2014 Australian Open Preview

I still haven't finished my music list from last year and here it is already time for the Australian Open. Since getting this posted is time sensitive I decided to procrastinate even longer on the music post in lieu of getting this done on time.

p²'s 2013 Over-Played Playlist -- Part One

By over-played I don't mean over-played on the radio (although that may be true also). These are the songs I played over and over this year, so if you have spent time in the car with me you might think they are over-played.

More Songs for the Holiday Season, Part Two

Here are ten more songs for your Christmas collection. You can hear the entire playlist here: The Ultimate-ish Christmas Playlist.

More Songs for the Holiday Season, Part One

I did my first Christmas song blog post in 2009, then I didn't do another one for three years. That's just craziness. So this year, I'm going to do a two-parter. Plus, as a bonus – because Brandon asked for it – I've created a Youtube Christmas playlist with all the songs from all the posts. I may even throw a few bonus ones in there to see if you're paying attention. Part two tomorrow.

Classic Christmas Comedy, Part 2

A little more seasonal silliness to get you in the Christmas spirit.

Classic Christmas Comedy, Part One

It's no secret to anyone who knows me (or reads this blog regularly) that I love Christmas. I've written posts about my favorite Christmas music, as well as one about things to do to make the holiday more fun. I even wrote one about counting your blessings. I can be very sincere and polyanna when it comes to Christmas. But really, who are we kidding? Read the rest of the blog. So tonight (and tomorrow), with no real writing involved at all, here are some of my TRULY favorite holiday stories, sketches, stand-up, etc.

Seven Ridiculous Things I'm Worried About Today

Tonight is the presentation for our final projects for the master's program at USC. I never wanted a master's degree before last year. Now I don't think I've ever wanted to accomplish anything more than I want this.

I've practiced for this presentation. I'm totally prepared. We've been working on it all semester. All evidence points to it going fine. But my stupid brain likes to concoct all sorts of scenarios where I self-destruct. And none of the scenarios is really likely (except maybe the last two). Since my degree is in digital strategy and social media, I'll give you a Buzzfeed-style post about what's going through my head today. Here are all the ridiculous things I'm worried will happen tonight:

US Open 2013 -- Women's Preview

Back in the day, probably until about 2005 or so, women's tennis was far more interesting to me than men's tennis. I never really loved that whole Sampras, Agassi, Courier, Chang era. There were male players over the years that I really liked – Bjorn Borg, Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker – but never as much as players like Evonne Goolagong, Tracy Austin and Steffi Graf. After Graf retired, we had a minute or two that wasn't so interesting, but then the Williams sisters showed up, Jennifer Capriati returned, Kim Clijsters and Amelie Mauresmo were in the mix. The early 2000s were filled with great players and fun tennis.

US Open 2013 -- Men's Preview

Juan Martin Del Potro 2009

Note: Had to abandon the one word title format for tonight and tomorrow

The US Open starts Monday. It's been nice not having a full-time job all year. I get to watch way more tennis than usual. Today we preview the men's draw, tomorrow the women's. As usual, I only list the seeded players that interest me. 

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Note: The one-word title thing is starting to tax my imagination.

Last night I posted the top ten songs from Disney animated films as sung by the characters in the films. Tonight it's my top ten songs from those films sung by pop singers. Some of the songs on the list are the official versions from the end credits and some are covers. They were all fun to listen to again. I might need to make a play list.

Belinda

The summer is almost over and I haven't seen Belinda Carlisle perform live yet. Two years ago today I got back from a trip to Atlanta and went directly to the Go-Go's concert at the Greek Theater on Belinda's birthday (which of course is today). Then last year I just happened to be in LA in June for something recovery related and I learned that she was performing at the Gay Pride festival that night. It feels like a Southern California tradition now to see Belinda in the summer.

Slumber in the Grass -- 2013 Wimbledon Women's Preview

Chris Evert / Martina Navratilova

Tonight we look at the women's draw. Unfortunately, I can't only preview the women who have a real shot at winning the tournament because then it would just be a blog post about Serena Williams. And while there certainly is enough material to fill an entire blog just about her last few weeks, this post is about Wimbledon. So, we'll run down most of the usual suspects (and maybe one or two unusual ones). Onward.

The Men of the All-England Club -- 2013 Wimbledon Preview

Feliciano Lopez

It's been a while. I haven't written about tennis since last August (hell, I haven't written about anything here since March). It's strange though, because being in grad school has given me the opportunity to watch way more tennis this year than I have in about the last three. Spread the textbooks all over the bed and pretend to read them while watching eight hours of the Tennis Channel. Sadly, I won't get to watch as much of Wimbledon because: A. Research Methodology (or whatever the class is called) is sucking the life out of me; and 2. I'll be in Philly the first week of the tournament for my nephew's wedding.

Since we all know how bored I get writing about players I don't care about, I'm not even going to bother listing the ones that don't matter this time. It's just a waste of a strike-through. Enough chit-chat. Here we go.

p²'s Favorite Songs of 2012: Time Travel Edition, Part Two

Previously on p² to the nth: p² traveled back in time to post part one of his favorite songs of 2012. If you missed it, you can read it here: Part One

Without any further fanfare, here are the top 11 songs on the list.

p²'s Favorite Songs of 2012: Time Travel Edition, Part One

We're getting in my time machine today. When I should have been writing this blog post I was applying to grad school, running around like a crazy person trying to get admitted to grad school, irresponsibly driving to San Francisco for NYE and running around like a crazy person trying to get moved to LA in time to start grad school. So we're just going to pretend I posted this in December and you're just getting around to reading it now.

Something else I was doing in the months since I last wrote anything for this blog (I posted my grad school application essay but I didn't write that for my blog) was falling in love. I mention that because you'll probably notice a proliferation of love songs and “I'm super happy and bouncy because I'm in love” songs.

In fact, even though this song is from 2006 it's probably been the most-played song on my iPhone since October. As if I didn't love this song enough already.



So, you'll find periodic references to someone named Michael. That's him.

While I was time traveling, I decided to write this backwards this year. Usually by the time I get to the number one song, I'm so done that I can barely think of anything more to say. This year, I wrote the blurbs starting with number one and worked my way down. However, I'm not posting it that way. I love a big reveal. The only reason I even mention it is to reassure you that part two of this post is already written and waiting to be posted tomorrow. I know I sometimes promise a part two and then take my sweet time getting to it. You can enjoy this knowing you won't be left hanging.

15 More Songs to Add to Your Christmas Collection

It's been three years since my last Christmas music post and it feels like it's time. I might even update the other post with some fresh comments so I can repost it later this week. Back then I didn't know you could embed the videos right into the post so I can definitely do some revising on that one.

The first post contained 26 of my favorite Christmas songs (my favorite versions of those songs actually), but it was by no means exhaustive. And in the intervening three years I've added several new favorites. You'll be shocked to find American Idol contestants dominating this list I'm sure. They are listed by the play count on my iTunes. That feature is notoriously unreliable, but with a couple of exceptions it did a pretty good job of ranking them (if only because some of the lower ranked ones are the most recent additions to my collection).

2012 US Open -- Women's Preview

As I was making the video to go with this post, I realized that after this tournament Kim Clijsters will be gone. I know she retired once before, but I'm pretty sure it's for real and forever this time. She made the statement that she her body won't let her play the way she wants to play anymore. I feel ya girl! Getting old sucks and she plays a game almost as physical as Rafael Nadal.

With Kim retiring and Venus Williams only good for two or three wins a tournament now, I'm down to rooting for Maria Sharapova and hoping Sabine Lisicki can learn how play on another surface besides grass. Honestly, it's pretty depressing. But we still have one more chance – however slim – to see Kim and Jada holding up the US Open trophy, so let's get on with it.

2012 US Open -- Men's Preview

The Olympics sure did crowd up the schedule. Usually by the time the US Open rolls around it seems like Wimbledon was ages ago. Thanks to the fact that they essentially played it twice this summer, it seems like it was just yesterday. Anyone who showed up to the blog today looking for more wacky adventures of psquared will have to wait until Saturday for that to resume. Men's draw analysis tonight, women's tomorrow.

I'm not as excited about the Open as I usually am. I'm not sure if it's because how quickly it seems to have gotten here or what. But on we go anyway. I'll try to make it as “me” as always. You'll notice that the player's home country is in parentheses. There is no reason for that except that when I copied and pasted the list, that's how I got it. I listed all 32 seeds, but I'm sure you'll figure out quickly who I'm not impressed by.

2012 Wimbledon -- Women's Preview

Every time another major rolls around for the past year, I think “I couldn't possibly be less interested in women's tennis than I am right now.” And yet the next one arrives and voila! I'm less interested.

In the interest of getting through this preview, I'm going to list the odds published on pregame.com and then just deal with the players that have a reasonable chance of winning. Here we go.

Wimbledon 2012 -- Men's Preview

Marat Safin, Goran Ivanisevic, Lleyton Hewitt, Thomas Johannson, Albert Costa, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Andy Roddick, Gaston Gaudio. This is the list (minus Roger Federer) of guys that won a major for the first time (AusO, French, Wimby, US Open) from 2000-2004. Combined they won nine majors during that time. Since then, they have played in a combined 126 majors. They have won ONE of those. And that was the very first major of 2005. So, currently that group (only three of them are still active) is approximately 0 for 118.

What does that have to do with this year's Wimbledon draw? Nothing really. I just noticed that the number one seed here – Novak Djokovic – is playing a former French Open champion in the first round and I had to chuckle. If there was ever a period of time in any sport that deserved an asterisk next to all its champions, it's that one. Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi were definitely past their primes by then (although they still managed to win as many or more than every player on that list during that time). Roger Federer didn't win his first major until 2003 (and still won more than every player on that list during that same time period). Rafael Nadal hadn't even played in his first French Open in 2004 (he turned 14 in 2000). Djokovic didn't play in his first major (any of them) until 2005.

Like I said, nothing to do with this tournament but I can't imagine when I'll ever have an opportunity to point that out again – possibly in a post about how Andy Roddick really doesn't deserve to be inducted into the Hall of Fame (and there is only a 100% chance that he will be).

I do love to ramble and digress. Back to Wimbledon.