Summer After Sandy: Point Pleasant Beach Bounces Back « CBS New York.
The New San Diego Central Library
I took a walk past the new SD Central Library a few days ago and it looks great. The final pieces are being put in place and it is scheduled to open in Sep 2013.
UFC 159 – Newark, NJ
Wow, what a great fight card Dana White & Co. have put together for UFC 159 at the Rock, in Newark, New Jersey. All five fights on the Main card have the potential to be very good fights in my humble opinion.
Light Heavyweight Championship
Champion Jon Jones (-925) vs. Chael Sonnen (+725)
Jon “Bones” Jones is a heavy favorite and justifiably so, but I still find this fight very intriguing because I think Sonnen’s may, and I emphasize the word “may”, be able to find a way exploit a weakness in Jones that we have not seen yet. Sonnen is a very smart, well-rounded fighter and he is fearless and relentless. This a classic clash between Sonnen, a crafty veteran who is still at or near his peak as a fighter, and Jones, a young champion who has been able to defeat all challengers to date ( not counting the controversial fight he lost to Matt Hamill by DQ for illegal elbow strikes prior to becoming champion). Jones combines a very rounded MMA skill set with truly exceptional athletic ability. He is also extremely well coached by the now famous (at least in MMA circles) Greg Jackson of New Mexico.
I am a fan of both fighters and have been for a long time. I think Jones will probably win, but he is such a heavy favorite that I would not want to bet on him at -900 or -1000. The risk/reward is not favorable because crazy Chael Sonnen just might find a way to deliver the huge upset.
Jones wins by TKO in the third round.
Middleweight
Michael Bisping (-170) vs. Alan Belcher (+160)
These two guys are both desperate to win and stay in the mix among the contenders in this division. They also seem to really hate each other. Forget these fighters taking a conservative approach. I expect a lot of fists to fly early in this fight.
Bisping wins by TKO in the 3rd.
Heavyweight
Roy Nelson (-230) vs. Cheick Kongo (+210)
Roy “The Belly” Nelson will prove to be too much for Kongo imo. Nelson doesn’t look like much an athlete, but he is really an exceptional wrestler and packs real power in this fists. Kongo is very strong too, but I don’t think he is nearly as polished a fighter as Nelson.
Roy Nelson wins by KO in the 2nd Round.
Light Heavyweight
Phil Davis (-280) vs. Vinny Magalhaes (+255)
I am very tempted to go with Magalhaes, the underdog, here. Davis is a great athlete and a top notch wrestler, but I still think other parts of his MMA skill set need work. However, I’m going to pick Davis to win because I don’t think Magalhaes is quite good enough to defeat Davis. Magalhaes has a strong ground game, but it is hard to see how he will be able to take down Davis, who was a D-1 wrestling champ at Penn State.
Davis wins by decision.
Lightweight
Jim Miller (-260) vs. Pat Healy (+240)
This fight should be a very tough scrap. I expect Miller, a Jersey guy, to be a little extra motivated fighting in front of the home crowd. Healy is a former Strikeforce champ and I expect him to give Miller a very serious challenge. Most of the Strikeforce fighters that were invited to join the UFC have acquitted themselves very so far in the Octagon and I think we will see Healy continue that trend. However, I just don’t think Healy will be able to defeat the extremely tenacious Miller, who owns a multifaceted MMA game and can win standing or on the ground.
Miller wins by decision.
The 2013 NBA Playoffs
In my preseason NBA prediction post I predicted that the Miami Heat and the OKC Thunder would meet again to decide the Championship, with Miami once again winning. I see no reason to change that prediction at this time.
A Few Of My Favorite Podcasts
I have become a big fan of podcasts within the last 5 years or so. I love the ability of being able to listen to a podcast at a time that is convenient to me. I probably listen to about 10 podcasts on a regular basis and there are others that I listen to on an occasional basis.
Here are a few podcasts that are among my favorites. I will list others in future posts on this topic, but I will start with these three because I listened to all three this weekend.
1) Mark Steyn (Substituting for Rush Limbaugh) – Steyn is my favorite substitute host for Rush. I think Steyn’s wit and his decidedly un-PC sense of humor always produce an entertaining show when Mark is substituting for the Big Voice on the Right.
2) Webster Tarpley’s World Crisis Radio – Webster Tarpley is a Washington D.C. based author, historian and journalist. His podcast is presented weekly and presents his views on the major domestic political events of the past week and his view of the geopolitical landscape around the globe, especially hotspots, such as Europe, the Middle East and Asia. This choice might come as surprise to those of you who know that my personal politics lean right of center on most issues, because Tarpley is way, way out on the left. I rarely find myself in agreement with Tarpley, but I respect his views because he is very well educated (BA Princeton, MA Skidmore College, Ph.D. Catholic University of Ammerica) and he offers a lot of insights you won’t find in the MSM. I also appreciate his literary and historical references, which I think are quite funny sometimes.
Oddly enough, I discovered Tarpley on the Alex Jones show. He was a frequent guest on AJ’s show until he started hosting his own show on the Genenis Communications Network.
3) ESPN UFC Podcast – Hosted by Garth A. Davies and Ben Blackmore from the UK. This is weekly podcast that discusses the the fights and fighters of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. These guys always provide interesting analysis of UFC fights that have just taken place, as well as predictions for upcoming fights.
The 10 vehicles I would buy if won the lottery
I see quite a few nice cars on the streets of San Diego and other parts of Southern California. I sometimes ask myself which ones I would buy if I had an unlimited budget. So, if I won the lottery or invested in the next stock that goes up several thousand percent and had a few million to spend on vehicles, along with a garage to house them, I think would buy the following 10 vehicles:
1) Ferrari 458 Spider
2) Audi R8
3) Porsche PanameraI think the big Porsche is very cool. Not everyone is a fan of this design, but I am. I think Porsche definitely raised the performance bar for luxury sedans with this car.
4) Tesla Model S This car has redefined all electric vehicles forever. Whenever I see one I feel like I am looking at the future.
5) Chevy Volt
6) Ford F-150 Raptor I decided I wanted at least one truck in the group and this beast is the king of the hill.
7) Honda CRV Also had to add one SUV and the CRV is the best all around value for this type of vehicle imo.
8) Dodge Challenger SRT Of all the neo-muscle cars the Challenger projects the most muscle. I like the Camaro and Mustang too, but I give the Challenger a slight edge over those two.
9) Scion FR-S I think this is the best sports car under 30K. I love the minimalist character of this car. A beautiful design.
10) Honda Civic Natural Gas
Too Busy to Blog….But that won’t last.
Wow, it has been over three weeks since my last post on this blog. Well, I did not plan that hiatus, it just happened as a result of my life becoming very busy over the course of the last few weeks. A principle reason for that was the fact that I started a new job at the beginning of this month and I’ve had to adapt my schedule to working full-time again and also continue to work a several top secret projects outside of work. I think I am now close to adjusting to my new schedule and I hope to resume blogging with a little more frequency very soon. Anyway, stay tuned, “I’ll be back”……
My Five Favorite Films of 2012
I’m going to add to this post later and explain why I liked these films, but I just settled on my final 5 favorite films and I wanted to post them.
1) Zero Dark Thirty
2) Lincoln
3) The Dark Knight Rises
4) Moonrise Kingdom
5) Django Unchained
Visit to Ocean Beach, Sutro Heights and The Lands End Trail in San Francisco
I made a short trip up to San Francisco a few days a ago. I had a few hours to spare before my flight back to San Diego so I took the MUNI train out to Ocean Beach from downtown S.F. and went on a little hike from Judah Street to Sutro Heights Park and then on to the Lands End Trail. I had never been to this part of San Francisco before, but I expected it to be very scenic and I was not disappointed. I took these pictures with my Canon S90 and slightly modified them by using the Snapseed App on my iPad. I applied the Drama filter to sharpen the colors a little bit.
My Picks for the 2013 Academy Awards
OK, on to Oscars. I try to make my Oscar picks based on who or what I think will win a particular category, not who or what I think should win, although sometimes I do make a picks that are not considered consensus favorites. I go for underdogs sometimes, but underdogs that actually have a reasonable chance of pulling off an upset in my view.
My picks are determined by my own impressions of the films and individual performances, the results of other major Award events, and which way I think the Academy Members will lean on particular categories. I think the voters for the Academy tend to be a bit more conservative than the voters for some of the other major Awards so I give that some weight.
I’ve seen many of the films nominated for major awards this year, but not all them, most notably Zero Dark Thirty, which I definitely plan to see, but have not seen yet. I have seen Argo, Lincoln, Django Unchained and Silver Linings Playbook.
Best Picture
Argo I think several other 2012 films were better than Argo, including The Dark Knight Rises, which wasn’t even nominated. But the support for other films seems to be fragmented so Argo has become the safe pick. I only gave Argo a 7/10 on IMDb. I thought it was a very solid film, but not great.
Best Director
Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
Best Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln. This is a sure bet. Can’t go any other way imo.
Best Actress
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty. I know I am going against the grain here. Jennifer Lawrence seems to have the momentum behind her, as well as the Weinstein PR machine. However, I Chastain has a real chance to upset. I like Lawrence a lot as an Actress, but I just didn’t think her performance in SPL was Oscar worthy. I thought JL’s Oscar nominated performance in Winter’s Bone was much more riveting. I think Chastain, while still young, is more than decade older than JL and has put in a lot more work as an actress and paid her dues in a way JL has not yet and I think the Academy may recognize that.
Best Supporting Actor
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln. My favorite for this award is Christoph Waltz for his performance in Django, but Waltz won this award just a few years ago so I think the Academy is going to favor Jones, who also turned in a strong performance. Jones is also a past winner of this award, but his previous win goes way back to The Fugitive, in 1993.
Best Supporting Actress
Anne Hathaway Almost as much of a sure bet as DDL for Best Actor.
Original Screenplay
Django Unchained
Adapted Screenplay
Lincoln
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