Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Arsenal post match review + day

So biggest game of the year so far for my gunners as they played barcelona today in the champions league and we fucking won! HELL YA!!!!! The final result was 2-1 with david villa, Robin Van Persie and Andrey Arshavin getting the goals just in that order. I honestly have to say this has been the best Arsenal performance all year. Not only did we beat the tournament favorite ( yeah I know its still only the first leg) but we did everything we needed to. We applied pressure early and throughout the whole game, made great tactical fouls, defended really well and on top of it all played OUR game attacking barca on the counter and playing our own type of passing game. I'd like to give a big shout out to all the Arsenal players tonight you all absolutely deserved the win now here are my player reviews.

Szczesny- So it was the young poles first start in the champions league and against none other than barcelona. Eh w/e, this boy went out there and did the job and he sure did impress me. He didnt let the goal get him down and made a handful of important saves. He really seems to have great control of the goal area and just oozes calm, cant see Fabianski or Almunia being number one next season sorry guys.- Rating- 8.5 

Eboue- Filled in well for Sagna and worked really hard all game. Got stuck in all game and made the all important clearance after Arshavins botched header. That being said we really missed Sagnas newfound attacking threat. Rating- 7

Koscielny- First season in the prem? No problem. First season in the Champions league? pshhhhhh. Probably our third best player on the night and the defensive rock we have needed in the past. I lost track of how many times Koscielny made important tackles and gained back possesion, but it sure was a lot. Also made some great surging runs into barcas territory, this guy is great. Rating- 9

Djourou- The swiss defender had a pretty decent night. Covering villa and messi is always gonna be hard, got burned a couple times, but overall had a solid game. No complaints from me. Rating- 7.5

Clichey- Was responsible for villa being onside for the goal, but besides that had an outstanding game. Defended really well throughout and ran until the final whistle. Also got the assist for RVP's goal. He should be brimming with confidence after a performance like that. Rating- 8 

Song- Got the early foul on barca that we needed, but unfortunately also got the early yellow ( which was kind of a harsh.) Even though Song was playing with a yellow he still anchored the midfield really well and also had some great link up play. I just cant say enough about Song the whole time he was on the pitch he was always doing something great. No complaints from me, great performance. Rating- 8 

Jack Wilshere- I cant believe this guy isn't twenty yet. Jack was easily our best midfielder on the night he was superb with possession, weaving in and out of so many barca players I got dizzy and made great passes all night. Off the ball Jack did an outstanding job as well, he worked just as hard, if not harder than anyone in a red and white shirt to regain posession. If he had gotten a goal he would be my man of the match. Rating-9

Nasri- First game back from injury and he did the job. Got the assist for the winning goal and worked hard all game long pressurizing barca into making mistakes. This dude can play football and it really shows, he holds up play well and is probably, behind RVP, the most technical player in the squad. Rating- 7.5 

Walcott- Had a decent game but didnt really have as big of an impact as most expected. Arsenal used his pace well in the first half on the break but as the second half wore on he become more and more marginal. Still a decent performance from our number 14, would like to see him make better decisions but I guess you learn that with time. Rating-7 

Fabregas- Well Im not sure how to rate the captains game. On the one hand he defended really well, had the great pass to Nasri which eventually led to the goal and did attack pretty well on his own. But on the other hand he didnt influence the game as much as he usually does. Im going to say this was down to Barcas pre game preperation. All and all a decent night for the captain, but tonight was more about the team performance. Rating- 7.5


Robin Van Persie- The flying dutchman was my man of the match. All game long he linked up well with the midfield and really tried to get the ball into barcas net. Finally got the goal he deserved and oh my what a beauty it was. Besides RVP's attacking prowess he really pestered barca when they were in possession. All around great game and boy oh boy can this dude play football. Rating 9.5 

Subs: 
Bendtner- 7
Arshavin- 7.5

Well thats my Arsenal vs barcelona, tomorrow I'll review my virgin mobile service and the phone that I bought with it the Samsung Intercept. Till then have a great night and oh GO AZTECS!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Tv


Alright guys so like any good American I love tv shows. Here is a list of some of my current favorite shows. They range from old to new. I personally go through cycles of what I like to watch and right now these are the ones that I'm really into.

1. Parks and Recreation- Starring Amy Poehler this show is in the same style of the office as a mockumentary. The reason I feel its stronger is that it can be more varied and open because its not contained to a small workplace. As well it has Rashida Jones :) oh and Aziz Ansari. Thursdays NBC

2. The IT crowd- This is probably my favorite show at the moment. Its about a small IT department in a large corporation with a boss who knows nothing about computers. It has a lot of geeky humor and is full of fresh comedic situations, which is hard to find in television these days. If your looking for a good workplace show to replace the office once Steve Carrell leaves this show might just be your cup of tea. Channel4 UK

3. Curb your Enthusiasm- Do you like Seinfeld? Do you have HBO? If you answered yes to both of these questions then you should be watching this show. Larry David ( the creator of Seinfeld) stars in this show as himself and the show is about his wacky life. One of the great things about  Curb your Enthusiasm is that it is basically unscripted. Basically Larry David and the other writers have a central narrative and at each scene dialogue is made up. It has the effect of making the show seem real and lends to the comedy as sometimes the characters cant help but laugh on the show. HBO

4. Spaced- Although this show is about 10 years old I just cant get enough of it and I felt it deserved a shout out. Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) stars in this show about two friends who pretend to be a couple so they can rent a flat. This might sound kind of boring but honestly this show rules. It has such nerdy jokes and references to so many things I love, like Star Wars and Battle Bots, that I think I would have to really try not to like it. Give it a shot if you thought Shaun of the Dead was any good. BBC

5. Eastbound and Down- Danny Mcbride stars as Kenny motherfucking Powers, a washed up foul talking ex-professional pitcher. The show chronicles his ride back to stardom and all the sex, drugs and ridiculousness along the way. This is one of those shows that makes you laugh out loud every episode, seriously give it a chance. HBO

6. Dexter- My absolute favorite drama on television right now. In a nutshell Dexter is about a serial killer that kills serial killers. The show is dark, the writing and acting are good and oh did I mention the show has a ton of hot actresses. Yeah thats right you need to watch this. Showtime


Honorable mentions: Its always Sunny in Philadelphia, the Office, American Pickers

Cheers

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Every day is like sunday

Well nothing exciting happened today and I'm not very inspired right now, so dont get too excited for this post. Today I got off work really late so I'm super tired. The managers at my job have recently been on a nazi cleaning kick so I had to do a lot of extra shit I normally dont do ie scrub a lot of shit by hand. Either way one of the highlights of my day was a bit of Super Smash Bros brawl. My favorite character by farrrr is Mr. Game and Watch. He is pretty much the man and can turn into a stoned octopus and throw bacon at opponents which I find hilarious. Yeah thats more or less it so I'm off to go to sleep and watch Parks and Recreation. Below is the music video to Black River Killer by Blitzen Trapper. If you really like folky music then you will probably love it. Personally I'm in love with it and more music should be made like this.


Song of the day: Don Mclean- American Pie

Cheers

Pizza

Alright so here is the deal I work at a pizza shop. My main job is delivering pizzas and sometimes making them, but part of my job responsibilities requires me to take phone orders. Im making this blog post because I deal with a bunch of dummys and rude people and want to set up some type of etiquette for ordering pizza so here we go.

1. Most importantly make sure you are calling the right pizza shop. You dont know how many times this has happened to me, just make sure you are calling the place you intend, it aint that hard.

2. When someone asks for your phone number or credit card dont speed read it to the person on the other line. Remember they have to type it into a computer and cant remember 10 digits right away. Its like driving, slooooow down.

3. Use coupons before your transaction has gone through. This is seriously my largest pet peeve. People will give me their credit card number and it gets approved and then afterwords ask if they can use their coupon or use a military discount. The answer to that is NO. Coupons are meant to attract a larger base of customers, it is the customers job to use them. As well it is a hassel for both the customer and business to cancel credit card orders simply to save a few bucks.

4. Please tip your delivery driver. I dont see how this is even up for debate. When you go to a restaurant you almost always, barring bad service, tip your waiter. How is being a delivery driver any different from being a waiter? Being a delivery driver has much higher associated costs, such as gas, wear and tear on their car, insurance and not to mention the chance of being pulled over to get the order their on time. Remember most drivers really care about making the customer happy.

5. Please give us a little detail about where you live and a working phone number if the place you live at is hard to fin. A little information and a working number go a looooong way, especially when its really busy.

These are some little tips to help make the delivery driver/ phone persons life at your local pizza joint a little bit easier. They may sound a little whiny or rude, but honestly as someone who takes their job seriously both the business and the customer have a responsibility to polite and respectful and these are things that could really improve business efficiency and customer satisfaction. 

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Its gonna be a Crazy day

Coming to you once again with 4 hours of sleep. I think today is gonna be crazy. San Diego is celebrating the 100th year of Naval Aviation ( since it started here) and pretty much all the hotels are at full capacity. I fortunately/ unfortunately work at a pizza joint so I seriously expect it to be slammed all day. So what the Navy is gonna do is fly a plane from every single era over San Diego bay. That means its gonna start with bi-planes and move on up through what we used in Korea, Vietnam and up until today. The cherry on top is the whole fighter wing for one of the aircraft carriers is going to fly in unison over the bay wing to wing, which is going to be crazy and Im not sure if its ever been done before. If you get the chance to watch it YOU SHOULD, I'll be working :( 


In other news Arsenal (my favorite soccer club) beat Wolves 2-0 today, keeping within 4 points of manchester united. Next week is going to be a big week for Arsenal we have the little task of playing Barcelona in the Champions league and then an FA cup match against leyton orient. Many people are writing the Gunners off from this tie, but I feel we have a genuine chance at progressing but we need to do a few things. First off we are playing barcelona not a team of axe wielding super ninjas, so our team needs to play for themselves and not let the idea of playing barcelona get in their heads. Secondly we need to get some early possession. In the ties last year barca had the ball for such lengthy periods early on it drove me mad. We need to hold the ball, which Im sure Arsenal are capable of, but what we really need to do is rough barcelona when they have the ball. We are playing at home and for gods sake Arsenal are a british club and need so show some grit this week. Get stuck in let them know who is boss. Even if Arsenal do all of these things its still going to be a really exciting match and I cant wait.

Pro tip: If you think your tea is too hot..... it is.


Thursday, February 10, 2011

The 5 video games Ive had the most fun playing

1. Battlefield 1942- including mods, especially desert combat
What can I say except that this is probably my favorite video game of all time. It was my first true exposure to sim/fps games and I had a fucking blast playing it. I honestly dont believe dice or EA will ever make a game that comes close to this games awesomeness. What really sets this game apart from others has to be its multiplayer not only could you have dog fights, tank battles and street combat, but you could drive fucking huge navel ships! Well done dice, this game will always be number one.

2. Counter-Strike: Source
As you can tell I really like shooters and combat games. This has to be the pen ultimate competitive fps for me. I loved the competitiveness and how even if you were pretty good at source there was always somebody who was better. Striving to win made the game fun and it felt great when your cal team did well. Also a big part of why source was so much fun had to be the mods, especially surf maps (which fucking rule) and gun game (there went my accuracy).

3. Mario Kart Double Dash.
I know I know, most people prefer the original Mario Kart to this sequel, but I AM NOT one of those people. I am definitely better at Double Dash than I am at Spanish and I took three years of that. Double Dash really shone with its multiplayer. It was so much fun going in and out of the lead and the levels were very interesting and had enough shortcuts to help you improve your technique. Although this game was best when played with other people the single player was also pretty fun and 150cc is pretty difficult at times. Although I love this game I will say I have lost a lot of controllers to frustration haha.

4.Pro Evo Winning Eleven 9
How about that for a long title name eh? I got this on my 17th birthday and played it pretty thoroughly, but it really became one of my favorite games when I moved into the dorms freshman year of college. I somewhat hesitantly brought my video games including this. It instantly became one of my roomates favorite games, I literally think we spent more time playing and arguing over this game then we did studying. As far as the game mechanics go they were pretty standard for pro evo with a lot of characters OP if they were fast, but hey that made it fun and at least it isnt fifa.

5. WoW/SWG
Yep, yeah I know I said 5 video games but I'm changing the last one into more of a MMO category and since I stopped playing SWG to play WoW I think they both deserve a spot. Ill start with SWG, this game fucking RULED. Oh what I can be a jedi? Or I can be a Bounty hunter or a doctor.......? Ok so maybe SWG wasn't the perfect game and maybe my love for Star Wars helped me overlook some flaws, such as making a bunch of classes that were overly reliant on macros and were not at all fun to play but hey we all have our flaws. Seriously though I had so much fun playing this game that I wish Sony would remake it. Does stomping around Tatooine in your speeder and hunting Jedi for in game money ( I was a Bounty Hunter obviously) not sound like fun? Oh I forgot to mention you could also have your own houses and set up communities what a novel game, ahead of its time? Surely.
Ok time for WoW. Well lets just say I was addicted and thats really the best way to describe it. As far as PvP goes WoW for me was the most fun. I played pre BC so yeah... doesn't that really explain everything? Pre BC WoW was awesome and I liked it hahahha.

5 hours of sleep

So I had a pretty fun night last night. Friend visiting from Hawaii, saw my buddies band play yadda yadda yadda.  I get home at 2 in the morning even though my first test of the semester is at 8. I rationalize 5 1/2 hours of sleep will be enough and rush into bed. But whilst laying in bed I remember I have to finish my lab report for Chem, SHITTTT! Has this shit ever happened to anyone else? Either way totally rocked that midterm and completed my lab report. Since Im writing this ages after I woke up, I dont have the faintest recollection of what my dreams were about, but im gonna go ahead and guess elephants, egypt maybe tea pshhh idk. Speaking of Egypt though I cant believe Mubarak isnt going to leave that situation is going to be crazy in the next few days. Anybody have opinions on the topic?

Cheers