HBO producing a TV show based off the Video Game Last of Us

HBO announced they are producing a TV series based off the critically acclaimed Video game Last of Us. The series will be written by the creator of HBO’s Chernobyl Craig Mazin, as well as the writer and creative director of the Last of US Neil Druckmann. Sony was originally working on a movie, which was in development hell. Last of Us is one of my favorite games and one of the best games ever. The fact that people who created the game makes me confidence that the series will capture the emotions the game provided. This is better for an adaption of the game than a movie. There is so much that would have been lost in a movie. A series will allow the characters and story to fully flesh out. I hope they change and expand the story. The success of the series will lay on the relationship between Joel and Ellie since it is a big reason why the story of the game was great.

It is unclear if it will be a mini-series or have several seasons. I guess the first season will be the entire story of the first game and if it does well, they will do another season for second game. No actors are currently announced. For Joel, Hugh Jackman is popular fancast for the character. He would be a great choice for the character of Joel. Logan is a reason why he is great choice. Another good choice for Joel would be Nicolaj Colster Waldau. For Ellie, I don’t know what they are going to go for. Do they want to go with an actress in her 20s who can pass as a 14-year-old or a teenage actress? If they are going with an actress in their 20s Kaitlyn Dever would be a good choice since looks and sounds like the character. The series will be scored by the game’s composer Gustavo Santaolalla. It is great news since he provided an amazing soundtrack. It will give the series an authentic atmosphere for the setting. Some gamers say it is dumb to adapt this game because it already a movie, but this is a story that will interest people that don’t care for video games. It is also a story I am interested to see in the television medium. There is no release date announced, but it will most likely release in 2022. I am excited to see what a Last of Us series end up being. 

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Impractical Jokers Movie Review

The Impractical Jokers hidden Camera TV series released their movie this past weekend. The plot of the movie involves the jokers crashing a Paula Abdul concert in the 90s and 25 years later are invited to Miami by Abdul to a party. They got three passes and decided to go on a road trip where they will compete in challenges to decide who doesn’t go to the party. The plot of the movie is the weakest part of the movie. The movie aspects of the film weren’t very interesting. The beginning and ending of the movie were subpar and longer than they should have been. The best part of the story aspect was after they started on the road trip getting into their challenges. It did a good job translating to the next challenge. One thing I did enjoy from it was the running gag of Murr having a party in his hotel room and one of the Jokers knocked on his door to talk to him. The reason why I decided to watch the movie was the pranks and challenges like the show. That aspect was hilarious. The challenges in the movie were great, with some unique ones. It had a good mix of challenges built for specific jokers and traditional challenges with all of them competing. The some of the best ones include the Atlanta Hawks Job interviews, the broke-down car, Q’s social media influencer presentation, and Joe’s Cave challenge. I enjoyed all the challenges throughout. The weakest one is when they put a tiger in Sal’s hotel room. The ending of the movie was a little disappointing since they should have had a big punishment for the end. The punishment ending up being Murr tied to a small plane flying back to Staten Island. That punishment felt tacked on. The movie could have had a few more challenges over the story segments. The production was a step up from the TV show. The movie looked better visually than the TV show. If you are a fan of the show you will most likely enjoy the movie. I didn’t go into the movie expecting a good plot since it was something that didn’t matter much. I got what I wanted with the movie with the Jokers delivering a lot of laughs with their shenanigans. If they do make a sequel, they should have less focus on a story. It doesn’t have to be all pranks and challenges, but it should get to that aspect quickly with some story between them. It also needs to have a big punishment culminating the movie. It is a fun movie that I would only recommend to fans of the TV show.

NFL Proposed CBA changes

The NFL Owners approved new changes including a 17-game schedule and an additional playoff team in each conference. It will also add two spots to the practice squad and active roster as well as an increase in salary.

I don’t like the changes of a 17-game schedule and expanded playoffs. It is not a good idea to add an additional game on the schedule with the health risks involved with the sport. I also don’t like the uneven number of games. The thing that bothers me the most if they make this change is not adding a second bye. A second bye will help players recovery. This change with remove the fourth preseason game. This change will affect players trying to make an NFL roster giving them one less opportunity. The 17^th game will be a neutral site game. It is unclear all the games will be international games. I’m guessing they will go to college stadiums in places without an NFL team like Alabama, Iowa or St. Louis. I am not a big fan of the London games. The only good thing about the 17^th game prevents fans from losing out on a home game. Teams should get a bye after they played in London or any city outside of North America. This could also lead to mourning football games, which I am not a fan of. I don’t know how many people enjoy it aside from hardcore NFL fans. The playoff expansion allows the team that previously missed out a chance to win a championship. I don’t feel the 7^th best team should get a shot at a championship. The first round of the playoffs would feature six games over the weekend. That is too many playoff games. It will be tough for some people to watch six football games in a weekend. The 1 PM Saturday game is not a good timeslot an NFL playoff game and the Sunday night game is late for people on the East Coast. The one concern I have with these changes is too much football. The NFL and hardcore fans probably assume that everybody wants more football, but I don’t think that is the case. I do like the additional roster spots. It allows teams to have more players available. It will give guys more opportunities in the NFL. The players revenue will move up 1% to 48% and 48.5% if they go to a 17-game schedule. That is good for the players to make more money. This CBA is not giving players guaranteed contract. With the nature of football should be given to players. The Players are set to vote on accepting the proposal. I don’t know if they will accept, but they won’t hold off for long since the players will cave before the end of the year. Hopefully they will end up getting a good deal in the end.

Major League Baseball proposed new playoff format

The new proposed playoff format increases the amount of playoff teams from ten to fourteen giving the top team in each league and bye. For the first round the division winners will pick what wild card team they want to face in a three-game series at the division winners’ ballpark. Several players have expressed displeasure with the proposal. I don’t like this change because the current format is perfect with two wildcard teams facing off in a one winner take all game. I feel like it would be to many teams in the playoffs with 14 of 30 teams. Expanding the playoffs is not exactly what Major League Baseball needs. It will not stop teams from tanking, there will still be bad teams doing it. Free agents could have issues like the 2018-19 offseason because teams don’t feel they need them as much to win a championship reducing the pay of veteran free agents over 30 since the MLB playoffs any team can get hot and win. The hope is it allows more fanbases to remain interested in watching and attending their games. It is unclear to me if it will have a huge impact on attendance. In terms of teams picking their playoff matchup I don’t believe it will cause more interest in the sport. In terms of picking teams, it will lead to forced drama to try to generate interest. There are several ideas to fix the problem, but this is not what is needed.

Major League Baseball’s focus should be on marketing their players. The league has done a poor job at marketing their star players. Marketing is a big reason why the NBA has grown and has captured young people unlike Major League Baseball. Major League baseball has become a regional sport. Fans tend to only watch their team because they are playing every day. If you market players better, it can lead to more interest in watching other teams. Maybe this can lead to better attendance. I’m all for finding ways to speed up the game without any drastic changes. With the way people consume media the slower pace of play is boring to some people. Another big thing baseball should improve is the ticket prices. Making it more affordable for families can draw more interest in the sport with kids. Ultimately baseball needs to find a way to make baseball cool again to kids.