Yesterday the New York Mets, my favorite baseball team, traded four prospects for Minnesota Twins ace Johan Santana.
I nearly peed my pants with giddy excitement.
Last year the Mets executed the worst collapse in baseball history resulting in them missing the playoffs. The reason? Their pitching. It was not only suspect, it was old, tired, and ultimately ineffective.
Picking up Santana will cause the Met's rotation to get younger and better, and they didn't give up a whole lot for him.
There are two potential deal-breakers:
1. The Mets need to sign Santana to a contract extension for what will likely be insane amounts of money. After last years collapse, they need to get this done.
2. All players must pass their physicals, thus my whiney headline.
Pitchers and catchers report for spring training on February 14.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
When you like something you want to hate
Monday night Fox was kind enough to rerun the pilot of The Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles.
I'm not supposed to like this. It looks, frankly, like a ham-handed money grab using a none-too-original premise.
Let me back up a bit here.
In my teens I saw an original, ambitious, and well made sci-fi film whose reach could have easily exceeded it's grasp but thankfully did not. Sure The Terminator was a B movie, but it was an excellent B movie.
A few years later, I was treated to an overly ambitious sequel that was eye candy, certainly, but no match for it's predecessor. In fact, the ending was so bad I still have nightmares about the sheer offensiveness of Arnold's 'thumbs up' as he descends into molten steel. Gah.
Next came the incredibly un-original suckfest we know as Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Bad writing, acting, directing. Three strikes and you suck!
Back to my original point. The Sarah Connor Chronicles is not supposed to be any good, and ultimately it may not be. But the pilot had some good things. Nice character building. A fun twist or two. When it was over, I wanted to see the next episode. These are all good things and I hope they continue.
I'll keep you posted.
I'm not supposed to like this. It looks, frankly, like a ham-handed money grab using a none-too-original premise.
Let me back up a bit here.
In my teens I saw an original, ambitious, and well made sci-fi film whose reach could have easily exceeded it's grasp but thankfully did not. Sure The Terminator was a B movie, but it was an excellent B movie.
A few years later, I was treated to an overly ambitious sequel that was eye candy, certainly, but no match for it's predecessor. In fact, the ending was so bad I still have nightmares about the sheer offensiveness of Arnold's 'thumbs up' as he descends into molten steel. Gah.
Next came the incredibly un-original suckfest we know as Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Bad writing, acting, directing. Three strikes and you suck!
Back to my original point. The Sarah Connor Chronicles is not supposed to be any good, and ultimately it may not be. But the pilot had some good things. Nice character building. A fun twist or two. When it was over, I wanted to see the next episode. These are all good things and I hope they continue.
I'll keep you posted.
Monday, January 28, 2008
The Lives of Others
About 14 million years ago (or last summer, if you want to pick nits) my friend Jon recommended that I watch the Lives of Others. Not long after that I saw the DVD on sale so I picked it up fully intending to watch it directly.
Fast forward many months and I've finally gotten around to it. Better late than never, I s'pose.
A not-too-quick aside: I work full time nights so I frequently miss outings to movies with friends and family so I've lazily adopted an "I'll wait for the DVD" attitude for most of my movie viewing. Working at nights also keeps me from becoming engrossed in most prime time television. I know that a DVR would solve this issue, but I have too much crap to watch already. Thus more DVD's make their way into my life. I (barely) work a second job at a Hastings Entertainment store where (for those of you who don't know what that is we sell movies, music, books, magazines, and general pop culture ephemera) I'm always buying things, too many things, and they go into piles to be watched/read/listened to in due time. I did a little math the other day and (not counting my Netflix movies) I've got over 300 hours of unwatched movie/TV DVD's in my apartment.
So I've finally watched The Lives of Others, it was under Ratatouille (watched it, loved it) and on top of Blade Runner: the Final Cut (haven't watched this version yet) and I must admit that I absolutely am in awe of this film.
It is set in East Germany in the 1980's in the bad days of disintegrating Communism that led up to the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is a wonderful meditation on loyalties within a corrupt and failing system.
An East German Stasi member, Herr Wiesler, is set to spy on a writer, Georg Dreyman, to find out if he is a Western sympathyzer. As the story unfolds, Wiesler begins to understand a point of view far different that the only one he seems to know. As Dreyman and his friends discuss, and ultimately, write a 'subversive' article for a West German newspaper, Wiesler develops compassion for them and their actions. Things soon take a turn for the worse when a party Minister, who is in love with Dreyman's girlfriend, has her arrested merely out of spite. Wiesler must choose between his Party and his newfound understanding of Dreyman.
For a movie with such huge themes, it is a small and intimate look at desperate lives that continually search the face of their world and find it wanting.
Deliberately paced and with an eye toward the minutae of confined relationships, this is a meticulous yet powerful film that deserves your attention.
Fast forward many months and I've finally gotten around to it. Better late than never, I s'pose.
A not-too-quick aside: I work full time nights so I frequently miss outings to movies with friends and family so I've lazily adopted an "I'll wait for the DVD" attitude for most of my movie viewing. Working at nights also keeps me from becoming engrossed in most prime time television. I know that a DVR would solve this issue, but I have too much crap to watch already. Thus more DVD's make their way into my life. I (barely) work a second job at a Hastings Entertainment store where (for those of you who don't know what that is we sell movies, music, books, magazines, and general pop culture ephemera) I'm always buying things, too many things, and they go into piles to be watched/read/listened to in due time. I did a little math the other day and (not counting my Netflix movies) I've got over 300 hours of unwatched movie/TV DVD's in my apartment.
So I've finally watched The Lives of Others, it was under Ratatouille (watched it, loved it) and on top of Blade Runner: the Final Cut (haven't watched this version yet) and I must admit that I absolutely am in awe of this film.
It is set in East Germany in the 1980's in the bad days of disintegrating Communism that led up to the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is a wonderful meditation on loyalties within a corrupt and failing system.
An East German Stasi member, Herr Wiesler, is set to spy on a writer, Georg Dreyman, to find out if he is a Western sympathyzer. As the story unfolds, Wiesler begins to understand a point of view far different that the only one he seems to know. As Dreyman and his friends discuss, and ultimately, write a 'subversive' article for a West German newspaper, Wiesler develops compassion for them and their actions. Things soon take a turn for the worse when a party Minister, who is in love with Dreyman's girlfriend, has her arrested merely out of spite. Wiesler must choose between his Party and his newfound understanding of Dreyman.
For a movie with such huge themes, it is a small and intimate look at desperate lives that continually search the face of their world and find it wanting.
Deliberately paced and with an eye toward the minutae of confined relationships, this is a meticulous yet powerful film that deserves your attention.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
I watched a movie yesterday
I spent the night thinking about No Country For Old Men. As previously stated I was perplexed by the last 20-30 minutes of the movie, but I think I've got a handle on it now.
For the first ninety minutes or so there are three characters who pretty much get equal screen and story time. These characters are Viet Nam vet Llewellyn Moss, stone-cold killer Anton Chigurh, and Sheriff Ed Tom Bell played by Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, and Tommy Lee Jones respectively.
Moss initially seems to be the protagonist. The person who most would call the 'good guy'. The one who most people will root for. I sure did. And that was what caused me to be confused.
In fact, Moss is an inconsequential character so when he dies, abruptly and off-screen, not much is made of it. I was caught off-guard when this happened because I wanted him to 'win', to keep the bag of money he found and to escape the bad guy.
Conversely, Sheriff Bell's character is equally inconsequential. This is kind of odd since he is a legitimate 'good guy' in this film. The problem is that he's an old man who realizes that evilness in this world is passing him by and he can't keep up. Under the weight of this, he collapses into himself and becomes a disconsolate, old, useless man.
That leaves us with the sociopathic Chigurh who is nearly unstoppable in his quest to kill. He clearly believes (as evidenced by conversations he has before taking the lives of his victims) that he is fated to kill.
And that brings us to the important part in all of this. It's not the characters of this film that are key, it is the themes that are. The theme of fate. The theme of weakness.
Moss's weakness leaves him vulnerable on more than one occasion and it ultimately results in his death. Bell's weakness leaves him impotent and unable to do anything at all. Chigurh's strength allows him to conquer his lessers and accomplish his goals.
When these two themes collide in the form of Chigurh you have an unstoppable killer who is fated to leave scorched earth in his wake, piled high with the bodies of any unlucky enough to see him.
Once I realized these things, the movie became clear to me. I give it a solid A, five stars, and call it one of the best films I've seen in years.
I guess this would be as good a time as any to express my appreciation for the brothers Coen. Joel and Ethan, the two-headed director, have made a handful of my favorite films, including Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, the Big Lebowski, Fargo, and No Country For Old Men. Even their rare missteps (Intolerable Cruelty, the Ladykillers) were pretty good. I dig their work and I hope they keep it up for as long as I am able to watch what they make.
For the first ninety minutes or so there are three characters who pretty much get equal screen and story time. These characters are Viet Nam vet Llewellyn Moss, stone-cold killer Anton Chigurh, and Sheriff Ed Tom Bell played by Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, and Tommy Lee Jones respectively.
Moss initially seems to be the protagonist. The person who most would call the 'good guy'. The one who most people will root for. I sure did. And that was what caused me to be confused.
In fact, Moss is an inconsequential character so when he dies, abruptly and off-screen, not much is made of it. I was caught off-guard when this happened because I wanted him to 'win', to keep the bag of money he found and to escape the bad guy.
Conversely, Sheriff Bell's character is equally inconsequential. This is kind of odd since he is a legitimate 'good guy' in this film. The problem is that he's an old man who realizes that evilness in this world is passing him by and he can't keep up. Under the weight of this, he collapses into himself and becomes a disconsolate, old, useless man.
That leaves us with the sociopathic Chigurh who is nearly unstoppable in his quest to kill. He clearly believes (as evidenced by conversations he has before taking the lives of his victims) that he is fated to kill.
And that brings us to the important part in all of this. It's not the characters of this film that are key, it is the themes that are. The theme of fate. The theme of weakness.
Moss's weakness leaves him vulnerable on more than one occasion and it ultimately results in his death. Bell's weakness leaves him impotent and unable to do anything at all. Chigurh's strength allows him to conquer his lessers and accomplish his goals.
When these two themes collide in the form of Chigurh you have an unstoppable killer who is fated to leave scorched earth in his wake, piled high with the bodies of any unlucky enough to see him.
Once I realized these things, the movie became clear to me. I give it a solid A, five stars, and call it one of the best films I've seen in years.
I guess this would be as good a time as any to express my appreciation for the brothers Coen. Joel and Ethan, the two-headed director, have made a handful of my favorite films, including Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, the Big Lebowski, Fargo, and No Country For Old Men. Even their rare missteps (Intolerable Cruelty, the Ladykillers) were pretty good. I dig their work and I hope they keep it up for as long as I am able to watch what they make.
Friday, January 25, 2008
I watched a movie today
Went to the local omni-plex to watch No Country For Old Men today. I had meant to watch it earlier but our theater sucks and it only ran initially for about four hours. After ye olde Academy of Motion Pictures decided to nominate it for bunches of statuettes, the geniuses here decided to have a return engagement.
So while I sat around in my apartment anxiously awaiting the start time, my friend Joe called and invited me to go with him and his wife. Yay! I get to go with people instead of my usual asocial solo self.
The first problem (and I whine about this often) is that it cost me $6.50 for the matinee ticket and $8.50 for a box of Raisinettes and a Diet Coke. Ugh. No wonder I usually prefer to watch DVD's at home in my underwear with a ninety-nine cent frozen pizza.
Secondly, I pick a chair that reclines too far (luckily no one was seated directly behind me) so that I feel like I am in one of Tony Little's Ab Loungers. Who cares about the movie, I'm gettin' all toned and sculpted over here! Yeah! Fortunately, this does not make me want to grow a pony tail.
Thirdly, the lights go down and the moron directly in front of us feels the need to continuously text so his celly sheds a lovely blue light that distracts me. Grrr.
I refuse to let any of this crap bother me. I'm here to enjoy a Coen Brothers movie, dammit, and enjoy it I shall.
I think.
I have to admit to being a bit perplexed by the ending. For the first 100 minutes of this film there are three people sharing the screentime (not together, really, but three stories brilliantly intermingling) and all of a sudden BLAM! the story is jerked into a singular point of view and it caused a huge anti-climax. Suddenly the movie belongs to Ed Tom Bell because Llewellen Moss is dead (offscreen, I might add with consternation), and Anton Chigurh fades (albeit painfully) into the west Texas ether. Maybe there's some storytelling device here that I'm not aware of, maybe I'm simply not smart enough to see it the right way... I dunno.
I was going to give this movie an A, five stars, accolades untold, but now I don't know what to give it. For now, I'll give it a B+, four stars, and a good old scratching of my noggin. If, upon further review, I have something to add, I will.
So while I sat around in my apartment anxiously awaiting the start time, my friend Joe called and invited me to go with him and his wife. Yay! I get to go with people instead of my usual asocial solo self.
The first problem (and I whine about this often) is that it cost me $6.50 for the matinee ticket and $8.50 for a box of Raisinettes and a Diet Coke. Ugh. No wonder I usually prefer to watch DVD's at home in my underwear with a ninety-nine cent frozen pizza.
Secondly, I pick a chair that reclines too far (luckily no one was seated directly behind me) so that I feel like I am in one of Tony Little's Ab Loungers. Who cares about the movie, I'm gettin' all toned and sculpted over here! Yeah! Fortunately, this does not make me want to grow a pony tail.
Thirdly, the lights go down and the moron directly in front of us feels the need to continuously text so his celly sheds a lovely blue light that distracts me. Grrr.
I refuse to let any of this crap bother me. I'm here to enjoy a Coen Brothers movie, dammit, and enjoy it I shall.
I think.
I have to admit to being a bit perplexed by the ending. For the first 100 minutes of this film there are three people sharing the screentime (not together, really, but three stories brilliantly intermingling) and all of a sudden BLAM! the story is jerked into a singular point of view and it caused a huge anti-climax. Suddenly the movie belongs to Ed Tom Bell because Llewellen Moss is dead (offscreen, I might add with consternation), and Anton Chigurh fades (albeit painfully) into the west Texas ether. Maybe there's some storytelling device here that I'm not aware of, maybe I'm simply not smart enough to see it the right way... I dunno.
I was going to give this movie an A, five stars, accolades untold, but now I don't know what to give it. For now, I'll give it a B+, four stars, and a good old scratching of my noggin. If, upon further review, I have something to add, I will.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Vacation Week
This week I'm on vacation. As a behind-the-curve human, I am thirty-seven years old and for the first time in my life, I am being paid to not be at work.
Oh, glee I thought when I contemplated having a week to myself, not realizing that my life was so small, my attention span so finite, that this could acutally be a bad and painful thing.
My goals were simple for this week. Clean. Organize. Watch (movies, that is). Write (various projects lay in diverse stages of stagnation).
Cleaning. Check.
Organizing. Check.
Watch. Er, not right now. Sitting in one chair for two hours is a frightening thought to me at this moment.
Write. Uhh...later, when I can remove my cranium from my rectum.
Now what to do with the other six-and-three-quarters days at my disposal?
I went and visited my Mum. She's sixty-nine and alone, so I do this often.
Ooo! Music! I just picked up a nice live recording of John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme".
(pause for 39:47)
That's the stuff. I will always be bitter that I was not twenty-one in 1940 so that I could go to seedy dives and witness live shows of jazz masters for the next twenty years.. Coltrane, Davis, Sanders, Monk, espcially Monk. If you don't know what it is about jazz that makes people swoon, pick up Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane's "Live at Carnegie Hall". If this doesn't sway you, you may be lost forever.
I've got time on my hands now. It's a bit discouraging as an adult human to have to train yourself to focus and achieve. Shouldn't I have mastered this concept in middle school?
Ah, well. I've got time right now to relax and prioritize.
Good day to you sir and madam.
Oh, glee I thought when I contemplated having a week to myself, not realizing that my life was so small, my attention span so finite, that this could acutally be a bad and painful thing.
My goals were simple for this week. Clean. Organize. Watch (movies, that is). Write (various projects lay in diverse stages of stagnation).
Cleaning. Check.
Organizing. Check.
Watch. Er, not right now. Sitting in one chair for two hours is a frightening thought to me at this moment.
Write. Uhh...later, when I can remove my cranium from my rectum.
Now what to do with the other six-and-three-quarters days at my disposal?
I went and visited my Mum. She's sixty-nine and alone, so I do this often.
Ooo! Music! I just picked up a nice live recording of John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme".
(pause for 39:47)
That's the stuff. I will always be bitter that I was not twenty-one in 1940 so that I could go to seedy dives and witness live shows of jazz masters for the next twenty years.. Coltrane, Davis, Sanders, Monk, espcially Monk. If you don't know what it is about jazz that makes people swoon, pick up Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane's "Live at Carnegie Hall". If this doesn't sway you, you may be lost forever.
I've got time on my hands now. It's a bit discouraging as an adult human to have to train yourself to focus and achieve. Shouldn't I have mastered this concept in middle school?
Ah, well. I've got time right now to relax and prioritize.
Good day to you sir and madam.
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