Sunday, December 13, 2009

Screech - Dustin Diamond's "Behind the Bell" Book is a Decent Read


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Dustin Diamond's new book "Behind the Bell" - a recount of his memories as a child actor who played the character "Screech" on the legendary Saturday morning TV show "Saved by the Bell" is a very decent read.

During the past year, Dustin Diamond has come under a lot of scrutiny in the press.

Things that WERE Dustin's fault:

The Porno Movie - "Saved by the Smell"
Authorized by Diamond or not, this kind of crap should NEVER be recorded - and I'm sure that Dustin knew there was a camera in the room. The film supposedly has a super nasty ending in which Screech gives two girls a "dirty sanchez" (i.e. giving them a poo mustache). I don't care who's fault it was that this film was released to the public, this was ultimately Dustin's fault because that crap should never have been recorded in the first place.

Using Saved by the Bell references WAY too much in his stand up routine and other communications to the press. If Dustin truly wants to move forward with his stand up career, he needs to STOP talking about SBTB all together, period. Stop talking about the cast members. Let that shit go son. Dustin is a very talented stand up comedian - he doesn't need to keep bringing up the show. When Dustin released his new book "Behind the Bell" - that was smart - but it was the only time he should have discussed the show or it's cast members.

Things that WERE NOT Dustin's fault:
The main thing that has been out of Dustin's control from the get go is the lack of respect that he has received from his former cast members. The character of "Screech" was by far the best contribution to SBTB, with Dustin Diamond showing a wide array of comedic talent that the other cast members couldn't even touch. Dustin was the youngest cast member and the other cast members were very quick to treat him as such. In the other cast member's defense, however, I must point out that I believe that they would have reconciled with Dustin for the reunion this year had it not been for Dustin's actions and negative comments about Mark-Paul Gosselar, Mario Lopez, Tiffany Thiessen, and the rest of his former cast in the years leading up to the reunion. If Dustin would have put his Saved by the Bell days behind him and focused ONLY on his stand up career, the other cast members would have invited him to the reunion. Dustin if you're reading this - you are an incredibly talented actor and you should not ever mention SBTB in public again...EVER (on your psychiatrist's couch, maybe).

I was extremely disappointed that Mark-Paul Gosselar, Mario Lopez, Tiffany Thiessen, Elizabeth Berkley and Lark Voorhies had the gall to do the Saved by the Bell reunion photo shoot without Dustin Diamond. People magazine jumped TV talk show host Jimmy Fallon's idea of the SBTB reunion and just decided to cut Dustin out. I believe that Jimmy Fallon's reunion would have been much better and I know that he would have never done it without Dustin on board.

"Behind the Bell" - the book

Dustin's accounts of his various childhood experiences make for a very good read. You can tell that the book was not proofread (there's several typos and even a section where an entire paragraph is repeated) - Dustin, did you even read your own book before it hit the shelves? Despite harsh reviews by critics (even before the book came out), this book delivers on every level. Most of the talk before the book's release involved all of the "dirt" Dustin intended to expose about the SBTB cast. I would say that maybe 5% of the book touches on this subject. And that is great because the rest of the book is so much better. I really didn't want to read about what the other cast members were up to anyway, I bought the book to learn about my favorite SBTB character - Screech. Dustin definitely did that - the book has several great stories about his excursions as a child actor both on the stage and off. Diamond takes us through a detailed account of a typical work week on the set of SBTB which is well written and very interesting.

I give this book a B+ and look forward to the next big thing in Dustin's career.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Madden 2010 Superstar Tips


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Madden 10 can be a confusing web of madness and any of you who own it know that the book / manual is absolutely no help whatsoever. So here are a few tips:

The Superstar mode in Madden is much easier to play if you create a player in the Madden Creation Zone before starting a new Superstar career. Create your player, choose what team he plays for, adjust the depth chart of the team that your player is on, then save. Then, AFTER you've created your player, start a New Superstar career and choose "start as a rookie" instead of create new superstar. This way you get better stats, and control over the depth chart of your superstar's team, AND you get to choose what team your player plays for. Pretty sweet, huh?

A couple of other facts are that you can play a franchise online but you can't play with a friend on the same team (unless your friend is at your house). Another thing to be prepared for is that online opponents quit in the middle of the game - A LOT. There is an incredible amount of quitting in the world of online Madden 2010.

Another quirk is the general play of Madden 2010, it is extremely hard to pass to the wide outs along the sideline. EA Sports designed this game to favor the Tight End passing game and other inside passing routes. Running is fairly realistic depending on your running back's skills (Adrian Peterson appears to "skate" along almost like magic). Many players who are used to "bombing it out" for quick points will be quite frustrated if they try that on Madden 2010.

Hopefully these tips help, as Madden 2010 is a really great game once you figure out how to play it.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Kansas City New Year's Eve Parties - So Far


Kansas City new year's eve parties that we know of so far will be:

The Power and Light District
Presented by Kansas City Bands - there will be two bands on New Year's Eve at The Power and Light District - Retroactive and Pomeroy. Other bars and nightclubs will be open as usual.

The Legends - The Great Wolf Lodge
Live at The Legends will be The KC All Stars. Tickets are on sale at Kansas City New Year's Eve Central.

The Hyatt
This year the Hyatt will totally suck. After pulling out of their contract with The Zeros (who will now be performing at Fuel), The Hyatt has decided to target the 50 and older crowd by featuring the ever boring and lame "Four Fried Chickens and a Coke". Are you serious? NEXT!

Raglan Road at The Power and Light District
The hot new Irish Pub at the P&L will be featuring the band Wonderland on new year's eve. Raglan Road features live music every weekend and is a great place to grab a pint!

Stay tuned for more kc new year's eve events and parties!

Pittsburgh Steeler fans in Kansas City - HA HA!


This blog is a little late but I just had to laugh at all of the Steeler fans that showed up at Arrowhead Stadium for the Chiefs game on November 22nd.

The Steeler fans in Kansas City are a joke! All of them have on brand new jersey's - revealing that they are indeed "bandwagon" fans and not true die hard Steeler fans. I didn't see one Bettis jersey, etc.

I would be willing to bet that most of the folks donning Steeler jerseys couldn't even point to Pittsburgh on a MAP.

The best part of all was that they got their asses beat and they have not recovered since - and they will also miss the playoffs. Bet I won't see any of you out there sporting your lame Steeler jerseys now - suckers.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Embraer RJ145 Jet - Continental Flight Rating


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I flew to Cleveland, Ohio over the weekend and wanted to clear up some things that I read on the net about the plane that I took - the Embraer RJ145 Jet via Continental Airlines. Before I took the trip I looked up what kind of jet I would be flying in and I found that it was going to be the rather small Embraer RJ145 Jet. I searched the jet and found a few comments floating around that I had to clear up.

The Embraer RJ145 is a small jet, two isles, one seat on one row and two seats on the other - but don't let this freak you out - the ride is smooth and comfortable, and the staff at Continental Airlines was friendly and prompt.

There was NO significant difference in the turbulence when compared to other large jets, despite many posts that there was more turbulence. I flew on the Embraer RJ145 on the way to Cleveland and on the way back and both trips were very smooth and the pilots got us to our destination early both ways.

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