The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

With both the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics one game away from sweeps and meeting up in the Eastern Conference Finals, so long as they each win one of their next four games, I think it's all but certain that LeBron James should be awarded the MVP and Brad Stevens should be awarded Coach of the Year honors. As a matter of fact, as of this very moment, I don't even think it's debatable anymore: LeBron James is the 2017-2018 NBA MVP and Brad Stevens is the 2017-2018 Coach of the Year. Many analysts have suggested that James Harden should receive the MVP award. Others have suggested Kevin Durant is deserving. For as much as I respect both Harden and Durant as players, they're each surrounded by quality talent. Chris Paul has been one of the best all-around point guards in the league for a number of years, and even with Stephen Curry in the lineup, Durant has the likes of Klay Thompson and Draymond Green to share the rock with. Remove Harden from Houston's lin...

I don't know of any long-running sitcom that hasn't gone into a bit of a slump, as it continually attempts to generate interest for their viewers. Some change cast members. Others give the romance angle a try. With the ABC hit show, Black-ish , however, over the past couple weeks, it's taken a drastic turn from topical comedy to soap opera. This past week's episode, "Blue Valentime," in particular felt out of place. While Black-ish has done an extraordinary job to this point in balancing comedy with the tackling of hot topics in the world of current events, that wasn't the case with the most recent episode, where I didn't laugh once. There was honestly nothing to laugh about, not even in an uncomfortable manner. All it showed us were the struggles of the two leads, ending with the two temporarily (at this point) separating. Sure, if the show goes back to expertly balancing comedy and drama, this single moment may appear to just be a blip on the radar a...

As always, I had some fun with trending hashtags on Twitter over the past couple of weeks. Here are my posts, ordered from the most popular to the least popular (all my tweets can be viewed at this link -  https://twitter.com/CraigRozniecki ): 1) Kanye West: "I'm being attacked for presenting new ideas." No, you're being attacked for presenting stupid ideas... #IfSlaveryWereAChoice 7,131 Likes, 1,671 Retweets 2) Future convo Kanye West: "Slavery was a choice." Donald Trump: "There were bad slaves on both sides, both sides." #IfSlaveryWereAChoice 2,047 Likes, 411 Retweets 3) Dear Kanye: Whether an idea is old or new, stupid is still stupid. #IfSlaveryWereAChoice 1,316 Likes, 202 Retweets 4) In the future Kanye West: "If a guy holds a toilet paper roll to his belly for like 9 minutes, he'll basically know what pregnancy's like." The Twittersphere lets him have it. West: "I'm getting attacked for pr...

Due to Kanye West's outrageous claim that slavery was a choice, the hashtags #IfSlaveryWasAChoice and #IfSlaveryWereAChoice trended on Twitter and I got into the action. As a result, some of my tweets got mentioned on the following sites: https://theblemish.com/2018/05/if-slavery-were-a-choice-hashtag-makes-lemonade-out-of-kanye-wests-crazy-lemons/ http://www.distractify.com/trending/2018/05/02/Z2kAmQR/kanye-outrageous-comments https://www.concisenews.global/2018/05/02/mixed-reactions-trail-kanye-wests-slavery-choice-statement/ http://hinterlandgazette.com/2018/05/kanye-west-mercilessly-mocked-with-ifslaverywereachoice-wouldnt-able-marry-kim-kardashian.html http://cheekywiki.com/kanye-west-slavery-was-a-choice/ If curious, you can check out my other tweets at this link:  https://twitter.com/CraigRozniecki

I was just recently interviewed by podcaster Jacqui Oh, host of the new show, Start Dis Podcast (@StartDisPodcast). If curious, you can now hear my guest appearance via iTunes. Thanks again to Ms. Oh for having me on! - http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/craig-rozneicki/id1302791667?i=1000409642735&mt=2

What day were you born? How old are you? When did you start seeing her? How many times have you been married? What's your phone number? Address? Credit card number? Social security number? How much money do you make? How many kids do you have? When's the due date? What do you pay in taxes? Here's your prison number. Welcome to our bank; here's your account number. Did you set an ATM pin number? How about for your phone? What's the speed limit? Do you know how fast you were going? Here's a ticket; pay the fine. What time is it? What time do you work? Is it a 9 to 5? How much do you get for overtime? How significant was the raise? The bonus? How many miles are on this road trip? How about the flight? How long will it take? How tall are you? How much do you weigh? Is she a 10? What year is this? What was the score of last night's game? What are the teams' records? Know this guy's batting average? How are his fantasy numbers? Speaking of fantasies, how m...

Why do so many people seem to be in such a rush, especially on the road? Why do we place that unnecessary extra load of stress on ourselves? While I've been told I drive too slow (Psst, I go the speed limit or slightly over), I find myself in a much more relaxed state on the road than most of my peers. The road is a metaphor for life. What happens when we try to rush things in everyday life and stress out in the process? We become more apt to making mistakes we normally wouldn't make and facing the consequences as a result. This isn't even delving into the negative health impacts such a lifestyle can cause.The same is true when driving. When we're rushing ourselves and stressed, we become more apt to getting into an accident or getting pulled over. No matter how difficult life may seem at times, are all of these potential repercussions worth stressing ourselves on the road or life, in general? Life is a short and bumpy ride at times, but rushing ourselves to a quick...

In its first year of eligibility, Nirvana got inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. Def Leppard, meanwhile, has yet to be inducted. To this, I say, WTF? (No, Phil Dunphy, it's not "Why the face?") Let's take a look at each band... Nirvana released just three albums between the years 1989 and 1993. The band was essentially done on April 8th of 1994 when lead singer Kurt Cobain shot and killed himself. They have 21 singles to their credit and have sold an estimated 80 million albums worldwide. In the years following Cobain's death, he has often been criticized for ripping off other artists, including the Pixies, Killing Joke, Garden of Delight, The Royals, The Damned, Sex Pistols, Blue Oyster Cult, Boston, Melvins, The 4 Skins, Zebra, Link Wray, The Cult, Paul Revere & the Raiders, Butthole Surfers, Los Brujos, Devo, the Psychedelic Furs, The Smithereens, Fang, etc. Def Leppard, meanwhile, has released eleven studio albums between the years...

Just over the past week, I've seen two cultural appropriation stories go viral, one which included the legend musician Sting and the other dealt with a high school student going to prom, and I felt the need to write about them. Let me first give a brief overview of the two stories. It was announced that Sting has collaborated with Jamaican star Shaggy on a reggae album. After receiving criticism that he was guilty of cultural appropriation, the Police lead singer said this: "It's such an ugly term. For me, reggae is something I respect and value, and take seriously. It's something I've learned from. I owe a great deal to the whole reggae bass community. My spiritual, musical mentor was Bob Marley - who I knew - and I really feel that I'm doing something that feels authentic to me..." Keziah, an 18-year-old from Utah, also came under social media fire for cultural appropriation after she posted a photo of herself in a Chinese dress known as a qipao at...