Game Of Thrones

Game of Thrones is one of the hottest shows on television right now; airing on HBO now has four exciting and incredible seasons under its belt. This was first a very popular book series that has now turned into a show. I personally have not read any of the books but reading other blogs and through social media I found out that many of the book fanatics and readers were very concerned on how the show was going to end up portraying the book series. But, the show has actual little relevance and doesn’t follow much of the storyline that the book lays out, only the characters names, faces, and problems occur in both versions of the story. My outright favorite character would have to be Tyrion Lannister, who is a midget or also known as an imp in the show who is from the Lannister family, the wealthiest family in all of the seven kingdoms of Westeros, which is the sort of Earth of world that these made up families live on. All of the conflicts arise in a sort of medieval way with sorts of affairs, scandal, killing, and marrying between families. Almost all of the conflicts are settled in a medieval sort of way, war and killing. There are many people across the land who believes they have a right to the iron throne, or royalty across this massive area of land. Within Westeros the seasons last much longer than our seasons last here on Earth, sometimes for years and years a grueling winter will wage on, leaving many people with little to eat and many people to die. To the North is the great wall which keeps all crazier northerners from the more civilized South. Rangers are known as the protectors of the north where a man named John Snow resides, another big character of the show. From his point of view you will find out the struggle between man and nature every day that the people of the North face. The man who writes these novels, George Martin, usually come out with these novels every two years or so, but surprisingly it has been almost 6 years since the last novel was published. Many other comedy shows have taken own their own episodes of this show with famous cartoons like South Park, Family Guy, and even the Simpsons which is currently the longest running television show (401)

Iowa State Basketball

Iowa State Basketball, plays at one of the most electrifying and exciting gymnasium’s to step foot inside of in the entire country, formally known as Hilton Coliseum. Iowa State University is located in Ames, Iowa, a large campus but a small enough city almost dead center in the middle of Iowa to have a small and tight community feel about it. The Cyclones have been ranked in the top 25 college basketball teams for almost the entire year with a record of 16-4 on the year, playing against some of the top teams in the nation as they have big wins against Kansas and Kansas State this year. Heading into the final month of the regular season the Cyclones hope to only grow and improve their team chemistry as many of the starting players will return next year as long as they don’t declare for the NBA draft after the end of the season in March. Hilton Coliseum is such a crazy and enthusiastic place to play the players and fans have come up with an equally absurd reason, a thing known as Hilton Magic in Ames. The coliseum really only gets louder as the game progresses and the team warms up. It was on ESPN on a special feature known as the House of Hoops, a show that shows the greatest places to play in all of college basketball. As long as the Clones are able to avoid a disaster at the end of one of the best regular seasons this team has seen in a very long time, they will easily be put into the NCAA National Tournament and at a pretty high seed or ranking as well. Ever since Coach Fred Hoiberg, who as a former Cyclone player himself came to be the head coach of this team 3 years ago, has taken this program to completely new heights, making a name for himself with many transfers coming in from all of the country, players such as DeAndre Kane, Royce White who is now traveling around the NBA’s D League, and UNLV transfer Bryce- Dejean Jones. Coach Hoiberg is known as the “mayor” of Ames, a nickname he was given back when he played for the Cyclones a while back. In between that time and now he had a long stint in the NBA both as a player and in the front office for the Minnesota Timberwolves. (400)

Iowa Basketball

This is brutal. I don't know what else to say. Iowa is a horror show after halftime once again, and the Hawkeyes drop to 8-4 after losing 56-44 to Northern Iowa. Iowa was completely discombobulated for most of the second half, not reaching double digits on the scoreboard until four minutes and change were left in the game. Iowa didn't get an assist in the second half. Like, none at all. Of course, the Hawkeyes only shot 3-23 in the entire half, so it's not as if there were plenty of opportunities to begin with. UNI never looked good on offense, but the Panthers were able to force turnovers with relative ease and with that Iowa was never in rhythm—or, thus, contention. Wes Washpun's stat line was relatively light—seven points, two rebounds, two assists—but he was the best player on the floor. He outhustled the Hawkeyes to loose balls, locked down Anthony Clemmons and Mike Gesell (Gesell, in particular, was a world-class mess after an early hot start) and was a sparkplug for the Panthers, who had a listless first half of their own. Washpun even denied Jarrod Uthoff in the post and blocked Aaron White on a layup in the closing minutes. Washpun is eight inches shorter than White. Yeah. But really, the story here is the full-blown crisis that is Iowa coming out of the halftime break. I don't know what does or doesn't happen in that locker room, whether it's poor planning or a (yet another) mental block bedeviling these guys, but Iowa looks awful when its opponent isn't a cupcake. Fran McCaffery has already all but thrown his hands up in frustration trying to figure out why this happens, and surprisingly "I don't know" doesn't fix the problem. The jarring lack of on-court leadership doesn't help matters either. I'm really at a loss, just like everybody else. If the answer were obvious the fix would be in place. Unless and until this gets rectified, though, Iowa doesn't stand a chance against any of the numerous tourney teams in the Big Ten. That's a shame. It's not fun to watch. I feel bad for the Iowa fans that were there at the Well tonight. Rest assured it sucked on TV too. (411)

2014 Forest Hills Dr.

J. Cole recently dropped his latest album entitled "2014 Forest Hills Dr." This album was hugely anticipated and in my opinion did not disappoint. The album was named after the address of his childhood home in North Carolina and features multiple songs making reference to his childhood, mother, and growing up. The album features no other artists. I think that was mainly because J. Cole wanted this to be one of those personal and conceptual albums. As far as my favorite songs from the album I think my favorite by far is track number nine, "No Role Modelz" this song starts out with him talking about his Uncle Phil who passed away but was the closest thing J. Cole had to a father, and from there goes into talking about which girls really are there for people and which aren't. The reason I appreciate this song this much I think is the production and the message Cole is trying to send. My second favorite would have to be a tie between either "Apparently" or "Wet Dreamz". "Apparently" talks about J. Cole's faith, dreams, and the times his mother struggled to pay the bills and he did nothing to help. Through listening to this album I learned some pretty interesting facts about J. Cole like the fact he was actually born in Germany but raised in North Carolina. He also graduated with good enough grades in high school that he earned a college scholarship but knew his real dream was in hip-hop so he packed up his things and moved to New York City to accomplish those goals. If you are looking to get into a new type of music or are just looking for something different to listen to I definitely recommend J. Cole. When you think of rap and hip-hop a lot of people just assume it's all about girls, partying, and violence but that's not true at all. J. Cole is not like that at all. Whether rapping about his father being absent from his childhood, or his mother struggling to pay the bills, or trying to achieve his goal and dreams J. Cole does it all with grace and humility that a lot of other rappers lack. So over this break whether you're just bored and want something to listen to or are actually out looking for music I definitely recommend you give "2014 Forest Hills Dr." a listen. (402)

Christmas Lights

If you're reading this post while bored on a cold dark night before the Christmas season ends I have idea for something to do. Go outside, warm up the car, bring your phone and aux cord and drive around Cedar Rapids. Every year tons of people spend thousands of dollars putting up huge displays just for their own and other people's enjoyment. It's a family tradition for the Sheeley's that for one night over the Christmas break we pile into the car and drive around admiring the best lights that our city has to offer. From fire trucks being covered rim to rim, to huge houses with elaborately timed lights and music, there are a lot of really neat lights out there. When I'm old enough to own a house and have a good paying job with my wife and kids I definitely plan on putting up lights every year. I don't know about a huge display with music blaring all through the night and moving parts everywhere. But I do think that it is a good bonding activity for kids to put up lights with their parents. I can't picture myself being like the couple from the commercials putting up thousands of dollars of lights but a nice quaint set up would be nice. One thing that I find very interesting that I learned earlier this week NASA can actually see everyone's Christmas lights from space! Using a satellite that orbits the Earth pictures of the glowing lights have been sent back down to the U.S. Usually I don't find space things very interesting but whether it's just me being in the Christmas spirit or some new found admiration for NASA I think this is actually really cool. (420)

Card Games

I feel like nowadays with everyone's smartphones, laptops, and elaborate gaming systems, one really fun thing that people have somewhat forgotten about are card games. Yuker, Slap Jack, 5 Card Draw, Go Fish, Solitaire, Hearts, Crazy Eights, Texas Hold-Em, are all classic super fun games but because of technology and everyone's busy schedules they have somewhat fallen off. Back in the 40's, 50's and 60's this was the best way for people to kick back and have fun without a controller or telephone in their hand. I personally feel like if more people played cards and conversed with one another in person without a screen or microphone in the way our society would be a lot more close knit. In addition to that most people would have more social skills and better be able to enjoy their friends and families company in a competitive and fun way. Today's society with it's advanced technology may have lost some of enjoyment and social skills that generations before us have been able to master. I'm sure if you remember some of your most delightful times have been in the company of your close friends and family. Interacting, laughing, conversing, and sharing life lessons are all doors opened up by just simply sitting down and playing a card game. Keep in mind card games can not only be a good way to bond, but also be addictive as a form of gambling and or a source of income if you are in fact a good gambler. Every year millions of dollars are won and lost at casino's all over the country. My father in particular is an excellent gambler. His favorite game is Blackjack because he understands that the odds are always in the favor of the player not the dealer. He also understands that gambling is nothing more than entertainment and knowing when to cut your losses. He purely plays for fun. Unfortunately, some people neglect their priorities and hope to supplement their income by cards. Just because you see the world series of poker on ESPN and it looks easy does not mean you should go and bet your life savings at the casino. Many marriages and families have suffered and ultimately fallen apart due to serious gambling addictions. My goal with this post is to help and assist any gambling addicts that have fallen into a deep spiral of losing. If you or someone you love has any issues feel free to comment below. (413)

Reality TV Stars

I wake up and thank God practically everyday that I am not a reality TV star. From being constantly filmed to having everyone all over the world knowing exactly what is going in your life it just seems like an awful time. To make things even worse you frequently see these stars suffer from substance abuse issues. In my opinion a big reason for those troubles result from constant scrutiny under the microscope of millions of judgmental people, (I'm not going to lie, I'm one of those people.) Everyone from your former classmates to your employers and distant relatives would have access to every little facet of your life and that is just something I would not be very comfortable with. One particular family stands out in particular in my mind when thinking about this topic. The Kardashians. To be completely honest I have no idea what first made this family so popular and famous. I hardly ever watch the channel "E!" but it should probably just change it's name to the Kardashian channel because every time I am flipping through channel looking for something to watch and I get to "E!" there is something about the Kardashian's or some spin-off TV about everyday in the life of a Kardashian. In the very rare times I've stuck around to watch I've learned some pretty interesting things like Scott's issues with alcoholism so I can't even fathom what kinds of things a very avid watcher knows about the family. The only positive things that I can think about that would come from being a reality TV star would be the money. These stars make an incredible amount of money for just letting us as viewers into their lives, but to me I still don't believe that it's worth it. Along with the TV deals many stars also come out with various clothing lines and endorsement deals. I guess for me personally it would sort of be like selling your soul to the devil. I'm sure for a short time the money would be really nice but in the very long run I just don't think it would be worth it. But to each his own, as they say. (367)