Cos' Blog

Shelly sent this to me on Facebook, from Cute Overload:

Ato posted this on my Facebook page today, thought it was pretty funny:

Like every year, Melissa and I will most likely be watching the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet instead of the Super Bowl.

Here is the starting line-up for this years Bowl, click the pic below to go to the list with bios:

They also have a fun fact about each of these puppies, like the one above (named Aberdeen) has the “Fun Fact: Saving to buy a sailboat”.

Let me know if you’ll be watching.

Click the pic below to see the album:

I’m promising everyone more pics soon.

EMKtainment presents:

American Idol

Week #2

While I am still a fan, I’m a bit worried. This week saw the typical audition process. There were some standouts and the to-be-expected stinkers. However, too many people made it through to Hollywood. At least, that how it appears.

You see, this year they are focusing on the contestants and their journey rather than a one-after-the-other audition wheel. I miss those. So, you see a 2 minute clip of a contestant’s journey, hear them sing, and see them make it through. Most of the time, it’s predictable. More than before. I understand they want to change things up a bit, but come on!

Thursday night’s episode saw Randy and Steven against Jennifer. Finally, a little “trouble” in paradise? Probably not for long. However, it reminded me of the old Paula and Simon arguments that are synonymous with Idol. Hopefully there will be a bit more of this during the remainder of the audition process, which lasts a few more weeks.

By the end of February, we will have our Top 24 and Idol will enter the live shows—where America gets to vote. I’m hoping American Idol will finally have some good talent, someone worthy of the name Idol. I can’t think of anyone worthy of that name since Carrie Underwood. She truly is talented.

Plus, is it more or is Ryan phoning in his host duties? I know he’s not too involved in the audition process, but we see less and less of him. When we think of Idol, we think Ryan.

Anyway, let’s see what next week brings. I really don’t want to comment yet too much on the contestants because it’s too early. However, one thing is  for sure—American Idol needs to deliver. I’m a bit disappointed, but I haven’t given up just yet.

Here is the first of many pics from this past weekend:

Ruthless Roundtable: WWE Royal Rumble 2012 Predictions

“It’s time, once again, for everybody to come aboard” The Ruthless Roundtable…

Borrowing just a little bit from The Godfather, we all know how that quote is supposed to end…and if you don’t, you didn’t live through the Attitude Era…

Tonight is the 2012 Royal Rumble Pay-Per-View, with out a doubt my favorite PPV of the year. But I’m going to happily miss this years viewings because we were out last night celebrating my 30th birthday. So, while the actual event is going on, I might just be asleep.

I got myself up out of a nap just to finish this thing up. And I have to be honest with you, my explanations might not be that thorough. But not to worry, there are plenty of others on the list that either explained their thoughts or like me, just kind of answered the question.

WWE Royal Rumble 2012 card (as of today), matches are subjected to be added:

30-Man Royal Rumble Match Winner receives his choice of a WWE Championship or World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania XXVIII
Note: The Miz (due to losing a match to R-Truth) will be the #1 entry.

CM Punk (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler Singles match for the WWE Championship with John Laurinaitis as special guest referee. Vickie Guerrero and Jack Swagger are banned from ringside.

John Cena vs. Kane Singles match

Daniel Bryan (c) vs. Mark Henry vs. Big Show Triple Threat Steel Cage match for the World Heavyweight Championship

Anyway, here we go!

Cos’s Royal Rumble 2012 Predictions:

Again, this is the short version:

30-Man Royal Rumble Match Winner receives his choice of a WWE Championship or World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania XXVIII
Note: The Miz (due to losing a match to R-Truth) will be the #1 entry.

2012 Royal Rumble winner: Chris Jericho

CM Punk (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler Singles match for the WWE Championship with John Laurinaitis as special guest referee. VickieGuerrero and Jack Swagger are banned from ringside.

Winner and Still WWE Champion: CM Punk
John Cena vs. Kane Singles match

Winner: Kane

Daniel Bryan (c) vs. Mark Henry vs. Big Show Triple Threat Steel Cage match for the World Heavyweight Championship

Winner and Still World Heavyweight Champion: Daniel Bryan

Mother Brain’s Royal Rumble 2012 Predictions
By Mother Brain

Daniel Bryan (c) vs. Mark Henry vs. Big Show Triple Threat Steel Cage match for the World Heavyweight Championship

I see Bryan skating by on this one. He’s got the size advantage against the much larger Henry and Big Show. Plus there’s a tremendous amount of drama with Bryan’s slow heel turn which has made his World Heavyweight Title run more interesting. Expect him to go over against these giants and carry the title into Elimination Chamber.

Winner: Daniel Bryan

John Cena vs. Kane

Many of us still want the Cena heel turn to happen. But all I’m seeing is a wuss company man finally growing some balls and embracing “the hate”. With a lack of momentum and a series of losses in the past few PPV’s, Cena has to go over and get his revenge against Kane.

Winner: John Cena

CM Punk (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler Singles match for the WWE Championship with John Laurinaitis as special guest referee (Vickie Guerrero and Jack Swagger are banned from ringside)

The real story of this match is whether or not Johnny Ace will screw Punk in the match. I get the feeling there will be a ton of moments where he’ll tease it. But he’ll ultimately have to make the right call so he can save his job. No Y2J or Triple H run ins. Punk wins clean over Ziggler.

Winner: CM Punk

30-Man Royal Rumble Match Winner receives his choice of a WWE Championship or World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania XXVIII (Note: The Miz (due to losing a match to R-Truth) will be the #1 entry)

Only 3 possibilities I can see winning the Rumble this year: Y2J, Randy Orton, or Triple H. Jericho has not ever won a Rumble match and many signs point to a serious feud with CM Punk very soon. Orton has the St. Louis hometown advantage and the fact that a babyface is due to win this year. Triple H is my wildcard pick because he’s rumored to face Punk instead of Undertaker at Wrestlemania. For now, I place my bets on Jericho.

Winner: Chris Jericho

Ato’s Royal Rumble Predictions:

30-Man Royal Rumble Match Winner receives his choice of a WWE Championship or World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania XXVIII
Note: The Miz (due to losing a match to R-Truth) will be the #1 entry.

Winner: Y2J Chris Jericho

CM Punk (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler Singles match for the WWE Championship with John Laurinaitis as special guest referee. Vickie Guerrero and Jack Swagger are banned from ringside.

Winner: CM Punk
John Cena vs. Kane Singles match

Winner: Kane

Daniel Bryan (c) vs. Mark Henry vs. Big Show Triple Threat Steel Cage match for the World Heavyweight Championship

Winner: CM Punk

Chosen 1′s Royal Rumble 2012 Predictions:

Biggest Surprise entrant – Rey Mysterio (return from injury)

JJJ’s Royal Rumble 2012 Predictions:

30-Man Royal Rumble Match Winner receives his choice of a WWE Championship or World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania XXVIII
Note: The Miz (due to losing a match to R-Truth) will be the #1 entry.

Winner: Wade Barrett

CM Punk (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler Singles match for the WWE Championship with John Laurinaitis as special guest referee. Vickie Guerrero and Jack Swagger are banned from ringside.

Winner: CM Punk

John Cena vs. Kane Singles match

Winner: Kane

Daniel Bryan (c) vs. Mark Henry vs. Big Show Triple Threat Steel Cage match for the World Heavyweight Championship

Winner: Daniel Bryan

Justice’s Royal Rumble 2012 Predictions:

Triple threat world title match: Winner: Daniel Bryan- I have a feeling Bryan doesn’t go to Wrestlemania as champion but I don’t see him losing here. I think he’ll lose at Elimination Chamber to either Barrett or Orton

John Cena vs. Kane: Kane will look so weak losing to Cena here so thats Why I see Cena winning. Eventually we all want to see Cena turn heel and while this may be a catalyst to a turn,don’t expect to see it yet.

Dolph Ziggler vs. CM Punk: Even with Laurinitis trying to screw him, CM Punk wins and rides a wave of momentum all the way to Wrestlemania. I expect this to be a great match-of-the-year candidate.

Royal Rumble match: I see Orton being one of the last 2 competitors but I don’t see him winning. There’s the new “everyone is eligible” rule so I see some sort of swerve going on but I predict Jericho

Smark Central’s Royal Rumble 2012 Predictions

30-Man Royal Rumble Match Winner receives his choice of a WWE Championship or World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania XXVIII
Note: The Miz (due to losing a match to R-Truth) will be the #1 entry.
What I want to see: I think it’d be interesting to see one of the title holders or challengers (not henry or show) to win this thing. It’s not as crazy as it sounds. I mean that “everyone is eligible to enter” stipulation is there for a reason so while it may not be a lock, its certainly something to keep in mind.
What will happen: Usually the logical choice usually takes it. If you look back over the years the winner is obvious. With that said, I’d look for Jericho, Barrett, or Orton to take it.

CM Punk (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler Singles match for the WWE Championship with John Laurinaitis as special guest referee. Vickie Guerrero and Jack Swagger are banned from ringside.
What I want to see: This is a tough one. I mean you literally have the two BEST wrestlers in the business today vying for the title (what a concept). I want Punk to win only because if Ziggler wins, his reign will not last. Punk would without a doubt, win it back before mania. Dolph deserved better than a 1 month chump change reign.
What will happen: Punk wins

John Cena vs. Kane Singles match
What I want to see: This feud has been good, but it’s borderlined on cheesy at times (as all Cena and Kane storylines tend to do). However, the intrigue has been there despite most people with a brain knowing that Cena will never turn heel (psst…constipation faces into the camera don’t count). I don’t care who wins. I just don’t want Kane to miss the Rumble because of Cena and his phony anger routine.
What we will see: Cena wins, Kane jobs (haven’t you been watching for the past 7 years?)

Daniel Bryan (c) vs. Mark Henry vs. Big Show Triple Threat Steel Cage match for the World Heavyweight Championship
What I want to see: Bryan is really coming into his heel persona. It’d be a shame to cut him off at the legs now. I really hope Vince knows how good this guy is.
What will happen: I don’t see any of these guys making it to Mania as champ, but Bryan will win it here.

I turn 30 today…I had big ideas of what I wanted to write down and now I’m drawing a blank…I guess all I can say is that while a lot of people might see turning another decade older as bad, I see it as moving on from the roller coaster ride that were the twenties. Not that my twenties were bad, at all. But it was a roller coaster ride, one that I’m hoping tapers out into my much more calm thirties.

I am hoping that turning 30 wipes the slate clean and I can restart anew in a new decade of my life; again, not that things are bad, but it’ll be good to restart…it’s like a new year!

Here are some baby pics:

Newborn, first baby pic

9 days old

2 months!

The Mother Brain Files: Red Tails Movie Review
By Mother Brain

Before I dive right into my review, I want to quickly share my initial reaction after seeing the George Lucas-produced historical war drama Red Tails. I wrote a comment on Facebook about how refreshing it was to finally see some heroic African-American role models who can inspire the young people of our generation. There’s no surprise that some of my friends would respectfully counter my point when they reference today’s African-American movie stars like Will Smith and Denzel Washington who often play heroic characters of color. While they’ve had their own struggles in their careers, they’ve also grown to a level of super-stardom in which they can play larger than life characters. The difference between them and the young actors in Red Tails, however, has less to do with star status and more to do with depicting real life heroes who don’t always have the answers and are not afraid to show vulnerability.

As reported in the press recently, Red Tails took over 20 years for George Lucas to get produced into a feature film. Despite Lucas’ massive success with the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, no studio in Hollywood was willing to risk bankrolling on an all-black, action-adventure film; especially when it’s a period piece requiring lots of special effects.  As a result, Lucas covered the production and marketing costs himself and hired television director Anthony Hemingway of HBO’s The Wire to helm the project with a screenplay by former comedy writer John Ridley.

The story is set in 1944 near the end of World War II with the African-American pilots of the Tuskegee program are not only battling the Nazis in the air but also having to battle racial discrimination within the military. But even by having to deal with hand-me-down fighter planes, simplistic missions, and the threat of their program being shut down, the Tuskegee pilots ultimately prove their worth on the most dangerous missions ever given to any American fighter pilots period.

There were many aspects to the film that stood out to me. One of them was nice cinematic comebacks of Cuba Gooding Jr. and Terrance Howard. Gooding’s once promising career following an Oscar win for Jerry Maguire in 1996 was tarnished with humiliation following a string of box office flops in the comedy genre while Howard’s negative attitude on film sets had cost him major roles. The performances of Gooding as the tough Tuskegee base Major and Howard as the supporting Colonel tackling the military politics back at home reminded me of why they were so talented to begin with. They show growth as actors as well as a sense of pride and defiance in their respective scenes.

The film also had a plethora of up and coming black actors in the roles of the pilots themselves. Although everyone had their special moments, it had to be David Oyelowo (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) and Nate Parker (The Great Debaters) who were truly the heart and soul of the film. A lot of critics whose reviews I’ve read panned their individual subplots for being uninspired. But they completely miss the context of the characters’ relationship. As Lucas stated in a recent New York Times interview, Parker’s role as “Easy” was a metaphor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in that he “respects the army brass and plays by the rules”; Oyelowo’s role as “Lightning”, however, was a metaphor of Malcolm X in that he “bristles at authority and blows up German warships when he chooses.” But of the two stand-out performances, Oyelowo made the most impression to me. After having played a sinister corporate antagonist in last summer’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Oyelowo turned on the charm and winning personality that I’d say many in the audience identified with.

Finally, there was the amazing cinematography of John Aronson. As many people know, there was a good amount of sets and locations that were CGI with the actors working around a green screen setup which was the case in making the Star Wars prequels. But it never took me away from the story. I found myself mesmerized by the classical look of the Tuskegee base and the way in which the pilots are photographed beautifully just like the great photographic works of the late African-American photographer and filmmaker Gordon Parks. The dogfights in the air were also a spectacular sight to see. One could understand what inspired Lucas’ spectacular space battles in the Star Wars films after seeing how skilled and courageous these pilots really were. The folks at Industrial Light & Magic carefully studied the remaining real war footage to get the details down to create some amazing aerial feats. You have to see it to believe it.

It’s hard for me to discuss the things that didn’t work in Red Tails. A lot of people complained about some of the cheesy dialogue and the lack of stand out performances due to director Hemingway’s lack of film experience. I’ll be bias in saying that none of these criticisms mattered to me whatsoever. Much of this bias had to do with the film reminding me of my grandfather who fought in the war and whose stories were shared with me by my dad. I don’t think the film necessarily holds a candle to the more realistic and stylish aerial combat sequences in Top Gun. But to me, the real experience of seeing Red Tails was to watch a story about young African-American boys who became men in the midst of combat. Men who were incredibly daring and courageous even in the face of fear and adversity. I believe it is truly an inspiring story for everyone no matter what your nationality is.

It is also a timely story that I hope will help young African-American men of our generation realize that true to life heroes don’t brag about their fame and fortune or get overpaid because of their talents in music, sports, or entertainment in general. Real heroes never get held down by adversity or fear. Red Tails gave me a reason to believe that there are heroes of color who still exist in the world.