Cheap Trick needs to be in the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame

So let’s get them there! It’s been long overdue. I’m not going to trash any bands/artists who got in and maybe weren’t as worthy, enough snubbing people! So tweet it out, get the message across on Facebook. Tell your neighbors, tell your friends. Cheap Trick, RRHoF, ASAP!

Let go- “Some things you can never let go, some things you should never let show!” Great song to kick off the “Lap of Luxury” Album. Which happened to be my first Cheap Trick album.

Ain’t that a shame- Fitting song for the fact that Cheap Trick as been snubbed for years! Not their song, but they show incredible chops for putting their stamp on it and staying true to the original. The mark of an elite band.

Surrender- I always have this song linked up with the classic movie, “Fast times at Ridgemont High”.

Dream Police- Perhaps the classic anthem for the band from Rockford, Illinois.

Need your love- I can hear so many other bands when I hear this song. Most notably guitar riffs Billy Corgan might have “borrowed” for his band The Smashing Pumpkins. They were big fans!

All we need is a dream- Probably my favorite Cheap Trick song. So atmospheric and upbeat.

I want you to  want me- I remember this song driving with my mom as a little kid. It was always on the radio, which was cool with me!

The flame- I should be sick of this song, as much as I have listened to it. For me though, it’s one of those magical tunes, reminds me of too many good times and always puts me in a good mood.

If you want my love- A beautiful rock ballad. Really well written, musically.

Don’t be cruel- Yeah I know, it’s not their song, but this version is, dare I say, better than the King’s? That’s right, I said it!

Ghost town- A great song from my favorite album, “Lap of Luxury”. It reminds me a lot of a Roy Orbison song.

Oo la la la- If you are a Smashing Pumpkins fan, the “Oo la la la” part should be very familiar.

Never had a lot to lose- Quirky, wild, fun. Probably sums up the members in the band!

Voices- Man, I forgot about this tune. It wasn’t until I was putting this list together until I stumbled back onto it. Shame on me!

I know what I want- Cheap Trick in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Let’s do this people!

Bold Predictions: Chicago Cubs edition

Pitchers and catchers reported on the 19th of February. Most of the midwest is still buried under tons of snow and ice. Winter’s grasp will begrudgingly loosen it’s hold and give way to some warmer weather. What better time than to make a few predictions for the upcoming baseball season?

Video contains explicit lyrics that may be NSFW

Jake Arrieta will have the lowest ERA among Cubs starters, at the All-Star break–despite signing John Lester.

Javy Baez will lead the team in home runs. I believe it will be Baez and not Soler or Bryant who will have the breakout season. He’s still going to strike out plenty.

Anthony Rizzo will not need the supplemental vote to get into the All-Star game. The young superstar will be among leaders in votes.

The Cubs will not have a losing record in any month in the regular season. That’s right. .500 or better! Playoffs? I want to say yes, but I don’t want to jinx the team like I did with the Bears.

Do you have any bold predictions about the Cubs or your favorite baseball team? Feel free to leave them in the comments below!

 

Does Blizzard play ‘fair’ with game design?

The goal of any good game, especially an MMO, is to keep you playing. Even more so when they can happily charge you a monthly fee to do so. They want you logging in, usually daily, to keep you entertained and basically “hooked” on their product. It is not unlike a fast food restaurant or a food manufacturer. Is there a code of ethics they need to follow? Or is all fair in love and Warcraft?

Everlook, Winterspring.

I ask this question honestly. Back when Mists of Pandaria came out, I had to ask myself some tough questions. I was overwhelmed with content. By nature, I am an altoholic–this means that I play many different characters, usually on a daily basis. With all the content they had designed, it was rough on players like myself. You simply couldn’t play like you had during Wrath or Cataclysm. I was miserable for a few days, maybe even a week or two. Finally, I said F- it, and I slowed down and played “my way”. This means I fell way behind the “curve” as far as gearing my max level characters. I continued to level alts slowly, and run the farm on a few characters.

The tactics: Daily quests, profession cooldowns, weekly point caps, and weekly raid lockouts are some of the tools they use. With Warlords of Draenor, they have the Garrison producing more reasons to log in and check them every day. Follower missions, that reward all kinds of items, gold, and experience. Mines, that offer ore, an herb garden, and let’s not forget those work orders! There are a few dailies, but not even a fraction of what we had in Mists.

No one “makes” us log in, the Garrisons are a lot less hands on than the farm was in Cata, still, if you are an alt-lover, you probably find yourself logging onto a handful of characters and grinding out “chores” on your Garrison. Is this fair. Is it ethical? Is Blizzard on the up and up or are they using dirty tactics to keep us going?

To me Wrath and Cata were probably the “golden age” for many players. Whether you had one “main” you played or a bunch of alts, there was really a lot of freedom in your playstyle. You could run Wintergrasp all day and send tokens to your alts who then could buy gear. If you wanted to catch up on reputations, simply put on a tabard and run some dungeons. Could be 1, could be as many as you had time for. One of the biggest things, they implemented flying for your other characters, which you could purchase from your max level toon and send it to any alt. Originally it was 1000g and let them fly at level 70. Later on it was dropped down to 68 and learned at the trainer.

So how do you feel? Are you cool with the way Blizzard keeps us logging in or do you wish things were a little more forgiving if you miss a few days? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the space down below!

Hearthstone 101: The paladin

I like the paladin, especially early on in my Hearthstone career. Probably because you had a nice crutch with 24 additional health through spells and minions. Their basic cards are not as sexy as the mage or hunter, and neither is the paladin hero power, but I think we can make a decent go of it.

I built this deck with some quick strike potential in mind.

2 each of the following:

1 mana- Blessing of Might: This spell gives a minion +3 attack. Pretty straightforward.

Hand of protection: Give a minion Divine Shield. It basically absorbs 1 attack, whether that attack is 10 points or 1 point, so keep that in mind.

Humility: Change a minions attack to 1. Great for neutralizing those heavy hitters, especially if they have a taunt.

Stonetusk Boar: A 1/1 minion with Charge. Works great with either Blessing of might or the heftier Blessing of Kings.

2 mana- Holy Light: Restore 6 health. Can be used on a minion or your hero.

Acidic Swamp Ooze: A 3/2 minion with a Battlecry that destroys you enemy’s weapon. Come in real handy. Don’t go using it on a 1/2 rogue weapon!

4 mana- Truesilver Champion: This is a 4/2 weapon (4 attack, 2 durability) which heals your hero for 2 when it attacks. One of the most annoying weapons in the game.

Blessing of Kings: Give a minion +4/+4. Turn that 1/1 minion into a 5/5 dynamo! Works especially well with that little boar!

Consecration: Deal 2 damage to all enemies. This can be buffed with a minion who has + to spell power. Works really good with Equality when you get it from packs or craft it.

Hammer of Wrath: Deal 3 damage, draw a card. Great little spell.

Chillwind Yeti: A 4/5 minion. Nothing fancy. It’s in that 4 attack sweet spot, so it can’t be easily removed by priests.

Gnomish Inventor: 2/4 minion with a Battlecry: draw a card.

Sen’jin Shieldmasta: A pretty solid 3/5 minion with Taunt.

Stormwind Knight: (only 1 of these) A 2/5 minion with charge. If you still have a buff, this guy can become a 5/5 or a 6/9 force to be reckoned with.

6 mana- Lord of the Arena: (only 1) At 6/5, this minion packs some muscle. Comes equipped with a Taunt as well.

7 mana- Guardian of Kings: A 5/6 minion with a Battlecry that heals your hero for 6 points. Nothing annoys your opponent more than when you play this. The Battlecry is instant. The scar this minion leaves will be a lasting one!

Cards you will want to swap in: Run Naxxramas when you can and pick up one of the best Secrets in the game: Avenge. Equality will replace Humility and work masterfully with Consecration. Argent Protector will replace Divine Shield. These are just a few ideas. Feel free to swap card in and out as you see fit.

 

 

Chicago sports hit with double whammy

Bad night for Chicago sports on Tuesday. First, Blackhawks top scorer Patrick Kane is involved in an awkward collision and hurts his shoulder and wrist. The severity is not known (to the public) but murmurs of him being out 7-10 weeks have been escaping. Then news broke from the Chicago Bulls that Derrick Rose re-tore the meniscus he had surgically repaired in 2013.

With Kane, there is at least some hope he comes back for the playoffs. How effective will he be after a long span off, remains to be seen. Kaner is a pretty tough guy for his size and NHL players often give 100% no matter how injured they are. That’s just the way NHL hockey is played.

For Derrick Rose, this has to be a huge blow for an already skittish psyche. I said earlier in the year that I would trade Rose, short of an appearance in the NBA Finals. There is pretty much no way he gets traded now. He struggled to average 18 points this year as he was playing his way back into shape after basically 2 years off.

I genuinely feel bad for the guy. He doesn’t deserve this. If he comes back though, he needs to shed the kid gloves and go all out. All of his injuries have come with no contact. The Bulls probably put the best team around Derrick this season, and may still be able to make some noise in the playoffs. They clearly need to move on from him going forward.

It’s funny how things work in sports, the Cubs and Sox look to be entering into promising seasons for 2015. After a miserable 2014 for the Bears, 2015 looks to be headed in a nice direction with a new GM and head coach. “Tuesday’s gone” as Lynyrd Skynyrd so eloquently put it. Now both clubs have to move on and hope they have enough to get into the playoffs, where anything could happen.

Walking Dead Weekly

Welcome back to Walking Dead Weekly! Last night’s episode, The distance, was an excellent one on many levels. Questions were answered, people were evolving and growing, no one died! Before we get started though–

****Spoilers Ahead****

This is how the season should have started. I know they had to take care of some business the last two episodes, before things got too crazy. I guess it was worth it. Even as juicy as this episode was, I have a feeling we are finally going to get to Greg Nicotero’s promise of a “crazy season” and I can’t wait!

We start off seeing our group in the barn with a mystery person, revealed as Aaron. We learn he has been “stalking” them for a period of time. Last time the group was stalked, things happened–just sayin’. The first thing I noticed was Judith started crying immediately. This is symbolism that is there for a reason. Remember this moment. I don’t trust the dude.

I loved that Michonne stepped up and became more of a vocal leader. I love the fact that Rick trusted her. However, it scares me a little that she is becoming “the moral center” for the group. We have learned by now what happens to the moral center. Speaking of which, I felt that the motor home was an homage to Dale. I have to be honest, I didn’t like Dale until the episode where he died. I’m not sure if that was genius writing or just bad luck for me.

The ride in the dark to go to Aaron’s camp was pretty intense. Especially when Michonne remembered to ask him the “three questions”. It led to some of the most intense footage since the Season 5 opener.

Questions: How close are they to DC? We saw an awesome shot of the city as the group made their way to ‘Alexandria’. My guess is, they are probably a good 20-30 miles away. Is there any symbolism behind the “J” on the gun Rick left at the abandoned house? Why did he only leave one gun? Where is Morgan? I am going to keep asking.

We heard kids playing from outside the compound, where were they when the group entered? I suppose they could have been ushered away, or was it some kind of recording to lure the group in? Why did they leave the vehicles outside? Do you trust these new people? I don’t. Having not read the comics, I really don’t know what is in store.

Zombie kill of the week: Glen introducing a walker to a rock was a nice moment, but Rick turning one into a road flare with the flare gun was absolutely brilliant. I gotta put it in the running for zombie kill of the season.

That’s it for this week. Cannot wait to see what goes down next. Tune back in next week so we can talk about it!

A tribute to days of the week

That’s right. This week I decided to take a look at songs that were about a particular day of the week. If you follow me on twitter, you probably know I like to tweet out certain songs on their appropriate day of the week.

Stone Temple Pilots sing about all the days of the week, so who better than them to kick things off?

Manic Monday- If you are 30-50, you have probably heard this song on the radio and either love it or hate it. It’s been played a lot. It still get’s some airplay on stations that do 80s songs.

I don’t like Monday’s- Oh, those Boomtown Rats! I thought this song was by Elvis Costello for the longest time. That’s another column though!

Blue Monday- Monday gets a bad wrap as far as days of the week go. This is one of New Order’s iconic songs, so deal with it!

Tuesday’s Gone- I didn’t actually know this song until Metallica covered it. Then I heard the original when stations started playing it again. I dig them both. I think I like the original, just a slight bit better.

Ruby Tuesday- An iconic Rolling Stones song. Not necessarily about the day of the week, but hey, they put the name in the title, so there.

Wednesday morning 3 AM- I had to really dig for this Simon and Garfunkel song. It’s not my speed, but it’s not too bad.

Waiting for Wednesday- I vaguely remember this song being played by the spectacled singer-songstress, Lisa Loeb. It’s peppy.

Thursday’s child- Not sure why this song didn’t get much play on mainstreem radio stations. I dig it. Maybe, I am listening to the wrong stations?

Friday I’m in love- The Cure probably secures this day with their appropriately named tune.

Friday Night- Classic 80s rock from Vandenberg. This song always puts me in a good state of mind.

Saturday Night!- The Bay City Rollers used to have their own show on Saturday Night. It was majestic. I watched it as a wee lad.

Saturday night’s alright (for fighting)- Elton John performs the classic anthem for this day.

Sunday Bloody Sunday- Sometimes the day of the week isn’t particularly going as well as planned. U2 sings about one of these such times. Still a great song.

Everyday is like Sunday- Morrissey is not particularly fond of this day. I don’t mind a silent or grey day. They are great for watching football or napping. Or both!

So there we go. Some of the classic songs with days of the week in their title.