BurdineBandit

There's definitely gold there. I'm actually stoked to go this year. Sturgill has been on my bucket list, so that is an absolute must, but Khruangbin & Leon Bridges are also absolute musts. There's no way they don't do a handful of their joint songs. I've been wanting Jungle to come around this way for about a year now, they're finally in Texas. I've never seen Stapleton, so I'm in for that. I'd see Blink too. My inner adolescent will be excited to see Jeezy. Hermanos Gutierrez. Remi Wolf. Plenty to hear.

I can't talk about rap beef with people who are rating the songs like they're music critics. This ain't that. It's not a battle of "who can make the best track", it's a measure of who can sting the other harder. I'm Pro-Kendrick, because I've been a fan for over a decade now and believe he's a hell of a rapper, but in this specific beef, I feel like I get it. I've listened to Drake, I remember when he came up and I was on the hype train, I've heard his hits from years ago and maybe even nodded my head a few times, but it also didn't take long to realize he's a corny dude playing dress up with the real trap stars. Always has been, always will be, and this beef is about Kendrick saying that dork doesn't deserve to be the face of hip-hop and/or rap (or even be mentioned in the pantheon). I don't disagree. The sharpest bars of the beef to me gotta be K Dot calling out Drake for cosplaying the entire Atlanta scene to profit off of it, like his white ancestors. Rap has always been a regional thing, but the best have been able to overcome their regionality by just being Great (Biggie, Kendrick, Pac, Jay Z).... Drake don't have a culture to fall back on, so he's been able to get spins just clout chasing and riding waves. Which is one way to go about making money, but don't get mad if someone who values authenticity in the Culture don't appreciate it. Me being a Houston native, I've seen Drake do the exact same shit to Houston. He loves all the cultures, but don't really belong to any of them.

I think so, and I hate that Canelo is getting so much flack, because honestly I don't blame him. Benavidez is a tall, lanky mfer that throws faster than Bivol (although I don't know exactly how he's going to fare in 175). If Benavidez can still make 168, I don't see Canelo being the favorite in that one. As far as the fight last night, it also went exactly how I thought. Canelo has seen "Mexican style" his whole life, and started out his career fighting that way, I didn't think there was any situation where Munguia was going to beat Canelo fighting that way. Around round 6 or 7 I also started to notice that Canelo wasn't terribly interested in getting him out of there. He had him hurt a good 4-5 times (including the knockdown obviously), and he never really put his foot on the gas to finish it. A few times Munguia was hurt and didn't even have enough in himself to throw flurries to try to answer and keep Canelo off of him, but Canelo seemed completely intent on letting it stay slow and letting Munguia clinch and survive. This script was exactly the same as the Fielding, Plant, Saunders fights. Feel them out for 2 rounds, let them throw whatever they want, start to counter, and basically just take whatever power shots they give him. But I haven't seen his foot on the gas much since GGG Part 3, mayyybe a bit in Saunders fight.

This is my beef with it. Although, I'll say that I actually enjoyed the movie, I just wasn't satisfied with the story/writing/lukewarm message. I think it was really well made and the sounds/shots (visuals)/acting were all great. Kirsten Dunst was great, Wagner Moura is a G. I just don't like that they teased "Civil War" in the leadup, to deliver a movie that had a lot to say about "war" as a concept, and nothing about the "Civil" part that was the teaser to get people into the seats. War takes a toll on the humanity of everyone around? Yes, I think we've been shown that in much better ways with more deeper and thorough storytelling. I've seen many of the greats, and there have been more than a handful over the decades. Did we just need a reminder that in-fighting will also lead to a lack of humanity? I can just log on to twitter to see that.

Sorry for the weird derail, but I think it's a hell of a coincidence that my older sister told me that her bladder cancer has come back yesterday, and this thing popped today. She'll be receiving immunotherapy treatments again for the next year. Her last round ~2 years ago cleared her, but they expected it to come back eventually, and it did this month. I have no idea what Anktiva does, or in what situations, but now I feel like I gotta ask her questions to see if this would be more of a help for her if/when it hits the market.

Finally in the green. Took me a looooong while and plenty of lows to get this thing down from $20+ to 7.50 avg. I missed the only other spike up to $40 a couple years ago (whenever it was), I'm def scaling out profits this time.

Idk man, being a Texas Ex originally hailing from Houston I've known and met a few in my life, and they're pretty normal people. High school group had one in it, she was pretty with incredible eyebrows, her younger brother was a pretty chill normal Houston kid living the Houston culture (chopped n screwed) and fitting in until going off to college himself. The ones I've met on campus (where I now work) are pretty normal kids trying to figure out if they can survive their Chemistry sequences while they plan their route to med schools, or studying to become counselors/therapists like the rest of their peers (that I work with). Idk wtf you're on about, but I've never heard any of them threaten to kill "lgbtq's (and jews)" in my vicinity. They're just like, living, man. I imagine many of them that are lucky enough to make it out of that warzone and come here, they'd likely be just the same. Have you actually ever talked to any?

Was going to say the same about Sochan, but I get the reasoning in putting him there. I definitely feel that he's long-term and is part of PATFO's core of Wemby/Vassell/Sochan. I also agree Johnson likely doesn't go anywhere but just stays on the bench and hopefully grows through that 6th man role. Upgrading the bench with a couple of vets is on my wish list though. Maybe he'll have to be 7th. I just refuse to believe that all our guys that spent last year in the G League are true NBA rotational pieces and aren't just spending time in SA for PATFO to continue to the tank while figuring out what they really have (Wesly, Champenny, Barlow, Cissoko, Mamu, etc. do these guys stick on another team if they were free agents?). Compared to a couple months ago with the Trae Young talk, I'm a lot less optimistic for next year, bc I also don't think we'll be making any huge moves. But upgrading Champagnie as a starter and a couple of bench spots (draft, FAs) would get me excited for another couple handfuls of wins next year.

Well well well.... He certainly earned this month's paychecks with that goal. Also, finding a stream has been really difficult this year and it's pissing me off. Not enough to pay Apple whatever they want for MLS Season pass, but enough to complain that not only can I not watch my hometown team easily, but I can't even find a decent stream for it either.

Saw it last night, absolutely loved it. What an experience, hadn't seen a production like that in a while. I think my initial reaction is definitely driven by DV and the movie the team made, it's a spectacle. The story is intriguing too, but honestly I rewatched the first one last week and I still didn't have all the houses and characters and relationships down, but I was at least sucked in by the end of Part 2. I'm fully in now. Maybe I'm in the minority but I also came out with a healthy respect for Timmy, his temperament change over the movie was well-played. Also, I could not care less about all the Chani comparisons. I thought Z was fine. DV asked her to film a bunch of scenes just staring at Paul, or scowling at him, and that's what she did. What's all this discussion about.

*361. Corpus is not the RGV. Also, a quick look at their roster, and they only have 2 players on their entire roster from south of San Antonio. Tons of out of state dudes. Maybe Pierce should schedule UTRGV more often rather than TAMUCC, maybe he'll assemble a bullpen that can strike out some 956ers.

Just when I was starting to get down on the kid....

I volunteered for the first time myself, and the entire experience was great. Got lucky enough for a friend to match me up with a VR production company out of South Africa directly. They had us work 18 hours total for a platinum badge. The entire XR portion was pretty cool over at the Fairmont. Got to see a few booths and try something new. I should have been doing this during my 20s, but mustered up enough energy for a couple SX Comedy shows early in the week, and 4 nights of music discovery. Just relying on the app to learn about who was playing when, and rolling the dice on what sounded cool, and I found a few bands to add to the playlists. Really enjoyed it this year and hope I get lucky enough to do it again next year.

Great atmosphere. Went with my nephew and we checked off every wish-list item from pre-game. A double-double with a handful (more) of blocks/assists for Wemby. Check. A Sochan scuffle and some attitude. Check. Not get blown out and at least compete. Check, and exceeded. Most of all, wanted to see effort, and they played hard and stayed with it. Rock? Pounded.

"The thing about the old days...... they the old days"

I really wish KJ looked better. I still like him, but man watching him is tough. He thinks he's a better 3-pt shot than he is, missing wide open catch-and-shoot 3s. Driving with no purpose. It's tough to watch because he looks like he's playing his own game instead of the Spurs' offense. At least he had a couple assists to Wemby, which at this point he really should lean into. We have enough trouble finding him, make yourself useful in just finding our difference-maker.

The long game has already been played. We got what we needed, the roster is coming. No sense in worrying about it right now, things won't move until the summer. I think the "worst" best case scenario is that games like last night, and really the past couple months, have shown the NBA that he is the future, and the future is coming QUICKLY. So that even if we don't wind up with Trae, we can still get our couple of lottery picks hopefully, and sign an unexpected veteran or two. He might change the market all on his own.

Arrived early today. Had beignets before 9 am, walked ans bicycled around City Park a bit and now taking a surly rec and walking to Liuzza's. I sense a local beer in my future.

Just hopping in here to say I finished Fallout 4 this week and it was a lot of fun. I don't play many games any more, and this is only the 2nd game I've "finished" in the past decade, after RDR2 (otherwise just mostly play FIFA, and looking forward to NCAA returning). I was completely new to Fallout until a few months ago, and now I get it. Unfortunately 76 doesn't seem too great so idk if I'll give it a chance, but Fallout 4 was a fun ride.

I got Past Lives, KOTFM, Poor Things, Oppy & American Fiction in order. Anatomy was good, but not really good-to-great like the others. Just need to see Holdovers. Been meaning to catch it. Saw Poor Things today and was thoroughly entertained. That director has some films I really like, this might be the best.

Got bumped to 4 on my year-end list, but I still really enjoyed it. Just a well-written story.

Obviously it's preseason, and we don't really have access to the games, but the starting 11 last night was pretty much exactly the same as last year, and we lost 1-0. I guess I'll adjust my expectations for this season accordingly (so basically, just run last year back). Hope one of these signings can provide a spark here and there.

It took me a couple months into the season, but I eventually gathered that we were "tanking" (by choice or not) when we consistently had guys like Champagnie, Wesley, Branham, Bassey, etc. playing real minutes. Then have convos about guys like Barlow and Mamu enter the convo as upgrades or competition or whatever. Some of them certainly seem to have higher ceilings than others, but really the convos about these guys in particular seem like they should be about whether their G-league time is improving them and if they deserve a shot at a few big-league minutes here and there. Not whether they deserve 20-30 minutes a night helping us lose 95% of our games. Unless that's by design (and at this point it's obvious it is part of the process).

... yikes.

Got a Saturday free before a Sun-Tues conference in NO. Thinking of booking Saturday night at St. Charles Inn and just riding the streetcar down St. Charles early on Saturday to eat and explore and see something other than DT/Bourbon. Never been outside of Bourbon (and unfortunately the Superdome this new year) in my 2 previous trips. Got a lot of pages to sift through here so if any recommendations, lmk. Also considering Marigny/Frenchmen st., that also seems up my alley.