Random Thoughts

- HBO please stop trying to make the final season of Entourage seem so serious, it is not making me want to watch it.  This show has been pretty bad for a few seasons now, but like so many I have spent so much time with the characters I can't stop watching.  My first thoughts about the new season is that it would be similar to The Office where the destination at the end of the season would give it direction and allow it to re-find those qualities we loved it for.  Maybe it will.  But I remembered that outside of Jeremy Piven the talent level is so vastly inferior to The Office that it would be a stretch.  Here's hoping the Adrian Grenier learns how to act/care, E stops being a whiny little man, Turtle finds something to do with his life beyond smoking weed 5 times a day, and Drama stops being mad at the world.  They left last season with some potential interesting storylines (namely the return of Billy Walsh as a clean cartoonist trying to make Drama a cartoon star, the state of Ari's Marriage, and Vince's arrest), but recent history seems to point to the show dealing with these problems in a deus ex machina way (see Vince quitting the business only to be offered the role of Nick Carroway by Scorsese [which was an even more ridiculous plot line that one flop would turn an actor toxic to the point of quitting]).

-If you haven't gotten into Game of Thrones I give it my full backing.  I have never nor plan to read the some 6000 pages written/to be written by George R. R. Martin which serve as the basis for the show.  After 2 episodes I was skeptical I would keep with it due to the vast expanse of the universe and all the complex relationships the show was having trouble explaining while keeping the plot moving.  However, I watched the third episode (I always give shows at least three episodes) and I was hooked.  The acting is phenomenal, aided by the fact that we have had little experience with most of the actors and actresses in other projects.  The no-names work because it doesn't really distract you from the characters and the world they live in.  Think about the Harry Potter series, when you watch that then watch another movie, say Love Actually and half the cast is the same you keep expecting Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman to end their marriage, don their Hogwarts robes and settle their differences with their wands.  It also helps that the actors do not define the show giving it much more freedom to dispose of characters;  it would be tough to have Lost with out Dr. Jack Shepard (as the creators wanted to kill off the show's most notable star, Matthew Fox, episode 1), but Game of Thrones does not have that quality about it. 

-  The U.S. Men's National Soccer Team is in trouble.  Don't expect the next World Cup to go as well as this past one.  The team looked weak in this year's Gold Cup, despite making the finals.  The defense was a huge question mark and outside of Clint Dempsey the attack lacked any real threat.  The worst part is the best performers at the Gold Cup will be in their 30s in 2014, many of them leading the line for their 3rd cup.  Ask Italy how that worked out for them.  We also won't play much together outside of qualification.  Missing out of the 2013 Confederations Cup really hurts.  If you remember it was the Confederations Cup where we beat Spain and went 2 up on Brazil.  This gave the team a lot of confidence and familiarity with each other, the atmosphere and the venues for the World Cup the following year.  Next go round the team will need to have a lot of new blood that won't have that experience.  It looks like a repeat of 2006 could be in the books.