Baseball Season Ends

From March 4th to this past Friday, I was involved with my school baseball team.  It has been a very busy past few months but looking back, there is no other way I would spend it.  The friendships and knowledge I've gained have just been overwhelmingly positive.  Baseball became a large part of my life when I tried out for my school team freshman year.  I had stopped playing baseball two years prior so needless to say, I was not going to be a starting varsity player.  Actually, it turned out, I wouldn't even make the team.  I was cut.  The one memory that will always stick in my mind is going into the auxiliary gym of the school at the end of the three-day tryout. The kids on the team high-fived each other and were all smiles as they rejoiced in the fact that they would be hanging out with one another for the next three months.  There I stood, frantically scanning the varsity and junior varsity rosters, hoping to spot my name.  I didn't.  That moment changed my life.  I joined a spring baseball league, played in a summer league, and began going to the gym before school (starting my sophomore year, I previously went to the gym after school).  I remember running sprints during the summer in my front yard at 9 PM, pitch black out, trying to ease my nervousness about the upcoming tryouts.  They were in 9 months.  For those next 9 months, I thought about it constantly.  "What if I don't make it?" poured through my friend over and over.  I'll cut the suspense, I did make it.  Junior varsity.  I didn't care that I never played.  Bottom line, I set a goal and I achieved it.  However, at the start of the season, I was asked to become a pitcher in addition to the outfield.  This would become my next goal.

After my sophomore season ended, I reached out to a local pitching coach.  I attended his summer camp and I worked with him every week from July to February.  Building my mechanics was my number one priority and it paid off when I made varsity this year.   Although I only pitched two games (for JV), the experience I gained from watching and acting in these spots is priceless.  Words cannot describe how disappointed I was when our team lost in the state tournament this past Friday.  I got a little choked up when the coach asked someone to put the pitching bag in the shed.  It was at that moment that I realized I would need to wait another 9 months to start the new season.  But I guess it's for the best because now my goal for this offseason  is to become a pitcher for the team.  While I already am, I was a sixth-string pitcher essentially.  I want to bump that up and become a better pitcher.  I will try to work with a buddy of mine who is becoming a strength coach, I will continue to work with the local pitching coach I mentioned earlier, I will play Legion this summer, and I will always work on my game when I have time.  I want to give this all I have.

M&M's: Tan Color

I discovered something out this summer while infactuated with Sporcle on my iPhone.  M&M's...wait for it...had a tan color.  

The tan M&M in the top right corner.

Tan you believe it?

...

I'll stop.

Hudson's New Character Personality on Rules of Engagement

I would like to take the time to make this post about Oliver Hudson's character on the CBS comedy, Rules of Engagement.

Rules of Engagement title card, with Hudson on the far left

Now, I am new viewer of the show.  Having watched a couple of past episodes before this season, I can honestly say I have no reference point in regards to Hudson's character's previous personality.  From what I have read, the writers seemed to have changed Adam (Hudson's character) into the dumb character of the group, that often does stuff that can be considered feminine.  Long-time fans seemed to collectively dislike this switch in writing and the disappointment was evident.  I read all of this this and I disagreed completely.  Maybe it's because, once again, I have no reference point.  Maybe it's because I do enjoy watching the airheads on sitcoms. 

Bottom line: Adam is the funniest character on the show.

Yes, every show has the dumb character.  But Hudson fills this role with in a new way and I feel like he's the character I look forward to the most.  Thankfully, the supporting cast around, as well, is great.  There are no bad characters and it's one of the reasons I enjoy the show so much.

Hudson and his wife on the show.

Watch Rules of Engagement on Monday nights at 8:30 Eastern.  You may like it.  Especially Adam.  I mean, how can you not like this?

The Importance of Opening Up To New Music

If there is something I've come to realize in my life insofar, it's that opening up to new experiences is absolutely crucial to enjoying a wide range of interests and opportunities.  To try new things, to step outside of your comfort zone.  It's when we proceed to do the things we would've never considered, that we mature in our personality.  Music, more specifically, is something I've begun to understand as a gateway to exposing yourself to different worlds you might have never even given two thoughts before.  Take me as a youngster, for example.  All I remember listening to was the soundtrack to That Thing You Do!

The soundtrack to the 1996 film.

 
As I grew older, so did my musical tastes.  I eventually conformed to the mainstream music and inevitably listened to the usual: rap, hip-hop, dance, the top hits.  It was at a time when I imagined all music to be either Nelly, Eminem, or Britney Spears.  That illusion of music was quickly shattered one day when I was riding in the car with my mother.  Metallica's Enter Sandman came onto the radio and I totally took to the song.  It was the beginning to what I can consider my long journey in music.

Metallica became one of favorite bands. Ok, scratch that. My favorite band.  I got a signed bass by Rob Trujillo (still hanging in a case downstairs, at this very moment), I developed a fascination with Cliff Burton, and in seventh grade, I wore Metallica shirts for sixty-some days straight.  In regards to that last statement, it may seem like a pre-teen trying to define his individuality for--no. It wasn't.  It was simply a personal contest I made with myself in order to relieve the mundane routine of school.

I digress.

That love for Metallica quickly transpired into death metal.  I was turned onto the more popular bands in melodic death, more specifically.  I began to trash conformists for listening to mainstream radio and considered myself an 'outcast'.  I grew out my hair and I began to act like I was above others, purely on the notion that I listened to a music that wasn't necessarily popular within my school.  That phase quickly faded into an obsession with much more obscure bands within the wide genre of death metal.  Black, melodic, tech death, slam, thrash, speed/power, and the like.  I was infactuated with 235 (it's a message board and if you know where it is, good on you) and the users browsing it forced me to try to listen to all I could to gain a sense of the entire genre as a whole.  I created a last.fm and tried to jack up my Plays, just so I could compete with my fellow metal enthusiasts. 

The Shrouded Divine, an album by In Mourning, one of the bands I was lucky enough to find.

This phase came almost full circle as I began to listen to old pop and old rap.  It came to country and (some) opera.  It involved trance and classical. And it still involved metal.  It's the phase I'm currently in as this very moment.  I've come to realize something when I begin to reflect on my past musical tastes and how they have matured (for either the better or worse, you tell me).  When I listened to a country song this evening, on repeat for about ten times, I knew I was a different person than I was just a mere three years ago.

The country song I listened to tonight.  I know, his voice does not fit his body.

It's amazing how musical tastes change as you mature.  They affect your personality, your experiences, and quite literally, your life.  The point of this post wasn't to fully display my musical interests' past, but rather, demonstrate how my life has changed so much with different kinds of music.  So that's what I want to stress to you, whoever you are, wherever you are.  Try new music. Try new things in life.  Be open.  Through the willingness to try something you haven't done before, comes a new experience.  Through a new experience, comes knowledge. 

Through knowledge... comes happiness.

Stan Liddy: Peter Weller's Success (In My Mind) On Dexter

I'm going to be honest.  I do not watch a lot of movies.  I'm a TV guy.  So what does that mean? It means (other than being absolutely horrid at movie trivia) that I have little to no knowledge about actors and actresses and the roles they've fulfilled.  It's just not my forte and frankly, I'm ok with that.  Movies just don't interest me nearly as much as television does.

My lack of movie knowledge is exactly why I had no idea who Peter Weller was when he walked on stage into Dexter's latest season.  Playing Stan Liddy, a dirty cop who was screwed over by the department, he undertook a request from another cop, Quinn, to look more heavily into Dexter's personal life.  It is this role that has defined what I enjoy so much about Dexter and what I like about Weller himself.

Peter Weller, in the flesh

You see, I have much varied taste when it comes to enjoying an actor or actress.  For the most part, I can generally warm up to a specific actor or actress over time.  Take According to Jim for example.  Jim Belushi is a pretty damn, bad actor, but I continued watching the show (reruns on TBS when nothing else is on, sue me) and I can cope with his acting.  But there are exceptions to this.  Take King of Queens for example.  The show is one of, if not my, favorite sitcom, but Leah Remini is possibly the biggest annoyance (for a lack of a better word, if you catch my drift) in the history of sitcoms.  Her character is demanding, irritating, and just unpleasant to watch.  I can not watch more than two episodes without turning it off, because she is so unappealing to watch. 

However, something new happened with Peter Weller's character on Dexter.  I immediately liked the guy.  Maybe it was because he acted like a complete hard-ass but in a cheesy way.  Maybe it was because I happen to be close with a family friend who very much resembles Weller's facial expressions.  Whatever the case, I almost instantaneously developed a liking for Liddy and he is, in my mind, one of the high-points of the season.

Michael C. Hall plays such a brutal character and yet pulls off a character that can kill and still be the hero to so many viewers.  I find that anomaly haunting and it always worries me when I see news stories about the latest homicide and how the killer cited Dexter as an inspiration (that's when I begin to worry about the show's future).  Dexter is the protagonist, so naturally, I root for him.  But Liddy's honing in on Dexter's dark secret is one I also keep finding myself rooting for.

Weller and Hall on Dexter

I have yet to see last night's episode (Hop A Freighter) but I can already sense an imminent end to Weller's fantastic portrayal of Stan Liddy.  Whichever way Weller's character parts, I will be sure to check out the rest of his cinematography.  Who would've imagined that one actor could change my whole view on movies and acting in general?

Bravo Mr. Weller.

Minecraft: What It Is, How It's Different, And Why You Need It

I want to dedicate this post to a game that I stumbled upon when viewing IGN's video of it.  That game, my friends, is titled Minecraft.  I'll wait for you to google it.

Oh, back so soon? Even after you saw how disgusting those graphics were? Good, because this game is all about the gameplay and boy, is it different.

A user-created map on a Classic Mode Server

Minecraft is, in a nutshell, a sandbox game. You take control of a character (no specific name or distinguishable features, your character is essentially a tool to help build to your heart's desires) and you place blocks.  These blocks feature varieties from stone to wood or even to water.  Regardless, blocks aren't the only thing to place.  Since the game's inception in May 2009, its expansiveness has grown exponentially.  In its latest version, the game even features a crafting mode, which allows you place blocks you have collected and forge them with other blocks to create objects such as a door, pick-axe, or even a furnace.

Straying away from the nitty-gritty details, Minecraft's ability to forge towers, castles, bridges, and even Earth push the game into its own genre.  In addition to building whatever your mind can imagine, Minecraft supports multiplayer (the essential way to playing the game; singleplayer just does not give the game justice) and the servers people have laborously poured over will drop your jaw and inspire you.  You can literally feel the creativity when just browsing the website or the thousands of videos on YouTube.

However, Minecraft has also become varying when it comes to modes of play.  No longer is the player restricted to purely creating their imaginative designs.  The game mode Survival introduces a unique aspect to the game, albeit a little unoriginal.  The game mode possesses day and night.  When the sun goes down, the zombies come up and you are left either alone or with others to fend for yourself.  Believe me when I tell you, those zombies (and other creatures) are by no means simple to kill off.

Trust me.

I've already typed what feels like a half-hour worth of time and I feel (and know) I've barely scratched the surface of Minecraft in this post.  Its possibilities are endless and its fanbase is as loyal as it can get.  The game is available either for free (Classic Mode) or for 10 Euros for the Alpha version of the game (the latest update to the game, before it goes to beta).  If you are reading this now and you have the slightest interest in the game, I'd highly suggest buying Alpha right now (December 5th, 2010) as it is currently 50% off full price.  Once you buy it, you are never faced with a fee again; all future updates are of no charge.

Yes. That is a lava fountain in the middle of the castle.

I already feel like I've gone overboard with my enthusiasm over Minecraft, but it's in good reason, too. Minecraft is a game that I play whenever I just want to either build, destroy, annoy, chat, or even just relax.  Do what you want, but if this post has even remotely piqued your interest: act on it.

World's Hottest Chili Pepper Successfully Bred

It's been done, folks.  The world's hottest chili pepper, as of today (December 4th, 2010), has been discovered.  Well, actually.  That's completely wrong.  Not discovered, rather bred.  Dubbed the "Naga Viper", it was the work of a British chili farmer who cross-bred three of the hottest chili peppers existing today (one of which was the previous predecessor to the title of hottest chili pepper, the "ghost chili"). 

The Naga Viper

Regardless, the new holder of the prestigious title is a whopping three-hundred thousand more points on Scoville scale than the ghost chili.  Don't know what the Scoville scale is? Me neither, so let's figure out what it is together.

The Scoville Scale

After some quick surfing and scanning, it turns out that the Scoville scale is an indirect measure of capsaicin, a chemical present in chili peppers.  It acts as an inflammatory to mammals (that includes humans for those who were somehow wondering) and produces a burning sensation in the mouth.  Now, the scale is a measure of the amount of drops it would take to fully remove any trace of capsaicin within a pepper.  If you look at the scale, the Bell Pepper has a Scoville scale rating of 0, because it has no trace of capsaicin in it whatsoever.  Vice versa for the ghost chili.

Here's what I found interesting: the scale is not a direct measure of a scientist actually taking the time to fully remove the presence of capsaicin completely.  Rather, five taste testers essentially taste the given pepper and collectively compare their estimates on what the pepper should be rated upon the Scoville scale.  It is because of this that the scale is not necessarily the most reliable source of factual information, but it's a good start nonetheless.

What kills me is that the British founder of the Naga Viper actually claims that the aforementioned pepper produces soothing after effects.

Um...

What?

He states that, sure, the pepper numbs your tongue and burns within your belly for an hour, but the endorphins released produce a therapeutic effect.  Somehow, I think that "endorphin rush" he's feeling is being mistaken for the body slowly burning down from the inside out.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20101203/sc_yblog_thelookout/worlds-hottest-pepper-is-hot-enough-to-strip-paint