Blog Blog Blog

It has been a long while since I've blogged. There are many things I could go over and write about, and there will be. This time I just want to touch on three things. One is going to be a recurring section in this, I would like to get back to blogging about once or twice a month. But actually, before I go over what the first section will be, a little background.

It is 2009 now! Crazy, this decade is almost over. In the last ten years I've experience finishing both high school and undergrad, we've had two wars, 9/11, Web2.0, recession, and a black man elected president. So much has changed, and so much remains the same. In honor of closing out the decade, there will be a section called Meat Tracks. I'll basically profile my fave songs from the past decade, a little commentary on why it's one of my faves and where it brings me back to whenever I hear the track. There will be 10 profiled each month from now on, so a total of 100 by the end of the year.

The other two sections are a little shorter this time around. The middle section will be a look at entertainment or electronics, two things other than sports that I enjoy. The last section will always profile something sports, although this one will be more of a rant about one of my fave sports but one that is struggling right now: hockey. Yeah, this entry is loaded. So here we go!


MEAT TRACKS
Music picks of this decade from the Meat Life.
This entry will focus on more party hits.

-Fabolous's "Young'n (Holla Back)" (2001)
This will make me sound really dorky, but this was a theme song of sorts my freshman year of college. The Neptunes were hot back then, producing practically every hip-hop song, and this was my fave that winter. Whenever I was going somewhere I would bump this in my car and I even had the ringtone on my cell. Back then it was a little harder to get ringtones and it was like the tone in one of the verses of the song. Yeah, I was awesome.

-Jagged Edge's "Where the Party At? (featuring Nelly)" (2001)
Back then Nelly used to run the show, and his guest spot on this track displayed that. This brings me back to '02 and my first time at a club. It was a place called Legacy 18 (in Bricktown for those of you old enough to remember, it was where the Green Door used to be). Me and some of my friends from the dorms went. They weren't exactly party people, so it was kind of awkward. But after that I downloaded this song and partied in my car everytime it played.

-Clipse's "Grindin'" (2002)
Another Neptunes track, this beat was crazy. This track brings me back to the start of my clubbin days. No memory in particular attached to this, but just the resonating beat.

-Jay-Z's "La La La (Excuse Me Miss Again)" (2003)
This I like more than the original "Excuse Me Miss." I remember riding in a friend's car that summer with this song bumping. I think we were going about 90 through the highways in and around Dallas. I just remember the song and the colors of all the lights as they fly by.

-Youngbloodz's "Presidential (featuring Lil Jon)" (2005)
At the height of Lil Jon's popularity, this was a jem. Great beat and energy. Just enough cheese where it wasn't annoying but fun. Fond memories of OU-Texas 2005 everytime I hear the song. We certainly didn't win the game but we did party it up that night. I remember Mike going buck wild and Jed falling over and asking "who pushed me?!?"

-Justin Timberlake's "My Love (featuring T.I.)" (2006)
Unbelievable track when I first heard it. I wasn't a big N'Sync fan, but I have to say I am a big Timberlake fan. This song is my fave from him. Just the T.I. verse alone tears it up. The futuristic and dynamic sound makes it feel new each time I listen to it. Brings me back to the summer before my son was born when I lived at Thanh Lu's.

-T.I.'s "What You Know" (2006)
Brings me back to 1821 Concord and the parties, especially the last one: The Chris Mitra Freedom Festival. Loved how our parties were always Old School themed. I remember at one point each of the roommie played this song back to back to back for a good 20 minutes. That and this was a badass song.

-Shop Boyz's "Party Like a Rockstar" (2007)
Not sure why this sticks out so much. My party days had waned before this song came out. I think mainly because they used to play this song over and over again when I used to work at Dell. For the top seller for that week, they had this "Pimp My Cube" where they would put in these cheesy decorations, badass sound system and lights into a cubical and have the top seller sit in there for the week. That song would play everytime they would announce. I was only top 5 so I never quit got to sit in there.

-Rick Ross's "The Boss (featuring T-Pain)" (2008)
Just a badass song. T-Pain is everywhere now it seems and seems to always accentuate the songs he is in. I would bump this on my way back from work all that spring and part of the summer. Yeah, picture that...from bumping in the car going out to the club during college to bumping on the way home to the kid.

-Lady Gaga's "Just Dance" (2008)
It's not so much attaching a current happening to this song but the feeling of nostalgia it envokes when I hear it. Reminds me of summer of '05 and a particular night when I feel asleep at a club. Yeah, good story, so ask me about it later.

There will be more party songs later, but next time we will feature rock.


EE Section
Profiling Entertainment and/or Electronics
This entry Meat Life is going over the new ABC show Castle.


Now, if you watch any TV on ABC, you probably have seen the non-stop commercial campaign for the cop comedrama Castle. They blitz commercial breaks giving pretty much the entire story featured in the pilot episode that came on yesterday.

Normally I don't mind commercials for show, but for about a month I think I saw the same commercial for that show about 10 times a night on the night I catch a show on ABC (Lost every Wednesday, when my wife watches Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, and Desperate Housewives). Although I was annoyed, I was also kind of intrigued.

So I decided to catch the show when it came on. I was presently surprised. Although not the greatest show in the world and kind of cheesy, the show was enjoyable. I've liked a lot of stuff that Nathan Fillion (Serenity) has been in, and his character as a murder mystery writer tagging along the sharp lady cop Stana Katic (The Spirit) is along the same lines of what you have seen Fillion in before. Solid storyline, although I can see the writer helping solve murder crimes novelty will eventually wear off.

I predict ABC will get a decent 2 seasons out of this show at the most, although I could probably see the show getting axed after 10 episodes if the ratings aren't there. Day Break was a decent ABC show they had during a Lost break but did not survive a season because of poor ratings and I can see Castle getting the same fate. We shall see what the ratings will be.

Castle is on Monday nights at 9PM CST on ABC.


The Meat Life Sports Tear
This week, a rant about hockey.

Hockey has been one of my favorite sports growing up. It was the only sport I played in organized leagues. The speed of the game is what attracted me the most to the game...that and seeing the first Mighty Ducks movie. That last scene in the championship game where Josh Jackson takes the penalty shot is awesome. I don't know how many times I pretended to do that triple deke move.

But now I'm upset. Not so much at the game, but at the professional league that represents it. In the last 20 years hockey has gone from the red hot sport that was challenging the NBA as the third most popular sport in America to a sport that has been almost forgotten and relegated to being shown on a channel that half of America doesn't even know is in their channel lineup. It saddens me to see the sport in the place it is in right now.


1994 was the peak of the NHL. The New York Rangers, the team in the largest TV market in the country, won the Stanley Cup. From that championship series the league saw the largest audience ever to tune into the series. The league had signed a great TV deal with both ESPN and Fox to televise games nationally. The sports' biggest star Wayne Gretzky just broke the all-time goal scoring record. The NHL was on a high. And then the summer after its greatest year, the league shut down for half a season due to a labor dispute.

Now, I'm not one to claim to know what goes on in those type of situations, but all I know is if you are a league that is finally gaining some relevance in the United States you better have your shit straight to bring it even harder after your best year ever. I mark the 1994 lockout the turning point in the NHL. From then on things went downhill. The league got overconfident and expanded from 26 teams at the end of the 1993-94 season to 30 teams by the 2000-01 season, 3 of those teams in non-traditional hockey markets like Atlanta and Nashville.

Since then there has been another lockout/league shutdown for an entire season in 2004-05. The NHL's contract with ESPN/ABC ended that season and was not renewed. It was replaced by an unknown cable network OLN (which later was rebranded as Versus) as well as NBC. Attendance for the most part when compared with what it was in 1994 is down in the United States, where only the traditional hockey markets have stayed relatively the same.

Outside of the business, the game itself has lost a lot. No longer was it a fast and exciting game. Since the expansion, the spread of talent is thin. So normally those who were still playing in the minors are now playing in the NHL. Teams went to a more defensive style of play since the talent level dropped. The term "neutral-zone trap" described not only the defense but where the league was stuck.

I'll have to admit there were some changes that were implemented that helped improve the quality of the game like the crack down on slashing and spearing as well as the addition of the shootout in the regular season doing away with ties. But those are only minor things that is more a band aid than anything.

Here are 5 things that will help the NHL get back to where they were in 1994. Now most of these might not happen or be able to be implemented easily. But it is time for the NHL to face the facts and get this straighted out.

1. Fire Commissioner Gary Bettman. He has been commish since 1993 and has overseen overexpansion and two lockouts. He has caused more problems for the league than progress. His shortsightedness and overambition in the southern states are dragging the league. He has tried to spread the league but the league has spread thin. That and renaming the conferences and divisions has taken out a lot of the traditions the league had.

2. Take teams out of the southern markets. Now I'm not saying contract and drop teams out of the league. I'm saying relocate some of the teams north where either there was a former franchise like in Quebec City or Hartford or in other markets up north. Minneapolis could support more than one franchise and there are a lot of Canadian markets could take a team. You could start by moving the double teams in areas like LA/Anaheim and Florida/Tampa. Keep the Kings in LA and move the Ducks and keep the Tampa team there and move the Florida team north. Make the money where you know you can.

3. Consider Europe. Hockey is huge in Euro nations like Russia, Czech Republic, Norway, and Sweden. Ultimately what could happen is have half the teams remain in North America and half send over to Europe. It could be like the NL and AL in baseball. Most teams won't meet until the Stanley Cup finals and they could have parts of the season where there is interleague play. It'll get complicated with the different currencies and all but it would make sure that the sport's exposure is international.

4. Market your stars to the Nth degree. The NHL has struggled to market players under Bettman. Ask any average American to name a current hockey player and most would probably still give you "Wayne Gretzky" as their answer. What about Sidney Crosby or Alex Ovechkin. Ovie is probably the most dynamic star in the sport, but unless you watch Sportscenter on a daily basis you probably wouldn't be able to identify who Ovechkin is or what sport he plays. If you are interested, YouTube Alex Ovechkin and you will pull up some of the craziest goals ever scored, one on his back turned away from the goal while spinning. Yeah, I know...crazy. He is my favorite current player right now and no one knows who he is.

Yeah, that's Ovie on his back...and he scored like that.

5. Sign a damn contract with ESPN. Having to watch hockey on Versus is crap. Not for the production quality or anything like that. The production is fine. But you don't get the exposure on Versus that you do on ESPN. People know what channel ESPN is. People have to look up what channel Versus is. I remember Tuesday and Wednesday night games on ESPN with Gary Thorne and Bill Clement. Thorne's yelling style was so epic. Now I only get a sample of that on my NHL09 video game and whenever I pop in the 1994 New York Rangers Stanley Cup DVDs.

So there it is. With the exception of the Europe thing I think all of this is feasible for the NHL. It's a shame that hockey has declined below NASCAR as a major sport in the United States. Although it may never return to its former glory, it may regain some of that back by doing at the very least the last two things on this list.


See you guys on the next entry!

College Football Review

Alright, well we've come to the end of the regular season and the break before the bowl season starts. A good way to review the season is to look back at my predictions from before the season began and see how I did. I called my season preview The Meatrodomus Five Fortune-Telling Truths of the 2008 Season. We'll see how good of fortune I will have.

"1. OU will win its third Big 12 Championship in a row. Unprecedented in the conference, but I just don't see anyone taking down Oklahoma enough to derail them from getting the conference. I believe that the Red River Rivalry will again decide who goes out of the South Division, and I don't think Texas's defense has matured enough to stop the potent OU offense. There is a lot of hype around up-and-coming programs like Missouri or even Texas Tech, but it is a different story for Tech who has not beaten OU in Norman since 1996. Missouri does have a chance to remain undefeated leading up to the Big 12 Championship, but I don't believe their defense will be enough to stop arguable the most balanced offense in college football. I think Nebraska will make a run at the North title this year as bold as a prediction that may seem, but will not be able to overcome Missouri. Kansas will slide a little this year although still making the Kansas-Mizzou game something special again like last year."

CORRECT! OU did end up winning the conference and got to the conference game in a controversial THREE-WAY TIE (more on that later) in the South division and got into the game via the highest BCS ranking the week before the conference game. Mizzou did end up winning the North but was very disappointing to most expectations people had this year. They were actually tied with Nebraska for the division lead but held the tiebreaker since they won against Nebraska. The Kansas-Mizzou game was a very special game this year with Kansas winning on a last second TD pass from Reesing to Meyer in a snowy and fridged Kansas City field.

2. The Heisman Trophy will not go to a sophomore again this year. Sorry folks, unless Sam Bradford or DeMarco Murray break a number of OU or NCAA records this year, I don't see either one of them getting the Heisman. Now, that's not saying either one won't get invited. I do think that Bradford has the greater chance of getting the nod to go to NYC, but I don't see him winning it this year. The sophomore with the best chance to win the Heisman would have to be Knowshon Moreno of Georgia, but even then he would have to have a killer year. My frontrunner is Chris "Beanie" Wells of the Ohio State Buckeyes.

WRONG! Technically I would consider myself right since I said that Bradford would have to be breaking records to get a Heisman, but I couldn't have been more wrong with my statement in bold. Slingin' Sam became the second sophomore to win the Heisman, edging out Texas QB Colt McCoy and '07 winner Florida QB Tim Tebow. Beanie Wells was injured early and taken out of the hunt after a disappointing performance against Southern Cal. Ohio State itself was considered a disappointment.

3. The BCS National Championship Game will be Ohio State vs. Oklahoma. That's right, it'll be storybook. The two teams seeking BCS redemption with their recent disappointments will face off in the championship game. Now, it is a tall order and I do believe both of these teams will not be undefeated going into the game. The Buckeyes will have to defeat an always solid USC team (which I think this will not be the team they will lose to) and Oklahoma is part of the Big 12 South so it goes without saying that there will be a test. My top 5 teams going into the season right now in no particular order is Georgia, Oklahoma, Ohio State, USC, and Florida. Those teams would have the best chance to make it but I think it'll be Bucks and Sooners in the finale in a close one. The Meat Life Prediction: Oklahoma 27-20. It'll be redemption time for the Sooners and Stoops will finally get his second national title as a head coach.

WRONG! I'm glad I got the OU part right, but like the previous prediction I couldn't have been more wrong about the Buckeyes. Ohio State dropped the senior starting QB Boeckman in favor of frosh-mega-hype QB Terrelle Pryor after the USC loss. Out of my initial top five, only Oklahoma and Florida have lived up to the hype by clinching their spots in the BCS Championship game. Georgia was a mega disappointment and USC, although has a real legit defense, the loss to Oregon State and the fact that the Pac10 was down this year did not help their case at all. OU still has chance at redemption, and it seems like that's been the theme all year.

4. Conference Winners:

Big East: South Florida. Pieces are in place and West Virginia will fall just short.

WRONG! Cincinnati wins overcoming key injuries at QB position to get to an 11-2 record

Big Ten: Ohio State. Goes without saying, although I do think they will lose to Wisconsin on the road.

WRONG! Penn State ran the table beating Ohio State and was a win away from the title game.

Big 12: Oklahoma. See #1

CORRECT!

Atlantic Coast Conference: Clemson. Personnel looks solid although look for Wake Forest to make a run again.

WRONG! Wrong wrong wrong. Virginia Tech wins another ACC title and Clemson fires Bowden.

Southeastern Conference: Georgia. They will probably be a 2-loss champ like LSU last season.

WRONG! Georgia big disappointment, Tebow wills Florida to win the SEC after the Ole Miss loss.

Pacific 10: USC. As much as I hate them...Oregon would have made a run if QB Nate Costa didn't get injured.

CORRECT! It was close, Oregon State was a win away from a Pac10 title but Oregon spoiled it.

Mountain West: BYU. BCS Buster? Has the offense for it.

WRONG! Almost right, the best non-BCS conference this year has undefeated Utah as champ.

Western Athletic Conference: Fresno State. Other potential BCS Buster.

WRONG! Fresno finished fifth, Boise State remained undefeated and wins another WAC title.

Sun Belt: Florida Atlantic. Go FAU! Beat those Longhorns! HAHAH

WRONG! Troy wins

Conference USA: Tulsa. New era without QB Paul Smith, but still loaded.

WRONG! Tulsa made it to the C-USA championship but lost to early season darlings E. Carolina

Mid-America Conference: Central Michigan. QB Dan Lefevour the real deal.

WRONG! Turner Gill's Buffalo team wins over previously unbeaten Ball State in MAC title game.

5. No team will go undefeated this season. Now, this prediction may be less plausible. And being an Oklahoma fan, I think out of my top 5 OU has the best chance to go undefeated. But in the aftermath of last season it is hard to believe that the rollercoaster ride college football was would change. Then again, we could go in with 3 or 4 teams undefeated and everyone in the press calling for a playoff. Who knows. I just don't think anyone will come out unblemished.

CORRECT! Okay, when it comes to BCS conference teams I am correct. Utah and Boise State are still undefeated going into the bowl season with a difficult task at hand. Utah faces Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, while Boise faces a tough TCU team in the Poinsettia Bowl.

So I didn't do so well in my predictions. I guess that's how it goes. I will say this, in the Big 12 South it was an unbelieveable season.

And now comes my rant.

It seemed like every weekend during conference play there was a marquee matchup and the drama ended in a THREE-WAY TIE for the division lead at the end of the regular season. I capitalize this statement because most people in Texas and in the media seem to forget that there were three teams tied in the lead: OU, Texas, and Texas Tech. Each with 11-1 records, each 7-1 in the conference, each losing one game to each other. OU lost to Texas 45-35. Texas lost to Texas Tech 39-33. Texas Tech lost to OU 65-21.

Tech was automatically dismissed out of the conversation since it was dominated by OU, which is unfair to both Tech and OU. How should Tech be forgotten when they still beat a then-#1 ranked Texas team? And how should OU be penalized for blowing out the then-#2 team in the country. Imagine if OU had only won by about 7 or 10 points. Would that make Tech more relevant and less forgotten?

All I'm trying to say is there was a THREE-WAY TIE, not a two-way tie between Texas and OU like the media or Texas fans would make you think. I find it so annoying to see plans fly over OU games and Texas fans with "45-35" signs. If you didn't lose to Tech, you wouldn't have to whine and complain to try to get BCS points from voters.

If you take that same "head-to-head" argument with Texas and Tech, then Tech deserves to be in a BCS bowl more than Texas does since Tech beat Texas 39-33. I don't think Texas would like that, would they. But that argument never came about because Texas is Texas and Tech is Tech. Reputation goes a long way with these bowl selections. If there were a playoff, Tech wouldn't feel so jobbed right now.

Speaking of playoffs, it's about that time of year again for my brother-in-law and I to have our EA Sports NCAA Football playoff. That's right, we are making our own bracket and playing it out to see who would win. More details to come later. Enjoy the bowl games and BOOMER SOONER!

Jed and Germaine are ready for the bowl season. Are you?

A Quiet End of an Era

For some of you there was a time when MTV meant Music Television. For me I caught the tail end of Music Television and the beginning of what MTV is today...lame reality TV shows.

But in that tail end of Music Television after the first few seasons of the "original" reality show The Real World and right before the explosion of reality TV both on this network and on primetime network television, there was a sort of music renaissance. MTV had just debuted their Time Square studios and were juggling around newer shows in their line-up.

When they debuted the new studio they also premiered their new afternoon show MTV Live hosted by Ananda Lewis, Carson Daly, and a random ass British guy named Toby Amies. Occasionally they would have rock music guru Matt Pinfield on as well. And then their primetime consisted of 12 Angry Viewers where they would debut new videos and have fans talk about the vids, Say What? where popular videos were played with the song's lyrics scrolling on the bottom of the screen, and a little show called Total Request where fans would call in during the day and vote on the most popular videos.

That line-up worked for some time and built both popularity and viewership, particularly in MTV Live and later on at night Total Request. The popularity culminated into the combination of the two: Total Request Live. Debuting in September 1998, Total Request Live or TRL as dubbed by Carson Daly, the show's first and primary host until 2003, played the 10 most popular videos of the day as voted by fans. It also played as another way for musicians and movie stars to promote their latest projects.

With the combination of the rising popularity of pop and boy band groups, TRL took off. For the next 5 years, TRL reached it's peak in popularity, becoming both a cultural phenomenon and an icon in and of itself. In the early years, it was the ultimate avenue for new music, and not just the pop that is normally associated with the show. All genres of music were pretty much scattered in. I remember hearing Korn and Limp Bizkit being played alongside Eminem and Britney Spears. The first time I heard "Stellar" by Incubus or "Last Resort" by Papa Roach was on TRL.

I'm not quite sure what happened after Carson Daly left, for like Carson and some of the earlier viewers, I grew up and moved on. But I can guess that the popularity of the show outside of the stars that appear on the show and the host dwindled as more and more new avenues on the internet became available for new music and videos to come out and be shared. As MySpace and YouTube gained popularity to see not just new artists but established artists, MTV again started moving away from music.

Which brings us back to my title. A quiet end of an era.

Tonight was the finale episode of Total Request Live. I just found out about it by chance, my wife still watches a couple of shows on MTV (yep, all of them reality shows). I totally forgot that TRL was still even on. At first I was kind of upset. Even though I had stopped watching the show years ago, it still brought me back to those first few years when it was the flagship of MTV and they stopped Times Square traffic for episodes.

The more and more I thought about it though, the more I realized that it had been quite some time since TRL had even had any relavence. Although all of us old schoolers complain about MTV not playing videos anymore, it's no surprise they don't play any music anymore. The current generation of youth no longer needs a television station that plays music videos. They get them online now. And now instead of new artists debuting on TV they can generate a lot of buzz online as well. MTV moved back toward reality shows as a business move to preserve the company. If no one is watching the network for videos, they had to do something.

And so the finale...although there were a lot of iconic celebs that appeared and performed on the finale and there was a crowd in Times Square, it wasn't the same. They did bring Carson Daly back, but you would think a show like that and being on for that long (ten years is a long time on a network like MTV) there would be more fanfare. But I guess that is what happens when the world changes around you.

I think TRL was on a bit longer than it should have been, which is kind of sad. And so it ends. I guess it is fitting, especially since the first few artist featured in the first few years are now in their late 20s and early 30s. Some like Britney and Christina have since been married and have kids (and in Britney's case have come full circle being divorced, mentally breaking down, and then mounting a career comeback). And some have even disappeared into obscurity (if anyone watched the finale, did you notice that Fred Durst was noticibly absent from all this? I think he's a "film director" now).

So here is my quiet goodbye...thanks TRL. In the pre-Web 2.0 days, it was the ultimate way for music fans to vote on their favorite artists and discover new music coming out. For old schoolers like me, it was an icon that I'm thankful I got to witness and watch and appreciate. I'm sure a program like it will come out eventually. I mean, hell, they first compared TRL to American Bandstand and Carson Daly to Dick Clark (I think Carson still hosts New Years on NBC, so his career is sort of paralleling except for the fact that he dropped of the face of the planet doing his late night show).

So long TRL. Thanks for the memories.

The Meat Life's Ultimate Christmas Wishlist

Well, it seems like the Christmas shopping season starts earlier and earlier every year. I think last week I saw the first serious Christmas commercial come out. While I think it's ridiculous, I also kind of like it. Most of my list this year is movies and video games. Later on I will have a Meat Ballers List of Items That Are Awesome for those items I will probably be saving up for once I get a house. But for now here is the Meat Life's Ultimate Christmas Wishlist:

Lost Season 4 ($36.99 on Amazon)

Complexity, relationships, and deep human themes drive this show. One of my favorites since I bought the first season by chance and now with the conclusion of the show coming up in less than two years we are finally starting to see the full picture. In this season we find out how some get off the island and some end up stuck on the island. Although the first season is probably the best of the entire show, season 4 shows that this show is still solid.

Seinfeld Seasons 4-9 (Between $35.99-$38.99 on Amazon)

I had gotten the first three seasons for Christmas some years ago but have not gotten any of the other seasons since, out of just outright forgetfulness. Awesome show with iconic episodes and characters like the Contest and the Soup Nazi. Any one of these could continue building my collection and even if I got one it would be awesome.

The Dark Knight ($21.49 on Amazon for 2-Disc Edition)

The most anticipated DVD/BluRay release of the Christmas season, and with good reason. This film was phenominal, transending what it is to be a comic book movie. Standing on its own it makes for a tense and gripping crime drama, the heroes and villains just happened to be dressed up in disguises. Probably the best film I've seen this decade.

Knight Rider Seasons 2-3 (Season 2 - $22.99, Season 3 - $37.99 on Amazon)

I've already gotten the first and last season of this iconic 80s classic show. The coolest car and probably the most fun action series back in the day. Seasons 2 and 3 featured some of the showdowns with KITT and KARR. May seem cheesy nowadays (even the update series on NBC has taken a slightly different approach) but still awesome.

The Indiana Jones Complete Adventure Collection ($59.99 on Amazon)

Growing up watching the first three, I loved the action and the mystique. Spielberg and Lucas make a good creative team. I have yet to see the fourth and latest installment, and even if it doesn't live up to the original trilogy I still wouldn't mind owning it if I owned the other three.

EASports NHL09 (XBox 360 version, $56.99 on Amazon)

Winner of 10 awards for best sports video game, the NHL series has lept to greatness with the skill stick. The new version has improvements on the defensive side of the ice and a playable version of NHL94.

Wanted (Single Disc $16.99 on Amazon)

Action action action is what I was told to expect, another movie I haven't gotten a chance to see, but I'm sure I probably would have liked.

Tropic Thunder (Unrated Director's Cut $22.99 on Amazon)

The controversial action-comedy featuring a bald Tom Cruise, a black Robert Downey Jr and a two members of the "frat pack" in Ben Stiller and Jack Black, yet another I haven't seen but probably would enjoy.

Pineapple Express (2-Disc Unrated Edition $22.99 on Amazon)

A stoner-action-comedy starring an actor on fire right now in Seth Rogen. Rogen prospers in the popular raunch comedies that have come out as of late. And yes, another movie I have yet to see.

Ninja Gaiden II (XBox 360 edition, $36.99 on Amazon)

Playing the original and the demo of this version, this game is awesome. The gameplay and graphics are great, that and the price is down now that it has been out for a while.

Rock Band Drum Pad Silencers ($19.99 on Amazon)

Yeah, it's kind of annoying if you are playing the game and all you can hear is the drum sticks banging against that drum pad. My questions is why couldn't these things be built into the drum when they sell it to you?

Harold and Kumar: Escape From Gauntanamo Bay (2-Disc Unrated, $22.99 on Amazon)

And we end with a movie that I have already seen and just not bought yet. Another stoner-comedy continuing where the White Castle movie left off. Very awesome. Very hilarious. Almost as good as the first.

So there you have it, the Meat Life's Ultimate Christmas Wishlist!

Coming soon, the Meat Baller List of Items That Are Awesome

Blog

Yes, so my prediction was a bit off. At least OU is #4.

But this is but a mere update, a bulletin to let you know that I will have a huge entry entered in the next couple weeks to cover my recent honeymoon trip to Manhattan. Yes, the Meat Life in Manhattan! And I'll have a couple of other things I'll touch on like the Meat Life Ultimate Christmas Wishlist (it's almost that time of the year again) and a look back at what I would like to call the Meat Life Anthems.

But more on all that later...