Because The Jungle Is Too Dangerous To Navigate On Your Own

So that was an unexpected, unnecessary hiatus. But don’t be upset, as karma properly punished me for the total lack of updates, sending me spiraling into an abyss of sickness this weekend that led to further punishment – excessive hours of MTV reality programming. My Own, Next, Made, True Life. I saw them all, and in the case of the first two, any is a pain, an excess is torture.

What caused the lapse in blogging? I guess a minor culture shock. I got back, there were all sorts of people to see and Supermans to watch and NBA Live to play, then you add in all the work, which I’m already behind in, and you find a lack of focus in the blogging realm. Plus, I was ever-so-slightly depressed about coming back, if only because I was in a really good groove of break. I had a nice little schedule down, I was seeing movies with my dad and Phantom with my mom, and losing all the beautiful space and roaming freedom of my house/a car had an impact. Plus, like I mentioned previously, we have work to do again, and that’s not a good thing.

However, like K-Fed dancing to PopoZao, I’ll be rocking out to my own work as the blog guides us all through the icy winter months and the eventual reverdi of spring that brings us March Madness, quad time, the Battlin’ Buccos and the NFL Draft. Despite the slight lull in anything going on anywhere in the world – and I know, because The Daily Show and Colbert Report inform me of everything I need to know – business is really picking up. What will we have to digest in the next couple of months? Well, there’s a little bit for everyone to get excited about.

For the movie-minded: It’s Oscar season! Because the current box office picture is bleak (Big Mama’s House 2 and Nanny McPhee topped the weekend box office), you’re going to have to do a little work to get prepared for Jon Stewart and March 5th from the Kodak. Sure, you might spend your Thursday night dealing with the awkwardness of a ten-year old boy drinking brandy and masturbating, but you might get some fantastic performances by Jeff Daniels and Billy Baldwin, like we did with The Squid and the Whale. There’s a massive checklist of movies I still need to see, and it might require a few months of NetFlix subscription to make it happen, but it will happen.

Oscar Nominations Reminder: TOMORROW MORNING. That’s right, folks, the nominations are out tomorrow morning at 5:30 PST, or 8:30 to us East coasters and Midwesterners. Get up, have some breakfast and hope somebody gets left off the list that has everyone shrieking in horror.

For the pigskin-fans: It’s Super Bowl Week! And while this Super Bowl is potentially tragic to those insurgents in Western PA who can’t stand the black and gold and can longer listen to the radio or watch the local news – such as my mother and sister – it’s still the Super Bowl. And while it’s very possible this is the least sexy Super Bowl since Kerry Collins suited up against Trent Dilfer, you’re still going to get some quality commercials, at least one memorable play (hopefully?) and the outside chance of me curled up on the ground in the fetal position weeping miserably if the Supah Stees come out on top.

For those of you whose brand of football is the college persuasion, you can say hello to your newest love interests on Wednesday, as all those high school studs move from Big Man On Campus to, um, Big Man on Bigger Campus when they sign onto one program and break the hearts of many, many others. You can also say good-bye to those old flames as a very interesting NFL Draft gathers steam. When you have three quarterbacks like Leinart, Young and Cutler, three running backs like White, Bush and Williams and then the dearth of talent at tackle, tight end and linebacker, things are going to be very interesting by the time the Texans are on the board.

(The Blog suggested maneuver? Trade down. Young, Bush and Leinart are all have tremendous upside that is mirrored only by the tremendous downside they could bring. Get more picks. This draft is loaded in the first twenty-five picks or so. Take advantage.)

For the television addicts: Starting Wednesday, not only is it February, but it’s sweeps, meaning the networks are pulling out all the stops to get you to watch so when they put on crap for the non-November/February/May months, they still get top dollar. Do you know how most of your favorite shows have sort of been laying the foundation and building things up? Yeah, that’s for Sweeps, which will contain not only the Olympics and a Super Bowl, but the uncontrollable freight train of American Idol and the re-debuts of Survivor and The Amazing Race. Plus you’ll get guest stars and “very special episodes” of your favorite shows to boot. Everyone wins.

(TV Suggestion for tonight? How I Met Your Mother. The last episode was great, and you can do no wrong with Barney, Neil Patrick Harris’ brilliant sidekick creation. We’re also going to look at the five most beautiful women on TV, but I’m struggling to select my fifth. Any suggestions would be great.)

For the hoops junkies: What’s that around the corner? It’s March, slowly approaching, which means the jostling for regions and seeds will reach its peak as conference play gets more and more intense. The conference to watch is obviously the Big East, which is head and shoulders above everybody else right now, but you must pay attention to the Gonzaga’s and Memphis’s of the world, as well as the over-hyped, media darlings in Austin and Durham.

For the limited about of NBA fans that read this, the Return of Amare is slowly coming upon us, and now there’s the added bonus of seeing Kobe firing up thirty shots a game and having to take no heat for it. Obviously, NBA postseason is what makes it worth watching, but the journey is half the fun….right?

(Of course it is, and while you’re considering that journey, think about this question: How many points per game will JJ Redick average in the NBA? I won’t give you my thoughts on this just yet, but think about it, mull it over in your head, lemme know what you think.)

So the blog is back, and I apologize for the break, but I’ll make up for it, late night work shifts be damned. It might be cold outside –oh, so cold – but like Les Stroud, Discovery’s Survivorman who lasts seven days in random wilderness locales, we’re all going to persevere together, whether the Costa Rican Monkey King is planning on collecting or not.

It’s good to be back.