Ranking Every Song From Billy Joel's "The Stranger"

 I'm not really a huge music fan, especially compared to most people who seemingly have hundreds of favorite artists and thousands of favorite songs. I really only have a handful of musicians I like, and even then I usually only really like 5-8 songs from that artist. My favorite artist, Billy Joel, is an exception for me as I like around 20 of his songs. While Joel has around 12 albums, my favorite by far is The Stranger, with about 6 songs I like. There are 9 songs on the album and here they are ranked: 

9. Get It Right the First Time

Fine enough song with a decent pace, but nothing special or memorable.

8. Everyone Has a Dream

Nice slow tune to this one, but nothing memorable or catchy like the ones above it. Not a fan of the choir-like signing, but the song certainly isn't bad overall.  

7. Scenes From an Italian Restaurant

Some nice slow sections, but I mostly don't get the hype as one of Joel's best song. I think certain sections are pretty good, but don't quite reach the highs of his other hits for me and overall way too long.

6. Just the Way You Are

Pretty good, a catchy and fun hit but not even close to same level of greatness as his others.

5. The Stranger

Interesting and somewhat bizarre song with a minute of intro music. Really cool themes and directions with this one, but lacks that catchy beat of the ones ahead.

4. Movin' Out

Just a classic fun song, super catchy.

3. She's Always a Woman

Slower romantic song with a great tune and lyrics.

2. Vienna

Fantastic slower theme.

1. Only the Good Die Young

Extremely catchy and awesome tune on this one. My favorite Joel song.

Thoughts on The Night Of

 Just finished HBO's the night of, here are some thoughts.

Overall it's a good, not great show. Probably around an 8/10. Something certainly worth watching with few bad moments but not a must watch either. The pilot is probably in top 5 episodes of TV, so much tension and thrills but the rest of the series is much slower and mostly a lot less satisfying.

I found the prison plot to be uninteresting for the most part. It felt like a different show where Nas was some tough prison guy who no longer cared about the trial and really didn't even maintain his innocence. Freddy was fine but also didn't make much of an impact. Take him out and the show barely changes for me. 

I also find the whole tough guy "drug runner" Naz really hard to believe. Part of the reason the early portions of the show are so captivating is that we're watching an innocent guy make all these horrible mistakes that link him with the crime. It's exciting and hard to watch since we know he is a good guy who is the wrong place and has long odds against beating the charge. Yet, almost every episode after the first few, Naz does not appear to be a good guy. He has no problem getting people beat to death or even killed in prison, and even enjoy beating up people themselves. I could understand the peer pressure of doing drugs, but he gets addicted and continues them at the end. And a violent past is shown where he pushed kids down the stairs with no remorse. The vast majority of this is not very believable given the character we're originally shown and ultimately it makes Naz not especially likeable. At the end when he gets out, it's almost a lot less of a victory as we know he is not a great person. The way his character arc goes was really disappointing to me. I understand he had to make some of the decisions he made in prison (befriending freddy, allowing the gay guy to be killed, smuggling drugs), but he turns from a hardworking college student into a drug addict, a drug dealer, someone who despises his mother, and someone with seriously messed up violent tendencies who absolutely could kill someone down the road. 

However, I thought his support characters were all excellent. John Stone is a great character, a genuinely good guy who simply usually doesn't represent innocent clients. He puts everything into Naz's cases to set him free, even when Naz shows extremely questionable morals. I also thought Chandra was a good person and her dedication to believing in Naz is really impressive. Naz's parents are great character's as well, especially his Dad who clearly has extremely strong family values and supports his son no matter what.

I had mixed feelings on some of the other characters. Andrea was obviously a very flawed individual, and it is also hard for me to believe Naz would get involved with her. Even if he did, it seems crazy he would do all the drugs he did. I really didn't like Det. Box, he knew he thought Naz was innocent, yet charged him anyway and only came around at the end because he called out for being a terrible cop. One good deed, even if it was what set him free at the end, does not redeem a lifetime of bad behavior. The prosecutor was also a bit of an a-hole as she was going to convict Naz even when she knew he was innocent. I also depised alison crowe, who was an awful person.

Thoughts on The Wire

Just watched the wire, a show that has been regarded as the best of all time and one I have wanted to see for a while. This is just an informal gathering of my thoughts on it and some rankings.

Coming into the wire, I expected nothing else than a masterpiece that stood head and shoulders above any other TV show. Coming out, I'd certainly give it a 10/10, but it stands as my 2nd favorite show behind House, M.D. For that, it was slightly disappointing. The character development and story is phenomenal and better than anything I've seen as well as the consistent top-notch quality from episode to episode. Other than some mediocre season openers (semi-boring), pretty much every episode is entertaining and great. What it suffers in, for me, is the lack of tension and thrilling moments, which have carried other TV shows to my favorites list. The wire is a slow drama through and through. Unlike many of my other favorite shows, which have cliffhanger, action scenes and incredible moments of tension of suspense, there's very little of that in the wire. The overall story it tells is fantastic and almost every moments connects in every way. 

Season Ratings

Season 1- 10/10. My third favorite season of TV behind Breaking Bad S5 and Fargo S1. The only season for me that didn't feel incredibly slow and exciting story developments happened all the time. Lots of tension later in, and extremely satisfying to watch as the case against barksdale built and built on itself from simply learning the key players at the beginning to making arrests at the end. Satisfying, phenomenal from a few episodes in to the end (pilot was my least episodes of the series, however).

Season 2- 8/10. Really jarring shift from the great case in season 1 to completely new characters and setting, this one was really hard to get into. Some great characters like Frank and Spiros help elevate what is probably the least interesting story of any of the seasons. Definitely a slow burn, took half the season to really get started on the case, but the last couple episodes were fantastic. Still, it doesn't fit into the series that well and this felt like the season where the main story of the series was just a bunch of side plots.

Season 3- 8/10. A welcome shift back to the main story, with so many great elements with Avon, Marlo, and Stringer all competing for the king of the drug empire. However, I found this season to be the absolute slowest pace of them all. Story and characters carry his one, drama/tension does not.

Season 4- 9/10. Definitely an unpopular opinion here as many regard this as the best season of TV period. Really great story with the school flaws and the set of kids going there, as the well as the rise of Marlo's empire in some really horrible ways. Just didn't hit the same levels of tension and satisfaction as S1.

Season 5- 9/10. Another unpopular opinion, but some great characters and storylines added with the media. The actual police side of the story was only okay, but the stories between Marlo's organization, the return of the greeks, and omar was among the best moments of the series. 

Overall ranking: 1, 4, 5, 3, 2. Overall still a 10/10, I realize that doesn't add up but this is very much a series that should be taken as a whole and not thought of in pieces.

Character Ranking

I will rank every character who I felt had significant character development. If I can't put a name to the face or vice versa they're not here. If I don't feel they were memorable, they were also excluded. This is based off how strong of a character I thought they were, not their likeability. I believe the best characters in the series have a conflict between good and evil, which plays a major part in the rankings.

50. Chester "Ziggy" Sobotka- Main S2

The only bad character of the wire, Ziggy is just extremely annoying and makes you wish you were watching anyone else, a horrible trait for any character. He screws up everything and has absolutely no redeeming factors whatsoever that could make him a stronger character. It's a shame he was given so much screen time.

49. Scott Templeton- Main S5

Scott is truly an asshole and has no redeeming qualities. He's not annoying in your face on the same level of Ziggy, but his plagiarism and lies drive me over the edge and he's definitely someone I would have like to see killed. 

48. Jay Landsman- Recurring All Seasons

Jay is fairly incompetent and annoying police, I know this is an unpopular opinion but he does barely any good things the entire show and just doesn't contribute much. He's a mediocre character to me.

47. Elvin Burrell- Recurring All Seasons

Elvin is another simply bad guy who has zero redeeming qualities, he simply doesn't match the level of the people below him.

46. Melvin "Cheese" Wagstaff- Recurring/Cameo S2-S4, Main S5

Cheese is another horrible, horrible guy but is definitely more interesting than any character mentioned so far.

45. Maurice Levy- Recurring S1, S3, S5, Cameo S2 and S4

Levy is another bad, irredeemable character but is fairly interesting and certainly quite smart.

44. Rhonda Pearlman- Main All Seasons

Rhonda is fine, I really don't see a lot of pros or cons with her. She's just there, but rarely has anything interesting to contribute.

43. Beadie Russell- Main S2, Cameo S3, Recurring S4 and S5

Beadie is an aspiring and good cop, but just doesn't have much in the way of interesting developments.

42. Thomas "Herc" Hauk- Main S1-S4, Recurring S5

Herc is definitely an interesting character and has some moments where is noble and intent on actually doing good police work, but much too often gets bogged down in stupidity and corruption.

41. Alma Gutierrez- Main S5

A good, fairly interesting character who just doesn't have the character development to be higher.

40. Leander Sydnor- Main S1 and S5, Recurring S3 and S4

As someone credited for 45 episodes, his character development is somehow worse than those with only 10. He's a good cop, just not that interesting of a character.

39. Terrance "Fitz" Fitzhugh- Recurring S1-S3, S5

See above, simply not a major character nor does he have much development.

38. Stan Valchek- Recurring All Seasons

37. Clay Davis- Recurring S1-S4, Main S5

36. Mailk "Poot" Carr- Main S1, Recurring S2-S5

Poot is simply weak. He has the good-evil conflict of his two friends, Wallace and Bodie, but unlike them, he can't commit to either side. He clearly dislikes the violence of the drug game but makes no effort to get out until the end.

35. Slim Charles- Recurring/Main S3-S5

34. Clarence Royce- Recurring S3, S4, Cameo S5

33. Augustus "Gus" Haynes- Main S5

I actually really like Gus, he's definitely the best media character, he simply doesn't have the level of development and storyline to be higher.

32. Roland "Wee-Bey" Brice- Main S1, Recurring After

Wee-Bey is a cold killer in the beginning, but shows some humanity in dealing with son later on.

31. Ellis Carver- Main All Seasons

Ellis started out on the same path as Herc, but really came into his own and did good police work in the last few seasons.

30. Nick Sobokta- Main S2, Cameo S5

Nick rides a great line between doing criminal things but still having fairly high moral standards.

29. Randy Wagstaff- Main S4

28. Michael Lee- Main S4, S5

A harder, colder version of Dukie who goes down a dark way.

27. Duquan "Dukie" Weems- Main S4, S5

A good kid with very bad influences, very interesting to see his conflict between having good intentions in the wrong surroundings.

26. Felicia "Snoop" Pearson- Recurring S3, Main S4-S5

A cold, evil killer, just not a ton of character development.

25. Preston "Bodie" Broadus- Main S1, S3, S4, Recurring S2

Bodie rides a great line between wanting to be a drug dealer but still having moral standards that he can't stand Marlo. He has his moments of humanity as well as his dark moments. 

24. Reginald "Bubbles" Cousins- Main All Seasons

A good man, one of the few characters we view poverty and addiction without being part of drug empire. I think he was let down by one of the less interesting storylines of the series. 

23. Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski- Main S1-S4, Cameo S5

Prez shows a lot of growth and heart as he goes from an asshole, corrupt cop to an effective then as a school teacher. Too many dark moments to rank him higher.

22. Williams Rawls- Main All Seasons

21. Brother Mouzone- Recurring S2-S3

With only 7 episodes, Brother Mouzone makes it count. By far the most interesting character with that amount of time on screen. A tough killer but one who is highly intelligent and has moral standards.

20. Frank Sobotka- Main S2

19. Namond Brice- Main S4, Cameo S5

One of the funnier and more entertaining people in the series, show a lot of growth and has a great relationship with Bunny.

18. Norman Wilson- Main S4, S5

Carcetti's right hand man, great banter with him and Carcetti.

17. Howard "Bunny" Colvin- S3, S4

One of the wisest and most mature cops, is bold enough to try new things and stands up for what he believes in even if it is not right.

16. Chris Partlow- Recurring S3, Main S4-S5

Perhaps the best physical villain of the series, no one puts up more bodies than Chris. Definitely a very evil character but has a charm to him. "He'll make quick and clean for you"

15. Shakima "Kima" Greggs- Main All Seasons

Great character, but probably top 3 in the first season, simply not as important after.

14. Cedric Daniels- Main All Seasons

Probably the least morally compromised character, Daniels is the true good of the series. Still, you need a darker side to be higher.

Every character from here on out is phenomenal and deserving to be on a GOAT list.

13. Lester Freamon- Main All Seasons 

Absolutely one of the most likeable characters in the series. Nearly flawless, but goes well with McNulty doing anything for a case when they can't get support from their superiors.

12. Proposition Joe Stewart- Recurring All Seasons

A wise man very much towards the top of the drug empire, yet he is by far the friendliest and least cold of anyone in the game. A lot of respect to this guy and his choices to avoid violence and try to work things out.

11. Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos- Main S2, Recurring S5

Absolute stylish gangster. Again not an especially cold guy compared to others.

10. Dennis "Cutty" Wise- Main S3 and S4, Cameo S5

Cutty has some of the strongest morals of anyone in the series, especially as someone who served a long term for being a barksdale soldier. He gets out and does right by nearly everyone, acting as great mentor to the S4 kids.

9. Marlo Stanfield- Recurring S3, Main S4-S5

Marlo is a fantastic villain. Really exciting seeing him build his empire in such dark ways.

8. Russell "Stringer" Bell- Main S1-S3

Stringer is one of the smartest in the series and is very much a methodical villain rather than a physical one. He is intimidating in how evil he can be yet is incredibly smart and careful. He goes a little too dark in some areas which makes him pretty unlikeable.

7. Avon Barksdale- Main S1, S3, Recurring S2, Cameo S5

Avon is the best villain of the series and is quite likeable. His level of evil doesn't strike a nerve the way Marlo and Stringer does as he does what he can to seize the top of the business and rarely affects anyone who didn't deserve or wasn't involved. 

6. Omar Little- Main All Seasons

Omar is a complex character who I don't consider a villain due to him working with and having relationships with the police and constantly being an enemy of the main villains. Exciting battles between his groups and Avon, Marlo, Stringer, etc.

5. William "Bunk" Moreland- Main All Seasons

Bunk is certainly the most amusing character of the series and probably most likeable. Excellent foil to all cops and treats everyone right.

4. Jimmy McNulty- Main S1-S3, S5, Recurring S4

Jimmy has more issues than anyone out there but compensates for it being a fantastic cop. There's a constant conflict between his obsession to do great police work and the alcoholism and adultery that comes with that. Very complex, interesting character who is loveable at times and hateable at others.

3. Wallace- Main S1

Wallace and D'Angelo are a phenomenal pair of guys born into horrible surrounding, but are both good people and realize this isn't the life for them. Tragic story for the both of them, but a phenomenal first season with them there.

2. D'Angelo Barksdale- Main S1, Recurring S2

D'Angelo has a bigger heart than anyone in the series and has the perfect conflict between staying loyal to his criminal family and doing the right thing. I really wished he informed on them.

1. Tommy Carcetti- Main S3-S5

Carcetti is elevated by Aiden Gillan's phenomenal performance. Really exciting to see his mayoral rise and the problems that come with being in charge. Quite a bit of moral dilemma as well, lots of great intentions but many areas he couldn't deliver on.

Ranking the 32 Mario Kart 7 Courses

A while back, I ranked the 32 courses for the wii. Mario kart was an extremely enjoyable experience on the wii, and while I haven't yet matched that level of enthusiasm, skill or amount of time I'm finally back to Mario kart after a 3+ year absence, this time in the form of Mario Kart 7 for the 3DS
(I have a 2DS). I've played the game enough to get a sense of which courses are good and which aren't, so here is my ranking below.

32. DS Waluigi Pinball
31. GCN Daisy Cruiser
30. Cheep Cheep Lagoon
29. GCN Dino Dino Jungle
28. Rosalina's Ice World
27. Bowser's Castle
26. Rock Rock Mountain
25. Piranha Plant Slide
24. Toad Circuit
23. Shy Guy Bazaar
22. N64 Luigi Raceway
21. N64 Kalimari Desert
20. DS DK Pass
19. Wii Maple Treeway
18. N64 Koopa Beach
17. DS Luigi's Mansion
16. Daisy Hills
15. Wario Shipyard
14. Mario Circuit
13. Wii Mushroom Gorge
12. Neo Bowser City
11. Wii Koopa Cape
10. SNES Rainbow Road
9. DS Airship Fortress
8. Wuhu Loop
7. Music Park
6. DK Jungle
5. GBA Bowser Castle 1
4. SNES Mario Circuit 2
3. Rainbow Road
2. Wii Coconut Mall
1. Maka Wuhu

Breakdown into New/Retro

New
16. Cheep Cheep Lagoon
15. Rosalina's Ice World
14. Bowser's Castle
13. Rock Rock Mountain
12. Piranha Plant Slide
11. Toad Circuit
10. Shy Guy Bazaar
9. Daisy Hills
8. Wario Shipyard
7. Mario Circuit
6. Neo Bowser City
5. Wuhu Loop
4. Music Park
3. DK Jungle
2. Rainbow Road
1. Maka Wuhu

Retro
16. DS Waluigi Pinball
15. GCN Daisy Cruiser
14. GCN Dino Dino Jungle
13. N64 Luigi Raceway
12. N64 Kalimari Desert
11. DS DK Pass
10. Wii Maple Treeway
9. N64 Koopa Beach
8. DS Luigi's Mansion
7. Wii Mushroom Gorge
6. Wii Koopa Cape
5. SNES Rainbow Road
4. DS Airship Fortress
3. GBA Bowser Castle 1
2. SNES Mario Circuit 2
1. Wii Coconut Mall

I will be back with a ranking of Mario Kart DS courses and Mario Kart 8 deluxe courses (ordered and on the way).

Top 10 Most Anticipated Movies of 2017

HMs:
Kingsman 2
Jumanji
Logan Lucky
Logan

10. War for the Planet of the Apes
9. Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 2
8. The Fate of the Furious
7. Justice League
6. Alien: Covenant
5. Wonder Woman
4. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
3. The Mummy
2. Star Wars: Episode VIII
1. Thor: Ragnarok

IMDB and RT predictions for 2015 Fall Movies

Predicting is fun: and Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB are two of the best rating sites out there. When making this list I did not include films I hadn't heard of. I rounded the Wednesday releases to Fridays.

September 18
The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
IMDB: 7.4
RT: 74

Black Mass
IMDB: 8.3
RT: 87

Everest
IMDB: 8.0
RT: 90

Pawn Sacrifice
IMDB: 7.7
RT: 82

Sicario
IMDB: 8.1
RT: 88

Captive
IMDB: 7.1
RT: 67

September 25
Hotel Transylvania 2
IMDB: 7.2
RT: 55

99 Homes
IMDB: 7.4
RT: 70

The Intern
IMDB: 6.7
RT: 51

Mississippi Grind
IMDB: 8.1
RT: 84

October 2The Walk
IMDB: 7.7
RT: 76

The Martian
IMDB: 8.2
RT: 91

Legend
IMDB: 7.5
RT: 80

October 9
Pan
IMDB: 7.0
RT: 62

Steve Jobs
IMDB: 8.3
RT: 94

October 16
Goosebumps
IMDB: 6.4
RT: 43

Crimson Peak
IMDB: 7.8
RT: 81

Bridge of Spies
IMDB: 8.1
RT: 96

Beasts of No Nation
IMDB: 8.4
RT: 90

October 23
The Last Witch Hunter
IMDB: 5.7
RT: 38

Burnt
IMDB: 7.3
RT: 77

Rock the Kasbah
IMDB: 6.9
RT: 81

Suffragette
IMDB: 6.5
RT: 59

October 30
Our Brand is Crisis
IMDB: 7.8
RT: 91

November 6
Spectre
Sequel to: Skyfall
IMDB: 8.3
RT: 94

The Peanuts Movie
IMDB: 7.3
RT: 79

Spotlight
IMDB: 7.6
RT: 84

Trumbo
IMDB: 8.1
RT: 93

November 13
The 33
IMDB: 7.3
RT: 71

By the Sea
IMDB: 5.2
RT: 31

Love the Coopers
IMDB: 6.7
RT: 65

November 20
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay- Part Two
IMDB: 6.1
RT: 43

Carol
IMDB: 7.9
RT: 88

November 27
The Night Before
IMDB: 7.5
RT: 82

The Danish Girl
IMDB: 7.8
RT: 83

Victor Frankenstein
IMDB: 7.2
RT: 68

The Good Dinosaur
IMDB: 7.4
RT: 84

Creed
IMDB: 7.1
RT: 56

December 4
Macbeth
IMDB: 8.5
RT: 92

Youth
IMDB: 7.9
RT: 86

December 11
In the Heart of the Sea
IMDB: 7.6
RT: 81

The Ridiculous Six
IMDB: 5.9
RT: 44

December 18
Star Wars: Episode VII- The Force Awakens
IMDB: 8.7
RT: 95

Sisters
IMDB: 7.1
RT: 74

December 25
Joy
IMDB: 7.5
RT: 79

Point Break
IMDB: 5.6
RT: 29

Concussion
IMDB: 8.1
RT: 89

Snowden
IMDB: 7.4
RT: 67

The Hateful Eight
IMDB: 8.5
RT: 90

Penguins of Madagascar Review (Update)

Sure, I have done movie reviews since February since I just got tired of it, but Penguins of Madagascar was such an improvement on the rewatch. I watched it in theaters in November, and was disappointed I had at the time. See original Review. I gave it a C minus when I watched it the first time, but it was such an improvement with the second time. Madagascar and Madagascar 2 aren't great movies. The first is good but had some really stupid moments and the second one is a joke. It's terrible. When I rewatch them, I'll probably over two. I didn't expect much from three- how could the circus entry be any good? But it was such a great movie. It had cool action scenes, a not stupid romance and an awesome Bryan Cranston voiced character. It's by far the best Madagascar and actually one of my favorite animated movies. Despite how terrible some moments were, there was one thing that was excellent in all three films- the penguins. A perfect group of characters each with a unique ability. It was definitely the characters to make a spinoff of.

The penguins of Madagascar is not a hilarious movie. Like most animated movies, it has a few funny moments, but most of the jokes are meant for kids. One animated movie that I found to be very funny was Frozen. I guess it was surprising since you may not expect that from a g-rated musical, but Josh Gad's Olaf delivers some very funny lines. Back to Penguins, there was one funny part that stood out to me. In fact- it's the part I remember being funny. I'm sure there were more funny parts, but I watched this on Netflix about two-three weeks and I can't remember. Anyway, the funny part was after John Malkovich's villain introduces himself- a cricket chirps. The penguins don't remember him and you hear the classic cricket chirping- but that's the funny part yet. The funny part was after the cricket chirping sound happened, a cricket in back of them stands up and says "sorry"- then proceeds to walk around upon realizing he lives the other way and announces that. Okay, this review has been quite dumb so far- let's get to the real review.

If you look up information about the movie before going to watch it- you already know one great thing about the movie- the cast. You have John Malkovich as the villain, Benedict Cumberbatch as one of the heroes, and Ken Jeong as another hero, just more minor. I think Cumberbatch killed the role, and Jeong was okay- but Malkovich went along with one of the more disappointing aspects of the film. That was his rather poor villain. I'll get to that later.

Most of penguins of Madagascar is pretty great. The first hour is a complete load of fun, with the awesome title characters shining in every moments and having cool action scenes. It also has an amazing score- which is kinda surprising because it's not the kind of movie that would have a great score, but at the same should be expected since Madagascar had an amazing score. So, the first hour (maybe 70 minutes) is a great, great film.

Unfortunately, the final battle is so awful that it brings the film down from great to just good. If you've seen the new fantastic four, the ending is kinda like that, but fortunately not quite that bad. Unfortunately, it's almost as bad. Back to the villain. The villain is super weird, his appearance is strange too, and he has terrible villain motives. He wants to kill all penguins because people liked the penguins better than him at the zoo. This is really stupid because it's not the penguins at all and if you had to punish someone it would the humans that put the penguins there. But whatever- most action movies don't have quality villains anyway. And that's not the worst part of the movie. It's the ridiculous villain defeat. It goes into some many stages of ridiculous and is completely unbelievable. First private escapes his cage, then he gets skipper and Kowalski out of rabid penguins state just by talking, and finally skipper saves the day by hitting a cheeto bag. It's quite stupid, even though the story led up to it, that private ending up saving the day. Instead they should have given him an equally important role in defeating the villain instead of being the one to do it himself.

So there you have. It's a very solid film that lots of fun, has strong lead characters, and other supporting heroes but a bad villain and a very disappointing finale. Don't worry- it gets better on the rewatch (hopefully).

Movie Rating: B-