It's that time again!

FOOTBALL TIME!!!

And this year is gunna be special for me, because this year I'm playing Fantasy Football. Huh? What? What's Fantasy Football? Well, it's a league game you play with an even number of friends/family. Everybody selects different players for their "team" and if that player does well in the actual football season, you will get points.

So, me and my family gathered around and chose players for out team. We got to choose at leased one quarterback, two running backs, two wide receivers, one tight end, one kicker, and one defense. After 17 rounds, here is my fantasy football team:



Quarterbacks:
Philip Rivers (San Diego Chargers)
Donovan McNabb (Philadelphia Eagles)
Ryan Fitzpatrick (Buffalo Bills)

Runningbacks:
Matt Forte (Chicago Bears)
Frank Gore (San Francisco 49ers)
Knowshon Moreno (Denver Broncos)
Donald Brown (Indianapolis Colts)
Cadillac Williams (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)

Wide Receivers:
Chad Ochocinco (Cincinnati Bengals)
T.J. Houshmandzadeh (Seattle Seahawks)
Hines Ward (Pittsburgh Steelers)
Nate Washington (Tennessee Titans)
Muhsin Muhammad (Carolina Panthers)

Tight Ends:
Dustin Keller (New York Jets)
Jeremy Shockey (New Orleans Saints)

Kickers:
Rob Bironas (Tennessee Titans)

Defense:
New York Giants



As a rule, you must have eight players active and the rest on reserve. In case any of your players gets injured or if your player is on a Bye-Week that week, you have backups. I'm excited!!! Don't you guys think I have a good team? Can't wait to play.

And in each week, all of us go up against each other. I'm playing against my aunt Jen's team. She's smart about football... plus, she's got Adrian Peterson XD Anyway, I hope to enjoy it. Wish me luck everybody!

Oh man... Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band put on a GREAT show last night! Unfortunately, I'm too tired right now (I JUST got back home this second) to explain the details.

I'll write in a whole journal tomorrow explaining it. But, let me tell you, that show was FREAKEN AWESOME!!! Bruce Springsteen, 59 years old, and he's STILL rocking!

***

Okay, here it is. This how the day a started. My mom, my dad, and I got up early and started to get dressed. According to the weather channel, they said it was going to thunder and rain all day in Mansfield, MA. I kept looking at the weather all week hoping it would change. Either way, we brought some towels and spare clothes in case.

So, we jumped in the car and drove the long drive to Mansfield, MA. It was lucky because my parents have been there before. They knew the way. We first stopped at this diner where we had Buffalo chicken quesadilla's and ribs. Then we got subs and coffee for the ride home. Next, we drove to this grass lot to park, and my parents saw that the crowd there was different from a Dave Matthews crowd... all 40's and 50-year-olds, no teens or young adults. And... good news, so far, no rain. That was when we started walking to the arena.

When we got there, I got a Mountain Dew and a Bruce T-shirt. When I was getting my T-shirt, I chatted with a woman there who's a huge Bruce fan and said she's seen him MANY times. Anyway, after I got my shirt, we all took our seats... and it still didn't rain.

Finally, after waiting for hours, the show started at 8:09. He opened with "JACKSON CAGE" off of his 'The River' album. It was a great opener. He them dissolved the music into the song "SHE'S THE ONE" off of 'Born to Run.' He took a small break and I thought it was a great opener so far.

Then, he brought out his acoustic guitar and started playing "WORKING ON THE HIGHWAY" which he did well XD So far, these are songs that only die-hard Bruce fans would know. After the song, he hung his guitar over his shoulder, grabbed the microphone, and started playing the hit song "HUNGRY HEART" encouraging the audience to sing the chorus part as he sung the verse.

After that song, the stage grew dark with red and yellow lights. When Bruce was lit up, he was wearing a cowboy hat and carried his microphone. He then sung the new song "OUTLAW PETE" which lasted about ten minutes LOL After that song, he grabbed his electric guitar and then started paying "BADLANDS." Before the song ended, Bruce and guitarist Steve Van Zandt did their own duet guitar solo. Then the mood changed to mystical as he played the title song of his new album "WORKING ON A DREAM." It was AWESOME with the blue lights.

As soon as that song ended, guitarist Nils Lofgren played a lengthy guitar solo of the next song. The song Bruce sung was called "SEEDS" which is a song Bruce never recorded, it was always done live and is only on the 'Live 1985/85' album. Just as the song ended, the music kept playing to a rock-and-roll version of the acoustic song "JOHNNY 99" which my mom was hoping he'd sing. As soon as that song was done, the lights dimmed and everyone sat down.

The next song he sung was a soft-spoken song with just him at the microphone and Roy Bitten on the piano. He sung the rarely heard song of "POINT BLANK" but I knew the lyrics because of my being a fan. He then took the microphone off the stand and sung "RAISE YOUR HAND" which is another song he never recorded, only does live. During the song, he was collecting posters that front-row spectators held up with song requests on them.

Once the song was over, he held up a poster he collected that said 'Burning <3' ... so, Bruce, being a huge Elvis fan, grabbed his electric guitar, talked to his band, and started playing the Elvis Presley song "BURNING LOVE." It was the first song in the concert I didn't know about. After that song, he grabbed another poster that said 'For You' on it, which was off of Bruce's first album. Bruce and his band started playing "FOR YOU" which was awesome! Once one, he grabbed a poster with a classic song, a song he never recorded, but he wrote and a lot of people made it famous. It was called "TRAPPED" and actually, it was MY first time hearing it (I heard OF it, but it was my first time hearing it) and... whoa... it was AWESOME!!!

After that song was done, I was stunned... then, he played "WAITING ON A SUNNY DAY" off of his 'The Rising' album. He carried the microphone around and approached a little girl who looked like she was 10, and asked her to sing it. She got the lyrics 'mostly' right:

Correct lyrics:
Waiting, waiting on a sunny day
Gunna chase the clouds away
I'm waiting on a sunny day

She sung:
Waiting, waiting on a summer day
Waiting on a summer day
Waiting on a summer day

Oh well, she did good XD Once that song was done, Bruce grabbed his famous harmonica and played what I believe to be my favorite song, "THE PROMISED LAND." That song was incredible! Once done, the lights dimmed and everybody sat down. Bruce was told a member in the audience that this was his 224th Bruce concert. So he requested a special song, "IF I SHOULD FALL BEHIND" which is a great ballad. Once the song ended, Roy Bitten played the famous first notes of the next song, which was "BACKSTREETS" and Bruce did a great job on it! As soon as that song finished, Soozie Tyrell played the first notes to the next song, "LONESOME DAY" from 'The Rising.' In fact, in my series 'New Sonic Underground' Sonic, Sonia, and Manic sing 'Lonesome Day' in the first episode. After that, he played the title song "THE RISING" and at that point my throat was shot from singing along to all the songs... but I still kept going.

Then... Bruce played 'it' ... he played the best song, the big song, the song that made him famous... that's right, he played "BORN TO RUN"!!! As usual, the audience had to sing along. Bruce NOT playing that song in a concert is sacrilege! He did it! After his famous song, he then played a song that my mom didn't think he would play because it required a lot of running around... it was "ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT)" ... and, in fact, my pic I drew of me 'Bruce fan since I was four years old' is a drawing of me singing that song.

After that song, front row audience held up a balloon of an inflatable woman. Bruce pulled it onto the stage and he made a joke saying, "Steve has got a lot of these at home" XD He looked at it for a bit and said:

Bruce: She's got horns, so she's a...?
Audience: DEVIL!
Bruce: And what is she wearing?
Audience: BLUE DRESS!

So, Bruce played a song I never heard of, "DETROIT MEDLEY" about the devil in the blue dress, blue dress, blue dress, devil in the blue dress! XD During the song, Steve Van Zandt took the inflatable woman's red wig and placed it on Bruce's head as he sung the song LOL It was funny!

The song ended and the band took their bow... bit it wasn't over yet! The lights dimmed and Bruce spoke in the microphone about how Massachusetts and New England in general is trying to raise money and food to feed kids going hungry. To commemorate for those efforts, Bruce sung an old 1800's song called "HARD TIMES" which was beautiful. After that, he continued the encore with an Irish dance song called "AMERICAN LAND" which was really cool XD Then, he ditched the guitar and started singing the classic "DANCING IN THE DARK"! Just like in the music video, he pulled up an audience member (only it wasn't Courtney Cox) ... it was the 10-year-old girl who sung earlier. Bruce and her did a silly dance on the stage like the bird and the chicken dance XD It was funny to watch LOL

The encore continued! He then played the famous classic, "BORN IN THE U.S.A."! My voice was in pain at the time, but I kept going! As soon as that song ended, Bruce closed with a famous song "TWIST & SHOUT" with a lot of dancing on stage! We danced to that song with its lengthy ending musical bit and thanking Massachusetts for having him... and just like that, the band took their bow, then Bruce took a sponge with water and splashed the front row audience... and it was over!

The E Street Band!
The E Street Band!
The heart-stopping, pants-dropping, house-rocking, earth-shaking, booty-quaking, Viagra-taking, love-making -
Le-gen-dary E - Street - Band!

We were heading home then... and it NEVER rained! NEVER! Last time I'm trusting the Weather Channel. The only ones who go wet were the front row audience.

My only complaint was that his wife Patti Scialfa wasn't there due to injury, and I was hoping Bruce would pull out his famous black Takamine acoustic guitar and do solo ballads. Other than that, it was great. About 3/4 through the show, Max Weinberg's (the drummer) son, Jay Weinberg, substituted for him. His son is the drummer for his metal band, and I think Jay is awesome. Just wished he smiled more (well, he did during the bow).

Overall, AWESOME show, and we all got out of the concert alright. Man, I hope to see him again! The Comcast Theater in Hartford, CT is okay, but I LOVE Mansfield, it's like a park there. I wanna see Bruce there AGAIN someday! Someday, I will again. Until then, that show was AWESOME!!!

Set playlist:

August 22, 2009
Mansfield, Massachusetts
Comcast Center

Jackson Cage
She's The One
Working On The Highway
Hungry Heart
Outlaw Pete
Badlands
Working On A Dream
Seeds
Johnny 99
Point Blank
Raise Your Hand
Burning Love
For You
Trapped
Waiting On A Sunny Day
The Promised Land
If I Should Fall Behind
Backstreets
Lonesome Day
The Rising
Born To Run
Rosalita
Detroit Medley

Hard Times
American Land
Dancing In The Dark
Born In The USA
Twist & Shout

That's right... I'm gunna be seeing Bruce Springsteen IN CONCERT!!! Here's how it all started:

A few weeks ago, I was at my grandparent's house and I was talking to them as how my parents, big Dave Matthews fans, complained how my parents have seen Dave Matthews (I like him too XD) almost 50 times, but I've only seen MY artist once... been a Bruce fan since I was four years old. Well, I'm glad I saw him, but sometimes "once is not enough."

Of course my parents said that Bruce's tickets are heavily expensive. So they said to me, "Well, Ryan, if you can go online and find Bruce tickets at a good price, then we'll go."

I took their word for it. The next day, I went online to Bruce's website and found out he was playing near home in late August. I checked the ticket prices, expecting them to be very expensive... they weren't! They were reasonable prices. I showed it to my parents and... next thing I knew, my mom got her credit card and we all bought three tickets (me, my mom, and my dad)!

So, come Saturday, August 22nd, I'm going to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in concert in Mansfield, Massachusetts! I'M EXCITED!!! Of course, I'll never see Bruce's organ player, Danny Federici, anymore, RIP.

LOL, to celebrate, I've been making parodies of all of Bruce Springsteen's albums in place with Sonic Underground. Also... now, I'm not the type of person to ask for requests (makes me feel selfish since I'm already a good artist myself) but I've been asking my friends to draw pics of Sonic on stage, playing a guitar, and singing quotes from Bruce songs.

August 22nd, I... CAN'T... WAIT!!!

BRUUUUUUUUUCCCEEE!!!

A few days ago, I was checking my external hard drive and I saw my "My Pictures" folder has been corrupted, all the folders and file names were renamed with squares and those special characters with the dots on top. I ran a Virus scan, and it found none. I ran a diskcheck but it stopped short saying the files were corrupted. So, I ran an Error-check and it worked...

...

... it completely got rid of my "My Pictures" folder (and a few other useless folders I don't use). Well, in my hard drive, there's this file called My Pictures that's 32 KB in size, anyone know what that means? When I try to make a folder and title it "My Pictures" the comp says that folder already exists.

Anybody know how I can recover that folder? If not, it's not a total loss, all of my pictures are here on dA (it pays to not delete any pics from your gallery XD) and those that aren't, I can re-scan then. But it'd be nice to recover my "My Pictures" folder.

The other day, I went to see Star Trek" and I was blown away at how awesome it was! As a Star Trek fan, I was kind of expecting a poor movie, like most movies based on TV shows, but I was happy at how this movie really lived up as a prequel to Star Trek TOS (The Original Series). Sure, there were a lotta other Star Trek movies before that, which all had the original cast members returning. There was the Motion Picture, Wrath of Khan (with the return of the late Ricardo Maltaban), Search for Spock, The Voyage Home, The Final Frontier, and the Undiscovered Country. The original Star Trek movies ended with "Generations" which was the start of TNG (The Next Generation) line of movies. Yeah, I do like TNG, but I was glad when TOS got a movie again.

Also, I'd say the acting was incredible! The first time we meet Karl Urban, he rambles on about how he is afraid of something malfunctioning, followed by him explaining medical terms... immediately, I pointed to the screen and said "That's gotta be Bones!" LOL, the late Deforest Kelly would have been proud of that. In addition, I was getting worried because we still have never met Scotty until later on in the movie, which was a nice surprise. I was worried about that, because that would be a slap in the face to the wonderful acting of the original Scotty, James Doohan who passed away four years ago. Overall, any Star Trek fan should find enjoyment out of this movie! With the exception of a few things (which could be explained by the time-traveling Romulans), this movie remained heavily true to the original series that will make any fan happy! My personal only disappointment is that I wish the movie used the original television series sets. But I'm sure the crew had a good reason to create the new bridge and everything. I personally found it too bright and white.

Now, onto the movie. Stop here if you don't want spoilers. It was all a time-travel movie where vengeful Romulans, led by Captain Nero (played by Eric Bana from "The Hulk" and "Black Hawk Down") to make the Vulcans suffer for the destruction of their planet. It begins with the birth of a baby while a Starfleet Captain named Kirk is about to destroy the Romulan ship. Before his death, he asks his wife to name the child Jim... James Tiberius Kirk!

Years pass as we get to see Kirk's wild-side when he grew up in a farm on Iowa (in which any Star Trek fan will tell you where Kirk grew up)! From there, he gets recruited by Captain Christopher Pike... whom we all know was the Captain in the Pilot episode "The Cage." After three years, he is about to pass Starfleet Academy, and there he meets ascardy-cat doctor named Leonard McCoy (played by Karl Urban who gained fame for his role as Éomer on "The Lord of the Rings" and personally my favorite character), a black woman named Uhura, and a Vulcan named Spock (played by Zachary Quinto, famous for his role as "Heroes" villain Sylar). I was also pleased that the storyline of the movie stayed true when Kirk passed the Kobayashi Maru... the simulation course in which nobody can win! Of course, staying true to the series, Kirk was caught rewiring the test so he can beat it.

Suddenly, an emergency situation comes and all the students go on different starships to aid in a crisis situation... unaware they're walking into a trap. Bones manages to get Kirk on the Enterprise, in a HUMOROUS fashion of pain and shots! On the Enterprise, commanded by Pike, we are introduced with an Asian pilot named Sulu and a Russian pilot named Chekov, also true to the series. In addition, their uniforms are very similar to TOS. When the Enterprise arrives at Vulcan, the Romulan ship is waiting for them and orders Pike to him while Spock has command of the ship. Pike goes over, while three cadets (Kirk, Sulu, and a redshirt) must literally HALO-dive to the drill and destroy it. The redshirt dies, leaving Kirk and Sulu to battle the Romulans on the platform... I enjoyed that scene, because it was the classic hand-to-hand fight on a narrow space. Unfortunately, they are too late to destroy the drill and Vulcan is about to go boom. So, in a last ditch effort, Spock gathers as many Vulcans as he can to transport on the Enterprise... but his mother perishes. I personally didn't like that because we've always known that Spock's mother, a human, has always been alive.

After that, Pike is taken away aboard the Romulan ship and Pike tries to tell him that Romulus is still out there, unaware that Nero is from the future. Kirk tries to gain control of the Enterprise but Spock, already on bad terms with Kirk, maroons him on an ice planet where he is nearly attacked by creatures... but is ultimately saved by... wait for it... LEONARD NEMOY!

That's right, Leonard Nemoy reprises his role as Spock, a much OLDER Spock, and when he sees young Kirk, he quotes a well-known line in the movies, "I am, and always shall be, your friend." Older Spock explains that Nero and him are from the future and he wants to destroy Vulcan and Earth for revenge. So, Kirk must get back on the Enterprise, so older Spock takes him to a Starfleet outpost where we meet the FINAL character... engineer Montgomery Scott (played by Simon Pegg, British comic actor well known for the lead role in "Shaun of the Dead"). So, now, at this point, we have met all the members of the show; Kirk, Spock, Bones, Uhura, Sulu, Chekov, and Scotty.

Kirk and Scotty manage to beam aboard the Enterprise (older Spock stays behind) and warn Spock of Nero's intentions. Kirk manages to become captain of the Enterprise (FINALLY!!! LOL) and intercepts Nero at Earth. Kirk and Spock become friends and raid the Romulan ship to save Pike (I LOVED the scene where a Romulan was strangling Kirk and he called him a pathetic human, Kirk mumbled something, and the Romulan allowed Kirk to say his 'last words'... which happened to be "I got your gun" LOL! That was AWESOME!). In the process, they find older Spock's scout ship and younger Spock commandeers it to ignite a black hole for the Romulan ship to be destroyed in. In the final seconds, they manage to beam Spock BACK to the Enterprise (a stunt that happened in the ending of "Star Trek: Insurrection") and save the world.

It ends with everybody graduating the Academy and Captain Pike, who is now in a wheelchair staying true to the series, grants Kirk to be the Captain of the Enterprise. Of course, all Star Trek fans will know that Pike was severely burned and paralyzed by exposure to delta rays... in the movie, he just can't walk (however, I think this is just a build up for what will happen to him). I guess my only complaint is that the movie did destroy a few historical elements that we are all used to, such as the death of Spock's mother and that Kirk never met his father (whereas Spock's mother has always been alive and that Kirk has always talked about his father). So, yeah, those elements were destroyed for me. One of the best things about the movie was Spock's Vulcan grip on Kirk. Oh yeah, and Sulu mentioned that he was a fencer, which was true in the series. So, I bid you all *makes a V with my hand and fingers* live long and prosper.

And of course, the end of the movie gives us the famous quote followed by a techno modernized version of the theme music we all know and love: "Space, the Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the starship, Enterprise. Their ongoing mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before!"