Guardians of the Galaxy and Why The Oscars Need To Add A Best Soundtrack Category

As amazing of a film as Pulp Fiction is and will always be, it was a big loser at the 1995 Oscars. Sure, Quentin Tarantino won Best Original Screenplay, but Pulp Fiction lost the Oscar for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Editing, Best Lead Actor, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress. However, if the Oscars had come to their senses a while ago and had a Best Soundtrack category back then, maybe Pulp Fiction would have had added at least one more Oscar to their resume.

Music has always been prominent in Quentin Tarantino's films- Pulp Fiction in particular. From Dick Dale's Miserlou in the opening credits to John Travolta and Uma Thurman dancing to Chuck Berry's You Never Can Tell to Urge Overkill's version of Neil Diamond's Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon, you can't think of Pulp Fiction without thinking about the music QT used in the film. Think about Tarantino's other films and you'll reminded of what a genius he is when it comes to blending music and movies. Rick Ross's 100 Black Coffins in Django Unchained, David Bowe's Cat People (Putting Out The Fire) in Inglorious Basterds, Nancy Sinatra's Bang Bang and The 5, 6, 7, 8's Woo Hoo in Kill Bill Vol. 1, and that great opening credit scene in Reservoir Dogs where there's the slo mo of the gang walking away from the restaurant while Little Green Bag by George Baker Selection fills your ears. However, the most iconic musical moment in a Quentin Tarantino film comes from the aforementioned Reservoir Dogs when Michael Madsen is about to chop off the police officer's ear while he's dancing to Steelers Wheel's Stuck In The Middle With You. All of these incredible and indelible moments were made because of the use of pre-existing music. The fact that these songs (sans 100 Black Coffins) were made before Tarantino even wrote the script to his films is irrelevant to impact it had on the film itself and its influence within pop culture.

10 Most Anticipated Fall Films of 2014

10) Gone Girl / Insterstellar
Release Dates(s): Oct 3rd / Nov 7th
Directed By: David Fincher / Christopher Nolan
Starring: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, NPH, & Tyler Perry / Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, & Jessica Chastain
Excitement Level: 5

MY THOUGHTS ON THESE FILMS: I grouped Gone Girl and Interstellar together because these films: are made by the two best filmmakers of my generation, led by actors who were complete jokes five years ago, and both look boring as shit. If you didn't tell me who directed these films and just showed me the trailers, these films wouldn't even make my list. But David Fincher and Christopher Nolan will 100% get the benefit of the doubt, and because these men are extremely talented, I'm sure the films will truly be great. Gone Girl is based upon a book by Gillian Flynn, and both my mother and wife tell me it's phenomenal. Great source material + David Fincher's direction should equal genius movie, but these trailers sure don't make it seem that way.

Interstellar is not based off of anything but the brilliant mind of Christopher Nolan. While he is coming off of the first creative dud of his career since Insomnia (The Dark Knight Rises), Nolan easily has the best start to any directorial career ever with Memento, Batman Begins, The Prestige, The Dark Knight, and Inception. Nolan has an excellent eye for big budget science fiction, but if the movie is anything like the trailer, then Insterstellar will be Matthew McConaughey waxing poetic for two and a half hours. And despite the McConaissance, McConaughey's projects themselves have been up and down. Mud was solid but not great, The Wolf of Wall Sreet was incredible (although he's barely in it), The Dallas Buyers Club was just OK but it's fault lay with its indie budget and limited worldview, and True Detective is gorgeous and well-acted, but boring as shit. I just hope I don't say Interstellar is gorgeous and well-acted, but boring as shit.

A Former Prosecutor's Take on Domestic Violence and Ray Rice

Ray Rice’s domestic violence situation has dominated the news this past week. There are so many different aspects to this story, but the one I want to focus on today is the non-NFL, legal side of this case. In May of this year, Rice entered into a plea bargain with the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office. Rice would enter into a diversionary program to help with his anger issues as well as he needs to stay out of trouble for a year and in exchange, the prosecutor would drop all charges if Rice successfully completed his end of the deal. This pleaagreement was heavily criticized. Seemingly, everyone agreed this penalty was too lenient, with many clamoring that Rice deserved jail time.  Due to public outrage, this past week the NewJersey State Senate opened up an investigation into the Atlantic County prosecutor’soffice for how they handled Ray Rice’s case. I’ve read a lot of articles regarding Ray Rice, and none really delve into the nuance of his legal proceeding or domestic violence legal proceedings in general. I wanted to do that today and share my experiences as a prosecutor handling domestic violence cases.

To give you some of my qualifications, I am a licensed attorney in the State of Illinois and have been since November of 2012. During my last semester of law school, I interned at the local State’s Attorney’s Office (SAO) in the domestic violence division.  After law school, I spent about a year working as a prosecutor in a small Illinois county. While working at that SAO, my job was essentially to prosecute everything that was not a felony (a felony is a crime which, if sentenced, could land you more than a year in jail). I prosecuted everything from dog bite cases to DUIs to, yes, domestic battery cases. I have since left that SAO and I am now working as a private criminal defense attorney. Oh, and I’m a huge NFL fan.

10 Tips For Rookie Fantasy Football Auction Drafters

I remember the first auction fantasy draft I competed in. It was about five years ago and it was for fantasy baseball. The Commissioner wanted to do something different and he heard great things from doing auction drafts. I remember bitching and moaning about switching from a snake draft to an auction. I hated it, and I thought I'd do terribly in the format. But then I drafted.

Immediately I loved doing auction drafts. After doing my first auction draft, I imagine I had the same feeling that meth heads get when they first try Crystal Meth. It was euphoric. Since that draft some five years ago, I can't go back to snake drafts. Once you go auction, you never go... back? I need to work on a new catchy phrase, but the point still stands. I love auction drafts. If for some reason you're unlike me and still don't enjoy or are not good at fantasy football auction drafts, follow my 10 Tips for Rookie Fantasy Football Auction Drafters:

Final Predictions for the 2014 Emmy Winners

DRAMA

OUTSTANDING WRITING: Vince Gilligan for "Felina" (Breaking Bad) 

OUTSTANDING DIRECTION: Cary Joji Fukunaga for "Who Goes There" (True Detective)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Anna Gunn (Breaking Bad)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR: Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones)

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS: Julianna Marguiles (The Good Wife)

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR: Matthew McConaughey (True Detective)

OUTSTANDING SERIES: Breaking Bad (AMC)

2014 Fantasy Football Rankings Update: Late August Edition

Immediately after the NFL draft, I released my initial fantasy football rankings. A few weeks ago, I updated those rankings for my Mid August Update Edition. I am now updating my rankings one more time before the first major draft day weekend. I update my rankings because things change and situations are fluid. My rankings are both a combination of how I personally feel about players as well as how I feel you should be treating these players. For example, I have Marshawn Lynch ranked as my 6th best running back. However, when push comes to shove, I probably won't draft him, but I can't in good conscious move him down in my rankings because he's just that good of a player. These rankings are based upon my post-draft rankings, and any player highlighted in red is a player who has moved down since my mid-August update, and any player highlighted in green is a player who has moved up since my mid-August update. 

QUARTERBACKS

1) Aaron Rodgers (GB)

2) Drew Brees (NO)
3) Peyton Manning (DEN)
4) Cam Newton (CAR)

5) Andrew Luck (IND)
6) Robert Griffin III (WAS)

7) Matthew Stafford (DET)

8) Colin Kaepernick (SF)

9) Russell Wilson (SEA)
10) Tom Brady (NE)
11) Tony Romo (DAL)

12) Nick Foles (PHI)

13) Matt Ryan (ATL)
14) Jay Cutler (CHI)

15) Andy Dalton (CIN)

16) Philip Rivers (SD)

17) Johnny Manziel (CLE)

18) Ben Roethlisberger (PIT)

19) Eli Manning (NYG)

20) Alex Smith (KC)

21) Jake Locker (TEN)

22) Carson Palmer (ARI)

23) Joe Flacco (BAL)

24) Josh McCown (TB)
25) Geno Smith (NYJ)

2014 Fantasy Football Sleepers and Busts

Personally, I am not a big fan of the terms "sleeper" and "bust". I think there's a certain connotation to those terms that the every day fantasy football players misconstrues. I prefer the term "undervalued" and "overvalued". Every football player has value, and good drafting comes down to knowing where that values lies. You may personally have a distrust for Arian Foster or Doug Martin or DeMarco Murray, but if these players are sitting in the 4th round of your 16 team draft, you would pick them up immediately. If, however, you have the 6th pick in your draft, the value may not be there for you for any of those players. But that being said, The Internet loves the terms "sleepers" and "busts" so those are the terms I will be using throughout this post. Here is my personal list of players who I think are undervalued (aka "sleepers") and are overvalued (aka "busts") as well as players I overall love and kind of hate:

QUARTERBACKS

SLEEPERS

Robert Griffin III (WAS)

Truthfully, RG3 is probably appropriately valued. Both ESPN and Yahoo! have the Washington QB ranked as the 7th best QB, and he's 6th on my personal board. However, I just want to go on record to say that I absolutely love Robert Griffin the Third this year. While you may think he's a "mobile" quarterback because he's run before and because he's Black (you racist), but he's actually a really good passer and just a sub-par runner (That's why he's always getting hurt). RG3 now has Jay Gruden has his head coach. Gruden is not only responsible for making Andy Dalton a top 5 fantasy QB in 2013, but he's stated that there will be very few designed runs for his quarterback. A lot of people might be weary of RG3 this year because he's coming off of an atrocious 2013 campaign; however, Griffin was the 5th best fantasy QB in 2012 and all reports say he's fully healthy this year whereas he was obviously hurt last year. Gruden is going to throw, throw, throw and Griffin has one of the best receiving corps in the game with Pierre Garcon, DeSean Jackson, and Jordan Reed. I think RG3 is going to be a beast in 2013.

Andrew Luck (IND)

A man who is ranked behind RG3 according to some sites (Yahoo!) is a man who I personally have ranked as the 5th best quarterback this year- ahead of the man who went 2nd to him in the 2012 draft. From a real life perspective, I think Luck is a special, special talent. He's probably the 2nd or 3rd best QB prospect of all time behind John Elway and maybe Peyton Manning, and he'll only be 25 coming into the 2014 season. I just think Andrew Luck is going to get better and better as he gets further into his NFL career. ESPN's Numbers Never Lie did a great segment about why Andrew Luck is going to take a huge leap forward this year. From a fantasy perspective, Andrew Luck was the 9th best fantasy QB in 2012 and the 5th best fantasy QB in 2013- and I think he's only going to get better. 

Johnny Manziel (CLE)

I absolutely need to clarify my position on Johnny Football. I currently have Manziel ranked as my 16th best QB behind Jay Cutler, Tony Romo, Philip Rivers, and Andy Dalton. While recent history suggests QBs drafted in the first round like the aforementioned RG3 and Andrew Luck can be great fantasy football players, I don't truly believe Manziel will be in that class- at least not yet. I personally didn't like the pre-draft scouting reports I saw on him, and he is not having a very good training camp so far. However, the reason I have Manziel on the "sleepers" list is because I think he is a must-own if you decide to be the last person to take a QB in a 12 team league or deeper. Personally, I'm going to be one of the first people in my league to draft a quarterback, but if you are not going with this strategy, you need to draft a handful of QBs- one of which needs to be Manziel. The non-zero chance that Manziel becomes a top 10 or even a top 5 fantasy QB means he needs to be one of the players you take a chance on assuming he hits. I think if you draft Manziel, Jay Cutler, and 3rd QB of your choosing in a deep league, at least one of them will be fantasy stud for you.

BUSTS