Newsies: Passion After 20 Years

It started on The View then it kept growing. It's going to be a little Jersey show to make it possible to have a script for school to do legal productions of it. Then it was at the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. Then came the Broadway announcement. A limited run at the Nederlander, the little theater that made Rent a national phenomenon. Maybe there's a little Larson magic left in those halls. Then it opened, the soundtrack became a top ten hit on ITunes. Good Morning America covered it. They got a extenstion. Then Nightline did a story. It is growing. Then came the Tony Award nominatons. EIGHT...EIGHT nominations, including Best Musical.

If you told me all this was possible back in 1992, after the movie was a flop, aired ONCE on the Disney Channel. It became the movie and soundtrack in my collection that got overplayed. This was met with jokes and being fun of for years.

This show of course is Newsies. A musical that in my mind is up there with West Side Story and Grease in quality. Such an obsession is not healthy to some but to me it was just natural.

Now in 2012, as this little musical that was a joke gets bigger and bigger, I must say I am enjoying it.

Newsies is more than a musical to me. It's an inspiration. It's my childhood. It's the link to my innocence. Years have gone by and whenever I pop in the movie or the soundtrack it makes me happy.

When the Broadway news hit last year and they announced the theater, it was almost like a dream come true.

That's the theater that reignited my passion for Broadway when I saw Rent there for the first time. (Still the only show I got a chance to see four times.) Now after all these years, my show is there. The show. Newsies the Broadway Musical.
 
But now reality has set in. I will blast the soundtrack, watch the videos on YouTube and enjoy the ride from afar.

With money the way it is and a wife who "doesn't get it", I will either pray for a Disney miracle or a national tour starting Jeremy Jordan.

Either way, I will as I always have been, continue Carrying The Banner.

Super Bowl XLVI Champions...

I guess I have to do this blog post just based on the fact that I made a pick. My brain is totally fried over last night. It was an emotionally draining night but I'm still elated that the Giants pulled it off. I swear if anyone ever says that Eli isn't a Top 5 elite QB now, needs to get checked into a mental hospital. Is he the best ever? No. BUT he is the best in New York history and today a two time Super Bowl champion and MVP. End of story.

Super Bowl XLVI

My Pick: Giants 35-Patriots 32
Actual Score: Giants 21-Patriots 17

The Road to the Super Bowl...

Okay there really isn't much to say after yesterday. That might been one of the best days of football I've seen in years!

AFC Championship Game

My Pick: Patriots 35-Ravens 14
Actual Score: Patriots 23-Ravens 20

NFC Championship Game

My Pick: Giants 38-49ers 28
Actual Score: Giants 20-49ers 17 (OT)

That being said here we go...

Super Bowl XLVI
New York Giants vs. New England Patroits

Didn't we do this already four years ago? This should be interseting. Much like last year I'm making my pick early so I don't have to sit and think about this for two weeks.

Giants 35-Patriots 32

2012 Conference Championship Weekend Picks & Thoughts (1/22/12)

Well last weekend didn't go down as I expected. I will admit, much like alot of people, I was wrong about the 49ers, the Giants stunned everyone, Tebow got embarrassed and the Ravens quietly marched on. Before I get into Championship weekend, let me just get my picks from last week out of the way.

New Orleans Saints at San Fransisco 49ers
My Pick: Saints 41-49ers 12
Actual Score: 49ers 36-Saints 32

Who would have guessed that the 49ers OFFENSE would have actually won a shootout against the Saints? Never expected that. I do want to say though, the last five minutes might be one of the best ending of a football games I've seen in years.

Denver Broncos at New England Patriots
My Pick: Broncos 38-Patriots 35
Actual Score: Patriots 45-Broncos 10

What can I say? I was wrong. I shouldn't have gone against my instincts.

Houston Texans at Baltimore Ravens
My Pick: Ravens 31-Texans 15
Actual Score: Ravens 20-Texans 13

Well at least I got the winner right. I didn't see the game at all. So yeah.

New York Giants at Green Bay Packers
My Pick: Giants 35-Packers 32
Actual Score: Giants 37-Packers 20

As a Giants fan, I'm so happy! As a Packers fan, I'm sad. But the Giants fan is bigger in this case. One note I didn't expect the Pack to play so sloppy for the Giants defense to actually shutdown the Packers offense. Amazing.

That being said, let's get to this Sunday's games.

AFC Championship Game
Baltimore Ravens at New England Patriots

This game could go two ways. #1 it could be a defensive battle, a low scoring hard hitting game. Then there's option #2, a high scoring game that gets out of hand quickly. To be honest I don't see the Ravens being able to shutdown Brady.

Score: Patriots 35-Ravens 14

NFC Championship Game
New York Giants at San Fransisco 49ers

Here. We. Go. If you don't me back in November this game would be happening, I would have sad you were crazy. Well here we are. Two good defences, one elite quarterback and another who proved he could strike under pressure. This is going to be a great game.

Score: Giants 38-49ers 28

NFL Divisional Semifinals (1/14-15/12)

In last week's wild card weekend, we saw pure dominance by the Saints, amazing defense by the Giants, a sign the Texans are for real and another miracle Tebow comeback by the Broncos. Now it's time for the next round an see what happens.

While I never officially wrote it done, I was 4-0 in picks last week. I did seriously pick the Broncos despite everything. So this week, let's make these picks official.

Saturday games first.

New Orleans Saints at San Fransisco 49ers

The 49ers are probably one of the ugliest teams in the league this season. I say that not because of the players but by HOW they win their games. They never score touchdowns, they even settle for field goals when they should go into the end zone. This is because they have an awesome defense. The problem with that is the Saints have one of the best offenses in the league. While I don't want the Saints to win, I just can't see San Fran pulling this one off. I hope I'm wrong.

Score: Saints 41-49ers 12

Denver Broncos at New England Patriots

Tebow vs. Brady is getting prime time. That's just how it should be. This game can go one of two ways. It could be a mega shootout or a defensive struggle. Based on the previous encounter of these two teams, it will be the former. Honestly, I see this being a very back and forth contest. The real question is can Tebow lead his team to another Cinderella victory? I say...

Yes.

Score: Broncos 38-Patriots 35

Houston Texans at Baltimore Ravens

The Texans have been a very surprising team this year. At this point they are playing with house money. The Ravens on the other hand have shown that they are still an elite franchise. Just being serious, I don't even care about this game and I'll be at the Admirals game when it's happening. With that being said...

Score: Ravens 31-Texans 15

New York Giants at Green Bay Packers

The game of the weekend. Manning vs. Rodgers. This could be a shootout. It also helps that these are my two teams. Now to the keys. For the Giants to win they have the run the ball, control the clock and keep he ball out of Roders' hands as long as possible. The Pack do not have a good defensive line so they have to take advantage of that. For the Packers to win they have to dominate at every turn and cause turnovers. At the end of the day it will come down to which team has the ball last, just like last game.

(This is going to piss some people off.)

Score: Giants 35-Packers 32

Returning to Action

Well back in June, I signed out of this blog with no regrets and no thoughts of returning to it.

Now it's 2012 and I've decided to return to blogging in general and take this pop culture blog out of retirement. But with some changes.

1st of all, there will be no TV show recaps. They take up too much time and honestly some weeks I just don't have time to watch shows on time. So that will be that.

What I will be doing is occasional thoughts and opinions on stuff, like say American Idol, The Voice, etc. Most of which will be closer to the end of the TV seasons.

#2, on the sports front, there will be no predicition thread where all I do is pick a team or a series. When I do write predictions, they will be detailed with full explaination.This will start with my soon to be written post about the the NFL Semifinals this weekend.

#3, no more random awards picks, I know they don't get read. But that doesn't mean that occasionally, depending on the award show, I won't do a detailed prediction blog, especially if it's something I'm passionate about.

I think that's it.

I hope you enjoy this like you did last year. I hope it gets the hits it did last year.

Thank you for reading.

---Blake

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs-Stanley Cup Finals (Results)

Stanley Cup Finals

#1 Vancouver vs. #3 Boston

Pick:Boston in 6
Results: 4-3 Boston