As It Is

I won't lie, I had this idea to write at the beginning of this season for no other reason that it just smells like 2005-2006 again. First things first, the Lakers are a glam team. Fun to love when they are in the spot light. Easy to hate. According to HoopsHype, the Buss family is spending $79,615,089 dollars on entertainment. That could buy a lot of malaria preventing sleep nets [according to Bill Gates]. Or a grip of Campbell soup cans for the local soup kitchen. Or truckloads of double double's from your local friendly In-n-Out. [mmm... grilled onions]. Before we get into the issues of NBA basketball monetary negligence, I would like to remind you of  the billion of dollars wasted every year for the fund of pretentious assholes. Donate here

Just had to get that out of the way. Now here is my take on the condition that the condition of the NBA is in. 82 games in a season and we are 12 games in. And the consensus is- none of those games mattered. There is no way I am going to talk about all 30 teams. Only the ones that are relevant. I doubt people would keep reading if I wrote a paragraph describing the recent tanking woes of the Sacramento Kings. [By the way Shaq, soak it up, you're a dick and you aren't cable channel funny, and you were a Celtic for a while. Leave TNT, you make the half time shows worse]. The best teams in each division are the Raptors, Pacers, Heat, Portland, Golden State, and the Spurs.

Rudy Gaye is finding his rhythm in the best multi-cultural hotspot  on the east coast averaging 18 pts, 8 rebbies, and 8 assists. Also his division is awful. Like really bad. I tried watching the Nets, thinking they would pull some semblance of a team together under Jason Kidd. But he just sits on the bench like Meh.

Pacers are the best team in the NBA in my opinion. Paul George continues to move well for a guy his size. 25 pts a game screams, "I can get mine, but if you get open, just make the shot so I look like a team player". Hibbert continues to improve his lower body movement and positioning, which is everything for him. Once he gets set into the established defense, he is the master of the keep. [There's an old medieval reference for you kids who like to storm the castle from time to time]. But foreal, the dude tracks the ball handler incredibly well, and has really stretched his game since coming out of college. All this before mentioning a very important addition to the team, by the name of Danny Granger. I was drinking his cool- aid since he came into the league and I expect his return to be one of mammoth expectations. Its' possible the Pacers could have the best two guys running the wing since Jordan and Pippen, with an enforcer in the middle, and a plethora of role players that are more than willing to run the floor and take a charge. Allright that may be blowing it out of proportions a little, but all I am trying to get across is that the Pacers are deep. Larry Bird is sitting pretty right now in his home state.

The Heat are the Heat. [With enough interest, I will post more on them, but aren't we all just a little sick of talking about them?]

As a true Laker fan you gotta hate traveling to Portland. For whatever reason, whatever swanky crew they assemble, they always seem to be just competent enough to entice fans to swim through the local fog and rain to get to games and get super upset about completely legitimate [tough fouls]. LeMarcus Aldrirdge is an All-Star. He plays with tenacity and a sense of urgency. He is an absolute war horse. Regardless of the playing conditions or location, he gives you what you would expect, so long as [just] one of his team mates decides to wake up and play. This year, veterans like Mo Williams, and Earl Watsun have provided enough veteran leadership to keep this very young team into the game with an eye on the prize. The Blazers have always been a team I have respected since this game. [Also, Robin Lopez will never be the player we want him to be. He plays scared, and doesn't have an outside game to counter his awful inside game. But if he starts rebounding 15 a game, then this team could be scary]. More on this team's play off chances later.

Golden State is just that one hot chick. We all know the type. The kind you can't get out of your head, even if you know she is just - "toying with your emotions" or "playing you." WE all know, she knows, that you know, that this isn't for real. Look, this may be weird but I am going to take a break for a second and you should watch this 

AI was soooo good. Brought them to the finals by himself- ok, Iguadala helped. Wait, he helped a lot. The most important player on the Golden State Warriors is Andre Iguodala. Just Look at this shot chart. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BZdsj4dCEAA0juP.png. THIS!!! Are you kidding me. This is by far one of the most versatile scoring and defensive players in the league. Coach K on the USA Olympic team told him specifically, "we have enough scoring, you get the other team's best player, and you shut him down."

 Andre is a talent. But he is a side kick. He cannot carry a team. Look at his previous failings with Denver or the multitudes of teams that over look him for all the wrong reasons. AI and Andre complimented one another like chocolate and peanut butter. [Reese's is so good]. Look, jus listen to me and understand that Golden state is fuckin good. But Stephen Curry and Andrew Bogut HAVE to be healthy to be relevant. This team is on the brink. I remember when number 8 took down number 1. First time it had ever happen. The Warriors are my favorite team in the Lakers division thanks to the unrelenting crowd, amazing jerseys, and high basketball IQ of the fans. What can I say, except, let's go Cali.

 That leaves the Spurs. Ugh. The Spurs. Still relevant. Still somehow making the Lakers look bad. Pop is still coaching, and still fantastic. I don't care who you are, if you talk shit about Pop, you're an idiot. If you want more, let me know and I will write more on just why my experience with this particular organization and why they are the thorn in my sock. It is a putrid stain on the bottom of the insole of the shoe I wore in high school. Tim Duncan gets rebounds, and can read defenses well. His outside jumper blows, but teams won't play him straight up. Not because they are scared of putting him on the line, but he WILL draw fouls and the rest of the team are good free throw shooters, so they will benefit eventually. I will try to sum up this team in three sentences.

Tim Duncan does what needs to be done. Tony Parker will break down man on man, zone, or a combination of defenses. Ginoblii [or any other one of their excellent draft picks or young trades] will pick up the scoring slack.   

Wonderful. The NBA is currently being dominated by the most boring or hate-inspiring teams I could think of. its Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood. 

But here is the secret  friends - its all meaningless. 12 games in a couple years ago and people were writing off the heat. [myself included until they picked up Ray Allen- may he rest in hell]. A lot can happen over the course of a tumultuous season and I will be more attentive if I know I have an audience. Let me know what you wanna talk about and I will post something that you can read and be like- "hey that's total bullshit." I am working on other posts but if this isn't worth it, it aint worth it -ya know? I would like to focus on the Lakers, but I would be down to write about any multitude of topics. Jus lemme know. 

This will be tough season to be a Laker fan. I have them in the play offs. Stay strong. Keep watching and enjoying this beautiful game

About

First things first, Merr Merr is one of several nicknames of mine. A big part of me feels like this is just an exercise in hypocritical narcissism. Nevertheless, this blog will be the musings of a mid-twenties dude. I want to encourage discussion, or at the very least post ideas and topics that provoke a way of viewing a global society's interaction with art, politics, and sports. This isn't to say I will be strictly handcuffed to these categories, but I chose them because I feel most excellent conversations eventually lead to one of these off-ramps. If you have any ideas you would like me to explore, or have a differing view than mine, I strongly encourage you to let me know. These are just raw thoughts. Bear in mind- ideas only count, when shared with others.

Fez - Sync

Retro Sound and Original Soundtrack

Thank You For Smoking

Thank You For Smoking is a political farce, along the lines of Dr. Strangelove or: How I Stopped Worrying and Loved the Bomb, that engages its audience through the life and lies of political lobbyist Nick Naylor; a man who spins the political positioning of the multi-billion dollar cigarette industry. Aaron Eckhart's performance of Naylor is deliberate and self-assured with several voice over monologues- none better than his self aggrandizing introduction,

few people on this planet know what it is to be truly despised. Can you blame them? I earn a living fronting an organization that kills one thousand two hundred human beings a day. Twelve hundred people. We're talking two jumbo jets a day of men, women, and children. I mean there's Atilla, Genghis, and me, the face of cigarettes, the colonel sanders of nicotine.

The film's core political message deals with the absolute lunacy of lobbyists in Washington D.C. who advocate on the behalf of the highest paid dollar. When lobbying becomes the preeminent form of governance, the public well being hangs in the balance, and individual lobbyists place their own twisted goals over common decency and morality.

             Lobbyists contort the will of society by hiding behind  falsifications of free speech. Dollar signs have become synonymous with legitimacy. Money buys public opinion. Naylor is nothing more than a vocabulary assassin for hire. The real danger he represents is the false belief that the perception is all that matters, while substance takes a back seat on all debates facing modern society. The intrigue, however, is that no matter how much one wants to hate Naylor and his greed, the audience can't help but become intoxicated by his character's persuasive undertones and comedic timing. Naylor embodies the confident spirit in each individual that yearns to think for themselves and challenge authority by framing the debate on the topic in question to best fit their own personal need. The film proposes the question, if lobbyists are so hated by the majority of modern day Americans, how do they continue to be so pervasive and successful at what they do?

            Through the film, Naylor calls his own morality into question by the frequent urging of his son, Joey. At first, Naylor's inner narration proudly brags about his weekly lunches with the "M.O.D. squad" or merchants of death who are closely aligned lobbyists working for other questionable employers, who arrogantly spend their time disputing over which industry kills the most of its' customers. Naylor's confidence as a father wavers on teaching his son how to survive in his twisted version of the real world, but his view begins to crumble as his work leads him spiraling out of control down the bowels of corruption, psychotic propaganda, and collusion. Joey and Naylor take a business trip together, where Naylor has to tip toe across his tightrope of rehearsed/compromised values while carrying the weight of his best intentions as a father. Ultimately, Joey learns the importance and power of lying.

            As a comedy, the film successfully portrays corporate interests so detached that one can't help but choke on your own laughter. The political process and reality have no chance of being reconciled. Corruption is so inherent to the nature of modern political structure that the film's implied ridiculousness is overshadowed by a reality that truly is stranger than fiction. Nietzsche argues, "“The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.” This film furthers this notion, through the relationship between Naylor and Joey where the audience can bear witness a father justifying his life's lies, in the eyes of his son. Is it any wonder American idealism continues to gasp, generation after generation?

Test 1

Test 1

Testing.
Check check. both doors.

This is a test of the international broadcast system.