The Dawg Pound

Fair warning... if you're not privy to football this may come across like a bunch of jibber jabber.

At times, it doesn't get more pessimistic than being a fan of the CLEVELAND BROWNS. The NFL team is rich in tradition and history, but none of that has translated to the team upon it's re-integration to the NFL in 1999 (after the team originally moved to Baltimore and became the Ravens). Now it's still a few months before the NFL hysteria kicks in to high gear, but my football team is something I'm feeling truly good about for the first time in a while.

Now, one might ask "Why the Browns?" and I guess you could say I'm drawn toward teams that are the 'underdog' and that's one of the reasons why I picked The Browns. It doesn't get much more underdog than the Dawg Pound. Being a Canadian, our brand of football (otherwise called the "CFL") is unique. It has 3-downs, no fair catch, and you're allowed to celebrate after a touchdown. Add to that formula the fact that there is only 8 teams and it's reasonable to see why the drama only extends so far. I chose the Browns as they were a team I was always kind of 'drawn toward' and their re-introduction into the NFL was a prime opportunity for me to pick a team to stick with. I don't regret it even though it's been a long decade since their return.

I have legitimate hope for the Browns in 2010. Here's why:

It's been rough, through flashes of success in the early years being lead on the field by quarterback Tim Couch (our first ever #1 pick in the draft) to to bouncing between highs and lows throughout the 2000's. 2009 was a very tough year for the Browns and their fans. With fingers being pointed at the Head Coach for his dictator-like tactics and playing a juggling act with the starting quarterbacks, to fingers being pointed at those quarterbacks for their less than amicable play and a young, struggling offense and a defense that lacked the talent to help the team keep up. The 1-11 start to the season was the WORST start the Browns have had since re-entering the NFL and that's a bitter pill to swallow.

Although 2009 had many headaches for Browns fans, things started to turn around late in the season starting with a huge victory over division rival the Pittsburgh Steelers, (the first victory over them since Ben Roethlisburger became their QB) which followed with 3 more victiories. The Browns finished the season strong, and with the announcement of hiring Mike Holmgren as the new team President, there came with that legitimate cause for the Browns fans to be excited for the first time in at least a few years.

Holgmren coached the Green Bay Packers to some Superbowl victories and coached the Seattle Seahawks to the Superbowl  (which they lost to the Steelers). He brings a mind-set of change to an organization that as a whole has lacked an identity upon re-entering the NFL. After the Browns have suffered through countless regime changes and personnel adjustments. Different head coaches with different ideologies wielding the same unlikely results, not to mention a revolving door of quarterbacks since we effectively ruined the career of Tim Couch by failing to build a proper team around him. Holmgren has come in, he has worked to change the mind-set of the team, the coach and the players with the result of a wholly more positive outlook.

As Holmgren came in, he made some personnel adjustments to the team's front office. Bringing in a new General Manager, and he decided to keep the team's Head Coach, Eric Mangini as well. He spoke of change and he spoke with respect to that rich history of the Cleveland Browns. He spoke of wanting to change things in Cleveland and turn the team into a winner. How could any fan not get excited about that. One thing that stood out was that he spoke with a realm of realism. He spoke about how it was not going to be an instantaneous process and how it would take time. This was key because that's how change works and it was important for Holmgren to establish realistic expectations right off the start.

Holmgren showed faith in keeping around head coach Eric Mangini. A coach I wanted nothing to do with when we signed him to join the team for the 2009 season. Holmgren joked during his initial press conference that Mangini needed to smile more, though he was joking there were serious undertones to this statement. Mangini caught a lot of heat for his rather cold coaching tactics and similar approach to team press conferences. Since Holmgren has joined the team, Mangini has come across as much more genial and approachable, and certifiably more likable. That is nothing but a good thing as the team continues to move forward.

The team began to get rid of much of the dead weight. Players that were not contributing or players that did not have a future on the team, players that weren't going to live up to expectations. We got rid of Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson, both our starting quarterbacks (they shared time in 2009) and brought in aging veteran Jake Delhomme who is bouncing off an AWFUL 2009 season and yet I consider him an upgrade to both Quinn and Anderson. We have improved the team in key areas of weakness, and established an attitude on this team that was necessary for turning the ship around as it were. There is a genuine wave of optimism that makes things feel different.

Our team has a core of young players who could grow to become the foundation for a good team for years to come. There is hope that Delhomme can lead the team on the field which ranked near the bottom of most of the NFL's offensive categories. We have added players on defense to give us depth in positions where we had none last year, again, improving areas of our team that ranked near the bottom of the NFL in defensive categories as well. I believe with players buying into the new attitude that the coaches and front office are trying to build, that growth should come naturally.

Many of the draft picks we brought in as well add to the optimistic outlook. First round pick Joe Haden looks to be the future at a position where the Browns have been routinely weak, with the "top-ten" label, fans will be looking for Haden to be making an instant contribution. He's the kind of player who puts in a lot of effort and I think he will be a great player.

Third round pick Colt McCoy was a somewhat debated pick for the team, and the team has put their faith in him growing enough during his rookie season to possibly become the future franchise QB for the Browns. After his first day of training camp, he spoke of his responsibilities. Talking of how he and the coaches expect him to get better with every snap he takes and how he's just working hard, studying tape of great QB's like Brees, Brady and Manning. He never once said he was 'trying' to do anything. He flat out said he was going to get better. That's the kind of confidence I want to see from someone who could possibly be the QB for many years to come.

Its too early to truly bank on any rookies just as it's too early to really worry about how good the team could become. The bottom line is that many Browns fans, myself included, look toward 2010 as a year of growth and a year of improvement. We're all hoping the team will show signs of heading in the right direction as opposed to this merri-go-round of mediocrity that we witnessed from years 1999 to 2009.

First week impressions of Convergys

This past week I began my adventure with Convergys. Going into it, I wasn't sure what to expect. The three week wait to begin training was as torturous as anything I'd ever undertaken. Being unemployed for this long has been tough on me and I looked forward to finally beginning something, especially a job that was full time. Call Center work is still something I'm not certain of. It's radically different than anything I've done before and although I'm anxious to take on the challenge, there's a certain fear that comes from taking on a task that's pretty much clear outside of my typical "comfort zone".

Day One was a good day. The training environment kind of reminded me, and everybody, of school. Everybody was nervous and sleep deprived but the trainer Terri was very professional, genial and quite funny. Her personable attitude helped make any nervous transitions dissipate and she was very good at getting the class to open up which I think has resulted in everyone getting more comfortable in the environment in general. We didn't get into too much the first day, it was mostly orientation related things. Downright boring Power Point Presentations that outlined the expectations of the job and talked about what CIGNA Health Care is all about, among other things.

Day Two we finally started to get into learning some of the processes. We shadowed some employees for a couple of hours, listening in to calls while we observed their techniques. The consensus seemed to be very general. I had the advantage of bouncing to a few different employees to shadow because of different circumstance. They all pretty much told me the same thing. The Job is pretty easy and most of the learning of the process will be done out on the floor, not in the training. It's only as stressful as you make it. Which really can be said about anything. We also began to tippy-toe into some of the medical terminologies we will want to have a familiarity with as we work.

Day Three, "hump day" as many of us were calling it. By now we were starting to feel more comfortable in our environment. I had almost felt compelled to put myself into that "class clown" kind of position. Mostly for self-amusement more than anything else. We continued to review medical terms and we also started to learn the main program that we will be using, called "One View" which is the program that we will use to log the phone calls and the different tasks we undertake while in the middle of a phone call. Was also the first day we started to sit with fellow trainees during lunch. The bonding process beginning! People were certainly opening up by this point and everyone was enjoying themselves. It was important because I don't even want to imagine what it would be like if everyone was taking this "All business" super serious attitude into training every day. I would most certainly go crazy if I was the only one in the room trying to be a smart-ass and for the most part, I was.

By Thursday (day four) we were all pretty comfortable with each other I would say and we continued to dive into the learning experience. We continued to practice with OneView as well as continued to review the medical terms. It's all very general medical things at this point. Working us toward being familiar with the terms we're likely to hear on the phone while we're helping providers so that when we're answering calls, we're not the ones asking all the questions we can simply help them and end the call. Convergys has a efficiency code of making sure the "issue" is resolved in one call. That's something I can live with. We had our first evaluative assessment which I scored 100% on (It was "open resource" so... pretty hard not to ace) and we ended the class by playing pictionary for the last half-hour of the day.

Friday was a day everyone was excited, because the weekend was just around the corner. A much hyped and anticipated game of Pictionary was played against one of the other training classes. Which we lost but only after giving the other team a free point because of a member of our team saying the answer out loud. A moral victory was taken that day, regardless. Our team was very lively and we had a lot of energy. That could've easily been attributed to the fact that our training class is pretty young overall. There are older people but there is a large portion of people that are younger than me, and I'm 22. We continued to review OneView and also began to learn about reading benefits which is one of the main portions of the job. Reading Benefits and Eligibility as well as assessing Claims (but we won't be beginning that for a few weeks yet...)

So far I'm enjoying this. It felt like a lot to take in at first and it is, but as we dive in to learning the individual aspects of the job it doesn't seem so bad. The training classes are well paced and we learn quite a bit each day while reviewing things and keeping on top of the things that are essential to us being effective employees. The overall environment is kind of campy. It really makes me think of the "Sebben and Sebben Orientation Video" episode of Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law.  We'll see how things continue to go. Overall, I'm excited that I've got a full time job that pays well. Since being hired, Tim Horton's has called me twice, nothing stopped them from calling me the month or so between when I gave them my resume and when Convergys hired me. And everywhere else I've applied seems to still be looking on and off as well. They didn't want to call me, they lost out. Convergys hired me and I'll bring my work ethic and professionalism to that job for as long as I can stomach it. It really can't be worse than working in retail, dealing with bitchy customers who cannot be pleased.

No, I think this will be much better.

Backbreaker, a new kind of Football game.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love sports games. My friends are never hesitant to point out how "they're all the same" or "they're boring" or find any way what so ever to shortchange their value to me. The point remains, that I would rather fantasize about throwing a winning touchdown or scoring the winning goal or throwing the strike-out pitch than I would about shooting somebody in the head or slicing something up with a sword (Though I do love games, like Ninja Gaiden or Legend of Zelda). Pick or chose any of the abundant of overly and needlessly violent video games there are out there. I'd rather play a sports game.

One of the "big" sports games for me is Madden NFL Football. It comes out every year, though I am tempted I don't buy it every year. I am a fan, sure, but I am a consumer and there is just rarely enough improvement from year to year beyond roster and statistical updates, and maybe one or two features to warrant me buying every year. Sometimes though my need to be entertained shines beyond my resistance to spend money.

There is however, finally, an alternative that's coming out that isn't just another attempt to re-invent the way that Football games like Madden are played, this game is taking a whole new approach to the game of football and its one I'm very excited to experience.

The game is called "Backbreaker" It's made from the "Eurphoria" engine which was originally created by Oxford university as a physics engine designed to study the way humans interact with one another physically. The engine has been adapted in this sense to be turned into a football game that focus' on bone crunching "realistic" hits that are more grounded in the way the players interact with each other on the field. Promoting a unique and diverse experience driven by physical interaction and not pre-scripted animations on the field. Here's a video where the developers describe the Euphoria engine.



With the use of the engine, the game promotes a uniqueness that isn't typically found in Madden or other "franchise" football games. Because of the nature of the design, with animations, you're likely to play through scenarios that are familiar and ultimately exploitable. The games, to a degree, become predictable and they can become a bit repetitive but that never really kills the experience for me because when you're playing two or three or more games of any given sport in a single sitting you're bound to experience some form of repetition.

Backbreaker promotes a new way to play football, this is endearing to me. Promoting a more, dare I say, intimate 3rd person angle. The game's focus is to make you feel like you're one of the players on the field as opposed to the more traditional "broadcast" style of gameplay where you oversee all of the action on the field simultaneously. The game is pushing an experience that gives a sense of excitement and intensity with the advantages of the euphoria engine that you wouldn't otherwise get out of a football game.





I'm excited because I'm pretty bored with the same ol' same ol' from Madden. EA has really failed to innovate the game and that's due to EA being EA more than anything. Their pretense is to make money over delivering an innovative product and that's another issue (meant to be discussed on my other blog, more than anything). Backbreaker is an opportunity to get a new experience that isn't driven by $$$ its driven by delivering a game play experience to the fans and that is sadly not EA's priority at all.

Backbreaker is striving to deliver a different experience but the fact that their priority is rooted around delivering an experience as opposed to glossing over the fans with cosmetic upgrades. Backbreaker isn't just striving to deliver an experience, they're pushing to deliver a unique experience that as sports gamers, we have not had the pleasure of having yet. It's not going to be a campy, over the top game like NFL Blitz which was one of my main concerns. It may not have the hyper-authentic imagery that Madden likes to embrace but if the game play is superior that's all I need to hear because that's what it should be about when it comes to video games.

To end this with a mute point about gaming in general. It's sad that too much focus has been laid on the cosmetic aspects of a video game when all that really matters is how it plays. I don't give a shit about how big the main characters boobs are, or how skimpy her outfit is in Heavenly Sword when the game is boring to play.

Backbreaker looks like its going to break some rules and hopefully, open some eyes in the sports gaming world. I just hope the fans are ready to embrace a different type of game play experience. I know I am. I'm really looking forward to it.

Black Dynamite Bitches!

He's super cool and he know's Kung-Fu! Black Dynamite was a movie I had been looking forward to since I first saw the trailer last summer. It's a satire and a parody of the old 70's "blaxploitation" movies and I think it pretty much did everything it could possibly do well. It got the look of the 70's down very well right down to the dated grainy look of the film quality. The main character, Black Dynamite, was pretty much the most awesome thing about the movie which one should expect given that is the name of the movie. The surrounding cast was pretty good too though and the plot, though completely absurd and ridiculous, was awesome none the less.

I really didn't know what to expect. I wasn't sure how serious this movie was going to try to be and thankfully they embraced the absurdity of the concept full boar and didn't try to make anything more serious than it needed to be. A similar approach was what made Zombieland a very good movie. The lead character is an ex CIA-Badass who is also a pimp on the side and a kung fu badass. Black Dynamite is motivated to turn the streets red after he learns about the death of his brother. What progresses from there is quite easily one of the most ridiculous but enjoyable plots that couldn't have fit the movie any better. They even end up going to "Kung-Fu Island" for real. This movie doesn't play games.

As one would expect. Black Dynamite is a total player and he is as smoothe as it comes with the ladies. Once he catches sight of the main lady of the film his sights are set on her (and when he finally seals the deal is amusing in what I can only assume is a somewhat inspired by Anchorman sex scene.) and some of the side-plots that gets introduced through meeting her is that drugs have been leaked on to the streets. Black Dynamite decides to take it upon himself to clean up the streets, momentarily getting distracted from avenging the death of his brother but like any good movie the plot gets back to that eventually.

Now to call Black Dynamite "good" in the traditional, Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott, David Fincher sense would be completely wrong because this just isn't that kind of movie. Black Dynamite scores big points across the board for its willingness to hug the ridiculous so tight and never let go. It doesn't really hold back and when you're wondering "could this get any more awesome?" it throws something into the mix that keeps it coming. There's very few missed spots in this movie. Sure it's not perfect but given the kind of movie that it is, it's so close. It dives head first into virtually every aspect of the film. To say this movie doesn't half-ass would be an understatement. From how over-the-top the movie can be to how the movie likes to embrace ridiculous continuity errors and faux pas like in one scene where 'the man' is trying to get-away, his car door gets stuck on the lawn as he's getting into his car, making him take the time to shut his door properly before driving off.

I also love how Black Dynamite gets to test his awesome kung-fu skills at virtually any opportunity he can. From when you first meet him to the very final scene of the movie. To brawling multiple opponents at once to whipping out the nunchucks and smacking around some punks. I love the martial arts in this movie because of the cheezy 70's combat music and the awful awesome sound effects. A lot of what makes Black Dynamite such a successful experience is a lot of the little things and you'll notice them as you watch it. For me to ruin them for you here would be a disservice to a truly awesome movie. I think they put a lot of effort into making Black Dynamite such a complete experience. So many movies today you see come off like somebodies great idea that got lost in translation but Black Dynamite is a great idea that was executed with excellence.

Now, that being said, is Black Dynamite for everyone? I don't know. I'm sure there will be people who watch this after reading this and tell me that it was horrible. This movie will not be for everyone. If you think you can handle an over-the-top ridiculous movie about a CIA-Liscense-to-kill-Pimp-Player-Kung-Fu-Badass who is trying to save the community and the black peoples from a secret evil ploy to sabotage them than you will probably at the very least enjoy it. If it doesn't sound like the kind of movie you would enjoy (I think the trailer gives you a pretty good idea of what its going to be like) than don't watch it. The trailer is just a small sample of the true greatness that is Black Dynamite.

I really hope that this is the first in a long line of movies that just take the ball and run with it. So many movies get stuck in a rut, either its a complete reliance on toilet humor or just a joke that gets old way before the end of the movie. Maybe movies are trying to pander to a mainstream audience and in the process have to dilute what would otherwise be a hilarious movie. Black Dynamite manages to, for lack of a better term, "keep it real". It may be a ridiculous concept but it at the very least has the faith in its idea to ride it out until the end. I wish more comedies would do this rather than take the "two and a half men approach" and cash in on poor, cheap laughs and maybe make a comedy that people will remember in 5 years or longer, anyway, I digress.

If you're looking for something different, funny, cheesy, over-the-top than I recommend Black Dynamite. I absolutely loved this movie. So few films that I wait to see have really truly hit the spot like I expected them to and Black Dynamite is one of those movies.

Mission Statement

 For a while now I've felt like the internet breeds a overall cynicism. The 'hive-mind' of the internet is a negative place regardless of what it applies to. Of course, I'm not saying that everybody on the internet is negative or pessimistic but the bulk of people are (and maybe that applies to 'real life' too). I've been guilty of this also, my other blog is a place where I spew anger onto the internet because it makes me feel better when I have nowhere else to put it.

Lately though, I've felt like an oddity. I am not always so negative, though my girlfriend would not hesitate to call me a "hater" so maybe I am. This blog is my attempt to breed a little more optimism into my mindset and attitude. There are lots of things that I feel good about and look forward to and this blog will be my outlet for that. It's a bit of a challenge for myself, lets see if I can be purely optimistic without any of my trademark aggression creeping in (and I'm sure it will from time to time).

This will be a place that I will talk about things I'm looking forward to, things that are exciting me, things that I feel good about. Like my other blog, it won't be bogged down to any one thing and I will most likely discuss multiple topics that cover a wide foray of areas. The main difference will be this blog will be a place that optimism and hope grows. A place that I can reflect a more cheerful disposition in the hope that it will maybe help me be a less pessimistic person.