UFC 88 - I was 6-3

My predictions and picks ended up not too bad. I really debated the Evans/Liddell call (I picked Chuck) and the Henderson/Palhares (Palhares was my choice) but have no complaints with how things turned out. Had I gone with my heart I'd have been 8-1! If Kayo hadn't hurt his back I'd have been 9-1 ... but I did get two of the fights by the round and method of victory.

As far as the Iceman goes ... damn. All I could say was "WOW" ... Evans hit him with a perfectly timed, perfectly aimed anvil-disguised as a punch. Liddell went down faster than a crack-whore in a hail storm. Dude was knocked the fuck out and was motionless for about a minute; woozy for several others. It was one of the most amazing knockouts I've ever seen, perfectly done by a very well-trained Rashad Evans (Greg Jackson Fight Camp is +2 against The Pit ... Keith Jardine also has a victory over Liddell).

Henderson fought a very smart fight and avoided the ground as much as possible although it was close for a bit there in the first.

The rest of the night pretty much went as I expected it. Joe Rogan is getting flack for saying he thought Matt Brown should have won against Dong Hyun Kim, but I think that's Joe being a UFC homer and wanting the UFC discovered Ultimate Fighter stars to win.

Next up - Ultimate Fight Night to kick off the Ultimate Fighter on Wednesday, 9/17; then a busy October with the Affliction card on 10/11; UFC 89 on October 18 free on Spike and UFC 90 on October 25 live in Chicago.

Courtney Love is batshit insane

Read this ... well, TRY to read this.

Read and understand? Unpossible

Read and comprehend? No chance in hell.

Journalism at its finest

As a wee lad growing up, I wanted to be a news reporter. I learned to read at a young age ... very young age. And since I grew up in the early 70's before cable TV and Cartoon Network, I loved the kids shows on PBS ... especially Seseme Street. Mostly for the Kermit News segments. I can remember sitting in my room with the newspaper reading and practicing for the day I would be at the anchor desk.

As I got older, I got into journalism. Eventually, I became a newspaper photographer, then they realized I was a much better writer than I was a photographer. And while working the news desk daily, I quickly learned how corrupt and misguided the business of news reporting is. Not the reporters, necessarily, but the business of how news is presented. History, it is said, is what happens; news is how one person views it and writes about it, then how it's edited, presented and, sadly, headlined by people who were nowhere near the event, did not discuss said event with anyone involved it the event, or even have any knowledge of the event. Which is often why what's written is so far away from what happened.

Every once in a while I'll read the kind of story that makes me get all sad about NOT being a reporter ... this is one of them. This is journalism at its finest. Kudos.

UFC 88 - Preview & Pics

My UFC Preview is back with a vengeance. The Ultimate Fighting Championships invade Atlanta for UFC 88. Here's my take on how the ten scheduled fights are going to play out. Actual mileage may vary.

Chuck Liddell (21-5-0) vs Rashad Evans (16-0-1)
Three of Liddell's five losses ended with him looking up at the lights, knocked the fuck out, due to his desire to stand and throw. Evans has three victories by knockout. Chuck has 13. I see leather. Lots of leather. I see Rashad getting dazed and confused by the counterpuncher.
Liddell by knockout, second round.

Rich Franklin (25-3-0) vs Matt Hamill ( 6-1-0)
Rich Franklin is at a crossroads. He's been demolished by middleweight champ Anderson Silva, twice, in brutal fashion. There's no way he's going to dethrone Forrest Griffen at light heavyweight, and he;s too big to go down to welterweight. So he's left to languish high on the card but not at the top. Matt Hamill is still a work in progress. He's strong, like Silva, and will manhandle Franklin, but can he take a punch? That's the real worry, but not that big of a worry. Franklin is fighting for paychecks now, Hamill is hungrier.
Hamill by decision.

Karo Parisyan (26-5-0) vs Yoshiyuki Yoshida (10-2-0)
Yoshiyuki Yoshida is a stud. Karo will need a full tank and a better gameplan than he's had in his last couple of outings (loss to Thiago Alves via KO and a decision win against Ryo Chonan). While I don't see Yoshida slapping the anaconda choke on Parisyan like he did with Jon "War Hammer" Koppenhaver, leaving the TUF alum passed out on the cage floor at UFC 84, I do see a great match between the judo of Parisyan and the unconventional style of Yoshida.
Yoshida with his wicked elbows in the third round.

Dan Henderson (22-7-0) vs Rousimar Palhares (17-1-0)
I'm a huge Dan Henderson fan. Palhares has mad ju-jitsu and put a clinic on against Ivan Salaverry, going from a left-armed choke to a right-armed choke to the arm bar that retired Salaverry ... all in 2:36. He's fast, and if he can get Henderson down, and keep him there, it's over. Henderson, however, is a world-class greco-roman wrestler (was in two Olympics and and has won countless international events), so he's difficult to take down. Didn't stop Anderson Silva though. My heart is with Henderson, but my head isn't.
Palhares by submission, third round.

Martin Kampmann (13-1-0) vs Nate Marquardt (29-8-2)
This one will bring down the boos but could be the technical match of the night. Both are submission specialists but Marquardt has the more impressive list of victims including Jeremy Horn, Dean Lister, Joe Doerksen, Ivan Salaverry and a half-dozen submission wins in Pancrase bouts, including breaking the arm of Kazou Misaki 29 seconds into the bout.
Marquardt via compound fracture in the second round.

Thiago Tavares (17-2-0) vs Kurt Pellegrino (17-4-0)
Both fighters are 1-2 in thier last three bouts. Tavares was knocked out by Matt Wiman at UFC 85; Pellegrino tapped out to Nathan Diaz's triangle choke. Recovering from a your first knockout is always tough.
Pellegrino, submission, first round.

Tim Boetsch (7-2-0) vs Michael Patt (15-2-0)
Tim "The Barbarian" Boetsch (look at him and you'll see why) needs to win or he's likely done in the UFC after a loss to Matt Hamill (KO, round 2). Patt is making his UFC debut and has beaten a list of no-names in a series of unknown and failed promotions (Bodog, VFC, ETC).
Boetsch by KO, first round.

Dong Hyun Kim (10-0-1) vs Matt Brown (10-6-0)
Dong Hyun Kim is a star in the making and will impress. There's a huge thread on Sherdog about how bad this beating is going to be. Despite Matt Brown being on TUF, and a nice guy who hung out at BW3's in Columbus during the season to watch the show, in the cage he is a mystery. He looks so good one minute, then his brain is beamed into space and he's a human punching bag for the next several. Then he recovers. And looks great. Apply, lather, rinse, repeat. His fight against Amir Sadollah in the semi-finals of The Ultimate Fighter showed that, but he was fighting with a very injured shoulder. Regardless ... five of Brown's six losses are via submission, but there's not much for him to fear from Kim in that respect ... Kim has one. Kim likes to stand and throw, which Brown likes as well, but Matt needs to watch out for the slam that Kim used to knock out Hasegawa (who was the champ in a non-title bout) at DEEP 31 (YouTube brings the pain at the 9:40 mark!) and his fast, furious and heavy hands ... look at the beating he delivers AFTER the slam and the diving save the ref makes. That was a statement.
Kim via strikes in the second round.

Jason Lambert (23-8-0) vs Jason MacDonald (21-10-0)
I love MacDonald for exposing Ed Herman, but hate his nickname (The Athlete). And he lost to Kalib Starnes. Jason Lambert, The Punisher, has a much better nickname, but has lost three of his last four fights ... and was punished and knocked out. But he KTFO'd Renato Sobral and Terry Martin, so he has the power to do it against MacDonald. This is a tough one to call, but MacDonald is better at submissions (16 of his wins).
MacDonald, submission, in the second.

Roan Carneiro (12-7-0) vs Ryo "Piranha" Chonan (14-8-0)
I love Ryo Chonan, if for nothing else than for the beating he took from Anderson Silva before submitting him with an AMAZING flying sccissor heel hook at Pride Shockwave 2004. Check it out ... this is beautiful, and from the speed of the tapout and the look on Silva's face, pretty painful, too. Roan Carneiro is at a make or break stage with the UFC. He's 2-2 having lost to Jon Fitch and Kevin Burns, both via submission.
Chonan, with PRIDE, submission, first round.

Check back Monday to see how well I did, or join me Saturday at UFC 88 as I watch from BW3's on Campus View. UFC starts at 10; Music Trivia starts at 8:30.

File Server for Sale ... Columbus Area Only!

Hello. I am selling off my old file server. Here are the specs:


Dell PowerEdge 1600SC

• One Single core 2GHz Intel Xeon Processor. There is a second processor slot available.
• 1 GB DDR 2100 ECC RAM (one 512, two 256, one slot open)
• 2 18GB Seagate SCSI Ultra 320 drives configured in a mirrored array (redundant) for OS integrity.
• 2 320GB Western Digital SATA II drives configured in a striped volume (non-redundant)for 596GB of storage.
• CD Drive / Floppy Drive
• Intel Pro1000 Gigabit ethernet adapter
• Windows 2000 Server SP4 with all relevant updates.
• Dual, hot-swappable redundant power supplies.

Server is great and I used it until I rebuilt my big-ass disgusting replacement that I'm using now with 2.6TB storage. This is a standard-issue tower-unit.

I'm putting this here for a day before I advertise it on Craigslist. First $350 takes it away ... they eBay for $300-500 without the additional storage so this is a heck of a deal.

OS was reloaded over the weekend and storage array wiped out so this is ready for you to plug it in, turn it on and start using it.

Columbus, Ohio, only, or someone willing to come to Columbus. If you're interested, let me know and we can arrange for a local pickup because it's far too heavy to ship and I don't have the original packaging.

- Eric

Quick Random Blasts

My review of the new Red Wanting Blue CD "These Magnificent Miles" is here on my Just Another Columbus Ohio Music Blog. Come get your face rocked off at the Lazy Chameleon with Red Wanting Blue on Saturday.

The Semi Precious Weapons show on Sunday, 8/31 at BoMA is 18+ ... sorry kiddies.

And today's Oh, Eric moment:

I think they guy who wrote "100 Things To Do Before You Die" should have added protective headgear somewhere early in his list. I'm just sayin'.

Musical Wanderings

(cross posted from my music blog ... go read it. Good stuff there.)

Red Wanting Blue's new album, These Magnificent Miles, is available on this website, where you can also get a limited edition, signed poster with your order, while they last (only 500 total). The album was officially released on August 19th, I got a copy today and will have a full review posted after a few more listens.

The track list features quite a few of the songs they've been playing live (click here for photos) for the last year, including You Are My Las Vegas, Gravity, Where You Wanna Go, The World Is Over, Finger In The Air, Spacetime, U.S. Bumper Sticker and a few others you might recognize.

Red Wanting Blue is playing the Lazy Chameleon in Powell on August 30th with Nate McDonough who's been on my list of people to see for a while ... so I'm looking forward to that.

---

I rode to work the other day listening to 13th Star ... the latest album by Fish, the former (and in my opinion, only) singer for Marillion. Upon my first listen back in June I said this would be one of my favorite albums of 2008 ... so far, it still is. Dark Star is one of those great songs that will be in my playlist for a long time.

---

Semi Precious Weapons is playing at BoMA on August 31st ... that should be a fun night. They are re-releasing "We Love You" on September 30th, this time on Razor and Tie Records. The songs are the same as on their independent release (on Justin's own Fetty label) of "We Love You" with new artwork, and radio-friendly edits of "Her Hair Is On Fire" and "Magnetic Baby" ... here's the new cover:

---

Other things high on my iPod/iTunes playlist:

• The Milwaukees - American Anthems Vol. 1
• Green Day - American Idiot
• Kathleen Edwards - Asking For Flowers
• Guided By Voices - The Best Of
• The Clarks - Fast Moving Cars

What are you listening to?

Good Candy Gone Bad

There are few things in life better than chocolate and peanut butter ... specifically in the shape of a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. Even better ... a Reese's ... frozen.

That's some good food. And that's not just my opinion (nor my photo. Since I stole it from that blog, I figured I should link to it!)

One day last week I went to the vending machine at work wanting the little bit of flavor love that only a Reese's can give ... only to find the vending machine downstairs had NO peanut butter cups, and the upstairs one had the Boyer Peanut Butter Cup. Yes, Boyer, as in the company who gave us the Mallo-Cup.

So I figured ... well, it's chocolate. And peanut butter. How bad can it be? So I took a bite.

Awful. Fucking awful.

Let's look at the top photo of the luscious looking Reese's cups, out of the package.

Now let's look at the competition, out of the package

While it is candy, it's not eye candy. Doesn't look appealing. Looks even less so out of the wrapper

In fact, the only place this alleged peanut butter cup looked good -- the garbage can.

So now I have to say ... there is no Peanut Butter Cup, there is only Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. And if you're charging me 80 cents, mister blind man who fills our vending machines at work, at least give me real candy. You have Snickers and M&M's and other brand name chocolate goodness. Why do you deny me the Reese's?

It's not just me ...

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

How many songs does a rock band have to make about wanting to be rock stars before they realize they're corporate Clear Channel-created rock stars and start doing all the things they sing about wanting to do?

Besides, you wanna hear a great song about what the music business is like ... try out "Welcome To The Machine" by Pink Floyd.

God lowers gas prices???

Oh Jeebus.

Prayer lowered gas prices in DC? Cause apparently God is more concerned with making sure people in one of the worst places in America to live have an additional $2 for crack.

Pardon me for leaving the rest of this blog unwritten while I go change my pants because I pissed myself laughing so hard.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7566566.stm

Famous ... and sick

So one of my favorite reads is the Pop Candy blog in USAToday ... today I was the featured reader. Here's the whole blog ... here's my part.

Sadly, on Eric Broz day (as it's known when you're the featured reader) I'm home. Sick as hell. Close to the bathroom. Lunch yesterday was NOT my friend.

Before blogging ...

I think I was Indie Rock Pete ...

Except I knew where to steal photocopies from.

But I did a hockey magazine. No wonder I never got laid.

DOH!

Iran suspends death by stoning

Wow. Way to go Iran. Way to show you're a 10th century nation now and have escaped those bloodthirsty ways of old school law by eliminating death by stoning. (No, pot-heads. Wrong kind of stoning.)

The country's penal code stipulates that before carrying out the punishment, men should be buried up to their waists and women up to their chests. The stones used must be large enough to cause the condemned pain, but not sufficient to kill immediately.

It is a penalty permissible under Islamic law (but not spelled out in the Koran) for crimes such as adultery, incest and prostitution. Sounds right up the alley of the religion of peace, eh?

Wow. Next you know they'll get rid of all the gays and figure out photoshop and forget about that whole Death to America/Death to Israel thing they have going on. (Oh, well, two outta three ain't bad, right Meatloaf?)

Apple <3's Jay Farrar

So I've noticed a trend on my iPod and my iTunes library.

I currently have 3216 songs in my iTunes library. 132 of them are Jay Farrar related (Uncle Tupelo songs he sings, his solo stuff, or Son Volt). That's 4.1% of my tunage being directly related to the genius of Jay Farrar.

However, 11% of the songs chosen in "shuffle" mode the last three times I've tracked have been the genius of Jay Farrar.

That's not all. It's NOT only iTunes. It's the iPod, too.

Of the last 14 times I've clicked on the 'shuffle' mode of my iPod touch ... I've had Jay Farrar/Son Volt/Uncle Tupelo come up 10 times as the FIRST SONG PLAYED.

That's nearly 72% of the time for those of you with math issues. Of the 2412 songs on my iPod, with Jay represented in 5.47% of those songs ... those odds lead me to belive that somewhere, an iTunes and iPod programmer or three has weighted the genius of Jay Farrar, Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt higher in the algorithm used to dictated the first song played, and the frequency of the shuffle mode.

Yeah, it's a world of conspiracy therories. I've just added to the list.

PunditKitchen - LOL Cats for Politics

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