Wild Card Games

1. Kansas City Chiefs at Indianapolis Colts - Kansas City rested most of their A-team and still almost beat the San Diego Chargers. I think that says more about San Diego than anything else. Of course, the B-team doesn't get a chance to play much so they were gunning hard. Indianapolis beat Kansas City at Arrowhead just a couple weeks ago (Dec 22) so Indy should be able to take care of the Chiefs without too much fuss right? Not necessarily. The key to this game will be whether or not the Chiefs get pressure on Andrew Luck. If they can get to him, the Colts will have a hard time scoring. If not, even the new and improved KC offense won't be enough to keep up with the Colts. I think the Chiefs have something to prove and Andy Ried's bad luck in the playoffs usually only hits in the championship game. I'm giving the edge to Kansas City in this one.

2. New Orleans Saints at Philadelphia Eagles - The Saints are dynamite at home. This game is not at home. The Eagles are hot and should be jazzed over their emotional win over Dallas. The Saints have been downright abysmal when they are away and outdoors. I think Drew Breeze and company will be able to take advantage of the Eagles early as they will likely be a little too amped up for the start of the game, but the Eagles will come back and send the Saints back to New Orleans for the rest of the season.

3. San Diego Chargers at Cincinnati Bengals - When you look at this on paper, this game should not be close. San Diego needed overtime and a couple of questionable calls to even get into the playoffs. Cincinnati is perfect at home this year and they handled the Chargers fairly well when they played in San Diego just after Thanksgiving. Yet, I am not sold on the Bengals ability to close the deal. Andy Dalton gets very jittery in spotlight games while Philip Rivers has been around for a long time and will not be bothered much by the crowds. I think the Bengals will win, but the coaches should give the Chargers a heavy diet of the running game to start before opening up the passing game. If they can get a rushing touchdown or two and bleed the clock to make Philip Rivers get pass happy, things will go a lot smoother over the course of the game.

4. San Francisco 49ers at Green Bay Packers - I'm have a hard time getting a bead on this game. I've seen a lot of San Francisco games this season and they have been very up and down. Green Bay on the other hand is a very good team with Aaron Rodgers at the helm. The math says to go with Niners, but my gut says to go with the Packers. I think the key to this game is going to be whether Green Bay can play any kind of defense. Colin Kaepernick can be erratic when he throws too much and the Niners are better when they run the ball more. I'm rating this one as a complete toss-up but I'm going to give Green Bay a very tiny edge. Rodgers will attack the wounded Niner's secondary and that will open things up for Eddie Lacy. If Green Bay gets any kind of a lead, Kaepernick might take one too many chances. I also question San Francisco's ability to fully function in the cold wind as Green Bay does. Still, this is definitely the one I'm least confident on.

Steelers Out

Let's be honest. Relying on the Kansas City scrubs to beat San Diego is not a reliable way of making the playoffs. Steelers fans can hate on Ryan Succop all they want, but this is something tangible to the Steelers that cost them the playoffs just as much:

To Week 17

It's probably been quite a while since we've had so much unsettled going into the final week of the season. Yes, there's always been one or two games that settle things, but it seems that just about nothing is secure at the moment.

AFC

The Division winners are all set as is the #5 seed (Kansas City). But seeding is still up in the air and there is going to be a rumpus for the #6 spot.

1. Denver has won the West and secured at least a first-round bye. But they need to either win their final game at Oakland, or have the Patriots lose to secure the overall #1 seed.
2. New England has won the East but needs Denver to lose to take home-field. What's more, should they somehow lose at home to Buffalo and Cincinnati wins against the Ravens, the Patriots would fall into the #3 seed as the Bengals have the tie-breaker in a head-to-head win. That seems unlikely, but it is possible.
3. The Bengals have won the North and close out against the Ravens. If they win and New England loses, they jump to the #2 seed. If they lose and Indianapolis wins, they fall to the #4 seed and a date with Kansas City. So a win preserves the #3 seed and kicks the Ravens out of the playoffs, which seems like motivation enough to me to try to win.
4. Indianapolis has won the South and closes out against the Jaguars at home. If they win and the Bengals lose, the Colts will be elevated to the #3 seed but they cannot do any better than that. Knowing that, I wouldn't be shocked to see the Colts start sitting some of their starters in the second half, no matter what the state of the game.
5. Kansas City is locked into the #5 seed. They finish at San Diego.
6. This is where things get real interesting. Miami, Baltimore, and San Diego are all tied at 8-7. Miami has the tie-breaker as they have the best conference record of the three. Baltimore follows and San Diego rounds it out. So, if Miami wins their final game against the Jets, they are in. If Miami loses and Baltimore wins, Baltimore gets in. If both lose and San Diego wins, they get in. If all three lose and Pittsburgh wins their final game against Cleveland, they actually vault over the lot and grab the #6 seed. That seems unlikely to me. Of the three Miami certainly can win, although games with the Jets have been known to be very odd. After that, I'd actually favor San Diego as I expect the Chiefs to be sitting a number of their better players, knowing they will be on the road and playing that first round of the playoffs.

So, that gives us four teams fighting for one spot. The rest is just the juggle of seeding.

NFC

The NFC actually still has not settled any of it's division winners yet, although two are pretty close to being settled.

1. Seattle will clinch automatically if San Francisco loses tonight (not likely against Atlanta), otherwise they'll have to win against the Rams next week, which would win the division and secure home-field. On the off chance they do lose, the 49ers could vault over them to take the division if they win tonight against Atlanta and next week against Arizona.
2. The Carolina Panthers locked a playoff spot win their win against New Orleans yesterday. If they win against Atlanta next week, they secure the division and the #2 seed. Seattle has the tie-breaker so Carolina can only secure home-field if San Francisco vaults up to win the West. Should Carolina lose to Atlanta, New Orleans could sneak back in and the Panthers would fall to either the #5 or #6 seed.
3. Philadelphia destroyed the Bears last night and set itself in the #3 spot for the moment. But the game against Dallas (which has been moved to be the Sunday Night game) will decide who wins the East. Win and you're in. Lose and you stay home. Dallas has a better record against the NFC than the Bears so whoever wins this game will take the #3 seed.
4. Detroit's collapse opened things up and now it's a head-to-head between Chicago and Green Bay to decide the North and the #4 seed. Like the East, win and you're in, lose and you go home. Chicago could settle for a tie as well.
5. Now things get murky. San Francisco holds this spot at the moment and assuming they win against Atlanta, will continue to hold it. In fact, if they win tonight, the 49ers secure a playoff spot. They actually could have things go so that they could the #1 overall seed, but that would require them to win out and have both Seattle and Carolina lose and that seems unlikely. But, if Seattle loses next week and San Francisco wins, they could take the division and Seattle would fall to this spot.
6. New Orleans had a first-round bye in their hand and now they face the possibility of missing the playoffs. If New Orleans wins their final game against Tampa Bay, they're in. If they lose, they open the door for the Arizona Cardinals. If the Cardinals lose their last game to San Francisco, the Saints would also get in.

So, there are technically three teams alive in the NFC hunt, but two of them are head-to-head division races and only one (Cardinals) that is hoping for outside help.

Personally, I don't expect much variance as most of the final games favor the team that is in the spot it is now. My expectation:

AFC
1. Denver Broncos
2. New England Patriots
3. Cincinnati Bengals
4. Indianapolis Colts
5. Kansas City Chiefs
6. Miami Dolphins (if not the Fish, then the Bolts)

NFC
1. Seattle Seahawks
2. Carolina Panthers
3. Philadelphia Eagles
4. Chicago Bears (unless Aaron Rodgers is able to come back)
5. San Francisco 49er's
6. New Orleans Saints

As in previous years, I'll make my various playoff predictions. I'm still holding to a Seahawks-Broncos Superbowl, but I must admit, I'm starting to think that the Panthers have a chance at changing that. Despite their flaws, I'll need to see Denver go down before I go against them in the playoffs (or if Manning is taken out by the Raiders).

Christie Anime

Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, and anime. A very nice combination. The extra character of Maybelle is a little annoying in the way that anime characters can be, but this is still quite well done. Hastings should be a bit older though.

Football Homestretch

Week 13 is now in the books. Seattle is the only team that has secured a playoff spot, but many of the teams listed will be making the playoffs, it's just a question of what their seeding will be:

AFC

1. Denver Broncos
2. New England Patriots
3. Indianapolis Colts
4. Cincinnati Bengals
5. Kansas City Chiefs
6. Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens have the tie-breaker against the Dolphins via a head-to-head win. Everyone else is sub-500. The Bengals square off against the Colts this weekend and if they win, they will move into #3 spot and have tie-breakers against the Colts and Patriots. So there is an off chance they could seize the #2 spot if they finish with the same record as the Pats. Likewise, the Pats have the head-to-head against Denver so the Broncos need to maintain a game lead if they want to keep home field. The Chiefs are essentially locked into the #5 spot.

NFC

1. Seattle Seahawks
2. New Orleans Saints
3. Dallas Cowboys
4. Detroit Lions
5. Carolina Panthers
6. San Francisco 49ers

The Seahawks are firmly in control of the #1 spot having beaten the Saints last week. Of course, the Saints have to square off against the Panthers twice (whom the Seahawks also beat) so the Panthers could vault up to win the division and the #2 seed. Dallas and Detroit could actually still lose their divisions as the Eagles are tied with the Cowboys and the Packers and Bears are also not too far back of the Lions. Even the 49ers could have trouble as the Arizona Cardinals are only a game back of them for the last spot.

Much is still to be settled in the final four weeks.

ISON Lives, Sort of

Comet ISON survived its trip around the sun, although not without damage. The nucleus appears to have been fragmented and shedding debris at a much higher rate. It should stay intact long enough to have a nice observation of it in December. Hopefully it doesn't break up early and send any rocks our way.

Incoming

Comet ISON is now visible on the sun viewing satellites. This image is from the SOHO LASCO C3:

More impressive images should be coming available soon as the comet continues to approach the sun.

Watching ISON

On Thursday, right around 1pm EST, Comet ISON will be at it's closest point to the sun (perihelion). NASA is in the process of moving their sun observation satellites so that all of them will be watching the comet as it goes around. They have also set up a site where the images from the various satellites can be observed. Even if the comet breaks up and is destroyed, it should make for a very impressive show as this comet is currently producing a huge coma with a tail nearly 10 million miles long.

If we're lucky, the comet will survive the trip around the sun and it should make for some very impressive sky watching around Christmas time.

Comet ISON

Comet ISON is now nine days away from perihelion. Supposedly it will be visible to the naked eye starting tomorrow. If it survives perihelion, it should be very visible as it swings back out past us in December and January.

But, in case it doesn't survive, here's a really cool pic captured of ISON as it approaches the sun:

I'm Simon Belmont Bitch!

Ah, memories.

Who Makes, Who Fails?

A couple of years ago, I was listening to a sports radio show at the beginning of the NFL season and the host made a comment that over the past few seasons, there has been about 50% turnover in the teams that make the playoffs. That is, out of the twelve teams that made the playoffs last year, we should only expect six to repeat in making the playoffs. Given that we are in the middle of the current season, I thought it would be interesting to compare last year and see if that statistic looks like it will hold up.

2012-13 Playoffs:

AFC
1. Denver Broncos
2. NE Patriots
3. Houston Texans
4. Baltimore Ravens
5. Indianapolis Colts
6. Cincinnati Bengals

NFC
1. Atlanta Falcons
2. SF 49ers
3. Green Bay Packers
4. Washington Redskins
5. Seattle Seahawks
6. Minnesota Vikings

First, the AFC. The current division leaders are New England, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Kansas City. Denver is close behind and then there are a few teams in the mix for the #6 seed. At the moment, it looks as though four teams would return to the playoffs (Denver, NE, Indy, and Cincy) with an outside shot at five if Baltimore can break out ahead of San Diego, Tennessee, or the Jets.

Now, the NFC. The division leaders are Dallas, Green Bay, New Orleans and Seattle. San Francisco and Detroit are rounding out the current wild card standings. This would make the NFC closer to the average as only San Francisco, Seattle, and Green Bay would be repeats. Atlanta and Minnesota are effectively done and have no shot at making the playoffs this year. Washington shouldn't but the NFC East is so bad this year that we cannot rule out the possibility that they may find a way to take the division.

So, at current standings, seven of the twelve teams in last year's playoffs would return for a .583 percentage. I'd say going over or under by one would be keeping within the statistic. Now, if Baltimore manages to get back in, that would move things more to an outlier status as 2/3s of the teams that made it last year would be back in.

Of course, anything could happen. Which is why they play the games.

Classic Who's Line

I dare you to watch this and try not to pee yourself laughing:

Almost Mid-Point NFL Playoff Standings

I know it's not quite the halfway point of the season, but this week gave us such and interesting shake-up to the playoff standings that I had to record it knowing that things are likely to shift from this later.

AFC
1. Kansas City Chiefs
2. Cincinnati Bengals
3. Indianapolis Colts
4. New England Patriots
5. Denver Broncos
6. NY Jets

NFC
1. Seattle Seahawks
2. New Orleans Saints
3. Green Bay Packers
4. Dallas Cowboys
5. San Francisco 49ers
6. Detroit Lions

There are a lot of ties in the AFC right now as the Bengals, Colts and Patriots all are 5-2. The Bengals get the nod as they are 3-1 against the AFC while the Colts are 3-2 and the Pats are 2-2. Cincinnati also has the head-to-head tiebraker with the Patriots but that's less of an issue in a three-way tie. The Jets are tied with San Diego as well, but they have a better divisional record (conference record is the same).

Things are more cut and dried in the NFC, although Seattle only gets the nod over New Orleans as Seattle hasn't had their bye yet. I see no reason as to why the NFC standings won't stay pretty close to what there is now, with only positioning being the question. I expect a lot more jostling in the AFC. I think Denver will end up on top and Kansas City will eventually settle for the #5 seed. I also expect the Bengals to fall out of the #2 slot, although I think they should end up winning the division. Likewise, the Patriots will probably win the East (although that is still questionable) and the Colts look to be running away with the South at this point. There are a lot of teams fighting over that #6 spot and I'm skeptical that the East will hold on to it.

I'm curious to see where things will be even two weeks from now when we officially pass the mid-point of the season.

Quarter Point Standings

I like to keep track of the playoff standings at various points in the football season. It's fun to go back and laugh about how team X was actually in position to win the division and get the #3 seed at one point when they end up finishing at 6-10. Anyway, here are how things stand as of the end of the first quarter of football:

AFC
1. Denver Broncos
2. New England Patriots
3. Indianapolis Colts
4. Baltimore Ravens
5. Kansas City Chiefs
6. Miami Dolphins

NFC
1. New Orleans Saints
2. Seattle Seahawks
3. Detroit Lions
4. Dallas Cowboys
5. Chicago Bears
6. San Francisco 49ers

There are a few tiebreakers in there (such as who is actually winning the AFC North) but for the most part, things are pretty cut and dry at the moment. I'm sure this list will change a bit, especially at the bottom. However, things are already starting to look rather stark in the NFC. Honestly, I'm seeing seven teams fight for six spots (Green Bay being the odd man out currently) and a sharp divide between the rest.

The AFC has a few more teams in it as you have two other contenders for the AFC North (Cleveland and Cincinnati) as well as Houston and Tennessee. I wouldn't even rule out San Diego, the NY Jets or Buffalo at this point. Really, its only Pittsburgh, Jacksonville, and Oakland that look DOA at this point. I'm sure separation will occur, but it is definitely closer in the AFC (as long as you don't include the Broncos. They're blowing everyone away).

Jake for Grown-Ups

When kids who listen to the Neverland Pirate Band on Jake grow up, this is the type of music they will get into:

Early Football Predictions

I paid almost no attention to football in the off-season and, as such, felt I had no right to offer any opinion on how the season would evolve. With two weeks in the books though, I thought I would give my early predictions on who makes the playoffs.

AFC

1. Denver Broncos - The NFL should just pass a rule that states that any team quarterbacked by a healthy Peyton Manning should immediately collect a 14-2 record and the #1 seed and just advance to the playoffs. That's when things get interesting.

2. Houston Texans - From an early point of view, Houston is about the only team in the AFC that appears to have a prayer of challenging Denver for the AFC crown. That's more of a reflection on the hideousness of the AFC this year. Shades of Buffalo in the early 90's.

3. New England Patriots - New England will probably get better once they get people back from injury, but they are also aided by the fact that the East isn't that hot, despite surprisingly decent performances from Buffalo and Miami. I still think the holes are large enough though that a first round bye will elude them.

4. Cincinnati Bengals - I see the Bengals doing well when they play the AFC. But things will be a bit bleak at first with a 1-2 start (assuming they do lose to Green Bay as I think they will). It very well may be a case that the last game of the season against Baltimore will actually matter to who wins the division.

5. Kansas City Chiefs - The Chiefs may one of the biggest surprises this year. I wouldn't put it past them to come crashing down, but they seem a little more stable under Andy Ried. He has a good reputation for building good teams, it's just winning the playoffs that he has trouble with.

6. Miami Dolphins - This is an open spot that could be filled by San Diego or Tennessee if the winds swing just right. I'm leaning towards the fish at the moment just because I think San Diego will have trouble between Denver and KC in their own division and there are still just a few too many unknowns with Tennessee. Even in down years, Miami has hung tough with divisional opponents and I think they could get a surprising win or two that would vault them over the others for the last playoff spot.

NFC

1. San Francisco 49ers - Yes, I know they got the crap kicked out of them by Seattle. But I still don't trust Seattle's offense enough to give them the division. San Francisco now has their game at Seattle done with and should end up edging the Seahawks by a game or so.

2. New Orleans Saints - Deep down, I think a team from the NFC North deserves to be here, but I see them beating each other up enough that New Orleans will squeek ahead with a better record. In theory, Atlanta and Tampa Bay are good enough to challenge New Orleans, but Atlanta is hurt and Tampa can't seem to get it's act together to finish games. So New Orleans will pull ahead for a bit and then hang on as the rest of the division tried to catch up.

3. Green Bay Packers - I could be convinced that the Chicago Bears will prevail here. But I'm thinking that Green Bay's offense still has too many weapons and will outscore enough teams to get past the Bears. That's not a great place to be in, but it should carry them through enough of the regular season and a division title.

4. Dallas Cowboys - The East is the NFC's version of the AFC North. Someone has to win and go to the playoffs. Everyone else looks bad but the Cowboys look the least amount of bad so far. They have a good defense and their offense has moments where they are very good. They hung with Kansas City until the end so they seem to have the inside track for ending up on top of a bad division.

5. Seattle Seahawks - The defense is good and the home field advantage they have is insane. But I need to see more offense than just Marshawn Lynch to say that they are going to beat SF for the NFC West crown at the end of the season.

6. Chicago Bears - A set of random changes could easily see Chicago and Green Bay swapping positions, but the Bears defense is still not what it used to be and I don't think that Chicago's offense is as good as Green Bay's offense. Green Bay will probably win a couple of games just by outscoring people. Chicago will probably also try that but I see them falling short just enough to let Green Bay take the division.

Early Super Bowl prediction: Denver vs. Seattle

Monday Night Record Keeping

For the record, Monday Night Football is about to kick off and the entire MNF analysis crew (with the exception of Trent Dilfer) has picked the Bengals. They have more faith in the Bengals than I do. I will believe a Bengals win over the Pittsburgh Steelers (even when they are supposedly having a down year) when I see it.

Still, hope they win.

Pixar Rankings

A little while ago, I saw someone do a basic summary of the Pixar movies and their opinions of them. From that, I thought it would be interesting to rank all the Pixar movies based on my opinion. Now, I should say that I have seen all the Pixar movies and liked all the Pixar movies. Some are better than others obviously or you couldn't make a list. I would also say that I don't really care about technical achievement or anything. I only rate on quality of story or overall atmospherics.

14. Cars 2 - Unlike many other people, I actually liked this movie. I like spy thrillers and I don't have the problem that a lot of other people do with swapping out people for cars. But, it is probably the weakest of the stories and the least innovative of all the movies.

13. Brave - I like Brave, but with me it suffers from contrast with Wreck-It Ralph. Ralph was in many ways, the movie you would have expected from Pixar and Brave was the movie you expected from Disney. It also gets dinged a little bit for being a bit slow in the middle. Still, props for being the first Pixar movie to deal with the mother/daughter dynamic.

12. A Bug's Life - Bug's Life suffers mostly from contrast. First, it followed Toy Story and it just wasn't as good as that first movie. Second, one of the Pixar producers left Pixar and took the idea with him and made it at Dreamworks under the title of Antz. The pressure of Antz probably caused A Bug's Life to skip a few rewrites and the story suffered as a result. The circus bugs were a great rebound for the movie, but the main characters suffered as a result.

11. Cars - Cars is an interesting character study with very nice visuals, but it is a recycled story and the story drags heavily at times. I don't have the animosity towards it that some do. One of the biggest complaints I've heard is because it followed The Incredibles, which was the first Pixar movie to get more realistic looking humans. But that doesn't bother me. Still, it's a weaker overall entry.

10. Toy Story - I ding Toy Story for two reasons. First, although it was groundbreaking at the time, the animation has not held up well. There are commercials that have better animation now and while it is fun to watch now, there are moments (like the dog) that just take you out of the movie because of the contrast in appearance. The second point is the contrast with the second movie. The first movie is pretty much just Buzz and Woody, and Woody is a jerk through most of it. That works fine as a stand alone movie, but when you compare to the texture you get in the ensemble casts of the second and third movies, it just makes the first one pale by comparison. A good movie, just not as good as it's sequels.

9. Monster's University - I only have seen this one once and that was a couple of months ago. It was a nice send up of the traditional college underdog story (Animal House, Revenge of the Nerds, etc.). It also did a good job of fleshing out the one significant weakness of the first movie: Mike. The first movie was clearly a daddy/daughter story between Sully and Boo and Mike was left as the comic foil who didn't really quite fit in at points. Monsters University gave Mike some depth and helped explain why a heavy hitting scarer like Sully would be best friends with the dweeb like Mike. It didn't have a ton of emotional impact, but it was fun and I look forward to seeing it again.

8. Toy Story 3 - Toy Story 3 in theory should have eclipsed the second movie in terms of emotional impact and overarching story. However, there were too many moments where it felt like it was trying too hard. It was very dark, a times a bit too long, and Andy's sentimental reaction at the end just didn't really fit with a college kid. It was good, but it just missed what made the second one great.

7. Monsters Inc. - I've seen a high degree of contrast with this movie. Some people love it, some hate it. I think the appeal of the movie is tied directly to dad/daughter relationships. If you have kids (especially a little girl), you understand all of Sully's reactions and sympathize with everything he goes through. Likewise, you tend to find Boo cute. Otherwise, I could understand people saying that Boo is annoying and don't get sucked into the drama that goes on. Mrs. X has a very hard time watching this one just because of how Sully reminds her of her own dad. It's not Pixar's greatest but it does rate higher on my list than it might others.

6. Wall-E - This is a study in contrasts. Just about everyone who has ever offered an opinion on this movie raves about how great the first half is. In fact, if the entire movie were like the first half, with almost no dialogue and just the interaction between Wall-E and Eva, it would probably rate as just about everyone's favorite. Now, I don't despise the second half the way some people seem to, but it is weaker. I actually like the character of the Captain and the illusions to HAL amuse me. Nevertheless, it does change in tone dramatically and becomes just a bit more silly. Still, a great movie to watch.

5. The Incredibles - The Incredibles was probably Pixar's first move into a movie that was truly adult in nature. There were elements for adults in the previous movies, but they were still kid centric. The Incredibles finally stepped beyond that and made an animated movie that was aimed squarely at adults. It has stuff for kids, but I find that I appreciate it more, the older I get. I would probably rate it even higher, except that I thought that Mr. Incredible (Bob) was a weaker character for the focus. I thought the wife (Helen) was a more developed and complex character. I enjoyed her scenes more than with Bob and the movie got dinged down just a tad in my mind because she needed more focus.

4. Toy Story 2 - One of the very few exceptions to the rule that sequels will never be better than the original. This movie took what was good about the first movie and seriously upped the ante by distributing the story into an ensemble rather than letting Woody and Buzz carry the movie again. It also expanded the reach of the movie by incorporating the abandonment of toys (exploiting the parental metaphor). Seriously, anyone who does not cry during Jessie's back story song has no soul. Toy Story 2 also did not try to bite off more than it could chew by going too deep or dark. It kept things fairly whimsical and light, which made the poignant moments that more powerful.

3. Up - This is another movie that had much more of an adult focus and it worked extremely well. The montage of the marriage between Carl and Ellie alone made this a great movie and is another case where if you are not moved, you have no soul. The idea of escaping into a fantasy of the past to escape your present troubles, while at the same time refusing to face the new reality in front of you is fascinating story. The casting and portrayal of Carl is a perfect mix of curmudgeon and funny. His relationship with Russell is also both funny and touching. Doug and Alpha are played to their full comedic potential without going too far. My only knock on the movie is the villain. He reminded me too much of an ancient Ted Turner and just didn't quite work for me. Still, a great *SQUIRREL!* movie.

2. Ratatouille - I can't really explain why I like this movie this much. The main characters are good but there is nothing overly compelling about them and the story is pretty simple for the most part as well. But the mix, especially with the secondary characters just makes you want more of the story and I appreciate that. It also has one of the most interesting endings. I would also say that I first saw this movie during a very dark period in my life and the humor and atmosphere just made me feel good, so I may carry that over with me when I think of it. I probably rank the movie higher than most would.

1. Finding Nemo - This comes about as close as you can get to a perfect movie for me. It's touching in the father/son pursuit and relationship, it has memorable and interesting secondary characters, and it has a great sense of humor. Some people don't care for Dory, I find her hilarious and the interaction she has with Marlin works extremely well. This also doesn't even take into account the visual prowess that Pixar showed in the background, especially the coral reef flybys. Overall, I can't really think of any part of this movie that I don't like and would deprive it of my #1 ranking.

Taxes are Patriotic

I can understand the need for taxes and the like, but this is a level of propoganda that would have had Big Brother drooling over himself.

A Practical Reaction to the Red Wedding

I found this guy a few weeks ago and he amuses me. I found this particularly funny:

Disney Villain Deaths

Disney movies are somewhat notorious for their villain's deaths. The most notable is the death by falling. This has become so known that it is somewhat of a trope. While he was making Return of the King, Peter Jackson made a point of showing that the evil wizard Saruman was already dead or dying before he fell from his tower (and was then impaled on a spike) because he said that he wanted to avoid any semblance of a "Disney Death."

The death by falling is the most common but Disney villain deaths generally fall into two other categories. The second is a form of self-immolation. This is not usually actual suicide but usually a death that comes from the villain exposing themselves to destruction through direct actions of their own. A non-death version of this would be Cruella de Ville who allows the dalmatians to get away when she loses her cool and crashes her car into that of her henchmen.

The third, and probably least common, is to be actually slain by the hero.

To test my observations, I thought I would list the various Disney (and Disney produced) movies I've seen (and a few I haven't) that involve the villain being killed (so no Toy Story) and see how it fit into these categories. If I skip over something, it's probably more to do with that I've not seen it, nor familiar with how the villain is dispatched. Note, this will obviously include spoilers.

1. Brave - Mor'du - A straight #3 style as Queen Elinor (as a bear) kills Mor'du while defending Merida.

2. Wreck-It Ralph - Turbo - Turbo finally dies when his cy-bug programming overrides his natural sense and he flies into the diet cola lava. This would be a good example of death style #2 in that Turbo is killed both by his own hand and through actions he took earlier to increase his power.

3. Tangled - Mother Gothel - Mother Gothel is an interesting mix of all three methods. Flynn did technically kill Mother Gothel by cutting Rapunzel's hair (and he probably knew this would kill her eventually), but it wasn't a direct attack and he almost certainly didn't know how fast the magic would wear off. Likewise, Mother Gothel was already dying when she was knocked out the window. That was mostly a device for the animators to avoid showing her decaying to dust (see Indiana Jones and the Last Cruisade) and thus keep things G-rated. Overall, it's mostly a #2 style as Mother Gothel used this magic to keep her young but left herself exposed to the great weakness that if it ever failed, she would be destroyed.

4. Up - Charles Muntz - Muntz dies in classic Disney style by falling off his Zepplin in the fight with Carl.

5. The Princess and the Frog - Dr. Facilier - This is also a blend of #2 and #3 as it is Tiana's destruction of the ammulet that causes the demons to turn on Dr. Facilier. However, again, this was not a direct attack by Tiana and she had no way of knowing that it would actually kill Dr. Facilier, only break his magic. So the majority lies with style #2 where Dr. Facilier put himself in a dangerous position to have the agents working for him, turn against him and drag him off to Hell.

6. The Incredibles - Syndrome - Syndrome is a strong #2 as after he is thwarted by the Incredibles, he get sucked into his airplane engine (mostly due to his cape) while trying to get away. Granted, things were thrown off by Mr. Incredible knocking the plane out with a thrown car, but Syndrome's death was ultimately due to his indulgence with the cape.


7. Tarzan - Clayton - I've not seen this movie but heard that it's about as gruesome as Disney can get while still keeping the G-rating. At the end of his fight with Tarzan, Clayton gets tangled in some vines and manages to cut himself free except for one that is wrapped around his neck. He then falls and is hung. Apparently, while his actual body is not shown, his shadow is seen dangling above the ground giving no question as to the method of his death. His death is due to a form of falling putting in solid #1 territory but given that he causes his own hanging, he has to get a solid dash of #2 in there as well.

8. The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Judge Frollo - Another movie I've not actually seen. He is knocked off the bell tower at Notre Dame cathedral and into a fire below making him a solid style #1 death.

9. The Lion King - Scar - Scar's death was almost exactly what I had in mind when thinking of style #2 as he is merely knocked down by Simba in the climatic fight. But, in his attempt to weasel out of things, he angers his allies the hyenas who turn on him and tear him to pieces.

10. Beauty and the Beast - Gaston - A classic fall from the top of the castle and into a deep ravine when Belle opts to grab the Beast instead of him as they lose their balance when Gaston has stabbed him in the back.

11. The Rescuers Down Under - Percival McLeach - This was actually a pretty good movie if you could get past the extreme over-the-top live in harmony with nature elements. McLeach was a strong bad guy and ultimately killed when he gets caught in the strong current of the river and swept over a waterfall giving him the standard style #1 death.

12. The Little Mermaid - Ursula - About Prince Eric's only notible feature is that he actually was able to stear a sunken ship and stab Ursula in the gut with it. Granted, it helped that she took the Bondian villain 10 seconds to savor her opportunity to kill Ariel to allow Eric time to get into position, but he still does the job to rate Ursula's death as a type #3.

12. Oliver and Company - Bill Sykes - I've only seen parts of this retelling of Oliver Twist but Sykes death is a standard #2. Sykes is pursuing the good guys in his car and ends up chasing them on the train tracks. The good guys get away just as train comes up the tracks and Sykes and his car are smashed to pieces.

13. The Great Mouse Detective - Ratigan - I read Basil of Baker Street a long time ago but have never seen the movie adaptation. Ratigan (a Moriarty knock-off) is killed when the clock he is standing on chimes and he loses his balance. Given the Sherlock Holmes parallels, this seems rather empty as it should have been a stronger Reichenback Falls ending. Still, it is a standard type #1 death.

14. Sleeping Beauty - Maleficent - This is probably the most well-known of the style #3 deaths. Prince Phillip has an open fight with Maleficent as a dragon and (with the fairies help) plunges his sword into her heart.

15. Peter Pan - Captain Hook - Yes, I know. Hook doesn't actually die. However, that was a differentiation made for comedic effect. In any other adaptation, Hook would have stayed eaten by the crocodile. I would rate his pseudo-death would in the classic type #1 style as he was lunging at Peter Pan and fell off the mast and into the water with the crocodile. That the croc would have killed him rather than the fall is more of semantics as the exposure to death came from the fall.

16. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves - The Queen - The originator of the type #1 Disney fall. The queen was actually in a strong position about to send a boulder down on the dwarves, killing or maiming all of them, when nature steps in and a bolt of lightining knocks her off the cliff. The boulder she was loosening to kill the dwarves then rolls backwards and presumably crushes and semblance of life that might have survived the fall.

So what's our tally? In my count, I have eight instances of a villain falling to his/her death with six instances of self immolation (a couple of those being tied to the falls) and only three instances of being killed directly by the hero. Interestingly, the majority of the fall deaths came from older movies so it would certainly feed into the idea of a trope that Disney themselves became aware of and started to move away from.

Still, Disney should be careful not to fall into the next trope, which would be killing the villain off by indirect means too often, such as was used with Dr. Facilier and Mother Gothel. I know that the villains put themselves into these situations but it seems like a cheap way of having the hero seem to kill the villian without getting their hands dirty. It cheaps the villain (in my opinion) to have them set up for such as easy way of disposing them.

Lightning Over Canada

Cool Pic.

Neptune's New Moon

A 14th moon has been discovered around Neptune. It doesn't have a proper name yet, although I'm sure it will be after a relation to the Roman mythology concerning Neptune. Pretty cool.

Soarin'

There are videos posted elsewhere where you can see the visuals that accompany this music, but unless you are there, the effect will be totally lost. It's better to just enjoy the music for what it is and imagine the ride in your mind.

Samuri Jack

A Japanese style print of a pretty good cartoon

Worms Hilarity

When I was in college, I loved playing Worms: Armageddon. The concept is very simple: you have a team of worms with an amusing array of weapons and you attempt to kill off the members of the other teams you play against. Outside of the basic reducing of health, worms can be killed by knocking them off the playing field or dropped into water (since they have no arms, they do not swim). The many mistakes, bad shots, or impressive shots always led to amusing comments and large volumes of course language.

A few weeks ago I discovered that a gaming group that posts Youtube game walk-through videos, put together a bunch of highlight videos of their late night Worms: Reloaded gaming sessions. It brought back many amusing memories and the comments they made are equally hilarious.

Here is a "best of the best" compliation they made and one of the funniest of the general highlight vidoes, but there are 49 other highlight videos that offer varying levels of amusement:

Saturn Hurricane

The Cassini spacecraft sent back some incredible pictures yesterday of a stationary hurricane up at the north pole of Saturn. The false color image of the storm is blood red and has been nicknamed The Rose.

The eye of this storm is about 1,250 miles in diameter or roughly the distance from Cleveland to Denver. The clouds on the outer bands of the storm are traveling at a speed of about 330 mph. Someone who saw it said that it reminded them of a stargate or some other trans-dimensional portal like you would see in some sci-fi movie. I just thought that it looked really cool.

Deus Meus (My God)

This is a wonderful piece of music. It was written about 800 years ago and is written with the first and fourth lines of every verse in Latin and the second and third lines in Gaelic. One of the best versions I've heard of the song is done by Fionnuala Gill, although she doesn't include all verses.

Latin and Gaelic:

Deus meus adiuva me
Tabhair dom do shearch,a Mhic ghil Dé
Tabhair dom do shearch,a Mhic ghil Dé
Deus meus adiuva me.

In meum cor, ut sanum sit,
Tabhair, a Rí rán, do ghrá go grip;
Tabhair, a Rí rán, do ghrá go grip,
In meum cor, ut sanum sit.

Domine da quod peto a te,
Tabhair dom go dian a ghrian ghlan ghlé,
Tabhair dom go dian a ghrian ghlan ghlé,
Domine da quod peto a te.

Hanc spero rem et quaero quam,
Do shearc dom sonn, do shearc dom thall;
Do shearc dom sonn, do shearc dom thall,
Hanc spero rem et quaero quam.

Tuum amorem, sicut vis,
Tabhair dom go tréan, a déarfad arís;
Tabhair dom go tréan, a déarfad arís,
Tuum amorem, sicut vis.

Quaero, postulo, peto a te,
Mo bheatha i neamh, a mhic dhil Dé;
Mo bheatha i neamh, a mhic dhil Dé,
Quaero, postulo, peto a te.

Domine, Domine, exaudi me,
M’anam bheith lán de d’ghrá, a Dhé,
M’anam bheith lán de d’ghrá, a Dhé,
Domine, Domine exaudi me.

Deus Meus adiuva me

English:

My God, help me
Give me love of thee, O Son of God
Give me love of thee, O Son of God
My God, help me

Into my heart that it may be whole
O glorious King, swiftly bring love of thee
O glorious King, swiftly bring love of thee
Into my heart that it may be whole

Lord, give what I ask of thee
Give, give speedily, O bright and gleaming sun
Give, give speedily, O bright and gleaming sun
Lord, give what I ask of thee

This thing which I hope and seek
Love of thee in this world, love of thee in that
Love of thee in this world, love of thee in that
This thing which I hope and seek

Love thee, as thou wishest
Give me in thy might (I will say it again)
Give me in thy might (I will say it again)
Love thee, as thou wishest

I seek, I beg, I ask of thee
That I be in Heaven, dear Son of God
That I be in Heaven, dear Son of God
I seek, I beg, I ask of thee

My Lord, hear me
May my soul, O God, be full of love for thee
May my soul, O God, be full of love for thee
My Lord, hear me

My God, help me

An Unpleasant Week

This has been a somewhat unpleasant week for the country.

On Monday, there was the (presumed) terrorist attack on the Boston Marathon. Three killed, over 180 injured including multiple amputations.

Late Monday and drifting into Tuesday, letters believed to contain the poison Ricin were found, having been mailed to various elected officials. No casualties occured and a suspect has been brought into custody.

Last night, a fire caused an explosion at a fertilizer plant in the tiny town of West, Texas. At least six people have been confirmed killed with hundreds of injuries and an unknown number of people unaccounted for. Half the town of 2,800 people have been evacuated due to structural damage and toxic chemical release.

This also does not account for the fact that April 19 (Friday) is the anniversary of both the Branch Davidian Waco tragedy and the Oklahoma City bombing and April 20 (Saturday) is the anniversary of the Columbine HS shooting. Those three events seem to be putting people even more on edge than they might actually be in light of what has happened this week.

Of course, I turned 35 and got cake this week and my cousin is getting married this Saturday, so there are happy moments even amidst the tragedy.

French Sag

As just about any woman larger than a B cup or a teenage boy who has looked at an old National Geographic magazine will tell you, this is just another reason why the French are dumb.

I'm Sorry, I Thought You Said Michigan Sucks

Even though the clip is about the Notre Dame-Michigan football game, it still provides opportunity to make fun of Michigan.

Not that they didn't play well. I didn't stay up to watch it, but Michigan was apparently winning for a majority of the game against Louisville, even being up by as many as 12 points at one instance. But Louisville stuck around and won the game, sending the city of Louisville into the typical alcohol soaked riot that we've come to expect following NCAA championships.

I'm very curious to find out how the die-hard Kentucky fans feel about this. I suspect they will be as annoyed as the Ohio St. fans would have been if Michigan had won.

Of course, it would have been nice to actually see the game, but the starting time was just completely foolish. Mrs. X was feeling a little tired and opted to head upstairs just before 9:30. They were on the National Anthem at that point. I wrapped up things downstairs and went up at 10:00 and it was about halfway through the first quarter. Mrs. X checked the score right before we turned out the lights around 10:30 and it was at halftime. To stay up and watch the whole thing would have required us to stay up until nearly midnight and I'm certainly not doing that; especially after staying up until 11:30 the previous night watching Mad Men.

Anyway, props to Louisville and Rick Pitino. Also props to Mrs. X's third bracket as the winner of our little pool.

Another One Bites the Dust?

Unconfirmed news reports swirled yesterday that Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad was shot and possibly killed by a member of his bodyguard. A few hours later, Russian and Israeli news services issued similar reports stating that Assad has been shot and died on the operating table.

If all this is confirmed, it will result in a near de-facto victory for the Syrian rebels and be the latest Arab strongman to be removed. This also means that that the region will continue to destabilize, especially as the various rebel factions start squabbling in their attempts to seize Syrian chemical weapons and then decide what to do with them.

Expect Israel to strengthen their northern border quickly.

Game of Thrones - 1995 ed.

This is pretty funny. Someone put together an opening credits for Game of Thrones in the vein of Hercules and Xena:

Pope Time for Francis

So it appears that I was incorrect, but not by much. I had been thinking that the papal conclave would pick an Italian to be the next pope. Instead they pick an Argentinian who is the son of Italian immegrants. Sort of Italian-Not Italian (mmmm... Procaccini's).

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio has taken the papal name of Francis (in honor of Francis of Assisi). The lack of a Peter in either his given name or his papal name will throw the St. Malachy folks for a loop, although they seem to be gloming on pretty hard to the fact that he is of Italian heritage, even if he is not Italian himself.

It is unlikely that Francis will change much of anything other than appearance. In Benedict XVI, the church had the equivalent of an ivory tower egghead; someone who enjoyed theology and debate. Francis has given the impression that he is interested in getting out to the people (a doer rather than a thinker). We shall see if anything comes of that.

At the very least, Francis has a lot of firsts going for him. In addition to the first pope named Francis, he is the first from the western hemisphere and obviously the first from South America. He is also the first Jesiut pope, which should give the anti-Catholic conspiracy folks a field day. Should be fun to watch.

Pope Watch 2013

The countdown to the next pope (Petros Romanos?) will hit the next stage on Tuesday. The College of Cardinals (not Louisville) announced today that the will open the conclave on Tuesday, March 12th.

The general speculation has been that the Vatican wanted to have the new pope crowned by about St. Patrick's Day so that he would have a few days to get accustomed to the office before kicking things in to high gear for the Easter season. Given the amount of time for back room deal making even before the conclave, I think it likely that a new pope will be chosen well within the speculated time frame.

A New Pope

Like everyone else, I was quite surprised to learn on Monday that Pope Benedict XVI was going to resign. He was getting old enough that everyone just expected him to die in office like everyone else.

Naturally that has set off a flurry of speculation about his successor. Quite a number of men are considered in the running and Paddy Power has set odds on just about every member of the College of Cardinals. However, because of the so-called Prophecy of St. Malachy, interest has focused predominently on two men to suceed as Peter the Roman:

The first is Cardinal Tarcisio Pietro Evasio Bertone. He is currently the Vatican Secretary of State and seen as Pope Benedict's right hand man. He also happens to be from the Romano region of Italy, giving him an easy identification as a possible Peter the Roman. However, there are a few things going against him.

First is his age. He just turned 78 and the Vatican has a bit of a habit of replacing a long pope with a short one and a short one with a long one. If Cardinal Bertone were elected, his reign would look to be as short or possibly shorter than Benedict's.

Second, Cardinal Bertone is strongly tied to the policies of Pope Benedict and his elevation would be seen as a continuation of those policies. However, those policies are not particularly popular with the cardinals and much of the leity right now.

Third, Cardinal Bertone has been tied to several controversies in the past few years and his elevation would only increase these levels.

The second man that is getting a lot of Peter the Roman buzz is the current betting favorite, Cardinal Peter Turkson. After the world-wide work that Pope John Paul II did, many in the Catholic Church have expected a non-European pope. If it weren't for his age, Cardinal Francis Arinze would probably have the inside track, but he just turned 80 and I suspect that the Vatican is looking for a man a bit younger than Benedict was when he took office.

Cardinal Turkson fits the bill much better. He is only 64 and seen as a strong leader from Africa. He also has the distict advantage that although he is from Ghana and oversees Churches in that region of Africa, he has held Vatcian office for several years and is well aquainted with Vatican politics. He has been stationed in Rome long enough that people in Ghana refer to him as Peter the Roman as a badge of honor.

There is one other point that Cardinal Turkson fits while others do not: he is dark skinned. I've not been able to find a credible source, but there seems to be a belief that the last pope will have dark skin (the notations usually read "black pope"). This tidbit is not in St. Malachy's prophecy of Peter the Roman when read, but it is credited to him. I suspect that it may have come from a "reading in" of the prophecy rather than any specific wording. Early beliefs probably centered around this pope being evil and then evolved into his having dark skin.

We should find out next month anyway and then we can evaluate everything from there.

Talk Like a Pirate

This is a kindergardner version of a drinking song. I dare you to listen to it once and not find yourself humming or singing part of it at some point later in the day.

Lonely Zombie

There has been an upsurge in Zombie related entertainment (The Walking Dead, World War Z) lately. Why I'm not sure, but monsters seem to go in cycles and vampires have been done in a bit by Twilight.

In that spirit, here's the Lonely Zombie song from the folks at HISHE. They did a shortened version of this song as an end tag on their Resident Evil parody and then expanded the song when it was shown to be so popular. The contrast between the nature of the song and the lyrics is very funny.

Post Super Bowl Thoughts

I would like to pat myself on the back for calling the Super Bowl winner two weeks ago, but I can't really take all the credit. A friend of mine pointed out that when the Ravens beat the Colt, he thought the Ravens had this air about them very much like the Super Bowl XL (2005-6) Steelers, including an incredible dumb luck win over the #1 seed (in 2006 it was the Colts) that should have gone the other way.

Still, it does feel good to be right and the game wasn't half bad either. The first half was entertaining but a little off-putting with the 49'ers failing to punch it in and turning the ball over on a couple of drives. Sports announcers always remind the viewers how no team has ever come back from a defict of more than 10 points to win the Super Bowl and that held up again.

I honestly think the game would have ended up being a total bust if it hadn't been for the power failure. That clearly gave the 49'ers time to rest and regather themselves. I actually missed the third quarter and Mrs. X and I opted to flip over to Downton Abbey about halfway through the power failure. So I didn't see San Francisco's grind back into contention. I rejoined it in time for the kickoff after Baltimore had kicked a field goal to go up 31-23. Much as expected, the Niners went right down the field and got another touchdown, but was not that surprised when the failed on the 2-point conversion.

I figured the next drive would be make or break and I wasn't far off. The Ravens did manage to get close enough for a field goal which did force the Niners to go for a touchdown. As they drove the field, I was honestly expecting San Francisco to score said touchdown and was actually wondering if they had left too much time on the clock as they looked as though they would score before the two-minute warning and Baltimore would only need a field goal to win or tie (echos of New England).

Then came four failures. I think the Niners should have run the ball at least one more time (perhaps on third down) as a means of softening the blitz and perhaps catching the Ravens by surprise. Then there was the controversial non-call on 4th down. The ball would have been near impossible to catch in-bounds so I don't think pass interference was even considered. Holding could have been called, but I think the official kept the flag in his pocket for three reasons.

First, the officials had been allowing a lot of close stuff go. There were several non-calls earlier in the game that often get called. But the officials seem to have made the decision to let things go unless things were blatently obvious.

Second, officials in the playoffs have been notoriously hesitant about throwing flags near the end of the game on critical plays unless it is just too obvious to ignore, especially if they are on some short pass in the end zone.

Third, and I think this is actually the most critical, as much as the defender was fighting and holding on to the reciever, the reciever was hand fighting and trying to push off the defender. Neither man was playing completely clean to where the fault of the other was blatently obvious.

San Francisco fans will grumble and complain but I saw nothing wrong with making a no-call there and nothing inconsistent with it either.

Now, on to the commercials. They were particularly unmemorable this year. Usually, one might say that they were either good or bad or there might be a debate about which ones they liked or didn't. I simply can't remember most of them as they made almost no impression on me.

The only one that comes to my mind that I remember and like was the M&M's "Anything For Love". One, I like M&Ms; two, I like that song; and three, it took us a second, but the primary actress there is the same actress who plays Santana on Glee. I've seen a fair amount of love for Dodge's "Farmer" ad, which I missed. However, most of the love for this ad seems to stem for people's love of Paul Harvey and you have to pay close attention to notice that it's an ad for a Dodge truck.

The consensus worst ad was the Go Daddy ad featuring the Supermodel and the Nerd. If left to simple devices, the ad might have been funny, however, the producers elected to amp up the audio on the kissing to levels I've not even heard in adult films. Even if the Nerd had magically transformed to a Calvin Klien model (which was Mrs. X's favorite ad), the audio would have sickened anyone watching. It was memorable but for all the wrong reasons.

So here's to the end of another football season. Now we'll wait two and a half months until the draft and then four months after that to the start of the 2013 season.

The Harbaugh Bowl

Although I hadn't posted about it, I think I did pretty well in the post-season picks this year. I got all four games right in the first week. I went 2 of 4 in the second week (I picked Denver, New England, San Francisco, and Seattle) and then I got both games right this week.

I was a lot less sold on Baltimore, but after they defeated Denver, a friend of mine told me that that he thought that this Ravens team looks an awful lot like the Steelers team that won Super Bowl XL back in 2006. New England wasn't that good when one looked at them closely and they're much vaunted defense was about as bad as I expected. Baltimore would have won by even more if their recievers had figured out how to catch the ball before the second half. There were a number of dropped passes that the defense had nothing to do with.

On the NFC side, I had a feeling about the 49ers but that feeling was tested early when the Falcons jumped up 17-0. Then you could see the tide turning, much like the Seattle game. The only question was whether or not San Francisco was going to shoot themselves in the foot before they managed to take the lead. But they did and they managed to bleed the Falcons down at the end.

So who has the advantage in the Super Bowl? Going with the '05 Steelers parallel, I would say Baltimore. I think their defense is more consistent (even if it is old) and I think they will hit harder than the 49ers, who still seem like a bit of a finese team (although not as much as the Falcons). I also trust the Baltimore offense and it's deep threat better than I do the scrambling QB for the 49ers.

The Riddle of Power

A king, a priest, and a wealthy man are in a room together. Also in the room is a poor, common man with a sword. Each man demands that the commoner kill the other two. The king promises to elevate the man to that of a knight with his own lands and estate. The priest promises that the man will have earned favor with God and his place in paradise will be assured. The wealthy man offers half of his fortune for the man to do with as he pleases.

Who does the common man obey and who dies?

This is a variation on a riddle posed by the spymaster Varys to the newly appointed Hand of the King, Tyrion Lannister, in A Clash of Kings. The riddle itself is most interesting for several reasons, not the least of which is that it has no answer. Obviously the common man is going to respond to whichever aspect of power is most attractive to himself, whether that be governmental, spiritual, or monetary.

The riddle is also interesting in how it shows that power itself is an illusion. The three men in question all held things that defined power, but the true power of life and death was held by the man with the sword. Only by the exise of this power, would the power of the survivor be able to manifest itself to the benefit of the common man with the sword. However, the powers that the three men have are real to some degree because the common man can't take what was offered from the two dead men. Likewise, he earns nothing for his troubles if he kills all three men with his absolute power of life and death. This gives a partial answer to the follow up question that if the man with the sword has all the power, why to the men with swords follow the leaders and not the other way around?

I have no real point to all of this, only to note the interesting nature of power and the illusary pursuit of it. I like riddles and I like philosphical questions as well.

Tetris Dance

This is very catchy.

2012 End of Year Review

Better late than never:

NFL Playoffs - Wild Card Round

The NFL Playoffs begin this Saturday and especially as the Bengals have actually gotten in, it seems only natural that we take a quick look at things.

Game 1 - Cincinnati at Houston

This is a rematch of the wild card game last year. The Bengals had a good chance going in but Houston was too strong and prevailed. This year, no one seems to be giving Cincinnati even a fighting chance. This is somewhat understandable as up until the last week of the season, Houston was in line for the #1 seed and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Houston has an okay defense but a very good offense. Cincinnati has a pretty good defense, but their offense is sorely lacking. AJ Green remains the only true wide recieving threat and the running game has struggled all season. Unless the defense goes into hyperdrive and scores at least one touchdown for the Bengals, I would expect Houston to win the game comfortably.

Game 2 - Minnesota at Green Bay

Divisional playoff games are always hard to get a proper bead on. Minnesota beat Green Bay in the last game of the regular season to make the playoffs so they certainly know how to beat them. Minnesota's defense is nothing to sneeze at and any offense that has Adrian Peterson is always a threat. Green Bay may have one of the best offenses in the league but their defense is still pretty terrible. Still, the game will be played in Green Bay and I have a hard time believing that a team as experienced as the Packers will fold under pressure of the first round. The Vikings could do it, but I would still expect Green Bay to emerge victorious.

Game 3 - Indianapolis at Baltimore

This is where the possiblity of upsets start to become more realistic. Baltimore started strong but has been hampered by injuries as the season has gone on. Their once vaunted defense is a shell of it's former glory and the offense has never fully materialized. Conversely, the Indianapolis offense has become stronger against more difficult foes. Their defense is still a bit suspect but that may not matter as much against a weaker offense. If Baltimore has a good chance of avoiding the upset it is the fact that they are the veteran team and this Colts team has enough new parts that they may be caught up in the "happy to be here" moment. I would give the edge to Baltimore but I think Indianapolis has nearly a 50-50 chance of winning the game.

Game 4 - Seattle at Washington

Washington has done very well to win the East and get to this point. They are a good team and are fairly hot at the moment. However, they are going up against what may be the hottest team in football at the moment in Seattle. Seattle and Washington are nearly mirror images of each other with a mobile QB and a run first mentality anchored by a quick, slashing running attack. Washington probably has a slightly better defense but I wouldn't slouch on Seattle's defense. Washington has homefield and RG3 has been amazing in his ability to magic wins from nowhere but they are also going to be somewhat emotionally spent after the game against Dallas to win the division. Seattle has a long ride but they are used to that and have been assured of a playoff spot since the end of Week 16. I think Seattle will keep their momentum going and win against Washington but I think it will take nearly everything they've got to top the Redskins.