN: "Brett Favre says it's time for him to call it a career."

In other news, the sky is blue and the Earth revolves around the sun.

Also, ESPN's recent SEO efforts are laughable. "Brett Favre of Minnesota Vikings"? Gee, thanks for clearing that up, Worldwide Leader. For a second there, I thought you were writing about Brett Favre, the famed Yakult Swallows second baseman.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

The top 5 songs I got for Christmas

Music usually makes up a decent chunk of my Christmas gifts, and that was once again the case this year. Even though 2010 wasn't exactly a banner year for music, I still managed to get a couple good albums with some really great songs on them. Here are the five best:

5. "On The Ocean" by Guster
Guster was one of my favorites back when the band was just two acoustic guitarists and a bongo player. Then, with the 2003 album Keep It Together, they went electric, added a full drum set and turned into every other pop-rock group of the last two decades. (There were some exceptions, such as that album's "Red Oyster Cult" and the Ganging Up On The Sun track "The New Underground.") This year's album, Easy Wonderful, still has the pop-rock sound, but there's a darker tone on some songs that recalls the good old days -- and "On The Ocean" best exemplifies this sound.