Two America's Got Talent Blunders

America's Got Talent is a great show that I have been heavily watching the last couple of years. The round of 48 has been going on in Las Angeles and some acts have wowed the judges and some have been quite disappointing. Big surprise, but Chipps Cooney was one of the awful acts to advance. Let's not forget that Cooney advanced over the amazingly talented Michael Grasso, but something tells me that Howie Mandel is somehow throwing off the competition as I feel like more legitimate contenders advanced when David Hasselhoff judged. Anyways, there are two acts that I think deserved to make it to through to the Semi-Finals who did not: Hannibal Means and CJ Dippa.

I cannot fault the judges for either of these acts as the audience decided and somehow voted in such a way that these two acts did not even finish in the top five in the voting in their heat of 48.

Hannibal Means: I will be the first to admit, I was not too thrilled when I saw he made it past Vegas to LA, just thinking he couldn't do much with his quirky deliverance of vocals and percussion. His audition was ok, but I just did not see him possibly being able to light up the stage. I was glad I was wrong on this one as when he brought his act on the big stage he was truly spectacular as he not only delivered great vocals but truly provided a spectacle. I am normally not a big fan of singing acts (with the exception of Susan Boyle's on BGT), but Hannibal Mean's LA performance was spectacular as he had so much going on and is a pleasure to watch. What I think really made it for him in my opinion was his song choice of the Circle of Life was perfect as it was one he was able to deliver so well and his spiritual high-energy nature along with his props fit the mold perfectly. It is entertaining and something that I think deserves to be on Broadway. Here is the video of his LA performance:



CJ Dippa: CJ is a child rapper who can dance and writes his own lyrics. The fact that CJ Dippa did not get voted to advance absolutely shocks me as I thought he was one of the most talented acts in the competition and he is only 11...this being the case I felt as if he was sure to win the hearts of the American viewers at home. Granted he was in a really tough group of 12 which made it especially hard to advance; however, I still am shocked that he was not considered one of the best. If personality means anything in the competition, his should have given him the extra step to go through:

Kelly Johnson Hits for Cycle but Dbacks Still Fall Short

Last night the Diamondbacks faced the San Francisco Giants and once again, dbacks fans were crushed with another defeat. The Diamondbacks lost 7-4 thanks to poor pitching and errors in the top of the seventh. The one sparkle on the Diamondbacks end was Kelley Johnson who went 4-4 hitting for the cycle. Kelley Johnson was some how or another responsible for all three runs as he got 3RBIs and 2Runs. Unfortunately, this was not enough for the Diamondbacks to win. The fireworks after the game were nice and Johnson's amazing accomplishment was spectacular, but it would be nice to accompany it with a Diamondback's victory.

Notable Performances:
Kelly Johnson: 4-4, 2B, 3B, HR, CYCLE, 2R, 3RBI, HBP
Aubrey Huff: 3-5, 2HR, 2R, 3RBI

Loser of the Game:
Edwin Jackson: 6IP, 8H, 6R, 4ER, 2BB, 4Ks, 2HR, 2 Errors

Woohoo! Diamondbacks Sweep Mets

Tonight the Diamondbacks concluded a sweep against the New York Mets in fourteen innings. This game was excruciatingly long, but it was well worth watching as in the end the Diamondbacks got their first sweep since August of 2009…man last time that happened I was still awaiting my senior year of college. The game featured some unlikely stars as the bullpen went eight scoreless innings which allowed the Diamondbacks to be victorious 4-3. The bottom of the fourteenth was spectacular with a leadoff double by Justin Upton, an intentional walk to Montero and after an out by Reynolds a deep double by Snyder driving in the winning run.

Game Review of Perfect Balance 3

Rating: 3/5

Perfect Balance 3 is a simple puzzle game where the object is to balance a bunch of shapes in a stage filled with gadgets and other shapes. The goal is to prevent the shapes from falling in pits (not balancing) in which case you must start the stage over again. While the game is extremely simple, it can get quite addicting as a player may notice themselves wanting to retry a stage after getting "close" the time before. One nice feature of this game is that after you complete a level you have the option of trying to balance additional tiles in an attempt to score bonus points. However, the quality features ends there. The game is equipped with a map editor, but unfortunately the editor is so poor and hard to customize that it is a drag trying to create a unique level. For example, in order to place an object in the editor you must scroll through every single object one-by-one just to find the object you like; it is a waste of time if you ask me. People do not play games for their sound and graphics but sometimes great visual and audio effects can be a nice addition to a game with good gameplay. Unfortunately, Perfect Balance 3 will not be scoring very high marks in these departments. Overall, the game is addicting but less then stellar which is why I give it a rating of 3 out of 5.

Bumper Stickers

This one reminisces of the great times I had while in college that I will deeply miss.

A bumper sticker never written: "The less hard you try, the easier it is."

Second Half - Much of the Same

The All-Star break occurs slightly beyond the halfway mark in a Major League Baseball season and provides a breather for teams to gather the strength that may have been lacking previously. One team that needed to kick it into high gear was the Diamondbacks hoping for a fresh start after the break. Unfortunately, tonight was a big league disappointment as the Diamondbacks got demolished by division rival, the San Diego Padres. The Diamondbacks were awful from both sides of the mound tonight as they lost 12-1. Dan Haren had subpar stuff, the bats were not hammering in any runs, and most importantly, the bullpen struggled mightily. It has become clear that the issue with the Diamondbacks is within the players of the organization who have been out of funk for the last two years. The problem is not managerial as neither AJ Hinch nor Kirk Gibson have been able to spur life into this team...if only the Diamondbacks could rewind time and keep Bob Melvin as a manager.

This 12-1 loss was brutal, but if there was something to take positive out of this game...and trust me you wont see this coming...it is reliever Blaine Boyer. This may sound crazy from looking at the box score which accurately shows him giving up 5 hits and 2 earned runs in one and one-third inning; however, Boyer seems to have the right material to finally become a solid reliever. His fastball topped at 97MPH today and it seems to have a unique rotation to it that if he can locate it, it can be deadly. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Boyer got four infield punches in a row. Unfortunately, two were infield hits, this is not that bad of a sign unlike the long balls that struggling pitchers are thrown to give up.

No loser of the game...I am going to change the pace tonight. I know all losses are "team losses" but this one couldn't be closer to that mark.

Last Comic Standing - The Finals...who will it be

Season 7 of Last Comic Standing has been running every week on Mondays for six weeks now. Yesterday was the Finals of Last Comic Standing in which the 10 top comics as voted by the judges in previous weeks each performed a bit to win over America's votes. There were some comics who outperformed and others who you would question how they even made it to the finals if you had not seen their previous performances.

In the field of 10, these are the four that I particularly liked and would like to see move on:
*Mike DeStefano: To be completely honest, I was not crazy about his audition nor semifinal performance. He was one of the characters that I was in some sense upset to see make it to the finals. His shouting and biting delivery annoyed me. I thought the judges voted for him because they felt more threatened by him than amazed. However, his Finals performance was exceedingly impressive and while he may have a tough exterior he also showed to be an extremely good comic.

*Tommy Johnagin: This guy is hilarious, he takes ordinary situations that people would not think twice about and makes them funny. While his semifinal performance was good, his final performance was great.

*Myq Kaplan: His on-the-fly wit is outstanding and is someone I would expect to go far in the competition. He is able to throw a mix of self-deprecating humor and self-praising humor in such a way that is strangely funny.

*Roy Wood Jr: So far he has my vote as the funniest comic in the competition. He is able to bring up joke patterns in his routines that really holds the audiences' attention. Ok...so what I just may not have made much sense although hopefully you see what I am trying to say after watching a few of his performances. He has original humor that is hard to top.

While all of these comics were impressive last night, I voted for Roy Wood Jr. and Myq Kaplan because I thought they were the best of the best. Nonetheless, I would love to see all four of these comics advance.

Here is the NBC link to watch full episodes of this season's Last Comic Standing:
http://www.nbc.com/last-comic-standing/video/categories/season-7/1217729/

The Fail Report: Subway Breakfast

The last month or so I have been hearing Subway advertisements rave about their new fresh breakfasts that may be served on an English muffin or flatbread. I love Subway sandwiches and you certainly cannot beat the price for a fresh footlong sandwich for lunch or dinner, but their breakfast is far less than stellar. Subway really got it wrong with breakfast as quite frankly precooked egg sitting in a tray with all the veggies quite frankly does not look appetizing. I still gave breakfast a shot, but after this unpleasant experience I can say that Subway really got it wrong with breakfast. Even though the price is reasonable, I think I would rather have an Egg McMuffin from McDonalds, a food chain which I hate, over any of the Subway breakfast items. I love Subway and I may even consider making it at 7am opening, but if I do I certainly will not have anything off the breakfast menu but rather a tasty sub that will not contain egg.

America's Got Talent Loses Respect

America's Got Talent is a great show, but these cuts that America's Got Talent have made for the round of 48 are very poor and makes me question the judging with new judge Howie Mandel in the panel. This past week has allowed some really awful acts get put through at the expense of excellent acts other than the magician fiasco that I mentioned in a previous post.



This above act makes it because it is "so bad its funny" while genuinely talented acts like the homeless veteran singers do not make it. Do not get me wrong I do not evaluate acts based on how inspirational they are and I personally hate how emotions take a role in talent competition. That being said New Direction Homeless Choir certainly has talent and deserves to go to Las Angeles. I thought their Vegas performance was better than their audition but I could not find it on YouTube. Below is their audition, which made it to Vegas but didn't get to go to LA while Ronith and other weak acts did make it.



The good news, is that many good acts are still in the competition such as Future Funk and Fighting Gravity which were my two favorite acts going into Vegas.

James Decision Evaluation

Early today Lebron James chose to play for the Miami Heat and join Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade to hopefully win some NBA titles. One of the toughest things as a professional athlete of Lebron James' stature is that it is impossible to please everyone and every professional move you make is bound to be criticized one way or another. This decision is far from an exception. The fans in Cleveland are distraught while the city of Miami will be celebrating all night. Some Cleveland fans have taken the news better than others. One particularly poor sport about Lebron's decision is Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert who has said that Lebron will be cursed and that the Cavaliers without Lebron will win a championship before Lebron does with Miami.

We've all heard the hype...we now know the decision...some are crushed and some elated.

As a basketball fan neutral (no emotional feelings) to this situation as a Phoenix Suns fan which was not even an issue for James, I am going to try to do my best and be as objective as possible to rate Lebron's move. I give it a B+.

First, I think Lebron should have stayed in Cleveland if he was going to build this event up like he did. By the time the event started 47 states out of 50 already knew where Lebron would land, and the states of Ohio, New York and Illinois were simply being overly optimistic. Lebron James building the event the way he did only to tell the nation that he would be leaving his home town was a bit tough to deal with for Cleveland fans all of whom were forced to watch the special and very minute of his announcement in anticipation to hear him "officially" announce. I understand Cleveland's frustration with the way he handled himself which is why I cannot give Lebron an A for the decision he made. Nonetheless, Lebron reasonably stated that he could not make an emotional decision but rather a decision that was best for him. I think Lebron should have worked in Cleveland to bring the pieces together and give the city of Cleveland its first sports championship in almost four decades. However, Lebron wanted to go somewhere that he would have the most fun and have the best shot of winning a championship.

I understand why James left Cleveland. After all, James, Wade, and Bosh are all buddies who all came out in the first five picks of the 2003 NBA draft. Is it a coincidence that their contracts all expired in during the exact same year? Perhaps not. This was a dream team that seemed unlikely but given the opportunity was something the players simply could not pass up. Lebron certainly will enjoy his time working with two stars in Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh; however, from a winning championships standpoint, he may have had a better chance to win in Chicago where the pieces were already catered to Lebron with young talent such as Derek Rose and Joakim Noah along with newly acquired veteran Carlos Boozer. Unlike in Miami, the Chicago Bulls would not have to get a fresh new roster to sign Lebron whereas Miami will have to acquire a lot of newcomers.

Lebron grew up his entire life in Chicago and was the face of Ohio with a huge following. It is tough to see him leave after getting so close to a championship and diminishing the little glimmer of hope Cleveland had for a city that really needed it. Even as a non-Cleveland fan I will find it tough to root for Lebron James and the Miami Heat. However, this Heat team will certainly be fun to watch as any sports fan has to be curious how this new squad will pan out. While Lebron certainly did not handle the situation ideally, you certainly cannot put that much blame on Lebron. After all, I genuinely believe his decision was not one to ditch Cleveland as much as it was one to join Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh.

Lebron Chooses Miami

Minutes ago Lebron James states on national television that he would play next year for the Miami Heat an join Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh.

My Rating: B+

I initially gave this a B but I am going to bump it up to a B+ after having better knowledge of the situation and the reasoning behind Lebron's choice. I will fully evaluate this decision later tonight...but finally the anticipation behind his decision is over.

America's Got Talent Cuts Made for LA

Last night on NBC America's Got Talent was in Las Vegas and cuts were made for the final 48 acts to make it to the next stage of the process in Las Angeles. A lot of good acts went through, but a few acts did not make it. One magician that did not make it past Vegas is Michael Grasso who performed with the other magicians in Vegas doing several slight-of-hand tricks. This is a contrast from what Grasso did in his audition which was a quick change magic act that is extremely impressive. I honestly believe Grasso was the best magician in the competition and it is unfortunate that the judges could not appreciate his slight-of-hand magic. Even if his performance in Vegas was not as impressive, what really annoys me is that bad acts were put through to LA while Grasso gets a ticket home. For example, Mary Ellen who has a great personality but not nearly enough talent to get put through to LA as well as comedic magician Chipps Cooney. Where is Simon Cowell when you need him? He would have preserved the sactity of the show and weeded out these people who do not have talent.

Here is Grasso's audition:


Not bad eh?

Amare Stoudemire Now a Knick

Well, I am a huge Suns fan and I hate to see Stoudemire. He has done great things in Phoenix and is worth every bit the New York Knicks are paying him. It would have been nice if he stayed with the Suns especially with Nash and Hill in their final years in the NBA, but I guess I cannot entirely blame Stoudemire for leaving and going where the money was. However, with Amare gone it seems like the Suns will be able to sign a pretty good player now that they have millions to spare. I am still optimistic that the Suns may still be able to make another run.

Happy 4th of July!

The Diamondbacks lost today despite Dan Haren's outstanding performance. It was still fun to go to Chase Field to watch the game despite losing 1-3 with our struggling offense and horrendous relief effort.

More importantly, it was a nice 4th of July as I got to see fireworks this time and use for the first time my camera that I recently purchased.

I hope 4th of July was great for everyone!

Diamondbacks Blown Out

Kirk Gibson's second game as manager was a "test of character" according to Gibson after the game. Unlike the first, the Diamondbacks got blown out this game and Gibson is now stressing that "we need to bounce back." Go figure this would be his mantra after the game; however, it seems a little different coming from Gibson and hopefully the Diamondbacks truly can rebound. Several things were all out sloppy about this 14-1 Diamondbacks defeat. The pitching certainly was poor, but it did not help that the Diamondbacks committed 6 errors, which helped drive up the run total. Furthermore, in the second inning, the home plate umpire called a walk in the second inning off of 3 balls...Yes, not every day you see a 3-ball walk. In that same inning the Dodgers got an out by one base runner passing another.

Notable Performances:
James Loney: 3-4, BB, 2R
Clayton Kershaw: 5.2IP, 4H, 0ER, 8Ks

Loser of the Game:
Tony Abreu: 1-3, 3 strikeouts, 3 errors

Gibson is 1 for 1 as New Dbacks Manager

Former Dbacks Manager AJ Hinch was recently fired to be replaced by interim manager Kirk Gibson. Gibson is a former MLB baseball player who is an intimidating and tough figure who and attempt to bring some fire back into the Diamondbacks. Former Dodgers players have had success managing baseball teams and hopefully Gibson is no exception. Several former Dodgers are currently managing MLB teams, most notably Dusty Baker and Mike Scioscia. Of course, it's going to take a lot of work from Gibson and the team to put the Diamondbacks back on track as he manages one of the worst teams this year record-wise. Furthermore, the Diamondbacks have the worst bullpen ERA in baseball history, something that definitely needs to start heading the other direction.

Tonight the Diamondbacks won a game against division rival the LA Dodgers and this time around, the Diamondbacks showed strength as they routed the Dodgers 12-5. Kirk Gibson received his first win as a manager and now stands 1-0 managing the Dbacks. Edwin Jackson took the mound and was not impressive giving up four earned runs in five innings. Nonetheless, it was enough to get the win as the Diamondbacks scored twelve runs to annihilate the Dodgers.

Notable Performances:
Chris Young: 3-5, 3R, 5RBI, 2B, HR, SB
Miguel Montero: 2-3, 2R, 2RBI, 2B, BB

Loser of the Game:
Hiroki Kuroda: 1.2IP, 8H, 6ER, 2BB, 3Ks

Boston College Basketball Looking Good Once Again

The new Boston College basketball coach Steve Donahue, who was hired in April, makes leaps where others make steps. Just when it started to look grim for Boston College basketball which had only 7 returning scholarship players and all three of Skinners recruits ditching to go elsewhere, Donahue fights vigorously on the recruiting trail to get BC relevant again. Donahue's efforts have been explosive as not only has he been practicing hard to get BC energy up but he has been out far and wide recruiting. Now Donahue has six recruits under his belt all of whom have given solid verbals for playing basketball with Boston College. While only two of them will be able to play next year, this signals such a nice and quick rebound. Given the way things were looking, it is nice to know that Boston College can not only field a team this year, but a pretty good one that at least has some reserves on the bench.

Boston College has lost Rakim Sanders and Evan Ravanel who played last year but decided to transfer. Additionally, Papa Samba Ndao, Kevin Noreen and Brady Heslip were recruited by Skinner to play for BC in 2010 but decided to get releases to play for another school due to the coaching change. It's their loss...I may not have ever played basketball at Boston College (although I have gone to the games as an intense Superfan), but I can say for certain that BC is an awesome school and after graduating in May I already wish I was still there.

However, there will be at least six new Eagles coming within the next couple of years and hopefully more to come as Donahue is able to shore up some great prospects to play for BC. Two new players for BC are transfers Matthew Humphrey (Oregon) and Travis Taylor (Monmouth). Because they have transferred, both of these players will not be eligible to play until the 2011-2012 season. Nonetheless, after a year of sitting out and working with BC they should be able to easily adapt to Donahue's system and be explosive players for us in 2011 alongside Reggie Jackson and Dallas Elmore. However, two players Donahue recruited who will be able to play immediately in 2010 are Danny Rubin and Gabriel Moton. While neither player are highly ranked recruits, both players add some much-needed depth to the Eagle's roster. We don't know how well these guys can hang in the ACC, but both are Division 1 players and who knows keep in mind Jared Dudley was not a highly ranked recruit either. Donahue showed interested in both these guys at Cornell so they will likely fit into his system quite well, and with Donahue practicing hard with the players these guys could be very strong members of the team and prove to the high-major schools that they deserved another look. Finally, Donahue already has verbal commitments from two players for 2011: Eddie Odio and Dennis Clifford.

Let's keep in mind that BC's top three scorers from last year will be returning with the Eagles and are likely to improve under Donahue. Now with a couple more players providing support off the bench, BC may be a strong team in the ACC. Donahue has shown himself to be a tough competitor as a coach as he was able to take Cornell to the Sweet Sixteen which was the first time an Ivy League team has made it to the round of sixteen since 1979. If he can do that recruiting out of the Ivy League with less-than-stellar recruits, it is promising that he could do much more with Boston College; however, only time will tell. As of now Donahue gets an A+ for effort as he seems to be working hard to take Boston College to greatness.

I know we have already seen some pretty cool stuff from Reggie Jackson, but this dunk is pretty impressive from Travis Taylor (transfer to BC).