Project Bravo

Archive for March, 2007

HockeyFights.com

Friday, March 30th, 2007

hockey-fight.jpgIf you can’t figure out what HockeyFights.com is all about then you probably don’t belong online (or anywhere out of your home for that matter), but the site is, as my buddy tblade describes, “what we have dreamed of since middle school!”

The site features crazy hockey fights from all around the world, but it goes way beyond that. For each fight in their database, you can vote on who you thought won the fight, see other fights from that game, see other fights for each player in the fight and even view other fights between those same 2 players and a whole hell of a lot more. If the people behind this site put their skills towards saving the environment, Al Gore would be out of a job within months.

Starwood Hotels’ Best Brews

Monday, March 26th, 2007

best-brews.jpgMost restaurants and hotels pride themselves on their wine selection and sommeliers. Four Points by Sheraton recently realized that beer snobs need a place to sleep in between pints too. Starwood Hotels’ Best Brews is an initiative to ensure quality beers in the brand’s Four Points suite of hotels. Obviously, they’ll pour the staples, but each hotel will serve a different selection of local, domestic and imported brews.

They even went so far as to hire a “Chief Beer Officer” (can you say dream job!) to ensure the quality and selection of beers in their chains. I’ll never stay at a non-Starwood hotel again.

16 things it takes most of us 50 years to learn

Thursday, March 22nd, 2007

Scribd.com’s list of 16 things it takes most of us 50 years to learn is insightful, telling and damn funny. Some highlights:

“The badness of a movie is directly proportional to the number of helicopters in it”

“You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests you think she’s pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment”

“People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them”

Top 10 Fantasy Sports Names

Thursday, March 22nd, 2007

1991u_gedman_rich.jpgEvery year I try to come up with witty names for my multitudes of fantasy sports teams (I know, I have no life). And every year I fail miserably at both naming my team and actually winning. So I started scouring the web for funny names I could steal, although now that I’ve posted them I can’t really get away with using them in any of my leagues. Damn.

1. Cunning Linguists
2. Gutter Helmets
3. Meat Popsicles
4. Hoof Hearted
5. SlappaHos
6. BVD Skidmarks
7. Urine Trouble
8. The No-No Spots
9. Gedman is a God
10. The Short Bus Kids

Honestly, these aren’t really the best names, just a few good ones I plucked from the web. Got anything better?

Top 10 Ways to Win in Vegas

Tuesday, March 20th, 2007

vegas.jpgThe Travel Channel’s Top 10 Ways to Win in Vegas attempts to help gamblers beat the house. LiveManly.com recaps this list without the commercial breaks and blatant Vegas promotions.

10. Play the games with the best payback – Table games have better odds than machine games and normally, “the easier the game, the better the house edge.” Roulette 5%, Slots 2-15%, Wheel of Fortune 11-24%, Keno 20-30%, Pai Gow Poker 0.5%, Baccarat 1%, Video Poker 0.5%, Craps 0.4%, Blackjack 0.5-2%

9. Play the right slot machines – Find the machine that you understand and that payouts with high percentage paybacks. Look for lower jackpots (think thousands) because your odds are better. Play the slots to have fun and take advantage of casino comps.

8. Use superstition – Good luck charms and superstitions play a huge role in casinos. Hell, why not.

7. Use coupons – Casinos give out free shit. Take advantage.

6. Know when (and where) to visit – Go right before Christmas, late January/early February and during the summer. Mid week (Sunday through Thursday) will get you cheaper rates. If you don’t care about your room, stay in a budget hotel off the strip.
(more…)

Minor league baseball player worth $1 billion

Monday, March 19th, 2007

cash-money.jpgSome guys have all the luck. It wasn’t enough that Matt White had a legitimate shot at pitching for the LA Dodgers, but he recently discovered that his Massachusetts’ home contains roughly 24 million tons of Goshen Stone worth an estimated $1 billion.

This reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend on St. Patrick’s Day regarding how multi-talent celebrities (i.e. Jamie Foxx, J-Lo, Justin Timberlake) have a massively disproportionate amount of talent compared to the everyday schmo. Why is this? No idea and I sure as hell wouldn’t tell you if I knew, but something needs to be done. If you’re going to be a famous actor, be happy, don’t start selling perfume, release albums and start at QB in the NFL. I suppose I don’t mind when people quit a career for a new one (pro sports to politics for example), but limit simultaneous pro-caliber careers to no more than two.

If its any consolation, Matt White was designated to minor league spring training today.

10 most important games of all time

Saturday, March 17th, 2007

spacewar.jpgA bunch of game geeks and Stanford University professors came up with their list of the 10 most important games of all time. Each game in the list defined its genre and took a leap in game concept design. In chronological order:

Spacewar (1962)
Star Raiders (1979)
Zork (1980)
Tetris (1985)
SimCity (1989)
Super Mario Bros. 3 (1990)
Civilization I/II (1991)
Doom (1993)
the Warcraft series (beginning 1994)
Sensible World of Soccer (1994)

Noticeably missing from the list:

Madden NFL (1984) – The best-selling video game franchise in history, not to mention the de facto standard of sports games.

Dead or Alive (1996) – Scantily clad babes kicking the shit out of each other. And don’t forget DOA Extreme Beach Volleyball… mmmm… thongs…

Grand Theft Auto (1997) – Guns, drugs, hookers and car-jacking. This series has it all!

Spike’s Bullrun

Tuesday, March 13th, 2007

spike-bullrun.jpgI loved the Cannonball Run movies and Spike TV’s newest show Bullrun aims to recreate some of the glory of this classic road race film. The show features cars ranging from a 1968 Dodge Charger and a 1965 Mustang Fastback to a 2007 Lotus Exige S and a 2003 Lamborghini Murcielago in timed road race challenges. Add in hot “Flag Girls” like Ashley, Rebecca and Stirling and Spike seems to have finally found a winning combination.

Google adds buses

Monday, March 12th, 2007

As if Google employees didn’t have enough perks already (”Unlimited amounts of free chef-prepared food at all times of day. A climbing wall, a volleyball court and two lap pools. On-site car washes, oil changes and haircuts, not to mention free doctor checkups.”) Google is now busing close to 1200 employees to and from work each day. The buses feature leather seats and free wi-fi.

Google, if you’re listening and need a guy that writes about stuff for guys, I may be willing to relocate.

Which financial documents should you keep?

Friday, March 9th, 2007

I’m a pack-rat when it comes to financial documents. I have cell phone bills I paid in the early 90’s (can you say Zack Morris phone?). Soundmoneytips.com has put together a good list of the financial documents you should save and the ones you can throw away safely.

In general its a good idea to keep anything related to tax returns (pay stubs, w2, returns, etc), mortgages and investments (including retirement savings). Simple things to toss (and shred) include paid bills (once the check clears) and ATM receipts (once the transaction posts to your account).


Blog Widget by LinkWithin