Simply Golden

Normally, I don't get very excited about the Academy Awards. Of course, I enjoy seeing all the celebs' gorgeous dresses and all the men looking dapper in their suits but typically the Oscars are a long, boring affair that I could care less about. Here's a few reasons why:
-They start too late and take WAY too long.
-All the movies are "critically acclaimed" pieces that real people don't actually see (usually).
-The winners' speeches are ridiculously long and boring.
-I just don't care.

However, this year is different because of two major factors:
Factor A) The hosts -- James Franco and Anne Hathaway. They're both young, attractive and likable actors, and I am truly looking forward to seeing them host Hollywood's biggest night. For those reasons, I think the Academy's selection of the two actors was superb. And of course, having them as hosts will bring in a slew of young viewers who wouldn't normally watch the Oscars -- like me!
Factor B) The movies -- For the first time ever, I have seen three of the movies nominated for Best Picture. The King's Speech (Simply superb, Colin Firth better win that Oscar), The Social Network (It was so much more than just "The Facebook movie" and also, Andrew Garfield is REALLY attractive) and of course, Toy Story 3 (best. movie. ever.) I genuinely care about the biggest award of the night because I want one of the three movies that I've seen and fallen in love with to win. And while I haven't seen Black Swan (and never plan to) or 127 Hours, I care about those movies because I like the actors who star in them (Natalie Portman and James Franco respectively). Granted, I like Natalie Portman because I loved No Strings Attached and I like James Franco because he's gorgeous, but hey, I'm still rooting for them.

I know that the Oscars don't have a lot to do with Pittsburgh, but I didn't title this post Far Away from the Burgh because one of the Best Picture nominees has a big connection to the Burgh. The hiker portrayed by James Franco in 127 Hours is Carnegie Mellon graduate Aron Ralston. He will give the commencement speech at the university's graduation ceremony on May 15. That's another reason to root for James Franco and 127 Hours! Look for more posts about the Burgh later this week, and until then enjoy all of the Oscar hoopla!

Left: James Franco and Right: Aron Ralston (Yes, I managed to get two pictures of James Franco in one post.)

P.S. Check out collegehumor.com's hilarious article "Honest Movie Titles: Oscars 2011." My personal favorite is their Toy Story 3 title. So. True.

Don't you want a blog post?

Hello, Internet. It's been awhile!

When I realized that it's been a week since my last blog post, I knew that I had to post immediately! Not much has happened in the 'Burgh in the last week, and lately I've had a minor case of writer's block. So here's some randomness from the City of Champions...

*Wait, did I just type that "not much has happened in the 'Burgh in the last week"?! Oops! FAIL. Unless you have been living under a rock somewhere in Boyce Park the last seven days, you know that the Penguins made some blockbuster moves. A) Defenseman Alex Goligoski was booted to Dallas in exchange for left winger James Neal and defenseman Matt Niskanen. B) Alex Kovalev is headed back to the 'Burgh after he was acquired from the Senators for a conditional 2011 7th round draft pick. Woot, woot! If only Siddo and Geno were healthy...
But wait! Because the Pens don't have enough star players on the injured reserve list (yep, that's Internet sarcasm), defenseman Brooks Orpik will now be out four weeks with a broken finger. First my Sidney, now my Brooksy! Oh my, being a Pens fan is truly an exciting, yet stressful time right now! Because we can't seem to remember how to win either.

Anyways...

*Looks like that whole "new Batman movie filming in the 'Burgh" thing is pretty legit. One of the recent posts on That's Church posted a picture of Dark Knight producer Christopher Nolan chilling on Smithfield Street. Not a big deal. (Again with the Internet sarcasm) Now, with all the current drama with the Pittsburgh film office, this whole thing has still not been confirmed. But the director's chilling in the 'Burgh which sure seems like a good sign. Cue the Batmobile!

And that is all. Hope your Over the Hills fix has been satisfied!

P.S. Yes, this post's title was inspired by this week's episode of Glee. Lea Michele and Darren Criss sang an awesome version of "Don't You Want Me." Oh, to sing as well as those two can...
Check the full scene out below:



...And that's really all!

The Off Season

Now that their season has come to an end, the Steelers have begun their six month off season. But they're not the only ones in Pittsburgh relishing in the offseason.

It's also the off season for Pittsburgh's three amusement parks - Kennywood, Idlewild and Sandcastle!

Today's issue of the Tribune Review featured an interesting article about Kennywood and the other parks in their winter off season. It was very cool to read about what workers at the parks do during the winter and how they prepare for the upcoming summer months. Be sure to check out the article while you're waiting for Kennywood to open once again!

Pittsburgh = Gotham City

Da na na na na na....Batman!

Looks like Batman will be landing in the 'Burgh to film the latest installment of the movie series, The Dark Knight Rises. The movie will be filming in both Pittsburgh and Los Angeles this summer and will wrap up in New York in November. Christian Bale will be reprising his role as the title character, Bruce Wayne, and big name stars Anne Hathaway and Joseph Gordon-Levitt will co-star in the third movie in the series. Hathaway is set to play Catwoman, but Gordon-Levitt's role is yet to be determined. Although, MTV has some ideas about who he could play. Stay tuned for more info on the 'Burgh's transformation into Gotham City!

Concussed

See this guy on the left? You might recognize him. His name is Sidney Crosby. He plays for the Pittsburgh Penguins, but for the last month he's been M.I.A. When I first heard that Sidney had a concussion way back in January, I thought he'd be back in a few days or weeks. Oh, how wrong I was. He has now missed 15 games, and his return isn't in sight. In a press conference yesterday, he announced that he is unsure if he will even play again this season.

Let's go wayyy back to January 6. You'll recall that on that day Sidney was diagnosed with a mild concussion and was projected to be out for about a week. Apparently, that projection was wrong.

At first, I was upset about his prolonged absence. Even though we have been playing relatively well without him, it's never good to have your captain and star player out of the lineup. However, I realized that this was not just any old injury. It was a brain injury. Rumor has it that Sidney suffered two brain injuries in consecutive games against the Capitals and Lightning. Brain injuries are serious business, and you don't need to be a neurosurgeon to figure that out. To learn more about Sidney's injury, I headed to WebMD and read their article on concussions. The article says "Some symptoms last for just seconds; others may linger." Obviously, in Sid's case the symptoms have lasted a lot longer than a few seconds.

I'm a hockey fan, but I'm also a caring and compassionate person. I want Sid to come back for the good of the team, but I realize that his health is much more important than winning or losing. After all, losing a few games is a lot better than losing a great player like #87 forever. So, get well soon Sidney, and don't come back to the ice before your noggin is ready! :)

Far away from the 'Burgh...

400 miles south of Pittsburgh is the city of Winston Salem, North Carolina. The city is home to Wake Forest University, and one amazing college baseball coach. The Demon Deacons' head baseball coach, Tom Walter, put his belief that a team is like a family into action. Check your pulse if this story doesn't bring you close to tears and/or restore your faith in humanity!

I'm sending a virtual high five to Mr. Walters for being an amazing coach and an even better person. During the upcoming college baseball season, I'll be keeping a close eye on Wake Forest and cheering the team and their awesome coach onto victory!

Depressed, yet Optimistic

What is this feeling so sudden and new? I felt the moment the clock struck 0:00. My pulse is rushing, the tears are coming, oh what is this feeling? Painful as can be, does it have a name? Losing. Losing. Losing. Losing. Losing.

Well, that was rough. As a Pittsburgher, I am not familiar with this strange emotion called.....losing. I don't like it. I want it to go away. I want to hop in Michael J. Fox's time capsule and change the result of the game. I want the Steelers to be lifting the Lombardi trophy. I want Roger Goodell to be handing Big Ben the MVP award. But, alas, I am being too greedy. I can't go back in time and change the final score. Green Bay played a good game, and unlike the Steelers they didn't have any costly turnovers. Despite the loss, the Steelers still have more Super Bowl victories than any other team in the NFL. They may not have reached 7th Heaven, but they still proudly represent Sixburgh. As my dad consoled my broken heart after the game he reminded me of that fact. And that we still have the Penguins and the Stanley Cup playoffs to look forward to. Like a bad breakup, this loss is going to be hard to recover from, but as a Pittsburgher I know that I can persevere. After all, I've dealt with an entire lifetime of losing from the Pirates. And after being so blessed sports-wise in recent years, I guess it's time that the City of Champions share the thrill of victory with another city. At least until it's time for Gary Bettman to hand the winning captain the Stanley Cup...

...then I would like to be the City of Champions once more.

Glass half full.....glass half full.....

TK & the Terrible Towel

#Pens Kennedy with the Terrible Towel during an intermission ... on Twitpic

TK cheering on the Steelers! Here we go!!!

Walking in Pittsburgh

I LOVE this song/video! It details so many of the things that make the 'Burgh great, and it also showcases CMU grad Tim Ruff's amazing voice. As a writer, I'm also very impressed with the creative way Ruff re-wrote the lyrics to the popular song "Walking in Memphis." This is the perfect song to get Steeler Nation pumped for the biggest game of the year and remind everyone what's so great about the 'Burgh!

Don't forget to get the free download of "Walking in Pittsburgh," and check out Ruff's debut CD!

P.S. The video already has over 81,000 views on YouTube! Be sure to share it with all the 'Burghers you know to get that number even higher :)

2 more days!

After two weeks of waiting, Super Bowl XLV is now only two days away! After all the hype and intense media analysis surrounding the big game, it is a little over 48 hours away. According to my estimations, at least 75% of the student and faculty population at my high school was decked out in black and gold -- jerseys, t-shirts, jewelry and terrible towels! It was an awesome sight to behold. Hopefully, we'll all dig out more black and gold apparel on Monday amidst our joy over the team's seventh Super Bowl victory. And if the Steelers don't reach 7th Heaven...well, Western Pennsylvania will be one very down and depressed place. So let's cross our fingers and hope for the best!

Some random notes about the black and gold...

*Of course I'll be cheering on the Steelers on Sunday, but I'm sure there are some football fans without ties to either team who are still wondering who to root for. ESPN columnist Rick Reilly (one of my favorite sportswriters) says that the Steelers and Packers are the exact same team, which makes it hard to pick a side. Check out the article and try to read it from an unbiased perspective ;)

*Meanwhile, the unexpected wintry weather continues to wreak havoc in Dallas, which is hosting the Super Bowl. Pictures of the icy weather look like scenes from Pittsburgh, not north Texas!

*I stumbled upon a website featuring NFL soccer jerseys. If these jerseys really existed I would definitely be ordering one instead of writing this blog post! Check out the Steelers' soccer jersey:

I hope you enjoyed the links! Try not to go too crazy waiting for kickoff on Sunday! And of course...Go Steelers!

More super gleeful news!

Here's some more Glee/Super Bowl news...

Glee star Matthew Morrison, who plays the glee club director, revealed who he thinks will win the big game on Sunday. Drum roll please...

Morrison picked the Steelers! He said that he thinks they will win because of their defense and key player Troy Polamalu. Morrison also boldly predicted that the black and gold will win by 17 points. I sure hope he's right! He may not be a permanent member of Steeler nation like Seth Meyers (see below post), but it's nice to see another one of my favorite celebrities supporting the black and gold.

In other news, the Penguins are now without three of their four centers. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin remain out of the lineup with injuries and now Mark Letestu has injured his knee. Jordan Staal is the only starting center left standing, and luckily the NHL did not suspend him after he was given a match penalty for punching an opposing player last night. Here's to hoping the other three centers will return to the ice soon!