Home again...

Well, I survived finals and arrived back in colorful Colorado on Friday night, happy to depart D.C. as the humidity and temperature rise and enjoying the dry air and scenery. The District is definitely a fun and fascinating place to go to school, but it's no place like home.

Kingdom of Heaven

I saw "Kingdom of Heaven" last night, taking advantage of the long weekend before finals begin. Overall, it was an entertaining film, probably one of the better I've seen recently (though I don't see many movies). If you like Ridley Scott's war epics, (Gladiator, Black Hawk Down) you'll probably enjoy this one. Obviously, being historical, it's drawn many comparisons to "Gladiator," and I liked "Kingdom of Heaven" just as much and perhaps a bit better. It handled the topic of the Crusades quite well, eschewing glorification while portraying the holy wars as the tragic product of extreme, hawkish figures from both the Christian and Muslim worlds. It definitely had its bloody moments, with a few too many jugular bleed-outs for my tastes, but overall the battle sequences were entertaining. Other movies I'm looking forward to this summer: "Star Wars Episode III," "War of the Worlds," and "Kicking and Screaming."

Hats off to Ben and Jerry's....

...for their new flavor (or atleast I think its new), Dublin Mudslide. Printed description: "Irish Cream Liqueur Ice Cream with Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Cookies, and a Coffee Fudge Swirl."

Excellent.

Championship hockey back in Colorado!

The damn NHL lockout still has no end in sight, but team that bears the name "Colorado" has brought a coveted Cup home to the state. The Colorado Eagles of the Central Hockey Leage have captured the President's Cup by defeating the Laredo Bucks 4-1 in the best-of-seven series. Without Avalanche hockey, Colorado has has the privilege of seeing both the Eagles and the University of Denver Pioneers bring home national championships. I only wish non-NHL hockey got significant coverage out here in D.C.

Basketball season over in Denver

Well, the Nuggets' run is over, not that I care all that much. As I don't call myself a basketball fan, I really have no interest in the rest of the playoffs. Now begins the "great void" that lasts until football season this September (though the sportscasters will try to alleviate the boredom by bringing in-depth coverage of every mini camp over the summer). What about baseball? Well, as most people are aware, baseball isn't played professionally in Colorado (think about it), and I'm not quite ready to jump on the Nationals bandwagon in my second home-city. There's pretty much nothing else worth watching on TV (outside of the return of Family Guy), so I guess I'll have plenty of time to study for finals this weekend.

It started with poker...

I just couldn't believe what I saw when I turned on ESPN2 this evening. The cable giant has been showing nontraditional sporting events like the Great Outdoor Games, questionable "is it or isn't it a sport?" activities like bowling, and of course, Texas Hold 'em Poker, which may be popular, but is far from a sport.

Tonight they sunk even lower with the "National Scrabble Championships," which is proof now they're not even trying to find more worthy programming. What's next, the Monopoly World Cup? The World Series of Yahtzee? Not only that, but this Scrabble tournament had a 1st prize of $50,000. I never thought that professional scrabble would be an enterprise profitable enough to warrant such a purse, but you never know....