Filling The NBA Void.

 

Anger and confusion have taken over – I really wanted the NBA season. What happened? It just felt that since the NFL figured out their issues the NBA would too. I was wrong. We’re coming off one of the most exciting seasons in a long long time, specifically because “I’m taking my talents to south beach” was said and then followed up by their party that was similar to a WWE entrance.

I know we’re still somewhere in the woods of having an NBA season – there’s still a chance. But, it’s not the same and the damage has been done. Even if they somehow salvage something and manage to have a 50 game season I will forever remember it as a “Who gives a shit season”. There’s going to be a glaring asterisk next to the NBA champion / MVP / and basically everything else associated with this time. The only thing this season is good for now is 1 – highlights and 2 – a loooong pre-season before next year.

DAMMIT! I really wanted to see The Lakers, Kobe yelling at his teammates, Derrick Rose, Blake Griffin, Big 3, Big 3 fight, Big 3 make up, Trade talks, Shaq on TNT, the All Star Game, and did I say Kobe yelling at his teammates?

After I read that the players rejected the offer and will disband I immediately thought of ways to fill the inevitable sports void - In no particular order:

Watch the Green Bay Packers shack up with the 72 Dolphins after they win the Super Bowl: This option is the most helpful. After the Pack won the Super Bowl last year it really made me not worry about much – there was always a bright side to my sports life.

The Kardashians: Yeah, that’s right – I said it. Not only is it good TV but it’s also a chance to check up on Lamar Odom and the impending Kris Humphries story line. Some NBA action, right?

YouTube: Lots of old NBA highlights.

The Sing-Off: Commercials for the next season have already hit the TV. They’re promoting it to start after The Superbowl. I can already imagine the follow up to “Move like Jagger” but this time it’s remixed by Cee-Lo.

The X-Factor: This season isn’t even over yet and I want another season.

Hockey: Can I get into this? Eh, probably not.

UFC: It’s a good reason to act like I know fighting styles and drink beer. I may watch this – Only if Brock “the 14 year old trapped in a Manimals body” Lesner fights someone.

Baseball: Baseball is that one sport that finishes and seemingly starts up the next week. The Milwaukee Brewers made me like baseball again for the first time since the 90’s – I may actually give this a shot (when the playoffs start).

AMC television: Catch up on Breaking Bad, Walking Dead, Mad Med - AMC has slowly become the channel that is in the same sneeze as HBO.

Or, of course, there’s always the option to turn off the TV and start reading and doing things more productive… which I secretly hope happens and then everyone forgets the NBA. Truthfully, my stubbornness is taking over and I want to teach the NBA a lesson. I don’t like being at the mercy of any organization and the simple fact I thought of things to do instead of watching the NBA upsets me – I just like the NBA that much.

I’m pissed because of what they did to their fans, how they handled this, and all of their employees that will be without jobs. I honestly hope we as fans force the NBA to scramble and make them earn our attention.

NBA – see you in 2013. Idiots.

The Final season of Entourage.

I’ve been trying to remember the last time a show was about a main character but it’s not actually about the main character, it’s actually about it’s supporting cast. I was really digging deep for this one and I didn’t come up with much, actually I didn’t come up with anything… Muppet Babies? Wasn’t that show about “Nanny” or was it? I don’t’ really remember, I just remember her striped socks. I’m sure a show will come to me at 3am when I’m not thinking about it, but that’s exactly what Entourage is, and to it’s credit it is called Entourage.

This weekend marks the beginning of the end to Vinny Chase and his best friends. As I’m sure everyone knows the show is loosely based off of Mark Wahlberg (First time ever I didn’t initially call him Marky Mark) and his best friends accompanying him in LA. Along with his best friends he has his fictitious super agent Ari Gold based off non-fictitious super agent Ari Emmanuel.

I set my DVR to record the final season and I wasn’t too sure why, I don’t even know how much I care about the show, 80 percent of me tells me I’ve been invested for 7 previous seasons and it’s too late to stop now. There are only 8 episodes in the entire 8th season and I think I owe it to myself and see how this thing plays out. But seriously, why do I care about this show? Let’s be honest here for a second, the show isn’t all that good anymore, right? So I’m going to take a moment and flush out everything I remember of Entourage.

Warning: This timeline may be wrong. A lot of things may be wrong actually but it’s how I retained Entourage over these years:

I remember the show opening at Fred Segal’s on Melrose located in Hollywood. When I was watching all I thought was “Holy Shit, I literally live 8 seconds from Segal’s, I could see it at my house off of Kilkea. And when I say my house I mean I was living with my Aunt and her husband for a short amount of time. Lets dive into this a little further and open up the guts of Entourage –

I was living in Hollywood (check) and when you live in Hollywood you’re here for the entertainment industry (check) and when you’re in the entertainment industry you’re probably struggling at some point (check) and all you dream about is making something of yourself so you can call your friends and brag… I mean enjoy it together (check) and BOOM this is why we all love Entourage. This is a no brainer; they’re living the dream.

Success, friends, women, freedom, movies, and playing in the sexiest and most unknown universe in the world – Hollywood. This is what the first season was to me and it’s what the first season was to a lot of people, the appeal. Not to mention this show was filled with very specific supporting characters that were more memorable than the lead.

But I’m still hung up on this appeal thing because it’s very important. Aside from just knowing that this season was cool can anyone really remember what the first season was about? No, okay that’s fine because most can’t remember most first seasons. Moving on… what was any of this show about? Specifics I remember:

Vince (The Star) Bangs girls and eventually gets a drug problem.

E (Vince’s best friend) becomes his manager.

Drama (Vince’s brother) is in and out of acting and is also the funniest character on the show.

Turtle (Vince’s other best friend) drives Vince everywhere and eventually tries to do his own thing. The he starts dating Jamie Lynn Sigler (somehow).

Ari (Vince’s agent) gets a funny gay assistant, but consistently yells at people.

Wow. Not much. But that’s okay, because although Entourage seems as though its character driven, it’s not, it’s appeal driven. The appeal and small set pieces of these characters just being cool and getting a lot of attention is what makes Entourage. The show opens the door to the people living outside of Hollywood and exposes what it’s like to be here, and it flaunts Hollywood to the people living here… It’s the perfect equation.

I think this show always knew that and somewhat walked the fine line of character development and environment development, even though they kind of go hand in hand. The show is like a burst of energy with down time of character, and when we see that burst of energy it’s so cool, it’s almost unattainable.

So, as we get ready to watch the final 8 episodes and see how Vince and the crew get him out of his coke addiction all I can hope is that he really gets out of it and starts being awesome again. I think it’s too late to try and define this show as anything other than a fun show that exposes what we don’t have but what we all really want.

To the credit of everyone on this show they were killing it for a little while, the story lines have kept me for a solid 8 seasons (even though I can’t recall most) and the guest characters they’ve accumulated may be the best in TV history. It’s just that I don’t have much attachment to any of these guys… Maybe Johnny Drama just a little bit.

I guess as I think about it I do have some slight attachment to Vinny Chase and his crew, probably because everything they’ve had is so appealing to me.

Sex and the City...I mean... Egypt?

I will openly admit I have seen Sex and The City. I watched it on HBO and in 2008 I saw the movie with my girlfriend. Did I like the movie… okay, yes I did. However I was watching the trailer for the next film and I will guarantee with 97.3% percent certainty that this movie is going to be terrible.

For two major reasons:

1) I saw Aiden in it. If you don’t know Aiden he’s the guy that the lead character (Carrie) was once in love with. Now, come on. The entire show was about her relationship with Big, and the first movie was about the same thing. Of course they ended up together at the end, and of course they will in this one too. I mean… really. How unoriginal.

And here is the “big” one….

2) It looks like it takes place in EGYPT. Yes, EGYPT. Last time I checked New York played a pretty big role in these films, it almost acts as a character of it’s own, Not to mention it’s in the title. You know… CITY. How are these women going to go to Egypt?

Well, I personally can’t fully believe I just put this much effort into this film when other summer hits are en route. But I had to break it down.

So the next time you drive and see a massive Carrie Bradshaw billboard on whatever street you’re on I want you to know that this movie (I hate to be negative) is not going to be good. As a matter of fact I think it is going to ruin things for all the Sex and The City fans. If I’m wrong please let me know… But I’m not.

Having said all this I just checked and saw that the first movie grossed over 400 million dollars worldwide, and I think this has to be some kind of record for TV show to film? Maybe?