I’m someone who worries a lot. Sometimes I worry about ridiculous things. Sometimes worrying turns into anger.  Sometimes I get angry about stupid things. In other words, I can be a bit of a pessimist sometimes. However my girlfriend is a ray of sunshine. A smiling, happy, always-look-at-the-bright-side kind of girl. And that’s great because I need that. (Even though sometimes it ruins the bad mood I might be enjoying.) I think it is apropos that she decided to name her blog The Lucky Duckling. She is  the lucky duckling and so am I.

Watching The Princess Frog was refreshing. It was almost like going into a time capsule and going to the movie theatre as a kid. Almost. This movie is criticized mainly for being just a shadow of what 2D greatness Disney used to offer. Of course this movie is going to fall short of Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King. It’s almost not fair to try an compare Disney’s first 2D, musical outing in years to those amazing films.

Princess Frog offers lovable supporting characters, lavish musical numbers, the idea of true love and the beauty of New Orleans. I think the main critique I have for this film is that it seems like they sacrificed character development for getting the movie under a certain time. I felt like the main character Titana and the villain, the Shadow Man, were under developed. Especially the Shadowman, I felt like there was so much promise for this villain but nothings ever really explained about him. He has a evil shadow that has a mind of it’s own that’s really never addressed. I think Disney might have thought an audience wouldn’t pay much attention to a 2D film and opted to move the story as quick as possible.

There also has been talks of it being too scary or even possibly evil because of the use of voodoo. This, in my opinion, is over sensitivity. In every Disney movie there are villains that use magic, which I believe when evil is referred to as witchcraft. From Snow White’s evil witch with her poison apple all the way to Hercules’ Hades…who is the mythology form of the devil. I thought this movie was not too scary for most children, but then again the last children’s movie I watched was the horribly frightening Christmas Carol.

At the end of the day this movie is not going to be remembered as one of the greatest Disney movies of all time, but it could be the beginning of a revival in good, quality Disney cartoons. All you have to do is support it.

The game was incredible. Chase Budinger (who should not be allowed to wear white) was solid as a starter, in lieu of Trevor Ariza. Brooks and Scola both score 23. Everyone was looking good, including David Anderson who I still don’t trust yet. The Rockets put a stomping on Detroit. The game was great but it’s almost sad that the biggest story to come out of this game is Tracy McGrady returning to the court.

Now I’ve never been a huge T-Mac hater like many people in Houston are. I don’t blame you T-Mac haters, he acted like a chump this year. Injury or no injury you have to respect your team and let them know what you are doing. But I’m not the biggest T-Mac fan either. (I traded him away in my NBA Live franchise mode). There has been a lot of speculation revolving T-Mac’s return to the Rockets. As it stands right now, the Rockets are one of the best Rockets teams I have seen in a long time. The teamwork and cohesivness of this squad is amazing. They work hard, do the little things and hustle their butts off. The main arguement of keeping T-Mac on the bench is that he will ruin the whole team mentality of the Rockets. And while that is my biggest fear, I say give the man some minutes. I’d hate for this to become a one man show (I’m looking at you Steve Francis team of the late nineties). Turning this team into the T-Mac show would ruin this squad.

But I’m optomistic about this. I believe McGrady has a chip on his shoulder and wants to show that he belongs on the court even if it means, God forbid it, playing as a team. McGrady has been reminded of his career’s mortality. He knows he is not the young man he used to be. I think he understands that in order to play he has to be self-less. People that don’t want T-Mac near the team think of this, how could he hurt them in the long run if we just give him a shot to prove himself. Let him be a team player or fail to be one and then see if we need to trade him before the deadline. Adeleman will find a spot for him in the rotation and we just have to sit back and see if T-Mac is serious about this comeback.

We got there early. With snacks tucked away in her purse and we were surprised to see fifty people already in line waiting to sit in the theatre. Is this movie really that big of a deal? John Cusack fans maybe? Why do so many people want to see this movie?

This movie was beautiful, the special effects were ridiculous. So much earthquakes and crap falling apart/blowing up/falling into the earth. But there are so many problems with this movie it’s not very fair to try and judge it. So spoiler alert! Here’s somethings I found amusing or liked.

1. Danny Glover as the President. Man I love me some Danny Glover and his gruff whisper acting. How close do they have to get the mic to that guy? I seriously love him and my favorite part of the movie is when he asks for the translators of the world leaders to give him a minute to talk them in private. He says, “Your English is sufficient.” Then he goes into a speech with numerous multi-syllabic words. It was like a SAT vocabulary test. But what can you expect from this kind of a script?

2. This movie has so many moments where trouble is right on the heels of John Cusack. He’s in so much constant peril it’s ridiculous. Plus there are too many scenes where a plane is taking off from a runway that’s too short. That scene was copied and pasted into the script a couple of times.

3. This movie is so cheese-ball. I loved the stereotypical Russians.

4. Woody Harrelson. What a champ. The man decided to do whatever crazy thing he wanted. That pickle thing was the best part of the movie. The movie goes downhill after he dies.

5. The dog survives! That dog made it onto the ark, what a champ! How ridiculous…who would win in a fight that dog or Woody Harrelson? Debate!

6. Oliver Platt and Chiwetel Ejiofor make the movie watchable. These guys are good actors and make things enjoyable…sort of. Mr. Ejiofor joins Ioan Gruffudd and Djimon Hounsou in the Actors-I-Like-But-Don’t-Know-How-To-Say-Your-Name list.

7. The Boss from Just Shoot Me is in this movie, there should have been more of him.

8. Why was this movie so long!? I spilled a bit of the soda I sneaked into the theatre on my pants and was worried that I would walk out looking like I peed myself. But the movie was so long it dried by the time it was over. I would have rather been embarrassed than sit through a movie longer than 90 minutes.

9. I thought Danny Glover was going to have a Bill Pullman president speech like in ID4 during that presidential address. But it was not nearly as awesome and it was cut short. Bill Pullman’s speech goes down in history as best movie president speech ever.

10. Speaking of Independence Day. Roland Emmerich will never make a movie better than Independence Day. Ever. That movie is classic. I want to see that movie now. This might be the closest Emmerich gets to making a good movie again. Retire my friend or make a video game. If this movie was a video game I’d want to play it.

Trevor Ariza looked like an old friend we all know and loved name Tracy McGrady, especially in that number ’1′. He scored a cool 33 points, a career high for Mr. Ariza, and he looked silky smooth on the court. The man might make the Rockets look good.

One of my favorite moments of the night was during warm ups. Alex turned to me and said she liked the Rockets white warm up jerseys. Then the Trail Blazers came out and she said they looked evil. It was good versus evil. The Trail Blazers were playing a team that is barely a shadow of the team that beat them in the playoffs last year.

I was excited to see Chase Budinger, the poster boy for white basketball players. He was alright but they really didn’t need to use him much off the bench.

David Anderson looked awkward. He looked out of place and small. Every move he made looked spastic and weird. It seems like he’s second guessing himself. It really worried me.

I wanted Pops Mensa-Bonsu to play just so I could yell his name.

Chuck “The Chuck Wagon” Hayes had eight points. I’m not sure if that’s a career high…but I think it might be.

Clutch the Bear deserves an award. I’ve always told Alex how great of a Mascot he was and he delivered. We both laughed so hard at all of his stupid antics and he had some halloween costumes. He was Spiderman, A Knight, Superman (on a segway), Batman, a pumpkin, Wonderwoman and Michael Jackson throughout the night.

For the halftime show the Power Dancers, Launch Crew and my personal favorite: the Little Dippers (a group of kids who can dance better than anyone I know) performed Thriller. Which ended with Clutch in the MJ costume dancing like a pro. Seriously he had a smooth moonwalk.

It was the awesomest Halloween I’ve had since I was a kid. And Alex and I got a hot dog, beer and T-shirt as part of the ticket cost. Sweetness. (Although the shirt did say ‘guys night out’ and had beer glasses on them. Alex was none to pleased.) The Rockets look like they could get a playoff spot if they play that well every night. And for the record I might have the most amazing girlfriend ever.

The Vikings are for real and the Steelers need to continue to win to make progress. This is the game of the week. I’m taking the Steelers because they’re more hungry for a win and have a stingier defense than the Vikings. And the Steelers have home field advantage and Polamalu. This will be a tough game for both teams.

Texans beat the ‘Niners

So far this season the Texans have been taken odd numbered weeks off. However, now that the Texans have found their groove on offense and defense they will be more consistent. Or at least they should be, I’m probably speaking too soon. I think the Schaub and Johnson will find a way around the ‘Niners defense and the ‘Niners offense won’t be spectacular. Frank Gore will probably get 100 + yards but it won’t be easy. Man, I hope I’m right about this game…

San Diego beat the Chiefs

San Diego is sliding down a very slippery slope of failure. They are under .500 yet they should be their division leader. San Diego has played much tougher games than the Chiefs and have been relatively keeping the score close. In other words they could be winning they just aren’t. If that game they almost lost wasn’t a sign I don’t know what was. Because we all know Oakland isn’t a good team no matter what Richard Seymour says. The Chiefs are good but not good enough.

Green Bay over Cleveland

Cleveland is horrible. There is no way I can see Cleveland winning this, but every dog has it’s day…it’s just not on Sunday or this season for Cleveland. I wouldn’t be surprised if Cleveland can’t find a way to knock down Aaron Rodgers. Any time I turn on a Green Bay Packers game this season it appears Rodgers is napping.

Indy over St. Louis

The Rams are a little bit more of a contender with Marc Bulger back. They almost won a game! But Indy is too good of a team. Sorry Rams, your win will come someday.

New England over Tampa Bay

This week Tampa Bay is in London. The NFL International Series is presented to you by Pepsi Max. New England has proved that they are still a good team and the Bucs have proved they want the first pick of the draft. Did the NFL intentionally plan a mismatched game to make American football seem more exciting? Picking New England over Tampa isn’t really any news so I pick British people to politely clap their hands and mildly shout out, “Good shot!” and “What a pleasant forward lateral!”

Carolina beats Buffalo

The Buffalo Bills have had problems this year and this week they have a guy named Ryan Fitzpatrick starting under center. The Bills running game will not be enough to beat the Panthers who have a great running game themselves. Carolina has won their last two games and will probably win their next.

New York Jets over Oakland

So which quarterback will make more mistakes? Probably JaMarcus Russell. I feel bad for the guy but this team stinks. The Jets defense will look incredible and as long as the Jets can score once they will win.

Atlanta over Dallas

The Falcons offense will prove to be too much for Dallas. But I think it’s going to be a good game. The Cowboys offense will put up some points but I think the Falcons offense will be better.

Chicago loses to  Cincinnati

I like the Cardiac Cats at home. The Bengals lost last week and are a good streaky team which means we might count on a win from them.

New Orleans over Miami

The Miami Dolphins defense will be tested this week. But the Saints are good on both sides of the ball. This should be an easy win for the Saints.

Arizona loses to the New York Giants

Start spreading the news, the Giants are bouncing back this week. They suffered a tough loss against the Saints last week and are ready to prove themselves.

Philly over Washington

I asked Alex, my girlfriend and fashion consultant, who would win the Eagles or Redskins.  Alex says that the Eagles will beat the Redskins because they can fly. I have to agree. Even though the Eagles lost last week they should still be better than the Redskins…if not their season is over.

This week I improved…but only to .500. I went 7-7 which makes my record to date 56-34 and I went down to 62 %. Bummer. There were a couple shockers I thought. I mean Oakland won a game. I’m glad Houston won but I almost knew as I was writing that Cincinnati would win that Houston would win because if Cincinnati should win a game they don’t and Houston only wins on even numbered weeks so. Well I want to forget about this mediocre week and focus on the next.