Future Poltergeist

Let me start by saying something nice about this movie. It's beautifully shot and the score is very nice. Thus concludes the compliments. The listed time for this movie is just under three hours. In reality, the movie seems to last forever. And not in a timeless way but more of a "What day is this and how long have I been stuck in here" kind of way. Thin Red Line tells the story of the taking of Guadalcanal. If it was taken by the Army Corps of bull session philosophers and not by actual soldiers. The men seem taken with trying to figure out what life is all about and why go through all of this dirty war business. They're also driven by a lieutenant colonel (Nick Nolte) who seems driven to promotion through a bloody frontal assault. In the tradition of well regarded Hollywood war movies, Nolte's character is insane and can only command through bullying. The cast is deep and performances are solid, but the movie itself is very weak. Much of the movie is t...

 

It hits me out of the blue at different times today: World Champion White Sox. Driving down the street and it hits me again. Sitting at work and there it is again. And this grin is pretty firmly in place. Nineteen years is a long time, but it was very much worth it. Spent the last few innings of the game last night pacing back and forth and throwing off waves of tension. The FP Gal won't miss that one little bit, I can tell you. The cats either. They'd get settled into place and I'd start yelling. Everyone in the house (and maybe the neighbors) are glad this is done. The White Sox run last night was in typical manufactured fashion. A single. A bunt attempt (failed). Moving the runner over on a groundout. And a seeing-eye single up the middle to score him. The Sox relief pitching was also (sadly) typical. Lots of opponents on base. Kept there only by superior defense. Uribe's two defensive plays in the ninth last night were both amazing. Diving into the...

But I had to be careful not to wake the FP Gal. At 1250a. The game went even longer, but Geoff Blum's homer in the top of the 14th was the backbreaker. In his first ever postseason at-bat. Truly amazing story. But that's one of the charms of postseason baseball. Every October has a dozen or so amazing stories. Close calls, records and unexpected heroism fuel these stories. The baseball playoffs are (IMHO) the best sports tournament. Couple of other things to say about Game 3. If the Astros want the roof open, leave it open. Unless weather interferes or something. (Last night's weather in Houston was in the 60's and it looked pretty brutal. Fans were in their winter gear. Seriously.) MLB's policy is that they have the final say on the roof during the World Series. I really wish they'd explain their policy more fully. That might quiet the people who were using it as an excuse for losing. A full 24 hours before they started the game. And speaking o...

This one . This one . This one . And I'm hoping for another style to come available later in the week.

Good Will Hunting As Good as it Gets LA Confidential Full Monty Titanic Three great movies and two OK ones. 'As Good as it Gets' won the most acting awards, but had serious flaws. 'Full Monty' was good but very light. It was nice for both of them be nominated, but they're not really in the same league as the others. 'Good Will Hunting', 'LA Confidential' and 'Titanic' were all great but in different ways. 'Hunting' is probably the most feel good and down to earth. 'LA' has the most complex and involved plot. 'Titanic' had the most sheer impact of story. 'Titanic' won the Oscar and I can't really disagree. A pretty good year for movies.

I'll assume anyone reading this post has seen this movie, so I'll skip the synopsis. And if you haven't seen it, you probably should. I mean, it's part of our cultural heritage, so what's your problem? Firstly, I'm a sucker for love stories. And I fell for this one. There's nothing quite like young love. Fierce, idealistic and uncompromising. The idea of a penniless artist and a beautiful society girl falling for each other isn't new, but it is quite effective here. DiCaprio and Winslett are very cute together. And they're both better actors than they are given credit for. (The FP Gal thinks DiCaprio looks like Steve Buscemi. I thought she might be the only woman in the world to think so, but one of the ladies at work agrees. I don't see it all.) This is a great movie. The combination love story/action flick/disaster movie works very well. The early story is interesting as you watch the lovers come together. The stage is set well with the enormou...

 

Please, let there be another mouse! 

Something dangerous has been happening in the Twin Cities over the past couple of weeks. Oh, no one's life is in danger (though fairly serious charges might still be filed). I'm speaking of the danger that the Vikings were in of losing their fan base. In 1998, the Vikes turned this town into a football town. Minnesota has been crazy about the Vikings before, but the combination of a Twins team going nowhere and a second tier basketball team (sorry KG) made the 15-1 Vikes easy to love. Just take a moment and remember that team. They didn't just win games, they blew the opponents off of the field. Rookie Randy Moss set the league on fire with a neverbefore seen combination of speed and size. The image of Randall Cunningham's slingshot deepball is pure poetry. They broke our hearts (of course) but we still loved them. Not even the 2000 Championship game spoiled them for us. Finishing 5-11 two years in a row was tough, but the corner seemed about to be turned. A g...

Probably the most striking thing about the White Sox and Astros is the combined record of futility. This is the Astro's 44th season and their first World Series. The White Sox have been there before but not since 1959. A full fourteen years before I was born. Nearly half a century. I guess it's obvious why Chicago is excited. Just wanted to put something down in pixels before the Series so I could point back and gloat. Or be horribly wrong and be on record. Postseason baseball is almost like a series of coinflips. The teams are so good that it's not a surprise when any of them win. Some years pitching wins. Other years hitting wins. And some years games are decided by close calls and close plays. Who knows what will win it this year? Both of these teams are very similar. Good defense and pitching. Average to poor offense. Both teams feel like no one gave them any chance to be here. I'll pick with my heart: White Sox in six. They'll do just enough to...

I don't even know what to say. This feels unbelievable. As in, is this really happening? I love this team! I've been following along with some other Sox fans here . What makes this extra special is that Ozzie Guillen was my favorite player while growing up. To see him manage my team to the World Series is nothing short of incredible. Bring on the NL!

Thought I should say something about the Vikings little pleasure cruise on Lake Minnetonka. Who amongst us hasn't had some friends out on the boat and had an orgy break out? Hmmm, almost certainly everyone who reads this blog (and the author!). Can't say I'm really surprised at their behavior. Being a serious sports fan in today's world means rooting for some bad people. The combination of insane money, fame and receiving constant special treatment doesn't really go far to building character. We should almost celebrate the exceptions for turning out ok. What happens from here? The answer lies with what really happened. So far we've allegations and protestations of innocence. If the cruise was just a case of men with strippers getting lap dances, probably not much happens. If 'sex acts' were happening, the story takes a darker turn. We also don't know which players were doing what. Part of the story line is that there were two boats and t...

A piece of baseball history happend on Wednesday night. Video here . The critical play of the White Sox/Angels game was an umpire decision. Description found here . Just thought I'd offer some thoughts of my own. First, let me say that I thought the umpire blew the call. It appears to me that Paul caught the ball to complete the strikeout. Others have differing opinions . The play was close and the umpire is in a particularly bad spot to make that call. Reports are that the 3rd base umpire didn't see it clearly either. Which shouldn't be a surprise. Any play that is disputed during frame by frame replays would be tough for someone 90 feet away. The real problem is what happened next. The umpire's 'mechanic' had a sideways motion that apparently means 'no contact'. He also has a fist pump that means both 'strike' and 'out'. He used the fist pump and mass confusion occured. But...the replay shows that Paul rolls the ball back ...

"Who doesn't love a sunbeam?" or "Roll me back into the surf!"  

This is a good light movie. The movie centers on a group of men who are out of work and hopeless. The steel industry that drove their economy has gone away. Prospects for a new job are few and far between and below their dignity. Enter the Chippendales. When a group of male strippers plays the local club, the men get the idea of raising money by become strippers themselves. They figure that if women will go crazy over those other men, they'll go even crazier over them. Then reality sets in. As they audition for a full set of dancers, they realize what a sorry lot they are. But each one has good reasons why they must go forward and they eventually do. This movie does a very good job of giving each man a different motivation and story. One does it for child support. One to recover money that his wife has been spending. The most compelling is a self described 'fat bastard' who does it to feel like a desireable man again. A good movie. I remember comparing...

This is a very complex well done story. Set in LA of the 50's, it's basically a gritty police drama. The movie follows three very different cops, Kevin Spacey, Guy Pierce and Russell Crow. Spacey is part of the LAPD/Hollywood overlap. He works as a consultant to a TV show. The fame and the bright lights are very important to him. Pierce is a climber, looking for ways to burnish his career. He's an intellectual type who is constantly told to take off his glasses so as not to project the wrong image. Crow is perhaps the most interesting of the three. He's a brutal man who believes that being a cop sometimes means breaking the rules about police brutality. The first scene with him shows that he's deeply concerned about violence towards women. He knows that he's not the brainy type but he strongly believes that his type of effort is needed to maintain law and justice. All three are very good actors and they each do very well in very different roles. ...

Sorry about that. Expect a flood this weekend. I've gots stuff to say.

Couldn't get time off of work to watch the game yesterday, so I followed it online. Very frustrating as I was watching two different sites and hitting 'refresh' constantly. But also very exciting. The White Sox went into Fenway and beat the best offensive team in the AL 5-3. For the series they outscored them 24-9. This gave their first playoff series victory since they won the World Series in 1917. Yep, 1917. A mere 56 years before I was born. Not used to playoff victories and ultimatly believe they'll kill me somehow. But for the time being, I love this. I'll take it. After last night's game, the Angels are up against the Yankees 2 games to 1. Not sure who I'd prefer to play against. Guess I'm cheering that series goes five games. If I had to pick, I'd rather play the Yankees. We've seen what the White Sox do against poor pitching. I'd rather see some more of it.

Hard to believe that my team is up two games to none in this series. This is completely new territory for me. Feels pretty good.

Mouse in the house this morning. Great fun! All ended well as it was rescued and released into the backyard. (Pictures below.)

Quite a mouthful 

Mighty hunter 

After the Vikings first loss, I gave a few thoughts on what went wrong. Later, I realized the obvious problem, it's Bush's fault. Just for laughs, of course. I thought that the play of a football team would somehow be beyond even Bush's powerful reach. The ability to bring every problem in the world to W's feet is becoming more and more bizarre. The term Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS) is being bandied around on the right to try and describe what's going on. Overreaction? This letter was in the Strib today . I'll reprint the whole thing, because I don't think they archive these for long. The curse of the Bush Coincidence or curse? Vikings fans, you be the judge. On Oct. 29, 2004, Minnesota Vikings had a 5-1 record. Head Coach Mike Tice was on top of the world, feeling confident, virile; no one could touch him. That day in Minneapolis he introduced President Bush and presented him with a personalized Vikings jersey with the number 1 on the back. Since t...

This movie is filled with good acting, a few memorable lines and a weak story. Jack Nicholson plays an OCD writer. Which means Jack playing Jack, but with some quirks. Like only using new soap bars and never stepping on cracks. He's about the meanest person alive. Racist and homophobic and just plain ugly to people. Greg Kinnear plays his neighbor, a gay painter with a little dog. Unable to stand confrontation and trusting to a fault. His agent picks up a model off of a street corner for him to paint. The models friends break into rob him and end up beating him savagely. Helen Hunt has the other sizeable role in the film. She plays a waitress with a sick boy. She's also the only person that can control Jack. When she misses work to tend to her boy, Jack hires a doctor to look after him so she can go back to work. When Kinnear is beaten up, Jack looks after his dog. And falls in love with it. In fact the dog gives him some humanity by falling in love back. When Kinn...

Just wanted to get a few words in before the game starts. I won't be surprised by any outcome of the upcoming all Sox games. I can see the White Sox superior pitching and defense will winning out, probably in four games. But my years of being a cursed sports fan (22 with the Vikings, 19 with the White Sox) have me prepared for being swept. The last time we were in the playoffs was in 2000. The White Sox finished with the top record in the AL and promptly lost three straight to Seattle. Their starting pitching had a horrible rash of injuries. It wasn't pretty. This time around the starting pitching is very good. The only injury concerns are with the closer, Hermanson. The offense is average and that's a concern. Who wins? I don't know. Play ball! UPDATE: Ok, I didn't expect the Sox to put a five-spot in the first. But I'll take it.

about Frank Thomas . He's been mislabeled a problem in the clubhouse and this should show how much he cares about his teamates and vice versa.