Bummer

Ouch. Oh well. Guess there won't be much partying in Westwood tonight. Joakim Noah is a punk ass but you have to give credit where credit is due. Florida simply outplayed us with their inside game, offensive rebounding, 2nd chance points, and adjusting to their very effective perimeter shooting when we doubled teamed. They just have an amazingly balanced team and look really good for the consecutive title on Mon night. It was tough watching Afflalo and our starting line up getting into early foul trouble and how about that Gators defense? Afflalo had nothing going for him in the 1st half. Josh Shipp gave a solid effort but with limited points from the UCLA guards in the first half, we never really had a chance. Thought we might have had something going in the last 10 min of the 2nd as the Gators got a bit too relaxed but alas it was too little too late. Have to admire Brewer with that act of sportsmanship toward Afflalo at the end. Maybe now, Afflalo will stay another year? Ben Howland is still a class act. I look forward to the season next year.

Clutch

The "Madness" has certainly helped me lose some more weight. I weighed myself on Friday and I am actually very close to my weight when I first met Viks 7 years ago. So far, each game for the Bruins has been ugly and I mean that in a good way. Instead of the "me too" up-tempo games, it's actually been more fun for me watching the defense oriented style of the Bruins. Each possession is like a precious gift (insert Smeagal soundbyte "My preeecccious") and incredibly tense. I'll be the first to admit that I didn't think it would be enough against Kansas but I was glad to be wrong. The press doesn't seem to have much love for UCLA and especially Aaron Afflalo. I am just happy for Afflalo for getting out of his offensive "slump" at a critical time . However, defense wise and at the free throw line, I think he's been pretty consistent . Hopefully, Afflalo and company can really disrupt & neutralize the Gators offense next Sat. The Gators, while not invincible, look pretty solid and balanced overall. It would be painful to watch a repeat of last year's Championship game.

DataQuick Real Estate News

I bookmarked this link a while ago but have found myself looking at it more frequently given the current subprime market shakeout. It will be interesting to see how the CA market adjusts in the next 2 years. We bought our house with a 5/1 ARM thinking we would sell at the end of 5 years. Despite the headlines and warnings, I still don't feel compelled to re-fi to a fixed for this reason. If we are in the red when it's time to sell, we may decide to re-fi then and just keep this house as a rental (yes, it's a risk. I am preparing myself for the fact that we may not even break even) and ride out any significant drop.

Madness? It's March!

Thank goodness the Bruins found their rhythm and took care of business against Weber St today. I even got a 5 mile workout from it. It will be interesting if we end up having a rematch against Gonzaga on Saturday. Last year's sweet 16 match up was pretty memorable when the Bruins came back from a 17 pt deficit and won the game. If you saw that game, you'll remember Adam Morrison in tears at the end as well as the sportsmanship that both Arron Afflalo and Ryan Hollins showed helping him up.

Madness? This is Sparta!

I took a break from studying Sat night and saw 300 at the local IMAX. Can't articulate it any better than this review,

"The movie "300" is rated R for "RAAAAAR!" and is about as inspirational as "Field of Dreams" multiplied by "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," plus infinity.

High school football coaches who show this to their players before games are guaranteed to win 55-0. Should opposing coaches show the DVD to each of their teams before the matchup, a rupture in the space-time continuum will occur and the game will be declared a tie
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Forget the hype over supposed parallels with the war in Iraq. Depending on your purview, you could read the Americans as either the evil empire or the dogged defenders of democracy.
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Director Zack Snyder alternates between sepia-toned slo-mo and kaleidoscopic blasts of fever-dream adrenaline with scenes that look like they were cut with Ginsu knifes by teppanyaki chefs hopped up on Red Bull.

The Spartans are a super-human elite squad of lumberjack pirates who were trained by the the great-great-grandpa of Chuck Norris' paternal ancestor. A prologue explains that from the age of 7, Spartans are forged into die-hard dynamos of fury who can kill with their bare hands. It was either their forced sojourn into wilderness that makes them that way or that they played violent video games.

They battle the millions-strong army of the Persians, which includes wave after wave of easily disposed screaming maniacs, followed by black-hooded elite Delta Force Persians who are like zombies — gotta take their heads off or impale their hearts if you want 'em dead.

The Persians also trot out gimongous armored rhinos and war elephants that got kicked out of the zoo for being too big and angry.

Sparta is led by warrior King Leonidas (Gerard Butler), whose idea of a strategic troop surge is to round up a few of his buddies and stomp out on the battlefield for an eight-hour slaughterfest, with a snack break to munch an apple while watching his lackeys rake up the corpses.
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The flick would be mesmerizing enough if it were all cheap thrills, but there's also a depth that makes you hurl your allegiance to the Spartans. This is the sort of film that comes along about once every few years. You cherish the experience so much that the only disappointment comes in knowing it will be a long time until you see another new movie this good.

It's called "300" because that's how many stars it deserves. I'm sad I only have four to give. "

Venice Beach pictures (Feb 18th)

Since Jim has been somewhat blog-shy as of late, I figure I'd post these pictures from his camera. Otherwise they may never see the light of day!