Friday Floetry X 1/4/08

A couple of weeks ago, Lupe Fiasco’s sophomore album, The Cool, dropped. I haven’t heard all of it yet. I really need to listen to the whole thing soon. Its been advertised as a response to all that "ignorant sh*t" out there. One of the tracks getting some playing time is called Superstar. Here is a snippet.


Floetry:


Yeah, uh
A fresh cool young Lu'
Tryna' catch his microphone check 2, 1, 2
Wanna' believe my own hype but it's too untrue
The world brought me to my knees, what have you brung you?
Did you improve on the design? Did you do somethin' new?
Well ya' name ain't on the guest list, who brung you?
YOU! The more famous person you come through
And the sexy lady next to you, you come too
And then it hit me
Standin' outside of heaven waitin' for god to come and get me
I'm too uncouth
Unschooled to the rules and too gum shoe
Too much of a new comer and too un-cool
Like Shadow and Lavelle, I battle wit' it well
Tho I need holiday like lady who sung "Blue"
Go back, whatever you did you undo
Heavy as heaven
The devil on me, two ton's too


Taken from Superstar by Lupe Fiasco featuring Matthew Santos

Iowa Caucus

So Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee won the Democratic and Republican Iowa Caucuses (Caucii?), respectively, last night. What does this mean? I have no idea. If you came here looking for politics, you are woefully in the wrong place. Of course, it is not too hard to believe these were your winners as they each had fantastic celebrity endorsements in Iowa - Scarlett Johansson for Obama and Chuck Norris for Huckabee.

Brownie x Top Songs of 2007

Well, I was asked to make a list of what I consider the Top 10 Songs of 2007. I have obliged. So many songs came out this year just like any recent year. Thus, I would assume its impossible for any reviewer to really be able to listen to every song on every album (and/or mixtape) of every genre and then give an opinion as to which 10 songs deserve to make the cut.

I in no way think my list is “finished” in the sense that I haven’t heard every song from 2007. But, I have heard a decent amount, both on the radio and on various CDs/mp3s that I have had the benefit of getting my ears on.

Some songs on my list are songs that I think 2007 will be remembered for (at least for the next few months before a new crop of summer bangers come out). Songs that just about everyone heard at least once, whether or not they liked it or really wanted to hear it. I’ve also included songs that probably very few people have heard unless they are fans of certain artists. Thus, I think I have touched on some “radio” songs along with some songs that one would have to purposely search out, although all the artists are pretty “mainstream” (if that makes any sense).

I should have just done a Top 10 Rap songs list or a Top 10 Pop songs list, but I think my musical taste is spread across a spectrum and thus that spectrum should be partially represented in my personal Top 10 list.

Before I just get to the list already, I also want to note that just about any mix, guest appearance, or song that Lil Wayne put out in 2007 could easily be a serious candidate for a Top 10 song. Think about hit songs from the past 2 years and see if you don’t stumble upon a Lil Wayne project along the way. His Tha Carter III hasn’t dropped yet (although some “potential” songs leaked during 2007 causing Weezy to make some lineup changes). That new album is definitely something to be excited about in 2008. XXL Magazine named Tha Carter III as the most anticipated album of 2007, so 2008 got lucky with the delay…

With all that said, here are my Top 10 songs of 2007, in no particular order:


Barry Bonds - Kanye West featuring Lil Wayne

Big Girls Don't Cry - Fergie

Stronger - Kanye West

Say Hello - Jay-Z

Buy You A Drank (Shawty Snappin') - T-Pain featuring Young Joc

Hey There Delilah - Plain White Ts

No One - Alicia Keys

Bubbly - Colbie Caillat

Beautiful Girls - Sean Kingston

Hello Brooklyn 2.0 - Jay-Z featuring Lil Wayne

Judz' Top 10 Movies of 2007

In fiscal year 2007, I was able to catch 32 movies in theaters (on par with the 34 in 2006) and a slew of others on dvd. This year had a handful of great films and a plethora of crap. We saw a summer filled with three-quels (Spiderman, Shrek, Ocean's XX, Bourne, Rush Hour) and the typical sequels. My top 10 from last year was as follows starting from #1 (The Departed, The Good Shepherd, Borat, Clerks II, Thank You For Smoking, Blood Diamond, Inside Man, Casino Royale, Running Scared and V For Vendetta). Now onto this year's list of Top 10 and Bottom 5 and as always, feel free to leave comments if you disagree:

1. 300
2. American Gangster
3. Charlie Wilson's War
4. Superbad
5. Ratatouille
6. The Kingdom
7. Bourne Ultimatum
8. Knocked Up
9. Transformers
10. Beowulf

Bottom 5:
5. Rush Hour 3
4. Premonition
3. Sicko
2. Eastern Promises
1. Epic Movie (whatever happened to good parodies - and now we are stuck with a new one called Meet The Spartans)

Top 5 2007 Movies I haven't had the chance to see yet:
1. 3:10 to Yuma
2. Assassination of Jesse James
3. Michael Clayton
4. Sweeney Todd
5. Gone Baby Gone

Christmas/New Years Movie Reviews

Beginning Christmas Day and following up on New Years Day, I was able to catch up on some movies just entering theaters and figured I would finally post some brief reviews.

National Treasure 2 - I absolutely loved the first one as you really don't get to see too many movies talking about the young, but very rich history of the United States and the original offered that up in spades. To me, I liked NT better than The Da Vinci Code and both had very similar story structures. Guy looking for "treasure" and uses his ability to uncover clues to reach the endgame. NT2 has a very similar structure, but has less clues and thus, less history. They were much more focused on the action/danger element this time around, which actually detracted from what could've been a fantastic movie. I cannot speak for its rewatch value of NT2, but I have seen NT at least a dozen times. 4.5/6 beers.

Charlie Wilson's War - Great story with fantastic acting (especially from Tom Hanks and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, not so much from Julia Roberts). I had never heard of this story, so I don't know exactly how accurate it is, but I definitely had a great time watching it. It was very talky, but had enough comedic elements that it wasn't too drawn out. I felt there was some great character development and a sharp script. Definitely one of the better movies of the year.

No Country for Old Men - I still cannot figure out if I liked this movie. I really enjoyed it for the first 3/4, but the last 1/4 of the movie just threw me. I am trying to figure out if I just didn't understand what was happening or if the ending just plain sucked. Either way, it detracted from what could've been a dynamite film. I am a Coen Brothers fan, but I just walked out of the theater shaking my head about what could have been. Part of me wants to read the novel now to see if I really missed something and just how much license the Coen Bros. took, but may not have the time (plus, don't want to be further disappointed if that was the ending the author really wrote).

Eastern Promises (on DVD) - If you read the first incarnation of this blog (search the archives if you must), you will know that I absolutely hated A History of Violence, the previous film by David Cronenberg back in 2005 and even labelled it the worst film of the year. I just watched and waited for something to happen and it just never did. Cronenberg has made some decent films in the past (see Scanners and Videodrome), but between Violence and now Eastern Promises, I will not waste any more time or money on anything done by him. This movie was just awful and I really cannot find where all of the praise is coming from. Viggo Mortensen was good enough, as was Naomi Watts, but the story had absolutely nothing redeemable about it.

The Annual Judz Top 10 Movie List is forthcoming this week.

Fantasy Football 2007

Well, I will make this post as brief as possible since I fully comprehend that nobody cares about anybody else's fantasy football team. But, in the interest of full disclosure, I just had to post that my supersquad f/k/a the Houston Nutts defeated Classical Greatness aka my boy Classic 110-76 in the Championship Game last week to win the fantasy football crown. Despite putting up only the 8th most points overall in the regular season, but compiling a stellar 10-4 record to finish in 3rd place overall. After crushing the Brady-led Crescent City Crusher in the semi-finals, it was a showdown between the two biggest trash-talkers in the league. In the end, the better team prevailed. I would like to thank the following people who made this victory so victorious: Jon Kitna, Steven Jackson, Marshawn Lynch, Marion Barber, Chad "Ocho Cinco" Johnson, Torry "Big Game" Holt, Chris Chambers, Alge Crumpler, Steven Gostokowski, and the entire Chicago defense (all but Crumpler and Chambers being with me since draft day). A special thanks also goes out to all of the other players who had the privilege playing with my squad and filling in when any of my players were hit with the injury bug. Unfortunately, Brownie was unable to overcome his various injuries and management decisions, as he finished in 6th place, losing the Consolation Bracket to Drillo, last year's esteemed champion.

Site Update

Things have been real busy for the In Judz We Trust team over the past week or so, which is why any new posts have been nonexistent. While I hope today, there will be a handful of new posts to set you up for the new year, I just wanted to post one of the greatest quotes I have ever heard.

While leaving the Houston Texans game yesterday afternoon and walking to our car, I noticed a young kid, probably about 9-10 years old, flipping through the 2008 Houston Texans Cheerleader Swimsuit Calendar and not paying attention to where he was walking. All of a sudden, his dad turns and says to him:

"Be careful, that could be your new mommy."

Happy New Year!