SB Nation User Blog: Phildopip

Off-Topic FanPost: 04/30/09

Phildopip — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:07:50 -0000

Now that Rock Band has released the six albums they announced last year, those of us who play the game are anxiously awaiting the next round of announcements. My excitement is somewhat tempered with the Rock Band: Beatles game coming out, but I'm still hopeful that Harmonix won't completely forget about their flagship game. This is a sample of albums I'd like to see come to Rock Band in the near future:

"Dirt" - Alice in Chains
"Pet Sounds" - Beach Boys
"Perfect From Now On" - Built to Spill
"Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" - The Flaming Lips
"Flight of the Conchords" - Flight of the Conchords
"You'd Prefer an Astronaut" - Hum
"Grace" - Jeff Buckley
"Are You Experienced" - The Jimi Hendrix Experience
"Greatest Hits" - Journey
"Hot Fuss" - The Killers
"Above" - Mad Season
"It Still Moves" - My Morning Jacket
"Twin Cinema" - The New Pornographers
"In Utero" - Nirvana
"Satellite Rides" - Old 97's
"Vs." - Pearl Jam
"Mer de Noms" - A Perfect Circle
"Animals" - Pink Floyd
"Rated R" - Queens of the Stone Age
"Murmur" - R.E.M.
"The Bends" - Radiohead
"Sweet Oblivion" - Screaming Trees
"Chutes Too Narrow" - The Shins
"( )" - Sigur Ros
"Greatest Hits" - Simon & Garfunkel
"Siamese Dream" - Smashing Pumpkins
"Badmotorfinger" - Soundgarden
"This is Spinal Tap" - Spinal Tap
"Temple of the Dog" - Temple of the Dog
"Tenacious D" - Tenacious D (minus the talky skits)
"Greatest Hits" - Tom Petty
"AEnima" - Tool
"Joshua Tree" - U2

I don't expect any of these to happen. They'd either be too expensive (U2, Radiohead, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix), unattainable because of Warner Bros. vs. Music Games (Built to Spill), or just plain unpopular, but dammit I'd love to see some of these.

Any other thoughts? What would you like to see in Rock Band (if you play it)?

As usual, have at it. Oh, and, um, I can't believe that one thing happened in Lost last night. I did NOT see that coming.

Through four games, M's outfield defense as good as advertised

Phildopip — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:06:13 -0000

Baseball Analysts have a nice little write-up (and graph) on how the M's outfield defense has performed so far over the first four games of the season. Obviously, small sample size caveats apply.

There have been 40 balls in play to Seattle's outfield so far and the average outfield makes 21.75 outs. The Mariners made 25 outs. They are 3.25 outs above average just four games into the season (how many over Raul?).

I'm excited to see how much coverage and recognition the M's outfield defense has been getting early in the season. And, holy shit, I can't wait for Ichiro to return and we can see this outfield at full strength.

OTFPOTD 2/27/09 - They say it's your birthday

Phildopip — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:34:52 -0000

If today is your birthday, you share it with many important folks:

Chilli from the "R&B" group TLC
Tony Gonzalez, Tight End for the Kansas City Chiefs (sorry NOLA)
Matt Stairs
Adam Baldwin, awesome actor
James Worthy, former NBA player...loved those glasses, man
Neal Schon, guitarist for the band Journey...DON'T STOP BELIEVIN'!
[a political figure]
Liz Taylor
John Steinbeck, writer
Constantine I

Additionally, some very important things happened on this day:

1974 - People magazine first published
1951 - 22nd Amendment to the Constitution is ratified
1844 - Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti...yay Beltre!

In news, Rock Band is releasing Stevie Ray Vaughan's eponymous "Texas Flood" as a full album on Tuesday. I've never cared for Stevie's music, but I may pick up "Pride and Joy". We'll see I guess.

Question:

1. What kind of bear is best?

2008 Football Outsiders Awards

Phildopip — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 21:53:22 -0000

The good folks over at Football Outsiders posted the results of their Annual Awards. I urge all of you go mosey on over there and check out the results.

The Seahawks cleaned up in a couple of categories, including most underrated offensive player, with John Carlson and Leonard Weaver coming in at #1 and #2 respectively; most underrated defensive player, with Brandon Mebane using his huge ass to crush the competition. He accounted for 30.5% of the total vote, with the #2 player (Asomugha) accounting for only 5.6%.

And, once again, Field Gulls takes home the prize for favorite team-specific website or blog. Congrats to John Morgan, Scruffy Lefty, the newcomers Doug Farrar, and abender20, and of course Shrug for making this website totally awesome.

Edit by John Morgan: Thanks everyone and special thanks to everyone who makes this community great. I'm taking my wife out to dinner.

2/4 OTFPOTD: The 'How To' Edition

Phildopip — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 16:39:34 -0000

Ever wondered, "How can I be hot?" Now you can find out.

Ever wondered, "How can I limit my alcohol intake?" Now you can find out.

Ever wondered, "How can I be on MTV's 'Grind'?" Now you can find out.

Ever wondered, "How can I draw a Manga dog?" Now you can find out.

And now for something compelely different: Best Buy is offering an exclusive deal that if you preorder the re-issue of Pearl Jam's iconic album "Ten", you will receive a redeemable code to download live versions of "Brother", "Alive" and "State of Love and Trust" for Rock Band for free. Does anybody know if these tracks will be available for purchase through the Rock Band store, or if you'll only be able to get these tracks if you preorder the actual album from Best Buy? If a preorder is required, I may have to go back on my boycot of Best Buy, dammit. "State of Love and Trust" is one of my favorite Pearl Jam tunes, and to sing it in Rock Band would be otherworldly.

1/29 OTFPOTD - More evidence that SportsCenter sucks edition

Phildopip — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:31:11 -0000

I was watching SportsCenter this morning while eating breakfast (as I normally do...because, really, what else is on at 6:45 in the morning?) And according to Josh Elliot, Aaron Heilman was traded to the Cubs from the Mets for two players. Seriously, WTF? Is it that hard to look at the transaction reports? Isn't that their job?

It reminds me of the Incredibad song "Ka-Blamo". And I quote:

When you're mining for coal and you forget what coal is. And you're sure to be fired because THAT'S YOUR JOB.

OTFPOTD: 1/8/09 - And Now For Something Completely Different...

Phildopip — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:34:02 -0000

The first concrete details for the upcoming tactical shooter Aliens: Colonial Marines have been released. I was a little concerned when this game was announced because I really didn't want them to mess it up. But after reading that article, I'm definitely cautiously optimistic.

The Positives:

Developed by Gearbox (Counter-Strike, Brothers in Arms series)
Looks like a good team of writers
Episodic game
Looks like the game creates good variety by having the player switch between the different members of the squad for each mission

The Negative:

Quick-Time Events. It looks like they're trying to handle the quick-time events in a reasonable way, but I'm generally not a fan of them.

And...for those of you who aren't into video games...umm...err...yeah, I got nuthin'.

Video Review - 2008 Season

Phildopip — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 23:10:45 -0000

This is a themed post. Since I just got finished watching Freaks & Geeks, I just had to post some videos from that show here. And also, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is the best show on TV right now. To the videos!

I was pumped for this season. I think we all were:

But the season started with a dud:

I think we were all a little confused as to what was going on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ-Bk0F5be8 (sorry, no embedding for this video)

And it didn't get any better the next week:

But a win versus St. Louis had us thinking that the team was back on track, and maybe, just maybe, we could make the playoffs:

But it soon became apparent that the Seahawks weren't in contention, and it was time to get drunk:

Soon we all became numb to losing:

But then the anger started to build: The irrational anger that one feels when faced with a lost season.

Then embarrassment:

Then insanity:

However, we realized that sometimes good comes from the bad. The chance at drafting a franchise player in this upcoming draft has us excited. You have to take the good with the bad:

Here's looking to 2009:

OTPFOTD: 12/17 - Jump the Shark Edition

Phildopip — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:42:32 -0000

It appears that the Office is going to jump the shark for the episode after the Super Bowl. Jack Black and Jessica Alba? Uuuuuuughhh...To me, this is just the culmination of a slow, steady decline that started with the last episode of the third season.

So, my question to you is what are your favorite (?) jump the shark moments? I can think of a couple:

The original "jump the shark" on "Happy Days" where Fonzie actually jumps a shark.
Steve Urkel appears on the show "Step By Step" as, well, Steve Urkel.
Jay Sherman ("The Critic") appearing on "The Simpsons".

OTFPOTD: 12/15/08 - I'm Freezing My Ass Off Edition

Phildopip — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:43:06 -0000

Holy dumb fuck, even though it's ass-butt cold outside, there is a ray of warmth and awesomeness this morning. Harmonix announced that they have reached an agreement with Pearl Jam to bring the album Ten, in its entirety, to Rock Band.

Excuse me, I need to go clean out my trousers now.

WARNING NSFW unless you have headphones.

So, yeah, how cold is it at your house right now, and how much snow did you get? We kinda got gypped down here in Vancouver, WA. Only a dusting of snow, while 7 or so miles south in Portland, OR they got 2 inches. Dammit. But, it is cold, and we're supposed to get more snow on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Yay storms!