Is piracy helpful? Kirk has some ideas.

Once upon a time, I pirated movies, television shows, music, and software without feeling the slightest measure of guilt. There are many ways that I used to justify this shameless disregard for the artists of the entertainment industry. In some ways I still think that piracy is warranted ethically if not legally. Although I have not given up piracy completely, the media world has changed dramatically and thus negated some of the excuses that I once used.

When I was in college, as I was introduced to piracy through a friend who had a then rare home broadband connection and a piece of software known as Napster, I was poor. I was the typical broke college student. I paid for music from the artists that I already knew about and whose music I knew I would enjoy. What I was downloading was merely for discovery purposes. These were artists that I would never have had a chance to listen to in that era. If anything, it broadened my taste. I probably bought more music as a result.

In the ten plus years since then we have music subscription services like Spotify, Google Play Music, and now Apple Music. I listen to most of the music I want through one of these services and do occasionally purchase an album I would like to own. The fact is, legal music adapted to what the consumer wanted. I could still be pirating music, but the paid alternative is more attractive. Which brings me to another justification that I once used and still, in some respects, do.

The industry has to compete. Prior to high speed internet, folks had to put up with any antiquated system that any of these media companies wanted to use for distribution. There was no alternative and would not have been any alternative without high speed internet. The technology to distribute content in a more user friendly way was there long before the big media companies decided to take advantage of them. I contend that without piracy, big media companies would never have been motivated to offer content on services like Netflix, Spotify, iTunes, Steam, or any of the other digital content service providers that exist in the wake of piracy.

Big media companies are champions of capitalism. In a capitalist system one has to compete with any other service providers. That does include black markets in this case. At first they resisted. They tried to sue their way back into the game. They were used to having control over the method of distribution and did not want to make changes for the kids of tomorrow. Eventually they have started seeing that they would have to offer a more alluring alternative to piracy. It wasn’t hard. Piracy can be clunky. Do you think I am going to pirate a movie or series that I can find on Netflix? Not a chance. It is so much easier to use Netflix and have a library of content at my fingertips. I even tend to choose something that is on Netflix over something else that I maybe wanted to watch which is not. This all because of the efficiency over piracy that Netflix provides. In that light, content providers are losing money by failing to provide it through such a service.

As much as I would like to say that I am a pillar of progress and that through only viewing content which is available through these types of services I am only supporting those content providers, I cannot. I have found that currently airing television series are still served superiorly to me through piracy. I think that network fragmentation is culprit there. Hulu has tried to offer a solution to that issue, but those particular content providers are still too greedy to go for it. I am pretty sure someone could improve on Hulu anyhow. Sorry, but serving ads along with subscription content will not fly.

So, dear reader, what do you think? Has your use or justification of piracy changed with the times? If you were a user of early services like Napster, do you still pirate to the same extent or at all today? Was it ever really justified or would we have progress just the same without it? Let me know your thoughts.

Kirk Aug

Kirk is still the new guy around here.  He is added some gravitas and intelligence to the group. Follow him on twitter @kirkaug

Last Generation Gamer: The cost of love and friendship in Shadow of the Colossus

Last Generation Gamer is Seed Sings way of reflecting on the greatest video games that were released before the current gen systems.  These are not necessarily reviews.  Let's look at these thoughts as a walk down memory lane.  If you have any ideas for Last Generation Gamer contact us seedsing.rdk@gmail.com

So you know there are SPOILERS of the plot to Shadow of the Colossus in this article.

If you truly love someone, is there anything you would not do for them.  Absolute love knows no danger.  You would make a deal with the Devil himself for true love. Right?

Shadow of the Colossus (Playstation 2, 2005) allows you to see the consequences of making a deal with the devil for true love. The game is extremely minimal in its design, story, and game play, yet it is one of the most beautiful, thought provoking, and rewarding games ever made. You play as Wander who is equipped with a sword (never to be upgraded) a bow and your trusty horse Argo. The landscape is desolate and dotted with crumbling structures from a long dead civilization.  The only living inhabitants are the 16 mostly peaceful and isolated colossi. There is no grinding for experience and gear to get ready for the fights. The player uses skill and strategy (plus trial and error) to defeat the colossus and move on to the next. It is apparant very early that the Wander's goal (having the girl Mono revived) is not without spiritual danger. The deaths of the colossi are mournful and the effect on Wander start to become demonic. There is a very heavy price Wander must pay to bring Mono back.

There is never any question to Wander's task.  He never stops to ask anyone (Argo?) if his soul is worth bringing another one back.  I think Wander knew the cost to bring the one he loves back. I know there is a question to what Mono is to Wander, in my game she was his love. His conviction made him carry out the task without regret and with full focused dedication.

Wander only brought one friend on his journey. The horse Argo is more than a tool, he was a partner in this deadly quest. Wander could not survive the wasteland without Argo.  That is not to mean Argo is strategically needed, he was psychologically necessary.  Wander went on the quest knowing he may never return.  It is made clear what Wander did before the game starts is forbidden by his people. Wander had no way to go back, yet  Argo was never meant to be sacrificed to the task.  Before the final colossus the loss of Argo elicits the most shock and sadness from Wander.  Mono was gone, Argo was alive with Wander on this cursed quest. During the end credits when Argo comes limping on the screen with an assist from Mono, I had a true sense of joy. The inclusion of Argo in the game not only added new strategies for the colossi fights, it added a needed friend in the wasteland of the forbidden land. One cannot enter danger alone.  Even in defiance and death, we need a friend.

Shadow of the Colossus is truly a game without equal.  In the ten years since its release, no game has come close to melding video game art with truly unique game play (we will see how The Last Gaurdian stacks up).  Outside of the basic metrics video games are judged on, the thing that sets Shadow of the Colossus apart is how it honors the ideas of love, friendship, and sacrifice.  There are people (and horses) worth any sacrifice. There are things worth more to someone than their own souls.

RD Kulik

RD is the Head Editor for Seed Sing. He has never bought a horse because none will stack up to Argo. He does need you to write for Seed Sing.

Ty throws some serious shade at some ESPN talent

With the Colin Cowherd, Jim Harbaugh interview being basically a train wreck today, I'd like to talk about the blowhard, moronic, douche bag, never done anything athletic in their lives ESPN commentators.

I am going to specifically talk about three in particular, the aforementioned Colin Cowherd, Stephen A Smith and Skip Bayless. Colin Cowherd is a straight up douche with no talent at all. The only reason why he is on the air at all is, the fact that he can talk with no one in the studio or on the phone. Basically, he's good at talking to himself. I don't see how that's a talent. To me, that just means that he likes to hear the sound of his own voice, which is pretty egotistical. He thinks he's the smartest guy in the room, but it's pretty easy to be the smartest guy in the room when you're the only one there. He's an asshole that likes to hang up on callers. I mean how much of a dick move is that? A caller may have a different point of view than him or they may point out facts that prove his side wrong and what does he do? Does he talk to them and debate them like a gentleman? Nope, he just hangs up the phone. That's about as low class as you can get. How he still has a job is baffling to me. He's also a racist that, to this day, still attacks John Wall for being a thug because he likes to dance. He brought it up during Wall's rookie season and he still harps on it to this day, regardless of the good things John Wall does. Stuff like giving out free shoes to a bunch of kids in the DC area just to name one. Cowherd is a joke.

Next, Stephen A Smith might be the most sexist, holier than thou commentator on all sports television. As recent as a week ago, ;he said, for all intents and purposes, women are no good at sports and nobody wants to watch them play. How can someone, in this day and age, get away with saying something like this on social media and face no consequences. God forbid you call out people like Roger Goodell(Bill Simmons) or a sponsor like Toyota(Tony Kornheiser), because, if you do that, you will eventually be fired(Simmons) or suspended without pay(Kornheiser). All Stephen A Smith does, while on air, is yell at the camera, because when you're the loudest, you must be the smartest, right? I mean, this guy should have no career on TV or as a writer but, since he made friends with some famous people(i.e. Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony), he gets to be on shows and rant and rave like he's the best sports commentators of all time. He's not even the best person on ESPN let alone all of television. He'd be hard pressed to get a job on local Philadelphia radio(that's where he is from) because he is so awful at his job. I guess, in ESPN's case, it pays to have rich and famous friends. Stephen A Smith is an atrocity to sports TV and, more specifically, the NBA, the sport he primarily covers. He is truly, truly awful at his job.

Last and most certainly least is the biggest dildo of them all, Skip Bayless. This is the idiot who thinks that Tim Tebow is still a serviceable NFL Quarterback. I heard him on a program say that he'd rather have Tebow over Peyton Manning when the Broncos where trying to acquire Manning. He'd rather have TIM TEBOW OVER PEYTON MANNING! ARE YOU KIDDING ME! He also more recently said that the Golden State Warriors aren't true champs because they didn't beat the Cavs at full strength. Never mind the fact that they won 67 games, had the best overall record in the NBA, ran through the brutal Western Conference and beat the Cavs in six games. That's not good enough for Skip Bayless. According to this moron that has never played a competitive game of basketball in his life, the Warriors aren't true champions. And what exactly are you a champion of Mr Bayless? If you said, being the worst, most unlikable piece of garbage person on ESPN, I'd have to agree with you there. But, that's the only "championship" you deserve you human equivalent of a garbage dump. Skip Bayless is by far the worst "talent" that the horrible people at ESPN have kept on the air. He's a walking, talking piece of trash that doesn't deserve anything he gets. Skip Bayless, you SUCK.

The fact that these three guys still have a job at ESPN and Bill Simmons doesn't is terrible. Bill Simmons questioned Roger Goodell, a thing all sports fans should and need to do, and ESPN let him go. That should tell you something about the morons running things over there. They clearly have no eye for talent and only want idiotic blowhards on their TV shows and radio stations.

Get your shit together ESPN.

Ty 

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for Seed Sing. Not everything gets his coveted 37 thumbs up seal of approval. Follow him on twitter @tykulik

Cloves and Fedoras: Ty encourages you to join "The Meltdown"

Cloves and Fedoras is Seed Sings reviews for little known pieces of pop culture (or older pieces).  Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known.

Tonight on Comedy Central the second season of "The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail" premiers at12:30am/11:30pm central time.

Being a fan of stand up comedy, especially alt comedy, I'm very excited for this show to be back. It's a simple premise. Jonah Ray(from his podcast "Jonah Raydio") and Kumail Nanjiani(from his two podcasts, "Indoor Kids" and "The X Files Files" and the TV show "Silicon Valley") host a standup show in the basement of a comic book store. This is a great showcase for comics that aren't on the level of a Louis CK or even a Nick Swardson, both I'm a big fan of, but for comics that are contemporaries of Jonah Ray and Kumail Nanjiani. That's not to say that pretty famous people don't appear on season one. One episode ended with Weird Al Yankovic doing a pretty awesome and hilarious music medley. Nick Offerman, you may know him as Ron Swanson from "Parks and Recreation", shows up and works on his standup. Marc Maron, the podcaster that just interview President Obama, did two sets on season one. Those are some big time names in comedy. But, while having these famous people on, this show is more for up and coming alt comics. People like Gabe Liedman and Jenny Slate did their routine in season one. Neal Brennan CRUSHED during his five minute set. Garfunkel(Riki Lindholm) and Oates(Kate Micucci) did their comedy music on an episode. I'm a big fan of all these comics and this was the perfect showcase for them.

The Meltdown has been going on for a decent amount of time, but Comedy Central decided to make it a TV show last year. That was a great decision by them. Jonah Ray and Kumail Nanjiani make a great team hosting the show. They're both great standup comics in their own right, but the two of them hosting this show as a pair is phenomenal. They have a great back and forth and their "yes anding" is top of the line. They're so funny.

Another cool thing about the show, you get to see the comics hanging out backstage. One episode last season had Doug Benson on and while he was performing, Jim Gaffigan was backstage giving Doug Benson a hard time, totally throwing him off his timing while doing his set. It was hilarious. Backstage, we get to see Nanjiani's wife, Emily V Gordon doing her thing. She basically runs the whole show. She gets the comics on stage when they're up and keeps things fun and loose backstage. She's pretty great at her job. This season has pretty great lineup from what I've seen so far. Comics like, Ron Funches, Brett Gelman, Cameron Esposito, Kurt Braunholer, the girls from "Broad City", and one of my personal favorites, Hannibal Burress. This show is really awesome and it's an excellent showcase for these comedians. Everybody needs to get on board with this show so that Comedy Central will continue to air it. I highly recommended watching it.

It's fantastic.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for Seed Sing.  He practices his stand-up in the basement with his three year old. Follow him on twitter @tykulik.

Cloves and Fedoras: The War on Drugs is examined in the book "Chasing the Scream"

The Seed Sing team would like to welcome Kirk Aug to our little part of the internet world. Kirk will be looking at expanding your knowledge of books, science, technology, and anything else he sees fit to have in electronic print.

Cloves and Fedoras is Seed Sings reviews for little known pieces of pop culture (or older pieces).  Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known. 

Chasing the Scream by Johann Hari is the story of the War on Drugs driven by America and spread to the rest of the world under the fear of retaliation from America. The wage of war began in the 1930s and is alive and well today. Hari begins his book by painting a picture of what it was like before the engagement of this long since failed crusade. You could go to any American pharmacy and buy products made from the same ingredients as heroin and cocaine. The most popular cough mixtures in the United States contained opiates, a new soft drink called Coca­Cola was made from the same plant as snortable cocaine, and over in Britain, the classiest department stores sold heroin tins for society women. In the book we follow the story of so many who were caught up in the drug war starting with the man behind it, Harry Anslinger. He was appointed head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics which was a new role for the people who ran the Department of Prohibition which had recently been abolished. It was apparent to many that this bureau was due to be a part of history at any time. We also learn about Billie Holiday and how the drug war killed her. Anslinger personally saw to it as he made sure she was forbade adequate care to survive her addiction. There was also Arnold Rothstein, the top gangster who immediately saw the benefit of the drug war. Just as prohibition opened up a black market for alcohol, the drug war would do the same for narcotics. Rothstein was all too ready to benefit. And although he was eventually anonymously murdered for his stranglehold on the market, many more rapidly emerged to take his place. Hari then turns to the climate of the drug war today by following a retired police officer who is now fighting to legalize drugs after what she had seen for many years on the force. A New York City street dealer who embodies the modern day Rothstein selling crack on the corner and leading a gang to keep his turf his not because he wants to, but out of necessity. A woman who lost her daughter to a man mixed up in the war in Juarez, Mexico, who marched to her state capitol only to be murdered by the drug cartels who have bought the state right on the front steps for anyone and everyone to see. And so many other victims of the this failed policy intended to remove drugs from society. It quickly becomes more than clear that our prescribed solution to the drug problem is monumentally more of a problem that drug addiction is alone. The author also goes to a few places where things are turning around thanks to a change in policy. Leaving drug prohibition and criminalization behind and focusing on compassion and education seems to be working for places like Vancouver, Switzerland, and Portugal. These places are trying new approaches which seem to be reducing most of the negative side effects that been left in the stain of the drug war leaving us with hope for ways to spread this change of tide.

Kirk Aug

Kirk is the new guy around here at Seed Sing.  We are still evaluating his personality and will let you know some interesting facts soon. In the meantime give Kirk a follow on twitter @kirkaug

NBA Draft Part 2: The disappointment that is the 76'ers

Last week I talked about the NBA draft and left out one team, today I will be talking about what I believe to be the worst franchise in all of professional sports right now, the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Philadelphia 76'ers were at one time a very proud, very efficiently and well run team. They've had stars like Wilt Chamberlin, Julius Erving, Moses Malone, Charles Barkley, Allen Iverson and most recently, Andre Iguodala. They've had coaches like Doug Collins and Larry Brown. They've had multiple All Stars, former MVP's, many playoff appearances and three NBA Championships, the last one coming in 1983. But recently, something stinks in the "City of Brotherly Love". Sure, one year of tanking in the modern NBA seems to have some sort of rhyme or reason. You can get a transformative player that will turn your team from also ran to playoffs, a la the New Orleans Pelicans and Anthony Davis. But, what the 76ers are doing is disgusting and a travesty to the NBA. It's embarrassing for their fans too. Most 76er fans that I know are diehard and these last 5 seasons have been unwatchable. They're putting a product out on the court that would be hard pressed to beat a D League team and they're charging top dollar for their tickets. Maybe that's why the arena is almost empty when I happen to see them on League Pass. Sam Hinkie, the GM and President, is a disgrace to his job. He needs to be stripped of all management duties and GM responsibilities. He is single handily running this team into the toilet. They're painful to watch. They're so bad. This all points directly to the players that the GM signs and drafts and trades. He is the one putting the roster together. He is the one making all the decisions and his recent history is atrocious. His draft choices are mind boggling. Three years ago he took Nerlens Noel in the lottery. At the time you thought, okay he's coming off a torn ACL, but at the end of his Freshman season he was coming on as a scorer and he was an excellent rim protector. But, there was the torn ACL, whoever took him in the draft had to have known that he would miss the entire season. Hinkie had to know he wouldn't be available to play until the 2014-2015 season. How much of a bummer is that for a fan? You have to wait an entire season to see, what you hope to be, is your future star at the center position. That sucks.

All was not lost though in that draft. They selected eventual Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams. The next season, after tanking hard, hoping to get the number one pick in the draft, Andrew Wiggins, they lost the lottery and  got the third overall pick. So, they miss out on Wiggins, but they drafted his college teammate, Joel Embiid. Only a couple problems with that lottery pick, he plays the same position as Noel and he too was coming off a serious foot injury. Picking him to pair with Noel sounded like a decent strategy at the time, who wouldn't want two great rim protectors that you could mold into offensive stars? But, Embiid was another red flag because of the foot injury. No one really knew how serious it was, but he too ended up missing his entire rookie season and new reports say he may have to miss this upcoming season. So, two high lottery picks in two years that have to miss entire seasons before they hit an NBA floor. What a disgrace to the fans and the team. Also, during the 2014-15 season Hinkie traded reigning Rookie of the Year, Michael Carter-Williams, to the Milwaukee Bucks for draft picks. He traded away the only viable NBA player on his roster so he could acquire more draft picks. AKA, you fans just have to trust in Hinkie's foolish process, because one day, long after he will be fired, this team may resemble something that, at the very least, looks like an actual NBA team. Hinkie is a complete MORON.

Last week's draft takes the crap cake. The 76ers were in the lottery again, because that's the only place this team can get a win, and they ended up getting the third overall pick again. Sounds good, because they need Guards and Wings, and there was a plethora of them in this draft. Pick one was Town's, the center from Kentucky and pick two was Russel, the guard from Ohio State. Okay, one guard is off the board, but you still have Mudiay(China), Winslow(Duke), or a real reach at third overall, but a guard nonetheless, Booker(Kentucky). So, with at least three really good guards still on the board, who do the 76ers take, a 6'10 power forward/center from Duke, Jahlil Okafor. It's hard for me to say this, but I actually feel sorry for a kid from Duke. What a terrible situation to get drafted into. Okafor was tops on a lot of people's pre draft lists, some making him the consensus number one overall prospect. But, the 76ers were the one team in the lottery that didn't need a big man. They drafted two in the last two drafts! What do they need another big man for?! Did I miss something watching the entire NBA turn into a space and pace league this season, that all of the sudden, you need three lumbering big men, two who can't score and one that doesn't play defense and treats conditioning as a volunteer choice? This league is turning into a fast paced, helter skelter type game and slow, oft injured big men isn't going to win you any championships. Hell, you'd be lucky to win 35 to 40 games a season with three centers on the court at one time. And, if you don't think Okafor is unhappy with his new situation, watch their most recent press conference where he throws his jersey down in disgust after the interview is over. Hinkie's late first round and the majority of his second round picks are foreign prospects that Fran Fraschilla says are "two years away from being two years away". That's depressing. I feel for you Philadelphia 76er fans. You have the WORST GM in sports, and until the powers that be get rid of him, you will have to continue to "trust the process".

That's a frightening proposition in my opinion.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for Seed Sing.  He plays the bigman role in pickup games at the local rec center. Looks like he will be drafted by the 76'ers in 2016.

Follow him on twitter @tykulik.

The Republican Hate Trap

It has been a bad week for the Republican Party.

A no good, very bad week.

I am not talking about their failure (once again) to get rid of Obamacare. I am not talking about their failure (once again) to ban gay marriage. This is also not about their victory to eliminate any talk of meaningful gun control in light of another mass killing. The Republican Party's bad week is about how all of those events caused the party's leaders to embrace the typical hate filled white christian majority victim hood that is losing the party voters and any national future.

The Republican party has been fighting the reforms of the New Deal for multiple generations. Their current leaders can not have a meaningful thought about domestic policy without attacking reforms enacted nearly eighty years ago. The programs of the New Deal have been large a part of american society,  removing them would cause a massive  economic crisis. The Republican party has been so invested in dismantling the New Deal,  they have no plan to deal with the catastrophic aftermath of their goals.

These irrational, outdated, tactics infect the current Republican voter outreach strategies. The Affordable Health Care Act was not a perfect law,  far from it. The law did succeed in giving healthcare to more at need Americans. Since the passage of the ACA,  the only action from the elected republicans is to act like petulant children and try to repeal the law. They tried,  and tried,  and tried,  and on and on. There was no plan, only a tantrum. Lower income Americans were beginning to see clearly that the republicans had no interest in helping them. These potential voters were mostly lost to any national campaign by the Republican party.

The need to cater to the outdated and hateful religious right has caused the Republicans to alienate a very powerful and engaged voter group, gay men. The actions of the Supreme Court were long overdue, and many Americans were happy that this embarrassment had been corrected. The response from all the national Republican leaders was predictable, silence or hate. The hate, coming from supposed Christians, was ugly and useless. Christian conservatives always vote in the exact same numbers, and they always vote Republican. If one national Republican realized that gay men tend to be more conservative on fiscal issues,  that person could start to cultivate new voters. Instead the legacy of hate and obstruct stops any movement in bringing in these new, valuable, voters.

Where the Republican hate trap reared its ugly head the most is the aftermath of the Charleston Church massacre. Our government is filled with cowards when it comes to stemming gun violence. The tricky part for the Republicans is they needed a distraction from having to talk about the gun problem in America. The media decided that distraction was going to be the Confederate flag. The hate trap was set, because now Republicans who defended a symbol of hate had to now openly attack it. This was not a good plan to a few deep south Republicans (see Haley Barbour). These politicians defending the Confederate flag kept reminding voters of the parties history of racism. The brain trust that is Sean Hannity even used his tired tactic of false equivalence and demanded rap music be banned along with the Confederate flag. Hannity is whining because he cannot embrace his symbol of hate,  so attacks something else ethnic that he hates. Every single guest on Hannity's radio and television shows will have to defend the Confederate flag and attack rap music. Good bye millennial voters, good job Sean.

The Democratic Party has not been very proactive in creating positive social change. The national leaders usually sit back and wait for social changes to become more viable. This allows the Democrats the luxury to co-opt these movements and be seen as the party of all people. Their biggest asset in claiming the progressive mantle is that the Republicans can not claw out of their hate trap.

Thank God.

RD Kulik

RD is the Head Editor for Seed Sing. He enjoys watching hateful people dig themselves into holes. Fox News is one of his favorite entertainment options. He needs you to write for Seed Sing.

The true lottery of the NBA Draft

Last night was the 2015 NBA Draft and 60 players were selected.

In my younger years I used to relish watching the draft. It was a big deal for me to see which college superstars were selected and which NBA team they would be playing for. These guys, for the most part were college graduates or, at the very least, played three years of college basketball. As a fan of the college game is was great to see these players blossom from skinny, baby faced freshman to grown upperclassmen. They were ready for the NBA.

That's the problem I had with the draft last night and the draft for the past 15 years. The picks, especially the first overall pick, have been freshman, sophomores or played zero college basketball. You get no time to know these players. They spend one or two years tops in college or overseas and some GM's risk the next four years of their franchise on teenagers or kids that just turned 20. I wouldn't hire a 20 year old to do my laundry, let alone lead an NBA franchise. Granted, most of these kids are extremely athletically gifted basketball players, but more times than not, a lot of them flame out quick or get injured because their bodies aren't physically ready for the rigors of the NBA. It's a full time job, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. You have to be in shape constantly, there's no rest and no nights off. I imagine it's extremely tough.

Now, I'm not saying there's no underclassmen or players with no college experience that haven't thrived in the league. Lebron James is going to go down as one of the greatest players in NBA history. But, for every Lebron James there's a Kwame Brown. A kid straight out of high school, picked number one overall in the draft and now, he's out of the league. No All Star games, no championships. He's an afterthought. Imagine what, at least, three years of college would have done for him. Andrew Bogut was taken number one in 2005. He played three years of college ball at Utah. He's by no stretch of the imagination a star, but he's been an all NBA player, on the all NBA defensive team and just this past season won a championship. Wouldn't you rather have that than the 2006 and 2007 number one picks. The 2006 number one was Andrea Bargnani. He was a sure fire, can't miss foreign prospect. He played fine while with the Raptors, but the team never really took off like they hoped they would when they drafted Bargnani. He was eventually traded to the Knicks and has suffered a plethora of injuries. Then, in 2007 there's Greg Oden. He was supposed to be a non stop offensive superstar and one of the best defenders in the league coming out of Ohio State after his sophomore season. There was another underclassman in that same draft that every scout and GM said was too skinny and his game wouldn't translate to the pros. That guy was Kevin Durant out of Texas. Well, Oden kept injuring his feet and knees and legs over and over again. He never made any impact in the NBA and he is now considered one of the biggest "busts" of all time. I'd take Bogut's career over Oden's or Bargnani's in a heartbeat. Never an All Star, but a consistent starter and contributor in the NBA. Sounds good to me. Then there's the case for Derrick Rose. A slashing point guard that played with reckless abandon and would risk life and limb to get to the hoop. The point guard of the future they said after two seasons at the University of Memphis. In his first couple of seasons he was living up to hype, going as high as MVP of the league. Then, he tears one ACL, then the other and now, he's a shell of his former self, playing with fear of getting hurt again. Imagine what one or two more years of strength and conditioning training in college would have done for him. In comparison, Tim Duncan stayed at Wake Forest for four years and has won multiple MVP awards and five championships, Oh, and he'll be returning for his 19th season next year. Staying in college didn't hurt him at all.

Which brings me to last nights draft. Thirteen Freshman, four players from overseas(one being Emmanuel Mudiay who instead of playing one year at SMU, took a million dollar contract to play in China), five sophomores and the eight juniors or seniors rounded out the first round. That's appalling to me. Only one senior was taken in the lottery and that was the plodding big man that thinks he's a three point shooter and plays no defense, Frank Kaminsky. Four of the fourteen lottery players played for John Calipari at Kentucky. These four, with the exception being Devin Booker, are really going to have to figure it out when they get in the league. Devin Booker already is a pretty good lock down defender and a lethal three point shooter. That will work in today's NBA. But, Willey Cauley Stein is an aberration on the offensive side of the ball and can't rebound, but, he's an excellent shot blocker and that was good enough for the Sacramento Kings to take him sixth overall. Trey Lyles went twelfth overall to Utah, but he's the definition of a project. I didn't see him or even hear about him until the NCAA Tournament. Karl Anthiny Towns was the number one overall pick and he didn't really start to dominate until late in the season. When they first started playing he thought he was a perimeter player. He just learned how to play the low post and he's going to going against much stronger, older veterans. D'Angelo Russel played one year at Ohio State and while he's an excellent passer and scorer, he plays no defense and he has to play with the rotting corpse that is Kobe Bryant. The fourth pick Kristaps Porzingis and the fifth pick Mario Hezonja only had grainy video highlights that I saw for the first time during the draft last night. They are on the same level as Trey Lyles for me. I know nothing about them. Stanley Johnson from Arizona is a tank, but he also moped when he was put on the bench during his one college season. Myles Turner is a great shot blocker and could shoot the three for a big guy, but he has the most awkward running motion I've ever seen. It's jarring. The last two lottery pick, while being young, I do think will be good players because of where they were picked. Emmauel Mudiay was taken seventh overall by Denver. He plays the exact way that new head coach Mike Malone wants him to. He plays fast and he's a slasher. He also spent his one year away from the league playing in a pro league in China. He played with grown men, some that even played in the NBA, so he knows what he's getting into. He reminds me a lot of Brandon Jennings, who I love and think is very underrated. Then there's Justise Winslow from Duke. He's a great defender and rebounder and a lights out three point shooter. He was taken tenth overall by Miami. If they're able to keep their core together from last season, it's a perfect situation for him. He's the next Dwayne Wade, and hopefully for his sake, he will be mentored by Wade. Winslow is my pick for Rookie of the Year. But, I still yearn for the days of the draft consisting of mostly upperclassmen, because like I said before, they were ready for the league. They essentially played four years of semi pro ball and were able to easily transition into the NBA. Let's hope that's one thing that Adam Silver tries to bring back, because basketball is becoming popular again, but it won't be fun to watch a bunch of nineteen and twenty year old kids ruin this beautiful game because of their lack of preparation.

Fix this please.

(ed note: Ty left the 76'ers pick of Jahlil Okafor off of this commentary because he is preparing a column next week where the entire 76'ers franchise will be put under the microscope.) 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for Seed Sing.  He does not want you to know that Kevin Garnett is one of his favorite players ever. Follow him on twitter @tykulik.

Cloves and Fedoras: Ty looks to the future of HBO with a look at two new shows

HBO premiered two new shows this past Sunday night. "Ballers" and "The Brink".

I was excited to watch both shows. "Ballers" seemed like a good idea. It is about an ex football player that becomes a financial advisor for current players. It stars Dwayne Johnson, some of you know him as The Rock, as said ex football player. The show started out okay. A flashback scene to his playing days, hitting a receiver after the catch, they both get dinged up and flash forward to present day and he's taking pain killers, literally eating them like candy, and he has pain in his joints as he exits his bed. Typical stuff to show you that football can cause future, lingering injuries. No duh, thanks for the insight writers of "Ballers". Then we see the building that Dwayne Johnson works in. He's met there by his colleague, played by the hilarious Rob Corddry. They have a decent scene together, but that's all we get in the pilot between the two stars of the show. One scene. They seem to have pretty good on screen chemistry so I hope in the future episodes they have a lot more scenes together. According to the preview of the upcoming season after the pilot episode, that seems to be the case. During the episode, there's a scene with another ex player speeding down a dangerous highway in Miami with his mistress. They get into a fight and during said fight, the guy takes his eyes off the road and gets crushed by a semi truck. Smash cut to a funeral and Dwayne Johnson talking to the widow. She explains to him that the now deceased athlete didn't save any money because he had no financial advisor. See the irony. Later on, a current football player/bad boy gets into a fight with a fan at a bar, knocks the guy out cold and gets cut the next day by his current team. He gets signed by a new team in the next few days and calls Dwayne Johnson to tell him that he needs someone to help him keep his money straight. This couldn't come at a better time for him because, right at that moment, he is unable to withdraw 200,000 dollars from his bank account. At the ATM! How can he take so much money out at one time at an ATM?! This show seems pretty ridiculous and probably won't last for more than one season unless the writers and directors put Rob Corddry in more scenes with Dwayne Johnson. That's about the only thing that worked for me in the pilot. I will continue to watch since it's only been one episode, but "Ballers" is on pretty thin ice.

"The Brink" on the other hand, I enjoyed. The show takes place between a Washington D.C. war room, with Tim Robbins playing one of the President's right hand men in matters related to war, and in Pakistan where Jack Black plays a lower level US Ambassador that has a driver played by Aasif Mandvi. Mandvi is excellent in his role. Tim Robbins character is a sex crazed booze hound, but he's also extremely intelligent in all matters involving when to strike and when not to in war situations. He's playing the role with gusto. Jack Black is playing his typical buffoon. He is a little stupid, but a little smart and he likes to ogle women and get stoned. It's basically Jack Black playing a clean shaved Jack Black. He's still pretty funny because he's a good actor. But, the real star of the show is Mandvi. Like I said earlier, he's a glorified taxi driver for Jack Black, but in one scene we get to see his home and his family. This was great. He lives in a beautiful home, equipped with a pool and many comfortable rooms. His dad is a distinguished doctor and his uncle, that lives with them, is a well respected psychiatrist. He also has a smoking hot sister that, of course, Jack Black wants to hook up with. The topic of war is brought up during unrest in Pakistan over a political vote gone bad. There's a evil dictator type person that wants to get people on his side and the militants are more than willing to help. Jack Black finds out that the uncle has worked with this dictator and declared him clinically insane. Black feels that this info will get him on the good side of the president and they will relocate him to Paris. Mandvi's family catches him trying to fax this stuff over and end communication immediately believing that he works for the CIA and housing a CIA agent will get them in worlds of trouble. Back in DC, Robbins is trying to convince the president to wait on sending missiles because he doesn't want to start World War Three. I know this all sounds serious and dramatic, but it's quite the opposite. The pilot was very funny and doesn't take it's source material too seriously, in a good way. I hope the rest of the episodes follow the same direction as the pilot. That would be great.

Of the two new shows that premiered this week, I have more hope for "The Brink" than I do for "Ballers". Time will tell.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for Seed Sing.  He is shocked the political show is more interesting than the sports show (so far). Follow him on twitter @tykulik.

Cloves and Fedoras: Ty thinks "A Deadly Adoption" was deadly boring.

Cloves and Fedoras is Seed Sings reviews for little known pieces of pop culture (or older pieces).  Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known. 

I finally got around to watching the Lifetime movie "A Deadly Adoption" the other night.

You know the movie I am talking about, the made for Lifetime movie starring Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig. I had huge expectations for this. I thought it was going to be a work of comedic over acting and terribly written dialogue delivered from two pretty great actors.

Well, the dialogue was pretty terribly written and performed as such, but the jokes and Wiig and Ferrell being in on the absurdity of this was missing. This was a pretty straight forward, completely ridiculous Lifetime presentation. It was just like every other movie on that channel. It was melodramatic lunacy and Ferrell and Wiig were acting as if they weren't humongous stars. They acted as if this was a real job for them, like they really needed the work. There was little to no lunacy from the two of them and that was highly upsetting to me. The only humor I really got out of "A Deadly Adoption" was how seriously they tackled the issue of child diabetes. Wiig and Ferrell's daughter in the movie has diabetes and there were many mentions about not keeping real sugar in the house and how she desperately needed her insulin when she was held captive. The movie was insane from start to finish. It opened with a pregnant Wiig hanging out on a dock by a boat and she slips off the dock, can't swim and Ferrell rescues her, but they lose the baby. Fast forward five years and Ferrell is a very over protective father of their one child. He's also a very successful financial author. They take in a young pregnant girl because they want to adopt her baby so their daughter can have a brother. But, a little to on the nose, there's something a little off about this girl. She's clearly hitting on Ferrell's character and wants Wiig's character out of the picture. She also has a bad news boyfriend who is about as white trash as they come. It's eventually found out that the young lady isn't pregnant at all. I know, real shocker right? She and her boyfriend just want ransom money from Wiig and Ferrell since they've decided to kidnap their daughter. At least that's what the boyfriend wants. Turns out that after they lost their child in the accident five years ago, Ferrell's character hit the bottle pretty hard and met a groupie of his on the road and slept with her. You know that common story of a famous author having groupies and a crippling alcohol addiction. Ridiculous. Well that groupie turned out to be, wait for it, the young "pregnant" lady they let stay in their home. Needless to say, she just wants to be with Ferrell and his daughter and have a "normal" family. She tries to kill Wiig by knocking her unconscious and putting her in her car and turning the engine on and closing the garage door. Ferrell comes home after a night of searching for his daughter only to be met by the crazy girl(I can't remember any of the names of the characters because this movie was so stupid) and she shoots him twice in the arm, albeit by accident because she says she doesn't want to hurt him. She flees and Ferrell finds Wiig in the garage. He removes her from the car and gets her breathing again and he's back on the road to search for his daughter. Now, we see the crazy girl and the daughter speeding away in a pick up truck, all the while the little girl complaining that her stomach hurts and she needs her insulin. I say again, ridiculous. Ferrell finds them, confronts the crazy girl, pretends to let his daughter go with her, only to have them both jump in an idling boat under the bridge and before the crazy girl can get a shot off, Wiig plugs her in the back with a bullet. Another flash forward, this time only six months, and all is well. Ferrell has even calmed down on the over bearing parenting and the family breaks out into a dance. Then, end credits.

All I could think of was, WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?! This made me feel like I was going crazy. It was so bizarre. I guess I expected something different, akin to James Franco's role on the soap opera he was on. I didn't expect Ferrell and Wiig to take it so seriously. Maybe it's just me, but I was looking for something way different and therein lies the problem. Don't expect anything good or promising from any programming Lifetime TV puts out there. You will be highly disappointed.

This was a real drag.

Ty 

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for Seed Sing. He is an author but does not have groupies (yet). Follow him on twitter @tykulik.

Cloves and Fedoras: Ty gives praise to Leon Bridges, the new voice of soul.

Cloves and Fedoras is Seed Sings reviews for little known pieces of pop culture (or older pieces).  Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known. 

This is a follow up an earlier blog post about Leon Bridges.  You can find it here.

The sound of Sixties soul music is back today.

The sound comes in the form of a young man that was born thirty years after Stax Records and guys like Otis Redding and Rufus Thomas were making their strides in the soul music world. He's a twenty five year old music genius named Leon Bridges. His first album "Coming Home" was released today and it is so perfectly a throwback to the golden age of soul/R&B. This record is phenomenal. I didn't think I'd hear an album the rest of 2015 that I liked as much as Alabama Shakes "Sound and Color", but I've already listened to "Coming Home" two and a half times and I've got to say, it's now my album to beat for the year. Leon Bridges vocals are so damn smooth. I like to call this type of music "baby making music". He sounds like a much better version of Raphael Saadiq, and I love me some Raphael Saadiq. His guitar playing and his band are really tight. I seems like they've been perfecting this sound for sometime now, and they hit a grand slam. This may sound like it's from the Sixties because Leon Bridges asked to record on vintage equipment. He was taking a huge chance doing this because, in my opinion, you have to be one hundred percent committed to the equipment being used and you can't succumb to the technology today. That's got to be pretty difficult. But they did a wonderfully masterful job. It sounds like a recording from Stax in it's heyday. I've mentioned Leon Bridges on this site before, stating that I thought he would be the next great soul star, and today has not changed my mind at all. In fact, I feel even stronger about this prediction after listening to his record. He is going to be HUGE. There's ten songs on the album, with the longest being about four and a half minutes. This is great because that's how songs were back in the day. Singers back then only needed two to three minutes per track and they packed each song with as much soul as possible. Leon Bridges is no exception. He effortlessly flows from upbeat, drums and guitar heavy songs to slower songs with horns being his main background music. For example, for the more up beat songs, check out "Smooth Sailin" or "Twistin and Groovin". Both these songs are powered by Bridges vocals and his excellent guitar work. His drummer is superb with the groove of these songs too. With songs like "Shine" he lets the keyboardist take front stage and, accompanied by his vocals, they sing a sweet, slow soul song. My favorite song on the record is a slow song, which is very unlike me. But, "River" is a beautiful closer to this excellent album. It starts out with strumming from an acoustic guitar and soft vocals. It builds until the last minute of the song and it's just Leon Bridges and an all female chorus singing "take me to your river, I want to go". It's beautiful. I literally got goose bumps while listening. I hope his tour brings him to Saint Louis. I'd love to see him perform live. "Coming Home" by Leon Bridges is fantastic.

Go out and get this album as soon as possible.

Ty 

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for Seed Sing. He has made two babies, we do not know what kind of music was on. Follow him on twitter @tykulik.

A day in podcasting history. Ty talks about the President on WTF with Marc Maron.

This is a follow up to Ty's piece on WTF with Marc Maron.

Today was the WTF with President Obama and it did not disappoint.

During the historic episode politics were talked about, but that was not the majority of the interview. I'd say about 30 minutes focused on Barack Obama as a person, not just the President. Those thirty minutes will be what I focus on.

 President Obama openly talked about growing up with a single mother, candidly talking about writing a book about his father, commenting on the art and, as President Obama put it, the "knick knacks" on Marc Maron's walls and even talking about which comedians he enjoys. I was impressed with the President's knowledge of stand up comedy. He mentioned that he likes Richard Pryor, Dick Gregory and "newer" comics like Louis CK and Jerry Seinfeld. Marc Maron made a point to say that President Obama saying he likes Louis CK will make his life complete, CK's life that is. To hear President Obama so openly talk about his father being an abuser and womanizer and drunk was very humanizing. I think we see someone achieve the level of president and we think they most likely grew up with a "Leave it to Beaver" type home. This is not the case with President Obama. His dad was not there while he was growing up and becoming the person that he is today. To hear him be so candid was refreshing. Here's a person who had a shitty father and look at him now, he's on his second term as President. This goes to show you that, if you work hard enough, you can achieve a whole lot. He sang his mother's praises throughout the interview as well. He's very grateful and loves his mom a lot.

One of the big things that has stuck with me after listening to the interview was how relaxed and calm and almost carefree President Obama sounded. I have to believe that if I was the President, I'd be terrified every second of everyday and I feel like that would show. Not with Obama, he doesn't sound like every other politician I've ever heard or listened to, he doesn't sound like he's trying to sell me on his brand or fill my head with empty promises. He just sounds like a regular guy. THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES SOUNDED RELAXED! HOW CRAZY IS THAT! He was so at ease, he was giving Marc Maron advice on how to get over anger and other stuff.

I was immensely impressed with the President's interview today. This made me even more happy that I voted for him and that I support him still. Like I said in my lead up, he knows what the younger generation is in to, and by going on a very popular podcast made himself even cooler. I also want to say thank you to Marc Maron for doing this. This was just as big a deal to his listeners as it was to him. It may not seem like that to him now, but the fact that he got the leader of the free world to be open, honest and talked to him like he would interview anybody else is huge for his listeners. This was a great day for President Obama, Marc Maron and listeners of WTF.

A great day.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing. He is preparing his big debut on the X Millennial Man Podcast. Follow him on twitter @tykulik.

The Problem is Gun Culture

(Ed. note: Seed Sing is a community of voices. The author is expressing his opinion and invites any questions and criticisms. Write for Seed Sing.)

It saddens me to think about the number of times President Obama has had to address the nation after a mass shooting or a race related death. We have nine people dead because in the killers eyes they were a problem. This killer was a racist, a terrorist, and a monster. His motivation was hatred, his tool was a handgun. The same motivation and tool can be attributed to the majority of mass killings in the United States. A large part of my sadness stems from the actual violence and loss of life, but there is another part to my sadness related to modern American gun culture. 

I spent a few years working as an advocate to stem gun violence, or in other words I was a lobbyist working against the NRA. I was somewhat unique in the gun violence prevention movement, I did not have a gun violence victim profile and I was not very interested in banning guns. The primary reason I worked on the issue was the allure of the challenge. I am very socially liberal, but libertarian in my view of personal responsibility. The gun issue stood on the intersection of personal responsibility and social consequence.  I approached the guns as a public relations problem. People either were yes or no on guns. I wanted to make people on the no side become yes on something reasonable. It is always better to argue an issue from the yes perspective. The particular issue I was brought in to manipulate was carrying a concealed weapon (CCW). I would use polls, business testimonies, and advertising to convince the legislators that CCW is not wanted. Never was there a mention of guns, death, or violence. There was some success, and some failure, but the narrative of gun violence prevention was changing.

So I thought. My career did not last long in the gun violence prevention movement. Many of the primary players have been there for years, and the majority were victims of gun violence. More states were passing laws that loosened restrictions on gun ownership. The old guard went back to their old methods. New gun violence prevention groups would rise up after the latest shooting and come up with "new" ideas on curbing the violence. The debate resorted back to yes and no. The media would treat any gun violence news as a debate between an old white guy from the NRA (or the US Congress) and some non-media savvy victim of gun violence. The idea of working to stop gun violence was the most pure Sisyphean task one could image.

My ambivalence to guns changed on December 12th, 2012. The deaths of twenty children and six school staff members at the hands of a person wielding legal weapons caused me to take a side in the gun debate. I started to firmly believe something needed to be done by our government to regulate and ban most firearms. With my professional experience I set out to have a discussion with people on the dangers of firearms.  What I received in return was mostly anger from the pro gun people. The debate quickly turned into why these 26 (28 including the killer and his mother) died and evolved into a discussion about not limiting guns. 

On Wednesday nine people, who were in church, were killed in Charleston South Carolina by a monster with a gun.  It is now Friday and I have heard little about the victims and more about why guns need less regulation. I am confused and pissed off about the society I live in.

The pro gunner's arguments have not changed in the ten years since I left the gun violence prevention movement. Here are some examples of their arguments followed by my hypothetical responses. 

GUNNERS: Guns don't kill people, people do.

ME: The famous comedian Eddie Izzard famously said "Well I think the gun helps". 

GUNNERS: If someone in the church had a gun, this would not have been as bad.

ME: How many times have you heard about a "good" CCW license holder stopping any mass shooting, zero? 

GUNNERS: You are using this tragedy to push your liberal agenda.

ME: I am sorry, tell me once again when we had any kind of reasonable gun control legislation in the last twenty years.  Also when should we talk about gun violence? When everyone has been killed?

GUNNERS: FREEDOM!!!!!!

ME: ???????

There is no way to have a rational discussion with people who use innocent deaths to protect their beliefs. I will admit that guns may not be the problem, gun culture is the problem. Why do we give the gunners a rational position in our society. What is a gun used for. I will give the gunners credit for the hunting argument. Their are a lot of hunters who use rifles.  What about assault rifles and handguns? Those weapons are not used by serious hunters. What in the world are people using assault rifles and handguns for? The answer I normally get is that those guns are for sport shooting and protection. First, you do not need to have those weapons in your home if they are used for sport shooting. Second, what do you need protecting from. Statistics are numbers and have no political motivation.  The incident of accidental death and suicide is a lot larger than the number of people who have successfully used these weapons for protection. We have trained police who can protect you from the "bad guys". I lived in the urban core for most of my twenties and thirties. I know of more people in the suburbs with handguns and assault rifles than I ever knew in the city. 

The best way to approach the problem of gun violence is to marginalize the gun culture. People who make guns a religion need to be treated as non-rational beings. I love Star Wars, yet I do not demean people who do not like it (I privately judge them).  You can love guns, but you do not need to be obnoxious about it. Many people love expensive sports cars, even if they cannot afford them.  One does not need to own a gun to enjoy them. Do you really love guns. Go to a regulated shooting range, play a first person shooter. You do not need to have the extra ability to kill someone with your hobby.

Once the gun culture is marginalized in society, spineless politicians will stop bending over backward for the NRA. Gun manufacturers depend on the NRA to continue a campaign of misdirection, lying, and fear mongering. The fact that the media does not marginalize the NRA makes our congress even more ineffectual. The gun violence prevention movement is way too emotional and fractured in their beliefs to be an effective counterbalance to the NRA. Bringing the gun violence prevention movement together as one voice is a non-starter. Pushing the same boulder up the same hill is going to give you the same results.

The best way to honor the people killed by guns is to do whatever possible to not add new gun violence victims. Forget about the guns and focus on the culture. Once everyone truly sees that the narrative states we honor the dead by demanding more guns, people will wake up and see the insanity. We will demand real discussion, from rational people. Change will start to happen.

Be kind to each other.

RD Kulik 

RD Kulik is the founder and Head Editor for Seed Sing

Cloves and Fedoras: Ty gives praise to Marc Maron, King of the Podcasts

Cloves and Fedoras is Seed Sings reviews for little known pieces of pop culture (or older pieces).  Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known. 

When it comes to podcasting, one of the pioneers has to be Marc Maron.

He was one of the first people out there to start a podcast. His show, WTF With Marc Maron (you can find it here), was there in the beginning and continues to run strong, with two episodes every week. One on Mondays and one on Thursdays. The episodes will be there every week, it's like death and taxes, WTF will be there for you to listen to two times a week. IFC even gave him a TV show which is loosely based on his life as a comedian and podcaster. That's how popular his show is. Marc Maron has had pretty much every important person in comedy, from people like Eddie Peppitone, to heavy hitters like Louis CK. In fact, his episode with Louis CK was voted best podcast episode ever in a publication last year. WTF With Marc Maron has featured character actors like Kevin Corrigan on and he's had huge stars like Will Ferrell. He's had legends like Dick Van Dyke and Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner on. He's also had former big time stars such as Pauly Shore on his show. Some episodes went away from comedy and highlighted musicians. Marc Maron has interviewed smaller guys like Mark Oliver Everett(E from the Eels) to big time rock legends like David Byrne. He's brought on countless other people, he's done over six hundred episodes of WTF.  

This coming Monday, June 22nd, he's got the biggest, most important interview that any podcaster will ever have on their show. This Monday, he will be interviewing The President of the United States, Barack Obama. I cannot tell you how excited I am to listen to this episode. First of all, I voted for and support President Obama. I'm so happy that he's a smart, cool and hip enough President to realize how big a deal podcasts are to a younger generation. I'm also pumped that he's letting Marc Maron interview him. This is huge. People may forget that Maron was a part of the Air America family when they had a radio broadcast. So, he's no slouch when it comes to talking politics, but after at least three plus years of listening to WTF, I'm pretty sure politics will only be 10 to 15 minutes of the hour long interview. I'm hoping he asks President Obama stuff like, if he enjoys stand up comedy, or what it was like being a young kid growing up in the Midwest. Basically, I'm hoping, as hard as it's going to be, that Marc Maron treats this episode like every other WTF. President Obama is the most powerful man in the United States, but he's also a person with a story to tell, just like we all are people with different stories to tell. This is a huge deal for the millennials since the majority of us listen to podcasts everyday. To have someone as important and powerful as President Obama appear on a podcast is a huge deal. I cannot express that enough. IT"S HUGE. Please, if you're a conservative, a liberal, an independent, or whatever else there is out there, listen to WTF on Monday and I think you will see that we are all just people with stories, even if you happen to be the President. 

Thank you Marc Maron for doing this interview, you are a pioneer and you just keep getting better and better. You're the man.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing.  He is getting ready to co-host his own podcast The X Millennial Man. Follow him on twitter @tykulik

The NBA Finals are over, but what did it all mean?

Now that the NBA Finals are over and the Golden State Warriors are champs, let's look back at the series and how my prediction turned out.

Initially I picked the Warriors to win in five games, stating that the Cavs have Lebron James, so he will get them at least one game, but Golden State was so much more well rounded. After game one, when Kyrie Irving went down, I was certain, a little too certain, that the Warriors would sweep. I didn't see the Cavs being able to overcome two huge injuries to their team and the remaining players left were going to cripple them, no matter how well James played. Games two and three proved me wrong. The guy I crushed, Matthew Dellavedova, played excellent defense on Steph Curry, and he was coming up with improbable basket after improbable basket. Tristan Thompson and Timofy Mozgov were killing them on the boards and their defense was suffocating. Things were looking great for the Cavs after game three, leading the series 2-1.

Then game four happened.

The Warriors backs were against the wall and it was a must win. With this much at stake, Steve Kerr made a big change in his starting lineup which ended up being very crucial for the Warriors, he inserted Andre Iguodala into the lineup over Andrew Bogut. Iguodala was the only player who seemed to annoy Lebron on defense, forcing him into contested jumpers. That's how you beat a team led by Lebron James, you turn him into a jump shooter. As great as Lebron is, he's, at best, an average jump shooter. This isn't meant to take anything away from Lebron. He was dominate in this series, seeming un-guardable at times. He led both teams in points per game, rebounds and assists per game. That's never happened in the finals before. With the Finals being all said and done, Lebron deserved the MVP of the series, even in a losing effort. He was the best player on the court by far. Kudos to Lebron James. But, let's get back to game four. The Warriors, using this smaller lineup, ran up and down the court on a very tired, poor shooting Cavs team. This was how I expected the Warriors to play the whole series. They crushed Cleveland in Cleveland. They won the game by twenty one points and it wasn't even that close. Three days later, back at Oracle in Oakland, game five was played and Steph Curry decided it was time to go off. This was a very competitive game for three and a half quarters, with what seemed like a hundred lead changes. Then Steph started to do Steph Curry type things. I'm sure he was tired of hearing that Dellavedova, who on his best day is a good tenth or eleventh guy off the bench in the NBA, was shutting him down. His wizardry as a ball handler and supreme scorer was on full display for the last twelve minutes of game five. He would dribble himself open and he seemed to bury almost every three he took, defended or guarded, it didn't matter. This was the Steph Curry I expected all series long. He schooled Dellavedova and I've got to say, I enjoyed watching him abuse Dellavedova's pride and ankles. He was on skates. Needless to say, the Warriors pulled away late and won game five by double digits, despite Lebron's forty plus points and triple double. Then last night was game six, the potential close out game. The Cavs and the self proclaimed "best player in the world" Lebron James came out with a purpose. They tried, and succeeded for about a quarter, to turn this into a slow, low scoring game. But, the Warriors and specially Andre Igoudala and Draymond Green would not be denied. Igoudala scored a season high 23 points and Green recorded a triple double. Two role players coming up huge once again for the Warriors. That's what Lebron lacked in the series. His "role" players did next to nothing for him, and when he needed them the most, they didn't show up. Dellavedova was afraid to shoot the ball and kept throwing his terrible lob passes. Iman Shumpert is way more injured than he's letting on and JR Smith checked out of this series a long time ago. The only guys he could count on were Thompson and Mozgov, and that's not going to win you rings. Curry on the other hand, got help from everyone on the team except for, shockingly, Klay Thompson. He had no impact on this series whatsoever. Andre Igoudala was so impressive in this series he ended up winning MVP, deservedly so if they weren't going to give it to Lebron. He's the first player to win MVP of the finals that didn't start every game. Lebron played out of his mind and proved that he's the best player in basketball at the current moment, but you need a whole team of, at the very least, half way decent players and the Warriors have that. So, I was only off by one game from my initial preview. I also hope that Steph continues to bring his daughter to press conferences so assholes like Skip Bayless and Brian Windhorst have to deal with it. Those two are smug, arrogant buttheads that deserve to be "annoyed" by someone's child being at their so called "job". Almost nothing else would make me jump for joy like having to watch those two be put in uncomfortable situations for them. They're the worst. But I digress.

Congrats Golden State, you earned and deserve this title.

(Ed note: This is why Ty picks the sports, once again I was wrong with my Cavs in 6 pick)

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing. There is not enough internet to say how much Skip Bayless annoys him. Follow him on twitter @tykulik

Cloves and Fedoras: Who is joining Ty for a Lifetime movie viewing?

Cloves and Fedoras is Seed Sings reviews for little known pieces of pop culture (or older pieces).  Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known. 

This Saturday on the Lifetime Television Network everyone needs to tune in to watch "A Deadly Adoption."

This is the rumored movie starring Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell on the Lifetime Channel! It's really happening! I saw the trailer for it this morning and was shocked at how serious it looked. This is a legit Lifetime type movie according to the preview.

Will Ferrell and Kristin Wiig play a successful married couple with what looks to be one daughter. Next, we see Wiig talking to Ferrell saying, "the agency may have found us a single mother." I guess they can't have anymore kids, we will have to tune in to find out, but want a brother or sister for their daughter. Then Ferrell begins to treat this young, attractive pregnant girl with extreme politeness. He seems almost too kind, almost as if he has a thing for her. Smash cut to Wiig yelling at him saying that he is ruining the good thing that they have, and he brought this into their house. The next thing they show in the trailer is the pregnant girl ripping Wiig's character out of a picture so it only shows Ferrell's characters face. This I assume implies that she wants Wiig out of the picture. Then the final thing we see is a car barreling down on Ferrell, who's wearing a blood stained shirt and hooded sweatshirt while the pregnant lady watches from a distance. Fade to black and then the awesome title, "A Deadly Adoption" appears on screen, with the word deadly a bright color of red.

The craziest thing, amongst many crazy things about this, it looks like the actors are taking this very seriously. This doesn't look like a "Sharknado" type movie, where everyone is in on the joke. I think the only ones who are in on the joke are Wiig and Ferrell. These are two huge stars that have been the leads in big time productions. I commend the two of them for doing what looks to be a type of soap opera Lifetime movie. I wonder if they're looking at this like James Franco looked at his role on General Hospital. He is also a big star, who took a small, but weird and very memorable role as a criminal that's into art on the soap. He was incredible because he seemed to take it seriously, but was for sure in on the joke. I can only hope that Wiig and Ferrell take the same approach to their roles in this movie. If the trailer is true, that's exactly what the two of them are doing. I cannot believe I'm saying this, but I'm very excited to watch a movie on the Lifetime Network. I hope this is everything I'm expecting and wishing for, because, if this movie is half as good as the trailer, it's going to be EPIC.

Join me and tune in this Saturday, June 20th to Lifetime and watch the craziness that will be "A Deadly Adoption."

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for Seed Sing.  He was not even born when The Burning Bed came out. Follow him on twitter @tykulik

Cloves and Fedoras: Like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ty tells you the definitive movie to watch (hint it is not the new one)

Cloves and Fedoras is Seed Sings reviews for little known pieces of pop culture (or older pieces).  Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known. 

As a kid, I loved the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

I mean I was obsessed. I had all the action figures and the toys attached with the action figures. Hell, I even had a Ninja Turtle back pack at some point during elementary school. You all know who I'm talking about when I talk about the Turtles. Leonardo, my favorite and the responsible one of the group, Michaelangelo, the prankster of the group, Donatello, the smart, engineer and inventor of the group and Raphael, the strong, bad boy loner of the group (ed note: What about my favorite - Splinter the Yoda like rat). As I got older, I, as most adults do, lost interest in "kid" things and my passions turned to sports and girls. It's kind of sad when I think about it now.  

The other day I was shopping for stuff at Target and I saw the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. The one from the 1990(pre-Vanilla Ice). I continued to shop, but going through the aisles all I could think about was buying the DVD. The inner child in me was beginning to come out and my passion for the Turtles was returning! The movie was only five dollars to boot. It definitely helps that I'm a father to a three year old boy that is now equally, if not more, obsessed with the Ninja Turtles. He and I were equally excited when I grabbed the DVD, showed it to my wife and proclaimed, "WE ARE BUYING THIS!" She was very happy as well. She is also a fan of the Ninja Turtles, I guess I married the right woman. So, first goal is achieved, myself, my wife and my son are all on board, excited and we purchase the movie. Next my wife and I decide we will watch it that night to see if it's appropriate for our son to watch. But, I was secretly concerned that it may not hold up and not only will it not be good for my child to watch, but adult me may not like it as much as kid me. This was a very big concern.

I'm here to tell you, if you were a fan as a kid and are now in your thirties, this movie 100 percent holds up. It's so damn good. I was as intrigued now as I was when I was a little kid. What made it even better, I actually understood the jokes and references the directors put in the movie for the adults. I also was able to spot a young Sam Rockwell playing a thug that sells cigarettes. I was pleased watching the movie remembering how dark it was. In the comics, the Ninja Turtles are put in many adult situations and they handle those in adult ways. The movie is pretty kid friendly, but some of the fight scenes are pretty brutal, with the Turtles and the Foot Clan taking some big time beatings. There is a whole scene where Raph gets his butt kicked by the Foot Clan and he takes a good beating. So bad in fact that Leonardo is relieved when Raph wakes up. Implying that Leo was worried that his friend may not wake up. That's dark for a kids movie. Casey Jones was pretty bad ass as well. He still had his patented goalie stick and Jason face mask and the writers of the movie decided to give him a baseball bat as well. He is also a super impressive fighter too. The fight scene when Raph runs into him in the park is really cool. The fact they made it look that real in a movie made in 1990 is pretty fantastic. April O'Neil was pretty cool in the movie too. She was an independent, funny journalist, who no matter what the circumstance, be it her house getting destroyed during a fight between the Foot Clan and Turtles, or her losing her job, she always stayed on the Turtles side and was happy and eager to help them. Splinter was classic Splinter. He treats the Turtles as if they're his children, which if you think about it they really are, and he just wants them to be safe. Shredder is pretty terrifying as well. He's very ominous and even captures and tortures Splinter early on in the movie. See what I'm saying when I say it's dark. This was everything I remember it being, but means so much more to me now. I still haven't shown it to my son yet being that it is pretty dark, but in a year or two I will show it to him. This was more for my wife and I. We were both very into it, so into it we didn't even play on our phones or chit chat during it, we just watched it.

Don't watch the new, terrible Michael Bay produced TMNT, watch the original from the nineties. You will not be disappointed.

Ty 

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing.  He is one man with one love for early nineties superhero films and needs people to help him cover pop culture. Write for Seed Sing.

Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik

How do you solve a problem like Ohio Part 2: Local Messaging

(feel free to sing along)

Ohio always turns out for the president

But all other elections she is absent

Ohio attracts all the talent

Except in non summer Olympic years

I hate that I have to say it

But I feel very strongly

Ohio may not be an asset to her citizens

How do you solve a problem like Ohio.

Local candidates are rarely experienced, nuanced, political animals.  Many times these candidates are recruited by local parties because they have strong opinions and can articulate these ideas well. The local bosses rely upon state and national support in order to maintain their positions in the local party offices.  It is in the interest of the local political bosses that their candidates toe the national party line  These national ideas do not always serve the best interest of the local voters.  This causes a lack of voter enthusiasm and usually leads to low voter engagement.

The local candidate should create a local message.  National politics is a glamour contest.  The Republican Party has not fared well the last two presidential elections because they could not capture the votes needed in a contest for millions of votes.  The Republicans use divisive and outdated rhetoric, and as a consequence they are not growing their voter base (see here for a deeper explanation). When it comes to local politics, the republicans tend to not be overshadowed by their national figures.  The current divisions in the national Republican Party can be directly linked to the rise of strong, ideological, local movements. The religious right, tea party, and libertarians all began as smaller local movements.  These groups maintain their strength at the local level, and they can rarely find national success.  The lack of success with a bigger voter pool has caused these local movements to radicalize their beliefs and create division within their own national party.  These groups were co-opted by the national party when there was electoral success down on the regional level. Theses groups also can use local electoral advantage (gerrymandered districts, lower voter turnout) that is not possible in a large national election. They cannot create a message that works for a large, diverse, pool of voters.

The Democratic Party needs to take a page from the republican regional success.  The democrats need to create messages that directly speak to the voters they need.  Some of the national party issues should be ignored, and in some cases should be rejected.  Not that long ago there were pro-life democrats.  Those democrats won local elections. Once a locally elected official wants to move on and campaign for higher office, their message should evolve for the voters that are needed for victory. Many would call this flip-flopping. The only people who care about flip-flopping are the media and the opposition. The regular voter does not care.  By evolving the message, there is a greater chance to add voters.  The ability to add voters is more important than any other aspect of a political campaign.

In order for Ohioans to see a more representative state and local government, the parties need to learn and adapt to the voters in these smaller elections. That has not happened because of the national drain that occurs on the homegrown politically talent. When politically minded Ohioans learn to work for themselves, we will see the Ohio problem begin to disappear.

RD Kulik

RD Kulik is the Head Editor for Seed Sing. He wants to solve the media problem by having you write for Seed Sing.

Why do you demand misery from someone who is trying to not be miserable?

This site published an article recently questioning ESPN's decision to award their Arthur Ashe Courage Award to Caitlyn Jenner (ESPN does not care about courage).  The editorial staff and the writer made it clear that we do not question the courage of Caitlyn Jenner, we question the integrity of ESPN.  What Jenner has done in normalizing the conversation surrounding the transgender community is miraculous. Most of the pop culture and political community have been supportive in Jenner's announcement. The ugly vitriol has come from the obvious non-surprising sources, I will not link to these comments here.  What is truly amazing is that within the hateful community, some Republican politicians have been supportive of Caitlyn Jenner. Maybe the Republicans are realizing that they need to create more votes? 

This week the story of Rachel Dolezal became public (see here for an explanation). The media predictably began to destroy Ms. Dolezal.  People were rending garments and wondering how could this privileged woman do something so horrible. There has been no room for debate, Rachel Dolezal is a racist and she must be brought down. The lazy media moved this story to the top of everyone's news feed. The internet hate machine was put into action, everyone had a negative opinion of the disaster that is named Rachel Dolezal.

What exactly did Rachel Dolezal do that was wrong? She may have lied on a federal form about race. That is a crime. When Caitlyn Jenner files her taxes (or more likely when she sets up her tax shelters) will she commit a crime if she checks the female box on the forms? Will people be up in arms if she is not allowed checks the female box?  Rachel Dolezal has spent her adult life being an advocate for African-american art and issues. By all accounts she was very good at her job. Being a successful advocate means one needs to remove themselves from the conversation. Ms. Dolezal has built a career being the voice behind the faces. Her work afforded the opportunity to serve on a committee where she could enhance the advocacy for African-american issues.

The relation between Caitlyn Jenner and Rachel Dolezal is minor, except in how the media wants to cover personal identification.  The Huffington Post, once a valuable resource for liberal voices, has quickly become the poster child of clickbait (need to see the latest in celebrity side-boob, the good liberals at HuffPo have you covered). Huffington Post reliably had to weigh in with the pitchfork crowd, and they want to find every way to tear Rachel Dolezal down. The debate in the minds of HuffPo's professional liberals is one of Caitlyn Jenner's courage and Rachel Dolezal's institutional racism. I had never thought of comparing Jenner's and Dolezal"s issues, but thanks to HuffPo I will now look at the issues side by side. Caitlyn Jenner has been part of the zeitgeist for a very long time.  She was able to create relationships, and sympathy, in the liberal popular culture because of Bruce Jenner's treatment by the Kardashian machine.  Transgender issues have made positive strides in our popular culture, and thankfully we are becoming more accepting of people based on their personal identifications. Rachel Dolezal's race identification is an unknown issue in today's society.  New is never good for social liberals or conservatives.

We have thankfully started to accept people's personal identification, except for race. This is the ugly truth of the Rachel Dolezal story. Caitlyn Jenner can be born a man, identify as a woman, and we SHOULD accept it. There is outdated people who will direct hate towards the transgender community, but the good people will control the public acceptance. These same good liberals will not give the same courtesy to Rachel Dolezal.  What is the deal? I have seen some people accuse Ms. Dolezal of engaging in the disgusting practice of blackface. Many high profile white people have recently used blackface in some manner (Robert Downey Jr, Julianne Hough, Sarah Silverman, Billy Crystal, to name just a few). Some of these celebrities were questioned, others were given a pass, but in all cases it was wrong. Rachel Dolezal is not a large public figure, she is not playing a part, she is trying to be the person she is. I can not believe she is trying to cause a stir by being an African-american women. Why has she not sought fame for nearly twenty years of identifying as an African-american? Why does that bother anyone?

My belief is that the good liberals, and predictable social conservatives, fear anything that does not fit their basic narrative. Here is the common ground. The liberals push for acceptance, and fight for equality, but will not tolerate any change in the conversation on race. Social conservatives just want things to not change(I think their ideal year was sometime in the 1950's). Race relations has been on the front of social change conversation recently, and people are understandably touchy on what race means.  Rachel Dolezal is not choosing to identify as African-american because of recent events.  She has been identifying as an African American for years.

Rachel Dolezal has not hurt anyone, as a matter of fact she has helped a large amount of people.  She was already in a lesser power class by being a woman, identifying as an African-american women only gave her less social power. Why does anyone care? She has not been going out of her way maliciously deceiving people. She found out who she is. We celebrate Caitlyn Jenner and urge the public to let her live life in happiness.  Rachel Dolezal deserves to live life in happiness.

RD Kulik

RD Kulik is the Head Editor of Seed Sing. We are looking for contributors and podcast guests. Contact us here.

ESPN does not care about courage

(Ed. note:   We think Caitlyn Jenner is being very brave, and  respect her courage.  This is not about her, this is about people at ESPN not caring for the transgender community and only interested in ratings. The actions at ESPN are not fair to sports courage or transgender people. The executives over there have said and covered nothing leading up to Caitlyn Jenner's Vanity Fair article.  They saw the mostly positive response from the public, and ESPN typically decided to see ratings only.  They never looked for athletic courage, and it is all around them. The award may seem silly, but if ESPN really cares about supporting everyone associated with sports,maybe they could start making transgender athletes struggles part of the regular sports conversation.  When will ESPN talk about a current athlete dealing with a bigoted community?  We are not holding our breathe.)

Why are the ESPY's giving the Arthur Ashe Courage Award to Caitlyn Jenner this year? Why does she deserve a courage award? What she is doing, coming out as transgender is brave, but what about all the other transgender people out there that don't get awards? How do they feel about this? Are they happy or would they rather she go on and live her life as a female now? Why does she deserve an award for this? I'll say it once again, what she's doing is very brave, but more brave than Lauren Hill?

Do you guys know who she is?

Lauren Hill was a  young girl with inoperable brain cancer that just wanted to play in a game of college basketball. Not only did she play in a game, but she scored buckets and inspired the players on her team. That's bravery. Going out there, incredibly ill and playing basketball. She didn't do it for a heart warming story, or to show people that she could do it, she did it for herself and her family and her teammates. She has unfortunately passed away, but dammit what she did took incredible courage and bravery. Lauren Hill was so incredibly sick and when you saw her on the court, there was nothing but smiles coming from her face. That's bravery. That's courage.

How about the double amputee war vet, who has turned his life around with running and exercise?  You lose two body parts, pick yourself up and give yourself as much a normal life as possible. I can't imagine what I'd do if I lost a fingernail, let alone body parts. Once again, that takes courage and bravery.

I guess the thing that upsets me most about Caitlyn Jenner getting the award is, it's a clear ratings grab from the awful, awful executives at ESPN. They see the opportunity that a former Olympic champion, who's now coming out as transgender will bring them. They see tons of new viewers, but I do not think they care for those viewers. It also saddens me that the people who will watch her accept the award don't know who she was when she was Bruce Jenner. They only know her from the horrible monster family known as the Kardashians. That's so sad, especially for a sports based show. Fans of the Kardashian show don't care about sports, but the higher ups at ESPN obviously don't care about that. They just want viewers. I also feel like this is taking advantage of Caitlyn Jenner. She's been in the limelight for awhile now due to her horrible ex wife and her terrible children and I think she wants to keep the story on her as much as possible so she can stay famous. It may not be a popular opinion, but it's mine and it's pretty sad what they're doing at ESPN. With that being said, let me reiterate, what Caitlyn Jenner is doing is brave, just not on the level of a double amputee or Lauren Hill. Not even close. ESPN could've done the right thing and given this honor to the double amputee or, in my opinion the truly brave and courageous one, Lauren Hill. But, they don't care about honoring those two, they only care about the ratings.

Once again for shame ESPN

Ty 

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing.  Give him a follow on twitter @tykulik