Catch Up

With every season comes a shift (big or small) in our lives. People start preparing for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. No grace period or halftime in between Americans' holidays. We are all just on to the next biggest event. Football season changes people's weekend agendas for a solid 6 months. That's half a year for you mathematicians. Just like summer brings bikinis, winter brings Uggs, spring brings baseball, and the fourth of july brings the words idiots and severed fingers to coexist, September brings happiness to millions of Americans. And I'm not just talking about football.

September brings back the people we love, hate and record each week on our DVR's (greatest invention ever). The end of september is when most of the major networks (CBS, NBC, KAKE) start their new seasons for their respective shows. I, being a TV show fanatic, love this time of the year. It's a time to see shows (happens to most shows) you once loved start to fade away (Two and a Half Men, The Office, Weeds). September is also a time for new found shows.

Normally, a newfound show would be one that is having its 1st season air this fall. However, thanks to Netflix, I come across a few shows that are fairly new (within their first 3-4 seasons) that catch my eye and then eventually hook me into the story. A few shows I still am currently watching that I got started watching from Netflix include Weeds, Sons of Anarchy, and most recently Breaking Bad. Of these three, Sons of Anarchy and Breaking Bad are still in my opinion on the rise in the quality of shows they are producing. Not anything against Weeds but they have just ran out of great plot ideas to go to but they are in their 7th season which is an impressive statistic in today's TV age.

The TV shows I'm most looking forward for their new seasons (spoiler alert, all of the ones I watch) include the following.

Two and a Half Men: Although I feel very twisted and saddened to see the path Charlie Sheen took in the last year, this show was a personal favorite of mine during the first 5-6 seasons. I have no real expectations for Ashton Kutcher coming onto the show but I will give it a change nonetheless. Nothing against Ashton personally but I liked in That 70's Show and that is about it. I just don't expect the fan base for the show to respond to the replacement and more importantly the loss of Charlie Sheen. Hopefully I am wrong and the show continues to be great.

How I Met Your Mother: I just got into this show within the last 2 months but have seen nearly every episode already (thank you syndicated television). Neil Patrick Harris does an awesome job in this show in about every episode. A great storyline that may seem to drag on is covered up by the bonding group of friends and the sometimes separate and sometimes shared plot.

New boss, James Spader, known from shows such as Boston Legal

The Office: Probably the show I'm least interested in. The loss of Steve Carrell would be like if Seinfeld Jerry Seinfeld. No one else can play the character like Steve Carrell played his or fill the void that the show has without him. Like Two and a Half Men, I do not have high hopes for the future of this show but I have been wrong before.

Tosh.O: Nothing new here, just great videos of why you can't stop people from being stupid. If you've never watched this show, Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on Comedy Central. Watching this show will make your "shitty day" seem like you got a free weeks paid vacation.

Sons of Anarchy: This show has already begun its new season and I'm currently watching the previous season that just recently was released to Netflix on DVD. Thus the blog title "Catch Up", I am trying to get caught up on the shows that are currently or are starting their new season soon. The show centers around a biker gang that has chapters all across the country and in foreign countries as well (Ireland). They work the black market and the local law enforcement to make a living, a modern day group of outlaws.

Weeds: A Showtime production. Netflix hooked me on this show last year. The seasons are starting to lost the need for more after each episode but a good show for anyone looking for a drama-filled and climatic TV show. The show is based around a suburban mom who loses her husband and is left with bills to the ceiling. She finds that she has a 6th sense for the sales trade. Her sales trade is specifically strongest in selling marijuana. Thus the title of the show.

Modern Family: This show has been great in its first few seasons. A great play off modern-day society with it's characters: a gay couple raising an adopted baby, a wealthy and elderly man married to a young and beautiful woman, and a "traditional" family that is far from perfect. All these characters in the show are related and make for great family fun.

The Big Bang Theory: Sheldon Cooper and "Bazzinga" are all that really needs to be said about this show. This show has nearly had me crying laughing multiple times. The basic premise of the show is 4 super intelligent and very nerdy friends that hang out constantly but interact with the polar opposite type of person that is an extremely more good-looking girl that can't help but like being around these four guys.

Breaking Bad: Another Netflix fire-starter, Breaking Bad is a show I've just started to watch. I'm about halfway through season 2 and can officially say I'm hooked. The show is about an overly-qualified high school Chemistry teacher that finds out he has lung cancer. His brother-in-law, a DEA agent, takes the main character on a bust of a meth-lab. Once the chemistry teacher sees how much money is in the meth business and understands that he has the knowledge, tools and ability to cook meth to near perfection. His main objective for this is not leave his family with a ton of debt from his cancer bills. He learns early that his is in over his head in the drug game but uses his smarts to get him out of many tight situations.

These are all the shows I currently am watching but I will be looking for completely new shows to start watching and will fill you in with what I find. Until then, stay tuned.

The Carter IV

It's been a while since I've given a music update. This is because of two reasons: 1) sometimes I become a little lazy (sometimes) and 2) because I've been waiting for the Carter IV for almost a year and wanted to give it a good listen, aka 2 weeks of listening, before I gave my opinion on the much anticipated album. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, Lil Wayne, a polarizing rapper, came out with the fourth edition of The Carter series. Not short of controversy, Lil Wayne (aka Dwayne Carter), had his long-awaited album pushed back numerous times as his time to prepare the album was limited by his stint in prison last year. 


I had mixed feelings about my expectations for this new album. I had been a huge fan of his previous album, The Carter III, and wasn't sure if he could match the quality of that album. To my surprise, he didn't disappoint. The album didn't disappoint many other fans as well, as he almost made history as the first rap act to open with back-to-back million-selling albums. Thanks to record-setting iTunes sales of 300,000, plus the push provided by a post-VMA on-sale stunt, Weezy's eagerly anticipated Tha Carter IV will debut at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart next week on sales of 964,000, according to figures provided by Nielsen SoundScan.


I'll warn you now, Lil Wayne's music is very vulgar but yet deep at the same time. If you can get past his vulgarity and listen to what he is trying to actually get across, you'll most likely be able to enjoy his music. A great website I have used to study rap music is rapgenius.com, it will walk you through each stanza with a translation into a more literal meaning. I highly suggest using this website if you get the chance. But again, The Carter IV is very vulgar in some songs, so prepare yourself if you decide to listen. 


I'm going to give you my top 5 songs off the album and a brief description of why I liked them. So here we go. 

1.President Carter

This song really intrigued me because of the pure creation of the song. It uses the presidential inauguration of former president Jimmy Carter in the song as well as a voice modifier at the end of the song to reflect a presidential speech. 

2. Mirror (feat. Bruno Mars)

This self-aimed song is Wayne's way of showing his intellectual independence and do-or-die attitude. As great as the actual lyrics are in this song, Bruno Mars' singing may have been even better. Overall this song is a great listen for most anyone. 

3. It's Good (feat. Drake and Jadakiss)

Just a cool song setup. An old-school rap legend, Jadakiss, starts the song out. The new school artist and member of Wayne's label Young Money, Drake, follows up Jadakiss and sets up Lil Wayne to bridge the gap between the old and the new. The song is meant to assure all doubters that Lil Wayne is far from done in the rap game. 

4. She Will (feat. Drake)

Very vulgar song, the metaphors and personified lyrics are what makes this song great. Probably a song you'll need to listen to more than once to get a solid feeling for, I know I had to. 

5. Blunt Blowin'

Tried to leave this song off the top 5 but couldn't convince myself, if your offended by the title, try to remember that the song is not actually about blowing blunts. Give it a try with as little bias as possible and see how you like it. 

Some things to leave you with. These youtube videos, due to copywriting laws, are not of the best quality so if you like the songs but would like to listen to the real-album versions, I would definitely suggest buying the album or if you can't afford a $14 CD, I'll give you a copy of mine. So no excuses! Also, studies show that people typically don't know for sure whether they like a CD after the first time but typically can make a better judgement after 2 or 3 times through the CD. If you hate it the first time, give it a day to soak in, and try it again. If the second time isn't any better, don't worry, not everyone likes rap and even less like Lil Wayne. For those who end up not liking the above songs, don't give up on me yet, I'll bring country back to the music posts very soon.  

Avoiding Friday Sports Center

If your a loyal, regular viewer of ESPN's staple program, Sports Center, then you'll know that on Friday they air their Not Top Ten Plays of the week. Where they show the most embarrassing sports-related moments of the week. Kansas State almost landed itself a guaranteed top-5 spot in this Friday's list. And I'm not even talking about the Eco-Cat fiasco that broke out last week on the internet. I'm talking about something much worse.

Avoided SI too? 

Kansas State about became the latest BCS school to fall to a FCS opponent. A feat that has been occurring more often in the last 5 years (Appalachian State over Michigan, North Dakota State over Kansas, Sacramento State over Oregon State, and Jacksonville State over Ole Miss). Although this does show a minor shrink in the talent gap between FCS schools and BCS schools, talent was not the issue in Kansas State's troubles. The majority of K-State's problems were self-inflicted and mental mistakes.

Despite more than doubling Eastern Kentucky's total yardage, having 3 times the amount of first downs and having 9 times the yards per rush, K-State trailed the game with just few minutes left in the 4th quarter. This was because the Wildcats managed to rack up 5 turnovers to Eastern Kentucky's 2. The key turnover was a fumble by Bryce Brown that was returned to the 1 yard line. The defense then gave up its only score; which Bill Snyder doesn't exactly consider to be a touchdown against the defense, like many fans.

On a more positive note, K-State's biggest question mark coming into this season was its defense, who performed more like the pre-retirement, Snyder defenses than the post-retirement ones. The defense fought a short field many times, offensive and special team turnovers, but did not give in to the adversity they faced. The front 7 put pressure on the quarterback multiple times including 4 sacks including 2 from   Senior DE, Jordan Voelker. The secondary withstood a setback after Tysyn Hartman came out of the game permanently early in the game. Hartman's absence didn't seem to affect the defense or the secondary at all for that matter. Nigel Malone filled the void with his 2 interceptions, one to seal the game. Newcomer, Arthur Brown, led the defense in tackles and looks like a leader both on and off the field.
I'm not ready to push the panic button quite yet, K-State had to replace many key positions. They had to replace a 2nd round draft pick in Daniel Thomas along with having to get used to only seeing one man behind center, which has become a rarity in Bill Snyder's recent years. Overall, the defense is much improved from last years (not saying much) and the offense has the talent in place. As long as the leadership and drive to get better is in the locker room, Bill Snyder will get them going in the right direction. With two weeks to prepare for the next game against Kent State, this game will be more to write about. If the offensive unit can't find a way to coincide and erase silly turnovers, then these concerns being shouted out will become louder.

Arthur Brown attempting a tackle

Until then, I will focus on the positive (solid defense and an offense that just underperformed) of last weeks game with a shade of concern (weak offensive line, killer turnovers/penalties, and inconsistent quarterback play). I expect the season to be competitive and hard fought, just by the first game, I can tell there is a fire on the defensive end that wasn't within 30 miles of last years defense. Defense is what wins in any sport, so if we can get the ball into the hands of our playmakers more consistently and not have 5 turnovers (not asking too much), K-State will be right back on the fans' good gracious before Big 12 season even starts.

Movie Mania

Ever since The Lion King, I have been a movie person. It started with a small hobby, something to buy time with, but it would grow into something much, much bigger. Thanks to modern-day technology, I can access  thousands of movie options with the click of a button.

For the longest time, I've been a member of Netflix. For those who haven't heard or haven't turned on a TV in the last 5 years, Netflix is basically a more convenient version of blockbuster. Instead of having to go to the store to pick out a movie, you can do it on your computer or even on your gaming console (Xbox 360, Playstation 3, or Wii). There are no late fees, keep the DVD as long as you need to. This feature is probably my favorite, because when I get busy with school and just tied up in a lot of things (aka, I procrastinated a little), I can just keep the DVD until I have some spare time to watch it and then return it afterwards.

Not only can you receive DVD's through Netflix, but they have thousands of movies and TV shows available to watch via an online streaming method (gaming consoles previously mentioned or a computer/laptop). Personally, I stream through my Xbox 360, which is ironic since I bought it to play video games but now I have no time or desire to play video games, so it serves as my DVD player and Netflix access device.

The best thing I'd say about the instant option through netflix is the TV shows. You can watch just about any type of show. If your looking for a funny TV show, your options are pretty wide. Some of my favorites to check out are The Office (first 7 seasons), South Park (14 seasons), Family Guy (8 seasons), That 70's Show (8 seasons), and even Cheers for you old folks. Not looking to laugh, but instead want a serious, suspenseful dram TV show to watch, your in luck. Some popular dramas Netflix offers are Law and Order SVU (12 seasons), Law and Order Criminal Intent, Heroes (Seasons 1-4),  24 (8 seasons), and many more.

The movie side of the instant option through Netflix is not quite as great as the TV side, but there is a lot of great movies available. The best perk is that any movie available on the movie network Starz, is available on Netflix, thanks to a contract between the two companies. So along with a few movies sprinkled into the mix, the majority of the good movies available instantly are mostly older movies. Some of the best older movies I've seen on Netflix include Full Metal Jacket, 8 Mile, Memento, The Beach, Gone Baby Gone, No Country For All Men, Black Hawk Down, Angels and Demons, The Boondock Saints, Shutter Island, among many, many more. So when I say the options aren't as good, that is not necessarily a bad thing but just a not as good thing, if that makes sense.

There are, however, some downfalls to Netflix. The first being a minor one that has only affected me a handful of times in the three-plus years I've had Netflix, the downfall being scratched or damaged DVD's. In the process of mailing back and forth hundreds of times, DVD's take a beating. Netflix realizes this and has a good system for keeping customers, that being if you receive a damaged disc, all you have to do is go to your online account, click on the "Damaged DVD" icon and they'll send you a new disc as soon as possible. Another downfall is that you have to have a decent internet connection to stream Netflix instantly. This is not a problem for me at my house, because there are only three people possibly using the internet at the same time. Consequently, I can't watch Family Guy during class or even in the library for that matter. At first, I thought this was truly a downfall, but I realized I wouldn't get anything done if I could watch Netflix in class and in the library, so I'm thankful for the 10,000 or so other people using K-State's internet and dedicate my GPA to each and every one of them. The final downfall to Netflix is a more recent one, and that is that they are raising their prices for each option of service. For the longest time they kept their prices constant, but as a result of about every video store going out of business, Blockbuster being the latest and biggest of the video stores, Netflix has started to raise their prices. It's a smart business strategy, with their customers having less options to pursue (i.e. Redbox and???), and I personally still value the service-plan I use more than I pay for it so it's worth it to me.

I'm going to start trying to do a movie review about weekly, hopefully, the movies will either be new movies or older movies I've never seen before. I may even drop a new TV show or documentary into the mix that really caught my attention. I'm starting to get used to my schedule for this semester and am going to do my best to update the blog more frequently.

In other news, I got to see my mother, father, both brothers and my two favorite sister-in-laws for the opening weekend of K-State football. The game wasn't what I was hoping for but that I'll leave that for a different post (maybe tomorrow?). Besides the actual game, the weekend turned out to be a great one, I got to see my family, eat great tailgating food, and just hang out with old friends and classmates. Hopefully, the next game in two weeks, will be better and complete the weekend to its full potential.

Stay tuned people.

Love these people! (Sorry Abby for stealing this picture off your blog)