Let Go Mets

Posted on August 14, 2015 by AverageAndy

Even I have to admit that I was wrong and Terry Collins is doing a very good job managing the NY Mets this season.  There were numerous times when this team could have folded like previous years but he managed to keep a positive attitude.   Once management made the moves to bring in Kelly Johnson, Juan Uribe, Tyler Clippard, and Yoenis Cespedes, Terry was able to get the team to believe they had a legitimate shot at the play-offs.   Should be lots of fun the next few months.

Decided to give Apple Music a try (3 month free membership).    Between all of my old CD’s,  SiriusXM (I’m a subscriber), Pandora and other free music streaming apps, I have plenty of music to listen to, but the thought I would give it a try based on the fact that my family and I could simply play any song we wanted at any time (As long as it’s available).. Once I signed up, the 1st thing I decided to do was listen to every Genesis Album in order.   Always liked Genesis (mostly from the 80s and 90s) but would hear people say their best stuff was the early albums with Peter Gabriel.

Wiki – Genesis Discography

So far, I’m up to  The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and have been really enjoying listening.  The 1st 2 albums sounded like other 60s psychedelic rock songs, but after that they started to get more progressive, and really show off their musical skills.   Some really great stuff that I will definitely revisit once I get through everything

If anybody has any suggestions of  other bands I should check out from beginning to end, let me know.

My suggestion to you would be the UK band Marillion going back to Script for a Jester’s Tear

Wiki – Marillion Discography

On other music notes,  Iron Maiden have released the 1st single from their upcoming album The Book of Souls.  The album was actually recorded a year ago, but lead singer Bruce Dickinson was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor on his tongue.  He has since been given a clean bill of health and the band will tour in 2016

Wiki – Iron Maiden Discography

On TV, still watching “Big Brother” and enjoying another great season.  Last nights eviction show was moved to 11:30 PM due to NY Jets pre-season football here in the NY area so will have to catch up this weekend.   At least CBS updates there scheduling for this so my DVR picks up the change.  In past years I would be ready to watch and realize the DVR recorded the football game, and having to watch Big Brother either On-Demand (Low Def with Commercials), or on the CBS website.

I am also watching “Mr Robot” and although it has had some ups and downs, I am really enjoying it.    Have always likes Christian Slater (going back to Heathers) and he is weird strange self in this

I’ll  end today’s post with the Theatrical trailer for the movie “Sky Riders”, one of my favorite movies as a kid.   Will try to come up with some more of my favorites in upcoming posts

Average Andy

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Funny Friday

Posted on August 7, 2015 by AverageAndy

The following scene from the 1980s movie “Porky’s” makes me laugh every time.

Even I have to give the Mets (and Terry Collins) credit for the way they rebounded after last weeks debacle (The botched trade, and terrible loss to the Padres).    It was fitting that the biggest hit of the year was Wilmer Flores’s walk off 12th inning home run against the Nationals.   In the past, the Mets lose that game, get blown out on Saturday, and are playing in front of 15,000 on Sunday.   And then to go down to Miami and sweep the awful Marlins was something past teams would never do.   They would go out and get swept and waist all the momentum they had.  Going to be a fun last 50+ games.    Havent felt this good about the team in a while

Sorry for not writing earlier in the week.  Hope to start writing more going forward

Enjoy your weekend

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Another Friday

Posted on July 31, 2015 by AverageAndy

Hope everybody had a good week and has a great weekend

Was talking about movies during lunch, about how each generation has movies that they’re nostalgic about, and how most remakes are never as good as  the originals.    I can relate to originals such as “The Karate Kid”, “Footloose”, and “The Bad News Bears”, but not to the remakes of the past few years.   While stories can be re-told over the years and people enjoy them, it’s to innuendos and small things that make a movie.   Most remakes just don’t have the soul of the original.

During the conversation, mentioned old car racing movies such as “The Cannonball Run”, and one of my all time favorite movies “The Gumball Rally”

The Gumball Rally Wiki Page

I must of watched this movie a 100 times when I was a kid.   While I am not a big car person, I always wanted a Porsche like the one in the movie.

Gumball Rally

1969 Porsche 911 E Targa in The Gumball Rally

Switching gears, I went to the U2 Concert last Monday a Madison Square Garden in NYC.   The band put on a great show as always   I have seen most of U2’s Tours over the years, starting with the Unforgettable Fire Tour in 1985.  I had a great time, got to see them play Two Hearts Beat as One, which they haven’t played in a long time, and got to hang with a friend of mine.

Here are some pictures of the show

IMG_1844

U2 Madison Square Garden – July 27th, 2015

IMG_1847

U2 Madison Square Garden – July 27th, 2015

IMG_1843

U2 Madison Square Garden – July 27th, 2015

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U2 Madison Square Garden – July 27th, 2015

U2 Madison Square Garden – July 27th, 2015

Found this great site – http://www.setlist.fm/.   Has setlists for most artists going back years and years.   I can spend hours going through old setlists of concerts I have attended to over the years, including the 1st ever concert I attended (Scorpions / Fast Way at Brendan Byrne Arena in 1984)

setlist.fm – Scorpions @ Brendan Byrne Arean 1984

Should write something about the NY Mets but will hold off until next week (after the MLB Trade Deadline, and the big 3 game series against the Nationals at Citi Field.   Hopefully this weekend is a lot better than the past 2 days (Cancelled trade, clueless manager, crazy loss in the rain).    With all the issues, this season has been fun and I’m hoping they can stay relevant for the rest of the season.

Finally,  almost caught up with Big Brother  (took a week off of watching as my daughter was away, and it’s now one of her favorite shows).   Half of me is mad for getting her hooked on the show, while the other half is really enjoying the time we spend watching together.

Have a great weekend, do something fun, and will write again on Monday

Andy

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Friday in July

Posted on July 24, 2015 by AverageAndy

It’s been awhile since my last post.  I should write more, but sometimes I just don’t have much to say

Was listening to the James Altachur podcast, and he had on Gabriel Weinberg who created the search engine http://www.duckduckgo.com

James Altucher Show – Gabriel Weinberg

So I went to the site and tried it out.   1st thing I searched for was Marillion.    Gave me the link to there official page (www.marillion.com) and some other good links

Next I searched for “The Bad News Bears” (just popped into my mind).   Gave me a like to the imdb page for both the original movie (a all-time classic) and the remake that was not really needed.  Also gave me a line to the  Bad News Bears Wikipedia page

The Bad News Bears Wiki

Don’t think I have ever looked at this (which is crazy since I am a huge fan of the film, and the just as good sequel “Bad News Bears in Breaking Training”).    Lots of great information and  I will definitely be bookmarking this for future reference

Finally searched for Barry Williams, Brady Bunch.   Got a link to one of my favorite books (Growing Up Brady) on amazon, as well wikipedia links for the Brady Bunch and Barry Williams himself.   Did not see a link to the Peter  Gabriel track “The Barry Williams Show”.    Had to go to youtube for that

Gotta run

Will write more soon (promise)

Andy

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TOPPS Digital Cards

Posted on July 7, 2015 by AverageAndy

Having a lot of fun with both TOPPS Bunt and TOPPS Star Wars.   This is a digital card trader app where you can buy and trade digital Baseball and Star Wars Cards.  As a big fan of both Baseball (Lets Go Mets) and Star Wars (should be a new trailer released this week at Comic Con for “The Force Awakens”), and a collector of physical cards for years, this is right up my alley.

TOPPS Digital Card Trader Apps

Here is an excellent site with lots of good information regarding this

Digital Card Central

My user name for both apps is AVERAGE_ANDY.  Always willing to make trades so check out the app and my cards

Andy

And be sure to check out Non-Sport Update for all things related to physical Non Sport Card collecting

Non-Sport Update

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Happy 4th of July

Posted on July 2, 2015 by AverageAndy

Hope everybody has a great holiday weekend.  Take some time and spend it with family and friends.    Forget about work and any nagging issues for a few days

Was surprised a happy to see Culture Club performing on the TODAY show this morning.   Boy George can still sing with the best of them

Culture Club on Today Show (07/02/15)

Last nights Mets game against the Cubs was hard to watch.   I am not sure what I would do to get the team out of the current funk, but would definitely do something.  Just to change the current attitude.   Not sure if something like getting rid of the hitting coach would help, but it may be worth a try.   Im still not sold on Terry Collins being the long term manager, so would consider letting him go, again, more to just change the attitude of the team.   I am happy that as of now, upper management are not considering trading the young pitchers.    I would rather they pick up some decent utility players (who should be able to be picked up relatively cheap – Something the Yankees have done for years)

I am willing to wait until the All Star Game, but if they don’t make some kind of move by then, it will quickly become Football Season for NY Mets Fans which would be a shame for the young pitchers, and the few players like Daniel Murphy who have been around for a while and should be given the opportunity to win

Finished “The Martian” by Andy Weir.   One of the best books I have read in a while.   Really well written, and kept me on the edge of my seat.   I had avoided the trailer for the movie coming this fall (Starring Matt Damon).   For those of you who want to watch, here it is

While on vacation, saw in the paper (I am one of the few who still enjoys getting a paper in the morning), that President Obama would be on the Marc Maron Podcast

Marc Maron Podcast

I listen to podcasts, but have never listened to this one, so I thought I would give it a listen.  I really enjoyed the interview. It was very interesting to hear the president in this format.  He sounded very personal and down to earth.

Finally, Big Brother is back on CBS, and I am enjoying it again.  There is something about it that I find intriguing.    Will write more about it as the season progresses.

Thats it for now.

Happy 4th of July Holiday, and will catch you on the other side

Andy

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And away we go

Posted on June 19, 2015 by AverageAndy

Finishing up a Friday before going on a much needed vacation next week.   Will be staying somewhat local for the 1st time in a while.    Usually head down south (Hilton Head Island, or Rehoboth beach in Delaware).   This time it just down the Parkway to the Jersey shore.  Looking forward to relaxing for the week.    Looking forward to having family and friends come by and join us throughout the week.

The NY Mets continue their strange season.  In years past, the were horrible at home but played decent ball on the road.  This year they are playing great at home, but just awful on the road.  Getting blown out by Pittsburgh a few weeks back, and Toronto the past few weeks takes away all the good they have at home.    I hate to really complain since they are in 1st place, but will they be able to keep things up in the 2nd half.   And if terry Collins the long term solution.  I dont think so, so at some point the will need to decide if they want to go for it this year (keep Collins and look to add some veteran players) or give up on the year and get rid of Collins and bring in a new manager).   Time will tell

See that the Amazing Race will again be doing a live send off for next season.   This time it’s in LA instead of NYC

21h21 hours ago

The next adventure begins Monday in CA! Join us at the Venice Boardwalk Graffiti Wall to send off the teams starting @ 8am PT.

Still mad at myself for not making it to NYC for the live send off last year.   Yes it was at 3:00 AM EST, but still should have made the trip.  Hopefully next time the start the Race in NYC, AverageAndy will be there as a contestant.  (Have applied with my sister, still waiting for the call  🙂

Sat down to watch Wayward Pines last night, and realized it wasn’t on because FOX has the US Open Golf and it’s on in Prime Time from Thursday – Sunday.   I actually like the idea of having the Golf on in prime time and thinks it will be fun to watch Sunday night.   Not sure if I like Joe Buck doing the golf.  I do like him for both Football and Baseball, but this might be too much.    Almost feel like FOX should have given somebody else a chance (Same with Curt Menefee – Let him do the football pre / post game shows, and get somebody else to do golf)

Looks like I might not be alone

Early thoughts on FOX / FOX Sports 1 US Open Golf Coverage

More to come…

Andy

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Of all the Charlie Browns in the world, you’re the Charlie Browniest

Posted on June 18, 2015 by AverageAndy

Been a huge fan of Peanuts forever and am really looking forward to this

Looks like they did a great job of mixing new computer animation with the feel of the old cartoons

Haven’t been to the movies in while, but between the Peanuts movie, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Terminator: Genisys,  Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation,  James Bond: Specter, and The Martian, I may be spending a lot of time in the theater

Will try to post reviews for the movies I get to see

On a music note, great to see that Bruce Dickenson of Iron Maiden has been give a clean bill of health following cancer treatment for a tumor on his tongue.   They just announced they are releasing a new album “Book of Souls” in September and will be touring in 2016.  One of the all time great bands, and another band that deserves to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Iron Maiden – Book of Souls

Also looking forward to catching U2 at Madison Square Garden in July (8 Sold out shows).

U2 2015 World Tour

Will post again tomorrow before heading to the Jersey shore for well deserved vacation

Andy

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Wednesday

Posted on June 10, 2015 by AverageAndy
Boston in Atlantic City NJ 2015

Boston in Atlantic City NJ 2015

Had a great time at the Boston concert last Saturday in Atlantic City.   The band was great and continues to rock.   Have friends who say “I have no interest in seeing them since Brad Delp died”, and “Who’s the lead singer now”.   Also get a lot of “They’re still around, thought they broke up in the 80’s”

Well, they continue to tour and out out new music (latest was 2013’s Life, Love & Hope)

Boston (band) Wikipedia

Them and other great bands such as Cheap Trick,  Styx, and Foreigner continue to show that great music and musicians hold up over time.   These bands deserve to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

This site has some great info on bands that are eligible, and their chances of getting in

Future Rock Legends

Gotta run and do some work.   Will try to write more later today

Andy

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Not much new today

Posted on June 5, 2015 by AverageAndy

Its a overcast and raining Friday here in NJ.

Been a pretty good week.   Got some stuff done and was able to take some nice walks after work.   Really enjoyed the latest This American Life Podcast (Episode 558 – Game Face)

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/

Some great and inspirational stories.  Also liked the cover of Lady Gagas “Poker Face” at the end of the episode.

I know I’m late to the party, but am glad I started listening to podcasts including “This American Life”   It has opened my eyes to some wonderful places and stories and reinforced how big the United States (and the world) are.   Combined with watching “The Amazing Race” and I feel much more alive and inspired to travel and see and experience places.

The Mets are doing just enough to keep Terry Collins around as manager.  They should be better than they are, but it’s tough to complain when they are in 1st place this far into the season.   They are kind of frustrating to watch as they should be better than they are.   Would love to see them get on a little hot streak and win 8 or 10.   Would then start to make things fun as we head into the All Star Game.

Have to admit, I was a bit shocked when I saw the starting lineup for the Arizona Diamondbacks last night against the Mets.   I have followed baseball my entire life, and play in Fantasy Baseball Leagues, but I had never heard of most of their players (Other than Paul Goldschmidt, and recently acquired Jarrod Saltalamacchia)

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/gametracker/boxscore/MLB_20150604_NYM@ARI

Don’t know if it’s due the Diamondbacks not being that good, not in a major market, or if they are just a nondescript team.

Thats all for now.  Will be back next week with some thoughts on my trip to Atlantic City to see Boston.

Andy

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