What happened to Dane Cook?

Sorry I haven't written in a few days. Been busy being sick, and writing stuff for phin phanatic.

I really don't have much to say. Though I do have one thing. I just got finished watching a new Dane Cook special on Comedy Central. It's funny.

I feel for Dane. I'm sure going through the past 3 years, you have developed a very strong opinion of him. Remember a few years back, he was the biggest thing on earth? Everyone was quoting him, saying how he was the funniest person alive, and all that stuff. Then, pretty much out of nowhere, everyone turned on him. Anytime I searched him on youtube, the comments were always along of the lines of "Dane Cook sux, he knows nothing about comedy. People who like him have no brains"

I'll admit, I went with it. I started saying I hated him, said he didn't live up to comedians like Brian Regan and Mitch Hedberg. In reality, I just stopped listening to him because I wanted to be like everyone else. I still thought his old stuff was pretty funny.

Well after listening to him tonight, I kind of feel bad for dissing him. His new stuff is funny. His old stuff was funny. He just suffered from becoming too popular, too fast. Not his fault. This happens with a lot of people out there. They get bigger then every they ever expected, and then crash down to earth, hard. He actually made a joke out of all the hate mail he got during the past three years, and guess what? It was funny.

It bothers me when people criticize stand-up comedians. Do you know the balls it takes to go up in front of an audience and try to be funny for an hour. Most of us, especially the ones who sit and criticize, couldn't do it for five minutes. I give them an unbelievable amount of credit, and to Dane Cook, keep chugging along, buddy.

Song Currently Stuck in my Head:
Mr. Jones- Counting Crows

Good News!

Some good news out of my life today. I got a *job* (I can't call it a real job cause it's actually unpaid) writing for phinphanatic.com! That is a blog dedicated exclusively to coverage of my favorite football team. the Miami Dolphins. I'm very excited for the opportunity to a) sharpen my writing skills and b) write about my favorite team. I'd like to thank Brian Miller for giving me the chance.

Anyway, my first article is up and online. It is called "Why is finding a franchise QB so important?" For those of you who don't know much about sports, you more than likely won't understand it. For those who do however, you will hopefully enjoy it. Read it, and let me know what you think!

Song currently stuck in my head:
Seven- Dave Matthews Band

Sunday's with No Football?

Know who that young fella is? That would none other then newly minted 20-year old, Trevor Bayne. Or as he is now known, the 2011 Daytona 500 champion. Not even legal yet, making his second start ever in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series, the young man from Knoxville, TN beat out some of NASCAR's finest drivers to win the biggest race of the year. I have to send out a huge congratulations to him. The kid doesn't isn't even racing the whole schedule this year (he's due for 17 of 36 races) but hey, he's the points leader at this moment.

...Which leads me into my first sports related post on this blog. As a hick deep-down, NASCAR is very close to my heart. I've been following it for years (though I kind of backed off during the college years), and to me it is more then watching cars drive around in a circle for three hours
 -As a sidenote, if you are one of those people that believe NASCAR is a waste of time, you should probably stop reading here. Thanks.

Jimmie Johnson has been dominating this sports for five years now. Every year, somebody comes up with a reason why THAT year is the year Jimmie will finally lose. Nobody is willing to give him the credit his deserves, which kills me. What does this man have to do to prove he is the best? People say the competition isn't up to par to what Dale Earnhardt faced in his day. Who cares? Jimmie is beating the people that are racing around him today. It is not his fault who he beats, he beats everyone.

In the spirit of argument though, I will give you five drivers I think have a legitimate chance to dethrone him this year, as well as a darkhose. Remember, this is just my opinion, so relax.

Denny Hamlin- 11

Last season's runner-up came within one race of winning the whole thing before losing to Jimmie at Homestead. Denny won 8 races last year and showed why he has probably the brightest future of anybody in racing. I believe the pressure got to him last year, but he is poised to have even a better year in 2011. When he makes the Chase (and he will), he will be better prepared. If his mind doesn't get the best of him, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Denny with the trophy.

Kevin Harvick- 29
In the 10 Chase races last year, Harvick finished outside the Top 10 only once (15th), and posted an average finish of 5.8. Yet somehow, Harvick ended up 3rd in the standings. Shows you how well Johnson and Hamlin raced during that time. Harvick comes back this year with a new sponser and paint scheme, and that's it. I expect him to be just as competitive as last year, with an added fire from coming so close.

Jeff Gordon- 24

Remember when Gordon was the seasoned veteran and Jimmie was just a little rookie with potenial. That was 2002 people. Only 8 years later, Johnson now has more championships then Gordon and is the main man in the Hendrick stable. You don't think Gordon has motivation to get a fifth title? Maybe that is why Rick Hendrick shuffeled the crews around between Gordon, Johnson, Martin and Junior. With a new crew and crew chief, and a newly found desire, I expect to see the Jeff Gordon of old emerge.

Clint Bowyer- 33

The young man from Kansas came on strong during the Chase last season, with victories at New Hampshire and Talladega. He followed that up by running up front for most of the Daytona 500, before being shuffeled back at the end to finish 17th. His car looks good, RCR looks the strongest it has in years, and Bowyer looks poised for a breakout season.

Carl Edwards- 99
Did anybody see Edwards come on at the end of the Daytona 500? Holy hell, it looked like he was going to drive right through Trevor Bayne at the start finish line. The race defined Edwards for me. He was not talked about at all during the race, running mid pack. All of sudden, he was there at the end with a chance to win it. Edwards is not the flashiest, best looking or most talented driver out there. Yet he puts himself in a position to win every week. Last season, he won the final two races of the Chase and ended up 4th in the standings. If he can put together a full season and stay consistant, he may be able to do a championship backflip at the end.

Darkhorse: Joey Logano- 20

This kid is all of 20 years old, and has already managed to impress one of the best drivers out there. Found by Mark Martin a few years ago, he impressed Martin so much that he gave him the nickname of "sliced bread" (for obvious reasons) Logano went through a learning curve last year, but finished the season with 6 Top 10's during the Chase, including 4 Top 5's. Will he win the championship this year? Probably not. But I expect to see him in the Chase and possibly on the championship podium in a few years. Keep your eyes out for this one.

I'm actually very excited for this year's NASCAR season. I haven't followed it too closely in years, but with everyone gunning for JJ, it should be exciting.

Song currently stuck in my head:
Brick - Ben Folds Five

My how we've changed...

So yesterday when I logged onto Yahoo, I got a notification that I haven't checked my e-mail address from there in oh, about a year. I opened it up to reveal upwards of three thousand e-mails in there, most of which were either porn, sports, and some other stupid things I signed up for in the past seven years. After spending a good half hour deleting all those e-mails, I opened up my sent messages, just to see when and what the last e-mail I had sent from there was. (It was nothing) I had right around 150 sent messages in there, so I started deleting them. Then I came across a long string of e-mails between myself and a dear friend I had back in middle/high school (aka 2003). It wasn't about anything of relevance, but it got me thinking holy hell, that was 8 years ago?!?!?


It's amazing to look back and see how far technology has come and how fast it is moving. To clarify a bit, e-mail was all the rage, texting was barely a glint in our eye, and having apps on our cell phones? HA, very funny.

This is probably something similar to what your phone looks like today. You know the second you recieve an e-mail. Want to check out what's happening on Facebook or Twitter while at work? Sure, go ahead. Need to switch some money into your account for an emergency purchase? Just give me a sec. It's insane. I could literally sit in bed all day with my phone and manage to get done everything I need to.


Now...get ready...

This is the Motorola T720. Believe it or not, this was the top selling cell phone in 2003. You could text on it, in black and white. You could check the time. Hell you might've even been able to take a grainy, low-contrast photo. And oh yeah, you could call someone. (crazy right?)

2003 televisions. Boy do I miss my box set. Crappy picture. The only people who could afford those fancy new flat screens were those rich pricks who you never seemed to like too much.

Yes, that is a giant turtle swimming out of television set. Looks ridiculous. Yet, at work we are currently selling these (3D TV for those of you who aren't too smart up there), at the price of a little over 2,000 dollars. Those plain boring flat screens, come as cheap as about 300 dollars.

Last but not least, this lovely little device (not so little back in the day), the iPod. I believe I had one of these at one point in my life. This was the only model available for a long time at the beginning of the iPod phase. Held about 1,000 songs, which wasn't bad for the time. It played music. That's it. No picture taking. No video taking. No photo uploading. No games.(besides brickbreaker <3)

Today's iPods. I see color! I won't even get into the touch, which can do more then an iPod was ever meant to do. The highest calibar iPod today holds somewhere in the range of 20,000 songs, not to mention videos and all that other crap. Who the hell listens to 20,000 songs at once? Overkill? Yeah, a bit.


Anyway, all this happened in only 8 years. Doesn't sound like that long. I'm scared to see by 2020 how much technology will be running (ruining) our lives, if we can't live without it now. I don't know about you, but it makes me appreciate the men and women in the early part of 19th and 20th century who lived without it. I feel like they must've been better communicaters then ourselves, considering they actually talked to each other once in awhile.


Don't get me wrong, obviously technology has done some wonderful things for society. Where would we be without hospitals? Would people be able to survive the common cold. Yes, advancements have done great things for us. But when is enough, enough? Hell, we just had a supercomputer kick the shit out of two human minds on Jeopardy! Maybe the Terminator movies weren't that far off....


Take this into account, next time you can't take your eyes off your cell phone or computer screen. When you are with someone, don't pull out your phone to text someone every 30 seconds. Learn to have a conversation with someone. It's a lost art these days...


Song currently stuck in my head:
F*ck You- Cee Lo Green