The best day of the year is finally here! All baseball fans should agree on that. Today gives every fan the chance to see the new faces on their team, the familiar faces we enjoy watching season after season, and best of all, a clean slate. Every team is 0-0. No chance for heartbreak or frustration yet. Today is a celebration of baseball.
I am an avid Dodger fan and will make my way to Chavez Ravine in a few hours to take in batting practice and enjoy all the festivities. My dad, my sister, and I are regulars to Opening Day and this year my mom will finally be joining us. She's an accountant and Opening Day always falls during tax season so she usually can't break away from the office. But this year I got her and my dad tickets for their birthdays (greatest son ever) so she has to come :)
I will be documenting our day via my Facebook page and then will post on here later on to sum up our day. Stay tuned for that! But as for today...
The Dodgers take on the Hated Ones. For those non-Dodger fans, that is the San Francisco Giants. The defending World Series Champions. Still hurts to say that. One of the best rivalries in all of sports. If you've been to a Dodgers-Giants game, you know exactly what I'm talking about. The energy at these games is unbelievable.
My predicted starting lineup for today's game vs. Tim Lincecum (SF):
Dodgers vs. The Hated Ones (5:05 pm)
1. Rafael Furcal SS
2. Tony Gwynn Jr. LF
3. Andre Ethier RF
4. Matt "The Bison" Kemp CF
5. Juan Uribe 3B
6. James Loney 1B
7. Jamey Carroll 2B
8. Rod Barajas C
9. Clayton "Public Enemy No. 1" Kershaw P
I'm really looking forward to seeing how this lineup will fare against Lincecum. It's a really tough way to start the season, but the Giants are thinking the same thing. I expect (and hope for) a breakout season from Clayton Kershaw in 2011. If he pitches to his potential, he'll be in the Cy Young consideration by season's end. He needs to start off right today.
For those of you making your way to the game today, be safe! It's going to be wild at the Stadium and people can get out of control. See you at the game and Let's Go Dodgers! Think Blue.
In the first ever March Sweetness Tournament, Reese's Peanut Butter Cup has taken the crown as the best candy bar in the eyes of the people. RPBC was unavailable for comment, but was clearly overjoyed after the big win.
In honor of the big win, here's a cheesy 80's Reese's commercial. Enjoy and thanks for voting!
Reese's Peanut Butter Cup: RPBC finds itself in the big game after steamrolling Milky Way by a score of 19-1 and coasting past Baby Ruth 10-3, but faces its toughest competition to date. Will the chocolate and peanut buttery deliciousness be enough to fend off Snickers?
Snickers: Snickers took no prisoners on its way to the Championship, taking down Butterfinger (another mammoth of the candy bar world) 14-9 and then trouncing Kit-Kat 12-3. Can Snickers live up to the hype and take home the March Sweetness crown?
The stage is set and the final two bars are ready to go head-to-head for all the peanuts. Just like the rest of the games, the outcome of this one depends on your vote! Vote now and crown the champ!
Friday's result: Snickers def. Kit-Kat
Snickers coasts into tomorrow's Championship game after effortlessly beating Kit-Kat.
Today's matchup:
(2) Baby Ruth vs. (5) Reese's Peanut Butter Cup
Baby Ruth: BR finds itself one game away from a chance at the Crown after slipping past 3 Musketeers in the first round. It faces a much tougher opponent in Reese's.
Reese's Peanut Butter Cup: RPBC absolutely trounced Milky Way in the first round, taking 19 out of 20 votes. There is no doubt, this bar earned its place in the semi-final game, but Baby Ruth figures to put up more of a fight.
After a day-long delay, the last semi-final matchup is here. Todays winner will go on to face Snickers in the March Sweetness Championship tomorrow. You pick who will advance. Vote now!
Baby Ruth earns the right to face Reese's Peanut Butter Cup in the other semi-final matchup tomorrow.
Today's Matchup:
(6) Snickers vs (8) Kit-Kat
Snickers: Reaching the Final Four after a tough battle with Butterfinger, Snickers is once again the favorite to reach Sunday's Championship. However, it faces a deserving opponent in Kit-Kat.
Kit-Kat: After taking out the most experienced bar in the tournament, Kit-Kat looks to prove a point versus one of the giants in the game.
It's getting down to the nitty-gritty here in the March Sweetness Tournament. Snickers and Kit-Kat are fighting for a berth in the Championship Game, but only one can move on. It's up to YOU! Vote now!
As I sat in the cafeteria for 40 minutes before class, playing Angry Birds by myself like I was Stephen Glansberg (if you don't understand the reference, click the link), I was checking out my surroundings to see if the St. Patrick's Day spirit was in the air. Not to my surprise, there wasn't a whole lot of green being worn. The majority of Rio's enrollment is Hispanic so I didn't expect campus to be doused with green. There was a constant commotion at the table to my left and when I finally looked over, this is what I saw:
Nice. A green poncho. Is that corned beef and cabbage in that breakfast burrito? Just to clarify, wearing green does NOT make you Irish. And wearing a green poncho just makes you chuntier.
I wasn't shocked by this. I've seen stranger things at this school. I just felt that I had to document it.
Yesterday's result: Snickers def. Butterfinger
In the most anticipated matchup of the tournament thus far, Snickers edged out Butterfinger for the win and the chance to take on Kit-Kat in the Final Four.
Today's matchup:
(2) Baby Ruth vs (7) 3 Musketeers
Baby Ruth: Classic combo of peanuts, caramel, and nougat covered in chocolate. Despite the sponsorship from Major League Baseball and popular belief, the bar was not named after Yankees slugger Babe Ruth. In fact, it was named after President Grover Cleveland's daughter, Ruth.
3 Musketeers: I always wondered how the 3 Musketeers bar got its name and, because of the March Sweetness Tourney, now I know. Created in 1932, the bar originally consisted of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry flavored nougat (the 3 Musketeers). However, in 1945, the company dropped vanilla and strawberry to cut costs because of the war, giving us the single musketeer, chocolate nougat.
There you have it. The final game of the first round! Winner goes on to face Reese's Peanut Butter Cup in the Final Four. Vote now!
Yesterday's result: Reese's def. Milky Way
I will admit, it was a rough draw for old Milky Way, but WOW. I mean, that was an epic blowout. If it wasn't for a lone vote (or as Steve said, "someone with a peanut allergy"), Milky Way would have been completely shut out. Today's game figures to be much better than the previous two.
Today's matchup:
(3) Butterfinger vs. (6) Snickers
Butterfinger: This one is really tough to describe. The middle is a flaky, crispy deliciousness that tastes like peanut butter. But is it actually peanut butter? Regardless, BF comes from the streets of Chicago in 1923. It is the favorite candy bar of Bart Simpson.
Snickers: Roasted peanuts, check. Caramel, check. Peanut nougat, check. All covered in milk chocolate, check. The Snickers bar is the early favorite according to numerous sources (Jess), and possibly with good reason. The bar was actually named after the company owner's favorite race horse. This is not a surprise, considering Snickers is a thoroughbred in this competition.
The most anticipated first round matchup is here and I'm sure many of us are torn between these two delicious bars. However, only one can move on to the second round to take on Kit-Kat. Vote now!
Yesterday's result: Kit-Kat def. Hershey's Chocolate Bar
Today's Matchup:
(4) Milky Way vs. (5) Reese's Peanut Butter Cup
Milky Way: A classic blend of chocolate nougat and caramel covered in milk chocolate. Since its introduction in 1923, it has gone through many changes, but it always comes back to its original recipe. According to the bar's slogan, you can "find comfort in every bar".
Reese's Peanut Butter Cup: A controversial competitor in the tournament, considering the fact that it isn't a bar, Reese's Cups are looking to make a statement. Introduced in 1928, each cup consists of delicious peanut butter covered in milk chocolate, all in a nice wrapper so it doesn't stick to the paper inside. And wait, there's two! So nice, you have to eat it twice.
This shapes up to be a better matchup than yesterday's blowout. Again, the result depends on your vote!
Okay, when I first watched this video I thought, Wow, this guy does a really good impression of a robot. Then I kept watching and thought, Oh my God, this robot does a really good impression of a guy. How real does this thing look?! The only problem is that it's twice as weird as it is cool. There is just no life in those eyes and the expressions, although somewhat life-like, are clearly mechanical.
More importantly, he has no robot swag. I mean, was "The Bieber" the only hairstyle available? They could have gone so many other ways with the hair, but no. They chose The Biebs. And how about that facial hair. He looks like the guy that hosts Minute to Win It.
Maybe the host from Minute to Win It IS the robot. Think about it. It's not really a difficult show to host. If you complete the task in a minute, you win it. It even rhymes. His hair is spiked, but that's not a hairstyle that's tough to maintain. He's not interesting by any means. I think I may be on to something here.
You would think they would build a robot to look like a better-looking dude (no robo) to kind of draw attention to how good-looking it is. There are plenty of desperate women out there that would pay big bucks to have their own hunk of a robot. They could train him to do all kinds of stuff too.
Anyway, congrats to Sweden for freaking out over a million people on YouTube.
Ladies and gentlemen, the moment we have all been waiting for is finally here.
The first round of the March Sweetness Tournament starts right now and here is the matchup:
(1) Hershey's Chocolate Bar vs. (8) Kit-Kat
Hershey's Chocolate Bar: Invented in 1894, this is the oldest of the eight bars competing in the tournament. It is simple, yet delicious. You can eat it by itself or combine it with more delicious foods. Most commonly, it is combined with graham crackers and marshmallows to create the 8th Wonder of the World: S'mores.
Kit-Kat: Here we have the baby of the group. This delicious combination of three wafers covered in chocolate was introduced in 1935. The traditional bar comes with four "fingers" that can be separated. Four bars in one?! Yeah, you heard me.
What a tough opening round matchup. You have the crafty veteran pitted against the risk-taking young rebel. I wish both could move on, but it wouldn't be a true March Sweetness Tournament without fierce competition. The decision depends on your vote!
Starting Tuesday, the sports world will be engulfed in the three-week-long NCAA Basketball Tournament. As much as I love March Madness, I realize that not everybody is so excited about it. In order to keep the spirit of the tournament, but also spark the interest of the majority, I have created a bracket that will finally solve one of the greatest questions of all time: What is the best American candy bar?
I have chosen the Top 8 candy bars in American history and paired them up to face off in a three-round tournament. I will post one matchup per day and will leave the voting up to everyone on Sliced Bread or on my Facebook page. With one matchup per day, the tournament will take one week to complete. Here are the eight competitors that will be fighting it out for the crown:
(In alphabetical order)
3 Musketeers
Baby Ruth
Butterfinger
Hershey's Chocolate Bar
Kit-Kat
Milky Way
Reese's Peanut Butter Cup
Snickers
I think most people have tried these at least once in their lives. If you haven't, please go buy a candy bar. Live a little. For this to work out, it needs your participation! If not, it will be an utter failure and I will be a mixture of sad and embarrassed and I will have to eat all the candy bars to drown my sorrows. So do your part and vote!
Check back tomorrow for the opening round matchup!
As some of you may know, I am a HUGE movie buff. I enjoy the process that takes place behind the scenes of movies: the production, the work of the director, the acting performances, and especially, the hype. I have a real respect for the art of it. More often than not, I am more excited about the movie before it is released than after I watch it. For those of you like me, get excited for 2011! It looks to be a great year for movies and, in honor of the great possibilities, I have made a list of the top 10 movies that I am looking forward to see this year. I have trouble ranking anything in order of preference so I have ordered them alphabetically. Let me know which ones you're excited to see (or not excited to see) and which ones should have made the list!
1. Captain America: The First Avenger
Release Date: 07/22/2011
Director: Joe Johnston
I am a total nerd when it comes to superhero movies so I am so stoked to finally see Captain America brought to life. I have only seen this short clip, which was aired during the Super Bowl. I'd still like to see little more in the trailer, but I'm guessing an extended version of the preview will be realeased in the near future.
2. Cowboys & Aliens
Release Date: 07/29/2011
Director: John Favreau
I know the concept of the movie is kind of strange and maybe corny, but the trailer is epic. First off, it's from the same guy that brought us the Iron Man movies. That and having Daniel Craig as the lead actor only enhance the epic-ness. Add in Harrison Ford's crazy ass and Olivia Wilde's babe-factor and you can sign me up.
We all know how funny the first Hangover was. The whole cast is back together to join Stu at his wedding in Bankok. What I noticed from the teaser: looks like they lost Doug again. This is going to do huge numbers.
5. Hugo Cabret
Release Date: 11/23/2011
Director: Martin Scorsese
No trailer for this yet, but Martin Scorsese's newest masterpiece is the one I am most anxious to see. Despite it being presented in 3D, I think Scorsese will do just fine without Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role. Based off a best-selling book just like Shutter Island, I can't wait!
6. Moneyball
Release Date: 09/23/2011
Director: Bennett Miller
Being a huge sports fan, anytime a sports movie comes around I usually see it regardless of how good or bad it looks. In this case, I am very excited. Moneyball is about Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) and how he used geeky stats and in-depth player research to effectively manage one of the lowest payrolls in all of baseball. Pitt and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, who plays owner Art Howe, are two great actors who I think (and hope) will do the story justice.
7. The Muppets
Release Date: 09/23/2011
Director: James Bobin
Aside from the fact that The Muppet Show was one of my favorite shows as a kid, I am excited to see this because 1.) the star-studded cast is ridiculously good and 2.) Jason Segel is the lead writer. The cast includes Emily Blunt, Jack Black, John Krasinski, Amy Adams, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Crystal, Ed Helms, Ricky Gervais, and more. And Jason Segel is going to do an awesome job with this movie. For those of you wondering why, watch Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
8. Super 8
Release Date: 06/10/2011
Director: JJ Abrams
If you didn't watch the above trailer yet, please do so right now. I'll wait...
Okay, give me one reason you don't want to see Super 8. What I love about JJ Abrams's movies are all the viral promotions and the hype that comes along with them. When Cloverfield came out in 2008, the marketing team made fake MySpace accounts for each character in the movie and posted fake conversations on each others' pages. For Super 8, the cast and plot details weren't even leaked until last month! That is unheard of in the current age of movies, in which the cast and plot are usually revealed almost a year in advance. Abrams is one of the best up-and-coming directors and Super 8 is going to be a smash.
9. Thor
Release Date: 05/06/2011
Director: Kenneth Branagh
This was a borderline pick for the list. Sure, Chris Hemsworth looks like a good fit for Thor, but the corny lines in the trailer (ex. You are an old man and a fool!) make me second guess him a bit. However, Thor makes the list because of 3 reasons: 1.) I love superhero movies, 2.) the visuals look like they're going to be crazy, and 3.) Natalie Portman. Giggity.
10. X-Men: First Class
Release Date: 06/03/2011
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Kind of in the same boat as Thor in the sense that it was a borderline pick and made it because of visuals and the fact that it involves comic book characters. Taking place in the 1960s, it follows Professor X and Magneto before they formed the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants, respectively. If you're struggling to follow my nerd language, Google works wonders.
There you have it. Ten movies I'm looking forward to enjoying in 2011.
Being a current student at Rio Hondo College, I see a lot of different people and have a lot of different experiences than I ever did at Loyola Marymount. It's a completely different environment and most of the students seem to just have a different mindset. Some of the things I see and the people I encounter seem so unreal that I just can't associate them with reality. That being said, one of my favorite characters at Rio is one I've given the name "Bandana Girl".
Bandana Girl is a classmate of mine in Political Science 110, Government of the United States. What makes her so interesting is how she comes dressed to class every day. Up until about two weeks ago, BG showed up every Tuesday and Thursday wearing a different colored bandana to match her outfit, no matter how obscure the color. This included (only from what I can remember) red, blue, orange, purple, hunter green, olive green, and yellow. While some of these may not seem to be obscure colors, I wasn't aware they made olive bandanas. I guess I haven't been to my local Dickies Outlet recently. Don't get me wrong though, her color matching is impeccable!
Most of the time she tries to match her earrings and makeup to the color of the bandana, but I'm not sure how nice blue or purple lipstick looks. I doubt she'd want to walk around campus looking like she was dead, choking, or just enjoyed a Fun-Dip or one of those blue Baby Bottle Pops. But why would Bandana Girl stop wearing bandanas? This is why...
Instead of matching her bandanas to her outfit, she decided to change the color of her hair to match her outfit! She went from platinum blonde (which was attained via dye) to this purple/blue/green mixture of hair that looks like something out of Alice in Wonderland. Apologies for the poor quality of the photos, but cut me some slack. I don't want Bandana Girl to catch me documenting her life. These photos are from last week so naturally I was excited to see if her hair color would change yet again this week. Sadly, she missed class on Tuesday and I was forced to wait until this morning. Boy, was it worth the wait...
Bravo, Bandana Girl. You have really outdone yourself here. Ladies and gentlemen, let me break down what we're seeing here:
-No change to the purple/blue/green hair.
-A chain mail-style shirt that was click-clacking as she walked.
-Chains running across her shorts.
-A chain earring, connecting from her ear to her nose ring.
-Platform-bottomed go-go boots that were so glossy, the glare made me squint my eyes.
-A huge spider ring on her right hand.
-Glittery eyeshadow and black lipstick.
This was easily her best work thus far, but now I'm worried I'll be let down from here on out. Knowing BG, she'll come up with something else and I will be here singing her praises yet again.
After taking it all into account, she worked it. She rocked it.
Any way you want to put it, Bandana Girl pulls it off every single day and nobody is going to tell her anything different. Personally, I choose not to mess with anyone that wears chain mail.
After a three year hiatus, Lasers finally arrives.
The first time I ever heard of Lupe Fiasco was in 2006, when he made a guest appearance on Kanye West's album, Late Registration. He dropped a short 8-bar verse at the end of "Touch the Sky" and I was immediately anxious to find out more about him. With his new popularity, the release of his first single, "Kick, Push", was pushed up and his career really took off. After listening to his latest tracks off Lasers, it seems to me that Lupe has changed his style a bit. Obviously, no artist is going to continue to make the same type of music album after album, but the looseness of Lupe's production and content was what I enjoyed most about him.
What surprised me the most about Lasers was Lupe's decision to exclude Soundtrakk from the production of the album. Soundtrakk was responsible for the majority of the songs on Food & Liquor and The Cool, including his two most popular songs, "Superstar" and the aforementioned "Kick, Push". I don't know if there was a falling out between the two, but it shocked me to not see Soundtrakk in the production credits.
Album awards:
Best Verse: Verse 2, "Letting Go" feat. Sarah Green Lupe lays down two of the album's best verses on the first track. Using a synthesized voice, he shows off his vocabulary, dropping this 2-bar beauty at the very end:
Magnify the youth in me, alibi the shootin' spree
Amplify the revolution, sanitize the lunacy
Strip away the justice, justify the scrutiny
I can see the lasers shootin' out of you and me
Best Guest Appearance: Skylar Grey on "Words I Never Said"
As much as I like Trey Songz's work on hooks, Skylar Grey continues her recent success on "Words I Never Said". Grey has recently been featured on Diddy-Dirty Money's "Coming Home" and Dr. Dre's "I Need a Doctor". Her voice fits in well with the strong beat of the song, which needs a big hook.
Best Song: "All Black Everything"
This song, to me, is the best overall piece of music on Lasers. The production is provided by Wizzo Buchanan (of The Buchanans) and the concept of the song is classic Lupe. He takes us into his dream, in which the world has turned upside-down. He describes Bill O'Reilly reading from the Quran, a black woman becoming the head of the KKK, and Somalia being a popular vacation spot. This is also one of the only songs on the album that has replay value, in my opinion.
Overall, Lasers is not a bad album, but it is not as good as Food & Liquor or The Cool. I think getting the album on the shelves was a win in itself, however. I know Lupe was having a tough time seeing eye-to-eye with Atlantic Records so this is a good sign. I really hope this isn't his last album, as rumors have been implying.
As you may know, the NFL is currently undergoing some adversity regarding the status of the 2011-2012 season. The 32 teams' owners and the NFLPA (the players) are at odds on a few different issues that, if left unsolved, will result in the expiration of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and an eventual lockout. Listening to sports-talk radio and reading as many articles as I do, I have heard this exact thing dozens of times. Each time I found myself even more confused than the time before. Collective Bargaining Agreement? Lockout? It sounds pretty, but what does this all mean? Well, I did my best to sort of simplify the basics of these hour-long discussions between the owners and the players.
- A CBA is a contract between management and its employees. It lays out conditions of employment, like wages and benefits.
- A lockout occurs when the management and its employees can not agree to terms. The management then declines the employees entrance into the workplace until they give in.
The CBA in place right now went into action in 1993 and has been renewed multiple times since then. Upon renewal in 2010, the players agreed and the owners basically laughed at it.
Why the sudden change of heart? The NFL has gained enormous popularity since 1993, especially in the past few years, and is ultimately worth much more now than ever. Like virtually everything else in the world, it's all about the money.
The NFL is a $9 billion industry. Yes, that is a "b" in front of that "illion". That is $8,999,999,992 more than what I have in my pocket right now. From this $9 billion, the owners currently get $1 billion off the top and then, from the remaining $8 billion, 60% goes to the players and 40% to the owners. All money considered, this ends up being a 53%-47% split in favor of the players.
What the owners are currently pushing for is a $2 billion chunk off the top, leaving $7 billion left. The players will then receive 58% of that remaining $7 billion (opposed to the current 60%). This proposal results in a 55%-45% split of all money in favor of the owners.
This is a lot of money being discussed here and it is ultimately a lot of money being taken from the players, who do not currently have retirement benefits provided by the league. So it's no wonder why the players are resistant.
The players responded with a proposal of their own: get rid of the "off the top" chunk of money and split the $9 billion 50%-50%. The owners laughed at this proposal as well and that brings us to where we're at now.
The owners are also in favor of adding two games to the regular season schedule, making it an 18-game season. Why? Money. The NFL makes the majority of its revenue through games. They sell tickets, merchandise, and food & drinks, and they draw HUGE television ratings. However, this adds two more chances for players to be seriously injured and their salaries, under the current CBA, will not be adjusted to support the two added games.
If the owners and players fail to reach an agreement by Friday, the CBA will expire and a lockout will occur, possibly canceling part of, if not the entire, 2011-2012 season.
It's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Most of us have used the phrase. All of us have heard the phrase. Yet a question still presents itself each time the phrase is mentioned: What is the best thing since sliced bread? The expression has been applied to so many different things that it has become exhausting. After its invention in 1928, you would think something would surpass sliced bread's reign as the greatest thing, but you would be wrong.
You're probably asking yourself, Why am I reading a blog about sliced bread? and Why would someone give their blog such a dumb name? I started Sliced Bread because no matter how many times people anoint something the "best thing since sliced bread", the bread still prevails. So while you may think you'll read something better on another site or on another blog, I know you'll be back here soon because Sliced Bread will always be the greatest thing.
This will serve as my outlet to discuss issues and events that I feel like expanding on. This includes (but is not limited to): school, sports, music, movies, politics, pop culture, and anything going on in my life that I feel is worth sharing. Thank you for visiting Sliced Bread and stay tuned for more posts and the further development of the blog!
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