Random thoughts (entertainment, sports, tv)

Guess I've been a little disorganized since coming back from Reno. Continuing on that trend, I'll just blog about all the things that've crossed my mind lately in one post.

Great Sports Documentaries

I've mentioned before how amazing I think the ESPN 30 for 30 documentaries have been. The Reggie Miller one certainly lived up to that and was extremely entertaining, especially for someone who lived through that as a Knicks fan.

The next 30 for 30 is Guru of Go and will premier tomorrow. Looking forward to that one too.

Still on HBO on Demand is the Magic and Bird documentary. Two greats that changed basketball culture and saved the NBA just before my time. After watching both of these NBA documentaries, I must admit that I miss that edge the game had when teams hated each other. Now it's bordering on sports entertainment. If David Stern had the playoffs scripted, would anyone really care?

Speaking of sports entertainment, there was another documentary that I really enjoyed. Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows was only released on DVD in the USA last year, so it's great that someone uploaded the whole thing on youtube. It was a documentary about wrestler Bret "the hitman" Hart, and his family (who were all in wrestling, as his father Stu Hart was a legendary figure in the sport) during his contract negotiation year and through the Montreal Screwjob. For a kid who grew up loving wrestling (and still catches it every now and then), this was great.

Great TV

Enjoying my usual shows so far this year. Especially LOST, which has been very entertaining and hopefully building towards a satisfying conclusion. Even if it doesn't, why can't people just enjoy each individual hour of terrific acting and story-telling? Of the newer shows, modern family is my comedy of choice, as I just couldn't get into community. Mondays continue to be the day that fills up my DVR, with House and the CBS comedy lineup at 8 (end up watching Chuck on prime time on demand), Gossip Girl and more CBS at 9, then Damages and Castle at 10. Castle has continued to improve this year, and even beat a brand new CSI:Miami in the ratings last week. It's a light-hearted cop/murder mystery procedural that reminds me of Moonlighting.

Rent

With my lease ending in less than 2 months, I just received the lease extension paperwork today. Not that I was going to renew the lease, but they actually raised the rent! That surprised me. Or maybe they were expecting some negotiating.

NYU Talk

Went to an NYU talk by Professor Robert Engle, a nobel prize winning economist. The talk on global stability and long run risks was horrible, but at least I got a good nap out of it. He was not very well organized, the talk was very superficial, with him mostly saying things like, "there's risk here, here, and here" without actually identifying what those risks were. In the end, he sounded like any other theoretical economist in that nothing he said had real world applications and his view on the markets and such were not very practical.

NCAA Tourney

What a fantastic tournament it's been. I haven't filled out a bracket in 5 years and had been losing interest, but this year has been full of great moments. There's still both a Cinderella (Butler) and a villain (Duke), so there should still be some good drama left.

NBA

A terrifically entertaining season will only get better in the playoffs. My NBA bet of the decade didn't work out, but I think that was more a reflection of the parity in the Western Conference. With teams like Memphis and Houston playing very well but still not making the playoffs, the remaining teams are sure to provide lots of entertaining games. I still want to keep a close eye on the Spurs as I don't think they will roll over against the Lakers.