Gonzaga moving on, together, with elusive Final Four in sight

HOUSTON For a while Friday night, Gonzagas strategy seemed to be: Lets miss shots by a smaller margin than UCLA. Gonzaga struggled to put the ball in the basket. UCLA struggled to put the ball near the basket. For long stretches, it was the kind of ugly game that makes people question why basketball has to be played in a dome. Or at all, really.

And you know what? It didnt matter. The Bulldogs were never going to lose this game. Never. Not from the opening tip, not when the teams combined to miss 19 straight shots and not when the Bruins went on a predictable run to start the second half, cutting Gonzaga's seven-point halftime lead to 35-34.

The Bulldogs were the tougher, smarter, more skilled team, and they knew it all along. The difference in Gonzagas 74-62 win in the Sweet 16 of the South Regional could be summed up in two players. UCLA has a freshman named Kevon Looney who could be an NBA lottery pick this summer. He finished with nine points and eight rebounds, but there were members of the Gonzaga band who had a bigger impact on the game.

Meanwhile, Bulldogs center Przemek Karnowski had 18 points, nine rebounds and roughly 11 yells with his fists outhe was one rebound away from a Caveman Triple Double. He was fantastic. Somebody should reward him with a jersey that isnt so tight,

And when it was over, Gonzaga coach Mark Few poured some verbal high fructose corn syrup on his press conference. He talked about all the lovey-dovey college stuff that makes people roll their eyes. But if you watched the game, you could see it. You could see what Few meant when he said this:

"The biggest thing with this win is, it allows this group to play together, which is the highest motivating factor theyve got going on. Were 40 minutes away from another week together. The way they feel about each other, care about each other and love each other, that is the motivating factor."

Thats nice, Coach, but those of us in the media will choose your motivating factors, OK? You just coach the team.

We have decided that your team's motivating factor is to bring Gonzaga to its first Final Four, thus legitimizing the incredible success the program has enjoyed for the last 17 years unless you then lose in the Final Four, at which point we will decide you need to win a national championship. Got it? Thats your narrative. Dont stray from it unless we give you permission.

Kidding aside, even Few would acknowledge that making the Final Four would mean so much for Gonzaganot just for the current players, but for all the former ones. And you know, its unlikely that the Bulldogs will beat Duke on Sunday, because the Blue Devils are the second-most talented team in the country and are playing extremely well. But its not impossible.

Duke has the nation's best post player in 6'11" freshmanJahlil Okaforbut does not have much depth behind him. And while Okafors defensive deficiencies have been overblown, he is always at risk of getting into foul trouble. With the 7'1"Karnowski and 6'10"Domantas Sabonis, Gonzaga can make Okafor work on defense, and may be able to send him to the bench.

Thats where I think our teams deadly, said Zags star Kyle Wiltjer, who was speaking generally, not about Duke specifically. We have that depth and we can put really big foul pressure on other teams bigs. Sometimes we get easy baskets because they are scared theyre gonna foul.

Few called upon that strength during the only moment when there was any real tension in Friday's game, after the Bruins had gotten within one point two minutes into the second half. He called timeout, tweaked the Bulldogs' defense against pick-and-rolls and reminded his team to play inside-out.

We called a bunch of sets that pretty much demand the ball goes in there, Few said.

Gonzaga respondednot just by playing well, but by playing well in exactly the way Few wanted. As Wiltjer, the junior forward who finished with eight points and 10 rebounds, said: We really just stayed true to our values Were very confident. We believe that we belong here. Were playing with a chip on our shoulder.

Few said afterward: We didnt play perfect tonight. Probably didnt even play what we would consider really good. But we were tough and we were physical.

The Bulldogs werent very good, but they were good enough. Thats the sign of an outstanding team. They will have to be great to beat Duke. But know this: They will be ready. After all these years, give them that.

Fast Breaks: (1) Wisconsin vs. (2) Arizona preview

The Wisconsin Badgers will take on the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday in an Elite Eight matchup in the West region.

Source: http://www.si.com/college-basketball/2015/03/27/gonzaga-ucla-sweet-16-ncaa-tournament

Continue Reading ..

Fans get drenched on a rainy Day 1 of Ultra Music Festival

Among a throng of people standing in line Friday afternoon under the hot Miami sun, Kenya Solomon wore a string of pink flowers on her head, a black tank top and tie-dyed shorts as she spoke of her love of electronic dance music.

It just lets you be free and be yourself, she said. You feel it run through your whole body. You release all your stress.

The 19-year-old college student from North Carolina came to Bayfront Park for the Ultra Music Festival, which opened its gates Friday afternoon for the 17th edition of the three-day, internationally known event.

Scores of revelers wearing bright get-ups, from bathing suits to elaborate, feathered, frilly, flourescent outfits flooded the park. The steady beat of the music boomed along Biscayne Boulevard as fans jumped and gyrated. Outside the maze of barricades and gates set up to guide festival goers to the entrances, police directed traffic. Downtown streets were clogged following the festivals 4 p.m. start.

The afternoon heat gave way to a stormy evening as wind and rain sent crowds of revelers scrambling for cover under trees, covered walkways, stages and tents. Still, hundreds threw their hands up and jumped to the pulse of the music in the face of the downpour.

By about 9 p.m., however, the rain grew so intense that organizers closed five of seven stages.

Chuck Caracozza, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the rain is a result of a strong cold front hitting South Florida this weekend. Caracozza said the weather should be much drier with temperatures in the mid-70s during the day and in the 50s overnight on Saturday.

Its going to be a big change from what weve been experiencing in the past few weeks, Caracozza said.

Earlier Friday, with the weather not an issue, Marlon Chacon, 18, draped a Costa Rican flag over his back with the festivals logo on it as he and two friends, who traveled from the Central American nation, walked up Biscayne Boulevard.

Its our first time, he said. I want to see a bunch of DJs, Tiesto and Porter Robinson.

Early birds in line chanted, sang and took selfies as they stood in line.

Organizers hope for an incident-free weekend, not a repeat of last year when security guard Erica Mack was trampled underneath a chain link-fence that toppled over after people crashed the gate to get into the opening day of the festival. Mack was hospitalized for 11 days.

Changes have been made to security and safety for the 165,000-ticket festival. The increased police presence could be seen all around the entrance Friday, and sturdier fencing encased Bayfront Park.

Rene Pimentel, spokesman for the Miami Police Department, said several undercover narcotics officers are roaming the grounds of the festival, which has a reputation for drug use.

Pimentel said several arrests had been made early Friday night, but exact numbers were not available.

We want to keep people safe, and we want to send a message to those coming to the festival looking to buy drugs, he said. You might be buying from an officer, and your partys getting cut short.

Several fans came from afar for the weekend. Kristy Darbishire, 25, donned a white bikini with red maple leaves to show her Toronto pride. With red and white streamers flowing from her crimson hair, she said she was most excited about hearing Skrillex and David Guetta.

This weekend is her first time at Ultra, and she rattled off the reasons why she loves electronic music festivals:

The costumes, the environment, the people, the love, no hatred, no judgment.

Kim Kowalski, 23, lives across the street from the park in downtown. Where shes heard and felt Ultra from her apartment in the past, she crossed the street Friday for her first experience inside the gates.

Even NFL star Rob Gronkowski came out for the festivities. A fan captured the New England Patriots tight end twerking on stage.

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article16507613.html

Continue Reading ..

Deadpool's Movie Costume: An In-Depth Look

Yes, Deadpool is really coming to the big screen courtesy of Fox on Feb 12, 2016, and he wont be sewed-mouthed with Baraka-arms and borrowed powers. No, h**l be the Merc with the Mouth, and as RyanReynolds revealed today, his costume as Wade Wilson is a very close likeness to his most popular comic look.

Here well take a look at the individual components of the costume, and compare them to how he has been seen in the pages of Marvel Comics stories. They say a pictures worth

The Red and Black

The basic design, including the black and red color scheme, hearkens back to creator Rob Liefelds original look for the character. Created for The New Mutants #98, drawn and plotted by Liefeld and scripted by Fabian Nicieza, the eventual merc with the mouth was then mostly just a lethal mercenary.

The red bodysuit Liefeld designed had black accents on the shoulders, alongside the outer edges of the ribcage and up onto his chest, and large black ovals around eye slits. The costume we see for the film seems to follow those basic design elements perfectly, if with slightly smaller eye-ovals than originally designed.

The Straps and Buckles

The buckles we see across the chest in the movie shot were not part of the original design, though they were included in the design for 2013s Deadpool video game with a practical use they held his swords to his back.

He also has a strap going across his chest, which looks like its more likely for that particular use, holding a sword for quick access. He also has straps around each bicep, each wrist, and several around his legs. Arm and wrist guards are fairly common amongst various sports, as protective gear in hand-to-hand and weapon combat, and lets be honest, Deadpool probably just thinks they look cool. The ones around his calf also hold a sheathe of a sort for a knife in the comics, the characters only real superpower is his ridiculous level of healing (and pain threshold), so his proficiency in virtually every type of weapon comes in handy. Going with the protective gear theory, it does look like he has kneepads built into the legs of the costume, as well.

Pouches, Glorious Pouches!

A stereotypical staple of 90s costume design, the copious pouches come right from Liefelds original look for the character, as well. Theres a belt full of pouches, two leg-belts lined with pouches, and even smaller capsule-size pouches around his arm, in Deadpools first comic book appearance.

In this first film shot, we see the belt, and it looks lined with pouches. The right leg also has pouches wrapped around it, while another sheathe or holster takes that spot on the left leg.

In real life, for instance in the US Army (which I was enlisted in for 6 years), pouches are an essential part of the uniform. Classic Web Gear would hold about six-eight pouches, used to hold ammunition, canteens, maps, compasses, cammo tubes, and just about any other miscellany you can think of that you might need handy, including the occasional snack. Newer web gear has room for as many as 12 different pouches of varying sizes. Most modern body armor also has tags on it to which additional pouches can be hooked. This is all in addition to the many pockets built right into the uniform. So really, the number of pouches on this outfit (and any others created in the 90s) are too few!

And one more thing, the pose!

The pose is glorious, and it captures the humorous nature of the character nicely. More importantly, however, it is a pretty clear homage to Burt Reynolds lying on a Bear Skin rug because WHY WOULDNT IT BE?

Source: http://comicbook.com/2015/03/27/deadpool-s-movie-costume-an-in-depth-look/

Continue Reading ..

Calvin Harris is smitten with Taylor Swift

Calvin Harris is smitten with Taylor Swift.

The Scottish DJ, who recently split from model Aarika Wolf after seven months of dating because of his hectic schedule, has been secretly spending time with the 'Style' hitmaker since late last month after meeting her at the 2015 BRIT Awards in London.

A source close to the 31-year-old star, who was spotted holding the blonde beauty's hand at a concert in Nashville, Tennessee on Thursday night (03.26.15), said: "It's been going on a few weeks. They actually make a great couple. They are just getting to know each other and we'll see what happens.

"They have been having secret meet ups in LA.

"He is taken with her. They connected properly at the BRIT [Awards] and it's been going on since then."

Taylor, 25, is said to be equally attracted to the 'Summer' hitmaker, who also previously dated Rita Ora.

The insider told E! News: "He is such a good guy. He's serious but also very goofy at the same time. She really likes that combination. It's exciting for both of them. It's hard to meet someone in their business."

The 'Blank Space' hitmaker is also hoping to team up with her new beau in the recording studio.

The source explained: "Taylor is producing more dance music now and would love to write a track with Calvin."

Source: http://www.guelphmercury.com/whatson-story/5529837-calvin-harris-is-smitten-with-taylor-swift/

Continue Reading ..

New homeowner selling house because he can't get Comcast Internet

One unluckyman who bought a house that can't get wired Internet service is reportedly selling the home just months after moving in.

Seth, a software engineer who works at home, bought a house in Kitsap County, Washington, after being told by multiple Comcast employees that he could buy the Internet service he needs to do his job, according to a detailed Consumerist articleyesterday. Seth also wrote a lengthy account on his blogtitled, "Its Comcastic, or: I Accidentally Bought a House Without Cable." (The man's last name was not given.)

"Before we even made an offer [on the house], I placed two separate phone calls; one to Comcast Business, and one to Xfinity," Seth wrote. "Both sales agents told me that service was available at the address. The Comcast Business agent even told me that a previous resident had already had service. So I believed them."

That turned outto be untrue. After multiple visits from Comcast technicians, he says the company told him extending its network to his house would cost $60,000, of which he would have to pay an unspecified amount. But then Comcast allegedly pulled the offer.

"After about seven weeks of pointless install appointments, deleted orders, dead ends, and vague sky-high estimates, Comcast told him that it had decided to simply not do the extension," according to the Consumerist story. "The company wouldnt even listen to Seths offers to pay for a good chunk of the cost."

We contacted Comcast to get more details last night but haven't heard back.

After getting nowhere with Comcast, Seth tried getting DSL Internet from CenturyLink, which told himit could provide service of up to 10Mbps.

"After that very first Comcast tech told Seth there was no cable infrastructure to his house, he contacted CenturyLink. The company promised to get him hooked up right away," Consumerist wrote. "But then the next day he got a call informing him that his area was in 'Permanent Exhaust' and that CenturyLink wouldnt be adding new customers. Of course, that didnt stop CenturyLink from billing Seth more than $100 for service he never received and will never be able to receive. Seth then had to convince someone with CenturyLinks billing department to zero out the account that should have never been opened."

Besides Comcast and CenturyLink, theKitsap Public Utility District operates a gigabit fiber network that passes near Seth's house, Consumerist wrote. "So why cant he just get his service from the county?Because Washington is one of the half-dozen states that forbids municipal broadband providers from selling service directly to consumers," the article said.

Nationwide, about 20 states impose limits on municipal broadband in order to protect private Internet providers from competition. The Federal Communications Commission voted to preempt such lawsin Tennessee and North Carolina after receiving petitions from municipal providers in those states but is facing a lawsuit over the decision.

Consumerist reporter Chris Morran contacted both Comcast and CenturyLink but was unable to get a satisfactory answer about Seth's case, he wrote.

"Even though Comcast was given weeks to research and comment on Seths story, the company has yet to provide Consumerist with a statement or explanation of how it could not only fail to keep an accurate accounting of serviceable addresses, but why it continued to send tech after tech to do installs that couldnt be done," Morran's article states.

CenturyLink provided Consumerist a short statement: "We researched the issue and found that there was an error in our system, which we are updating.

"That was two days ago, and yet as of right now the CenturyLink website still says Seths address can get broadband service," Morran wrote.

To get his work done, Seth wrote that he is using a Verizon Wireless mobile hotspot that is "frightfully expensive and has a 30GB per month cap...When I want to download a big file, like an OS update or a VM image for work, I go to the local Starbucks. Their Wi-Fi is great."

Seth could get satellite service, but his work requires a VPN connection, which would be unreliable with satellite's high latency.

While Comcast, the country's biggest cable company, tells the federal government it faces so much competitionthat it should be allowed to merge with the second biggest cable operator, agovernment database designed to tell consumers what options they have for Internet service is offering inaccurate information.

The National Broadband Maplets you enter any address in the US to find out what Internet accessoptions are available. The database shows 10 options at Seth's house, including mobile and satellite, but they're all eitherinadequate for home Internet service or unavailable. One of the 10 options is that fiber network that residents cannot use.

"Im devastated. This means we have to sell the house," Seth wrote. "The house that I bought in December, and have lived in for only two months."

Source: http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/03/new-homeowner-selling-house-because-he-cant-get-comcast-internet/

Continue Reading ..

Movie Reviews: While We're Young Might Be Baumbach's Best Yet, Get Hard Is ...

A24Noah Baumbach's While We're Young might have been a simple takedown of the millennial generation, those feckless hipsters with their empty values and sense of boundless entitlement. You know: "These d**n kids today."

RELATED ARTICLES MORE ARTICLES BYKurt Loder

But the movie is more complex than that. It focuses on Josh and Cornelia, two married New Yorkers who are surprised to find themselves in their mid-forties with the big dreams of their youth unfulfilled. Josh (Ben Stiller) is a documentary filmmaker. His first film, now obscure, was well-received, but he's spent the last 10 years grubbing for grant money to finish a followup. Cornelia (Naomi Watts), the daughter of an esteemed documentarian, Leslie Breitbart (Charles Grodin), once worked as a producer for her dad but now mainly provides loving support for her husband. She and Josh are childless, and they're okay with that; but their friends, all fellow 40-somethings, are awash in babies. Life is dull, dull, dull.

Then, while teaching a dinky continuing-education course in filmmaking, Josh is approached by another couple, Jamie (Adam Driver) and Darby (Amanda Seyfried). These two are in their mid-twenties, and they're full of fun and spontaneity. Their funky loft in Bushwick (where else?) is packed with retro-hip accoutrements: an old electric typewriter, a collection of VHS tapes, a wall full of vinyl records. Jamie seems to idolize Joshhe has actually seen his first film (he sought it out on eBay), and he wants to learn at the feet of this older director. Josh, starved for approval and admiration, falls right into the younger couple's vibrant lifestyle, bringing Cornelia along with him. Soon Darby is taking Cornelia to hip-hop dance classes, and Jamie is encouraging Josh to buy a stingy-brim fedora. Life is exciting again.

While we're sneering at Jamie and Darby's nitwit trendiness, the movie grows darker. Jamie isn't quite what he seems to behe represents something new in the world, or at least the world as Josh has always known it. Josh is ponderously committed to "truth" and "objectivity" and the art of film. (He says things like "I'm trying to solve the problem that Eisenstein never solved.") But for Jamie, these concepts are quaint leftovers from an earlier, now-irrelevant era: truth is whatever you say it is, and objectivity is a lie.

In another sort of movie, we might expect Josh's traditional values to prevail in the end. But it's not that simple. With youthful vigor, Jamie is quickly assembling a film of his owna film that Josh sees as a corruption of the documentary form. But everyone likes it, even Josh's revered father-in-law. And when Leslie finally sits through Josh's filmall six and a half hours of ithe pronounces the long-gestating project to be "seven hours too long." Josh is hurt and astonished. He determines to expose Jamie as the immoral careerist he actually isa mission in which, again surprisingly, he both succeeds and fails.

This may be Baumbach's best movie. The script he has written has both depth of character and a vivid cultural specificity. And the lead actors do some of their best work. Stiller, who also played it straight in the director's 2010 Greenberg, once again mutes his penchant for compressed comical rage to portray a man whose most dearly held beliefs are being shredded before his eyes. And Watts is both moving and very funny (especially when trying to get down with the hip-hop kids) as a woman disoriented by her own mid-life confusion. Driver deploys his familiar hipster charisma to complex effect, and Seyfried is a minor revelation as a younger woman who's ambiguously uncommitted to much of anything at all.

Baumbach, now 40-something himself, presents these characters as flawed but still worthy in their own ways. He doesn't cut them any breaks, but he doesn't judge them too harshly either. The story concludes with a sigh of bittersweet generosity, which is also not what might normally be expected. It's very grown-up.

Warner BrosGet Hard

Let's see. The story is a blast of scattershot raunch? The star bares his pasty b**t? Is it a Will Ferrell movie?

Yes it is. Get Hard uses its simpleton storylinewhich could fit snugly on a pair of Post-it notesas an armature on which to hang a series of raucous skits, few of them surprising but some of them very funny, in a scattershot way. Possibly in an effort to expand his audience in an "urban" direction, Ferrell has brought on Kevin Hart to costara wise decision. Hart's quick-witted comic presence is a welcome complement to Ferrell's familiar big-baby act. Still, this is a textbook example of a movie you're likely to forget before you make your way out of the theatre.

Ferrell is a stock trader named James, a rich idiot engaged to his boss' hot-but-conniving daughter (Alison Brie). James is baffled when he's unjustly arrested for fraud and embezzlementhe's innocent. But a judge decides to make an example of him and sentences him to 10 years in prison. And not some cushy Club Fed lockup, eitherJames will be going to San Quentin. Terrified by the prospect of a decade of jailhouse rape, James starts looking around for someone to coach him in ways to survive on the inside. He settles on Darnell (Hart), the owner of a car-wash service who's in need of a large cash infusion to build a better life for his wife and daughter. James has cash to infuse, and he figures Darnell is the right guy for his purposes because Darnell is black, and therefore must have spent time in prison himself. Ha ha.

The skits kick in. Darnell turns James's luxurious estate into a simulated prison. He tries to instruct James in how to make a "mad dog face" to scare away menacing cons. (James can only manage "sad-d*****g.") He attempts to teach James how to fight the sort of multiple assailants he might face behind bars, but this doesn't go well either. James does succeed in one area, thoughhe learns how to conceal a shiv in his nether regions.

A number of early reviewers of this movie have decried its "homophobic" approach to the subject of jailhouse rape. I think they should lighten upthis is a venerable comic area. There is a scene in which James attempts to perform f******o on a guy in a restroom stall that crawls right up to the cusp of the film's R rating. But then one of the most appealing characters in the picture is a flirtatious patron at a gay brunch spot. (He's played by Lyle R. Guidroz, an actor who has so far made a career of appearing uncredited in a number of movies. Guidroz has a sunny comic facility that deserves fuller recognition.)

The movie also makes room for rapper T.I. (Clifford Harris to his mom), a natural actor who owns every scene he's in. John Mayer puts in a nicely self-deprecating appearance, too, although it feels like a favor on somebody's part.

The script, by director Etan Cohen and Key & Peele veterans Jay Martel and Ian Roberts, gives Ferrell and Hart some crisp lines. ("When you were at Harvard, you ever get raped?" Darrell asks. James replies: "I think that was more of a Yale thing.") But most of the humor here is standard-issue "edgy." (Darrell teaches James how to pronounce "n****r," there's a fleeting reference to "Jew hair," and we see an occasional bare breast and flaccid p***s.)

There's always been an audience for this sort of retro-potty-mouth movie, and no doubt there still is. How large it is at this point remains to be seen.

RELATED ARTICLES MORE ARTICLES BYKurt Loder

Find this and hundreds of other interesting movies at the Reason Shop, powered by Amazon.

Source: http://reason.com/archives/2015/03/27/movie-reviews-while-were-young-might-be

Continue Reading ..

Olivia Munn and Aaron Rodgers gleefully celebrated Wisconsin's Sweet 16 win

Actress Olivia Munn and NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers were in the crowd in Los Angeles on Thursday night, rooting on the Wisconsin Badgers to the Elite Eight and, they hope, a second-straight berth in the Final Four.

It was a great game a classic weeknight Sweet 16 battle but once it became clear Wisconsin would prevail over North Carolina, Modgers, no, Munndgers, no, Oliviaaron, no, Aarlivia thats it, thats the celebrity couple nickname were cheering like they were lifelong Wisconsin fans who bleed red, white and some sort of cheese.

Rodgers has been a big Wisconsin basketball backer for years. He followed the team to the Final Four last year and recently joked that he wants a 1-on-1 game against Badgers star Sam Dekker. That sounds like a great idea for a guy playing on a $110 million contract, but I enjoy the desire and moxie nonetheless.

And, sorry Olivia and a mandate of American men, but Ms. Munn is only the second most interesting thing about that picture above. I love LOVE that the sports/Hollywood power couple is sitting directly next to ESPN golf analyst and Wisconsin super-fan, Madison native Andy North. I wonder if Andy ever whispers two U.S. Opens is better than one Super Bowl. I totally would.

Rodgers is a big Badgers fan due to his employment in the State and Munn is a big Badgers fan presumably because shes dating a guy employed in the state. But North is a true diehard and you always have to respect the diehard, except the fifth one A Good Day to Die Hard was just horrible.

Aaron Rodgers, March Madness, Olivia Munn, WAGs, Wisconsin basketball, NCAAB

Sports news worth sharing!

Get the latest from FTW in your feed.

Source: http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/03/olivia-munn-aaron-rodgers-wisconsin-sweet-16

Continue Reading ..