EVA

Well, South Carolina doesn't seem to be starting slow. Could be a long one for UNC if this keeps up.

Man, I told you guys that law firm A&M hired were the kings of bending over the NCAA. Although hopefully A&M will get some of their money back, because one half of one game is worse than Cam got.

I'm actually kinda concerned about Alabama this year. On paper, this team has a lot more in common with the disappointing 2010 team than the 2012 team did when everybody was trying to make that comparison prior to last season. The 2010 team had amazing talent at the skill positions (Julio, Ingram, Richardson) and a veteran QB (McElroy), but a lot of new faces on the offensive line, and that just killed them. Neither Ingram or Richardson came close to 1,000 yards, and while Julio was great when he could get the ball, McElroy got sacked, like, a hundred times. Same deal this year: Amazing skill position talent (Yeldon, Cooper - and just insane amounts of talent behind them, maybe the deepest WR corps in the country), a veteran QB (McCarron)...and a bunch of new faces on the offensive line. And the guys being replaced on the OL (two 1st round picks and one of the most decorated linemen in history) were WAY better than the guys the 2010 team was replacing. Likewise on defense, the 2010 team had amazing talent, but no leadership, and that's exactly what I've heard coming out of camp this year. Mosely is a great player and a lead-by-example type, but nobody seems willing to be the guy who rattles cages like Professional Crazy Person Rolondo McClain, or Hightower, or a couple of different guys last year. Fortunately, the schedule is soft enough that they could probably win 10 games playing the 2nd team, but I don't feel like this team is the shoo-in for the title game that everyone thinks they are.

I'm incredibly interested in that game. Both of those teams think they're on the verge of a breakout season and have a chance to play spoiler in their respective divisions. But one of them is going to find out real quick that they aren't who they think they are. North Carolina/South Carolina on that same night looks intriguing, too. Obviously, you've got the best player in the game playing in the very first game of the year, which is neat, but I think there's some real upset potential there. SC has a tendency to start slow in openers. If Fedora has a solid gameplan to keep Clowney off balance, it could be interesting. Auburn/Washington State could be the sleeper game of the weekend. The Pirate vs. The Gus Bus. A metric shitload of points will be scored in that one.

I think the Miley thing is getting so much attention because of how genuinely off-the-rails it felt. As mentioned, this is far from the first time we've seen a wholesome teenybopper make a sexed up transition to adulthood. But however "shocking" those moments are intended to be, they also tend to feel safe. They're all quite clearly the result of heavy collaboration between publicists and image consultants and choreographers, et al - every gyration scientifically calibrated, every costume measured precisely within an eighth of an inch to ensure the most desirable amount of cleavage and ass cheek is exposed.Whatever the hell happened at the VMAs did not feel like that at all. It barely seemed choreographed at all. She just kept doing the same two or three things over again (sticking her tongue out, twerking, gesturing at her crotch). I mean, compare that with Britney Spears' "scandalous" coming out party at the VMAs a decade before when she wore that flesh-tone deal, played with a snake, sang about being a slave, etc. Night and day. One looked like a professional performance, one looked like somebody who needs help.Have you ever been to a party or out on the town and seen that one guy who gets some drinks in him and decides he's the life of the party and he just keeps telling the same joke over and over again and laughing his ass off at himself? That's kinda what this felt like to me.I don't know. Maybe she's the best worker of all the pop stars, but I doubt it.

It was a sad day for me when Alabama dropped the Southern Miss rivalry so they could schedule more games against UT-Chatanooga, Western Carolina, and Georgia State.

IIIIIIII'MMMMMMM SOOOOOOOO REEEAAAADDDYYYYY!!!!!! My favorite time of year.

CCH Pounder is the epitome of a character actress. Margo Martindale, as well.

That Miley Cyrus is one gawky bird.

But Gilligan & Co are so awesome, even when they make mistakes, they correct them in fantastic ways. If they don't make the Twins such over-the-top badasses, and realize it, then we don't get the the incredible ending of "One Minute" when Hank unexpectedly takes them out and we also probably don't get Gus's ascension to becoming what he was.

I believe at the time they concieved season 2, they weren't guaranteed season 3, so they went for a big crazy ending. That said, I fucking loved that. The whole season was like the biggest, darkest joke imaginable. That was the moment when I knew I was ALL IN for wherever this show wanted to take me. When I started the thread for the show on the old board prior to season 3, I called it the best show on TV in the subtitle, back before anybody was really talking about the show in those terms, based on that pay off.

So, you see, all those fears of Hank & Jesse teaming up were completely unfounded. The business with Jesse finding out about the cig swap wasn't the most artful thing they've ever done, but I think it was necessary for them to cover that, and that was probably the only way they could've done it. Plus, it works because 1) he figures it out for himself, and 2) he figures out that he had it right to begin with. But Walt's house didn't look burned in the flash forward, so I'm guessing Jesse doesn't get aroud to lighting the match.

THE ARYANS ARE COMING.

Oh, and I'd like to add that Edgar Wright is amazing. Honestly, he might be my favorite active director right now. The guy throws more ideas up on the screen in a single movie than most directors do in their whole careers. And to see it on the screen is one thing, but then to read intereviews and watch behind-the-scenes featurettes on how he actually accomplishes some of this stuff is just...wow. Insanely creative guy.

I loved THE WORLD'S END right up until he coda at the very end, which was really long and not terribly funny. It's tough to figure out where it stands in the trilogy, because the laughs are undercut with so much sadness and melancholy that the other two movies didn't really have. I need to see it again, because I think it's a deeper movie with a lot more going on than being a simple (excellent) send-up of a genre like SHAUN and FUZZ, and that may elevate it's standing above one or both of those down the line. Even if it's not the one you'd take off the shelf if you were looking for pure laughs. The five guys have amazing chemistry together. I was almost disappointed when the sci-fi element kicked in, because by then I was sold on just watching them get pissed and shoot the shit all night.

If only there was some other role in his filmography in which he had successfully proven his ability to play an evil criminal mastermind...

Fowler is high on Crack Street tonight.

I die.

Well, if you liked Pronto, you could go ahead and read all of the Raylan Givens stories (Riding the Rap, Raylan, and the titular short story of the Fire in the Hole collection).Out of Sight is one of his classics. I also like the two Ernest Stickley novels, Swag and Stick.But really, yeah, just about all of them are good. He was amazingly consistent. And if it's set in Detroit or Miami, it's probably fried gold.

New York's hottest wrestling board is...I can tell the board is going down hill because the thread is already to the next page and no one has liked this yet.Brilliant catch by scraylo.

Well, damn. I kinda worried that this would be coming soon after I heard about his stroke a little while back. I guess I've always had an awareness of him being an older guy, and one glance at his picture on the cover of any of his books would confirm that, but, man, his writing always so full of fun and vitality, you'd never know it by reading his books. So much life in that old guy.Needless to say, I was a big fan of his, and I'm extremely sad that I've read his last finished novel. With that in mind, since I have Raylan handy, I thought I'd pass along his last published words from the last page of said book (not spoiler-y in any significant way)... It was a terrifically funny way to end the book, and, I think, a fairly appropriate way to cap off his career, even if he didn't know that's what it was at the time.

It's actually really hard to make out what exactly he's saying because he's being all gravel-voice and Walt talks over him. Some people have interpreted it like you did, but others, including me (EDIT: and Shylock, apparently), think it's actually, "Family!? You don't give a shit about family." He may in fact be saying something else entirely (Don't give me shit about family?), but I definitely don't hear a hard "I" sound in there.

I am almost 100% certain Hank didn't say that, or at least not in the sense that you're construing it.The Hank hate is strong with you.

I stopped watching after season 2. Jimmy's story was the main hook for me, and I couldn't care less about Nuckie or Margaret. There are a lot of interesting supporting characters, but the cast is so huge and the story so sprawling that they often disappear for episodes at a time. I just can't bring myself to sit through 40 minutes of Nuckie and Eli on the hope of catching a few scenes with Richard or Chalky or Rothstein. I heard season 3 was alright, but I'm out.

Bravado is badass, bruh.