Indian Wells Final 4

I know it's March Madness time, but there's another big American tournament going on, also with a single-elimination "knockout" bracket format.

This tourney has already reached the Final 4

I'm referring to the Masters Series (AMS) tourney in Indian Wells, CA, which is a 1-2 hr drive from Los Angeles. There are 9 AMS tourneys on the ATP tour, which are the "2nd tier" of tourneys after the top tier of the 4 grands slam tourneys (Wimbledon, French, US, Australian).

The tourney is wide open since Roger Federer aka Sportsman of the Decade, lost in the 1st Rd, Fed's first loss since Aug 07 WTF!

Without Fed, the Final 4 have a golden opportunity to win a "masters shield" and many ranking points. All 4 players are thorough, and 3 are from the rapidly improving young generation born in 86-87.

Today are the semifinal matches (with some nicknames, the last 2 guys don't have nicknames so I invented one for them)
#2 Rafael Nadal (ESP) aka Rafa aka The Raging Bull
v
#3 Andy Roddick (USA) (see photo above) aka A-Rod aka the American that many American tennis fans love to hate for no apparent reason

#12 Novak Djokovic (SRB) aka Young Djok
v
#13 Andy Murray (GBR) aka Great Scot

Natch I'm rooting for my fellow American A-Rod.

I predict it will be an A-Rod v Murray final, with A-Rod taking home the hardware "shield" as IW Champion

Radio Locator

The site Radio Locator is a search engine for regular "terrestrial" (eg old school plain vanilla radio) stations that stream their signal on the internets. You can search by zip code to see the list of your local stations that have internets streams. You can also search by country.

article - philosophizin' about old rap vs current rap

interesting article "How To Save Old Rap Music Without Declaring Hip-Hop Dead"

Rosie Perez involvement in the Nas v Jay-Z battle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MB7BI5m3Tw
Props to nahright for the link

Rosie Perez details her involvement in the Nas v Jay-Z battle of the early 2000s, including getting mentioned on Jay's "Blueprint 2". Quite funny & interesting shiz.

Of course said battle was one of the biggest "beefs" in rap history. Perhaps more importantly, it was the 1st "ethering" and sparked the introduction of the term ether , which of course now is one of the most widely used slang terms, on the internets or even in "real life".

BTW Ms. Perez is still a beauty at 40+, word to Monica Bellucci & Janet Jackson

St. Patrick's Day PSA

Props to the homie I Fux, who has a PSA about St. Patrick's Day, & drinking & driving

Drinking & driving is bad m'k (c) South Park teacher

Choose 1 or more of these several options to avoid drinking & driving
1 If you're at a friend's house, sleep on the floor & drive home 5 hrs later in the morning sober
2 take a cab
3 take a nap in your car for 2 hrs to sober up
4 listen to 2 albums while chilling in your car. In this age of the IPod, that shouldn't be boring.

BTW St. Patrick's Day is in honor of an Irish Bishop & missionary who evangelized many Irish pagans to convert to Christianity. I would've guessed that dude was martyred or imprisoned by his enemies, but no he supposedly died in 493 naturally at the age of 120!

So if you can inspire a holiday that gives folks an excuse to drink, you will be revered 1.5 millenniums after you die. WTF!

Josephine Baker

I was reading a Bol article about how Angelina Jolie is adopting a ridic amount of kids, in a "diversified portfolio" manner from across the globe.

The commenter "josephine baker > angelina jolie" points out that Ms. Baker (RIP) is the mother of this "globalized diversified mass adoption" steez. In other words (no Gee Dubbz Bush) Jolie ain't doing nothing new but biting Baker.

Naturally I had to ref the great wikipedia about Baker, where I learned Baker was a

1 An American woman of indigenous American (Apalachee) & African ancestry

2 a beauty (check the photo). I think she could hang with the top tier of modern day acknowledged American beauties such as Beyonce or J-Lo

3 a stand-up individual. Baker worked in the civil rights movement. One specific action she took was forcing some of her concert promoters to have her show be open to anyone (no segregation), or she would refuse to sing at the concert.

Little Brother "And Justus For All"

Download this legally free Little Brother mixtape album "And Justus For All"

This may end up being the BEST album of 2007, and certainly a YE Top10er. For more details, read my RYM review , or better yet just listen to it and see for yourself.

new music trend - the legally free album

There's a new trend of music, of artists making an album that is legally free and available on the internet, as a compressed (.rar or .zip) file of mp3 tracks.

I believe this trend had already started, but was accelerated by the Jan 2007 arrest of the highest-selling mixtape DJ, DJ Drama

I hope this trend takes gains steam. What better way to sample new music than a free album on the internet? Thus far some "established" artists have made such albums. It's great opportunity for an artist to do a side project album without all the legal hassles & sample clearing that "regular" albums require. Many old rap albums from the early 90s & before sampled many legends like James Brown & Miles Davis - nowadays that's impossible due to strong sample laws. The free album makes any sampling or "mash ups" possible.

The free album trend might be even better for unheard of "myspace" artists. Such an artist already has 4 songs on myspace, so why not make an Illmatic length, 10 song, no filler album downloadable of your website or myspace. If it's really strong, at least a few of the folks will buy your "real album" or go to your concert.

Any of yall have some excellent "legally free albums" to recommend? If so, hit up the comments.

futbol - English league debating using penalty shootout to resolve ties

fwd - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/6453311.stm

The current scheme in the English Premier League (EPL), is the FIFA international standard for points
3 - win
1 - tie
0 - loss

The EPL is considering having a penalty shootout to resolve ties & give 1 extra point to the shootout winner, while the loser would still have their 1 point.

comedy - listen to Tony Toni Tone "If I Had No Loot"

I was listening to Tony^3 "If I Had No Loot", I realized on the chorus they sample Ice Cube rapping "And you can new jack SWING on my NUTS". Back in the day like 93 when the song came out I never knew WTF what said there nor that it was Cube being sampled.

Ahh, what a fine example of sneaking obscenities into a song that gets mad pop radio play. Prolly even today that song gets played on "best of the 90s & today" KS95-type stations

The only other example I can recall of this phenomenon is when Sugar Ray "I Just Wanna Fly" had Supercat on the chorus adlibbing some Jamaican-steez english which I'm not certain but I think included some n-bombs.

How do I embed a youtube in a blogspot post?

Allow me a dumb question:

How do I embed a youtube in a blogspot post?

Holla at me in the comments. Thx in advance

"When's The Idea Primary" article

fwd - "When's The Idea Primary" article
http://www.tompaine.com/print/whens_the_idea_primary.php

This is an article from "The Nation" magazine. The author Borosage makes a great point that the
1 media is not covering the actual policies of the leading Dem Pres candidates - Obama, H Clinton, Edwards. They are focused on the "horse race" aspect of who leads in polls, and verbal disses from random supporters.
2 Even worse, the candidates themselves are NOT focusing on policy. Instead their opting to be very generic on many issues

Aside from getting more specific policies, I'd also love to see a "resume comparison" of the different candidates. Off hand it seems Richardson has an incredible resume. However I don't really know if he sons everyone else Dem & Repub, or if there are others also on his level experience-wise.

Does anyone know of a site where they reasonably/objectively describe the 08 Pres candidates (both Dem & Repub)
1 policies
2 "resume"/work experience

If so, pls enlighten me in the comments.

I mean there are tons of political sites such as dailykos.com that break down minutiae like the 08 Senate race in Idaho. WTF? And the MSM (mainstream media) like cnn.com focuses mainly on the horse race aspect, and are a big problem themselves by implying only a few big money candidates are viable by ignoring the Richardsons/Dodds/Huckabees/Hagels out there.

NCAA 2007 Picks

NCAA 2007 Picks

Note - I haven't watch one NCAA game this season. The only player I know of is the last host country champion of the French Open, Yannick Noah, has a son Joachim that plays for Florida. Otherwise I have no frickin clue.

But of course, in these brackets, knowledge seems to have no relation to success. 8-year old daughters routinely son college hoop nerd experts in office pools, so WTF.

My alma matter Iowa State & my hometown U of Minnesota didn't even make "the big dance", so really I have "no dog in this fight".

The closest "dog in this fight" I have then are my folks' alma matter Purdue, & my mom's hometown Louisville. I also am down with the "Zags" (Gonzaga) since they were the last real small school underdog I recall doing big damage & making the Final 4.

Big picture on my picks: I got Kansas, Florida, Memphis, & North Carolina making the Final 4. In the final I got Kansas beating UNC.


Team info (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_NCAA_Men%27s_Division_I_Basketball_Tournament)

Key: rank, school, conference, won-loss record, TC (tournament champion)/ RC (regular season champion)/ AL (at-large bid)


WEST @ San Jose, CA
#1 Kansas Big 12 30-4 TC
#2 UCLA Pac-10 26-5 AL
#3 Pittsburgh Big East 27-7 AL
#4 Southern Illinois Missouri Valley 27-6 AL
#5 Virginia Tech ACC 21-11 AL
#6 Duke ACC 22-10 AL
#7 Indiana Big Ten 20-10 AL
#8 Kentucky SEC 21-11 AL
#9 Villanova Big East 22-10 AL
#10 Gonzaga WCC 23-10 TC
#11 Virginia Commonwealth CAA 27-6 TC
#12 Illinois Big Ten 23-11 AL
#13 Holy Cross Patriot 25-8 TC
#14 Wright State Horizon 23-9 TC
#15 Weber State Big Sky 20-11 TC
#16 Niagara MAAC 22-11 TC

R64
1 Kansas 16 Niagara KANSAS
8 Kentucky 9 Villanova VILLANOVA
5 Virginia Tech 12 Illinois ILLINOIS
4 Southern Illinois 13 Holy Cross HOLY CROSS
6 Duke 11 Virginia Commonwealth DUKE
3 Pittsburgh 14 Wright State PITTSBURGH
7 Indiana 10 Gonzaga GONZAGA
2 UCLA 15 Weber State UCLA

R32
1 Kansas 9 Villanova KANSAS
12 Illinois 13 Holy Cross ILLINOIS
6 Duke 3 Pittsburgh DUKE
10 Gonzaga 2 UCLA GONZAGA

R16
1 Kansas 12 Illinois KANSAS
6 Duke 10 Gonzaga GONZAGA

QF
1 Kansas 10 Gonzaga KANSAS



MIDWEST @ St. Louis, MO
#1 Florida SEC 29-5 TC
#2 Wisconsin Big Ten 29-5 AL
#3 Oregon Pac-10 26-7 TC
#4 Maryland ACC 24-8 AL
#5 Butler Horizon 27-6 AL
#6 Notre Dame Big East 24-7 AL
#7 UNLV Mountain West 28-6 TC
#8 Arizona Pac-10 20-10 AL
#9 Purdue Big Ten 21-11 AL
#10 Georgia Tech ACC 20-11 AL
#11 Winthrop Big South 28-4 TC
#12 Old Dominion CAA 24-8 AL
#13 Davidson Southern 29-4 TC
#14 Miami Ohio Mid-American 18-14 TC
#15 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Southland 26-6 TC
#16 Jackson State SWAC 21-13

R64
1 Florida 16 Jackson State FLORIDA
8 Arizona 9 Purdue PURDUE
5 Butler 12 Old Dominion BUTLER
4 Maryland 13 Davidson MARYLAND
6 Notre Dame 11 Winthrop WINTHROP
3 Oregon 14 Miami Ohio OREGON
7 UNLV 10 Georgia Tech GEORGIA TECH
2 Wisconsin 15 Texas A&M CC WISCONSIN

R32
1 Florida 9 Purdue FLORIDA
5 Butler 4 Maryland MARYLAND
11 Winthrop 3 Oregon OREGON
10 Georgia Tech 2 Wisconsin WISCONSIN

R16
1 Florida 4 Maryland FLORIDA
3 Oregon 2 Wisconsin OREGON

QF
1 Florida 3 Oregon FLORIDA



SOUTH @ San Antonio, TX
#1 Ohio State Big Ten 30-3 TC
#2 Memphis C-USA 30-3 TC
#3 Texas A&M Big 12 25-6 AL
#4 Virginia ACC 20-10 AL
#5 Tennessee SEC 22-10 AL
#6 Louisville Big East 23-9 AL
#7 Nevada WAC 28-4 AL
#8 Brigham Young Mountain West 25-8 AL
#9 Xavier Atlantic 10 24-8 AL
#10 Creighton Missouri Valley 22-10 TC
#11 Stanford Pac-10 18-12 AL
#12 Long Beach State Big West 24-7 TC
#13 Albany America East 23-9 TC
#14 Penn Ivy 22-8 RC
#15 North Texas Sun Belt 23-10 TC
#16 Central Connecticut State Northeast 22-11 TC

R64
1 Ohio State 16 Central Connecticut State OHIO STATE
8 Brigham Young 9 Xavier XAVIER
5 Tennessee 12 Long Beach State LONG BEACH STATE
4 Virginia 13 Albany VIRGINIA
6 Louisville 11 Stanford LOUISVILLE
3 Texas A&M 14 Penn PENN
7 Nevada 10 Creighton NEVADA
2 Memphis 15 North Texas MEMPHIS

R32
1 Ohio State 9 Xavier OHIO STATE
12 Long Beach State 4 Virginia LONG BEACH STATE
6 Louisville 14 Penn LOUISVILLE
7 Nevada 2 Memphis MEMPHIS

R16
1 Ohio State 12 Long Beach State OHIO STATE
6 Louisville 2 Memphis MEMPHIS

QF
1 Ohio State 2 Memphis MEMPHIS



EAST @ East Rutherford, NJ
#1 North Carolina ACC 28-6 TC
#2 Georgetown Big East 26-6 TC
#3 Washington State Pac-10 25-7 AL
#4 Texas Big 12 24-9 AL
#5 Southern California Pac-10 23-11 AL
#6 Vanderbilt SEC 20-11 AL
#7 Boston College ACC 20-11 AL
#8 Marquette Big East 24-9 AL
#9 Michigan State Big Ten 22-11 AL
#10 Texas Tech Big 12 21-12 AL
#11 George Washington Atlantic 10 23-8 TC
#12 Arkansas SEC 21-13 AL
#13 New Mexico State WAC 25-8 TC
#14 Oral Roberts Mid-Continent 23-10 TC
#15 Belmont Atlantic Sun 23-9 TC
#16 Eastern Kentucky Ohio Valley 21-11 TC

R64
1 North Carolina 16 Eastern Kentucky NORTH CAROLINA
8 Marquette 9 Michigan State MICHIGAN STATE
5 Southern California 13 New Mexico State NEW MEXICO STATE
4 Texas 12 Arkansas TEXAS
6 Vanderbilt 11 George Washington GEORGE WASHINGTON
3 Washington State 14 Oral Roberts WASHINGTON STATE
7 Boston College 10 Texas Tech BOSTON COLLEGE
2 Georgetown 15 Belmont GEORGETOWN

R32
1 North Carolina 9 Michigan State NORTH CAROLINA
13 New Mexico State 4 Texas NEW MEXICO STATE
11 George Washington 3 Washington State GEORGE WASHINGTON
7 Boston College 2 Georgetown GEORGETOWN

R16
1 North Carolina 13 New Mexico State NORTH CAROLINA
11 George Washington 2 Georgetown GEORGETOWN

QF
1 North Carolina 2 Georgetown NORTH CAROLINA




FINAL FOUR @ Georgia Dome (Atlanta, GA)

SF
1 Kansas 1 Florida KANSAS
2 Memphis 1 North Carolina NORTH CAROLINA

F
Kansas North Carolina KANSAS

Hello

Hello! I've decided to create a blogspot site as a way of forwarding interesting articles or news, as well as a share my own ideas. I've been using e-mail in the past, a "push" method. Hopefully this "pull" method of blogspot will be better for both myself, and my friends whose e-mail inboxes I've spammed.

Cheers

elgringocolombiano