With Euro 2012 in full swing, you’ve likely spotted some of the cool gear that the world’s biggest names have been showcasing at the tournament. Although the newest adiZero F50 has been out for a while now, they remain one of the most popular shoes in the game, worn by the likes of England’s Ashley Young, Spain’s David Silva and Portugal’s Nani. I was recently sent a pair of adiZero F50s in the Euro 2012 colorway for review, and as someone who’s always been more of a Nike guy when it comes to my soccer cleats, Adidas has really won me over with the latest incarnation of their signature line.

The first thing that you’ll notice about the new adiZero F50 (apart from the bright neon colorway) is how incredibly lightweight they are. Weighing in at a mere 5.8 ounces, these are some of the lightest cleats on the market. Using a SPRINTSKIN single-layer synthetic upper and SPRINTFRAME bottom, Adidas has created an almost feather-light boot that has a snug, glove-like fit but still offers the stability that you need. Additionally, the SPRINTWEB on the inside provides great support for making quick cuts, while the TRAXION FG outsole ensures maximum grip and acceleration on firm ground fields.

Because of how thin and lightweight the synthetic material is, however, there’s very little standing between your foot and the ball. Though that creates a much better touch as a result, it comes at the cost of the protection you’d get from wearing a thicker or leather shoe. It’s a compromise that will differ from player to player, but if you’re the kind of person that favors speed over protection, you really can’t go wrong with the adiZero F50. They’re not quite as light as advertised when using the thicker comfort insoles that are provided or adding the optional miCoach chip, but so much thought has clearly gone into the smart and stylish design that it’s easy to see why they’re so incredibly popular.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the F50 also happens to be the official shoe of three-time Player of the Year Lionel Messi, who absolutely lit up La Liga this year with 50 goals and a record-breaking 73 goals in all club competitions. More recently, Messi lit up the soccer world yet again, but this time as the focus of a massive digital protection in New York City in support of the new adiZero F50 and the Argentina vs. Brazil friendly, where he coincidentally bagged another hat trick. Check out footage from the campaign below.

The Adidas adiZero F50 TRX is available in a variety of colorways at soccer specialty stores and www.shopadidas.com, and in conjunction with our review, we’re giving away a pair to one lucky reader. Click here to enter for your chance to win, and be sure to include which size you’d prefer in the box marked “Additional Information.” Also, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for updates on all of our latest giveaways.

Another week, another great selection of Blu-rays. It’s too bad that every month isn’t as prolific as this, because it would sure make my job a whole lot easier. Although there are a few missing titles as usual (like the awful found footage comedy “Project X,” the inspirational drama “Big Miracle,” and the latest seasons of the FX comedies “Louie” and “Wilfred”), you’re not really missing anything. And on that note, let’s get started.

The so-called mumblecore movement is an interesting approach to filmmaking, because a director never really knows what kind of movie he’s going to end up with until it’s completely finished; which is probably why the Duplass brothers’ latest film is so different from what most people expected. Though it certainly had the right ingredients for a great comedy, “Jeff, Who Lives at Home” is instead a surprisingly heartfelt and meditative dramedy about the importance of family and finding one’s place in the world. It may not be as funny as advertised, but thanks to some naturalistic performances by sitcom stars Jason Segel and Ed Helms (both of whom prove perfectly adept at drama), the film still works, albeit on a whole different level. Mark and Jay Duplass have always been more interested in getting good performances out of their actors than the story, and that’s never been more evident than it is here, because without their core cast, “Jeff, Who Lives at Home” would be an absolute bore.

Blu-ray Highlight: Believe it or not, Paramount’s Blu-ray release has no bonus material whatsoever. I’m not sure how that happened, but it’s a disappointment nonetheless.

I’ve never really understood the appeal of the David Wain-directed cult classic “Wet Hot American Summer,” so it’s no surprise that I didn’t like his latest comedy, because it feels like a more grown-up version of that film. Of course, just because the characters are more mature doesn’t mean that the humor isn’t still juvenile, and unless you’re a fan of Wain’s previous work, you probably won’t find much to laugh at here. Most of the supporting cast is wasted playing broad stereotypes that are weird just for the sake of being weird, while the script falls back on the same hippie clichés that we’ve seen many times before. Justin Theroux is one of the few actors who doesn’t completely embarrass himself as the alpha hippie who takes a liking to Jennifer Aniston’s closeted free spirit, and Paul Rudd has a few moments of improv genius, but it’s not enough. Though the film shows some promise early on, “Wanderlust” stalls out almost as soon as Rudd and Aniston’s characters arrive at the commune, and once Wain backs himself into that corner, it’s a lost cause.

Blu-ray Highlight: The making-of featurette “God Afton!” does a pretty good job of balancing the generic EPK-style material (like a breakdown of all the major characters and actors) with more detailed bits on things like Joe Lo Truglio’s prosthetic penis, turning Justin Theroux into a master guitarist, and the many stunts involved in the film.

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Did you read Mike Furci’s recent article about getting in shape for summer? If you’ve hit the pool and weren’t happy with how you looked without a shirt, then you might want to give it a read. You should check out the entire article, but here are Mike’s nutrition principles for consistent, healthy eating that will help you get lean and mean.

If you’re hungry, eat. If you’re not, don’t.

Under no circumstances should you count calories, ever.

Avoid calorie-dense fast foods. (Mainly processed, fast foods, fruit juice, soda pop and other high-carb foods.)

Plan your meals, and prepare your food in advance. This is perhaps the single biggest contributor to consistent healthy eating. You’re less likely to fall off the wagon if there is quality food already made.

Eat at least four meals per day. Your goal should be to eat six times per day, once every two to three hours. A healthy snack, e.g., vegetables, cottage cheese, sugar-free yogurt, etc., is considered a meal.

Make sure to eat a portion of protein with every meal. If your meal consists of a starchy carb, always consume a bit of your protein first. This ensures a lower glycemic index for the meal and will curb eating too many carbs.

A portion of protein is four to eight ounces, or a portion is about the size of the palm of your hand or a clenched fist.

Choose carbohydrates that are on the lower end of the glycemic index. Refer to the Approved Foods chart.

Whenever time is of the essence, use meal replacement packs, protein powders and drinks, cottage cheese, yogurt, etc. This takes the guesswork out of meal planning during a busy day.

Use natural unprocessed fats and oils for cooking and salad dressings. Avoid using, or strictly limit, your consumption of polyunsaturated fats (vegetable oils) and never cook with them.

If you want to get healthy, look better and feel better, you need to learn more about how to eat. Read this article and then read Mike’s columns regularly.

Hopefully you’ve realized that this is Father’s Day and you’ve already picked up some cool gifts. If not, check out our guide for some last minute gift ideas, and you can always go with booze, though in some areas you can’t buy it on Sundays.

Looking back on the week, season two of “Game of Thrones” came to an end, and Nate Kreichman took at look back at the highlights of another excellent season. Tyrion Lannister (played by Emmy Award winning actor Peter Dinklage) is probably our favorite character on TV these days, as his approach to life in many ways mirrors that of our staff.

You might remember the lovely Génesis Rodríguez from her season 7 appearances on Entourage, and Bob Westal caught up with her in connection with her role opposite budding Latin American leading man Will Ferrell (pronounced “Wheel Fer-all”) in the over-the-top Spanish language Mexploitation/telenovela spoof, “Casa de mi Padre.” Check out our 5 questions interview with Génesis.

You can also check out our review of the Entourage Season 8 DVD. It wasn’t the best season for that show, so you might want to check out Season 8 of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” instead.

It’s hard to believe that “Dallas” has been revived with Bobby and J.R. Ewing coming back with a new crop of young soap-opera styled actors and actresses. This naturally inspired Will Harris to take a look back at some other famous and not-so-famous TV revivals.

Joe Gustafson has a great piece on the Triumph Bonneville and how it brings 60s cool to the new millennium. You can find stories on more bikes on our new motorcycle channel.

For our car review last week we had the BMW 335i Sedan, which naturally put a smile on our reviewers face. Also, publisher Gerardo Orlando flew out to Salt Lake City this past week to drive the 2013 Mustang Boss on a race track, so check back next week for that story.

Meanwhile, in theaters, “Rock of Ages” is a dud according to David Medsker.

C. K. Dexter Haven: The moon is also a goddess, chaste and virginal.
Tracy Lord: Stop using those foul words. – “The Philadelphia Story” (1940)

Let’s face it. Sex sells, now and forever. If anything, it sold even more so in the earlyish 20th century when there wasn’t quite such a glut on the market. In those days, the idea of visions of actual coupling — and tripling and quadrupling — of every imaginable sort being but a few mouse clicks and keystrokes away was beyond the imagination. Way beyond.

In those days even the absence of sex could be read as hot, hot, hot because, of course, it implied the theoretical presence of sex.  Then as now, of course, a drink or two or three was often a prelude to the actuality of carnal knowledge. Birth control might not have been as widely available back then but, well, there’s a good chance that going back a generation you — who knows, maybe even I — might owe our very existence to that fact. (Great-Grandma, how could you??) In an era when alcohol had more of a forbidden frisson than it might today, all the more so.

In any case, this is all a long winded way of delaying my admission that I’m actually not all that wild about today’s Drink of the Week, though you might feel differently. For one thing, time simply didn’t permit me to try out something different before my deadline on account of my current hectic schedule and the fact that one or two drinks a night is my limit most of the time. (There are times when not being more of hardcore boozer is an absolute handicap in this here booze blogging game.)

Also, it’s hard to ignore the name and the fact that the Maiden’s Prayer was apparently positioned ironically as a possible corrupter of young ladies of virtue. This is a men’s magazine blog after all. It’s certainly a simple enough concoction and all the ingredients separately are quite nice, I just don’t find it particularly seductive. On the other hand, the art of love and the craft of cocktails have a thousand pathways.

The Maiden’s Prayer

1 1/2 ounces gin
1/2 ounce Cointreau or triple sec
1/2 ounce fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/2 ounce fresh squeezed orange juice

Combine all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Work out your frustrations by shaking the drink as vigorously as you can manage. Pour it into a chilled cocktail shaker and give to the nearest corruptible member of the opposite sex who isn’t too fussy about cocktails.

****

The provenance of this one is apparently related to a now obscure song hit about the virtues of not doing what comes naturally. Fine, but all I know is that, if I were the maiden in question, I’d be praying for a swain with better taste in drinks. It’s just kind of overly simple, even using Cointreau was only a very slight improvement over triple sec.  Better, I think, to be corrupted by a Manhattan or a Bronx or a swoon-worthy Mary Pickford.

Whatever you do, if you are serving this to an actual maiden who knows the name of the drink, I would be careful about garnishing this one with a cherry. Safer to stick with a lemon or orange twist.

We recently received and opened the Old Spice Swagger gift set (with scratch n’ sniff included), and we were jacked up to find out what was inside. Swagger immediately gets one’s attention as it’s something that most guys either have or want to have! I can proudly say that I now have Swagger and I feel great about it! Old Spice delivers with their Swagger line, which includes a Deodorant, Body Wash and Body Spray that have what it takes to make guys feel clean and smell like a man.

Swagger Deodorant puts your odor on 24-hour lockdown and features a controlled scent release through the day and night, like one of those scent things you plug into the wall. Only this “plugs” into your armpits! There is no doubt that I felt drier after a long day at the office and then dropping 3 pointers in my basketball league like they were a bad habit. Next up is the Swagger Body Wash, which when used will probably clean the dirtiest of guys by incorporating scent technology that lasts eight hours, which in most cases is an average workday. Refreshing lather drop-kicks dirt and odor, does a clothesline on them, and then slams them with a folding chair. Hydrating formula leaves your skin smooth, not tight or dry or on the curb crying in the rain.

You see, Old Spice has put together a great combination of quality and value that guys can appreciate, and quite frankly that’s why Old Spice has flourished over many decades and is growing faster than my backyard tomato plants. Last but not least is the Old Spice Swagger Body Spray which considerably raised my game with the wife as she commented on my new scent, and I feel like I received credit for something that took a few seconds to spray on but went a long way with my bride. There is also a travel size body wash and anti-perspirant in the Swagger gift pack that appear to be a bonus!

It’s no secret that Father’s Day is near, so take advantage and pick up the Old Spice Swagger Gift Set for your Dad or anyone out there who wants to be a Dad. Guys like to argue and trade jabs about our different teams or views, but when it comes to cleaning up, we’re all on the same team, and Old Spice is a part of that team as one can see in this hilarious video:

Last night at Manhattan’s Bowlmor Lanes / Greenwich Village Country Club, Axe previewed its new interactive global gaming experience, “AxeMan,” at a special, exclusive event shrouded in secrecy. Guests were taken by pre-paid car service to the venue near Union Square, where we were served complimentary food and drinks such as Axe’s signature drink, the “AxeMan” (basically just a good, strong Manhattan), and uniquely delicious breaded-and-fried mac & cheese bites.

We quickly learned the reason for the event’s top-secret, exclusive guest list: as we were seated with our drinks, all the event’s guests were provided with complimentary iPads on which we were given a tutorial on how to play “AxeMan.” In this case, the “axe” in question is an electric guitar played by a tough-looking bro reminiscent of Jack Black‘s “Brutal Legend” character, Eddie Riggs, but with shorter hair and nicer clothes. The game itself combines “Guitar Hero” with a first-person shooter, such as the classic “GoldenEye 007,” though its game-play is a much less complex horizontal scroll.

The object of the game is to collect curvaceous, scantily clad women (hereinafter referred to as “honeys”) to your “crew” while simultaneously defeating bad guys, just like in real life. The game’s setting is the fictional university “PWN U,” and the bad guys are frat-boys who throw either dodgeballs, beer bottles or free-weights at you as you attempt to gain honeys. You can block these by tapping them as they come toward you, and you kill the bad guys by strumming guitar notes at them from a fretboard at the bottom of the screen. The “boss” at the end of the game’s first level is the school’s mascot, a huge bull that comes to life and charges you, depleting your supply of honeys until you defeat him or die. It sounds pretty stupid, and to be honest it is, but it’s also surprisingly fun and addictive.

In addition to the “AxeMan” game, Axe has also launched “Planet Axe,” a social networking hub containing “AxeMan” and other games, where players can connect to share their high scores and talk trash. “AxeMan” also features a user-generated soundtrack of songs supplied by your own iTunes or other music player, so if you prefer to shoot bad guys to the sound of heavy metal, while your friend would rather pick up honeys to the sound of smooth jazz, everybody still wins. Watch out for the bull at the end, though – music of any kind will not likely sooth that savage beast.

Tonight marks the return of “Dallas” to the airwaves, with TNT offering viewers a look at the latest generation of Ewings while also giving original cast members Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy, and Linda Gray an opportunity to get in on the fun. For what it’s worth, I quite enjoyed the pilot, but I’ll freely admit that the only reason that I was interested in revisiting Southfork Ranch in 2012 was because of those original cast members.

No matter how brilliantly or badly they turn out, I’ve always been a sucker for TV series revivals, be it as a “next generation” sort of series like this one or as a reunion movie, so I thought I’d throw together a list of some of my favorites for your reading enjoyment. The only caveats: I’m not counting occasions when a series jumped to the big screen, i.e. the not-very-good theatrical “Get Smart” movie, “The Nude Bomb,” nor am I including animated series in the mix…although if I did, you can bet the animated “Star Trek” series would be at the top of my list.

Okay, let’s roll…

When The CW first kicked off its return to West Beverly High School, the burning questions from virtually every TV critic who covered the series involved which of the original cast members would be returning. In the end, Jennie Garth (Kelly), Shannen Doherty (Brenda), Tori Spelling (Donna), Ann Gillespie (Jackie Taylor, Kelly’s mom), and Joe E. Tata (Nat, the proprietor of the Peach Pit) all ended up making it back to the familiar zip code for an episode or two, generally proving to be the most entertaining parts of those particular episodes. Since the show’s gone all new-school, though, I can’t be bothered to keep up with it.

This feels like a bit of a cheat, since it wasn’t so much a revival of an old series as it was an attempt to wrap up plot threads that had been left dangling when “Homicide: Life on the Street” departed the airwaves the year before. With that said, however, it still technically falls within the realm of a reunion film, and it’s one of the best ones you’re likely to find, so that’s why it’s here.

I always thought that the concept of this film, which posited that the Monkees continued to live together even after their series was cancelled, was an extremely clever one. I just wish the band’s reunion album, Justus, had been even half as enjoyable.

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We’re always looking for great T-Shirts, so we were very happy to receive some samples from WornFree.com. Their shirts inspired my music greats like Bob Marley and Joe Strummer and the designs are some of the best we’ve seen.

The Bob Marley classic from above was included with the samples sent to use. Apart from the cool design, the first thing we noticed was the super-soft, pre-washed and shrunk all cotton feel of the shirts. The comfort and fit were excellent so we were very happy with the product.

Browse through the selections of t-shirts, hoodies and sweats and it’s like browsing through the classic rock section of your music collection, with designs inspired by John Lennon, Joey Ramone, Iggy Pop and so many more.

The collection is so cool that we added it to our Father’s Day Gift Guide for the dad with excellent taste in music and t-shirt design!

It’s very easy these days to record sound as so many people have iPhones and other smartphones. But getting “good” sound is much harder from a portable device.

The H1 Handy Recorder from Zoom is a lightweight, pocket-sized recorder that features two studio-quality mics, thus offering a great option for anyone looking for superior sound from a portable device. It delivers high resolution 24-bit/96 kHz stereo recordings Large LCD display and onboard speaker for a truly professional experience. You can see from the photos that the onboard microphones are configured in an X/Y pattern for stylish stereo imaging. Key functions like track marker, auto record, low cut filter, level and volume are controlled with user friendly on-board buttons, and it accommodates up to 32GB SD providing over 50 hours of recording time.

Check it out at their website or at Best Buy, and it could be a cool gift for the right dad on Father’s Day.