Antique Singer Sewing Machines

Singer Corporation is a manufacturer of sewing machines, first established as I.M. Singer & Co. in 1851 by Isaac Merrit Singer with New York lawyer Edward Clark. Best known for its sewing machines, it was renamed Singer Manufacturing Company in 1865, then The Singer Company in 1963. Originally all of its manufacturing was done at facilities in New York City. It is currently based in LaVergne, TN near Nashville.

UFC 75: Champion vs Champion Results

I’m still pissed over the decision in the Bisping vs. Hamill results, so these results are going to be short. If you want a big write up, you know where to go. I’ll give you the down and dirty.

Quinton Jackson def Dan Henderson via unanimous decision – slow fight imo, a lot of ground wrestling. Very close and tough to call.

Michael Bisping def Matt Hamill via split decision – two judges scored this 29-28 Bisping, the other scored in 30-27 Hamill. Based on my view and everyone elses that I have asked, Hamill took this fight in the first two rounds. I would give the 3rd to Bisping, but not clearly. Hamill did well on take downs and striking. Bisping never tried to take the fight to the ground and didn’t push the action. Very poor decision

Cheick Kongo def Mirko Cro Cop – Cro Cop just doesn’t seem to have it anymore. His confidence looks shot after the head kick by Gonzaga. He came out well in the first round, but the 2nd and 3rd he looked clearly bored. Both fighters went for a lot of body kicks and knees in the clench. Kongo at one point kneed Cro Cop below the belt twice and Cro Cop was able to stop the fight and catch his breath, this was in the 3rd round. I thought I saw a couple of strikes below the belt in round 2 as well. Kongo pushed the pace and ultimately won the bout with very stiff body kicks.

Marcus Davis def Paul Taylor via armbar submission – this fight got submission of the night but the story was the back and forth action early on. Taylor rocked Davis with a head kick early in the fight, but Davis was able to maintain his composure (and thanks to Yves Lavigne who likes to keep fights going longer than they probably should) and able to secure an armbar for the win.

Houston Alexander def Alessio Sakara – As I predicted, Alexander came out explosive as he did in the Keith Jardine fight. Early on in the fight, Alexander got a nice knee to Sakara’s head in the clench and dropped some fists (I think our count was around 20 shots) before Yves Lavigne called the fight.

The preliminary bouts consisted of:

Jess Liaudin def. Anthony Torres via TKO (strikes) — Round 1, 4:10
Dennis Siver def. Naoyuki Kotani via KO (punch) — Round 2, 2:04
Thiago Silva def. Tomasz Drwal via TKO (strikes) — Round 2, 4:23
Gleison Tibau def Terry Etim via unanimous decision (30-27 on all three cards)

(thanks to MMA Junkie for the preliminary results)

So overall, with my betting results…

Henderson def. Jackson
Hamill def Bisping
Cro Cop def Kongo
Davis def Taylor
Alexander def Sakara
Etim def Tibau
Silva def Drwal
Siver def Kotani
Liaudin def Torres

5-4 on the night (should have been 6-3).

UFC 75: Champion vs. Champion Predictions

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. “Hollywood” Dan Henderson

This is being dubbed the unification bout for the light heavyweight title at 205. On paper this is a close fight. Henderson hasn’t had a fight since his win over Wanderlei Silva at Pride 33 in February where he won the Pride light heavyweight title. Henderson also holds the Pride Middleweight belt.

Jackson is coming off of a win over Chuck Liddell where he won the UFC Light Heavyweight Title. Jackson has a five fight winning streak holding wins over Matt Lindland, Liddell, and Marvin Eastman. Henderson has a two fight win streak over Vitor Belfort and Silva.

This is an interesting bout with two men with very close styles. My pick here in Dan Henderson in what some would call a slight upset.

Matt “The Hammer” Hamill Vs. Michael “The Count” Bisping

This fight is being dubbed as the true Ultimate Fighter 3 final. In case you weren’t aware, TUF 3 had slated to have Matt Hamill vs. Michael Bisping in the finals however an injury prevented Hamill from continuing in the show. Hamill never lost. Hamill has claimed since that he was the true TUF 3 winner and asked for this rematch for sometime. Both men are undefeated in their professional MMA careers.

Both men match up pretty well in this fight with Bisping getting the nod for experience. Hamill is 5-0 in the UFC, holding wins over Rex Holman, Seth Petruzelli, Jesse Forbes. Bisping holds a 14-0 MMA record with recent wins over Elvis Sinosic, Eric Schafer, and Josh Haynes (to win TUF 3).

If this fight goes long, I give the nod to Hamill with better conditioning thanks to training with Tito Ortiz and Team Punishment. Many of Bisping’s fights have ended in the first round due to strikes. My pick here is Hamill.

Mirko Cro Cop Vs. Cheick Kongo

Cro Cop has gone on record saying his fight with Gabriel Gonzaga was embarassing. He mentioned he didn’t train in a cage and didn’t train for elbows. Both of these played a big part in his fight with Gonzaga and contributed to why he lost.

Cheick Kongo is coming off of a majority decision win over Assuerio Silva and has had more cage experience. Both he and Cro Cop are stand up strikers. Kongo has a pretty weak ground game, however I don’t see either of these guys taking the fight to the ground. It would be shocking if they do. I could see Cro Cop exposing this weakness of Kongo, but expect lots of attempted kicks by both fighters.

I pick Cro Cop to win here and work his way back up the heavyweight ladder.

In other fights on the card (my pick in bold):

Marcus Davis Vs. Paul Taylor – This is Taylor’s 2nd fight in the UFC. Davis has the experience edge in this fight and is more well-rounded.
Houston Alexander Vs. Alessio Sakara – Alexander holds a recent win over Keith Jardine in what is considered a huge upset. Look for some explosiveness coming from Alexander yet again.
Gleison Tibau Vs. Terry Etim – Local, homer pick here.
Tomasz Drwal Vs. Thiago Silva – Silva is undefeated. I see that trend continuing against Drwal. This will be Drwal’s first fight in the UFC, and has an impressive 14-1 record, but I think Silva has the edge here.
Naoyuki Kotani Vs. Dennis Siver – Kotani is a very inconsistent figter. I see Siver turning his career around with a win over Kotani.
Anthony Torres Vs. Jess Liaudin

Bioshock Review Xbox 360

Here’s my brief review of Bioshock for the Xbox 360.

Bioshock comes from Irrational Games, now known as 2K Boston and 2K Australia, the developers of the System Shock II and Freedom Force. It has garned numerous awards from the gaming media at this and prior years of E3 and other gaming conventions. It has this huge buzz surrounding it as being the game to revolutionize first person shooters on both the Xbox 360 and the PC. Personally, I’m not a big FPS fan. But with all this hype around Bioshock, I figured I’d give it a shot and see how it is.

The Premise

If you’ve played the demo on the 360, you’ve got a pretty good idea of the setting. If you haven’t, I’ll give you my high level overview. The year is 1960, you’re sitting in an air plane looking over a photograph when all of the sudden, your plane crashes and you end up in the ocean somewhere. Apparently there are no other survivors. It’s your job at this point to find your way to land and ultimately safety. But boy do things turn south quickly.

You find this lighthouse, but beneath this lighthouse is an underwater city. Think Atlantis, but on steroids. This is Rapture. This is the creation of one Andrew Ryan. This is what hell would be like if instead of hellfire and brimstone, you had vending machines full of injectable steroids that allowed the entire population to run rampant raping and pillaging one another, all for sciencentific research purposes.

Graphics

At its core, Bioshock is based on the new and improved Unreal 3 Engine. It’s a beautiful game, running at 720p on the 360. You have the ability to change the frames per second from 30 to 60, which to my knowledge is a first in a console game. Though be warned that there is some slight tearing when running at 60FPS, but it’s a huge difference in how the game looks and feels (lower quality for higher FPS).

Gameplay

Bioshock brings a unique experience to the FPS genre. Think of a cross of Prey, Doom, and Shadowrun and you have Bioshock. The use of Plasmids allows for shooting bolts of lightning, picking up objects and throwing them at enemeies (telekinesis), throwing fire at your enemies, etc. You also have the ability to use the standard fair of weapons (pistol, shotgun, wrench, etc) but what you also have the ability to do is mix and match ammo to create your own kind of ammunition. This is a unique element that hasn’t been done before in an FPS.

You also have the ability to “hack” machines. What I mean by hack is there are various security bots or vending machines throughout Rapture. The security bots are designed to harm you, but with a jolt of lightning you can stun the bot and go through a mini-game to hack the bot to be on your side. This offers numerous strategic advantages to you in your quest to get the fuck out of Rapture alive. Hacking vending machines also allows for you to buy goods cheaper. Though if I were able to hack a vending machine, I’d expect to get what I’m hacking for free.

Audio

If you don’t have a surround sound system. Get one. The audio in Bioshock is in one word: awesome. Enemies come at you from various directions and having bi-directional audio helps in determining where they are coming from.

The music is also set back in the 1950s/1960s, which gives the game that errie vibe, especially when no one else is around. Think old school horror flicks with that creepy record player playing in the background right before something scary was about to happen. That’s the kind of vibe I got while playing Bioshock. It’s way cool.

Online

There is none. So don’t bother. Irrational Games wanted to focus on keeping the game a single player experience, but wouldn’t rule out a multiplayer version sometime down the road. With the success Bioshock is about to experience, don’t rule out a sequel, with some possible multiplayer elements in the future.

Overall

All in all, Bioshock is a great game (in the time I’ve had with it) that offers a unique experience with a great story and pacing. Mixing the ammo and the introduction of Plasmids are interesting elements in the FPS genre that give Bioshock different take than other games of its type. There’s also this underlying middle finger to the government in an Orwellian sense that Rapture provides with its anti-government propoganda that takes you back to the post WWII time period. Take your time with the game and pay attention to the underlying message. Very deep compared to most games in its class.

Rating: Thumbs up.

Madden 08 Xbox 360 Review

Here’s my quick and dirty review of Madden 08 after having played for a few hours.

Presentation

An improvement over Madden 2007. Menu system is very similar to other next-gen EA Sports (NCAA 2007) titles. Player models have been improved (read:animations). Frame rate is at a solid 60FPS. The same no-name radio announcer is calling the play-by-play and Madden continues to provide his take when you “Ask Madden” for advice.

You’ll also notice in game that all of the pre-play options are given to you on screen in the top left or right corner (depending on which side of the ball you’re on). This is nice because it allows you to see just what you can do (do you want to pinch your d-line to bunch up the middle to stop the run, or spread them out and provide holes for your blitzing line backers?). While these options have been in the series for sometime now, it’s nice to have them on the screen.

Gameplay

Strong emphasis has been put on defense. Defensive backs are much improved, so thowing the long ball is a lot more difficult. In my time with the game playing as the 49ers (on all-pro), interceptions were thrown very often. Perhaps a little too often. Granted, this is Alex Smith, and the ‘9ers wide receiver corp isn’t the greatest, but interceptions did seem a littler easier than years past.

I found running the ball was very easy (especially running up the gut), yielding on average of 5 yards a carry with Frank Gore. Running the ball to set up short passes seemed to work well.

The defensive AI was very keen on me running the same play. I’d normally be shut down with too many run calls up the middle. Likewise for the same reciever being thrown to.

You’ll also notice in game there are various icons underneath certain players. These are designated weapons you’ll have on field at your disposal in Madden 08’s brand new Weapon System. There are numerous weapon categories that I won’t go into here, but EA went pretty in depth with this system and it appears to work very well.

Supersim is also included in Madden 08 (it was first introduced in NCAA 07). This feature will allow you to skip ahead to spots in the game where you want to. You can skip to next change of possession, next quarter, next half, or end of game.

Superstar mode has been revamped slightly. You can now control someone in this year’s rookie class and build them up. You can also import your campus legend from NCAA 2007.

Online

New netcode has been added to Madden 08 which has provided a lag-free online experience over Xbox Live. With the addition of 60FPS game play, Madden over Live is a treat to play. New this year is Gamecast, which allows you to see how the top players in the world are fairing against one another. You can see the box scores, but can’t view the games or see replays, however my guess is that this feature may be improved upon in coming years. Unfortunately, leagues have yet to be implemented.

All in all, Madden 08 is a huge improvement over Madden 07. It took EA a few years to get Madden right on the next gen platforms, but this year they’ve got a great game on their hands. If they can happen to get online leagues in Madden 09 going, that will greatly improve the longevity of the title.

Score: Thumbs up.

Drugs in MMA – The Numbers Don’t Lie

With the revelation on Thursday that both Sean Sherk and Hermes Franca, the participants in the recent lightweight title fight at UFC 73, tested positive for steroids, the numbers continue to grow of high profile MMA participants.

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UFC 68: Fighter Salaries

UFCJunkie.com did some heavy lifting this morning and captured the fighter’s salaries from this past Saturday’s UFC 68 PPV.

Note that the Purse Amount is the amount the fighters get paid. This amounts don’t include fight of the night, submission of the night, or knock out of the night, as well as the amounts champions and challengers get from the PPV buys/gate.

Total Purse: $697,000
Total Gate: $3,014,520
Attendance: 19,079

Jamie Varner def. Jason Gilliam via submission (round 1, 1:34)

Jamie Varner: $6,000 ($3,000 to show, $3,000 to win)
Jason Gilliam: $3,000 ($3,000 to show, no win bonus)
Gleison Tibau def. Jason Dent via unanimous decision

Gleison Tibau: $6,000 ($3,000 to show, $3,000 to win)
Jason Dent: $3,000 ($3,000 to show, no win bonus)
Jon Fitch def. Luigi Fioravanti via submission (round 2, 3:05)

Jon Fitch: $28,000 ($14,000 to show, $14,000 to win)
Luigi Fioravanti: $8,000 ($8,000 to show, no win bonus)
Matt Hamill def. Rex Holman via TKO (round 1, 4:00)

Matt Hamill: $10,000 ($5,000 to show, $5,000 to win)
Rex Holman: $3,000 ($3,000 to show, no win bonus)
Jason Lambert def. Renato Sobral via KO (round 2, 3:26)

Jason Lambert: $18,000 ($9,000 to show, $9,000 to win)
Renato Sobral: $21,000 ($21,000 to show, no win bonus)
Matt Hughes def. Chris Lytle via unanimous decision

Matt Hughes: $150,000 ($75,000 to show, $75,000 to win)
Chris Lytle: $10,000 ($10,000 to show, no win bonus)
Rich Franklin def. Jason MacDonald via TKO (round 2, 5:00)

Rich Franklin: $42,000 ($21,000 to show, $21,000 to win)
Jason MacDonald: $14,000 ($14,000 to show, no win bonus)
Martin Kampmann def. Drew McFedries via (round 1, 4:06)

Martin Kampmann: $20,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 to win)
Drew McFedries: $5,000 ($5,000 to show, no win bonus)
Randy Couture def. Tim Sylvia via unanimous decision

Randy Couture: $250,000 ($125,000 to show, $125,000 to win)
Tim Sylvia: $100,000 ($100,000 to show, no win bonus)

Nick Diaz Tests Positive for Marijuana

According to MMAWeekly’s Ivan Trembow, Nick Diaz tested positive for Marijuana in a drug test taken moments before his submission victory over Takanori Gomi at Pride 33: The Second Coming. That might explain some of the reason’s Diaz was acting the way he did at certain moments during the first round (and even the reason why he didn’t finish Gomi when he clearly could have).

Diaz will have the opportunity to defend himself in a hearing on the issue with the Nevada State Athletic Commission, however the typical punishment for a positive drug test is a six-month suspension within the state of Nevada and with Pride’s recent announcement of the cancellation of the April 28th event that was supposed to be held in Nevada, it doesn’t look like his Pride committments will be an issue.

For those that failed to see the fight, Diaz survived an early on-slaught by Gomi and turned the fight heavily in his favor. Gomi showed no defense on his feet and was a punching bag for Diaz.

Instead of me explaining it, view the Diaz vs. Gomi fight below.

UFC 68: The Uprising Results

It’s been awhile since I last made a post. I’ve been busy with a few things, but plan on getting things back on track here. Last night’s UFC 68: The Uprising from The Nationwide Arena in Colombus, OH was an amazing event with an even more amazing finish with Randy “The Natural” Couture capturing the UFC Heavyweight Title for the 3rd time in a 50-45 unanimous decision over Tim “The Maine-iac” Sylvia.

Jason Lambert beat Renato Babalu Sobral

In the opening bout of the PPV telecast, Jason “The Punisher” Lambert beat Renato “Babalu” Sobral by TKO at 3:36 in the 2nd round. Sobral started the fight strong and clearly won the opening round with a good early take down, and at one point getting Lambert’s back and a near choke. However in the remaining 30 seconds, the fight returned to the feet and Lambert blasted Sobral. Sobral survived the first round, however Lambert’s strike clearly changed the course of this match.

Round two was all Lambert. Lambert got a take down, and punished Sobral in the guard. Referee John McCarthy stood both men up, and Lambert nailed Sobral with left as Sobral was charging in.

Matt Hughes beat Chris Lytle

Next up was Matt Hughes defeating Chris Lytle via a 30-27 unanimous decision. This was probably the sleeper fight of the night (and when I say sleeper, I mean, falling asleeper) unless you’re a true mat wrestling fan. Hughes clearly dominated the entire fight with Lytle getting a few nice reversals. The end saw Hughes going for an armbar, however Lytle was able to twist his body out of it. Crowd booed heavily at the ending. This clearly wasn’t a strong performance for Hughes, however it is a confidence builder on his way back to contention for the Welterweight belt.

Post fight saw the crowd booing Anderson Silva as Franklin vs. MacDonald was up next.

Rich Franklin beat Jason MacDonald

The second bout of the telecast was Rich “Ace” Franklin defeating Jason “The Athlete” MacDonald by corner stoppage at 5:00 in the 2nd round via TKO. Rich Franklin, a Cincinnati, OH native was clearly the crowd favorite here (as the event was from Colombus). The opening round saw good strikes and take down defense by Franklin. His training clearly showed an improved Rich Franklin.

Round two was dominated late by Franklin. Franklin was on top in the closing moments and MacDonald was clearly done. As MacDonald went back to his corner, the corner called it off and Franklin was determined the winner. Post fight saw Anderson Silva and Rich Franklin pose in the ring. Dana White announced their rematch will be in Cincinnati (which didn’t go over that well with the Colombus natives).

Martin Kampmann beat Drew McFedries

The next bout saw Martin “The Hitman” Kampmann defeat Drew McFedries via submision at 4:06 in the first round via head and arm triangle choke. For about 3:30 McFedries was landing blow after blow to Kampmann’s face. It was all but a matter of time before Kampmann was to be knocked out. Kampmann took the fight to the mat, got side control, spun around the top to the other side and secured a quick head and arm triangle. McFedries was out. In my mind, a huge upset.

Randy Couture beat Tim Sylvia to capture the UFC Heavyweight Title

Randy “The Natural” Couture defeated Tim “The Maine-iac” Sylvia by unanimous decision and capture the UFC Heavyweight Title for the 3rd time. From a fight standpoint, this wasn’t the greatest fight in the world. However, from an emotional standpoint, this was clearly the MMA’s “Rocky moment”, or something similar to the USA beating Russia in Olympic Hockey.

In the opening seconds, Couture landed a nasty right to the jaw of Sylvia that dropped Sylvia to the mat. Couture pounced, took the back of Sylvia, however Sylvia defended a rear choke attempt. The next few rounds were very similar in that Couture’s gameplan was to duck and weave the strike attempts by Sylvia to get in close and get the take down. Sylvia’s takedown defense was very weak, especially with a 60 pound weight difference Couture was easily able to take the fight to the mat in all five rounds. Round three saw both men on their feet the entire time, however Couture outstruck Sylvia.

Couture’s next challenge is likely Mirko Cro Cop, a man above and beyond Tim Sylvia in all aspects. It’s hard to bet against Randy Couture, however this fight with Sylvia had a LOT of people nay-saying the ability of Randy Couture at 43 years old. I was under the impression this would be similar to the Jeff Monson title defense, and more or less it was, however Tim Sylvia seemed a lot more prepared for that fight than this one.

Did you happen to see the PPV, what were your thoughts?

Back from vacation, tons of UFC news

I just got back from Aruba and man what a place! Had a great time out there, did some scuba diving, but boy there was a ton of UFC info that came out last week. I’ll just post the highlights to make sure I’ve covered everything.

- Randy Couture announced he’s coming out of retirement at UFC 68 in Ohio to face Tim Sylvia for the Heavyweight Title. This was announced on Inside the UFC on Thursday, but many knew well ahead of that that he was making this announcement. The main reason for this is because, in his mind, Tim Sylvia is fighting to defend his title, not to win his fights. He sees a weakness in Tim Sylvia’s game, and in the heavyweight division and thinks he has a good shot at the belt. His contract is for four fights and a two years.

- “UFC Wired” has been announced for 2007. UFC Wired will be a weekend syndicated TV show that will be one-part UFC Unleashed and one-part Inside the UFC in an hour long format. Expect it sometime in early 2007.

- Liddell and Ortiz both netted 3 million each for their main event at UFC 66 after PPV buys/gate receipts were calculated.

- Mike Swick is rumored to be facing Yushin Okami at UFC 68.

- Chuck Liddell’s UFC 66 shorts were sold on ebay for $9,177.77.

- Fedor re-signed with Pride. Kind of stinks for UFC fans, but in the end it’s good for MMA as a whole that Pride keeps Fedor. If the UFC assimilates all of Pride’s top talent, Pride could end up going out of business. Competition produces good cards for both companies.

- The current rumored UFC 68 card as quoted by MMAWeekly:

-Tim Sylvia vs. Randy Couture
-Matt Hughes vs. Chris Lytle
-Rich Franklin vs. Jason MacDonald
-Jon Fitch vs. Luigi Fioravanti
-Mike Swick vs. Yushin Okami
-David Heath vs. Matt Hamill
-Martin Kampmann vs. Drew McFedries
-Joe Stevenson vs. TBA
-Assuerio Silva vs. TBA

- You can watch Chuck Liddell’s Conan O’Brien appearence from 1/10/2007 on nbc.com.

- UFC 70 is rumored to be coming to England. Wait and see on this one.

More will come tomorrow.