Movies, Books, Music and Video Games... ...and some high school sports too!!!

I finally got a chance to put in the 2003 highlight tape of JHS football that I purchased from Heck's a few weeks ago. My first impression: It's not bad, but it's not great either. There are some good action shots, but also some sideline stuff with benchwarmers and cheerleaders that I could do without. The music choices aren't bad, but there are some real amateur looking on-screen graphics. I only got through the highlights of the first three games, probably because the opening sequence is entirely too long. Also, I guess I'm spoiled by years of viewing NFL Films programming and hearing the late John Facenda and now Harry Kalas! There is a funny piece after the Forest Hills game where an injured player on crutches is stomping on the newspaper piece that had all the local sportswriters picking FH to beat us! Another nice thing is there is some sideline in huddle shots where you can hear coaching going on, I never noticed cameras that close on the sidelines during time-out. More to come, as I will finish watching the video soon.

I was glad to see the Pirates draft Pine-Richland's Neil Walker in the first round of the MLB draft Monday. Something tells me he'll be converted to 3B or 1B though. Not sure if that's a good idea, I mean J.R. House has been the catcher of the future for what seems an eternity. Lord knows I'm counting the days that Jason Kendall is no longer in town. Walker's father played in the majors and that leads me to my next point, does anyone else think there is a tad bit of nepotism when it comes to ex-ballplayers' sons being drafted? I read a story on the Tribune Democrat's website today about Pete Vuckovich, Jr. being drafted in the 48th round. I am the only one that didn't even realize this kid was playing college baseball? I know that Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr. and even the afore mentioned Kendall have probably outplayed their fathers' legacies, but I have to think for every one of those guys, there are like 10 Pete Rose Jrs.

There aren't too many artists that I would go to the store to pick up their CD on release date but there will be one next week. "To the Five Boroughs" by the Beastie Boys will drop on 6/15 and if the rest of the album is anything like "CH-Check it Out" I'll be a happy camper. I've read mixed reviews, but movie and music critics... ...don't get me started! So other offerings I highly recommend are N.E.R.D.'s "Fly or Die" (blows "In Search of" out of the water) and Mark Ronson's "Here Comes the Fuzz". Funkmaster Flex and DJ Clue seem to have the Mixtape genre on lockdown, but Ronson's CD is tight and star-studded (Ghostface Killah, Nate Dogg, Q-Tip, Anthony Hamilton and Sean Paul to name a few).

I'm an avid reader but for whatever reason I can't get myself motivated to read Dan Brown's wildly popular Da Vinci Code. Will someone please give me a reason to start reading this so I can stop staring at the cover of it?!

Do any other Game Boy Advance owners think that while the re-release of some of Nintendo's classic games from the NES system (Super Mario, Donkey Kong and Excitebike to name a few) with retro packaging is cool, charging $15-20 for is a total rip-off? Especially when Namco, Konami et al have release single cartridges with multiple games on them at the same price. Oh well, I'll probably still buy the Super Mario one; my all-time favorite non-sports video game.

And finally, with the death of President Reagan there has been talk of his likeness being put on either the dime or $10 bill. That's all well and good, but is there some kind of protocol as to removing the person already on said currency. Obviously, the US Government thought enough of Roosevelt and Hamilton in the first place so why should their legacies be lessened because someone else kicked it?

That's all for now, see you tomorrow.