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A little trivia for you.  Did you know that the Atlanta Braves not only were originally from Boston, but they were originally called the Boston Red Stockings and are one of the two remaining original National League Teams, the other team being the Chicago Cubs.  The original Boston Red Stockings team and its successors can lay claim to being the oldest continuously playing team in American professional sports.  It was in 1907 when the now known Braves gave up the name "Red Stockings," which was then quickly picked up by the American League Boston Red Sox.  So take that Red Sox fans and your tradition! 

This game happened to be current Atlanta Braves pitcher Derek Lowe's first return to Fenway Park since leading the Red Sox to a World Series title back in 2004, the teams first title in 86 years. Unfortunately the game didn't come out the best for the Braves. Josh Beckett threw a complete game shutout ending in a 3-0 victory for the Sox.

So anyway...fun time at the park and here are some pictures.

Last Saturday Heather, Ben, Dan, Krystal and I went to Six Flags New England for the day. So Six Flags New England is probably three quarters across the state from Boston. It only took about an hour and a half to get to Springfield, MA where Six Flags is located with just a straight shot along the Mass Pike.

We made it a goal to ride every rollercoaster because after all, that is the whole point of going to an amusement park right... the rollercoasters!? So here is my review of the rides. First of all it probably needs to be stated that I am extremely critical of my rides.

Rollercoasters

Batman - The Dark Knight: This ride allows you to sit in open facing chairs, and we had the pleasure of riding on the front row. Definitely enjoyed this coaster a lot, and I would recommend anyone that rides it to definitely get on the front row. 7/10

Bizarro (Formerly Superman: Ride of Steel): So in a common practice among amusement park rides the famous Superman coaster was rebranded during the offseason to be called the Bizarro who happens to be a Superman arch-villain. This rollercoaster is the crown jewel of the park and is simply the largest, fastest, most amazing coaster I've ever ridden. 10/10

Catwoman's Whip: Ok so it's probably not fair to include this "kids" ride in the rollercoaster mix, but it is technically a rollercoaster. Surprisingly entertaining for a kid coaster but nothing to really get your blood boiling. 3/10

Cyclone: This wooden rollercoaster definitely provides all the bumps and bruises that you would expect from an old wooden coaster. Nothing really outstanding to mention, but if you love rollercoasters with short lines this one definitely fits the bill. 6/10

Flashback: This fun little coaster takes you for a ride then runs you through the same short course backwards. Kind of reminds me of The Viper from back in the day at Six Flags Over Georgia. 6/10

Mind Eraser: This ride will bottom line knock the hell out of you. Your feet will dangle and it keeps you in a head harness that just doesn't quite fit right so you keep banging your ears against the "pads." Ouch. 3/10

Pandemonium: This fun little ride really kicked into gear because of the way the four person car can spin 360 degrees inside of the casing. Really adds a lot of fun to the whole experience. 8/10

Thunderbolt: So here is where I failed, and it turns out this is the one rollercoaster at the park that I didn't ride. Sorry no review on this old time wooden coaster.

Other Rides

Houdini - The Great Escape: First of all I have no idea how they spun this ride into something called Houdini (once again lots of rebranding), but what an extremely mind bending, fun experience! I won't tell you what happens because that would ruin the fun, but I couldn't stop laughing my face off at the entertaining experience. 8/10

Scream: Unlike most towers that take you all the way to the top and drop you at the speed of gravity, this one shoots you up to the top extremely fast then drops you and does it a few times really fast. Definitely worth a scream or two. 6/10

The Marketing Takeaway

So if you happened to read the news, as my buddy Paul informed me, Six Flags filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy the the day we were at the park. That really doesn't have anything to do with the marketing takeaway because the company is just filing for bankruptcy to handle the debt on the books.

Now what is interesting is how the Bizarro is practically the same ride as the Superman, and there are other rides at the park that simply get rebranded every few years. Although they aren't new rides they change the name and the theme behind it to keep them fresh and entice people to come back and visit again. This happened with the Houdini as I noticed on the license plate in the building that it was originally called the Mad House I believe. So sometimes you don't have to create brand new assets. Just rebrand the ones that you already have that are a little stale with some new paint and a fresh campaign. So although the Bizarro isn't much more than the Superman rollercoaster from last year (just with a bunch of purple paint on top of the red paint), it helped reinvigorate the fans and provide some great marketing material to entice people to visit the park.

I spent the better part of the last three weekends playing a role playing game (RPG) by the name of Mass Effect. All I can say is WOW! This is by no means a new or recent game as it came out the end of 2007 and has won its fair share of game awards including The New York Times Game of the year.

The best way I could describe the experience is kind of a hybrid between Star Wars and Star Trek (but isn't that what people say about every other futuristic space thing?). It was like Star Wars with the choice of making your character "good" or "bad" and having the consequences of those actions along with the fact that you played as a Spectre that for no better explanation is sort of like a Jedi. The Star Trek element came in because you really were able to go out and explore worlds that felt like you were truly "going where no man had gone before."

So final verdict - if you own a Xbox 360 and surprisingly haven't heard of this game and haven't played it then go grab a copy. Heck the $20 price tag for a new copy makes it all that more appealing! Also with this being just the first of a proposed trilogy and the second one already starting to pick up a lot of buzz you will want to make sure that you have beat this one first.

While wandering around Boston the other week we made our way to Faneuil Hall and the street performers.  If you haven't seen the Yo-Yo People be sure to checkout YoYoShow.com.  John and Rebecca are married and we learned that Rebecca just had a baby so she wasn't at the show.  Imagine that they are creating new generations of Yo-Yo People!

The YoYoMan was a sight to see. So much so that I decided to not take one, but TEN videos!  I also wanted to play around a little bit with the YouTube Playlist function so this seemed like a perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.  You know me, all about efficiency.  Enjoy the videos.  Also you can watch the whole playlist on YouTube.  Be sure to watch the videos in HD for the full performance!

So I'm actually starting to get a little comfortable hosting HubSpot.TV and last friday was my third chance to sit in and co-host the show.  Also feel free to check out all the show notes.

We all remember those lazy Sunday's on TBS where they have the "Movies for Guys Who Like Movies" and all the movies seem to include one of three actors, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, or Jean-Claude Van Damme.  Ok so maybe only I remember those days.  Jean-Claude Van Damme was just that guy who could put a hurting on anyone and in boxing terms "pound for pound the baddest man in Hollywood"!  Sorry Arnold, but JCVD could probably run circles around your tree truck sized legs and you wouldn't even know what hit you. 

I watched JCVD over the weekend and was really impressed by this movie.  Here is a movie star older and openly knowing that his best days are behind him, sorry Stallone but you just aren't the same hulk that you were the first time around in Rocky or Rambo just admit it.  In the movie Jean-Claude plays himself and his life is a mess.  How powerful that we can see a washed-up and broke movie star at the end of their career with nothing left.  He poored everything into this role. 

Though some really interesting and unexpected chain of events he's in the middle of a bank robbery and doesn't know how to handle the situation.  There is one part where the movie pans out and Jean-Claude pleads his soul to the camera talking about his life and how he just wants to live in peace and make it through this final conflict without anyone getting hurt.  It doesn't matter if the part is scripted or him actually telling his real story it pullss you in and he shows a character depth worthy of an Oscar.  Keep in mind that here is a character who hasn't ever really played a character that required any acting besides just kicking butt!

Amazing movie and absolutely nothing like I expected.  We all know Jean-Claude from his action and kung-fu days but here he pulls off a masterpiece of a drama that will suck you in and keep you guessing to the very end.  Oh and yes there is some amazing action sequences in it just for those action guys out there.  The intro sequence is an amazing single camera masterpiece that has to be seen to be believed. 

Watch the trailer below and see what you think!

So yesterday, May 2nd 2009, my girlfriend graduated college.  I know that it was a huge day for her and the weather couldn't have been much more enjoyable.  A little overcast so that it wasn't unbearably hot and just a gorgeous May day!  Of course me being the person I am when Heather asked me to bring one of my favorite toys, my Nikon D90, and take pictures I was most happy to oblige.  Congratulations baby!

On Friday Twitter Co-Founder Biz Stone came to HubSpot in marking our 3rd Twitter approach to getting celebrities to visit our little office in Cambridge.  So before The story and controversy of the even it well documented on twitter using the #bizinboston hashtag.  I won't get into all that, but I will share some pictures that I took of the event.  Enjoy!

So I'll admit I'm a closet Sci-Fi and Fantasy person. Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, Dungeons & Dragons, Final Fantasy, etc. I definitely know more than my share about all these and more. I don't claim to be an elite all knowing guru in any of these, ok maybe the D&D fantasy world of the Forgotten Realms I know much more than a engaged fantasy geek, but I've definitely spent a considerable amount of time learning all about each and trying to understand what is the cult following that keeps people addicted to each.

For as long as it has been around I had never really spent any time with the Battlestar Galactica series even with the Sci-Fi channel bringing back the old series with a good bit of success. Going through the NetFlix "instant watch" queue a few weeks ago I ran across the "Battlestar Galactica: Complete Epic Series" set.  This is the complete run of the original 1978 TV show that lasted all of 24 episodes consisting of 21 stories.

Immediately it was obvious that the show was a gigantic knockoff of Star Wars. Dirk Benedict, of the A-Team fame, is one of the main characters and his name is Lt. Starbuck... sound a little like Skywalker anyone, although his character is portrayed more like a Han Solo type? The bad guys, a robotic race known as the Cylons, sure look a lot like Darth Vader except a shiny Silver instead of Black. Also the Vipers look a lot like X-Wing fighters, the Cylon attack ships look similar to Tie Fighters and the main ship is called a Battlestar... sound a little like a Deathstar anyone? Even all the male characters having the long shaggy hair, or maybe this simply was the hair style of the late 70's?

With all that said I really enjoyed the series. Maybe it was the similarities of Star Wars that brought back the nostalgia of a long lost cousin, but the show definitely had some enjoyable feel good moments. Each of the 50 minute episodes had some nice charm and if you want a good comparison I would say it's very much like watching Star Trek: The Next Generation reruns. So pick up the old series and a find a month where you can watch a new episode after work each night and lock and load. Enjoy!

So since I got my Blackberry Storm way back in November I've been waiting for the Blackberry App World to launch. The App World is RIM's response to the Apple iPhone App Store. It's not like Blackberry devices didn't already have hundreds if not thousands of apps that ran on their multiple devices, it's just that they hadn't built a place to easily find and add new apps.

Before We Even Start...

So on Wednesday April 1st the long awaited Blackberry App Store finally became a reality. Before I even share my thoughts I do want to go ahead and start with a gripe. RIM has been promising this marketplace for a long time (heck six months at least right), but what makes it so bad is that this was supposed to be out in February and it wasn't until a full month after the end of February that it is launched. Now there isn't anything I can do about that besides complain, but considering they took their long sweet time to launch you would expect it to just be amazing, right? Now when I first downloaded App World on Wednesday it was version 1.0.0.26 and just in the past few days they have already released two new versions to address issues. Now it's good to see RIM address issues quickly, but guys... they have had plenty of time to get this out and get it right to start with.

Thoughts About the Blackberry App World

Upon opening it is nice to see quite a few games, apps, add-ons, etc that the store is already populated with. There is 120 games and probably a good 300 total apps upon launch... not bad. I haven't bought any apps yet, but from what I've read the purchasing process is a little clunky as you have to tie a PayPal account to it. Luckily I have a PayPal account, but I still have a hard time imaging they could have done this a little more "professionally".  I have a Blackberry Storm and one of the BIGGEST turnoffs of that phone is the lack of WiFi support, thanks Verizon for screwing us all on that one.  WiFi would have definitely made the store a much better experience because although the 3G network is nice I just have to think that it would have been faster over WiFi.  I'm especially spoiled because my WiFi at the house is connected to a 20MB FiOS network that I can't tap into.  Another blaintanly missing app was any Twitter applications... just wierd?  

At the end of the day I'm excited about this organization and advancement in Mobile software for the Blackberry lineup and the initial lineup has some really fun software to play.  I am a little critical because I think it could be a little better, but am really glad that it's out.  If you have a Blackberry Phone produced in the last two years there is absolutely no reason that you shouldn't download and install App World.  You will get waves of new functionality out of your phone.  

I have some additional links to reviews below the picture here, but if you want one great review, besides this one of course, then I would highly recommend Walter Mossberg's First Impressions of the New Blackberry App Store.  Walter, like myself, is very critical but does a great job of waying the pros and cons and simply writes a fantasic review.

Other Reviews:

• Review: Blackberry App World. Verdict: Good Enough
• First Look: Blackberry App World Open for Business
• Blackberry App World Has Room To Grow
• Blackberry App World Is Annoying: Is iPhone App Store Better?