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UFC 121

Cain Velasquez has proven he is the #1 contender and has what it takes to be the champ right now. Brock Lesnar is physically powerful and fast which makes up for his lack of experience. What makes Lesnar so appealing is that he improves leaps and bounds every time he steps in the cage. So it would be difficult to study his fight style and develop an effective strategy.

Lesnar’s last fight showed that he can come back from adversity and still win and that’s what true champions are made of. But that fight also showed that he’s still needs to work on his defense. Lesnar’s stand-up is stiff and very telegraphic. It’s something that Cain and his coaches will be working to capitalize on. Cain Velasquez will be giving up about 30 lbs when he steps in the cage. This can be considered an advantage or disadvantage; it depends on the type of strategy he brings against Lesnar.

Velasquez’s quest to a shot for the title has been a long time coming. Being undefeated in the UFC and KOing one of the best HW in the world made it easy for the fans and UFC brass to give Velasquez the #1 contender spot. The way the styles match up it’s difficult to call this one. Lesnar will need to avoid a kickboxing match with Cain and take this fight to the ground and take control of top position. Lesnar is a mountain of a man and if he can put Cain on his back every second that goes by will suck the energy out of Mexican heavyweight. For Velasquez, he needs to keep the fight standing and put the pressure on the Champ. Lesnar has good cardio for a large heavyweight and Velasquez will need to push it to it’s limits. His best bet will be taking the fight deep into the later rounds or draw Lesnar in a boxing match where Cain where has the advantage and score points with the judges and maybe score a knockdown and hoprfully capitalize on it. As for Cain KOing Lesnar it will be very unlikely. In the end I see Lesnar getting the win. Lesnar is bigger and stronger and his superior wrestling will nullify Velasquez’s better cardio and better boxing.

My Picks:

Brock Lesnar beats Cain Velasquez
Martin Kampmann beats Jake Shields
Diego Sanchez beats Paulo Thiago
Gilbert Yvel beats Jon Madsen
Tom Lawlor beats Patrick Cote
Tito Ortiz beats Matt Hamill
Gabriel Gonzaga beats Brendan Schaub
Chris Camozzi beats Dong Yi Yang
Ryan Jensen beats Court McGee

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Red

This spy-action movie has an ensemble cast of who’s who of Hollywood; Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Richard Dreyfuss, Karl Urban, and Brian Cox all bring on an interesting film.  Bruce Willis plays a retired CIA agent, who he and his other retired agents, are targeted by a government hit team. The Willis and his old cohorts gets back together and they must find out who and why they are trying to kill him.

This is a fun movie with more action than spy-thrilling, but nonetheless it is entertaining all the way through.

Rating: ★★★★★★★½☆☆

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Does Microsoft have what it takes be the come-back kid in the mobile phone business?

Earlier this week Microsoft announced their new mobile platform, Windows Phone 7 . They are taking the same route similar to Google’s Android by having their platform be available for different manufacturers and on different mobile carriers (Except for Verizon). Saying Microsoft is late to the battle of mobile devices is the understatement of the year. A little more than 5 years ago Windows mobile was one of the dominating OSes in the mobile market. Now it represents a whimper of a market share compared to Apple’s iPhone, Google’s Android, and RIM’s Blackberry phones. For the past several years Microsoft sat on their laurels only to watched their competitors past them by. But will the new release of Windows Phone 7 be enough to put themselves back in the mix with the rest of the big dogs?

Many analysts have already noted that Microsoft is a little too late to the game and the best they can do is vie for 3rd place. And some believe MS’s new platform is the new Palm. With the recent failure of the Kin Microsoft doesn’t look to be in any kind of position to play around with this new platform. They need it to be a huge success and anything less is a failure.

I think it’s a little too early to count Microsoft out yet. They got something that none of the other guys have; a popular and powerful office suite, the Xbox Live service, and a huge install base of Windows users. If they are able to meld their products into something an end user can use effectively and efficiently they can bite a huge chunk of their market share back. From the preview of the devices MS is looking to differentiate itself from the rest by implementing a unique user interface. With large icons and widget style views it makes sense where MS is going: to providing quick access to information and apps.

So far they are taking the right measures by getting their platform onto many devices and carriers as possible. Billions of dollars have been pumped into marketing and getting developers on board and only time will tell if Microsoft can claw it’s way back to the top. Will you be getting a Windows Phone 7?

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Froyo leak for Samsung Captivate

For those of you who owns AT&T’s Captivate you can now rejoice on the fact that there is a Froyo leak for the device.

What is Froyo? It’s the name for the Android 2.2 OS. The Captivate comes stock with Eclair, which is 2.1. The Froyo OS is a significant update to Android. It provides several new features (Wifi Hotspot, Flash support, save apps on SD…) and speed improvements.

Head over to Android Central or XDA Developers to get the leak. But remember that this is not an official release so there won’t be any official support. So far my experiences with it is great. Much better than the stock OS and the mobile Wifi hotspot is well worth it.

Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

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RIM’s new tablet: Blackberry Playbook

RIM has just announce their new tablet. The Blackberry Playbook.

http://crackberry.com/blackberry-playbook-announced

Specs listed on Crackberry.com:

  • 7″ LCD, 1024 x 600, WSVGA, capacitive touch screen with full multi-touch and gesture support
  • BlackBerry Tablet OS with support for symmetric multiprocessing
  • 1 GHz dual-core processor
  • 1 GB RAM
  • Dual HD cameras (3 MP front facing, 5 MP rear facing), supports 1080p HD video recording
  • Video playback: 1080p HD Video, H.264, MPEG, DivX, WMV
  • Audio playback: MP3, AAC, WMA
  • HDMI video output
  • Wi-Fi – 802.11 a/b/g/n
  • Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
  • Connectors: microHDMI, microUSB, charging contacts
  • Open, flexible application platform with support for WebKit/HTML-5, Adobe Flash Player 10.1, Adobe Mobile AIR, Adobe Reader, POSIX, OpenGL, Java
  • Ultra thin and portable:
    • Measures 5.1″x7.6″x0.4″ (130mm x 193mm x 10mm)
    • Weighs less than a pound (approximately 0.9 lb or 400g)
  • Additional features and specifications of the BlackBerry PlayBook will be shared on or before the date this product is launched in retail outlets

    • Every manufacturer and their mother are getting into the tablet foray. It looks like the iPad won’t be  alone any longer. Samsung and their Galaxy Tab will also be hitting state side soon as well.  So far the Blackberry Playbook has already exceeded my expectations, which wasn’t all that much to begin with as RIM is known to be very conservative with their Blackberry phones. That’s why I’m surprised by their hardware specs, and I’m very interested in their new QNX OS.  RIM will need this device to be impressive (and magical) if it wants to bite a chuck out of the iPad’s market share. Yay, for competition!

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    UFC 119

    Frank Mir is on a mission. He wants the Heavyweight title again and just as important, he wants to take it from Brock Lesnar. But his road to the title has been a rocky one where he had suffered a some setbacks. Losing to Brock changed Mir in a way that affected him physically and mentally. Since then Mir has never been this fit and he has never been so determined to claw his way back to the top. And tonight, the next person standing in his way is the stoic and always dangerous Mirko Cro Cop.

    In PrideFC, Cro Cop amass a career on beating opponents by vicious knockouts. Watching Cro Cop was like watch Mike Tyson demolishing grown men down to cowering little girls. It was fun and exciting to watch. Towards the end of his PrideFC career his speed and aggression waned but not before he was able to capture the Open Weight Grand Prix title. Soon after PrideFC went under UFC acquired the Croatian Sensation. Cro Cop’s fight in the UFC has been less than stellar. But with two back to back wins in the UFC the Croatian looks more poised then ever. Is he finally comfortable in the Octagon? My answer, probably not. But he can always prove me wrong if he wins impressively against Mir.

    Mir has one of the best ground game in the division, but he’s been improving his standup. Wins over Kongo and Big Nog showed that he can throw punches too. Cro Cop is a K1 striker and has fought the best kickboxers on the planet. But his BJJ is “meh” at best. It’s his face-planting sprawl that keeps his opponents from trying to take him down. To win this fight Mir will need to take the fight to the ground fast and work his submissions. He’ll need to close the distance and drag him down to the floor.

    For Cro Cop to win he’ll need to pull the trigger and let his hands and legs loose. He’s been too gun-shy lately to build up any kind of effective offense. With his sprawl he can keep the fight standing as long as he wants. But he’ll need to utilize his kicks to slow down Mir. Cro Cop has excellent gound and pound and if he can wear Mir down he can win the fight there. Forcing Mir to repeatedly go for takedowns is one way to gas him out. Skill for skill Mir has a little more tools in his tool bag than Cro Cop. Mir always comes back stronger and better after a loss and we have yet to see the Cro Cop of the past and we’ll probably will never see it again, which is why Mir will win this fight because the Croatian’s lack of aggression and counter-fighting style won’t work against Mir.

    My Picks:

    Frank Mir beats Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic
    Ryan Bader beats Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
    Chris Lytle beats Matt Serra
    Evan Dunham beats Sean Sherk
    Melvin Guillard beats Jeremy Stephens
    Matt Mitrione beats Joey Beltran
    Thiago Tavares beats Pat Audinwood
    C.B. Dollaway beats Joe Doerksen

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    Devil

    M. Night Shyamalan writes this supernatural thriller about five people who are trapped in an elevator. Each person systematically gets killed during brief moments of darkness as the power flickers and turns off and on.

    Devil is a decent thriller with plot twists that’ll keep you guessing till the end. These twists aren’t as powerful and shocking as The Sixth Sense or The Village, but it’s very much a solid and entertaining Shyamalan film that has been lacking from his last couple of movies.

    Rating: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

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    Resident Evil: Afterlife

    This fourth installment of the Resident Evil franchise tries to spice it up with it’s 3-D features. In all honesty the 3-D mania that all these producers and TV manufactures are touting is a bunch of hot air. I’ve seen some 3-D movies and so far none of them add any kind of enhancement to the movie-goer experience. Anyways, back to the movie, the latest installment of the the Resident Evil movie is much like its predecessors. It’s full of mind numbing action that takes the basic laws of physics and chucks it out the window.

    Alice finds a small group of survivors who have barricaded themselves in a large prison. They receive a radio call of a safe haven located on a large ship near by, but they are unable to get to it because they are surrounded by thousands of flesh eating zombies. They are soon forced to abandon the prison as it becomes over run by those monsters. It sounds interesting but unfortunately the entire movie didn’t pan out that way.

    The movie is filled with plot holes and inconsistencies (Geez what a surprise). Spoiler Alert: Alice and a few others swim down several stories underneath the flooded creepy prison to an armory all while being chased by zombies. They lock themselves in the armory and their escape was through a vent in the ceiling that leads them to back to safety. How convenient.

    RE: Afterlife doesn’t offer much in a thoughtful plot. Instead it tries to fancy itself with Matrix-like slow motion action.

    Rating: ★★★★★½☆☆☆☆

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    Piranha 3D

    In short, Piranha is Girls Gone Wild with killer fish that eats everyone. It’s a typical guy movie with lots of well-endowed girls swimming and dancing around on Spring Break. This B movie is somewhat a sequel to the movie of the same name, Piranha (1978) and Piranha II (1981). It also pays homage (or parody depending how you look at it) to the classic Jaws (1975).

    The plot is simple.  An earthquake releases ancient killer piranhas from an underground lake located under another lake and starts eating the spring break party goers. It’s very much like the movie 8 Legged Freaks, but with fish and scantily dressed girls to say the least.

    Rating: ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆

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    UfC 118

    For this UFC I find myself more interest in the non main event fights. The fight I’m looking forward is the Florian vs Maynard bout. These two fighters have very different styles that will make for a very interesting fight. Florian is a tactician on his feet and on the ground. He is very cerebral and he takes the fight where he knows he has the advantage. Maynard is a strong and powerful wrestler that can wear out the most durable fighters. He gets better and better every time he steps in the cage. With a win over the current champ, Frankie Edgar, Marynard is guarantee a title shot if he manages to get pass Florian. In this fight Maynard will need more than his strength and power to win he will need to stifle Florian’s striking and take the fight to the ground and pound away with his top position, and with his strong wrestling background he has the tools to do it. It’s easier said than done. Kenny Florian has phenomenal striking and a slick ground game. If Florian can stay away from the clinch and avoid the takedown Maynard will be in trouble.

    I always thought the argument about Boxing vs MMA is stupid, and it still is. These are two different sports and trying to compare them to each other makes no sense. But with James Toney fighting Randy Couture tonight hopefully people will see the difference. Both of these fighters are legends in their respective sports and when these two athletes compete against each other the fighter who fights outside their forte will undoubtedly be in a losing proposition. Randy Couture has 13 years of experience compared to the 7 months of Toney’s the chance of Toney winning this fight is infinitesimally small, but it’s that chance that people find intriguing.

    Seeing Penn lose to Edgar in April shocked me. Not because Edgar was a huge underdog, it was the game plan he brought with him. Known for his amazing BJJ Penn never even tried to attempt to utilize such an important skill set that made him feared by so many fighters. That loss has woken the demon inside him and I hope we will see a BJ Penn that wrecked havoc in the lightweight division. As for Edgar his strategy worked for him last time and I don’t think he should change it, but he should expect Penn to take the fight to the ground. And if the fight does go to the ground I don’t see Edgar escaping from the tangles of BJ Penn. But another win against the Hawaiian will surely establish his last win as no fluke.

    My Picks:

    Randy Couture beats James Toney
    BJ Penn beats Frankie Edgar
    Kenny Florian beats Gray Maynard
    Marcus Davis beats Nate Diaz
    Joe Lauzon beats Gabe Reudiger
    Mike Pierce beats Amilcar Alves
    Dan Miller beats John Salter