I Really Need To Not Put Things Off For A Week

(Warning: Completely and totally not proof read. Not to be unprofessional, but I really need a power nap.)

So the blog has been a terrible disappointment since I’ve returned to ND, and I apologize. It’s hard to balance a study schedule of going out, watching Tivo, getting my work done and sleeping while still getting quality blogging done. I didn’t get an NFL preview done, I don’t have anything ready – besides some smack talk for Nicole and Jake – for the Pitt game this weekend and I’m just sort of floundering around. But regardless, it’s time to run the gauntlet. We’ll use those gorgeous, glowing asterisks to split up everything, so if you don’t give two craps about Laguna or Joey Harrington, you can just move onto the next thing.

(I really need to update more so I don’t have to do this.)

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I’m tired of this season’s Real World. Granted, my interest is piqued by Wes finally hooking up with Johanna in tomorrow’s episode, but if they go right back to Danny and Melinda, I’m going to throw up in my mouth. If I have to hear one more time about how he doesn’t know if this is real because she’s the only person he’s been with since he’s been in Austin, I will take his dopey hat and throw it out the window.

Why does it matter if she’s the only person you’ve been with in Texas, Danny? Have you never been with a woman before at all, because I’m pretty sure sparks fly the same in the Lone Star State as they do in Boston. And please – please! – don’t rely on Wes for advice, as everything he does is just a scheme to make out with Melinda “for a good amount of time” again.

Maybe it’s because Danny is just a sobbing, angrier, face-broken version of Ace – nailing the hottest girl in the house, a chill guy to hang out with and absolutely and unexplainably boring as all get out on the show.

And yeah, I’ll be watching every episode for the rest of the season, but it doesn’t mean I’ll like it.

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Some quality preview stuff for the Pitt game on Saturday, courtesy of:

The best ND blog on the net, The Blue Gray Sky

The good folks at Collegefootballnews

And while this is not exclusively ND, it’s a good wrap-up of the Gameday crew’s predictions for the coming season. Color me crazy, but is anyone else not that excited about LSU, considering they don’t have a quarterback and have a new head coach? Oh yeah, they’ll be money for 9 wins and a top 12 ranking, but Rose Bowl-bound? In the SEC? We shall see in due time.

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A couple thoughts from the very little of the VMA’s I watched:

Mariah Carey gains her high-note hitting power from waving her hand wildly while singing.

Kanye West: Good live performance. 50 Cent: Probably the best work I’ve seen him do outside the booth, and it was still piss-poor.

EDIT: From Katie Mancino, creator of the Venn diagram idea: ”When did Jamie Foxx become Ray Charles?” - I’m going to have to say at the Grammy’s, where Ray was winning stuff and unable to accept due to being dead, so Jamie Foxx, getting all sorts of crazy Oscar-hype for Ray, just sort of steps into the sunglasses. Honestly, I don’t mind it at all. It’s not like Foxx was only in Ray and never did anything else, or that he sounds terrible singing. Is it a problem to have a pseudo-Charles back in our life?

I think not.

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Probably Brendan and myself’s greatest discovery of all the things we’ve done:

The Big Red Special, re-premiering either for Wednesday Night Pong or Thursday Night Rat Pack. The people at McCormick and the people at Dr. Pepper had to get together on this, as there’s no other way too substances could combine so beautifully.

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New Kanye drops tomorrow, unless you live in Dillon and already have it courtesy of Barcus’s pirating skills. I haven’t listened to the whole thing yet, but obviously “Gold Digger” is fantastic, with the next huge, super smash-hit penned in to be “Heard ‘Em Say” with Maroon 5’s Adam Levine. It’s got an absolutely heart-breaking piano tune in it and quality “Ooo-ing”, and is available for download on your local Ares or LimeWire now, so look into it.

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Sign of the Week That Either God Is Very Good or Cajuns Are Really Lucky: Katrina dropping to a Category Four and veering slightly away from New Orleans, because apparently a direct hit would have completely destroyed the below-sea-level city. Granted, I’m sure the people in Mississippi and Alabama are all excited Bourbon Street gets to survive at their expense, but just hope and pray for the best for everyone involved.

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I was considering writing my senior thesis about a comparison of Footloose to the University of Notre Dame – which would actually be insanely easy if you even think about it slightly – but now I think I’m leaning more towards trying to explain why Laguna Beach is even remotely appealing.

I think it’s just a cathartic way to end your Monday. You just got back to classes/had to go to work, and you want to take out your anger. Well, you don’t want to scream at your friends or significant other, because they just experienced Monday, too, so instead you can sit down for half an hour in the evening and watch people who were blessed with more money than anyone ever could use. Now, instead of using this to help anyone in any way, they completely and totally waste it and act like idiots. This infuriates you, makes you forget about the Monday you just had and you can scream all you want at the TV and nobody’s feelings are hurt.

So there you go: The reason people don’t enjoy Laguna is because they’re either trying to take it too seriously or simply don’t understand that a good, angered outburst is just as good as a good laugh or a good cry for the ol’ psyche.

That, or they just, like, totally don’t get how Jason is soooo cheating on Jessica with Alex, and like, she’s so stupid about it. I mean, oh my gaaaawd, didn’t she learn anything from Kristin when she was screwing around on Stephen!? I mean, yeah, Jason may be the skeeziest guy in the world, but he’s so good at quality conversation how can you, not, like totally love him?

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First recommendation of the new television season: Prison Break on FOX, premiering tonight.

Premise: Engineer gets himself put into the same jail his brother is waiting on death row in, attempts to break him out. I’m assuming it’ll be Oz meets The Rock, and there ain’t nothing wrong with that.

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I’m telling you, if the Dolphins had a quarterback and the nerve to just kick Donald Lee, Bryan Gilmore and Derrius Thompson out onto the street, they’d be tough. But as it turns out, Gus Frerotte’s 9 for 25 performance spanning a little over a half in this weekend’s preseason game – which I got to watch the entirety of in forty-five minutes thanks to Tivo – was not inspiring. He had to overthrow at least a half dozen balls. I mean, they weren’t even close.

Regardless, I’m more than ready for the Broncos in Week One. The way Jason Taylor looked against the Bucs, Jake The Snake is in for a long day.

(Quick note on the Bucs – Their offense has some serious sizzle potential this year. Mark Clayton, Joey Galloway, Anthony Becht, Mike Alstott, Cadillac Williams. That’s not a bad core to work with. If Griese or Simms give them anything, they might be able to compete…

…for .500, especially since the top two teams in the NFC will be residing in the Southern division. Falcons and Panthers all the way, bab-eeee.)

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Sign of the Week That God Is Good Number Two:

The OC is premiering next week already, but just to throw a wrench into things, it's on at the same time as the start of NFL season, the Raiders/Patriots game. Of course, any time you've got quality programming with quality friends to watch it, too much of a good thing is most definitely a very good thing.

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One of the few bad things about being out here is my movie-going drops significantly. If I was at home, there’s no way I haven’t seen Forty Year Old Virgin or Red Eye yet. Apparently Virgin is pretty funny and Eye is flawed, but with another great performance from Cillian Murphy, the new go-to bad buy in Hollywood, and a solid effort from my darling. I’ll just have Brendan download it, and all problems will be solved.

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Of course, one of the many, many, many fantastically good things about being out here is the wealth of old television shows I get to watch. Barcus, Brendan and I are five episodes into the final, terrifyingly intense season of Buffy, we’ve got Curb Your Enthusiasm lying around, Entourage being downloaded/Tivo-ed and Lois & Clark in the mail.

But honestly, I do some work. I really do.

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Need to get a nap in before my classes today – and yeah, it’s really weird that a lot of people are done with classes before I even go on Monday and Wednesday – but please do not fault me. I was actually up at 8:30 this morning, and have been uber-productive with a workout, printing, reading, writing, Grab n’ Go-ing and now this lovely little post all before 12:15.

So yeah, I’m only doing this so I can play contract rummy and watch My Super Sweet Laguna Prison Break, Featuring Joey Harrington and the Collegiate All-Stars tonight, but at least the stuff is getting done.

And one more thing, just to get it started.

Five days until kickoff:

Go Irish, Beat Panthers.