105.7 The Point – Woody and Rizzuto: Finally Something Worth Listening to…

So I don’t know about your local radio market, but here in the bay area there is absolutely nothing worth listening too.  The sport shows are down right embarrassing despite the fact of having the most professional teams and relevant college teams in the area to talk about, and all the other morning shows are just annoying. You have two gay guys screaming how everything is FABULOUS, Sarah and Vinnie who manage to screw up every news topic they discuss when they take a break from talking about shit nobody cares about (can someone please explain to me how the hell Sarah has been able to stay on the radio for so long??), and then you have a syndicated show from LA which is stale and LOVES the whacky, zany fake phone call bits. So rather than switch to iPod  and Pandora for my commutes to work, I was able to find something worth listening to via podcast.

The show is called “The Woody and Rizzuto Show” and it is based out of St. Louis, Missouri. The show is on the local FM dial on 105.7, and runs from 6am till 10am Central Time. The show consists of 3 guys, the hosts Woody and Scott Rizzuto, and their producer Tony Patrico (aka Fatty). The show, in short, is basically about breaking balls and having fun (mostly at the expense of their producer). The target audience for the show is the 18-35 year old males, but is shockingly picking up a strong following of female and 35+ listeners as well.

In addition to daily news, sports, and celebrity news, the show also has standard weekly segments that consists of the following:

Tuesdays: Freak of the Week and Got Game with Steve “Manballs” Masters. Freak of the Week, is a segment where they bring in a local St. Louis celebrity, Fred from the ‘Cheapo Depot’, to read local Craigslist ads that they found, and have the listeners vote on which one is the freaky-est. While this segment is certainly one of their best, it pretty much makes any desire to visit the city nonexistent. While the ads themselves could carry this segment, listening to the old man reading them makes it priceless. The Got Game segment is all about what’s new with video games, and allows for callers to ask questions of Manballs Masters about upcoming releases or their systems.

Wednesdays: Bitch be Trippin. This segment is where they not only read stories of women doing crazy, stupid stuff, but they also open the phone lines up to allow listeners to call out the women in their lives who do and say stupid stuff.

Thursdays: Sexy Time Fun Facts. This is where they bring up a different sex topic, usually based on a recent survey (i.e. what age did you lose your virginity) and discuss the findings and get input/stories concerning the topic from listeners.

Friday: Fail Stories and Donnie’s Week in Rage. The fail stories segment consists of reading stories where people came up with the perfect plan, the best idea, but when it came time to perform…..FAIL. The best is listening to the listener fail stories when they do call in with them. And finally there is the Week in Rage. This segment is where the guys give the mid-morning host, Donnie Fandango, his own segment to let loose on rant about all the things bugging him from the week. It’s a lot like the old Lewis Black ‘Back in Black’ segment, that used to air on the Daily Show. Definitely one of the bests segments on the show.

NIN: Year Zero Mini-Series Showing Signs of Life

NINE months ago we got word from Trent Reznor that his plans for a two-year HBO and BBC Worldwide mini-series based on his Year Zero album released in 2007 was moving forward in the pre-production.

For those of you who are not cultured (or depressed) enough to be familiar with that album, it was Trent Reznor’s response to the George W Bush government policies. It served as warning if those policies continued, by portraying what the world would be like 15 years down the road – after a nuclear war between the United States and Iran, and the rise of the Bureau of Morality who take away American’s civil liberties. (Quick side note as a NIN fan: decent album, not the best. Favorite songs on the album include Survivalism, The Good Soldier, Capital G, God Given, and In This Twilight.)

At that time we heard that the team working on this project consists of Daniel Knauf (creator of Carnival), Lawerence Bender (producer of Pulp Fiction), and Kevin Kelly Brown (producer of Roswell). Since then, the development of this sci-fi mini-series has INCHed along, until recently when they announced that HBO and BBC have NAILed down a writer for the entire series, Jim Uhls. Uhls is most famous for adapting the screen play for Fight Club, and most forgotten about for writing the screen play for that piece of crap Jumper. Or maybe that was all Hayden Christensen’s fault… Thanks for ruining Darth Vadar asshole.

“Give me back my conditioner.”

Anyways, its good to finally here some news and confirmation that this mini-series moving forward and becoming closer to reality since the premise of the show sounds like it could be successful if done well. HBO does have a pretty solid track record when it comes to their own shows, but lets just hope tapping in to his inner ‘Tyler Durdon’ was apart of Uhls contract when coming aboard.

The 2011 NHL Awards – Who Won and Who Deserved To…

So the NHL awards took place tonight, finally putting the 2010-2011 to bed. Let’s take a look at those who won, and those that should have been winners:

Norris Trophy (Best Defenseman)

Nominees: Zdeno Chara – Boston Bruins, Nicklas Lidstrom – Detroit Red Wings, and Shea Weber – Nashville Predators.

Winner: Nicholas Lidstrom, Detroit
Should’ve Been: Shea Weber, Nashville

While the Lidstrom win, his 7th, is not surprising, I think Weber was the correct choice. Weber finished The season with 16 goals, 32 assists, +7, and 211 hits. Weber, along with Pekka Rinne, is the reason behind Nashville’s successful season and playoff run.

TNT’s ‘Falling Skies’ – Review: Series Premiere

TNT’s new original series Falling Skies kicked off last night with a two-hour premiere. The new sci-fi drama is executive produced by none other than Mr. Steven Spielberg, and stars Noah Wyle of ER fame. The show picks up 6 months in to a hostile alien invasion in Boston, and everything has already gone to hell in a hand basket. We learn from the opening children’s drawings that the invaders are killing off all adults, and capturing and enslaving the children they come across, referred to as ‘harnessing’. To underscore how bad things are truly going the show opens with the destruction of Boston and the retreating of all Massachusetts Resistance Forces and survivors.

Porter, the leader of the resistance fighters, decides to break up the remaining fighters and civilians into three separate groups, and send them into retreat in 3 separate directions to rendezvous later. It is here where we learn that our main man Tom Mason, a former history professor turned resistance fighter, (Wyle) is assigned to be second in command in the 2nd Massachusetts Resistance, led by Captain Weaver (Will Patton), and that his middle child Ben has been harnessed by the aliens.  We also learn from the meeting with Porter that while they are trying, there is no way to remove the harness from captured children without killing them. At the conclusion of the meeting, Tom is left with explicit instructions to do whatever it takes to protect the civilians assigned to them, which foreshadows the impending conflict he will inevitably have with Captain Weaver.

NHL Stanley Cup Finals: Game 7 Preview

When trying to come up with the words to describe the play of the Vancouver Canucks, after games one of two, all that comes to mind is the words from one of the greatest Detroit Lions coaches of all time – Bobby Ross.

What the hell happened to the heavy favorites? Sure you can put some of the blame on Luongo. He certainly deserves it giving up 15 goals, and being chased out of the net twice in 4 games, but everyone knew how easily rattled he can get when things start to fall apart.

  No, most of the blame has to put squarely on the highly touted offense/power play that has disappeared for the majority of these finals, scoring only 4 goals in the past four games, and on the coaching staff for not doing enough line adjustments in time to generate a spark. Rather than focus on the pitiful play of the Canucks, lets pay tribute to the efforts of the underdogs…

2011 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs: Finals Preview

Finally, after 82 regular season games and 14 playoff series we have finally reached the promised land. THE STANLEY CUP FINALS BITCHES!! Whose pumped besides this guy?!?!? …and Canada???  This year we have the pleasure of watching the ‘President’s Trophy’ winning Vancouver Canucks vs. the defensive minded Boston Bruins battle for Lord Stanley’s Cup.

Looking at how the two teams arrived to the promised land, it’s hard to make an argument for the Boston Bruins to win this series.  With the exception of their round 2 series (which is more telling of the Flyers than the Bruins), Boston has just been lucky enough to survive seven game series against far less talented teams in Montreal and Tampa Bay when compared to Vancouver.  Their offense has been anemic at best and their special teams are just flat-out terrible. Boston’s power play unit is about as useful as nipples on the Bat-suit. Thanks Joel Schumacher!!

Anyways, Boston’s only saving grace is that they have two of the best at their positions protecting the net, big bad Zdeno Chara and Tim Thomas. I know the plus/minus stat is garbage in the grand scheme of things, but I’ll go ahead and inform you Chara is boasting a +11 in the playoffs. Tim Thomas is certainly doing his fair share in carrying the team with a 2.29 GAA and .929 save percent average. If Boston is going to have a shot at this, they are going to need to have Tim Thomas stand on his head and get a shut-out or two.

So, with that all said, I’m going with Vancouver in 5 for their first Stanley Cup win.  The Sedin twins are just unstoppable and showed it in the conference finals against San Jose. Ryan Kesler appeared to find his game at the end of the series, so I would expect for him to carry that over to the finals.  Not to be forgotten is Roberto Luongo, who will be the toughest goaltender the Bruins have faced in the playoffs. Sorry Boston, maybe next year it will be your turn……… after 40 years of coming up short.

So Canucks in 5, and Henrik Sedin wins the Conn Smythe.

"Hey Girl."

2011 NHL Playoffs: Western Conference Finals Update

Looking at this series it should not be a surprise to anyone that the Canucks are up on the Sharks 3 games to 1. While I can’t deny that the four games have been interesting to watch, I do have to say they have been interesting for all the wrong reasons.  Looking at the series on paper one would expect to see exciting, fast paced and well executed hockey games coming from both ends of the ice, but that’s not what we’ve seen.

The perks of being in the ‘Sin Bin’

What we have gotten in four games is wonderful opportunity to watch both teams decide to take turns parading players in and out of the penalty box, and watch the other team capitalize on the bone-head plays. San Jose started this cycle in game 2 when they decided to try to combat Vancouver’s high-powered offense with over the top physical play, and earn 51 penalty minutes led by Ben Eager. By the way, congratulations to Mr. Eager for earning my coveted  ‘Douchebag of the Conference Finals’ award with the celebration of his goal, and follow-up taunting of Luongo when his team was still down by 4 GOALS!! Stay classy Eager.

In game 3 it was Vancouver’s turn to try to show how physical they could be. Needless to say this led to 32 penalty minutes, and allowing 2 power goals in the first 10 minutes of the game. And then there was second period of game 4 – San Jose decided to do what they do best and ‘Go San Jose’, for lack of a better term. Three ‘five-on-three’ situations and allowing Vancouver to score 3 power play goals in 1:55. All I could say was “Woooooooow” and feel bad for Melanie Wilcox. Sorry Mel.

So that brings us to tonight’s game 5 in Vancouver. Whose going to win?? What team is going to show up at each end? I’d place my bets on the Canucks to finish the Sharkies off  tonight. The Sedin twins are pretty much having their way with the Sharks defense combining for 34 points in the playoffs, and Kesler seems to finally be coming alive in the series.

Metro-Detroit Native (Livonia) and member of the 2010 USA Olympic Men’s Hockey Team – Ryan Kesler

To make matters worse for the Sharks, they’ll be taking the ice with hurt Joe Thornton. With so much of their offense in these playoffs coming thru the play of Captain Joe. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, he brings tonight.  If San Jose is going to have a chance looks for Clowe and Marleau to step up and fill Jumbo Joe’s shortcomings, and Neimi will need to stand on his head.

Prediction: Vancouver for the series win tonight. And boom goes the dynamite!

2011 NHL Playoffs: Eastern Conference Finals Update

Ok this is going to be a quick one, since I am juggling a new-born baby, a recovering wife, and my want to share my hockey opinion with you all. God, I am so generous. You’re welcome! Anyways, let’s do this….

After overcoming a dismal Game 1 start, it appeared Boston was set to take the Eastern Conference Title with the games 2 and 3 wins…but then game 4 happened. Wow, what a meltdown. Allowing 5 unanswered goals after securing a 3 goal lead in the first period, embarrassing.

So now we have a best of 3 series with Home Ice advantage currently with the Bruins, but the momentum is clearly with Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay’s offensive domination has been simply amazing, minus the game 3 hiccup, scoring 15 GOALS IN 4 GAMES with St. Louis and Lecavalier leading the charge with 17 playoff points each! While I expect Tampa to come out firing in game 5, and continue their game 4 domination, one thing that can’t be forgotten is Tim Thomas’s ability to bounce back from a shelling and win a game for his team (unlike the goaltenders in the Bestern, I mean Western Conference, who can get easily rattled after poor performances).

If Boston is going to make it out of this series alive, it’s going to have to be on the shoulders of Thomas and hope he puts on his Vezina hat and pull off more game 3 shut-out performances.

Prediction: Tampa Bay in 7 and Steve Yzerman GM of the Year…Ride the Lightning baby!!

Preview: AMC’s ‘Hell on Wheels’

So let me start this off by saying AMC can do now wrong in my book. With home runs like The Killing, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and The Walking Dead any new show they put out is at least worth a first watch…with the exception of Rubicon. Seriously though, was anyone able to pay attention to that show any longer than 3 episodes? Well, obviously not. Anyways, I’ll give them a free pass on that one since they rolled out The Walking Dead soon after.

Their next big show, Hell on Wheels, is a story of vengeance set in post-Civil War United States (That is the Reconstruction Era for all you history buff’s. Click HERE to learn what you should have already known from grade school, or visit your local library!) during the construction of the first transcontinental railroad. The show is centered around a Confederate soldier named ‘Cullen Bohannon’, played by Anson Mount, whose search for the Union soldier who brutally raped and murdered his wife brings him to work on the railroad.

Anson Mount is seen here hugging his ‘Crossroads’ co-star Britney Spears.

Also starring in the show are my three of my boys: Colm Meaney (STAR TREK: TNG SON! F Deep Space Nine!)  Ted “It puts the lotion on the skin or it gets the hose again” Levine, and Common (for all you white kids out there, he’s a rapper).

Levine plays the man in charge of building the section of railroad and who hires Cullen, while Meaney plays the opportunistic business man Thomas ‘Doc’ Durant, the driving force behind the construction of the railroad. The show also stars actress Dominique McElligott who is part of the team of surveyors mapping the railroad’s course, all the while taking care of her sick husband.

Here is the latest trailer:

Looks pretty sweet and definitely worth a watch if you ask me… Which you if you are reading this you obviously are, SO WATCH IT!!!

2011 NHL PLayoffs: ‘Bruins vs. Flyers’ – After 2 Games…

What the F is going on in Philly?!?!?5 goalie changes in 9 games?!? Really??? You might be able to convince me that the temporary goalie change after the game was 2-2 was justified by a “hurt wrist”, but I have it on good authority that Boucher actually had to go change his depends after crapping the bed and blowing a 2 goal lead……..allegedly…What? Prove me wrong sir!

That stat is just absolutely ridiculous.  I would try to come up with something positive to say for the Flyers after the first 2 games, but I’m coming up blank……Ummmm, “Good job on keeping game 2 close after suffering a game 1 blow-out?” OH! The offensive looked to have some life with 54 shots on goal in game game 2…even though only 2 went in the net.

As for Boston, Vezina finalist Tim Thomas is the star of the series so far.  The dude bounced back to be lights out after letting in 2 early goals in game 2, and finished with 52 saves. If Thomas continues playing at this level, and consistently receives the same support in front of him that he got in both games, then Boston representing the East in the Stanley Cup Finals is almost a sure thing.

With that said, I’m going to change my prediction: Boston in 6 Boston in 5.

Other Series:
– 2011 NHL PLayoffs: ‘Capitals vs Lightning’ – After 2 Games…
– 2011 NHL PLayoffs: ‘Canucks vs Predators’ – After 2 Games…
– 2011 NHL PLayoffs: ‘Sharks vs Red Wings’ – After 2 Games…