Fight Night! Get 'em here...

April is a month for UFC fans everywhere to rejoice. There is a STACKED fight night card coming up on the 2nd, and the uber-anticipated Serra/GSP title fight on the 19th. More on that in another post, but for now lets focus on Wednesday's card. For a free fight, to sum up, it's fucking amazing.

Kenny Florian Vs. Joe Lauzon
Despite having possibly the worst nicknames in the UFC (Ken-Flo and J. Lau, respectively), these two will throw down. Florian lost a title shot to Sean Sherk back in 2006, and he's been climbing back up the ladder ever since, doing well now with a three fight win streak. Lauzon doesn't have the history Florian does, but he's got some big wins under his belt- Jens Pulver comes to mind- and has a real shot. However, Florian's ground game is better all around and if Ken-Flo (it hurts to call him that...it really does) can take him down, he'll get the win.

Prediction:
Florian by submission (arm bar?)

Thiago Alves Vs. Karo Parisyan
Alves' only loss in almost three years has come at the hands of Jon Fitch, which is forgivible as Fitch is the next up and comer in welterweights. Parisyan is the more experienced fighter but is less impressive. He's technically consistent, with seven of his eight wins being a decision. While slow and steady might win the race, it makes for kind of a boring fight.

Prediction:
Alves by TKO

Matt Hamill Vs. Tim Boetsch
Ohhhh UFC 75. For those who don't remember, that was the fight night back in September. In London. Yeah. That one. While most remember it for Cro Cop getting defeated ( :( ) , or Rampage/Henderson, it was also the site of a controversial decision in Hamill/Bisping. The decision went to Bisping, but Hamill earned a lot of fans that night. Look for this fight to wind up on the ground.

Prediction:
Boetsch submission (choke)


Kurt Pellegrino Vs. Nate Diaz
I'm not being technical about this one. I hate Nate Diaz. I want them to make him a toy for Silva to play with. That'll teach him....little punk.

Prediction:
Pellegrino -by any means necessary.


James Irvin Vs. Houston Alexander
Irvin is 13-4, but three of those have been in the last two years. It's a rocky road. Now, I don't like Alexander as a person but he's a pretty decent fighter. Setting aside both men's loss to Thiago Silva, my money's on Alexander for this one. Maybe he got lucky against Jardine, who then got lucky against Liddell (or Liddell just needs to retire), but he seems better conditioned to me. Possibly the only fight that has a one-punch power.

Prediction:
Alexander by KO

That's it for the broadcast fights. In the undercard, real quick rundown:
Gray Maynard Vs. Frank Edgar
Edgar TKO


Josh Neer Vs. Din Thomas
Thomas- decision

Jeff Cox Vs. Manny Gamburyan
Gamburyan (if his shoulder is holding up)- submission

Roman Mitichyan Vs. George Sotiropoulos
Ladies- remember, being hot and having an accent does not a good fighter make. However, Sotiopoulos by decision here.

Anthony Johnson Vs. Tommy Speer
The Farmboy. I like him. Go Tommy.


Samy Schiavo Vs. Clay Guida
Guida. I'm not even sure why they gave Schiavo this fight.


And if three hours of UFC isn't enough for everyone, the season premier of TUF is on next. Five words, fight fans...

Team Forrest versus Team Rampage

Anyone who has talked fighting with me for more than thirty seconds knows who I'm backing 100%. Can't wait!!

That Zach Braff can really make a girl sing...

I have a confession. Even though I was in the prime audience for it, I was never that into the pop princess/boy band craze. I admit I owned the Shania Twain albulm with Man I Feel Like a Woman on it and the Titanic soundtrack, but there was narry a Britney Spears or N'Sync CD to be found in my library.

A few months ago, though, I was changing CD's in my car and for a very rare moment heard a song on the radio that made me stop and listen to it. I wrote the lyrics down and Googled them when I got home....Mandy Moore.

No Shit! Mandy Moore, she of the saccharine bubble gum pop, sounded gorgeous now. I went out and bought the CD, and I was not at all disappointed. Since I've been listening to my Ipod in my car for the last month and a half, I completely forgot the CD was in there until this morning, and maybe because of my current doleful (there's a vocab word for you, kiddies) mood about my own relationship, or maybe cause it's just good writing, I'd like to compare the Mandy Moore of yesteryear to the one blasting out in my car. So, from each album, here we go...

So Real (1999)
Candy:
So baby come to me
Show me who you are
Sweet to me
Like sugar to my heart
I'm cravin' for you
I'm missin' you like candy


Not her best effort. This one was a radio smash and kind of made people want to smash things around them. I was 14 when this came out, but if I had been older and had friends that drove any sort of neon convertible, I might have been rocking out.

I Wanna Be With You (2000)
The Way To My Heart:
You're the one
You set me free
When you're close to me
All that I do
Is think about a way
To make you stay with me
Baby I'm falling apart cause you know the way to my heart


Slightly overdramatic....slightly stalkerish. Not a fan.

Mandy Moore (2001)
Crush:
Ooh, I got a crush on you
I hope you feel the way that I do
I get a rush
When I'm with you
Ooh, I've got a crush on you
A crush on you


Three albums in three years and it kind of seems like the lyrics just get worse and worse...but stick with me people.


She took some time off. She made Saved (NICE move). She got together and I'd assume got her heart broken by Zach Braff. And then she came out with Wild Hope, my current obsession and the point of this blog. Here's two songs plus my personal favorite off the album, just so you can see how much people really can grow up in a short time.

Wild Hope (2007)
Nothing You Are:
Somebody told me, they saw you somewhere
Somebody hold me, cause suddenly I'm a little, cold
Well I must be mistaken you for somebody else
I know you all to well, or do I?
I heard you say
We were one and the same
Well wrong again
I could never do those things you did to me
I will be ok
In time you'll fade
Into the nothing that you are
The nothing you are


Is it edgy? Not by a long shot. Is is leaps and bounds more honest and impressive (especially since she wrote the enitre album?) than "I'm missing you like candy?" You betcha.

Ladies Choice:
You did everything
I asked you not to
Look where it got you
I’m sure you heard it before, but
How could you?
Baby, why would you?
Goodbye, sweetheart
Countdown started
Words are heavy
But I’m far from broken hearted
Goodbye stranger I’ll take the fall
Lies were tempting
You know you never really threw me off at all
Go ahead, waste your time
Count me out
Take your place at the end of the line
Raise a glass, no surprise
Here’s to us at the end of the line

Again, not a huge "whoa that's an angry lady like Ani Defranco" kind of lyric. However, it's umpteen times more powerful and self assured than the "All I do is think of a way to make you stay."

And finally, although this doesn't really make a point, I just think this song is gorgeous.

Gardenia:
Well, I put so much thought into getting ready
Now I know that was the best part
It’s so easy to get caught up in what I’m regretting
Forget what I got from a wounded heart
I’m the one who likes Gardenia
I’m the one who likes to make love on the floor
I don’t want to hang up the phone yet
It’s been good
Getting to know me more


So taking a few years off from making immediately forgettable pop music has catapulted her into the folksy chick rock genre with the likes of Rilo Kiley and Ingrid Michelson. I hope she's there to stay. If this is what he does to former pop stars, maybe Britney should start dating Zach Braff. The girl could use the help.

Only two things come from Belmar, cowboy...

Almost two years ago, exactly two months and a day before my 21st birthday, some friends and I went to New Jersey....I know. However, it was our friends birthday and with all of us scattered all over for the summer, we decided it might be nice to get together for a weekend. At the time, I was the only one in the group who wasn't 21, but it was a-ok, cause that night and all other nights I had to be 21 I was not Caitlin, I was Dana somethingorother from Annapolis, born Octobers 13, 1984.



Now, in the bars in my college town, if someone is caught with a fake ID, in general you are told to leave, and half the time they give the damn thing back to you. Not so much in Belmar, NJ. No, no...they took me to jail instead. I should also mention two of my 21 year old friends, INCLUDING the birthday gal, got to get arrested too. You see, they were aiding and abetting me. Obviously.



So there we are, three twenty something little girls, sitting in handcuffs in a police station in the middle of New Jersey. Finally, after a confusing time when they couldn't find my real info in MD's state system and told me they were going to charge me with terrorism if I didn't tell them who I really was (a joke and scare tactic, I'm sure, but damn if I didn't start to cry. Mean policeman. Bad.), and after an embarrassing moment I can only blame on adrenaline in which my friend and I sang the chorus of "Take Me Home Tonight" to our arresting officer (Eddie Money, we hardly knew ye), we were let go and told to come back in a month, go to court, and pay our fine.



$1200 later, I was done with the whole situation, and one may wonder why I'm bringing it up now. Unless you have been living under a rock like Allan and Charlie, you know the Gov. of New York was out screwin some whores. (Excuse me, they were high priced. Making love to some "call girls"), and that the hottie of the moment, Alexandra Dupri, is the one who finally brought him down....you can insert your own joke there. Well, I have nothing to do at work really besides read the news cause well, I work at a newspaper. So. Ms. Dupri is from.....Belmar, NJ.



....Really, NJ? Instead of spending time and money ARRESTING people for having fake IDs, maybe redirect those efforts into say....school programs alone the lines of "ok kiddies, when you grow up, don't have sex for money" I would have been upset if the bouncer had taken my ID that night and sent me on my way, but in all honesty I probably deserved that. I wasn't of age, whatever. But a record I have to disclose when I apply for jobs? That's excessive to the max. I had to make up that max part to drive my point home, because the word excessive just doesn't cut it there.



In closing, Belmar, New Jersey, I'm still boycotting you (sorry, Carolyn). Stop hanging out at the bars arresting 20 and ten month year olds. You have a lot to be proud of. Bruce, obviously. Bon Jovi. Jay and Silent Bob. Queen Latifah. And now, prostitutes!

do UMISSME (now that I'm gone?)

A few days ago, my friend Allan told me to start a blog to make things go by a little quicker at work (I've been here a week and a half...) and I thought about it and decided it wasn't really worth it until I actually had something to write about. Well, new friends, now I do. So without delay, welcome to my first blog post.

My commute to work can be tedious. As I was sitting stationary on the ramp to the highway this morning, a Nissan cut me off. Whatever, I was going to let him in regardless. My eyes drifted over his car, down to his license plate, and lo and behold, screaming out at me was "UMISSME"

"Huh." I thought. "That's a little weird." I could see something red at the bottom of the plate but as I had an opportunity to switch lanes and move faster than 25 mph, I took it and didn't catch what the sticker said. However, Mr. Nissan also saw the opportunity and cut me off...again. "UMISSME..." I tried to give this guy the benefit of the doubt. I really did. Perhaps he was a proud graduate of the University of Mississippi. Maybe he was a ghost, come back to earth to hoping one of his family memebers happened to be going south on 83 and REALLY freak them out. Then two things happened. I stopped dead again, and saw that the little red sticker had the word "now?" Then i pulled along side him. He was sitting in the car, collar jauntily popped, doing something I can only describe as bopping, probably to music along the lines of the OAR/Fall Out Boy/I circle jerk in my free time variety. (I should point out that I like both OAR and Fall Out Boy but I don't pop my collar or participate in circle jerks and therefore I am a better fan than Fratty Fratterson and his Nissan)

So. I'm left with one huge tool of a manboy wondering what some girl POSSIBLY could have done to incur the wrath of a UMISSME+Now? vanity plate. It would seem to me like that statement is just another way to say "you didn't know how good you had it, girl." I feel confident enough to make my next statement without ever having met the man behind the wheel or the girl behind the license plate: I'm pretty sure she knew EXACTLY what she had. It's why she no longer has it. You go girl.