Movie Review: Lincoln Lawyer

For Stacy's dad's birthday we ventured out to check out the new Matthew McConaughey film, "The Lincoln Lawyer." The movie is based off a book by Michael Connelly, who my mom started reading a few years back and said that she enjoyed, so we were looking forward to the movie. It also didn't hurt that the last time we remember McConaughey playing a lawyer in a movie, "A Time to Kill," it was a great movie.

So it is not just a clever title for the movie, McConaughey's character, Mickey Haller, is a lawyer who conducts most of his business from the back of his old school back Lincoln Town Car, funny enough driven by an ex-client who is working off his legal fees. Right off the bat who can tell this will be a good movie from the music alone, the movie kicks off with "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City" by Bobby 'Blue' Bland. The movie centers around a brutal beating of a prostitute by a rich boy from Hollywood. The movie definitely does not flow as you think it will after about 45 minutes in, it goes a completely different way. The movie has an all-star cast with Marisa Tomei (ex-wife), Ryan Phillipe (rich boy), William H. Macy (investigator), Josh Lucas (DA), Josh Leguizamo (bondsman) and Trace Adkins.

The movie has a lot of twists and turns and never slows down, you do not even notice that it runs for right at 2 hours, which by today's standards seems to be a long movie. I recommend that everyone sees this movie, it is worth the $10-12. Overall I really like the movie and give it 4 out of 5 beers.

Rastlin'

Over this past weekend Wrestlemania XXVII (27) was held in Atlanta at the Georgia Dome and from reading the tweets late Sunday or Monday, it was not good and it was over the top staged and too fake. Well no sh*t, what did you expect, did you really think it was real..................Last week in Atlanta was Wrestlemania week with events taking place all week; golf tournaments, Hall of Fame ceremony, fan fest and some actual wrestling. I will say I got sucked in changing channels last week when I noticed "The Rock" was talking, I did not know he was back, and then of all things, the kid from the Real World on mTV, Mike Mizanin was the champ! Needless to say I ended up being sucked in and watched the last 15 minutes of the show. From my understanding the city of Atlanta is expecting the events to have a $1.8 billion impact so bring it on.

I actually just wrote this blog to be able to show the following clip from Tosh.O and it fit right in with the wrestling thing, a great web redemption. For anyone who watched wrestling early on the Ultimate Warrior stuff is hilarious, enjoy.

Must Have....For Baseball Fans

With baseball season officially kicking off in two weeks I wanted to share a must have for baseball fans. A lot of you may have the MLB Network (@MLBNetwork), and luckily I just got it back this week, but here are two other apps worth trying. MLB.tv and MLB at-Bat 11. MLB.tv is great for those who don't have access to the all the channels, travel a lot for work or just want to watch a lot of baseball at the same time. It would definitely come in handy for business man specials when you are at work and want to watch the game. They have made it even better this year by extended the possibilities to watch, from computer, iPhone, iTouch, android, PS3, Apple tv, etc. Also, you are not limited to watching it on one dedicated system, you can watch on your home computer one day, your work computer the next and your PS3 that night. Here is the website to check out the pricing and options, and it is in HD where available. Click on "View Demo" button in the top left side of the screen to watch a quick video on the app.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/subscriptions/index.jsp?product=mlbtv&affiliateId=MLBTVREDIRECT

I am giving it a shot for month to see if it is something I would use to invest the money for the annual subscription.

Once you get into the app on your pc you have all kinds of options: select home or away broadcasts, add other games (up to 4) into one screen, view the boxscore, DVR controls, fantasy player tracker, listen to the radio broadcast over the top, in-game highlights. One of the best features may be having the full season available to go back and watch, and you can jump straight to an inning as well.

The other app for your phone is MLB At-Bat 11, it is available for an iPhone, iTouch, Blackberry, Android and iPad. I had this last year, it was $15 for the year and well worth it. I had access to the radio broadcast whenever I needed it and had video highlights up and running quickly. You can select your favorite team and your home page will go straight to them everytime you sign-in. Right now the app has the Spring Training games available too. The site below will give you more details.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mobile/atbat/index.jsp?c_id=mlb

Who doesn't like a good burger....

Don't know about you guys, but there are few things better than a good burger, there are so many different types of burger places these days, that at times I wonder if they get away from the simple burger, cheese, veggies, etc. Especially when I go to a new bar or hole in the wall, I always get the burger, if there burger is good it is worth another visit.

The other thing is people making burgers with all sorts of different things to stay ahead of the healthy trend. At home we have cooked turkey burgers for a while, but definitely not better than a good old fashioned beef burger. The other item we have made a handful of times and they were incredible were Bison Burgers. Here is the recipe we use, be easy on the horseradish or it will kick your arse. The other bit of advice would be to handle with care, the meat is fragile and it is crucial that you mix and mash the patties well after your ingredients are mixed together.

A perfect website for burger lovers is Burger Business. The site is a menu and marketing news with plenty of napkins. The home page has burger news as it relates to restaurants, new menu items (including an archive), burger recipes, etc. They also have a 2011 bracket just in time for the NCAA tournament. You can access it from their home page. They can be followed on twitter @BurgerBusiness.

The next taste tour of the ATL will be looking for the best burger, including a few burger reviews in cities outside of ATL that are visited. The list below are a few of the ATL burger joints that will be visited:

YEAH! Burger twitter @yeahburger
Googie Burger twitter @googieburgerATL
Flip Burger Boutique
Grindhouse Killer Burgers twitter @GrindhouseATL
Fuze Burger
The Vortex
Burger Joe's

To be continued.....

St. Paddy's Day

Erin go Bragh!! Happy Birthday Jimmie!!

So who is Saint Patrick, why do we wear green....

Saint Patrick was born in Roman Britain and was told by God to go to Ireland to Christianise them. He is credited as the principal champion of Christianity in Ireland.

The original color associated with Saint Patrick was blue, but he used the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity. Green ribbons and shamrocks have been worn as far back as the 17th century.

Nothing like a little history to get your ready to drink some Guinness. So get your green on, go out and celebrate and for today be an Irishman!!

NCAA Basketball...needs some juice

With the tournament started, NCAA basketball is back where it should be in the forefront.

The one and done rule for men's basketball has ruined the sports entirely. There are too many players that leave early after one season and the basketball product has suffered. The rules between college football, basketball and baseball are so different which has an effect on each sport. They need to make the rules all the same or at least bring the same rule from football to basketball.

My solution is this: if a high school player is good enough to go to the NBA, let him go. However, if you enroll and start college you must stay on campus for 3 years (like football). After three years you can leave to the NBA. This would help college basketball have more name players and players that people will know who they are. This would also provide some stability to basketball programs and level the playing field even more. Come on NCAA stop letting the pro sports use the NCAA as a minor league for their sports, set your own standards with no influence and support your product.

twitter @NCAA

March Madness

Every year March Madness seems to finish further on into April, but nonetheless it is that time of year. The play-in games start today, but the official start for most of us takes place on Thursday and lasts all day through Sunday. This is truly one of the best four days in sports and unlike a lot of other big sporting events takes place annually (World Cup, Olympics, etc).

So hopefully your bracket is filled out and you have a way to be out of work or a way to follow it while at work. A new way to get out of work is being done by radio shows, here is the story. Probably a lot better than the excuses that are thrown out each year.

http://www.examiner.com/sports-in-national/media-help-fans-of-ncaa-tournament-take-day-off-from-work

This year it is even better as St. Patrick's Day falls on Thursday, so double the craziness!!