- I never announced this on my blog last month but, Alabama Shakes, Run The Jewels and St. Vincent won the Coachella Festival's first weekend (which has been live-streamed on Youtube for the past five years). It also sounds like Florence + The Machine (who was certainly on the Mount Rushmore of weekend one performers) won weekend number two by putting on a strong performance despite breaking her foot while bouncing around weekend one (something nobody could have known until after the set). Drake lost big time.
- This whole TIDAL business is something I will never invest in but, I get it. I can tolerate it's existence as long as it does not turn into some war where some great artists are strictly on one music streaming service and some great ones are on another service. If I can't find your music anywhere fairly easily (Taylor Swift), I tend to dismiss the music as non-existent and not worthy of being heard (ouch).
- I am not a movie-viewer whatsoever and have not even been to a movie theater for nearly a decade but, with a few months of free movie channels, HBO, Showtime and a spacious DVR, I've been on an extreme movie-watching spree. Expect a mega movie-based post sometime before the end of the Summer (unless the weather is nice enough that these movies can be kept on the DVR until Autumn).
- I have been to my first baseball game of 2015! On May 10th, I went to Miller Park for the exciting extra-inning game between the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs. The roof was up (thank god) as it was fifty degrees while feeling like a shivery thirty thanks to rain cold enough to give me a week-long cold. It was all worth it in the end as I found a bunch of free stuff (Khris Davis's head on a stick, free posters and Brewer towels!) and as is the usual recently, I acquired another bobblehead with the Mother's Day Hank the dog statue/figure/bobblehead/thing. It looks quite nice next to Hawaiian Roscoe P. Rafter and the Packer Gnome that I use to hold my shutter shades. The Brewers also won their first game that I was in attendance for for the first time in eight years (and I've attended nine games) in extra innings. The final score was 3-2.
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| Photo Credit: Steve Todd |
- The winner of the Hip-Hop Video Bracket?
If it wasn't "It Was A Good Day" or at least "Runaway", what was the point?
- I am not a big reader but, I am currently reading Live From New York AKA: the Saturday Night Live book by James Andrew Miller. Pretty early in the book but, I'm already fascinated by what happened behind-the-scenes early in the show's history.
- The Billboard Music Awards were quite awful from the 30-40 minutes I could see of it.
- I was in Eau Claire, Wisconsin about a month ago and found my favorite place ever, a store called BAM! (no affiliation with Emeril Lagasse). The place is filled with books and albums and there were even records on vinyl and a coffee shop. It was so hipster-ish, I just wanted to live there, inside of that store.
At last, here is my preview for the Conference Finals of the 2015 NBA Playoffs...
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| Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports Will Trevor Ariza continue hitting clutch threes with Draymond Green guarding him? |
The Houston Rockets shocked the world and, most importantly, shocked the Clippers in the second round by taking a series in which they trailed 3 games to 1. Another surprising revelation of the second round was how entertaining the Rockets can be, especially when James Harden is taking a breather on the sidelines. Will the emergence of role players like Josh Smith, Corey Brewer, Trevor Ariza and Terrence Jones be enough to take down the #1 seed in the NBA in the Warriors? Probably not. Stephen Curry is un-guardable when Klay Thompson and Draymond Green are also on the court and the same goes for those two when the other two are on the court. Steve Kerr runs an incredibly efficient offense and that's not their only strength either. Andrew Bogut will get out-rebounded by Dwight Howard fourteen out of fifteen times but, the Warriors have the defensive advantage at every other position as long as David Lee doesn't get big minute totals. The Finals are a long-shot for Houston but, after the last round, they seem to have the path of a team of destiny.
Key Match-up To Watch: Josh Smith vs. his overconfidence.
Step-back three! IT'S GOOD!?
My Pick: Warriors in 6. (I REALLY REALLY Wanted to take Houston)
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| DeMarre Carroll will get his first of potentially many attempts at defending Lebron in the postseason. |
Just do what Jimmy Butler did defensively, DeMarre Carroll. The rest of the Atlanta Hawks (Teague, Horford, Millsap and Korver) can all quickly respond offensively or defend the Cavs quite well. It should be a closer series than most are predicting (which is 5 games). Matthew Dellavedova made himself an NBA household name with his hot shooting in the Bulls series and could make the series a whole lot easier for David Blatt if he has a deja vu series and inexplicably explodes (metaphorically) mid-game. Kyrie Irving's limp needs to go away before he plays against the likes of Jeff Teague and Dennis Schroder for Lebron James to have the entire weight of Cleveland off his shoulders for half of the possessions. The Hawks are still lacking a bench that we can take seriously thanks to the NYPD (Thabo Sefolosha) and the lack of a shooter outside Pero Antic'. Their bench is crucial for them to pull off an upset even though they're the #1 seed. The Cavs have plenty of bench players and role-players that have reached their seasonal peak at the right time including Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith, Dellavedova and James Jones. It's an uphill battle for Mike Budenholzer.
Key Match-up To Watch: Tristan Thompson vs. Paul Millsap.
Tristan Thompson is a robot programmed by Lebron to grab offensive rebounds and do nothing else. If he can beat out Paul Millsap for boards and keep him out of the paint, this series could get ugly fast.
My Pick: Cavaliers in 7.
MY FINALS PICK AT THE MOMENT: Cavaliers over Warriors in 6!
Thanks to the Clippers imploding, only 50% of my Finals prediction is still alive and I'll stand by that team as they continue to improve and even though it seems crazy to say now, I'll take them over Golden State in a best-of-7 series.
More game sevens please and thank you!
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