Dennis Winn

duh. They’re two different people. One’s a team player who is the greatest basketball player to ever lace up. The other is a great one-on-one basketball player. I am not sure why people are still trying to compare the two, but that’s the first thing I heard when I turned on the radio this morning.

In case you didn’t know, Dennis hates Kobe Bryant. And I don’t mind being reminded why. So when I hear about how Kobe berates his own teammates (yes ‘his own’, he practically owns them in his mind) it confirms my instinct that he is a selfish player, and selfish person for that matter.

Read how Curt Schilling described his observation of Kobe sitting courtside: http://38pitches.com/2008/06/09/manny-jd-papi-lester-and-the-nba-finals/

It’s not just me after all.

Even my friends and family are a little confused by me rooting for the Lakers not to win the championship this year. Let me set the record straight: I am not a fan of Boston sports teams. In fact, I hate the Red Sox. I am also simply not a fan of Kobe Bryant. It wasn’t always that way. Kobe was actually a large part of the reason I started watching the NBA when he came into the league over 10 years ago.

I was impressed with his flashy game play, work ethic, and his demeanor that appeared he was a humble man. I watched as a fan as he found success: first as he worked his way from the bench to a starting position with the team, to becoming elected as an all-star, all the way to winning 3 championships with the Lakers. I also watched him become a selfish A-hole as he threw anyone around him under-the-bus when things didn’t go his way. And it simply turned me off. Am I the only one who remembers the allegations in Utah a few years ago where he was sure to mention that he “should have just paid people off like Shaq”. Anyone bother reading Phil’s last book describing how much of a baby Kobe is?

Anyway, back to why I am rooting for the Lakers not to win another championship with Kobe. Since I have openly voiced my opinion about Kobe around the JLOOP loft (see my bio under our website at http://jloop.com), it has brought up some interesting conversations since all the other loopers are dedicated Lakers fans. 2 or 3 seasons ago I stated that Kobe was so selfish that he would insist on a team trade in place of being patient for the team to place some talent around him. This turned into an ongoing bet with Greg:

Greg bets - Kobe will win another championship with the Lakers

Dennis bets - Kobe will leave the Lakers before winning another championship

The winner gets to place a bumper sticker of their choice on the losers’ car for one year. (And we both hate bumper stickers btw).

You can imagine the bumper stickers we’ve teased each other about placing on each other’s car. Original George W and rainbow stickers are the top contenders.

If you recall, I was extremely close to winning the bet at the beginning of the season as Kobe cried openly to the media demanding to be traded from the Lakers: http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-lakers16jun16,0,5734164 Now, going into game 5 of the NBA championships on Sunday with the Lakers down 3-1, it appears Greg came just as close to winning the bet this season too.

I predict the Lakers will win game 5, Celtics take it back home and win the championship in 6!

 **FOLLOW UP FROM SHAQ: http://www.tmz.com/2008/06/23/shaq-attacks-kobe-you-ruined-my-marriage/

For all you iPhone fans: the rumor is building momentum that Apple is planning to release the second version of the iPhone, being referred to as iPhone 2, at the MacWorld in San Fransisco on June 9th.

Here’s a list of the consistent rumors:

- Lighter weight
- Black + other colors
- Focus on Multimedia with Video recording
- Video Conferencing
- GPS
- 16GB $499
- 32GB $699

read more about the new iPhone 2 rumors

It was very sad and scary to hear about the helicopter crash near Two Harbors on Santa Catalina Island. The crash killed 3 people including the pilot and injured another 3 who are in the hospital. It appears the crash is under investigation, but sounds like it was due to engine failure.

My wife and I flew with this same company, Island Express to Catalina just a few weeks ago for a weekend getaway.  It’s very sad and scary for us since we just completed the flight. For all we know it could have been the same helicopter. Our deepest regrets and condolences to the families of the unfortunate.

We are going camping at the Two Harbors campground later this summer. We will be sure to pay our respect when we get there. Friends and family, rest assured we are taking the boat for our next trip over to the island.

read more from LA Times

What’s the deal? The Wii Fit came out yesterday, or at least in limited supply. I called Best Buy around lunchtime to make sure I had the release date correct to learn they sold out; 50 units in 30 minutes. Had I known Nintendo’s plan was to keep the supply low to keep demand high I would have pre-ordered one. I’ve also read that it’s still hard to get a stand alone Wii console, claiming an artificial shortage by Nintendo.

I stumbled upon this handy Wii Fit tracker that automatically checks merchants on a regular basis to see whether or not they have Wii Fit in stock. Amazing: at 12:41 today Toys R Us was in stock, at 1:01 SOLD OUT.

Very Promising. Only $100. Currently limited to the Watch Now category, but has huge potential. Give me HD quality New Releases with On Demand features and I’m-all-in. Stay posted.

We launched another website today: psiseminars.com. This was a very efficient and well planned project. The launch was within the expected timeline, scope creep was managed successfully with one change order, and project budget was right on.

The company is another self-help type company who holds seminars throughout the nation and Canada for those who want to discover their inner potential. We get a lot of these types of clients since people know that we design and develop a half-dozen-or-so websites for Tony Robbins and his various companies.

We launched another website a few months back: primalchemy.com, a Long Beach caterer company. Another good looking site - one of the last designs by Mario Puig for jloop.

I’m a big fan of The Office sit-com on NBC. I can’t seem to get any of my family or friends to watch an episode, but here in the world of jloop, we’re all fans and usually talk about the week’s episode over a Chipotle burrito on Fridays. I think we’d all be fans even if Brian Baumgartner (Kevin Malone character on the show) wasn’t good friends with Jay, but it seems to make being fans even enjoyable when we hear some of the background and inside stories on how his character is becoming more-and-more like himself. Still waiting for some type of memorabilia to hang around our office though Brian. *cough* emmy.

Hands Down, the best episode of the Office last night: Goodbye Toby. They saved the best for last, and this (delayed by writers strike) season’s finale did not dissapoint. Ryan gets arrested for fraud, Toby leaves the office (I’ve heard rumors about a spin-off show?). And much more I won’t spoil in case you are waiting to watch later on your DVR.

It really gets good when Dwight introduces Kevin as the “special” employee to Toby’s new HR replacement. Btw, also Michael’s new crush. She starts paying special attention to Kevin because she thinks he is “slow”. The best is when Kevin turns to the camera and claim’s he will “hit that!”.

See the full episode here:
http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/video/episodes.shtml

Here’s the YouTube video of Ryan getting arrested:
http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/video/#mea=252007

‘Nuff said

My second-favorite vending machine ever is redbox DVD rental. You know, that red DVD vending machine you see in all the Albertsons grocery stores.

So here’s my scenario: THERE WILL BE BLOOD is released on DVD and I am stuck with two movies at home from netflix that my wife, Nicole wants to see. Darn, not only am I a week away from either her watching one of those two flicks, or to a point where she admits defeat and allows me to send them back, but it seems once I pass on a new release Tuesday from Netflix I could be seeing a ‘Long Wait’ at the top of my queue for months. So I decided to test out the touch screen on a redbox to see if this Academy Award nominated for best picture of the year flick is available through this gizmo on a first week release and YES, it’s available. SCORE! So how much is it I wonder. A buck, are you cereal? So what’s the catch? A swipe of the credit card, enter an email address and whah-lah, a DVD finds its way through a slot and the screen goes back to its default welcome screen. So where’s my receipt I wonder? A quick check of my email in the parking with my iPhone shows my rental receipt and explains other great benefits of renting DVDs from redbox.

• I can return the DVD to any redbox machine. As of now, it appears they have machines in every Albertsons grocery store, which is enough by me, but the website includes an option to search McDonalds locations only, which makes me think this could be BIG soon. This was one of my frustrations with Blockbuster - they have one on every, umm, scratch that, they had one store on every corner but yet you couldn’t return rentals from one store to another. In fact, if you every had an oversight and returned a rental to the wrong location, it would take several days to be notified and would be charged many, if not tens-of, dollars in late fees for returning a DVD to a different blockbuster. (Even though at one point there were four different stores in all directions the same distance away).
• You can check availability online. Not only that, you can rent a DVD online and go pick it up. It’s not as cool as viewing on demand, but were talking about a buck, even the scarce iTunes rentals are more expensive than that. I’m not even going to mention the very limited selection of Netflix’s Instant libray.

So, after reading through my online information because I am stoked on this concept. I see an offer for a FREE rental: enter my email address and get a free rental. Well, I already gave you my info so sure, here it is again. Sure enough, I receive an instant gratification message with a promo code of BREAKROOM to receive my next rental free.

A week rolls around and I keep hearing about how funny the newly released movie Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is. I find myself driving by an Abertsons and I remember the pending promotion I have available. (I’m not even an Albertsons regular - we shop at Trader Joes). So I go in to check it out, but wait, there is a line to this vending machine. Oh no, are other people aware of how great this thing is? Will my newest source of New Release DVDs be quickly depleted? I stand there patiently as a young lady peruses through the movies available changing screens more times than I care to watch as she makes her selections, then repeatedly has to swipe her card to complete the transaction. And another lady in front of me who is returning a movie. Thank god, a quicker process.

So, I test my promo code and it works, another score. Search for my movie of choice Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and again SCORE, its available at my favorite price, FREE! I was so pleased with my redbox experience I am spending the time to write this endorsement (that probably nobody actual reads) instead of watching my free flick.

(btw, my first-fav is Heineken beer vending machine in Amsterdam).