UFC Results

Let’s take a look at my predictions and the results:

Nate Diaz vs Clay Guida — my prediction: Diaz.  Winner: Guida by split decision.

Manny Gamburyan vs Thiago Tavares — my prediction: Tavares.   Winner: Tavares by unanimous decision.

Karo Parisyan vs Dong Hyun Kim — my prediction: Karo.  Winner: Karo by split decision.

Jon Fitch vs Akihiro Gono aka “The Japanese Sensation.” — my prediction: Fitch.  Winner: Fitch by unanimous decision.

Stephan “The American Psycho” Bonner vs Jon “Bones” Jones.  — my prediction: The Psycho. Winner: Bones.

Lyoto Machida vs Thiago Silva.  — my prediction: Flip a coin.  Winner: Machida via 1st round KO

BJ Penn vs George St. Pierre for the UFC Welterweight Championship — my prediction: GSP.  Winner: GSP byTKO when Penn can not answer the bell for the 5th round.

UFC Tonight

Tonight the UFC is putting on a really good card.  Predictions are that it will be the biggest UFC pay-per-view ever.  Although I’m not sure about that [I think that they could have picked a better date — this is the second pay-per-view this month and the day before the Super Bowl] — but  I do believe it’s going to be an excellent card.

Nate Diaz vs Clay Guida should be very entertaining.  Both are agressive, in your face fighters.  Diaz has height, reach and youth on his side and Guida has experience.  I’m going with Diaz.

Manny Gamburyan vs Thiago Tavares could be a technical battle.  I think that Tavares is going to be too much for Manny though.  I don’t think this will go the distance.

Karo Parisyan vs Dong Hyun Kim should be a great fight.  Kim is undefeatedKaro has crazy skills and a ton of experience against tough opponents.  He may not be favored, but I’m pulling for Karo.

Jon Fitch vs Akihiro Gono aka “The Japanese Sensation.” I’ll be surprised if this one goes the distance.  Fitch for the victory.

Stephan “The American Psycho” Bonner vs Jon “Bones” JonesJones is undefeated and Bonner is coming off an extended layoff due to injuries.  However, their nicknames alone seal the deal.  The Psycho will defeat Bones.

Lyoto Machida vs Thiago Silva.  How often do two undefeated, 13-0, fighters match up?  Not very.  They’re both 6’1″ and weigh 205.  Flip a coin, then sit back and enjoy the fireworks.

BJ Penn vs George St. Pierre for the UFC Welterweight Championship.  This is the second time that they will meet.  GSP won the first battle in a tough split decision match.  Both fighters are much better now and they were very good then.  This should be a war.  I’m going with GSP.  He’s the current title holderPenn is coming up in weight to fight him.  These two facts give GSP a slight edge, at least in my book.

Time for a Laugh

This is the true story of George Phillips of Meridian, Mississippi, who was going to bed when his wife told him that he’d left the light on in the shed.   George opened the door to go turn off the light but saw there were people in the shed in the process of stealing things.

He immediately phoned the police, who asked “Is someone in your house?” and George said. “No” and explained the situation. Then the police explained that all patrols were busy, and that he should simply lock his door and an officer would be there when available.

George said, “Okay,” hung up, counted to 30, and phoned the police again.

“Hello, I just called you a few seconds ago because there were people in my shed.   Well, you don’t have to worry about them now because I’ve just shot them all.”

Then he hung up.   Within five minutes three squad cars, an Armed Response unit, and an ambulance showed up.   Of course, the police caught the burglars red-handed.

One of the policemen said to George: “I thought you said that you’d shot them!”

George said, “I thought you said there was nobody available!”

Take Me Back to “Babylon A.D.”

The Pitch: “The 5th Element” meets “Blade Runner” with a little bit of “Children of Men” in the mix.

The Overview: Set about 30 years in the future, Toorop [Vin Diesel] is a mercenary hired to deliver a woman [Melanie Thierry] from Russia to the US.   Since border crossings are no longer easy, and Toorop is considered a terrorist in the US, it ain’t gonna be easy.  Of course if it were easy, we wouldn’t have much of a movie, would we?

The Good: The sense of time and place is excellent… from poor battle-torn slums in Russia to a frozen sea crossing to the bright lights of NYC.  The unexpected stuff that seems expected to the characters in the movie — the helicopter/car ride, the submarine rising from the ice to transport refugees, paper maps that work like computers, etc.  Toorop keeping his word when he is first brought in.  That technology is everywhere.   The cast.  Diesel in a cage fight.  Melanie Thierry is believable as Aurora.

The Bad: The advertising for “Babylon A.D.” — and the fact that the director complained that he wasn’t able to achieve his full vision.  The ending is somewhat quick, but totally works with everything given.

The Ugly: The slums of Russia.  What happens to Gorsky.

The Summary: “Babylon A.D.” was so much better than I thought it would be.  I watched the unrated version [it and the theatrical version are on the dvd] and totally enjoyed it.  It’s not a great film, but one that I believe will grow better with each viewing.  I look forward to it joining my dvd library.

Joe Bluhm Gives It Away

Joe Bluhm’s drawings are dead-on.  Folks say Joe Bluhm has “crazy skills.” “Mad talents” cry others.  I’m starting to wonder if maybe both groups are right… and not just about his skills and talents.  See, Joe has a new art book coming out called Sketch Infectus.  And that’s where things start to head into crazyville.

Joe’s Sketch Infectus is an 80 page hardcover art book filled with nearly 400 of Joe’s drawings.   He’s selling this sweet package for just $19.95.  That comes to less than 20 cents a sketch.  Insane, right?  Well, it gets better my friends.

Joe also went out and gathered quotes, tips and advice from some of the top artists working today.  People like Tom Richmond, Steven Silver, Phillip Burke and others.  Did Joe raise the price?  Nope.

Then to show you how out there Joe is with this offer, let’s quote the man himself:

Anyone who pre-orders by February 5th (happens to be a good friend’s birthday!) will get an original sketch. And by sketch, I don’t mean I’ll draw a little 5 second scribble… I mean I’ll actually be cutting out the sketches from these and other sketchbooks and giving them to you! You might get something IN the book and you might get something else! Your sketch might have a doodle on the back. Who knows!

Now that deal is insane and crazy.  And if you don’t jump on it, you’d have to be too.

Flatulene – Stinky Good Time

If Rev. Dave Johnson aka “The Potentate” draws it, I’m there.  So today we have a link to Rev. Dave’s trailer for “Flatulene.” What is “Flatulene” you ask?  Well, here’s how “The Potentate” describes it:

Farting for fun and profit… About 3 days of work to put this together for Titmouse Studios second annual 5 second animation day… As I worked on it, her story started to write itself… My inspiration was Russ Myers ‘Faster Pussycat, Kill Kill’… I might even try to pitch this to Adult Swim.

So if a smokin’ hot chick with irritable-bowel syndromefast cars and a partner who’s a flesh-eating zombie sounds like something you’d like to check out, then click hereVROOM! VROOM!

Ledger Deserves It

It was announced today that Heath Ledger has been nominated for a Best Support Actor Oscar for his work as the Joker in “The Dark Knight.” Although most say that it’s enough to be nominated, I’d really, really like to see Ledger win.   [I’ll be pulling for Mickey Rourke in the Best Actor category, but not quite as hard.]

Time for a Laugh

A first grade girl handed in the drawing below for a homework assignment.

After it was graded and the child brought it home, she returned to school the next day with the following note:

Dear Ms. Barnes,

I want to be very clear on my child’s illustration.  It is NOT of me on a dance pole on a stage in a strip joint.  I work at Home Depot and had commented to my daughter how much money we made in the recent snowstorm.  This photo is of me selling a shovel.

Mrs. Fife

Sign Me Up for The Eternal Prison

Jeff Somers jumped to the top of my MUST READ AUTHORS list with his first Avery Cates novel, The Electric Church.  His second in the series, The Digital Plague was even better.  So you can imagine how much I’m looking forward to his third Avery Cates novel, The Eternal Prison.  Here’s what we have to look forward to:

Avery Cates is a wanted man. After surviving the worst bioengineered disaster in history, Cates finds himself incarcerated – in Chengara Penitentiary. As Chengara has a survival rate of exactly zero, the system’s most famous gunner must do some serious plotting. And a betrayal or so later, he achieves his goal. At a price.

All he has to do now is defeat some new personal demons, forge some unlikely alliances, and figure out why the people he’s killed lately just won’t stay dead.

Since The Eternal Prison won’t be out until this August, if you haven’t read the first two books now is the time to get on it.  If you’ve already read them,  you’ll have to be satisfied with hanging out at Jeff’s Blog or the official site for The Eternal Prison.

Bob May: RIP

Bob May passed away today.  Many, if not most of you probably don’t recognize the name or face.  I know I didn’t right away.  The reason that I’m noting his passing is because he played an important role in one of my favorite TV shows when I was a kid.  Bob May was the man in the robot suit on “Lost in Space.” Although it was Dick Tufeld who provided the robot’s voice, it was Bob May that made the robot move.  Together they created one of the most memorable tv characters of all time.

Bob May didn’t have a huge list of credits on the Internet Movie Database.  He wasn’t a household or name or have an instantly recognizable face, but he did play a part on one of my favorite shows as a kid and I didn’t want to let his passing go without mention.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends and fans.

Viking Crime Story?

I love crime storiesMovies, comics, novels, it doesn’t matter if it’s well done.  I’ve read modern crime stories, futuristic crime stories, but I’ve never read a viking crime story.  That’s about to change in April.  Check out what writer Ivan Brandon had to say about his project:

VIKING is everything I love about crime fiction filtered through one of the most violent and fascinating periods of human history.  It’s been in the works for so long at this point that I’m overwhelmed to finally get to show it to people. The overwhelmingly positive response to the teaser alone has Nic and I humbled.”