Weekend checki in, 2 Movie Reviews, and today's sexy lady

OK, so it's beena few days, so I figured I would take a few minutes to check in with my peeps.

As mentioned in previous posts, good friend towelie continues to be a regular distraction... but it's ok, he's only following his nature.

Meanwhile, the Boston REd Sox continue chugging along, even after wunderkid closer Jonathen Papelbon blew back to back saves (on Thur. and Friday night). Yesterday he settled back in and the Sox won again.

By the Way, as much as I like Beckett (especially for what he does in the postseason) - but Dice-K is doing great this year. I told lots of people that I felt last year would be his adjustment year and hoped for about 15-20 wins. He made 32 starts last year, finished at 15-12. The plus is that he makes his starts and earns decision. His era was 4.4, not great and he walked 80 guys. He stayed in the same zone in the post-season, going 2 -1 with 4 games started, and a 5.03 era.

He still throws too many pitches, and walks way too many batters, but he continues to improve. He's 6-0 this season. His era sits at 2.45, good for 4th in the league, and his last game was a 7 inning 96 pitch gem, with 2 earned runs, 3 walks, and 7 strike outs.

I also saw 2 great movies. The first was Lady From Shanghai (Is that poster freaking great or what?) - This was screened at the Big Screen Classics series I've written about earlier. The wife wasn't into seeing this particular flick so my buddy Sal and I checked it out instead. This is yet another film written and directed by Orson Welles that the studio butchered with a hackneyed editing job. The cut we saw ran at 87 minutes but I've read that one of Welle's original cuts clocked in at over 2 1/2 hrs. That's at least an hour of cut material, and even though I like the film very much, I can see where at least 30 minutes could have been added to make a more complete picture.

The picture stars today's sexy lady, the incomparable Rita Hayworth, (still believe her sexiest role to be in Gilda, btw) - with her soon to be ex husband playing "Black Irish", a seafaring rogue who plays the patsy to Hayworth's femme fatale. Add in her husband, angry and ugly lawyer Bannister, who likes to keep his thumb on the people around him. 2 others are his private dick who spies on Hayworth, and Grigbsy, an always sweating miserable bastard, fitting enough Bannister's partner.

Tons of twists and turns, with visual treats such as the two schemers Hayworth and Welles conspiring in an aquarium, with exotic fish swimming noiselessly behind them. (All the more powerful due to a monologue Welle's gives earlier in the film about a school of sharks turning on each other, and the famous house of mirrors scene at the end. (One of my 2 most favorite such scenes, with the the scene with Bruce Lee for Enter the Dragon.

The other great flick was Michael Collins, a well written, well acted, well filmed movie about truth, power, the concessions we make, and the price it costs people. Well worth all the hype you've undoubtedly encountered, a must see for fans of adult, intelligent thrillers.

Checking In & Some Movie Reviews - 2 and Today's Hot Chick

So I haven't checked in for a few days, and the easiest way to explain that is to reference one of my favorite characters, Towlie, on South Park. There is an episode in which towlie finds himself in trouble, begins to come up with a great idea, then decides to ... clear... his.... thoughts (cough, cough) for a minute... and he immediately loses momentum. Ah, art imitating life.

I recently rewatched Layer Cake, a terrific British crime drama, with a gritty, complex plot filled with a variety of colorful (and very well acted) characters. Directed by Matthew Vaugh, Producer of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and writer/director of Stardust, this movie is a very post modern noir (or neo-noir, if you prefer) movie with a raw edge. Highly recommended.

The Red Sox are now the best team inthe American League (no surprise there for me!!!) - Winners of 8 of their last 10, the Sox have rebounded strongly since being swept by the Tampa Bay Rays April 25-27. The team has taken 2 out of 3 from Toronto, swept Tampa Bay and exacted revenge for the previous sweep, and now has taken 3 of 4 from Detroit. Barring any major injury, this team really looks primed to repeat as champs, and take their 3rd title in 5 years.

The last 2 pictures are of one of Roger Clemens' reported lovers, country western signer Mindy McReady. Allegations mention the two knew each other when she was 15, but Roger denies any inappropriate activity (just like he didn't use steriods, and oh, by the way, one of the other woman alleged to have been with Roger is drunken golfer John Daly's ex-wife... Jeez, uglier and uglier.

Beast

OH, let's hope if anything did happen, it was when Mindy looked like the hot pic, and not the later criminal pics.

Sav

Great Googley-Moogley, Mila Kunis is so freaking hot. - I always dug her on That 70's Show, and these picts re enforce those thoughts... hmmm

Monday Night and Feeling Groovy

So Okay, my bood buddy towlie is in town, which is certainly a relaxing beginning of the week. In other news, I watched a terrific movie last , Before the Devil Knows You're Dead . Directed by Sidney Lumet, and starring the alway great Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei, and Albert Finney in a very tense and dark crime drama about a robbery gone wrong and a family imploding in extremely ugly fashion. Led by Hoffman's bastard brother Andy, the film has some classic noirish elements, with weak, evil, and tarnished heroes. Highly recommended, and a future addition to the DVD collection, which is my highest praise.

Elsewhere, the BoSox continue to chug along, now at 21-13 and tied for the best record in the American League. they won again tonight, with Dice-K getting sort of an ugly win (5 innings, only 2 hits, 1 earned run, 8 walks, and 109 pitches.) Not pretty, but still he now sits at 5-0 with a 2.43 era he sits atop the best starters in the A.L. Add in 2 time World Series winner Josh Beckett, Young Guns Jon Lester and no hitter throwing Clay Buckhoz, toss in ageless Tim Wakefield and you have an excellent 5 man rotation, with ex cy young winner Bartolo Colon working on a comeback to the major leagues in a Red Sox uniform. The team is basically a shut down 1-2 punch for the 8th and 9th innings with Okijima and Paps. That means that the only weak spot is the 6th and 7th, if their starters don't go long. By the way, the offense is first in the American League.

Saturday Thoughts + Movie Reviews - Maxed Out and Breathless

Once again, my favorite day of the week. Pretty lazy afternoon, the wife out doing her quilting thing. 2 goals for today: hit the gym and drop the car off for an oil change. Gym is done and the car is at the shop right now. I have a little get together tonight at my friends place (actually he and his wife recently moved closer by so I am looking forward to seeing them). - Unfortunately the wife is heading to a play tonight with her librarian friend.

I recently watched a documentary far more terrifying than even the worst horror film; Maxed Out. The premise is simple: America and it's citizens have a tremendous problem with debt. Consumer debt is completely out of control, primarily through the liberal use of credit cards (the worst kind of revolving debt possible), maxed out equity loans, second mortgages, and other consumer credit (car loans, student loans, etc.) Even more disturbing is the fact that the U.S.A. has effectively been borrowing from one area of the federal budget in order to provide funding for other expenditures, including making interest payments on the American debt owed. This has been a bipartisan process (although it is true that President Bill Clinton had the country running with a surplus and with a balanced budget; a budget Bush destroyed practically overnight.

The other flick was the quintessential cinema of cool, the rookie film of one of the progenitors of the French New Wave, Jean Luc Godard, ... Breathless. Surprisingly I had never seen this before; and having watched it now I get it. There is much about the picture I found annoying, but upon completion I began to examine the flick in a different light. The key, for me, is remembering that this movie came out in 1960, so the many techniques used by Godard were groundbreaking. Having watched decades of films inspired by Godard it's easy to forget that the original is still to be praised for its utter uniqueness. Also the flick gives us today's babe of the day, the pixieish Jean Seberg, shown above.

Hey, if the evil empire wins today they can return to being the best .500 baseball team money can buy!

Her comes May - Sox in First!

So the good guys from Boston have now won 2 in a row, a 1-0 game in which Jon Lester went 8 innings of shut-out baseball against Toronto, dueling Roy Halladay for the Blue Jays, who threw a complete game loss! (worse yet for Halladay, his third straight cg without a win) and Papelbon came in to nail it down. Then tonight Dice-K goes 7 shut out innings and the Red Sox pull ahead in the 9th to win again in dramatic fashion. They sit atop the A.L. East leading Baltimore and Tampa Bay by a game. As Hank would say " the order has been restored to the universe" - oh, and the Yankees young guns went 0- for the month of April, and the best 200 million dollar team money can buy sits under .500 going into May. Sweetness

Man my fucking legs aches. I worked out for the second time this week, walking to the gym, lifting, doing a mile on the elliptical machine, and then walked home. Sore, sore, sore. Good to be pushing my body, though, especially with my unappreciated (by me) gut! It's not going anywhere on it's own, he's gonna have to be kicked off the premises. And as any landlored will tell you, eviction of a tenant is a bitch.

Oh, how happy would the evil empire be if one of their young guns performed the way Lester and bucholz have!



Iron Man opens this weekend. - It looks f'ing awesome!

Saturday Afternoon, Feeling Fine

Ah, Saturday afternoon and all is well. Easily my favorite day of the week since I've been lucky enough to work one normal m-f 5 day a week job. Never underestimate the importance of that schedule. Many people are unable to have such a set patter, and appreciating it is a must for it continuing.

I recently watched a couple of great movies. The most recent is Maxed Out, a documentary about the terrifying level of debt existent in this country, both from individuals and from our government. The govt. has to borrow against money earmarked for future payouts (pensions, medicaid, SSA, SSI, SSDI, and many other funds earmarked for the future. They use this borrowed money as payment on debt the government itself owes - but only the interest. Because that is all they can afford. This is the equivalent of using cash advance off one credit card to pay another cc bill off. It can not continue indefinitely!

Here's this little tidbit from Alan Greenspan,

The worst-case scenario is a sudden crisis — perhaps a major terrorist attack or a shutoff of oil from the Middle East — that triggers a loss of confidence by investors in the U.S. economy. Foreign investors refuse to lend more money to the government to finance its deficits; drastic tax increases and benefit cuts occur suddenly; the dollar's value plummets, which raises the cost of imported goods; and a severe recession or depression results from falling incomes.

Happy, Happy Joy, Joy!!!

Dazed and Confused with TOYS IN THE ATTIC!!!

April 20 (and a cranky one at that)

A response to the comments on yesterdays blog:

hey old man,

I'm not wrong at all. I agree with both of your points, and of course I was being somewhat facetious, but my point remains valid. I like Woody's point about "stupidly" overpaying for the next level down. Fair enough. However, the truth is the truth; the Yankees have such an incredible safety net provided to via the extra cash. It's an unfair advantage that they can poach stellar talent from other franchises who can not afford to retain their own talented young players. In addition , the Yankees do not have to ever worry about losing someone to another club. If the Yanks want someone, they get him.

It pisses off Yankee fans that the Red Sox (who I have always acknowledged spent much more than most other teams) continue to spend far less than the evil empire yet win. Manny and Papi are two examples of players the Sox signed for expensive yet relatively reasonable contracts and their ROI has been tremendous. It is true the yanks payroll will come down a bit next year, with Pettite, Giambi, and Pavano off the payroll, and the Sox will have to resign Varitek (Thanks, Yanks, for giving Posada that absurd deal with the Sox will have to match now!!), resign Beckett, and hope Manny is happy with the team option.

I would love to see a decade in which the league implemented a cap and basement for teams, ranging from 60 mil to 130 mil. The Sox would be fine, but the Yanks wouldn't. If they can't win while overspending, could they win on a more level field.

Oh, and the Sox win again today, second come from behind victory in a row. Lead AL east at 13-7. The order of goodness remains, despite Blustering idiot Hank Steinbrenner!!!

Beast

$73,888, 377

Once again I have to point out the absurdity of the Evil Empire's competitive advantage over everyone else in baseball, which amuses me since the obscene amount of money spent hasn't yielded significant wins (i.e. World Series championships) this century. Yes, I know, the Yankee lovers will say I am unreasonable, much the same way the filthy rich in America (top 1 pct.) cry "class warfare" when anyone points out maybe they shouldn't control %99 of the country's wealth.

The truth is that both the Yankee fan and the obscenely wealthy are wrong, and all they can do is is try to turn it around, because there is no legit position to stand on. Seriously, almost 74 million dollars more than the Sox? People say to me that I can't complain, the Sox spend plenty, but I can't help but wonder what the Sox could buy with another 74 million bucks. How about Johan Santannas (17 mil), Roy Oswalt, (13 mil), and Roy Halladay (10 million) ? Hmm, that's only 40 million, so the Sox would still be 34 million behind the Yanks, and they would have a rotation of Beckett, Dice-K, Santanna, Oswalt, and Halladay. - OK, the Sox are weak at SS - how about Jose Reyes, at about 4.5 million? Still got 29 million left. Let's add Joe Maur from Minn. to split time with Varitek, Mauer only costs about 6.5 mil. Still have over 22 million left. Since you can always use more relief pitching, let's add B.J. Ryan, figure he comes back healthy, can pitch middle relief for us. At 12 million, that still leaves the Sox behind the Yanks by 10 million bucks. Do you get the picture now, people? Remember, all those salaries would be in addition to the existing players salaries, not as replacements. I really can't understand how anyone can be a fan of a team with every advantage like that. If the team wins it should basically be expected, and not winning is simply abysmal.

Comic Day!.. Celebrity life... and Today's hot chick

Wednesday is new comic day, a nice mid day break from the stress of the week. Other important days include Monday, first day of the traditional workweek, Tuesday is new release day for movies, music, and video games. Friday is new theatrical releases (Tuesday is DVDS, in case that wasn't clear). When I was young I bought my comics from a flea market I used to go to, in the town near where i grew up, Newton, NJ. The flea market was held in the unused areas of a drive in theater, with people driving cars, trucks, and vans loaded with their shit for sale, would drag their shit to this drive in theater and display it for other people to buy. Welcome to America, Baby!

I used to buy my comics wherever I could find them, but when I started to go to the flea market I met Walter Sigg, an odd (but harmless) guy who sold comics. He was at the flea market every sat., and by the end of the summer my friend Dougie and I were regular customers. I wanted to continue to have the comics i liked on a weekly basis, without having to worry about getting into town and finding them on some rack, wrinkled up.
But I digress....

How amazing is that shot of Pauly fucking Shore? Classic example why being a celebrity has far reaching benefits, for how else to explain a D list celebrity, past his prime (on the D-list, no less) who's packed on a beer belly, hanging on the beach with a hottie half his age - but I got nothing for props on that... here's to you, Pauly.

Todays hot chick - the bimbo who brought down a governor, Spitzers chickie - don't know her name, (can't remember) and really, it's unimportant. She is hot, though.

Movie Review - On Dangerous Ground! & today's sexy babe

Nicholas Ray directs. Ida Lupino, Ward Bond, and the always great Robert Ryan act. Bernard Hermann scores the whole thing. Classic Fucking Noir, (except for the saccharine ending, clearly not fitting in tone with the film and according to a recent book on Film Noir, not the ending the screenwriter or Ray wanted. (Lupino directed a few days when Ray was ill, and it's rumored she directed the last scene with her and Ryan) Despite this ending, the film is absolutely terrific, and the film zips along, at a tight and never wasted 82 minutes. A must own for the DVD collector of film noir, and availabe in the Film Noir Vol. 3 availabe on Amazon. Ida Lupino is one of those chicks who shouldn't be so enticing yet I just can't help but find her damned seductive!

Dude

The first in the "Dude" series, and in what should not come as a shock to anyone, one of my favorites. In College, Dude was nearly half my vocabulary

Checking In & Some Movie Reviews

So I haven't checked in for a few days; I guess the work weeks just blow by so fast sometimes. So I will give everyone the update:

A friend came to town on Tuesday, so I ended up using a personal day on Wed. to hang. My allergies were kicking my ass anyway, so it was good to take a one day vacation. I needed it, because the workload has been nuts. Oh, I want to the eye dr. on Mon. and will be getting some new contacts, a "next generation" silicon blend that retains mosture better than previous lenses. These were the doc's words. I have to admit, they are nice, especially as the day wears on and other lenses begin to dry up.

I was going to write a review of the Killing, until realizing I wrote one not too long ago. but WTF, the pic is still cool and the movie never gets old.

The wife and I are finding it increasingly difficult to like Weeds. - We're 3 episodes into Season 2 and we're hating everyone, from hot MILF Mary Louise Parker to her bratty kids, their snotty housekeeper (think a mexican contemporary version of George And Weezies housekeeper on the Jeffersons. (Was her name Florence?) - Wasn't it weird that the Jeffersons, an example of a black couple that was moving forward and upward socially, would then hire a black woman as a servant? Was that perhaps repressed rage by George, to have a slave type for him to dominate. Hmmm, clearly he wasn't racist, since the hiring of a white woman would have contained a juicier subtext, especially if she were attractive. Perhaps the Jeffersons is part of the secret plot that utilizes pop culture to reenforce official opinions for the powers that be.

Yanks are struggling quite a bit these days, dropping two straight to Tampa Bay, but the Red Sox haven't done any better, losing their last two games. Not enough guys are really hitting yet for the BoSox, but as long as the pitching is healthy, this team is in great shape.