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I was in Coronado last night and took a walk by the iconic Hotel Del Coronado, which is now adorned with Christmas lights. It is quite a sight to see in person. I went out on the beach so I could get a good picture, which captures the entire hotel.
Here are a few more pictures.
I was originally going to title this post My Three Favorite Sci Fi Films, but I could not settle on just three films. Picking the first two wasn’t all that tough for me. 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner always stand out in my mind as the two best Science Fiction films ever made. Maybe I should have designated them 1A and 1B. Picking films for the 3 to 10 positions is more challenging for me because I can think of quite a few Sci Fi’s that I think are very good, but just not as good as 1 & 2. There are probably about 20 films I considered for positions 3 to 10, but the films I listed below are the ones that made my final cut, although a few of those might change if I had to draw up this list again in 6 months or a year.
1) 2001: A Space Odyssey
This 1960’s classic is not only my favorite sci fi film, but one of my favorite films of any kind. A fascinating film that explored man’s evolution, the advance of technology and the concept of a supreme intelligence in the universe. One of Stanley Kubrick’s finest, which is saying quite a bit, since all his films were good and some were outright masterpieces.
2) Blade Runner
The rest of my top ten in no particular order:
The Empire Strikes Back
My favorite of the Star Wars films.
Twelve Monkeys
Dune
The Planet of the Apes
Aliens
The Matrix
Forbidden Planet
A classic film with an outstanding cast. Special effects which were state of the art at that time and not surpassed until Kubrick’s 2001.
Robocop
The political satire in this film was absolutely brilliant.
I doubt the upcoming remake will match iconic film.
The UFC returns to Montreal and hometown hero Georges St. Pierre returns to the UFC after being out of the sport for 18 months due to the fact that he tore his ACL in December of 2011.
St. Pierre’s fight against Carlos Condit will decide the UFC Welterweight championship and another Welterweight fight on this card may decide who gets the next shot at the Welterweight belt. That fight is Martin Kampmann vs. Johny Hendricks. I think those are the two most interesting fights on the card.
Martin “Hitman” Kampmann (20-5) vs. Johny “Big Rig” Hendricks (13-1)
Fighting Styles:
Kampmann: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai.
Hendricks: Boxing, Wrestling (Former NCAA DIV I Wrestling champ at 165 pounds, Oklahoma State)
This should be an excellent fight, although I’m not sure how long it will last because fighters can throw very punches and have KO ability. Now, I’m sure they are both aware of that so they may exercise some caution and not just come out throwing bombs, although I think Hendricks will throw his deadly left hand any time he sees an opening.
Kampmann has proven to be a very resilient fighter, who knows how to find ways to win when he is behind. The Danish fighter, training out of Las Vegas with team Xtreme Couture, has developed a very well rounded MMA game. He prefers to keep fights standing in order to use his exceptional striking skills, but he can be dangerous on the ground with his Jiu-Jitsu. Kampmann has won 8 fights by KO and 7 fights by submission.
On paper this seems like a pretty close match up. If I thought that Kampmann could keep this fight standing I would probably pick him to win, but I don’t think that will be the case. I’m going to give the edge to Hendricks because I think the combination of his power punching and his world-class wrestling will prove to be too difficult for Kampmann to defend.
Hendricks wins by KO, 2nd round.
Georges St. Pierre (22-2) vs. Carlos “The Natural Born Killer” Condit (28-5)
Figthing Styles:
St. Pierre: Karate, Boxing, Muay Thai, Wrestling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Condit: Kickboxing, Muay Thai, Boxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
The fight will unify the UFC Welterweight title. Condit has held the title of interim Champ during St. Pierre’s extended absence due to ACL reconstruction surgery. St. Pierre and Condit are two of favorite fighters in the UFC because they both very skilled, well-rounded, intelligent fighters and they are both generally respectful of their opponents.
I think very highly of Condit’s ability. His defeat of the very formidable Nick Diaz really impressed me. That fight showcased Condit’s very well rounded ability as an MMA fighter and it also demonstrated that he is a very smart and disciplined fighter who can stick to a plan to defeat an opponent who in some respects might be more skilled. Diaz wanted to draw Condit into strictly a stand up fight and just trade strikes with him because Diaz has good hands and excels at boxing. Diaz taunted Condit in a number of ways in an effort to get him to just exchange strikes, but Condit used a full repertoire of strikes and kicks to keep Diaz at bay and ultimately won a very hard fought decision.
GSP will present an entirely different type of challenge to Condit. He won’t do any trash talking, but he will try to dictate where this fight goes. GSP is one of the best wrestlers in the UFC and he no doubt try to take this fight to the ground, where his strength and strong wrestling may give him an advantage over Condit. Both fighters are products of the famed Jackson’s MMA, in New Mexico, although Greg Jackson is remaining neutral for this fight and not training either fighter for this event. I don’t think that will matter too much because both fighters have assembled excellent training teams to support them.
I have read conflicting reports about GSP condition post recovery from ACL surgery. Some reports say he as good as new and others say he not 100% of what he once was. He looks petty good in the video of his training sessions that I have seen, but we really won’t know until he gets back in the Octagon for a real fight. If GSP is 100% of what he was that will prove to a real problem for Condit. GSP will probably be able to take down Condit fairly easily if he has retained his quickness and then Condit’s ground skills will be put to the test. OTOH, if Condit can keep the fight standing he probably stands a significantly better chance of winning the fight because his striking and kicks are very accurate and he does have KO power in his fists.
St. Pierre wins by unanimous decision.
POST EVENT COMMENTS:
Well, I went 2 for 2 tonight. I wish I had put some money down on these fights in Vegas.
Hendricks KO’d Kampmann in 46 seconds! Wow! I was really surprised that the Big Rig was able to land his powerful left hand so quickly because I know Kampmann was aware it would be coming. I watched a recent interview with Kampmann in which he acknowledged that Hendricks was dangerous with his left and that he didn’t want to get caught like Jon Fitch (who was KO’d by Hendricks in 12 seconds). Oh well, easier said than done I guess.
Georges St. Pierre won his fight against Carlos Condit in very convincing fashion with a unanimous decision, but Condit proved to be a very worthy opponent for the UFC Welterweight champ. GSP won the fight 4 rounds to 1, but Condit came close to finishing GSP in the 3rd round when he land a beautiful kick to the side of GSP’s head, which put him down on his back. Condit followed up by swarming GSP and landing some solid strikes. To GSP’s immense credit he was able to keep his composure and work his way back to his feet, surviving the round and Condit’s most serious threat to him in the fight. GSP used his superior quickness to execute take downs of Condit in the 4th and 5th rounds and punish him with relentless ground and pound. Still, Condit fought well off his back and delivered some strikes and elbows that definitely did some damage to GSP.
Drum roll……
1) Burger Lounge Little Italy, Downtown
2) Hodad’s Ocean Beach & Downtown
3) Stacked Fashion Valley Mall, Mission Valley
Honorable Mentions: In-N-Out & Neighborhood
We are over the half way point now and most of my pre season division picks are looking pretty good, but a couple are in peril, including my hometown San Diego Chargers.
AFC EAST: New England (6-3) First Place. NE has won 3 games in a row, while the rest of the division is falling apart. The Patriots should easily win this division, even though they got off to a less than stellar start, going 3-3.
AFC NORTH: Baltimore (7-2) First Place. The Ravens are holding things together despite the loss of Ray Lewis, the long time leader of the Ravens D. Baltimore has developed a powerful offense that is capable of compensating for a defense that is not as dominant as it once was. Pittsburgh trails the Ravens by only one game, but they just lost star QB Ben Rothlisberger due to a rib injury he suffered in their last game. I don’t think the Steelers can keep up with the Ravens if Big Ben is out more than few games.
AFC SOUTH: Houston (8-1) First Place. The Texans continue to be one the hottest teams in the league. They continue to excel on both sides of the ball and they should win the division. The upstart Colts, currently riding a 4 game win steak behind the spectacular play of Rookie QB Andrew Luck are putting a little pressure on the Texans, but they are 6-3 and I don’t think they will be able to challenge the Texans for the division lead.
AFC WEST: San Diego (4-5) Second Place. Very disappointing to see the Chargers sitting in 2nd place after they got off to such a promising start. They play the first place Denver Broncos (6-3) next and that game is critical to San Diego. It is make or break time for the Bolts. If they go to Denver and beat the red hot Bronos (4 game winning steak) they still have a chance to take the division, but if they lose they are finished. There is lot riding on this game.
NFC EAST: New York (6-4) First Place. The Giants are in first, but they look like they are going in the wrong direct, having dropped their last two games. Fortunately for NY the rest of the teams in the division have had bigger problems and they all under .500. Philly and Washington, both at 3-6, look like they are finished. Dallas is hanging in there at 4-5. I still think the Giants will win the division, but they certainly don’t look like a Super Bowl Champ right now. If they don’t improve coming down the stretch they are headed for an early exit in the playoffs.
NFC NORTH: Green Bay (6-3) Second Place. The Packers have now won 4 games in a row and now trail Chicago (7-2) by only one game. Packers QB Aaron Rodgers has looked like a real MVP candidate during the win streak. With 7 games left to play the Packers have the time they need to overtake the Chicago Bears and I expect them to do so.
NFC SOUTH: Atlanta (8-1) First Place. The Falcons finally dropped a game, in a narrow loss to New Orleans last Sunday. However, they Falcons have demonstrated that they are no fluke this year and appear to be a legitimate Super Bowl contender. If they secure home field advantage during the playoffs they will very difficult to beat.
NFC WEST: San Francisco (6-2-1) First Place. The 49ers are in a commanding position at this point, but Seattle is still in the running with a record of 6-4. The 49ers defense remains one of the best in the league and should carry them to a division title.
Computer titans Apple and Microsoft both introduced new tablet computers within the last two weeks and I think both devices are very interesting. I have now had a chance to play with both tablets. At the Fashion Valley Mall in San Diego the Apple Store and Microsoft Store are within a 100 yards of each other, so it was very easy for me to see both devices during a recent trip I made to the mall. I’ve got to say that I was impressed by both tablets and I could see myself owning one of each in the future.
Basic Spec’s:
iPad Mini
Height: 7.87 inches
Width: 5.3 inches
Depth: 0.28 inches
Weight: 0.69 pound
Storage: 16GB, 32GB, 64GB
Display: 1024 x 768 resolution at 163 pixels per inch
Cameras: Front Camera 1.2 MP photo, 720p HD video – Rear Camera 5 MP photo, 1080p HD Video
Battery: 10 hours
Impressions: The Mini was actually a little larger than I expected it be and that was a pleasant surprise. I like the smaller size, but it still provides plenty of screen space and I found the quality of the display quite good. I took a look at some pictures on iPhoto and they were beautiful. Does it match a Retina screen? No, but it is still very good imo. I don’t know why some of the fan boys are so wee wee’d up about the resolution of the display. The build quality of the iPad Mini was excellent. It is incredibly thin, yet it feels very sturdy, thanks to a very solid aluminum enclosure.
Many critics seem think the iPad Mini is overpriced, starting at $329 for the 16 GB model, but I still think it will sell very well because it is significantly better than any of the other 7″ tablets on the market today. I wish it was a little cheaper, but it is not prohibitively expensive in my opinion. The Mini delivers all the functionality of a regular iPad and better portability. You give up a little screen space and of course, as I mentioned earlier, no Retina display, but I think the trade offs for prices that start at $170 less than the regular iPad are acceptable. It will be interesting to see to what degree the iPad Mini cannibalizes the regular iPad market share. I read that some analysts made initial estimates of up to 20% cannibalization and now I’m reading that some analysts think that the iPad Mini will ultimately become the best selling iPad. After seeing the iPad Mini in person I think it will indeed become the best iPad within 2 years.
I’m pretty sure the iPad Mini will be my next iPad.
Microsoft Surface:
Height: 6.77 inches
Width: 10.81 inches
Depth: 0.37 inches
Weight: 1.5 lbs
Storage: 32GB, 64GB
Display: 10.6 inch ClearType HD Display, 1366x768b pixels
Cameras: Front and Rear 720p HD LifeCams, with two microphones and Stereo Speakers
CPU: Quad-core NVIDA Tegra 3, 2GB RAM
Impressions: The overall build quality, including a very high quality display, is what I first took note of when I took a close look at the Surface. The design of the black tablet is very elegant and it feels very solid. The fold out kickstand is very useful. The one hardware feature that found a little disappointing was the physical keyboard. Maybe it just takes a little practice, but I just didn’t think it offered any great advantages over a virtual keyboard. Fortunately, the Surface does have a virtual keyboard that is very good and customizable as well. You can select different types of virtual keyboards, including both one with a conventional layout and one with a split keyboard layout.
The OS on the Surface is a lightweight version of the new Windows 8 called RT. I found it to be an attractive new interface, that looks clean and modern. The new OS does have a learning curve, because it is different than anything that has come before it and it doesn’t seem quite a intuitive as Mac OS X or iOS and it is very different from Windows 7, but it is logically organized and I’m it becomes easier to use with a little practice.
The Surface is not inexpensive, with the bottom of the line RT model starting at $499.00 and the soon to be released Pro model will go north of $800 for some models, but I think the Surface can carve out a significant niche in the tablet market. It may take a few years, but I think the Surface will slowly grow market share. The question is which tablets will lose market share as a result of Surface growth? I think Surface will end up stealing more market share from Android tablets than Apple, although I expect the Surface to remain well behind both in market share for at least the next few years. That said, I do think that the Surface can attract a loyal following and if Microsoft is fully committed to supporting this tablet for the next 5 years (I think they are) then it may capture a large segment of tablet market share.
The NBA off season seemed to fly by pretty quickly, but that is OK with me. I’m very much ready NBA hoops again. This post is a few days late. I normally try to put prediction posts before the season begins, but I got sidetracked with a few things this week, including watching coverage of Hurricane Sandy and the election campaign, among other things. However, I think I can honestly say my predictions have not been influenced very much by the first few games we have seen so far.
Coach of Year: This a very tough award to pick because there are usually several strong candidates. I’m going am tempted to go with Erik Spo of the Miami Heat, but I’m not sure he will get the recognition he deserves because the Heat are so loaded with talent. I’m going to pick Frank Vogel, of the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers are a young up and coming team and Vogel did a very good job with them last season. If the Pacers exceed their win total from last season and go deep into the playoffs I think Vogel will be recognized and win this award.
Rookie of Year: Anthony Davis, NO Hornets. Looks like this will be race between Forward Anthony Davis and Portland PG Damian Lillard. Both are and should be outstanding this season. Close call, but I will go with Davis because I think his all-around stat’s may be a little bit better in the long run.
Sixth Man: Jason Terry, Boston Celtics. James Harden would have been the obvious choice for this award, but his trade to Houston and new starting role take him out of consideration. I’ll go with Jason Terry, who is a proven scorer and should receive a lot of minutes with Boston this season. I think Terry will be a very important contributor to the Celtics this season. Of course, I won’t be surprised if any number of other players win. There are so many talented 6th men in this league and once Harden was elevated to be being a starter with Houston this award was put up for grabs.
Defensive POY: Roy Hibbert, Indiana Pacers. I’m going out on a limb here, but I think Hibbert has a shot because Dwight Howard may not be 100% this season, coming off his injury from last season. Look, this award usually goes to a center or power forward who racks up a lot shot blocks, fair or not, that is just the way it is. The last pure guard to win this award was Gary “The Glove” Payton in 95-96. So, it will probably be a big man who can block quite a few shots and ideally one who is on a good team that will make the playoffs and do some damage. Several good big men will likely fall into category this season and I count Hibbert among them.
MVP: Kevin Durant, OKC Thunder. Of course LeBron James is the favorite for this award and justifiably so after leading the Miami Heat to a championship. The only player that seriously challenged James for the MVP award last year was Kevin Durant. I picked Durant to win the MVP award last year and I am doing so again this year because I think Durant is once again the only player that can seriously challenge LeBron for the MVP award. It should be a two man race between them again. However, with the Thunder trading star the OKC Thunder will be more dependent on Durant then the Heat will be on James because.
Eastern Conference Champion: The Miami Heat. This was not a difficult choice. The Heat added a few new weapons, most notably SG Ray Allen from the rival Celts. The Heat’s Big Three (James, Wade & Bosh) are healthy and in their prime. LeBron James will probably have another year that merits MVP consideration. Wade and Bosh will join LeBron on the All-Star team again. Will other teams in the East push the Heat this season? Probably. I expect the Knicks, Celtics, Bulls and Pacers all to be pretty good and you can probably throw a couple of other teams in there too, but none them will have the firepower to defeat the Heat the playoffs.
Western Conference Champion: OKC Thunder. The Thunder may not win as many games during the regular season as they did last season because of the loss of star Sixth Man James Harden. I think it is very possible that one to three teams in the West may win more games in the regular season than the Thunder, but I think Thunder will emerge as the Western Champ’s in the payoffs. Why? Because by the time the playoffs roll around I think the Thunder coaching staff will have made adjustments to compensate for the loss of Harden to a large degree. Moreover, the youth of the Thunder will give them an advantage over their rivals by the time the playoffs. The Lakers and Spurs both look dangerous on paper, but I think they may be a little too reliant on older players who may fade come playoff time. Other up and coming teams, such as the LA Clippers and Memphis will be good, but not good enough to overtake the reigning Western Division Champ’s. Dallas should also be good, but I don’t think they can take the Thunder this year.
NBA Champion:I think the Heat will meet the Thunder again, in what could become the defining rivalry of this era in the NBA. Heat vs. Thunder could become like the Celtics and Lakers during the 1980’s. I reluctantly picked the Miami Heat to the win championship last year. I really wasn’t a huge fan of the Heat going into last season, but I thought that their talent, combined with the lessons they learned from losing to the Dallas Mavericks the year before, would make them very difficult to stop last season and they were. Now this Heat team has learned how to win a championship, and they want more. They are older and wiser, but not too old. The young Thunder team will also come back wiser and more experienced, but I think the loss of James Harden will put the Thunder at too much of a disadvantage to a team with as much firepower as the Heat. I think the Thunder will win championships at some point in the future, just not this season.
Is this election really too close to call? Not if you listen to many pundits, prognosticators and political analysts in the media these days. They all think it is going to be a blowout. The problem is many think it will be Obama winning by a landslide and many others thinking it will Romney winning by a landslide. I can’t remember a major election where opinion was so divided so close to the election. A lot of people who have called this race are going “All In”, one way or another that declaring that either Obama or Romney will win easily.
Those calling for a decisive Obama victory include Nate Silver, author of The New York Times 538 political blog, former Dem campaign manager Bob Shrum, CNBC’s Jim Cramer .
Those calling for a Romney blowout include former campaign manager Dick Morris, talk show host Rush Limbaugh, political analyst Michael Barrone and two Political Science professors (Kenneth Bickers and Michael Berry) from the University of Colorado.
I am particularly interested to see how the professors do. Their election forecasting model, which uses economic data from each state to predict how each state will vote (good econ data favors the incumbent and vice versa), has correctly picked presidential winners, both Republican and Democrat, since 1980.
Obviously, all these people can’t be right.
I think one of the following three scenarios will unfold:
1) Obama wins by a narrow margin. Obama holds all the traditional Blue states and takes just enough of the Swing states to put him over the 276 electoral votes he needs to win.
2) Romney wins by a narrow margin. Romney wins the Red states he needs, plus most of the Swing states and one or two Blue states that were considered safe for the Democrats.
3) Romney wins by a landslide. Romney runs the table on the Swing states and takes a number of other big states that would normally be considered safe for Democrats, such as PA, MN and OR.
I am indeed a little biased, I will admit that I want Romney to win and of the three scenario’s I outlined above I think #2 is most likely, although I will gladly take #3 also. However, will I be shocked if Obama wins? Not at all. If Obama wins by a landslide, with 300 plus electoral votes I will be very surprised because I just think he is going to lose too many independents this time around to make a landslide for him possible. However, Obama is the incumbent and that makes him difficult to defeat, even though his first term has not met the expectations of even many of his supporters. The vast majority of the main stream media have been pro-Obama/ anti-Romney and that gives Obama a significant edge. Without the support of MSM Obama would no chance in my opinion, but he does have it and that give him a big advantage.
POST ELECTION REVIEW
Barack Obama 303 Electoral Votes* 60,788,910 Popular Votes
Mitt Romney 206 Electoral Votes 57,894,038 Popular Votes
*Not including Florida (EV’s for Florida still being determined).
Well, I was obviously wrong about the outcome of the presidential race, although in my defense I would point out that I did think that there was a distinct possibly that Obama could win (see my post above).
I did not think Obama would win by a landslide, but he did win over 300 electoral votes, which can reasonably be called a landslide. However, Romney fared much better in the popular vote count, losing by only 3 million votes. That relatively small difference is frustrating. This race was winnable for Romney in my opinion. Romney lost a few states by very small margins, such as Ohio (lost by 1.9%) or Virgina (lost by 3.0%). A few other states were lost by 6 percent or less.
I haven’t come to totally firm conclusions about Obama’s victory because I’m still looking at voting data and reading post election postmortems from a variety of different sources. However, my initial reaction to the race’s outcome would include the following:
In retrospect, I think Romney should have more aggressively attacked Obama’s positions on major issues and his qualifications. Romney and his team seemed to rely too much attacking on the poor performance of the economy during Obama’s 1st term.
I also think Romney’s campaign was too slow to respond to some Obama campaign’s attacks on Romney and when they did the defense was often less then vigorous (Such as the attacks on Romney’s former company Bain Capital).
Unfortunately, I think Obama’s campaign team was more aggressive and effective. I can’t say I admire them, but they obviously figured out how exploit Romney’s weak points and craft a strategy that delivered the states they needed to win.
gmf journal 