Album Of The Month: May 2012 – Rize Of The Fenix by Tenacious D

When it comes to this time in the month each month, I reflect on the past 4 weeks of musical album releases and promptly lose the will to live. At the time of writing, for example, the “top selling” album in both the iTunes and Amazon.co.uk charts is…wait for it…The Sing EP by Gary “Take That” Barlow and The Commonwealth Band.
You know there’s match fixing and the like in sports? Anyone else think there is such a thing as “chart fixing”? Nope, just me then. For me, it is so unfathomable why this is No.1, or why following it in the top 10 in at least one of the above-mentioned charts is Fall To Grace by Paloma Faith (on my just-created music credibility scale, somewhere between 0 and Jessie J) or still (STILL!!) Adele who is reigning over the no.10 spot on Amazon.co.uk and, according to Amazon.co.uk, has spent 535 days (at time of writing) in the top 100! 535 days! Then people having been listening to her for more than a year? Just because of the effect this would have on the nations mental health (probably shown in suicide rates), I find this hard to believe but surely this adds more weight (get it? More weight? Adele? No?) to my chart-fixing theory? Just a little?
As a result of the above rant, I fail to take the popular music charts seriously – hence why I have chosen Rize Of The Fenix by Tenacious D as the album of this month.

Watch The Throne UK Tour Concert Review

Kanye West said it all at the end of this two and a half hour megashow: ‘If this is anybody’s first concert, it only goes downhill from here”.

On the 20th May 2012, myself and fellow site writer Elliott ‘Fawnz’ Thorne embarked on a trip to London to see two of our musical idols perform live in concert, Jay Z & Kanye West, performing as the Throne. Arriving at London’s o2 Arena at around 5 o’clock (via a boat from the London eye no less) and with the gates set to open at half past six, we were anticipating quite the wait to actually get into the arena itself. We came with the plan to get Throne merchandise before the concert started, in order for us to avoid the post concert queues and to ensure that we could actually wear the t-shirts during the concert itself. Buying my Ball So Hard t-shirt meant covering it over my Keep Calm And Tebow shirt, a personal favourite but tonight was meant to be about the music and not sport.

The Top Ten Guards In The NFL

In American Football , a guard (G) is a player that lines up between the center and the tackles on the offensive line of a football team.

The guard’s job is to protect the quarterback from the incoming defensive line and linebackers during pass plays, as well as creating openings (holes) for the running backs to head through. Guards perform speed blocking and “pulling”—sprinting out in front of a running back in order to block for him. Guards are automatically considered ineligible receivers , so they cannot intentionally touch a forward pass, unless it is to recover a fumble or is first touched by a defender or eligible receiver.

The Top Ten Offensive Tackles In The NFL

The offensive tackle (OT, T) is a position of the offensive line, left and right. Like other offensive linemen, their job is to block: to physically keep defenders away from the offensive player who has the football. The term “tackle” is a vestige of an earlier era of football, in which the same players played both offense and defense. A tackle is the strong position on the offensive line. They power their blocks with quick steps and maneuverability. The tackles are mostly in charge of the outside protection. If the tight end goes out for a pass, the tackle must cover everyone that his guard does not, plus whoever the tight end  is not covering. Usually they defend against defensive ends. In the NFL , offensive tackles often measure over 6 ft 4 in (193 cm) and 300 pounds (140 kg). There are two types of offensive tackle:  The right tackle (RT) is usually the team’s best run blocker. Most running plays are towards the strong side (the side with the tight end) of the offensive line. Consequently the right tackle will face the defending team’s best run stoppers. He must be able to gain traction in his blocks so that the running back can find a hole to run through. The left tackle (LT) is usually the team’s best pass blocker. Of the two tackles, the left tackles will often have better footwork and agility than the right tackle in order to counteract the pass rush of defensive ends. Most quarterbacks are right-handed and in order to throw, they stand with their left shoulders facing down field, closer to the line of scrimmage. Thus, they turn their backs to defenders coming from the left side, creating a vulnerable “blind side” that the left tackle must protect (Conversely, teams with left-handed quarterbacks tend to have their better pass blockers at right tackle for the same reason).

The Top Ten Tight Ends In The NFL

The tight end is has several jobs to do that make it almost impossible for one guy to do it. Firstly, the tight end has responsibilities to block. If there is a cornerback or safety or linebacker trying to sneak in and ambush the quarterback, the tight ends job is to get a good solid hit on this guy and slow him down. If it looks like the quarterback is going to get into trouble due to lots of guys trying to ambush him, the tight end must not only hit one of these guys, but he must then quickly release and get into the open. The tight end will be what is called an outlet receiver – it’s his job to catch the ball if the quarterback gets into trouble and has no time to find an open receiver. Finally, the tight end is supposed to be a good blocker so that if the quarterback calls a running play, the tight end can help bulldoze a path for the runner with the ball.

A tight end is therefore usually a big guy so that he’s a big target for our troubled quarterback – typically perhaps 6’4″ or taller, and about 250 pounds. He also has to be a fast runner, not necessarily Chris Johnson fast, but pretty fast. And he’s got to be a tough guy who can deliver a big hit on an ambushing defender. The tight end will often be sent out to catch passes in the middle of the field, where he will be covered by a couple of linebackers instead of cornerbacks. Linebackers are big guys with bad attitudes who like to torture small animals and scare children, so the tight end has to be a really tough guy to go into their area and try to make plays.

Very few people are capable of being all these things. So we see tight ends in the NFL who specialize in catching the ball and being an outlet receiver, and different tight ends who specialize in blocking and being part of the running game.

Universally Liked Songs: Part Two

For part one of this article, I detailed a series of songs that I believe are among the most popular and addictive songs of my musical existence. Part one produced ten belters, so let’s see what part two has got in store for us…

The Top Ten Running Backs In The NFL

An NFL running back is arguably the most complete player on each NFL offence. During each offensive play, the running back will take on one of a few roles. He will either run the ball directly as part of a running play; finding holes in opposing defences in order to accumulate as many yards as possible on each play. On passing plays, the running back is either expected to contribute as an extra blocker to prevent the pass rush from reaching the quarterback, or being able to utilise their skills as an extra receiver for the quarterback to try and target. Much like wide receivers, there are different types of running back in today’s NFL: the power backs, otherwise known as downhill backs use the centre of the field as their way to get yardage with it being the defence’s responsibility to target similarly big men to bring them down. Former Steelers back Jerome Bettis is an example of the traditional power back. Alternatively you have the more elusive and agile backs that can turn potentially bleak situations into long touchdown runs just by using their intelligence as runners to create space and avoid being tackled. Barry Sanders is a historical example of one of these running backs. Finally, you have the all around backs who are more than likely the prime offensive threat on any given team. Whether as a running back or receiver, if the ball were to reach their hands, anything could happen. The ‘Greatest Show On Turf’ era St Louis Rams may not have generated much success without the presence of Marshall Faulk on offence.

Album Of The Month: April 2012 – ummm…

As the title suggests, April was a sub-par month as far as album production goes. Poor. Perhaps with some better publicity then more people might have known about some half-decent albums but nothing that’s really taken the month by storm anyhow and I didn’t really want to give the coveted album of the month title to an album with the only reason being “someone had to win it”. Have there been some notable singles this month? Yes. Some well known artists with new albums this month? Yes. Does any of this mean that they’re worthy of such a prestigious title? Nope.