Oh, all right. Spoilers follow. Continue after the jump.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Amazing Race: Steve Smith Is A Homer...Homer Simpson
Oh, all right. Spoilers follow. Continue after the jump.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Tattoos, Good and Bad (maybe NSFW)
You may not want these pictures popping up on your screen if you're at work, or on someone else's computer, or whatever, so consider this fair warning. They're not explicit, but there is rear nudity. I just wanted to comment on the tattoos. So, click the "Read More" link if you dare...
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Quick Reviews (Oscar edition): The Hurt Locker, A Serious Man
This week I finally completed my mission of seeing all ten Oscar Best Picture nominees. I had to settle for watching "A Serious Man" at home on pay-per-view because it wasn't in any theaters, but I got the full movie experience (so to speak) from "The Hurt Locker."
Breaking my usual format, let me say right up front that my grade for both films is a B-minus. What was interesting was that they got to that destination from different directions. "The Hurt Locker" follows a U.S. Army bomb squad as it defuses explosive devices in Iraq in 2004, but it doesn't really tell a focused story. We see a series of incidents in which the unit is working, and an on-screen caption of how many days remain in their current tour of duty, and some off-duty activity. The sergeant who physically works on the bombs (Jeremy Renner, Oscar Best Actor nominee) gets most of the attention because of his unorthodox ways of working that the other members of his unit feel are too risky. It was tense at times, but sort of meanders along, and it ends sort of as it begins.
There is a tale to be told in "A Serious Man," a dark comedy written, directed and produced by the Coen brothers. In 1967 in suburban Minneapolis, the life of college professor Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) is unraveling. At work, a student complains about a failing grade and leaves behind a cash bribe, and the student's father follows it up with a threat to sue if Larry doesn't take the bribe and change his son's grade. Larry's up for tenure but someone's sent anonymous letters to the school that may be a problem. At home, his wife wants a divorce so she can be with a widowed family friend, his son's about to complete his bar mitzvah but he secretly smokes pot, his daughter seems to be stealing money from his wallet...the problems keep piling up. Larry seeks answers from three different rabbis, but for varying reasons none are able or willing to provide solace. This tale was much more engrossing than "The Hurt Locker," and the use of Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody To Love" was creative, but the end was jarring, a real "WTF?" kind of ending.
So, now that I've seen all ten nominees, this would be my Best Picture ballot (the new rules ask that voters rank the nominees from 1 to 10, and a formula using those rankings is applied if one film doesn't win a majority of first-place votes) if I had one:
1. Up In The Air
2. Precious
3. Up
4. District 9
5. An Education
6. Inglourious Basterds
7. The Blind Side
8. A Serious Man
9. The Hurt Locker
10. Avatar
Breaking my usual format, let me say right up front that my grade for both films is a B-minus. What was interesting was that they got to that destination from different directions. "The Hurt Locker" follows a U.S. Army bomb squad as it defuses explosive devices in Iraq in 2004, but it doesn't really tell a focused story. We see a series of incidents in which the unit is working, and an on-screen caption of how many days remain in their current tour of duty, and some off-duty activity. The sergeant who physically works on the bombs (Jeremy Renner, Oscar Best Actor nominee) gets most of the attention because of his unorthodox ways of working that the other members of his unit feel are too risky. It was tense at times, but sort of meanders along, and it ends sort of as it begins.
There is a tale to be told in "A Serious Man," a dark comedy written, directed and produced by the Coen brothers. In 1967 in suburban Minneapolis, the life of college professor Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) is unraveling. At work, a student complains about a failing grade and leaves behind a cash bribe, and the student's father follows it up with a threat to sue if Larry doesn't take the bribe and change his son's grade. Larry's up for tenure but someone's sent anonymous letters to the school that may be a problem. At home, his wife wants a divorce so she can be with a widowed family friend, his son's about to complete his bar mitzvah but he secretly smokes pot, his daughter seems to be stealing money from his wallet...the problems keep piling up. Larry seeks answers from three different rabbis, but for varying reasons none are able or willing to provide solace. This tale was much more engrossing than "The Hurt Locker," and the use of Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody To Love" was creative, but the end was jarring, a real "WTF?" kind of ending.
So, now that I've seen all ten nominees, this would be my Best Picture ballot (the new rules ask that voters rank the nominees from 1 to 10, and a formula using those rankings is applied if one film doesn't win a majority of first-place votes) if I had one:
1. Up In The Air
2. Precious
3. Up
4. District 9
5. An Education
6. Inglourious Basterds
7. The Blind Side
8. A Serious Man
9. The Hurt Locker
10. Avatar
Friday, March 5, 2010
It's Really Hard...
I know what you thought when you saw the title of this post. You perverts. Get that thought out of your head. I'm referring to my new external hard drive. I am finally backing up my files. Hopefully.
Through a link posted on SlickDeals.net I found a nice deal on a Western Digital My Passport Elite 500 GB portable external hard drive. It arrived today. I plugged it into the USB port. Eventually I figured out I'd have to install software. There were 4 categories of things to install, one of them didn't install for some reason. The instructions that came with it are non-existent, and the online help at their website is about as useless. I couldn't figure out how to start a backup or anything.
Finally, I decided to just back up my files using my Norton Security Suite -- the one that just replaced McAfee as the security package Comcast provides free to its Internet customers. It seems to be working as I write this. If it doesn't then I hope someone reading this is a computer genius and can help me.
This is a big deal because I'll have backups of my photos and some documents, and especially my mp3 files. I wouldn't want to have to copy those from my CD again, and I have plenty of downloads that have never been backed up or burned to CDs. Losing a lot of them would be a disaster.
Through a link posted on SlickDeals.net I found a nice deal on a Western Digital My Passport Elite 500 GB portable external hard drive. It arrived today. I plugged it into the USB port. Eventually I figured out I'd have to install software. There were 4 categories of things to install, one of them didn't install for some reason. The instructions that came with it are non-existent, and the online help at their website is about as useless. I couldn't figure out how to start a backup or anything.
Finally, I decided to just back up my files using my Norton Security Suite -- the one that just replaced McAfee as the security package Comcast provides free to its Internet customers. It seems to be working as I write this. If it doesn't then I hope someone reading this is a computer genius and can help me.
This is a big deal because I'll have backups of my photos and some documents, and especially my mp3 files. I wouldn't want to have to copy those from my CD again, and I have plenty of downloads that have never been backed up or burned to CDs. Losing a lot of them would be a disaster.
More Random TV Talk
Meanwhile, tonight we were force-fed an appearance by Danny Gokey. He sang, which was bad enough (though, since I record it each week and fast-forward through the commercials, I also was able to forward past the song). Then he had to not only pimp his late wife (again), but also the fact that the song he sang was written by someone whose wife also died. I got this from Entertainment Weekly, and I'll probably have to say it until the day I die: put the GO in Gokey!
Thank goodness for the DVR. I also fast-forward through the filmed packages for each wannabe such as this week's inane "Something that America would be surprised to learn about me is..." followed by a totally unsurprising (and usually uninteresting) fact. Here's a clue, wannabes (and show's producers): no one's heard of any of you before this. I don't know ANYTHING about you. And unless you're going to talk about your nights at the local sex club either riding the sling or on your knees at the "milking station," I don't care.
Meanwhile, last week I worried that "Desperate Housewives" was hinting that Katherine would go lesbian with the stripper. I so hoped they wouldn't go there. They went there. Plus, apparently (suddenly) the gay couple on the block throw big parties all the time, but also (again, suddenly) are trying to adopt a baby. And Susan was an idiot (as usual). I seriously think I'm tiring of this show. The only question is, should I stick it out until John Barrowman arrives in April to do whatever he's doing that will lead to the end of the stupid Bolen mystery and Drea de Matteo's leaving the show?
If I stop watching both "DH" and "Idol," and with "Ugly Betty" ending next month, I won't have many shows to watch on the "big four" networks -- "The Simpsons," "Family Guy," and "Bones." I'm sticking with "The Amazing Race" at least as long as Steve Smith is still on. On cable, there's also "RuPaul's Drag Race" and "Be Good Johnny Weir" but there aren't too many episodes of those shows so they won't be on much longer. "Mad Men" and "Robot Chicken" are in between seasons. I've been watching "Southland" since it moved to TNT. They've got some new episodes now, so we'll see if TNT wants to continue running it. I like it but I'm not sure I love it yet. Oh, and I musn't forget my daily dose of TMZ.
I know there are a lot of shows that are popular and/or critically acclaimed, but as I've said before, something needs to hook me in order for me to even try to watch. So if I've got some more empty time slots in the coming weeks I doubt they'll be filled by other shows.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
My Week In Comics 2-24-10
Another end-of-the-month cornucopia -- I picked up 8 books, and I thought there would be a 9th but it apparently got pushed back a week. So...
Blackest Night 7 (of 8): I mentioned a week ago in my comment on Green Lantern 51 that there was some stuff I enjoyed involving Orange Lantern Lex Luthor and his lust for power. Here, he's not only content for the power he gets from his orange ring -- he now wants them all. But there's one moment, when Wonder Woman has her magic lasso around Lex, and he reveals what he really wants, that was sublime. Oh, and while that's happening, every living thing in the universe is dying...
Batman and Robin 9: The conclusion of a fine three-part story arc. "Batman" lives, then dies. Batwoman dies, then lives. And Dick Grayson owes Tim Drake a huge apology.
Superman 697: We're at a stage where they're setting up the next round of crossovers among the Super-books, so there's a bit of a mish-mash here. Mon-El, with the help of Superboy, is about to discover who certain people in his life really are, and where they're from.
Teen Titans 80: The second part of Static's return to Dakota, (with Teen Titans trying to locate him). One of those stories where the bad guy is trying to convince a hero that he's gone legit. Yeah, right.
Flash: Rebirth 6 (of 6): I've mentioned before that this miniseries explaining Barry Allen's return has been oft-delayed. The conclusion finally arrived in the stores, and it kind of arrives with a whimper. Maybe it'll work better if and when I re-read the entire series.
Gotham City Sirens 9: A woman is murdered and it appears that our heroes...well, anti-heroes...are being set up to take the blame, so the girls enlist the aid of the Riddler, who's still doing detective work instead of crime. But something strange seems to be going on in his mind...
Victorian Undead 4 (of 6): London is overrun by zombies! And the whole thing was caused by Professor Moriarty! Sherlock Holmes learns that his nemesis is alive...well, in a manner of speaking.
Weekly World News 2: Part two of "The Irredemption of Ed Anger." Poor Ed. Ultra-conservative in a world that adores Bat Boy and other "freaks" that Ed hates so much. Except for the half-man, half-gator, because the Manigator seems to be a God-fearing, beer-drinking, gun-carrying "real" Amurrican. And here's the alternate cover that I got again, instead of the tabloid-homage...look familiar, comic book readers?
Blackest Night 7 (of 8): I mentioned a week ago in my comment on Green Lantern 51 that there was some stuff I enjoyed involving Orange Lantern Lex Luthor and his lust for power. Here, he's not only content for the power he gets from his orange ring -- he now wants them all. But there's one moment, when Wonder Woman has her magic lasso around Lex, and he reveals what he really wants, that was sublime. Oh, and while that's happening, every living thing in the universe is dying...
Batman and Robin 9: The conclusion of a fine three-part story arc. "Batman" lives, then dies. Batwoman dies, then lives. And Dick Grayson owes Tim Drake a huge apology.
Superman 697: We're at a stage where they're setting up the next round of crossovers among the Super-books, so there's a bit of a mish-mash here. Mon-El, with the help of Superboy, is about to discover who certain people in his life really are, and where they're from.
Teen Titans 80: The second part of Static's return to Dakota, (with Teen Titans trying to locate him). One of those stories where the bad guy is trying to convince a hero that he's gone legit. Yeah, right.
Flash: Rebirth 6 (of 6): I've mentioned before that this miniseries explaining Barry Allen's return has been oft-delayed. The conclusion finally arrived in the stores, and it kind of arrives with a whimper. Maybe it'll work better if and when I re-read the entire series.
Gotham City Sirens 9: A woman is murdered and it appears that our heroes...well, anti-heroes...are being set up to take the blame, so the girls enlist the aid of the Riddler, who's still doing detective work instead of crime. But something strange seems to be going on in his mind...
Victorian Undead 4 (of 6): London is overrun by zombies! And the whole thing was caused by Professor Moriarty! Sherlock Holmes learns that his nemesis is alive...well, in a manner of speaking.
Weekly World News 2: Part two of "The Irredemption of Ed Anger." Poor Ed. Ultra-conservative in a world that adores Bat Boy and other "freaks" that Ed hates so much. Except for the half-man, half-gator, because the Manigator seems to be a God-fearing, beer-drinking, gun-carrying "real" Amurrican. And here's the alternate cover that I got again, instead of the tabloid-homage...look familiar, comic book readers?
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Some Sports Illustrated Stuff
A week ago tomorrow, the cover of Sports Illustrated featured a headline for an article on baseball's spring training: "The Unlikely Genius Behind the New Moneyball." I wanted to vomit. Wasn't the old Moneyball bad enough? The premise of "Moneyball" -- that a focus on statistics, including newly invented and bizarre statistics, is more important in building a great team than things like scouting, watching games and actually seeing how players perform, not to mention spending lots of money -- has always been flawed. The main practitioner, the Oakland A's under general manager Billy Beane, won a few division titles but never got into a World Series, and haven't been a winning team in the last three years.
So what of this "new" Moneyball? The article itself, while it does delve into some statistical stupidity, actually makes a good point. It features the Seattle Mariners and their GM, Jack Zduriencik, and the team's concentrating on defense, leading to improvement overall (from 61 wins in 2008 to 85 last year). Good defense makes the pitching staff better, and we know how important good pitching is. And what Zduriencik says his team is doing is blending the old and new -- using some statistical analysis while still relying on good scouting. This seems to me like good common sense. With the M's getting Cliff Lee from the Phillies, they should be even better in 2010.
As for the SI that will arrive in my mailbox tomorrow, there's good news and bad news. The bad news is that this is the cover:
The good news is there's this thing called the Sports Illustrated cover jinx...
So what of this "new" Moneyball? The article itself, while it does delve into some statistical stupidity, actually makes a good point. It features the Seattle Mariners and their GM, Jack Zduriencik, and the team's concentrating on defense, leading to improvement overall (from 61 wins in 2008 to 85 last year). Good defense makes the pitching staff better, and we know how important good pitching is. And what Zduriencik says his team is doing is blending the old and new -- using some statistical analysis while still relying on good scouting. This seems to me like good common sense. With the M's getting Cliff Lee from the Phillies, they should be even better in 2010.
As for the SI that will arrive in my mailbox tomorrow, there's good news and bad news. The bad news is that this is the cover:
Monday, March 1, 2010
Quick Reviews: The Wolfman, The Crazies
I still need to get to the two Oscar Best Picture nominees I haven't seen yet. One, "The Hurt Locker" is at one of the Ritz theaters downtown. The other, "A Serious Man," isn't playing but I think I can watch it at home through On Demand. Only a week to go! Meanwhile...
"The Wolfman" is a remake of the 1941 film. It stars Benicio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins. I didn't have high hopes, but, just like with "From Paris With Love," I was hoping for some fun. Instead, it was just dull. Not horrendously bad, but definitely a wait-for-the-DVD at best. The release date had been pushed back a number of times. I wouldn't have minded if they kept pushing. My grade: D-plus.
On the other hand, "The Crazies" -- also a remake, as it turns out -- was a lot of fun at times. People in a quiet little farming community in Iowa suddenly start acting, well, crazy. The town's sheriff (Timothy Olyphant) starts to investigate and finds a possible solution. Things get out of control when the military swoops in. It becomes an entirely different movie at that point -- not as much fun. Still, it's definitely worth checking out. My grade: B.
"The Wolfman" is a remake of the 1941 film. It stars Benicio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins. I didn't have high hopes, but, just like with "From Paris With Love," I was hoping for some fun. Instead, it was just dull. Not horrendously bad, but definitely a wait-for-the-DVD at best. The release date had been pushed back a number of times. I wouldn't have minded if they kept pushing. My grade: D-plus.
On the other hand, "The Crazies" -- also a remake, as it turns out -- was a lot of fun at times. People in a quiet little farming community in Iowa suddenly start acting, well, crazy. The town's sheriff (Timothy Olyphant) starts to investigate and finds a possible solution. Things get out of control when the military swoops in. It becomes an entirely different movie at that point -- not as much fun. Still, it's definitely worth checking out. My grade: B.
Amazing Race: Smiths Surge
I'll be kind and put a SPOILER ALERT here. Don't read further if you don't want to know who's out of the Race.
When we last left Steve Smith and his daughter Allie, the former Phils coach was practically invisible on "The Amazing Race," and were 7th of the 9 teams still alive. This week, the Smiths got a little more screen time as the teams moved from Chile to Argentina. (With the powerful earthquake devastating Chile over the weekend, a brief message of acknowledgment from host Phil Keoghan was shown at the start of the episode.)
In Argentina, teams had a choice of Detours -- a task they had to fulfill before receiving their next clue. The Smiths chose the one that nvolved playing polo but with wooden horses instead of actual horses. Steve (who was shown falling down while running earlier) was groaning in pain while helping move the horse to where they had struck the ball (teams had 9 shots to move the ball down the field to score; if they failed they had to start over). Allie asked him what it was that was hurting, and Steve said something like "I'm 57, what doesn't hurt?" However, not only did they complete their tasks successfully, but thanks to troubles other teams had, Steve and Allie were the second team to reach the next pit stop, following cowboys Jet and Cord.
The rest of the field, in order of finish: Carol and Brandy (lesbian couple), Joe and Heidi (married couple, he looks and acts a little too much like Jon Gosselin), "Big Brother" couple Jordan and Jeff, brothers Dan (straight) and Jordan (gay), models Brent and Caite (the former Miss Teen South Carolina), and police detectives Louie and Michael. Eliminated this week: "moms/attorneys" Monique and Shawne.
In Argentina, teams had a choice of Detours -- a task they had to fulfill before receiving their next clue. The Smiths chose the one that nvolved playing polo but with wooden horses instead of actual horses. Steve (who was shown falling down while running earlier) was groaning in pain while helping move the horse to where they had struck the ball (teams had 9 shots to move the ball down the field to score; if they failed they had to start over). Allie asked him what it was that was hurting, and Steve said something like "I'm 57, what doesn't hurt?" However, not only did they complete their tasks successfully, but thanks to troubles other teams had, Steve and Allie were the second team to reach the next pit stop, following cowboys Jet and Cord.
The rest of the field, in order of finish: Carol and Brandy (lesbian couple), Joe and Heidi (married couple, he looks and acts a little too much like Jon Gosselin), "Big Brother" couple Jordan and Jeff, brothers Dan (straight) and Jordan (gay), models Brent and Caite (the former Miss Teen South Carolina), and police detectives Louie and Michael. Eliminated this week: "moms/attorneys" Monique and Shawne.
Now Back To Your Hockey Season, Already In Progress
Despite the result, it was a great game, a great spectacle, and certainly can't hurt hockey's popularity in the USA. How much will it help? Honestly, I don't know. It's not like hockey is going to become our national pastime. And as great as hockey is in the Olympics, the NHL regular season can never live up to it.
Why? The talent is diluted among 30 teams. The 82-game schedule is bad enough, but when the league shuts down for the Olympics it's really condensed. There are more instances of teams playing on back-to-back nights or three times in four nights. It affects the quality of play. The teams have been sitting around for the better part of two weeks. And for the Olympians, those players could wear down from the extra games. For the Canadian players, having been forced into an elimination game, their "regular season" is now 89 games. And the travel will be worse in 2014, when the games will be held in Sochi, Russia instead of North America.
Unlike in international play, fighting is not only condoned, it's practically encouraged. (By the way, we saw hard hitting throughout the Olympics without one single fight. Any rationale for the allowance of fights in the NHL is, frankly, shot to hell...wait, what's that noise? Why, it's a bunch of angry Flyers fans marching to my door demanding my head on a platter for that comment! Here, I got a picture of them...)
The NHL derives little real benefit from stopping for the Olympics. It's great for Olympic hockey but not for the NHL. There may be a ratings increase but it won't be huge, and it won't be enough to get the league a better TV contract. As I stated above, it affects the quality of play, it disrupts the season. It could work if the league cut back the schedule during Olympic years -- or, better, cut the schedule every year -- but the league won't be willing to give up the revenue from those games and the players won't want reduced salaries as a result.
A final decision hasn't been made as to whether NHL players will participate in the 2014 Olympics. The players want to play, the league isn't fully committed. If I had my way, they wouldn't go, but since when do I get my way in these matters?
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