Entourage, the After show.

Welcome back to another session of Entourage, the After Show. Last night's episode was the 3rd episode of the 6th season and the 69th ever episode of the hit HBO show.

When they showed the previews to this week's show last Sunday my immediate thought was hey, this episode is going to blow. However, I was glad to see I was wrong. I thought Entourage last night had an "old-school" feel to it. I thought that the episode had a great mix of comedy, good storyline and just plain fun. It's good to see that Turtle is trying to man-up and become something of himself. BTW, did you see his shoe and hat collection? JEEZ. Anyway, the Ferrari's Turtle got were sick and even ADIV'S boy 50 cent made a cameo appearance.

The Murphy group took a hit when Charlie was deemed to have SUCKED in his comedy show and now Eric and Vince are no longer producing the show, leaving Vince as E's only real client once again. What a shocker.

Drama was Drama, the pay for the school comment and the only bitches let bitches make them insecure comment were classic Drama lines.

The big story for me this episode was the fact that Ashley is growing on me. She was a lot better than she was in her first showing, but you gotta know that Sloan will be back.

Ari Gold is the man, there is nobody better than that guy.

With that said, Happy Birthday Turtle, onto next week's show and god bless Entourage.

Anil's TV Talk - Session 1

I WATCH WAY TOO MUCH TV. It is a fact. But it gives me the opportunity to review lots and lots of shows. I'm going to talk about a few of my favorite shows briefly...hopefully I'll be able to talk more about them later.

Let's start with comedies first (In a VERY particular order...)

1. 30 Rock

Best comedy on TV right now. Tina Fey is an unbelievable writer with an uncanny ability to play Liz Lemon also. And all of this along with her modest good looks make her an ideal wife candidate (if only she were Indian). Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan, and Jack McBrayer (Kenneth the Page) are absolutely brilliant on the show as well. But really, I can't say enough about the writing on this show. It hits you in the same way Arrested Development did...incredibly dense so that you actually have to suffocate yourself in order to stop laughing and hear all the jokes. If you haven't checked this show out yet...just watch the pilot. Oh and it's one of those shows where you really should put everything down and just watch it...otherwise you'll miss something.

2. Entourage

I didn't realize how high this show was on my list until just now. It definitely has it's down moments (e.g. the story line where Drama and Turtle are looking for rim jobs (???), the entire episode of the gang going out and doing shrooms) but overall the show definitely keeps me coming back. Jeremy Piven is incredible. He makes me feel like I know exactly what all Hollywood agents are like. The passion, frustration, and incredible comedic timing he brings to the show all make him a standout in every episode. The rest of the cast is fairly sub-par but I find E to be extremely relatable meaning Kevin Connolly must also be extremely relatable because I can't imagine he's doing much acting to play that role. Regardless, seeing the life of a movie star (apparently consisting of tons of beautiful girls and tons of money) with some great jokes from Ari Gold every week make Entourage a keeper.

3. Weeds

It's no secret that this show has fallen off. A great premise of a single mom trying to make money by dealing pot in the cookie cutter Californian suburb of Agrestic. Mary Louise Parker plays the sexy, cunning, yet clearly out of her element Nancy Botwin to a tee. Kevin Nealon and Justin Kirk make for two hilarious supporting characters to add to the show. The problem is, the story lines have just started to go dry. I won't spoil it for those who haven't been watching the show but the first few seasons were very, very funny as well as progressing pretty interesting plots. But over the past 2 seasons, it seems like the show has just gotten caught up in one specific story (again being vague to avoid spoilers) which quite frankly isn't that interesting or funny or intriguing or anything really. Nancy has almost completely lost touch with her family and the other characters. Their interactions, however, were what made the show so good. Weeds needs to become funny again. Soon.


4. The Office (U.S)

This show WAS amazing. I never got into the British show...more because of my laziness in acquiring it...not because the show wasn't good enough. But as a result, the only version of this show that I have been acquainted with is Steve Carell's. So when I first started watching, I really really liked it. I could totally relate to Jim and Pam's whole we're-quirky-and-witty-best-friends-yet-there's-something-going-on-here relationship. Dwight and Michael were both hilarious characters and the supporting cast of Oscar, Angela, Phyllis, Toby, Stanley, and Kevin made for a great ensemble. Now I don't know what it is but this show just has not been as good as it was in it's first few seasons. Nothing happens anymore. Sure there are always great one-liners and Michael's personality never fails to bring humor to any situation. But I don't know...Jim/Pam and Michael/Jan drama can't really be matched with the new storylines. I thought Holly was GREAT (Amy Ryan is awesome) but now she's out too. Hopefully this coming season will bring great things to put this show back on the map.



And as a side note...Extras (Ricky Gervais' OTHER show on BBC), Da Ali G Show (no explanation necessary) and Arrested Development (still the greatest comedy ever) are all shows that have sadly met their demise but are, in my opinion, better than any of the other shows on this list. I'll try to get around to describing each one of them soon so that you can understand just how important it is that you watch each of these 3 short lived shows.

That's all for now. Tune in next time for my list of top dramas.

Signing off mothas...

Sid's Sayings

"THAT'S BASEBALL!"

"ARE you SERIOUS!?"

"F-K OFF"

"GET A LIFE"

"EASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSY" (Mr. Hamilton is the originator, props to Hammer)

"SIT DOWN and SHUT UP!"

"GO f-CK Yourself"

"GOD BLESS"

The Best Ever? Come on...

Hello everyone. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank dah 3 choafs for inviting me to write for dah4choafs.blogspot.com. Now rather than jump into too much new material, I'm going to use this post as a vehicle to comment on the post which precedes me.

Let me start by saying that I really like a lot of music. And I don't mean that I listen to "everything" (I hate it when people say that)...I mean that I've really delved into, listened to, researched, and learned about multiple genres of music. I've gone through many phases in terms of my music taste: pop music (anything on Z100), dance music (103.5 KTU BABY), hip hop, grunge, metal, hard rock, r&b...you get the idea. But overall, I'm probably most passionate about alternative rock and rap.

So let's talk about rap. Now don't get me wrong. ASID is a great guy and I have a great deal of respect for him. I too have become a (recently turned) T.I. fan after listening to Paper Trail. But listen bro...T.I. is not the best out there right now, he is not one of the best rappers of the last ten years, and Paper Trail is not arguably the best album in recent years.

There it is. I said it. Don't take this personally, man.

Sure he’s more lyrically sound than a lot of other popular rappers out there today and everybody loves a good story of repentance. But frankly, that’s not good enough to be atop the game. What makes a good rapper? Beats? No…that’s the producer’s job. Catchy and stupid lyrics? Listen…I love “Kiss Me Thru the Phone” as much as the next guy (if not more), but that doesn’t mean I’m ready to start referring to its artist as King Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em.

My criteria for a great rapper? Versatility…great lyricism (powerful yet playful)…using their position of fame to deliver a significant message to the people. Most people that know me are aware that I ride Eminem’s dick…hard. He consistently rhymes words that should never be rhymed together (his ability to write and deliver multies is absolutely ridiculous).

But what’s important is that he doesn’t do this just for the sake of rhyming…he’s always saying something either of importance…whether it’s something humorous (My Mom, The Real Slim Shady, My Name Is, Without Me, Just Lose It, all his skits, etc), something of significance to his background (Brain Damage, Yellow Brick Road, Cleanin’ Out My Closet, Déjà vu, 8 Mile), battling his critics and enemies (pretty much everything…Say What You Say, Criminal, The Way I Am), and what in my opinion makes him amazing, his songs with messages and stories that can appeal to everyone (Beautiful, Mockingbird, Rock Bottom, Till I Collapse, Lose Yourself, Hallie’s Song). Oh and don't forget his insane story telling (Stan, '97 Bonnie & Clyde) and ability to kill it on songs he's featured on (Jay-Z's Renegade and The Notorious B.I.G.'s Dead Wrong).

Throughout his career, Eminem has had to deal with the most controversy and public scrutiny but continued to strive through all of this and deliver hit after hit after hit. He’s unbelievably talented and his critics have been forced to acknowledge it because he’s just that good (countless Grammy’s, #1 Billboard hits, and the only rapper to win an Oscar). Most of the scrutiny he faces is unwarranted and a result of racism (yeah…racism). How many black rappers have said the word faggot, bitch, or that they’re going to kill someone? Pretty much everyone of them except for Will Smith. But somehow the American public is stupid enough to think that he actually means everything he says. The Secret Service admitted to looking into his threats to the President of the U.S…are you kidding me? How many people have said “Fuck Bush”…a lot…really…a lot. Our boys protecting the President might want to use their time a little more productively. It’s insane. You don’t assume that Denzel Washington is actually a gangster/crazy corrupt cop that will kill you. Eminem is an artist who writes stories…some fictional some not…and he’s amazing at it.

And all this scrutiny and attention in the public eye detracts from his talent. Most people would probably admit that they’ve never really paid much attention to Eminem as a serious artist. We’ve all seen his Real Slim Shady music video and heard stories about how he hates gays and women. But how many people beyond real hip hop fans actually understand him to be a great artist? Not enough. Do yourself a favor…if you’re convinced that Lil’ Wayne is by far the best rapper alive…listen to The Marshall Mathers LP, The Eminem Show, or the 8 Mile Soundtrack (really anything will get the point across). Hip Hop listeners and readers of Vibe have crowned Eminem as both “The Best Rapper Alive” and “The Best Rapper Ever”…that means he’s not only better than Weezy, Jeezy, Kanyeezy, Easy Peasy and anyone else out there now…but readers agree he’s even better than those two really famous rappers that were in that big feud and both ended up dead.

I’ll probably come back to talk more about Eminem…there’s tons of stuff I have to say and I’m sure I missed a lot. Oh and let me add that I think Lupe Fiasco is another brilliant lyricist that doesn’t get enough credit…he is a revolution in and of himself. I’m glad Lupe has decided to push Lup.E.N.D back to treat us to more of his great music.

Signing off mothas…

T.I. and his jail time

As many of you MAY or MAY NOT know, I am a huge T.I. fan, I think his rap style, voice and lyrics are the best out there right now. Unfortunately for all of the people out there who like T.I. he is in jail as we speak.

T.I. was sentenced to a year in jail for having guns and silencers in or around his house. This occurred after he released what arguably was, the best rap album in recent years, Paper Trail. His album had many top hits including, "Whatever you like", "Slide-Show", "Dead and Gone", "My life your entertainment", "On top of the World", "Live your life" and "Swagga like Us" featuring many of the top artists in the world, like Usher, Ludacris, Kanye West, Lil' Wayne, Justin Timberlake, and John Legend, and Rihanna (before the Chris Brown beating incident, whoops).

One of T.I.'s last songs before he went behind bars was a song he was featured in with Mary J. Blige called "Remember Me", a very fitting song for Mr. T.I.

So as the world turns and everyone must listen to the other rap stars such as Jay Z, Lupe Fiasco, my boy DRAKE and the aforementioned Lil Wayne and Kanye West, T.I. sits in prison, waiting his release date. Let's hope these next 300 or so days go quick so we can all get back to listening to one of the best rappers of the last ten years. Yeah, I just said that.

God Bless you T.I.

Just a Quick One here

Women I love and will always love:

My Mom

Emmanuelle Chriqui

end of list

Entourage, the After show.

Alright, one of my things is going to be a special "after-show" blog of Entourage giving my thoughts on the recent, as Anil and I like to call it, EP (episode). So for the first time here it goes...

I stand by the quote I made after the show ended. "I think this was one of the BEST episodes ever!" Did I overreact? Probably. But I still thought it was an awesome episode. I was glad to see that The Gatsby movie turned out well (did you think it would go any other way?) and to see that Turtle actually got some spotlight with Jamie Lynn. Drama was his usually self and that girl he was with was an absolute freakazoid. Vince's girl, for once, got NO attention, it was kind of strange to see the girl he brought to the premier showing, get no camera.

This brings me to E, Eric Murphy, my favorite character on the show. Why? Simple, he is most like me. A relationship person who plays the cute, serious card. I've been rooting for Eric and Sloan to get back together for a while and I thought tonight was the night it could happen. Unfortunately for me, some weird little girl who looks like she is 7 has ruined that. Sloan denies Eric attempts for them to get back together but later texts Eric "Sorry!" Eric deletes the text. Can I blame E for doing that? No. But deep down I know he regrets the deletion of that text message. Sloan and E will reunite and all will be good.

God bless you and god bless Entourage.

The Stupidest People in the World- July 16 2009

So i was stumbling around the internet when i found this article:

Alien Abduction Insurance

Yes. That's right, some companies give insurance policies in the event of an alien abduction. The manner in which they do it is just silly: they sell a certificate as a policy for $9.95. It's like an infommercial. At 4AM. In the Middleofnowhere, Kansas.

(Cue Billy Mays) But Wait, There's More!!!

The St. Lawrence Agency has reportedly "paid out at least two claims"! Thats right everyone! Some lucky duo has successfully proven that they were indeed abducted by aliens.

But don't worry, the St. Lawrence Agency didn't want to look like the fools in this one, so they pay out the claimant in a very intelligent way: they pay $1 per year until death or a million years pass... WHICHEVER COMES FIRST.

That settles it. These people are clearly the STUPIDEST people in the world.

Until I find someone else who is even stupider

(The Stupidest People In the World will be a recurring column on The Choaf Blog, whenever we find people so contemptibly unintelligent that we can't help but show you their idiocy)

Stats vs. Facts pt II

As my friend DR continues to blab away at how statistics tell everything when it comes to the game of baseball, I'm going to try and convince you otherwise.

As a person who has been around the game of baseball since I was literally one year old(Grandma threw tiny fruit at me and I hit it with a bat), I reserve the right to say that I know what I am talking about when it comes to the national pastime of America. I've played on travel teams, high school teams, college teams and I coach a 16 year old team now. Safe to say, baseball has and will always be my life. I've watched countless amount of major league baseball, along with some minor league and way too many little league/young people baseball games.

My problem with all these statistical approaches to the game is that some of the people using these stats and coming up with them, have never seen more than 5 baseball games in their lives. BABIP, WAR, VORP, or WPA are all stats that you might or might not have seen before. I will admit that some of these stats work and they have been proven to work. But in sports, and ESPECIALLY in the game of baseball, stats don't tell the whole story.

As an aspiring General Manager/scout/ whatever, I am fully aware that I have to know these new statistical approaches, in order to have an eye for talent. But let me say this, if I see a pitcher who has movement, can change speeds and gets people out, that means a lot more to me than dumb stats. If the guy can get a win and pitch his way out of trouble rather than having a 900 to 1 K/BB ratio, I'd take the guy who wins.

Hitting wise, I understand the point of BABIP, batting average for balls in play. It is very useful and has its positives. However, as a player I always tried to hit a line drive. I didn't want to hit the ball in the air or on the ground; I wanted to hit a liner. Unfortunately, you cannot do that every time you get to the plate (or at least I couldn't), and so you end up hitting it in the air or on the ground. Major league baseball players do the same thing, and the old adage of "it all evens out in the end" is true. Line drives get caught, grounders and bloopers fall in, that's the nature of the game. Who cares if somebody has a high BABIP! Their average at the end of the year will reflect how well they hit the baseball for the year, but it will also take away some hard hit liners and add in some bloop base hits. That is the nature of the game, a .300 hitter will be a .300 hitter, no matter if there BABIP is .450 or .200. At the end of the day they will be what they have always been. Granted, players get better, mature, work on their swings, these are all things that help raise the BA, not if their BABIP is .200 for the month of July.

As the saying goes after getting a bloop hit, "it looks like a liner in the box score" is very true. Who's to say next time you don't hit a line drive base hit? Why, because your BABIP is at .400? No, its all mental, every sport is mental. If you think good things will happen and you think you can get a hit 100 times out of 100 at bats, then you can. That would make your BABIP 1.000, so essentially you shouldn't get a hit for the next 200 at bat's to bring it into a normal BABIP area? WHAT? Does that make sense, the answer, clearly here, is no.

Players should be scouted on how well they perform on the baseball field, if they run hard on the field and off it, if their teammates like them, if they get along with their managers. Stats mean nothing when it comes to going out on the baseball diamond and leaving everything you have out there. BABIP SHMAPIP, is what I say, play hard, hit hard, field hard, run hard, pitch hard and good things happen.

God Bless the game of baseball and everyone who has played it.

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Stats vs. Facts pt. 1

I know this is already a cliched argument, but I'd like to broach the Moneyball issue for our readers. For those of you who don't know, the arguments go something like this; Baseball Traditionalists say that all you need to know can be learned by watching the game, whereas Statisticians say that what information we need comes from breaking down the game into numbers. I'll be arguing for the sake of statistics, and later Andrew will make a case for the traditional mindset.

To begin, lets look at the world around you. While it is big and full of things that seem incomprehensible, modern statistical science has shown that we can measure almost anything.  All areas of life have different variables that contribute to our overall understanding of the subject matter. We have methods as simple as measuring amounts of liquid in a container and judging the ground speed of a car to as complicated as figuring out intracontinental weather pattern (stupid German woman) and measuring brain states. We know these systems work simply because they are more efficient than human assumption. Our minds tend to be biased in one direction or another when we make decisions without solid evidence,.

Lets move on to baseball. There have always been the conventional batting average and counting stats, such as Home Runs or RBI's, which we use to judge players. If Player A hits 40 Home Runs and had 140 RBI's, while Player B hits 35 Home Runs with 100 RBI's, Player A is clearly a better player. Or are they?

The statistical revolution in baseball sought to overcome such simplistic notions of performance in what really is a complex game. What if, in the previous example, Player B had walked 200 times while Player A walked 50 times, then a different issue has emerged. Player B may have been unfairly judged due to the lack of opportunities. I know that a traditional baseball mind would tell you the same thing, but statistics give you a chance to put it into quantifiable terms. 

The main advantages of using stats are twofold: they provide rates and context.

Rates- when a box score tells you how many hits a player had, it doesn't actually tell you the impact they had on the game. Someone who saw the game without a box score could say "Oh yeah, X's single in the eighth inning really turned the game" but this is just their opinion. These days, we have established rates for WHEN and WHERE the hit, out, or error that really mattered was. Win probability can be calculated during the game because there have been literally thousands, possible millions of baseball games played to this point in history, and we can examine them to show us the most efficient way to win. Rates also give us a better idea of how well a player is performing.

On the offensive side, a player's OPS tells us more about how good a player they are than a raw total like home runs. Yes, chicks dig the long ball, but from examining patterns during gameplay, a hitter whose only goal is to hit home runs can often harm his team. This is why perennially, Ryan Howard's 40-50 Home Runs don't help his team as much as Dustin Pedroia's doubles and high batting average.

Defensively, it has long been a problem with the Error statistic. This has tied into the Baseball Traditionalist's opinion of players for as long as I can tell. In their minds a player who runs the extra 10 yards and then just misses a fly ball is apparently not as good a fielder as the player who lets it drop in the gap and makes no effort to deprive the batter of a hit. This year especially, defensive stats have caught up, telling you a player's true value in terms of range, strength of arm, and general ability.

Context- this is where the thinking element comes in. Applying baseball stats to in-game performance obviously is an indirect manner of operation, because no manager can go up to a player and say "hey we need to improve your On-Base Percentage." However, we can use it to evaluate a player's true talent and value to the team. This year, everyone can tell that Matt Kemp is having a good year from his raw statistics. However, no one will tell you that he is among the top-5 "most irreplaceable players in baseball." His value is currently higher than the vaunted trio of Hanley Ramirez ("best young player in baseball), Joe Mauer (still hitting to the tune of .370), and Prince Fielder (already a yearly MVP candidate at age 25).

Context also tells you if a player is getting lucky or not. Into the month of May, Andrew's one true love David Wright had a batting average near .360. What he didn't know was that Wright's BABIP (Batting Average on Balls In Play) was over .400 at that point. Now, i know that the BABIP stat is a poor indicator of performance when taken in a vacuum, but it can be used to see if a player's performance is so outlandish, so ridiculously out of line with the mean that they truly are getting lucky. We all know that Wright is a good player, and his BABIP should be higher than most players because he has good control of where he wants to hit the ball, but this stat is outstandingly high. The same goes for Edwin Jackson, who is in the middle of a breakout year. Yes, he's talented, and yes he may have improved his pitching style, but the numbers (Left On Base %, BABIP against) show that he is performing well in a lucky manner, rather than a truly dominant manner. And luck is less a sign of talent than domination is

So where did I lead you on this rant? I'm not sure i can say really, but luckily statheads have made life simple. By taking all these seemingly advanced measures and condensing them, they have created more simple evaluations of players: Runs Created/Saved and Wins Created. The point of baseball is to score more runs than you allow the other team to score in order to win the game, and so teams try to find players who fit this philosophy. Statisticians have showed you, Mr. Future GM, a way to do that

2009-2010 NHL Schedule Released

Ah can you smell that? It's the smell of fresh ice, old hockey equipment and frozen rubber. That's correct, the NHL is only about two months away and the 09-10 schedule was released earlier today.

Highlighting the schedule is, in what seems now an annual event, the mid-winter classic part III and it will be held this season at Fenway Park between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Boston Bruins.

The defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins raise their championship banner on October 2nd, their first since 1992, against my favorite team in the whole entire world, the New York Rangers.

Once again, 4 teams will open their seasons across the pond as the Red Wings and Blues will face-off in Stockholm, Sweden and the Panthers and Blackhawks will drop the puck in Helsinki, Finland.

The NHL takes a 2-week hiatus for the 2010 Olympic games in Vancouver in the middle of February, which is always an exciting event.

The best part about the NHL is that it has one of the longest seasons, and the shortest off-season of any sport. There are some great storylines this upcoming season, with players changing teams and rivalries being renewed and born. I cannot wait until the puck drops from the 2009-2010 season.

God Bless you and your family and always remember, LETS GO RANGERS!

www.twitter.com/AndrewSidney

Harry Potter 6- the Half-Blood Prince

It's been about 17 hours since I first saw the new Harry Potter movie, the sixth in what will be 8 movies (seventh will be split in two).

As a fan of both the books and movies I can tell you right now, straight up, the books are way better. Movies take liberties and leave out what the director deem to be non-important scenes. I find this trend troublesome, but nonetheless I still very much enjoyed the sixth installment of Harry Potter.

Every now and then I catch some slack from Kress and friends about my liking HP. I understand that liking a fictional wizard who fights off a dark lord could be considered a bit stupid, but hey if every movie could just pull in 22.2 million dollars off midnight showings alone, then I'm sure their directors would want to be considered stupid as well.

God Bless

www.twitter.com/AndrewSidney

HOW YA DOIN EVERYBODY!

Hello, I'd like to thank DR for the introduction, he really is a wonderful character. I'm looking forward to posting numerous times per day on this site, feeding it with content for our visitors.

Just so everybody knows, I will end every blog post I make with a God Bless, people don't say that enough to each other in this world we live in today.

Anyway for this first post, I just wanted to say hi and to give you a heads up on what I plan on talking about. Basically I'm going to talk about whatever I want because as it says in the bio, I'm ready for whatever.

God Bless and make sure you get to the theaters and see Harry Potter 6. Great film.

(for those of you who want to follow me on twitter, follow at www.twitter.com/andrewsidney)