Goodbye May

I wish I had the next big thing to blog about, but sadly it's just not so! The new Faded Paper Figures album is now available on itunes, and I'm getting plenty of good vibes from it early on. Maybe a slight sophomore slump, mostly because I have a hard time picking out the extremely accessible singles which made their first CD Dynamo so good. But there is still plenty to enjoy here, including one of my favorites, "Small Talk." (although the ringing at the beginning is a little much on the ears at times)

Now I undoubtedly should have liked her before, but Alicia Keys is really really good. It wont let me embed this one, so you'll just have to follow the link to watch her music video for "Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvjuEsfdiT4

Besides that...um...I hate the lakers and hope the Celtics destroy them. Provo is finally getting warmer..I ran 4 miles today and it felt great! I have a job interview tomorrow and need some prayers and best wishes. And if you want to start those right now for my MCAT date on July 16th, I don't think it's too early at all.
K bye!

Sacramento Kings Roster Analysis

After my Sacramento Kings dropped to the #5 overall pick in the upcoming NBA draft, I immediately started mulling over all the various possibilities of picks we could use to improve our team for the 2010-2011 season. (If this post sounds at all mundane and boring, I'm sick right now and am feeling incapable of wit..hopefully that'll change in the next couple days!) Anyway, my very strong basketball opinion is that to have a championship team, it's important to have great players that FIT their roles on the team. Look no further than the Boston Celtics for an example of what I mean. Sure, they have great talent, but their players aren't out of position at all, they're great at filling their roles. Rondo is an amazing passer and an excellent defensive force at the point, ray allen is an incredible outside shooter playing shooting guard, paul pierce is sort of a do-it-all guy that can drive to the hoop and finish with his size, but can shoot from outside, pass and rebound as well. KG isn't what I'd consider a prototypical 4, but he has good low post moves, rebounds and can play good defense with his excellent size. Perkins is just a beast down low with his big frame, he's giving Dwight Howard a lot of trouble. With that in mind, I look at the King's Roster and see very few absolutes. Obviously Tyreke is a star, but I'm still not sure where you play him. I feel like his game is better suited for the 3 spot, but I think he stands out more as a point guard. I personally think Udrih is a more pure point guard, but we'll keep Reke at the point for now and look at the Kings roster and see where their needs are:

Point Guard- 1)Tyreke Evans 2)Beno Udrih

Shooting Guard- 1)Francisco Garcia

Small Forward- 1)Omri Casspi 2)Donte Green 3)Andres Nocioni 4)Ime Udoka

Power Forward- 1)Carl Landry 2)Jon Brockman 3)Sean May

Center- 1)Jason Thompson 2)Spencer Hawes

What I like:
Reke at the point, regardless of style of play, will be a favorable matchup almost every night. I like Casspi as the starting 3 assuming he can sustain his play for the entire season. I think Jason is a quality starter, whether at the 4 or 5.
What needs work:
I think an upgrade needs to be made at shooting guard, Garcia's a great guy but not an elite player in the NBA. I think Landry is an amazing player, but I worry that he's reached his potential and wont be able to give 20/10 like I'd (maybe selfishly) like to have from the power forward position. Maybe I'm just missing Chris Webber a lot right now.

Now I'm assuming we wont land John Wall, Derrick Favors, or Evan Turner since we're at the 5 spot, but out of the remaining players, I love Wesley Johnson and Ekpe Udoh. Although I think Omri Casspi could be a great starting small forward for us, I think Johnson is going to be a star in this league with his length, outside shooting, AND ability to get to the hoop. I think that outide shooting is really what the kings need to compliment Tyreke's game too. I like that Udoh is defensive minded, and although he draws comparisons to Jason Thompson, I would love to see if those two could play next to eachother with Landry coming strong off the bench (as he did in Houston and as Lamar Odom does for the Lakers). Cole Aldrich could be an option at center with Thompson moving to the strarting 4 position, although I have way too many nightmares about him being the second coming of Greg Ostertag, especially since both of them came out of Kansas. I dont want any part of DeMarcus Cousins. The guy has sick talent, but with a young roster of hardworking kids trying to improve on two consecutive dismal seasons, you dont want to have any distractions or anyone not buying into the winning, hardworking tradition. I also would pass on Al-Farouq Aminu. He gets a lot of comparisons to Luol Deng, and if that's all he aspires to, he's not worth the number 5 overall pick. As sleeper picks, I like Daniel Orton out of Kentucky, who I think would be hungry to go out and prove himself after playing behind Cousins at Kentucky. I also hear good things about Ryan Richards out of England, another big man who has impressed at the NBA draft combine. At the end of the day, I really hope Wesley Johnson falls to us at the number 5 overall pick, cant wait for the draft!

My life in May

I've been so delinquent...

Which probably doesn't matter, not thaaaat many lives depend on my blog. But I still feel bad about it. So for lack of time and inspiration, which music video do you like better for Kid Cudi's "Pursuit of Happiness?"

You Heard It First....

And some of it is really hard to post about.

Part 1:


Harvey Unga is not playing for BYU next fall. Unga, one of the most accomplished backs in BYU history, withdrew from school today along with BYU basketball player Keilani Moeaki, both for violations of the Honor Code.

As much as I'm bummed about BYU losing my favorite player, I'm not gonna complain at all about Unga being an idiot. Apparently he and Keilani were engaged two years ago and have been on and off since then. A couple years ago when I worked at an on campus restaurant, Unga was one of the nicest customers we had, which came in stark contrast with other fairly lame football players that would come in. I have a lot of respect for Unga for having withdrawn as opposed to trying to hide it or pretend that it's not important. Harvey Unga is a class act and has always represented BYU well. I wish him the best in his future and hope that he can take care of his personal issues quickly.

But this fall is sure gonna suck without him.

Part 2:


I hate that this is part two, because it, to me, is very news worthy. So sometimes I look up random people's email addresses online and email them, never expecting a response. Like when I emailed gloria allred because she's so disgusting and I asked her if she would accept a copy of the Book of Mormon (no response to that one). To be honest I never really expect anything out of it, I just do it. I guess it's kinda like how I take surveys sometimes when 1 in a billion people could win prize money. I never really expect results but the incentive is still there? Well last weekend, while I was absolutely giddy about Faded Paper Figures, I checked out their website and noticed it hadn't been updated for awhile. I was really nervous they were maybe one and done after their 2008 album Dynamo, so I copied the email address for them posted at the bottom of the page and emailed them.

Lo and behold, the next morning their was an email in my inbox from "John."-assistant professor of english at Yale University, and guitarist in the band Faded Paper Figures. Ok too good to paraphrase, here it is:

Dear Ross,

Thanks so much for writing. And listening and spreading the word! We do have plans for new stuff, in the *very* near future. Our second album will be out May 25th. We are kind of behind on our webpage updates, as you can see though. Should get around to that soon too.

West coast tour will be end of July beginning of August. That's about all we have planned for now, but there could be more.

Hope all is well with you,
~John.


--
R. John Williams
Assistant Professor of English
Yale University
Linsley-Chittenden Hall, Room 420


Three cheers for humanity. And cool people. And the fact that it's finals week and I've been sick since last sunday but hopefully getting better.

Please buy FPF's new album at the end of May and support three real cool people instead of some other uninspiriing egocentric pop act. I'll be one of the first in line.
-Roscoe

Faded Paper Figures

I'm usually not one to start raving about a band until I've spent a lot of quality ipod time with them, but after hearing only three songs, I have a very good feeling about the second coming of The Postal Service, "Faded Paper Figures." They definitely have a more natural, less studio produced sound than the postal service, but this particular song could slide in seamlessly on the 2003 album "Give Up" and no one would think twice. This music video makes me very happy.

Goodbye. and now Hello.

goodbye...

Goodbye made-to-order breakfast every morning at the hotel. Goodbye having time to exercise everyday. Goodbye family for another few months or so, our time together is always way too short! Goodbye "pincer crabs that pinch at your sandals" at Newport Beach. Goodbye warm sand and gentle ocean breezes and running on, aforementioned beach. Goodbye Shadowpines and Flowerwood, the streets we visited and where I grew up when I was little. Goodbye earthquake that we felt all the way from Mexico. Goodbye putting on shorts before even looking outside. Goodbye 70 degree sunny Orange County.

and hello...

Hello stop lights that aren't on sensors (I've had the light change on me three times in the last day when no one else was in the intersection!) Hello grungy apartment and no toilet paper (which interestingly ran out when I left last thursday...) Hello physics and molecular biology tests that I hardly studied for. Hello waking up at 8AM and walking up all 124 steps to campus. Hello roommate that snores (like right now). Hello gray skies and an inch and counting of snow. Hello finals in a week and a half and MCAT in 6.5 weeks. Hello empty food cupboard. Hello Provo, UT.

My favorite song of the trip: "Lover, you should've come over"-Jeff Buckley (Even though I'm fairly strongly against the word lover ever being used. ever.)

and just to finish off this post on a high note, albeit an extremely fun and silly one...."Breaking up"-Rilo Kiley; A song I've wanted to post for a bit now but felt it would be inappropriate. I simply cant get enough of this.

-ross