A writer, graduated film school at Cal State Long Beach, with a minor in comparative literature. Has a passion for music, film, and history. Is a sports fanatic, and true Dodger and Laker fan. A quiet and shy individual who best expresses himself on the page.
Baseball was in full swing this weekend. Opening day, in America, was held yesterday in the nation’s capital where the Nationals faced the Atlanta Braves. President Bust threw out the first pitch in the new $611 million Nationals Park. It was a great first game that came down to the wire. The score was 2-2 in the bottom of the 9th, when third base man Ryan Zimmerman came to bat for the Nationals. The Braves pitchers retired 24 consecutive batters before Zimmerman hit a solo shot to win the game 3-2.
The Dodgers play their home opener today at 1pm against their long time rivals, the San Francisco Giants. They wrapped up their spring training on a high note, beating the Boston Red Sox, two out of three games this weekend. In first game was a win at Dodger Stadium. Chad Billingsly struck out seven batters and gave up only one run in five innings. The loss came at the Collesium, where over 115,000 fans came to see how the Dodgers played when they first came to Los Angeles 50 years ago. [Read more →]
Tags: Reviews · Sport Report
The Bruins appeared in trouble when point guard Darren Collison fouled out for the first time this year, with 5:39 to play. Collison had only four points and four turnovers. UCLA led 41-20 at halftime, but Western Kentucky wouldn’t go away. The Hilltoppers began pressing, and the Bruins started to fall apart. They had 12 turnovers in the first 15 minutes of the second half and finished with 19, a season high. Kevin Love scored a career-high 29 points, had 14 rebounds and hit 10-of-14 shots from the floor. Without Love, the Bruins would be done.
Love had help from James Keefe, who scored 18 points and pulled 12 rebounds, both career highs. Russell Westbrook added 14 points and 11 rebounds. The Bruins nearly frittered away a 21-point halftime lead and hung on to defeat Western Kentucky 88-78. UCLA will play No. 3 seed Xavier on Saturday at 3:30 for a trip to its third consecutive Final Four. Louisville and North Carolina will also play for a spot in the Final Four on Saturday at 6. Tonight is Stanford versus Texas, and Michigan State versus Memphis.
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Tags: Reviews · Sport Report
Los Angeles Lakers lost at Staples Center last night against Golden State. The Warriors blew a 26 point lead, but Stephen Jackson hit some dangerous shots from three point land. Kobe Bryant tried to counter with a couple clutch shots of his own, but the Warriors were too much in the end. Jackson finished with 31 as did Monte Ellis. Kobe dropped 36 but a poor first half proved to be too big a hole to climb out of. The Warriors scored 72 points in the first half, and retain the 8th seed in the playoffs with that victory. The Lakers can take revenge tonight on the Warriors home floor at 7:30 on KCAL channel 9.
The Dodgers lost against the National League Champion Colorado Rockies. Chad Billingsly had a rough game, giving up 8 hits and five runs. He is set to be 3rd in the Dodger pitching rotation, but neither he or Joe Torre were alarmed by his outing. Billingsley, has always relied on his fastball, and is trying to add the off-speed pitch to his repertoire. “I never really threw a changeup. I’m trying to learn it,” said Billingsly after the game. Meanwhile Brad Hawpe and Matt Holiday had two hits a piece and six RBI’s between them. The final score was 8-2.
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Tags: Reviews · Sport Report
If you watch a lot of television, you probably record your favorite shows and view them at your own convenience. But if you’re like me, and you watch things as they come on, then your options become pretty limited sometimes. I don’t watch much T.V so it’s easy catch what I want. Aside from sports and films, there are only a handful of shows I actually watch regularly. HBO is a given, but other networks struggle for my attention. I’ll watch Lost, try and catch South Park, do some Letterman, then comes 12:30. Most of you probably turn to Conan O’Brien. He’s always good for a laugh. But take a look at channel 2 at the same time for some Los Angeles based humor, and you may become addicted to T.V’s Craig Ferguson.
At first I was reluctant to stray away from O’Brien. He has a pretty solid show, scheduled to take over the Tonight Show on NBC before Jay leno began talking of sticking around a little longer. That aside, I gave Ferguson a chance. He’d been on a while and had to be better than Craig Kilborn. It’s not like I religiously watch every episode of Conan. I miss him all the time. Well, I never went back. The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson is a different style of show which is more up my alley. He drives the show as good as any host, and has his own unique way of doing it.
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Tags: Reviews · TV
The Lakers closed out a four game road trip with two big wins, the first in Dallas on Tuesday, then in Utah last night. Their victories have put them in sole control of the top seed in the west, even though they lost the first two games of the trip to the number two and three seeded, Hornets and Rockets. It was a successful week, considering they lost Pau Gasol at the start of it. They held off some good teams and kept their position, with certain players stepping up. They got off to great starts in both wins, and managed hold on, though the games became close in the end.
Last night, Kobe Bryant led all scorers with 27 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists. Odom had another great performance, 21 points, 12 rebounds, and 6 assists. Since Gasol’s bsence, he has risen his game to a more aggressive level, looking to score, and being focused on rebounding and finding his teammates. Vladamir Radmanovic and Sasha Vujacic have also shown their ability to threaten teams from beyond the arc. They both went 3-4 last night and are shooting threes at over 40%.
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Tags: Reviews · Sport Report
The Lakers had a tough weekend, first with a loss to the Hornets on Friday. They lost more than just the game, Pau Gasol going out in the first quarter with a sprained ankle. He’ll most likely be out another two weeks. Chris Paul took advantage of the center lane with the absence of Gasol and a quality point guard. Paul scored 27 points and had 17 assists. Tyson Chandler pulled 20 rebounds and scored 14 points in front of his home town. Kobe Bryant 36 points but it was far from enough.
Sunday the Lakers traveled to Houston to try and stop the Rockets streak at 21, they were unsuccessful. Both teams had a record of 45-20 and were fighting for the number one seed in the west. Once again, the point guard killed the Lakers. Rafer Alston had a career high 31 points hitting eight three pointers. The Rockets played excellent defense, particularly Shane Battier on Kobe Bryant. He forced him to take tough shots, frustrating Bryant, making him increasingly selfish.
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Tags: Reviews · Sport Report
The Lakers (45-19) are the best in the west, but all that can change after a tough road trip they are about to face. Tonight they play the Hornets (43-20), who are coming off a big win against San Antonio. Chris Paul had 26 points and 17 assists in that victory. The Lakers often have trouble with quality point guards, it being their weakest position, and will have a tough time containing Paul. He averages 21.3 points, 11.1 assists, and 2.7 steals a game. He’ll be joined by Compton’s own Tyson Chandler, who returns to L.A. averaging 11.8 points and 12.3 rebounds.
Next they face the Houston Rockets (44-20), who now lead the southwest division, the most competitive in the league (Spurs, Hornets, Mavs). The have won 20 straight games, the 3rd longest streak of all time. The Lakers have the longest (33) and hope Houston wins their game against the Bobcats tonight so they can end the streak on Sunday. Tracy McGrady has been putting up big numbers since the absence of Yao Ming, but Phil Jackson said they will not forget about the present of point guard Rafer Alston. He has been playing well lately and may take advantage of a slower defense.
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Tags: Reviews · Sport Report
The Lakers decided to take it easy last night and suffered a loss to the Kings 114-113. They trailed the entire game until they attempted a late surge in the 3rd. They gained the lead for a moment in the 4th, but could not close it out. Kobe Bryant took a tough shot at the buzzer for the win, but instead lost, making their record 44-19. They still hold the top spot in the west, but only by half a game ahead of San Antonio.
The Kings shot .550 percent from the field, with 6 players in double figures. They scored 71 points in the first half, as the Lakers played virtually no defense. The Lakers out scored them, 53-43 in the second half, and still could not win. Kobe scored only 1 point in the 4th quarter, he finished with 26. Pau Gasol had 25 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists.
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Tags: Sport Report · Sports
The Cityzine sports report begins with the Dodgers. Yes, baseball is back. Well, it’s still spring training, but there was a hell of a finish in yesterday’s game when the Dodgers faced the World Series Champion Boston Red Sox. It started off with a hit and a steal from Juan Pierre, but we were unable to drive him in due to Tim Wakefield’s solid outing. He threw 3 shut out innings and gave up only the one hit from Pierre.
Derrick Lowe was not as sharp, pitching 2 just innings, giving up 5 runs. Down 5-2 in the ninth, pinch hitter Luke May hits a three run homer that tied the game 5-5. Then, Jason Repko, who had missed all of last season, hit a grand slam making it 9-5. The final score was 9-6 as the Joe Torre enjoyed a win against his former rivals. The Dodgers first game of the season is March 31 against San Francisco.
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Tags: News · Sport Report · Sports
Several weeks ago, fellow Cityzine writer Jeff Barrick introduced a series known as Another Look, where a previously release album was reviewed and recommended for those who may not know. He asked me to write an entry for the series, but I decided to put a different slant on it. Instead of an album, I’ve written about a concert DVD I feel should be brought to your attention. Well, technically it is an album, a live double album in fact. But the DVD version is all that and more. Ladies and gentlemen, let’s have another look at My Morning Jacket: Okonoko’s.
Some of you may be asking, who is My Morning Jacket? They’ve been around for about a decade. The band has gone through some changes over the years, but their beautiful sound and mix of country, indie rock, and psychedelics remains constant. They formed in 1998, all friends from Louisville, Kentucky. Leader singer and guitarist Jim James, along with bassist Two Tone Tommy, and drummer Patrick Hallahan, lost their life long friends Danny Cash (keyboards) and Johnny Quaid (guitar) in 2004. The two did not want to be in a band heavily on the road. They were replaced by guitarist Carl Broemel and keyboardist Bo Koster.
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Tags: Music
