Penguins Pull One Out!!!

The Penguins remembered that they have an offense tonight, and a good one at that. The Penguins got back on their game and managed to hold the Red Wings off by winning game three of the Stanley Cup Finals. Crosby had two goals showing exactly why the Penguins won this game and lost the last two. Games one and two basically eliminated any game that our Center's have. Malkin and Crosby were pretty much prevented from playing hockey the first two games. Tonight the team managed to get them some puck time and look what happened. Malkin has been pretty tame this series (some say he misses his parents who have not been present at the games in a while ahhhhhh), but Crosby has show why he is one of the best Centers in the game. It was also nice to see the team back off that crappy "dump and chase" strategy that they were using in the first two games. The Red Wings were so effective on defense that the Pens couldn't even bring the puck into the Wings zone, so they were just dumping the puck into the Wings zone then racing them to the end of the ring. This may have worked against other teams, but Detroit is just as fast as the Pens so it obviously failed miserably. The Pens showed nice speed in the neutral zone and were able to attack the relentless onslaught of the Detroit defenseman. I had a feeling that they were going to pull off a win at home. They are incredible on the bizarre home ice (especially Crosby), and within the first period it was obvious that the Pens had brought their A game, and were back to their playoff level of Hockey. Lets hope they can keep it up and tie up the series before going back to Detroit. I don't like the couple days off because it could hurt the momentum of winning, but whatever. Hey, Lets Go Pens!!! I still think the Cup is coming to the Burgh. Regardless, this has been great for the city. Its nice to see a giant ESPN blow up sign in downtown Pittsburgh and the carnival like atmosphere as I drive past the Igloo on my way home from work.

Top Chef Has Driven Me Back To The Blog!!!

I have been studying for the Pennsylvania Bar Exam so I have been neglecting updating this blog, but I saw something tonight that was so revolting and shocking to my conscience that I could not help but jump on the computer to air my grievances. That slovenly waste of good reality television Lisa has made it to the Top Chef finale. Not only should she have been eliminated weeks ago, but now the finale will be ruined by the nausea that is going to be induced by watching Lisa's double chin cook her signature meal. To make matters even worse it looks like she has cut her hair short and completed her transformation into a bull dyke (and into Richard along the way) for the finale. Lisa sucks beyond belief. She is a horrendous chef, person, and television character. After continuously being in the bottom, only to make it to another week by capitalizing on the accidents of superior chefs, Lisa has waddled her way to Puerto Rico ready to complain and accuse others of sabotage. She fucked up cooking rice for the love of god!! Not once, but twice!! Spike decided to use frozen scallops giving Lisa her opportunity to make a mess and call it fine dining. She made peanut butter mash potatoes that I can give her credit for, but I am almost certain that this was stolen from some chef that Lisa dragged down in life at some point. I am not a Spike fan or anything, but anyone would have been better. This is a sad sad day. Man, I still can't believe that I am going to have to tolerate that mess during the finale. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Pittsburgh is Stupid....

For all you people who are from Pittsburgh, but live somewhere else, let me assure you that your decision is the right one. The Pittsburgh Penguins want to put giant banners on some of the cities skyscrapers to pump up the city for the Stanley Cup Finals. Pittsburgh has one of the most beautiful sky lines with some of the best architecture in the country. Other cities often hang banners, advertisements, and other build boards from their downtown buildings to entertain the city or celebrate an important event. During the Winter Olympics Salt Lake City put different banners and stencils on skyscrapers spanning the full length of the buildings of athletes and Olympic imagery. During the NBA all star game Las Vegas even put a giant jersey on the Statute of Liberty at the New York New York Casino. This helps the city's image and gets the people who live there excited about the attention that the sporting events are giving their town. 

Well Pittsburgh isn't like other cities and does everything opposite of what other places would. The Penguins wanted to hang banners of the team and Sydney Crosby on the Fifth Avenue Place building and other skyscrapers, but the geniuses over on City Council decided to put a moratorium on build boards in the city to get back at the Mayor for commissioning a new electronic build board on the Greyhound station without first consulting the City Council. They will not even make an exception for Stanley Cup advertisements. So as the world focuses on Pittsburgh there will be no new signs to highlight our beautiful city. And to make matters worse the UPMC letters that have been added to the Steel building are not completed and only UP_C are up. So when the cameras pan over the city they will see a half completed sign to get people interested in the city. Awesome. (actually I think the UPMC sign is being finished - I am taking artistic liberty is characterising it the way I did). everyone is pointing fingers at each other. City Council is blaming the mayor and the Penguins, the Mayor is blaming City Council and the Penguins, and the Penguins are blaming City Council and the Mayor. I guess City Council and the Mayor have decided to bend the city over and do anything it can to prevent it from becoming a better place to live. All I can say is thanks Doug Shields and all. You really know how to take advantage of a great situation. You may as well flood the streets with shit during the playoffs. Round up all the homeless people and put them in front of the Civic Arena. Anything to make to city look bad. Why can't Pittsburgh just work... you know work like other cities do. It is frustrating as all hell.

Screw the Dark Knight, Pineapple Express is the Movie of the Summer!

I can't wait for Pineapple Express to come out this summer. There are a lot of good movies coming out like Dark Knight, The Happening, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, X-Files, Hancock, and the Hulk, but none of them come close to the inevitable stoner classic Pineapple Express. Judd Apatow and David Gordon Green team up to make a movie about stoners being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Simple yet ingenious. I am sure we will be left with enough one liners for a life time of undergraduate blazing sessions. Seth Rogan and James Franco play pot heads who witness the murder of a crooked cop on their way to pick up a super strain of bud called "Pineapple Express." The trailer is pretty funny and makes good use of "Paper Planes." I called it, that song will make a summer 2008 resurgence and be even more popular than last year. If you love Superbad and love the comic buffoonery of hallucinogenics in everyday situations, then Pineapple Express is for you ...and me.  

That Was Exhausting!!!

David Cook has won American Idol by 12 million votes. There was a staggering 97 million votes cast in this seasons finale. Let me tell you, this finale was a mess!! The second hour somewhat made up for the first hour, but it still did not even approach the levels of years past finale's. The dance number seriously look like they were choreographed by Corky St. Clair. Actually, Amanda Overmyer would have been able to sing and dance at the same time if Corky St. Clair choreographed the finale. If I never see an arm swing and I side step again in my life I will be a happy man. 

The Producers went the "That's Familiar," route for old people the first hour by raiding the county fair circuit booking ZZ Top, Donna Summer (who looked as if she was going to cut off Ryan's nuts for taking the attention away from her performance by looking stupid by break-dancing), and Graham Nash. I think Seal was in there somewhere too, which surprised no one. What would a finale of a live entertainment show be without Seal to sing "nice" songs. The first hour also had its fare share of shameless product placement and promotion. Ford squeezed every last bit of cheap endorsement out of the two finalists before the Davids go stale (beginning.....now). Mike Meyers also got a good 7 minutes of screen time for his new movie The Guru. You can't help but be impressed with the way that the Idol machine works. 

Hour two had more arm swings and side steps by the top twelve, giving everyone a sneak peak on the best way to waste your money this summer. They best they could do it the pop department was One Republic which the loser David sung with. They really failed to get the big names this year. Hour two also had Bryan Adams, George Michaels (who probably put the old people to sleep who made it through hour one), and Carrie Underwood. They had to remind everyone who last years winner was so they let Jordan Sparks sing a song. There was some more promotion, some more arms swings, and couple steps, some Tropic Thunder, and finally the results, which by all means were a surprise. Another year another season of Idol over. Now I can watch So You Think You Can Dance and begin rooting for another person that I will forget in six months.

MTV is Going to Kill Someone!

This is what I thought watching that Tila Tequila show last night. One of the dudes, after being pumped up by another dude, basically inflicted grievous bodily injury on yet another dude. For What reason? I couldn't tell you even after MTV shamelessly repeated the episode into the ground for  the last week. All I do know is that it was not in self defense. Hell it was not even provoked. If I was a lawyer in California I would take personal injury cases for these kids on them there reality shows. I know that MTV makes them sign releases and would basically argue that this is an assumption of the risk, but at some point these releases are not going to be upheld in a court for public policy reasons. I would love to see one of these contracts that people sign on MTV. Lets just assume that they are not arms length negotiations. 

My argument is that the contracts are unconscionable. There is unequal bargaining power between the network and the participants. MTV can't create an unreasonably dangerous situation by purposefully and intentionally choosing people that are violent and dangerous to bring on the show, and then have everyone sign a release. MTV knows that these people are often trying to become actors and are desperate to advance their careers. They prey on this vulnerability, and put viewership in front of safety. A release must fully inform a person of all risk. This means that the person must have actually been aware of what they were in for, or at least that a reasonable person in the same position would have been aware. A release also does not normally include gross negligence or willful and wanton negligence. As far as I am concerned, MTV does back round checks on all of these people and know exactly what they are capable of before they are cast. I know that the people who go on these shows watch them, so they are fully aware of the kinds of things that happen, but they are never told before hand the exact risk that other contestants bring to the show. I am sure the release does not go into any detail of what kind of people are cast or what challenges they will be forced into. Putting people with anger problems and violent tendencies in a house with similar people, and then adding a never ending supply of alcohol, coupled with a competition for the love of a person they are obsessed with, may approach gross negligence in my book. The dude who fucked shit up would have undoubtedly been arrested for aggravated assault in the "real world" (no not the show....hahaha. shut up). Why should MTV and other TV networks get away with being partly at fault. I know that it would be an up hill argument, but I think that I could win a case or at least force a settlement. 

Now let it be known that the proceeding diatribe was not at all based on feeling bad for these people. No No. My mind was 100% focused on the amount of money that I cold make bringing these lawsuits. Personally I think that if you are dumb enough to go on these shows and sign the release then you deserve a split chin. The law does not agree with me though, and as a lawyer you have to do your job. Especially when you can make a lot of money doing it. This show alone has seen at least five physical fights, and numerous ambulance visits. Imagine the rest of trash TV and the injuries that people sustain while participating. If you could get one release inadmissable it would make you millions. Millions I tell you!!

She's Not Going Away, Is She?

Hillary Clinton beat Obama by nearly 250,000 votes today in Kentucky. This Democratic primary is a major cluster fuck! Obama will not win the general primary. I voted for him because I like him, and his platform of change feels so necessary right now. Race never entered my mind. But Hillary Clinton is now ruining the easiest presidential win for a Democratic candidate in 50 years. Clinton has exposed the weakness that Obama has with working class voters, and it is basically all McCain from here on out. Thanks Hillary. Cities cannot win a general election for you and Obama can't win middle America. The issue of race and other Obama weaknesses with working class people would not be as obvious if Hillary would have dropped out of the race before West Virginia. By needlessly staying in the race she is now basically flattening the tires on the Obama bus. At this point the Democratic party almost needs to make Hillary the nomination just to win in November. It really is dirty politics. Shady if you ask me. It almost appears spiteful. Clinton knew what she was doing and has disguised "race" as "working class" issues. This is just a giant mess. How is Obama going to get a united Democratic vote when in a closed primary Hillary Clinton beats Obama  65% - 35% and 66%-23%. Obama won't even get all the Democratic votes in swing states let alone the swing voters. No president has won the White House without West Virginia or something like that. The Democrats don't deserve to win with such stupidity. McCain is going to win the election, mark my words, unless Clinton is the nominee and that sucks!! 

BTY- Obama won pretty big in Oregon, but that doesn't make much of a difference in this discussion.