The Candy Corn!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Happy Halloween!

Barney-ism Of The Week
a Robin Sparkles t-shirt!
You can pre-order these bad boys Here
Who is Robin Sparkles you might ask? Only the greatest 90's pop star Canada has ever seen.
www.myspace.com/robinsparkles

Tuesday, October 30, 2007
TV Spin-Off Trivia Contest Answer and The Office News
I know it’s only Tuesday afternoon but this seemed like a great time to announce the winner of The Blot Says... Trivia Contest #1. The official answer is All In The Family with 5 spin-offs: Maude, The Jeffersons, Archie Bunker’s Place, Gloria and 704 Hauser and had 2 spin-offs of spin-offs: Good Times and Checking In.
In case anyone was interested Happy Days was a close second with 4 spin-offs: Laverne & Shirley, Blansky’s Beauties, Mork and Mindy, and Joanie Loves Chachi. There’s some grey area there because Happy Days is actually a spin-off of Love, American Style so maybe Love, American Style is the answer. But technically none of the other shows are spin-offs of that show, so The Blot is making an executive ruling with All In The Family. Another top contender for the title of “TV Show with the Most Spin-Offs” is The Mary Tyler Moore Show with 3: Lou Grant, Phyllis and Rhoda. Thanks everyone for playing and all winners should be receiving their No Prize any minute now.

L.A. Lakers - Kobe = A Bleak Future
Truth be told, Mitch Kupchak has proven to be not only a horrible replacement GM for “The Logo” Jerry West, but one of the worst GMs in all of professional basketball. Time and time again his trades and draft picks have proven fruitless and in many instances seem to have been the completely wrong decision. What truly scares The Blot, is that I now find myself actually agreeing with Kupchak’s view on the situation.
For months, Kobe has been asking for a trade and now after everything appeared to have been smoothed over (and on the eve of the tip off of the 2007-2008 NBA season) it appears Dr. Buss is finally ready to appease his star player's request. There appears to be a few unique snags that would hamper a trade of this kind going through though. First and foremost is the fact that Kobe has the only no trade clause in all of the NBA. This basically means any trade involving Kobe has to be signed off by him first. The other is that after the 2008-2009 season Kobe has the ability to opt-out of his contract and become a free agent. These two things combined really handcuff the Lakers.
If they decide to stand pat with the make up of the team and do not trade Kobe then there is probably a 100% chance he opts-out and leaves the team with nothing. Because of Kobe’s no trade clause the number of teams Kobe would be willing to be dealt to shrinks down to about 3 or 4, which most insiders believe to be the Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks and possibly either the Phoenix Suns, Washington Wizards or Houston Rockets. Even then, if the Lakers find a team on that short list is willing to make a somewhat fair trade, the new team would then be no better than the Lakers were last year with Kobe. This would lead him to opt out after next season anyway, which is why none of those teams would dare make a fair trade with the Lakers. So as you see it is quite the vicious circle. It seems the only way for the Lakers to actually get something for a departing Kobe is to trade him well below market value to an already good team, an act that would alarm most teams in the league and fans of the Lakers.
This predicament has led to a pretty decisive rift within team management. On the one side are Jerry and Jim Buss who are tired of listening to Kobe’s whining and would like to move him in order to begin crafting the next phase of the franchise. On the other side is daughter Jeanie Buss and her boyfriend/head coach of the team/hall-of-famer Phil Jackson who are dismayed the team is even discussing moving the team’s and the league’s best player. Surprisingly on their side is the inept Kupchak who fears being known as the GM who dismantled the Laker dynasty and traded away future hall-of-famers Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, both for well under market value.
What I don’t understand is what the Buss’ think will be achieved by trading Bryant. They will be losing not only the team’s lone star but the biggest star in a city full of them. By the team being in a city where image is everything, the need for a larger than life star to pull in the Hollywood elite to the games is a must. The Lakers have never gone more than a few years without at least one of the game’s biggest stars, from the George Mikan era to the Elgin Baylor/Jerry West/Wilt Chamberlain led teams to Showtime of the 80’s staring Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and James Worthy to the most recent dynasty of Shaq and Kobe. If Kobe leaves or is traded that will leave the Lakers’ cupboard bare for the first time in a very long time. And with the team’s recent success combined with the wasted draft picks and free agent signings by Kupchak, the team’s future looks pretty bleak.
It baffles me that Dr. Buss knows that all it takes to win in the NBA is one or two star players and a few solid role players, so what are the Buss’ possibly thinking considering a trade of Kobe!?! In my opinion the Lakers have only one real option, FIRE KUPCHAK. Bring back Zeek from Cabin Creek, a.k.a Jerry West, at any cost and right this sinking ship. You don’t bring a winning attitude to a team by trading away the best player in the league. The organization needs to decide to spend some money like they did when they gave Kobe the huge contract he so richly deserved and surround him with quality role players. Then lock in the hall-of-fame head coach that made Kobe the player he is today into a long term deal. It really is too bad the Lakers and Kupchak were unable to acquire a second star for Kobe to run with. The addition of Kevin Garnett or Jermaine O’Neal to the team would have been huge and worth every penny. But, other good players can still be acquired. The process has already begun by bringing back Kobe friend and all around great guy Derek Fisher. The team isn’t horrible but it is definitely not championship caliber yet. That being said with a few minor changes this team could be much better. It is still not too late…so here is my plea Dr. Buss, swallow your pride and please publicly admit Kobe isn’t going anywhere. You don’t even have to apology, just vow to work with your star player to improve the franchise by creating a championship caliber team that your fans deserve and all will be forgiven! That isn’t too much to ask, is it?

Monday, October 29, 2007
Getting Funky With Galactic
Galactic was joined on each stop of their current tour by two of the hip-hop artists appearing on the new album. At this particular stop the band was joined by Charli 2na (of Jurassic 5) and Boots Riley (of The Coup). I was particularly sad to not have Mr. Lif performing at this tour stop. Mr. Lif is a really talented east coast MC that I happened upon one day cruising the aisles of Waterloo Records in Austin. I have since followed his career but have never had the chance to catch one of his live shows. I would definitely recommend checking him out and you can preview some of his songs on his website www.mrlif.com. Nevertheless, I was excited to see both Charli 2na, since I have always been a fan of the now defunct Jurassic 5, and Boots Riley, especially after reading all of the rave reviews for The Coup’s most recent album Pick A Bigger Weapon.
I had heard both of their songs on the new album and really enjoyed them. I was especially pleased when the songs proved to be just as good live as they were in the studio. Galactic was also even better than I remembered when performing without the additional vocals. I did hear some grumblings from fans in the audience that they were hoping for a more traditional Galactic concert and less collaborations. I really enjoyed all of Boots Riley’s performance though and enjoyed the first few songs of Charli 2na. The collaborations really reminded me a lot of Jay-Z’s MTV Unplugged performance when The Roots joined Jay-Z to perform his greatest hits. When the show really started to lag was at the end of the set when Charli 2na debuted some new material off his upcoming album. At that point Galactic was relegated to back-up band and sounded really confined to Charli's rapping. Back-up band status really doesn’t suit Galactic's style and unfortunately left the band to close their set on a down note. But, I will say that after seeing this show I am definitely interested in hear more of Boots Riley and will probably pick up the latest album from The Coup.
While the fans in attendance Thursday night definitely got their moneys worth out of the two hour performance, the fact that it was a weekday show and that Galactic didn’t go on until 10 pm lead much of the audience to leave early. Knowing I would have to wake up in a few short hours for work the next morning forced even The Blot to leave the show before the band returned for an encore, a pretty rare occurrence. Last week’s show left me with mixed emotions. Even though I would still recommend to all music fans to check out a Galactic show at least once, I think this tour might not be the best representation of the band's music. If the concept album really interests you I strongly suggest picking up the album but waiting to see Galactic until their next tour which will most likely be without the additional help on stage.
www.galacticfunk.com

Friday, October 26, 2007
Jin and Juice
And remember kids, like the old Public Service Announcement used to say:
"Drinking & Driving Can Kill A Friendship"

Thursday, October 25, 2007
The Rise of the Graphic Novel in Hollywood
I’m guessing that most of you reading this either have no idea what a Graphic Novel is or why The Blot would be writing about them, but the term itself really rubs me the wrong way. Therefore, it’s time for The Blot’s first official rant. Do any of you know when the term Comic Book became a four letter word in Hollywood? I do, I peg it happening sometime around the year 2006. In fact, the term Comic Book seems to be fading from the lexicon of Hollywood almost as fast as the movie industry is raking in the dough from Comic Book based movies.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007
The Blot Says... Trivia Contest #1
1. It is a long standing tradition for television shows to take popular characters from a show and spin them off into their own show. These shows are appropriately named spin-offs. As an example, Beverly Hills 90210 introduced the character Jake Hanson for two episodes before spinning him off into the new show Melrose Place. The most recent example of this is when Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) was spun-off from of Grey's Anatomy to start the new show Private Practice. The person who can come up with the TV show that has the most spin-offs wins the inaugural The Blot Says... Trivia Contest.
Please post all answers in the comment section for this post. This isn't a trick question and there isn't a set answer, but I do think I have a pretty good idea of the winning answer. We'll see what everyone comes up with. You have one week from the posting of this contest to answer, so the contest will be officially ending Wednesday, October 25th. The Blot will be the final judge if a show is accurately categorized as a spin-off or not. Good luck to all!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Chuck vs. The World
But The Blot digresses…what is also really great about Chuck is all of the recurring minor characters in the show’s cast. The three nerd herders on Chuck’s staff are hilarious and are always there for some good high jinks at Buy More with Chuck and his best friend Morgan. One character I can't get enough of, who unfortunately isn’t in every episode, is Chuck’s sister Ellie’s fiancé Captain Awesome. In case I have to explain where Chuck's nickname for him comes from, his response to pretty much everything is “Awesome.” It’s a really awesome concept for a character don’t you think?

Monday, October 22, 2007
Barney-ism Of The Week

Online Poker Players' Greatest Fears Come True
After reading a recent article by ABC News about AbsolutePoker.com and the alleged fraud it has been perpetrating on its users, I’m not so sure anymore. You can read the entire article here, but the gist of it is that someone within the organization had created a super-account which could secretly view a poker game and be able to see all of the table’s hole cards (those cards each player is dealt face down and not obligated to show anyone else in the game). That person was then working in tandem with a former AbsolutePoker.com employee who was playing in a poker tournament and was being told by the super-account what his opponents’ cards were. This investigation all but confirms every online poker player’s worse fears, that somehow the games are fixed.
The only one way to really send a message to all online poker sites is to go after AbsolutePoker.com hard and fast. They need to be made an example of to show other sites that there is zero tolerance policy towards cheating and maybe even go so far as shutting down the AbsolutePoker.com’s site. The only problem is most of these sites are too smart for that and have their servers spread out across the world. Thankfully, AbsolutePoker.com is located in Canada and not some far off secluded island so just maybe the company is actually touchable. It is being reported that the site has already released a statement apologizing for the incident and claiming that the situation has been resolved, but it sounded pretty vague to me and AbsolutePoker did not release any real details about what took place. (Link)
In many ways I blame the U.S. Government for the state of online poker today. To try and outlaw an internet game is just too difficult and not realistic. The Government needs to come to terms with the new global society spurred on by the internet’s accessibility. Instead of just banning something, the U.S. Government should have seen this as an opportunity to embrace it, not only to legalize it but to regulate it and tax it. Just think of all the taxable income our government is missing out on. Besides that, we could have forced heavier restrictions and regulations on the poker sites in exchange for allowing them to conduct business in the U.S. It would have also allowed many of the U.S. based casinos to get in on the online poker crazy and they would have in turn acted as industry watchdogs, keeping a close eye on their competitors in this growing industry. Nevertheless, the state of online poker in America is what it is for now and if I was you I’d stay far, far away from AbsolutePoker.com. I hope to see the laws amended in the future, but until they are it is truly play at your own risk.

Sunday, October 21, 2007
An Evening With Ryan Adams
The show, to be perfectly honest, was amazing. Adams was uncharacteristically cheerful, talking playfully with the crowd and was often making fun of his bad reputation, even threatening to end the show early if we, the audience, continued to like what he was doing and applauding. At one point he even granted a request screamed out from the audience, playing a quick playful version of the dueling guitars from Freebird. From what I’ve read online it was also one of his best and longest shows this tour, playing for almost three hours with two sets and two encores.
While I’m not a fan of his more alt-country songs, Adams is at his best when the band is really rocking. Almost jam band like, the Cardinals switch effortlessly between songs, often refraining back to songs previously played that evening. You really have to see Adams and the Cardinals live to appreciate them. I originally had mixed feelings towards their music when I heard it described as alt-country. But once I started listening to bootlegs of their live shows, any reservations I might have had about listening to them disappeared. I find some of their studio albums (like 2007’s Easy Tiger) to be a little too country for my taste, but with so much output from Adams there is bound to be something for everyone.
Typically his lives shows are recorded, so hopefully someone will be posting this show pretty soon. If so, I’ll link to it here for anyone who would like to check the show out.

Friday, October 19, 2007
Will Adam “Pacman” Jones Ever Disappear?
There is no conceivable way to prove Jones was acting as an agent for the League or the Titans while he was in the club that night or in Las Vegas that weekend. I’m pretty sure no one in the NFL league offices or at the Tennessee Titans wanted Jones at that strip club or even in the state of Nevada much less Las Vegas. Trust me, even if Pacman had been punished more severely by the league prior to the NBA All-Star weekend, he still would have been invited to that club. All that would have been different is that he would have been billed as “Former NFL Star” instead of as “NFL Player” Adam Jones. This is the kind of frivolous lawsuits

Thursday, October 18, 2007
Concert Update
I haven't gotten tickets to all these shows yet, so don't hold me to this, but some concerts you should be expecting reviewed over the next few weeks include:
10/18/07
Ryan Adams
& The Cardinals @
The Verizon Wireless Theater
10/26/07
Maroon 5 @
The Toyota Center
11/08/07
The Polyphonic Spree & Rooney @
The Verizon Wireless Theater

The Fall of the House that Vince Built
Since last June, 6 Texas Longhorns football players have been arrested on numerous charges all more shocking than the last. Any time I hear the terms “D.U.I.” or “felony counts of obstruction and tampering,” I get sick to my stomach. Here are Student Athletes being given the great opportunity to represent my alma mater and be given a free education, yet chose to throw it all away for a good time. Then came the Austin American Statesman’s article about the UT Athletic Department’s spending, you can read it here. Did you know the University of Texas spends over $100 million a year on its athletics department? And yet even though Texas spends more than almost any other school, “UT has made a deliberate decision to limit the intercollegiate sports it supports” (Link).
This team has become an embarrassment not only to The University of Texas, but to its current Students, Alumni and the State they are so often referred to by. It’s not just their many arrests but also their play on the field. Anyone who says winning isn’t important is kidding themselves. Do you have any idea how much Longhorn ticket holders have to “donate” just for the opportunity to buy season tickets? These aren’t donations, they’re what is known in the NFL as Permanent Seat Licenses (PSLs). Don’t get me wrong, I know this same thing is taking place at colleges with big athletic programs all across the country but that’s not the point. When people are spending that kind of money just for the right to then purchase tickets, try telling them that winning isn’t important. It’s the school that’s turned their football team into a business, not the fans.
Mack is a great recruiter, he’s a great politician and is everyone’s best friend, but what he’s not is a great football coach. The problem is that while most successful leaders, in any industry, realize their strengths and weaknesses and then surround themselves with people who can help with their deficiencies, Mack refuses to do that. Instead of finding the best assistant coaches who are able to be strict, know how to prepare before the game and come up with new and revolutionary game plans, Mack sticks with his faithful minions who haven’t had a new idea in years. On top of it all, he’s unwilling to make the tough calls like forcing his Offensive Coordinator Greg Davis to resign. If I have to watch one more pass to a WR standing at the line of scrimmage about to get lit up by the defender two yards away from him or another handoff from the shotgun position to a standing still Jamal Charles only to have any holes in the offensive line closed before he can even make it to the line of scrimmage, I’m going to tear what little hair I have left out. How does last year’s Defensive Secondary comprised of three future NFL first round picks get torched by every quarterback it faces!? Because the coaches have no idea what to do with the talent they have and don’t properly prepare their players. Texas puts way too many players into the NFL not to be dominate every year, but then again how many players can you think of that have left the school as a better player than when they arrived?

Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Piper’s Pit
For those of you who don’t remember him or didn’t grow up in the 80s, Piper was THE bad guy in Professional Wrestling. Whether it was fighting Hulk Hogan and Mr. T at the original WrestleMania or leading the “bad guys” on Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling, Piper was the character you loved to hate. Later on he showed everyone why he was such a big star in Professional Wrestling by hosting the now legendary Piper’s Pit, the greatest wrestling interview segment ever. And now he’s immortalized as a G.I. Joe action figure, which even comes with his signature kilt. Man, the kid inside me is dying for one of these!
Of course the Rowdy Roddy Piper G.I. Joe figure sold out before the convention even ended, and while a friend of mine who lives in Atlanta offered to go down to the convention and pick me up one (Thanks IJMN!), I just couldn’t justify sending him down there. Besides, I figured, there was no way they’d sell out. Man was I wrong. Now if you look for one of these bad boys on Ebay they’re selling somewhere in the ball park of $100-200 each, so to everyone who says toys are just for kids, don’t believe it! Who knows, maybe one day I’ll be able to add one of these to my book shelf.


Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Wait for it...
- Barney Stinson
For my second post I would be remiss if I didn't write about the best comedy on television that not enough people are watching. How I Met Your Mother (Mondays @ 8/7 Central on CBS) is everything you used to love about television comedies, a great ensemble cast with comedic timing, actually funny dialogue with snappy banter, and pop culture references galore.
Plus with the "Artist Formerly Known as Doogie Howser, M.D." Neil Patrick Harris owning every scene he's in as Barney, this show has turned into an instant classic. I mean come on, how many shows in this day and age can get away with a Garfield reference!
If for some reason you missed last night's episode, I'll give you a quick recap of the best part...a ridiculously funny argument between Ted and Barney on who has more game. Next time you find yourself in an argument like this, feel free to use one of these great quotes from last night:
"I've got so much game I'm a Cornish Game Hen." - Ted Mosby
"I'm the New York Game-ing Commissioner." - Barney
Ahh it takes me back to my college days when my friends and I would have these types of arguments all the time, but usually they'd end with one of us smashing the other one through a wall...but that's a story for another day. Start watching How I Met Your Mother, you'll be thanking me once you do.

Monday, October 15, 2007
Welcome!
Welcome to the official launch party of The Blot Says..., a new blog where The Blot will touch upon all things relevant in the world today. I'll be using this blog to comment on pretty much everything from Sports, Music, Politics, TV, Movies, Toys and of course Comics. Basically anything that even remotely has to do with Pop Culture will get a mention at some point. So if its news to you, The Blot will be ranting about it. So, to the millions and millions of The Blot's fans out there: Buckle up, because its going to be a bumpy ride. See you tomorrow...
