Web 2.0

Web 2.0 sure is interesting. Forget the jargon though. If you prefer Interweb or the Internets then you stick with those. I wanted to blog about this today because a few things happened today that made me think about how far the Internet has come in just a few short years.

For the first few years after graduation, I worked for a public relations company that worked for small technology companies. Many of these companies were dabbling with business Instant Messages, global trade management and the first iterations of customer relationship management software. The Internet was in its infancy. Before the bubble burst, companies threw tons out tons of money for lunches, happy hours and foosball tables....People wondered if printed newspapers would be extinct in a few short years ... Things like blogs, 24 hour sports coverage, YouTube, myspace or personalized websites didn't exist.

It seems like just in a few short years everything has changed and now the world is full of self made authors, artists, videographers and message board posters who actually can make a difference. Now the line between newspapers reporters and web bloggers really has been blurred. Time named "You" the person of the year - whatever that means. But if one thing is clear is that Web 2.0 will continue to evolve in whatever way the public takes it.

In the past, one of my writing outlets used to be writing of personal poems to my wife. Now, I'm writing blogs that are read by the world!!! (if the world was only 3 posers named Smelmooo, Chosen One and my brother-in-law.)

The Real Italian Stallion

No, it's not me. ...

First off, let me say that Rocky IV stands as one of my Top 5 favorite movies of all time right behind Back to the Future, Die Hard, The Big Lebowski, Dumb and Dumber. Before you think that I am biased toward the whole Rocky series, I'll give you that disclaimer and also tell you that I loved Rocky's 1 and 2 and hated Rocky's 3 and 5.

Last night, after I watched the next to last episode of the completely underwhelming Season 6 of 24, I decided to rent a movie through Patriot Media. After scrolling through an endless list of drab movies and not wanting to waste $5 of real money on Beer Fest, I decided to go with Rocky Balboa. I never saw the movie in the theater and had absolutely no expectations for it despite my past love/hate relationship with Rocky films. I had heard from a few people in the past that it had its good and bad moments. Other than that though, I knew nothing about the movie....Maybe that was a good thing as from the moment I turned it on, I was enthralled.

It was just a great overall movie with a ton of flashbacks from Rocky's career. It had very few unwatchable parts other than some of the scenes where Rocky was at Adrian's gravesite. The whole movie surrounds the death of Adrian Balboa from cancer and how Rocky is coping with a life without his two loves - Adrian and Boxing. He now owns a restaurant in South Philly where he serves as a host of sorts who goes around telling old stories of his fighting days and taking pictures with the customers. The story really made you feel sorry for how far Rocky had fallen and how pathetic he had become.

Later in the movie, the promoters of the heavyweight champion Mason Dixon decide to hold an exhibition between Dixon and Rocky and that's where the movie really took it up a notch. I went from feeling sorry for Rocky to all of a sudden finding myself up on my feet - okay, not literally -- rooting for Rocky . Maybe it was the old Rocky music that got me so inspired and completely skewed my usual propensity to knock down every movie that I see. But I loved this movie. Loved it!

I highly recommend Rocky Balboa for anyone who hasn't seen it.

Question

Could you live 6 weeks of your life without everything you own?

I generally try not to talk about work on this blog, but I felt the need to do so today. I was outside of the office today filling in for a company that we are partners with. This company represents a moving company who was trucking the life belongings of two gentlemen moving across the country. My job today was to be at the new home of these two guys when their belonging were delivered, just in case any media showed up. Well, turns out their belonging took longer than expected to be delivered to them because of an unfortunate accident.

To make a long story short, the moving company was trucking the belonging of these two guys across the country and the truck stalled on train tracks. Minutes later a train came down the tracks and tore the train in half, damaging some of the belonging of these two guys. Some of the stuff wasn't damaged, but a Lexus SUV in the truck was completely totaled. Also on the 18-wheeler was two plasma TVs that the guy owned. He was wondering today if either of them still worked. Since then the guy's have slept on air mattresses and weren't able to access a lot of their things until they were delivered today. That's rough.

It made me wonder if I could live 6 weeks of my life without some of my worldly possessions. I know I couldn't live without my Eli Manning figurines for too long...

Entertain Me with Spiderman 3

Going in to see Spiderman 3, I definitely had some high expectations. I loved the first two movies and was hoping that the third wrapped up the trilogy nicely. One of the reasons that I probably liked the movies was that everytime Spiderman movies came out, the number of questions of "Do you know who you look like?" went exponentially up...The answer is Tobey Maguire, by the way, but I'm much prettier...

After 2+ hours of Spiderman 3, I left mostly happy and somewhat sad at the movie overall. There definitely were some excellent scenes between Peter/Spiderman and Harry/New Goblin. Other than that though, I didn't think that the other villians - Sandman and Venom - were necessary at all. Some scenes with those villians were interesting, but others just added plot lines that weren't necessary.

And I really believe that overall the movie was hurt by having too many plot lines for the audience to follow. Let's count shall we?

1. Peter and Mary Jane's relationship
2. Peter/Spiderman and Harry's/New Goblin relationship
3. Peter's revenge trip against Sandman for killing Uncle Ben
4. Spiderman turning into Black Spiderman
5. Spiderman vs. Venom

I think that's just way too many storylines for a movie. There probably were a few additional ones that I can't remember as I write this tonight, but I think you get the point.

Overall, I'll give Spiderman 3 a grade of a C, while I would give Spiderman 1 a grade of an A and Spiderman 2 a grade of a B.

Hello Again Rocket

I meant to blog yesterday about Chien-Ming Wang's near perfect game on Saturday night, but then I got wrapped up in watching Sunday's game against the Mariners, and didn't end up writing that blog...And then the 7th inning stretch on Sunday happened.

My wife and I were planning our vacation to Arizona while the game was on and out of nowhere, the commercials between the 7th inning stretch cut off suddently and there on the TV appeared Roger Clemens in a blue pinstriped suit saying: "Well, they got me out of Texas. I'll be talking to you soon." For a second, I had no idea what was going on. Then I realized that the Rocket announcing that he was coming back to pitch for the Yankees. What great news....

As pitcher after pitcher was injured this season and the Yankees found themselves having to round out their starting rotation with minor league pitchers, I was hoping that Clemens would come back to the Pinstripes. And now that it's a reality, I couldn't be happier to see how the old man pitches again in Pinstripes.

I don't care at all about the unbelievable $28 million pro-rated salary that he's getting. I don't care that he doesn't have to be with the team on a day he's not pitching. All I care about is that we are getting a proven pitcher who has won with the Yankees before.

I really believe that it's not only going to be a big psychological boost for the Bombers, but also a big boost to their starting pitching staff..

Good luck Rocket!

I Jinxed Phil Hughes

I watched most of Tuesday's Yankee game on my 27" meager Sony TV. Phil Hughes, Yankees Future Star starting pitcher was becoming the Yankees Present Star starting pitching. In his second major league start, he was DOMINATING. His fastball was blistering. His curveball was ridiculous! And he threw 3 straight changeups to strike out All-Star Mark Texeira. He was making one of the best hitting teams in the best hitting ballparks look horrible.

Did I mention he was tossing a no-hitter?

When he took that no-hitter into the sixth inning, I started calling and IM'ing my friends to tell them to turn on the game. You could just tell that something special was happening. He was getting ahead of hitters. He was striking out people by the bunches. He was getting people to ground into double plays. No one hit a flyball out of the infield until the 5th inning. He was on his way to becoming the youngest pitcher ever to throw a no-hitter.

Then, I jinxed Phil Hughes...

My wife came downstairs to tell me that House on Fox was over and I could watch the Yankees game upstairs on our fabulous 46" Sony Projection HDTV. I knew before the final word left her mouth that Hughes' no-hitter would be lost if I went upstairs. I'm that type of superstitious person.

Yet I denied what my inner monologue was saying and I went upstairs to watch the game. One out later, Hughes didn't give up a hit, but instead he pulled up lame and was forced to leave the game after he heard his groin pop. Just like that he lost his chance at becoming the youngest pitcher ever to toss a no-hitter. And now he's out 4-6 or 6-8 weeks depending on who you talk to. And the Yankees injuries woes continue. I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

Sorry for jinxing you Phil.

Moon Over New England

I first heard it on Mike and Mike this morning on ESPN Radio. Then it was repeated by my boy Smelmooo...Is there something in the water? What makes anyone at all think that New England Patriots coach Bill Belichek will be able to talk any sense at all into often in trouble, always lazy Wide Receiver Randy Moss?

Everyone says that "if anyone can talk some sense into Moss" - so says Mike and Mike and Smelmooo - it's Bill Belichek. Isn't that EXACTLY the same thing that people said last year when Terrell Owens came to the Dallas Cowboys and was set to be coached by Bill Parcells - the ultimate tough coach? Well, after one year, Owens' nutty antics and me-first personality drove Parcells out of Dallas. I'm not saying that Moss is going to drive Belichek away from coaching. All that I'm saying is that it's not as small of a risk as everyone has been saying.

Sure, the Pats only gave up a 4th round pick for Moss, so it's not a big risk in that respect. But the risk definitely is there when Moss tries to blow up the offense when he's not getting the ball passed to him as much as he wants. He's bound to be obscene again like he was in Green Bay when his fake mooned the Packer fans (pictured above) after scoring a TD - okay that was funny. And he's definitely going to alienate his teammates with his laziness. So, it's actually much more of a risk then everyone is saying.

It's bound to happen. He's done it before and he'll do it again. Mark my words...