Hunger Games Impresses

I went to see the movie Hunger Games last night. Let me first say that I have not read the book(s) by Suzanne Collins. This is important because I believe your experience will greatly differ depending on whether you read the book first or not. For those who read the book, the movie will be judged by how well it relates to the book. I actually think a movie that is watched before reading the book will be more fairly reviewed because it is not a comparison, but is judged on its own merits and flaws.
I first became interested in watching the movie when I heard that it made $155 million in it first weekend. That is amazing for a movie that is released before the summer season. I new that was a record in that category, but it was also a record for a non-sequel as well. It was also the third highest amount for opening weekend all-time. It also shocked me that this movie was from Lionsgate. This little company is known for the Saw series as one of its greatest successes. I never expected Lionsgate to be able to get a movie of the caliber of the Hunger Games, but they did. Good for them.
I was not sure what to expect from the movie as I have not seen much about the movie, but I knew that with Jennifer Lawrence in the lead role, the movie had a chance of being good.

Jennifer is a academy award nominated actress for her role in Winter's Bone who lost to Sandra Bullock (why?). Jennifer did not let me down in her performance. She was brilliant with a cast that was equally impressive. The movie itself was engaging from the very beginning. I was tense and nervous for the characters early on as the movie was very dark in the beginning with the selection process for the Hunger Games. Dark moments stayed with the movie at times throughout. One of the real nervous moments is when the games began and the characters became very scared for their lives as they got ready for thier first action. The best thing about this movie is that it does not take the deaths of the characters lightly as in many movies of this type, and in that respect does an excellent job of delivering the message that I belive they were trying to send.
After watching the movie, I and my sister both said that we would have to read the book now. I think that I will not read the second book until the second movie comes out, so I can experience the movie the same way I did for the first one. A very good movie and a great cast lead by an excellent performance by Jennifer Lawrence, I give the Hunger Games an A+.

Have you seen the Hunger Games? What did you think? I would love to hear from someone who read the book first and explain what they thought of the movie.

The Final Four

And now...

Representing the South and the SEC... Kentucky!

Represnting the East and the Big Ten... Ohio State!

Representing the West and the Big East... Louisville!

Representing the Midwest and the Big Twelve... Kansas!

Another perfect day yesterday of predictions going 2-0 with 16 points awarded. This offically gave me three of the four teams that I predicted to be in the final four from the beginning. Later this week I will give my predictions on who wins in the final four, but if you want to know right now, you can look up my bracket which I posted back when march madness first began. For now let me give my picks for tomorrow's NIT final four matchups.

Washington over Minnesota
Umass over Stanford*

*No points awarded as Miss St lost to Umass.

My next post will not be about basketball. I will be post my review of the Hunger Games which came out this weekend. As always, I encourage you to follow my blog and comment frequently. I enjoy the responses.

Elite Eight Part 2

After another undefeated day, where Louisville beat my Florida Gators and Ohio State beat Syracuse in a game where I receive no points, I look to today's machups which will give me either three teams in the final four, two, or one. I went 2-0 with eight points. Today's predictions will set up next week's final four machups. Here they are:

Kentucky over Baylor
Kansas over North Carolina

Results tomorrow. I have church meetings today, so not much time to spend blogging. Don't forget to check out my new youtube video.

Elite Eight Begins... and A New Video on Youtube Too!

Today begins the elite eight and the matchup I am interested most in seeing is the one between my Florida Gators and the team I picked to go to the final four, Lousiville.
Speaking of picks, I went undefeated yesterday, that's right, a perfect 4-0. While Baylor's win did not give me any points, the other three winners: North Carolina, Kansas, and Kentucky provided me with six points each for a total of 18 points. My record stands at 44-16 with 108 points.
Here are my predictions for today's matchups:

Louisville over Florida (I will be rooting for Florida)
Ohio St over Syracuse*

*No points awarded as I had FSU in the final four.

I will as always post the results and make predictions on tomorrow's matchups.
I have posted my newest video and video series last night. The series, Trojanpear's Book Club, is about my desire to read and review the books in my collection. I will do this about once every month. This video is on the Bunnicula Series: Bunnicula, Howliday Inn, The Celery Stalks at Midnight, Nighty Nightmare, Return to Howliday Inn, Bunnicula Strikes Again, and Bunnicula Meets Edgar Allen Crow. Check it out and subscribe to get updated on every new video I make as well as comment and like the video.

Sweet Sixteen Continued

Yesterday, I went 2-2. What was great about it was that the two games I won were the two important games to me that day. Louisville beats Michigan State to give me a win in the only game that was for points yesterday, and Florida beats Marquette as my Gators make it to the elite eight. Syracuse and Ohio State will face off in the east which will prove to be a good match-up.

Again, my score was 2-2, 6 points.

Today's predictions for the NCAA tournament:

North Carolina over Ohio
Kansas over NC State
Kentucky over Indiana
Baylor over Xavier*

*No points since UNLV lost.

I will post results and have new predictions tomorrow. Look out for my new youtube video coming soon.

Get Ready for the Sweet Sixteen

With no points on the line last night, I saw the NIT finalize it's final four teams in its tournament. Minnesota did exactly what I thought it would do and Stanford proved they were a force to be reckoned with as they get ready for Umass on March 27th. My record was 1-1, but again I had no points on the line since Washington is the only team left on my NIT bracket. Now with the NIT off for the next few days, we can get back to the NCAA tournament as the sweet sixteen matchups begin today. Here are today's predictions:

NCAA:
Wisconsin over Syracuse*
Cincy over Ohio St*
Louisville over Michigan St
Florida over Marquette*

*No points awarded since original teams lost.

Be back tomorrow with results and more predictions!

NIT Continues

Two NIT games last night, two more tonight. No surprise Washington won last night, but I shocked by Drexel's loss to Umass after Drexel was playing like the better team in the first half. Now, tonight we will find out who the last two teams are. Here is my record and predictions for tonight.

NIT: 1-1, 8 points

Minnesota over Middle Tennessee*
Nevada over Stanford*

* No points awarded.

I'll be back tomorrow with the results.

By the way, Tebow to the Jets? Why did it have to be the Jets? Why couldn't it have been Jacksonville? :(

March Madness Prediction Recap

The first two rounds are complete in the NCAA tournament and NIT tournament. I have three of my final four teams still alive in the NCAA tournament and one in the NIT tournament. Since the NIT is continuing today, I will go ahead and say that I think that Minnesota and Drexel are the two best teams in the tounament and should make it to the title game if Washington doesn't get in Minnesota's way. In the NCAA, I still like Kentucky and Louisville. Kansas has given me concern especially with NC State as their next opponent. NC State could make it to the final four. With FSU and Vandy out in the East, Cincy and Wisconsin have emerged as contenders. I like Wisconsin as the fourth team in the final four.
Here is my record from yesterday and my overall score so far:

NIT: 2-1, 4 points*

*Stanford beat Illinois St which was not an original pick.

Overall NIT: 18-6, 38 points

Overall NCAA: 38-14, 84 points

The third round of the NIT begins today, so here are my predictions:

NIT:
Drexel over Umass*
Washington over Oregon

*No points since Umass beat Miss St.

That's all for today. I will post results and predictions which will wrap up the NIT final four tomorrow.

March Madness Tournament Down to 16

It was a wild weekend, but now things are starting to come together. FSU losing to Cincinnati was the worst loss of the tournament so far for me. Kansas, Kentucky, and Louisville are all still in it as well as my Florida Gators. Let's look at my record yesterday:

NCAA: 6-2, 16 points*

*No points for Xavier and Florida predictions.

NIT: 3-0, 8 points*

*No points for Nevada prediction.

There are actually three NIT games today which will complete the second round. Here are my predictions in those games.

Tennessee over Middle Tennessee
Minnesota over Miami
Stanford over Illinois St*

*Originally had Ole Miss over Stanford so no points will be awarded.

I will post my overall recap after the games have been played. Until then the madness continues...

March Madness and New Video

Sorry I missed a few days but between work and a new video I have not had time to update my predictions.

First, a recap of my predictions from Friday and Saturday.

Friday:

NCAA: 11-5, 20 points*

*I picked South Florida to win after they beat Cal which was my original choice to beat Temple.

NIT: 1-0, 4 points

Saturday:

NCAA: 5-3, 16 points*

* I picked Baylor to win over Colorado, but originally had UNLV beating Baylor.

NIT: 1-0, 0 points*

Umass was my choice to beat Seton Hall after Umass beat Miss St, my projected champions.

Here are today's predictions:

NCAA:
Xavier over Lehigh*
Michigan St over St Louis
Florida over Norfolk St*
FSU over Cincy
South Florida over Ohio*
NC State over Georgetown
North Carolina over Creighton
Kansas over Perdue

NIT:
Drexel over UNI
Oregon over Iowa
Nevada over Bucknell*

*No points will be awarded since my original picks have already lost.

Also, as I mentioned earlier, I have posted a new video to youtube. It is the second video in the monster movie tournament. In it, I recap the past month in which I watched the four matchups in the first play-in tournament. The movies were:

1. Atragon vs 8. The Giant Claw
2. Varan the Unbelievable vs 7. Gamera Super Monster
3. Dinosaurus! vs 6. Legend of the Dinosaurs
4. Gamera vs Monster X vs 5. Inframan

If you want to continue to be updated with my latest blog postings, then follow me by clicking the link on the right of my blog page. If you want to be updated with my latest videos, click subscribe on the top of the video on youtube. On both you may be asked to create an account if you don't have one, but it is free to do and only takes a few minutes. I ask this only because I want to know if I have any regular followers to my blogs or videos since I have not gotten any comments to any video or blog. So, if you would like me to continue doing these things, please comment, follow, or subscribe to let me know your out there.

The Tournament Launches into High Gear

The second round of the NCAA tournament has begun. This is when the tournament really starts. Sixteen games are played today. Through the first twelve games I was undefeated on the day until Iowa State beat UConn. A minor loss in that respect as I have Kentucky winning in the next round. Two of my final four teams played and both won. A good start overall. UNLV loss hurts a lot though.

Record: Today: 14-2, 16-4 overall, 30 points

Tomorrows Predictions:

NCAA:
Xavier over Notre Dame
Duke over Lehigh
Michigan St over LIU Brooklyn
Memphis over St Louis
Florida over Virginia
Missouri over Norfolk St
Cincy over Texas
FSU over St Bonaventure
North Carolina over Vermont
Creighton over Alabama
South Florida over Temple*
Michigan over Ohio
NC St over SDSU
Georgetown over Belmont
St Mary's over Perdue
Kansas over Detroit

*Game will not count for points since I picked Cal to win and they already lost.

NIT:
Washington over Northwestern

More Madness tomorrow along with my new youtube video on the Monster Movie Tournament.

March Madness First Round Part 2

Tonight was not as good a night for me as last night. With Arizona and Ole Miss losing their NIT games, one forth of my bracket is done. In the NCAA Tournament bracket, Cal's loss hurts into the sweet sixteen. Let's hope things go better in the second round tomorrow.

Record:

NCAA: Today: 1-1, Overall: 2-2, 2 points

NIT: Today: 3-4, Overall: 11-5, 22 points

Predictions for Tomorrow:

NCAA:
Kentucky over WKU
UConn over Iowa St
VCU over Wichita St
Indiana over New Mexico St
UNLV over Colorado
Baylor over SDSU
New Mexico over Long Beach St
Louisville over Davidson
Murray St over Colorado St
Marquette over BYU
Syracuse over UNC-Ashville
Kansas St over Southern Miss
Vandy over Harvard
Wisconsin over Montana
Gonzaga over West Virginia
Ohio St over Loyola

NIT:
None Scheduled

Now the real action begins! Good luck everyone!

March Madness First Night

The first night of march madness has concluded and I have mixed feeling about how I did. If you read my previous blog, you saw my predictions for tonight. Overall, I did well, but I lost one game in the NIT where I thought the losing team Mississippi State would win it all. This happened in last years NIT tournamnet, but unlike last year, it was the only bad loss I had all night.

Here is my overall record and total points so far:

NCAA Tournament: 1-1, 1 point

NIT Tournament: 8-1, 16 points

Now for day 2's games:

NCAA Tournament:
Vermont over Lamar
California over South Florida

NIT Tournament:
Minnesota over La Salle
Drexel over UCF
St Joseph's over UNI
Valparaiso over Miami
Arizona over Bucknell
Nevada over Oral Roberts
Ole Miss over Illinois St

Let's see how things go tomorrow!

March Madness

The 2012 NCAA Tounament and NIT Tournament brackets are now set. It's now time to make predictions for the tournament.
I began filling out brackets since I was in high school. My first year I filled out a bracket because several students and teachers started a friendly competition to see who would be the best at predicting winners. I wanted to participate even though I was not as familiar with NCAA basketball as I am today. I did well the first weekend. So well, in fact that I was in second at the time. People were impressed and even though I did not do as well in later rounds, this helped promote the image that most of my classmates thought of me as a guy who knew and understood sports.
The scoring system begins with one point per win in the first round and increasing evenly in each successive round. I also am doing the NIT tournament which will start with two points in the first round and increase evenly each round. I have posted my complete brackets for each tournament, but I will go over each prediction every day there is a matchup and note my point standings on each after each day of matchups.

Tuesday's Games:
NCAA:
Western Kentucky over Miss Valley St
Iona over BYU

NIT:
Miss St over UMass
Seton Hall over Stoney Brook
Iowa over Dayton
Tenn over Savannah St
Northwestern over Akron
Middle Tenn over Marshall
Oregon over LSU
Wash over Texas-Arlington
Stanford over Cleveland St

Good Luck to all!

Cup of Coffee, A Slice of Pie, and Doughnuts

I suppose you noticed that I have been watching my favorite show again. Most normal people watch their favorite show on T.V. when it comes on during its designated time slot each week with commercials or without if your show is on a network like HBO. I don't do this. I find it difficult to sit down at a designated time each week to watch a show on TV that may or may not be a new episode. If I watch shows with any regularity, it is on DVD. This means I do not keep up to date with any of the shows that people like to talk about afterwards "around the water cooler." I will watch new and old shows that I have never seen before every once and a while, watching several episodes at a time without commercial interruption on my time.
A few years ago, I was asked to try this show that I had heard about on commercials in 1990. As a kid I did not bother to try the show, but I became intriuged over the years. The show had a two hour pilot that we watched first which was directed by one of the shows creators known for directing many movies, although I had never heard of him at the time. His name was David Lynch and the show was Twin Peaks, a strange, dark mystery with a lot of quirkiness. It was not until about the forth episode that I realized I was hooked and the show not only is one of my favorites, it is my favorite show of all time. I have also become a fan of David Lynch movies although I have not seen many of his movies so far. I still have not had the chance to watch all of the show yet, but I at least know who killed Laura Palmer.

What's your favorite show all-time or current? How do you watch TV shows? Are there many that you will sit down to watch or are you more like me? Are you familiar with Twin Peaks? Do you enjoy it like I do or do you have issues with it? I would love to hear your responses.

Super Tuesday

Another day of election chaos. Newt Gingrich won Georgia. Big surprise there. Actually it was a surprise that Newt even had to campaign in Georgia. Even though Newt lives in Virginia, he claimed Georgia as his home state and got his only victory of the night. His current state Virginia he did not receive one vote since he and Rick Santorum could not get their names on the ballot. Mitt Romney won there. He also won Vermont, Massachusetts, Ohio, Idaho, and Alaska. Rick Santorum won Tennessee, Oklahoma, and North Dakota. Ron Paul won no states and puts him at 0 for 23 so far. It is now clear that both Ron and Newt are no longer viable candidates, and this race will come down to either Rick or Mitt. I believe Mitt will win, but this race is still interesting. I believe Rick will win most of the states that will be voting this month.

Who do you think will win? How long will the primary season last? Whatever happens I hope that you excercise your right to vote.

The Last Few Days

I have missed the last few days of blogging because I have been very busy. I worked three consecutive days at the post office, as well as working on my spring cleaning. I completed several jobs around the church, house, and yard. I also spent time at church for worship and Sunday School. I have been also watching shows and movies with my sister since she is on Spring Break this week. College sure has Spring Break early in the year. One of the shows we watched was my all-time favorite show Twin Peaks. I don't drink coffee, but if I did, it would be because of this show. Finally, I am working on my next video which is a book review series. I hope to have it posted by the end of the week.

I also hope to continue my regular blogging tomorrow. What are your thoughts?