The trade deadline is in the books and a few things are certain.
Ruben Amaro did his job and was able to commit baseball robbery by trading two players who will never be major league contributors (Donald and Carrasco), an 18 year old who already has a tired arm (Knapp), and a catcher who might be a major leaguer but never a star. Cliff Lee won’t win 22 games this year or be considered for the Cy Young but Hamels, Lee, Blanton, Happ, and Moyer is the best rotation in the National League, hands down.
The Red Sox have a great lineup by injecting Victor Martinez into the heart of it. I suspect an injection of Martinez should be the adrenaline needed to make the Red Sox even, if not greater then the Yankees.
Jake Peavy is a member of the White Sox, for real this time. The White Sox should be very proud to make an impact by reeling in a battered top-of-the-rotation arm who has a 50/50 chance of pitching again this season. Kudos, your roster hasn’t changed, I still see the Tigers winning the division.
Speaking of the Tigers they added Jarrod Washburn from the Mariners. Considering Washburn has been mired in Seattle where the Mariners are allergic to competing I have heard this name mentioned a million times before in potential deadline moves. I was beginning to think Washburn didn’t exist but his departure from lattes and rain proves his existence, but I doubt it matters; the Tigers win the Central with or without Washburn.
Scott Rolen is heading to Cincinnati in exchange for a struggling Edwin Encarnacion and a handful of prospects. Not sure why the Reds would pick up Rolen’s contract (22 million this year and next) while they are stuck in limbo, not quite a playoff team but certainly not ready to sell off all their big contracts.
Speaking of Rolen’s former club, they at least got rid of one big contract. However, they will receive absolutely NOTHING for Halladay when he opts out of his contract. So instead of getting at least J. Happ and a handful of not ready for primetime players, J.P. Ricciardi will watch Roy Halladay exit for greener pastures and the Blue Jays won’t even have a Cy Young pitcher to hang their hats on, they will just be a mediocre team that acts as whipping boy for the Yankees and Red Sox.
How can I describe J.P. Ricciardi’s childish wheeling and dealing that hasn’t been said already. His trade proposals made as much sense when the Eagles were shopping Donovan McNabb around. Their asking price, 3 first round picks. That’s like saying, “I’m willing to sell my $300,000 house, just offer me a million and it is yours.” Ricciardi’s adolescent, selfish haggling puts him in my book with other terrible GMs like Ed Wade (you can never have enough middle relievers when your entire lineup is hitting .240) and Steve Phillips (Handing over Jason Bay and also tried to hand Reyes over to the Indians for Roberto Alomar).
So the Phillies settled for a very passable plan B by bringing in Cliff Lee, which you won’t hear any of the Phillies faithful complain about. Happ is still a part of the rotation and Drabek can continue to keep our hopes up.
Speaking of the Phightings, I hate to sound like a pessimist but I smell a slump that hopefully our newly acquired ace can dig us out of. The Phillies are doing the usual things that come with mid season slumps. The first thing, they are not scoring the easy runs. During the loss to Arizona, the bases were loaded with no one out in a two run game. The Phils got none. Then the following night it was 2-1 when Jimmy Rollins led off the inning with a double and a steal of third. Unfortunately Utley struck out, Werth popped out, and Howard hit a dribbler.
Maybe I am overreacting, maybe small ball isn’t important, but I can’t help but be concerned.
I will make sure to catch Lee’s debut in San Francisco and hopefully it will quell my concerns for the time.
A day like today calls for me to break my own blog rules. I am going to write a bit about the Cliff Lee deal and the passing of Jim Johnson (and then LOST).
Jim Johnson passed away yesterday afternoon. It wasn’t a complete shock for anyone in Philadelphia. Once Sean McDermott was officially named the defensive coordinator, The Daily News sports section began speculating that Johnson’s condition was dire. A quote in Monday’s paper described McDermott talking about Johnson as omnious. Regardless, it’s still very sad news. Seven months ago he was coaching his defense in the NFC Championship. It was some of the best defense I’ve seen in the ten seasons I was able to watch his defensive mind at work. I loved his defense. He was so creative and smart. He adapted so well. For example, an older Dawkins couldn’t do what younger Dawkins did, and so Johnson used him as the joker. He helped mold Chris Gocong into one hell of a linebacker. Joselio Hanson could’ve been a starter in this league because of Jim Johnson but Hanson was loyal enough to stay (and the eagles recognized the talent of Hanson by giving him starters money to be the nickel corner). All of my favorite Eagles defenders (former and present) are products of the Jim Johnson defense. He wasn’t afraid to make a move. I remember him benching Omar Gaither and inserting Akeem Jordan, the Lito fiasco which spawned Joselio, moving Darren Howard to tackle which paid off huge, deciding to let Troy Vincent and Bobby Taylor go for Sheldon Brown and Lito Sheppard, the defensive line rotation, Quentin Mikell becoming the starting strong safety, etc, etc.
Year after year after year he kept it fresh. One of my favorite defensive performances was the Cowboys game from 2007 when the Eagles were heading for an 8-8 finish and the Cowboys were America’s team again, and the defense just went into Dallas and smacked them across the mouth. A 10-6victory for the Birds. That’s only one of many examples of Jim Johnson’s defense. In 2001, the team didn’t allow more than 21 points in any regular season game. His tenure has produced solid top 5 stats for the defense. He had an extraordinary mind. I didn’t know much about his life except that he was a devoted family man and that he loved football. As a sports fan, he’s given me great memories and showed me what great defense was.
As for the Phillies, they are 19-3 in July (the final game of the d’backs series has not yet completed as of this posting) and they acquired the reigning AL Cy Young winner from the Indians this afternoon. Yes, Cliff Lee is a Philadelphia Phillie. I’m pretty excited. I was worried about what they would’ve given up for Lee. When I saw the details of the deal, it wasn’t too bad. I’m a big Lou Marson fan. He has a lot of potential to make a name for himself in this league. I would’ve liked to have seen him remain a Phil but the big picture is repeating in the world series so I’m okay with trading him. Carrasco was simply expendable. Jason Donald, the now former projected 3B of the future, was hurt most of this year at AAA. He needs consistency with the bat. And I didn’t know anything about Jason Knapp other than he’s supposed to become a very good pitcher. I hope he does. I’m very happy overall with the deal. I know this team can repeat. The big worry now is Lidge in the 9th. He’s been struggling ever since the season started. Lidge is the only big concern. I think the fans have a clue of what the pen and rotation could could look like in a month and September with the call-ups: Hamels, Lee, Blanton, Happ, Moyer; Bullpen: Clay “The Con Man” Condrey, Durbin, Romero, Eyre, Chan Ho, Pedro, Myers, Drabek (hey it’s a possibility), Tyler Walker, Mad-Dog Mammoth Madson, Lidge, Kendrick (just to speculate of course). Their lineup is out of this world. No need to elaborate on that. This team can very well repeat.
LOST!
Today, there is no LOST episode of the day. I recently found these terrific LOST cartoons that were made in 2006. It’s pre-season 3 of course. I think they are brilliant. It pokes fun at the show and I get a kick out of it. Hopefully you watch and agree. My personal favorite will be posted at a later date. Thank you.
OASIS OFF!
Oasis Off has been effectively pointless but I will continue forth with it. There are two songs left and then I will determine if Wonderwall really is the best Oasis song to play acoustically with the hopes of getting laid. Today’s song could very well steal the award from Wonderwall. Who knows?
Radio silence has officially ended for the last time. No longer will July be the highlight of the long, long hiatus for every LOST fan for this is the last hiatus fans will experience. Yes, the end is near. LOST at Comic Con for the final time was the first real instance of the inevitable conclusion of the series in May. Names were dropped as to who will show up at some point during the final season. I imagine every major, major character is going to show up at some point. Judging from the season six teases (and Lindelof and Cuse didn’t reveal anything at all as to what to expect in the final season), it’s going to be a special, bittersweet season. Jorge Garcia, who portrays Hurley, asked the funniest question of the day about whether or not the show would erase the last five seasons thanks to Jack’s attempt to destroy those three years of time, claiming that to do so would be a real cheat. Lindelof and Cuse, as always, didn’t answer. The final panel for LOST at Comic Con’s theme was the fans. They appreciated the fans by showing various things created by fans whether they were videos, paintings, etc. LOST was revealed to the world at the 2004 Comic Con. It leaves Comic Con as the greatest show in television history. The crowd for the final panel thankfully beat the record-setting crowd set by Twilight fans for the Twilight panel. I don’t think I would’ve handled LOST being beaten by that crummy vampire story. Nestor Carbonell (the great Richard Alpert), Michael Emerson (Benny Linus), and Josh Holloway (Sawyer) also made an appearance for the final Comic Con. And yes, as I expected and wrote last week, a new video (a “commercial” rather) to officially kick off the anticipation for season six was shown. Below is the video and my thoughts:
It’s only 17 seconds long so it’s safe to assume I won’t blowhard about it. But it looks like Faraday’s theory panned out, that detonating Jughead erased the last three years, and the plane never crashed because they stopped The Incident from happening. Hm. I’d like to mention that these things aren’t officially LOST canon. Mainly, the obsessive die-hards watch these. I remember during the weeks leading up to season two’s premiere that a website was created. I forgot exactly how I navigated it but I ended up witnessing the light shine out of the hatch again and I think saw two scenes from the premiere. Of course there have been interactive games such as The Lost Experience and Find815. Back to the video: Hm.
Back to the Comic Con panel now, a man in the audience was lucky to receive a statue of the bird Claire used as a possible messanger to the outside world from Par Avion. Damon also noted that no one asks what happened to that bird. Perhaps I will cover that when Par Avion is the episode of the day. Also, Claire was the secret word. Very exciting. Here’s a picture of her for the hell of it.
Claire was the secret word
Other highlights I’ve witnessed: when Josh Holloway surprises the crowd, ‘tazes’ Damon who he thinks is JJ Abrams, and demands Carlton opens a treasure chest that contains secrets from LOST. Once he has the info in his hand, he pauses, and Emerson says, “oh my god, you can’t read!’ Josh says he left his glasses on The Island. Emerson takes the paper and begins reading despite Carlton and Damon’s protests that he not read. It turns out that it is a scene from Heroes. After reading it for a minute, Emerson asks, “What the [expletive deleted] is this?’ Emerson was outstanding. He offers some great insights about LOST. He reiterated that he thinks LOST’s ultimate conclusion will be for grown-ups. It was fantastic all around from Lindelof’s atrocious acting, Cuse’s atrocious acting, the joke that Holloway mistaked Lindelof for Abrams, Nestor and Jorge enjoying themselves, and poking fun at Heroes, and Emerson’s reaction to what he was reading (and how he pronounced Sylar). The panel ended with a montage and then Dom Monoghan came out to surprise as Damon and Carlton bid farewell to the crowd.
THE ‘LOST’ EPISODE OF THE DAY!
The episode: A Tale of Two Cities Original Airdate: October 4, 2006 Written By: JJ Abrams & Damon Lindelof (Story By Damon Lindelof) Directed By: Jack Bender
Content: Jack, Kate and Sawyer find themselves in unusual locations after being kidnapped by the Others, who reveal themselves to be more sophisticated than anyone could have previously guessed.
Why It’s Worth Re-Watching: The teaser of the episode is gold. It opens with Juliet, she’s upset, and about to host the book club. And then what seems to be an earthquake hits and then the viewer realizes the scene is taking place on 9/22/04 as the others watch the plane split in two. The episode is worth re-watching for a few reasons. The first: Michael Emerson sat in during EW’s Totally Lost panel. He spoke about Ben stabbing Jacob in The Incident. He’s not sure what aftermath of that will be but he revealed that he knew what the scene meant for Ben and explained how he played the scene (i swear this ties in to A Tale of Two Cities).
Essentially, he sums up one of the most important themes of LOST: father/son relationships or lackthereof. He describes how Ben has always been looking for a father and that deep down in his heart he always expected Jacob to be what his own father never was so he pours his heart out to Jacob and only receives a ‘what about you?’ as the response but Michael states that Jacob is the one who willed Ben to stab him with the knife (which is indeed very interesting). Back to this episode, the flashback revolves around Jack’s obsessive days with Sarah and her new lover but the underlying thread of the flashback is Jack and his relationship with his father. He suspects Christian of being the new guy in Sarah’s life when he finds out Sarah’s been calling him. This suspicion leads to Jack physically attacking his father at an AA meeting (it’s revealed in the flashback that Christian has been sober for 50 days). The final scene of the flashback involves Jack and Sarah. Sarah bails Jack out of jail for the aforementioned incident with his father, and that she found out because Christian called completely drunk. When Jack hears this, it’s like the monster just hit him. He’s crushed. What’s tragic about it is that Jack is the reason his father began drinking again, and drinking led to his death in Sydney. When he’s in The Hydra, he hears his father say ‘let it go.’ I’m of the opinion this episode is underrated for the flashback alone. Jack’s a favorite of mine because of his backstory, his conflicts, struggles, his ability to come through in the clutch, etc. I’ll go as far as to say it’s evidence of why the ultimate end of LOST will be sad (i of course see the other side as well). There’s evidence throughout the show and yada yada. Back to the episode, the first episode of season three doesn’t end happily. Kate’s sad as hell, Sawyer isn’t too happy, and Jack has to give in rather than continue to fight. And they are all locked in cages (Jack in an aquarium if you want to be matter of fact about it ). The Others have the clear upper hand at the end of the episode (of course that’s not the case come Through The Looking Glass). It’s a poignant story about the darker and more vulnerable side of Jack.
The episode also introduces the world to Juliet playd by Elizabeth Mitchell. It took some time for Juliet to grow on me but the character is great. Elizabeth Mitchell had the pathos of Juliet down in the first scene of the season. She brought humanness to the Others. The episode also has a badass scene in which the ocean rushes into The Hydra as Jack tries to escape. I remember seeing it in the previews and being wowed. Also, Sawyer cracks me up when he finally figures out the contraption in the cage and he dances to the triumphant music that plays as he gets his Dharma fish biscuit, peanuts, and water. Another recommendation: watch the episode and then re-watch it with commentary by Damon Lindelof and Elizabeth Mitchell. It’s fantastic. Elizabeth Mitchell and Matthew Fox knocked this episode out of the park. And for good measure, here’s the final scene of Jack’s flashback:
TRUE BLOOD
In this episode, Alan Ball began to blatantly rip off the Angel/Darla dynamic as well as the Angel/Buffy/Spike triangle. Those flashbacks screamed Angel/Darla. I’m not a fan of that, Alan Ball. Bill is basically Angel. Evil and now tormented to a degree. So yeah, not a fan of that. Also, Lafayette was ordered to sell V again by Eric, and he’s showing some severe trauma from his three weeks in hell. Terry helped comfort Lafeyette. Terry also laid a verbal smackdown on his cousin Andy. Eggs has some sort of supernatural ability but any interesting thing about that subplot desolved completely thanks to bulljawn Maryann. Daphne revealed herself as an accomplice to Maryann, setting up Sam (who is still cool) to be killed. Sookie and Isabel’s boyfriend went undercover into the Fellowship of the Sun and the plan completely backfired (Bill could not help because of “Darla”). Eric wants to be romantically involved with Sookie and invited “Darla” to control Bill or something. As a matter of fact, when she returned last week, with that slow-mo walk, that was right out of season two of ANGEL when Dru returns to vamp Darla again (it’s best I don’t digress and explain why Darla was vamped a second time). Jason and Luke built some thing to murder a vampire. Jason had sex with Sarah Newlin. That’s about it. You see, not a lot happened. This episode essentially had no story. It just things happening. It was basically The Joker saying “i just do things.” Hopefully next week improves.
OASIS OFF!
I think there’s only three songs left in Oasis Off so here is the first of the final three. I chose to embed a live acoustic version of the song because it’s fantastic.
Firsts things first, congratulations to Mark Buerhle for his perfect game Thursday afternoon. Absolutely spectacular to see a guy his age go out there and mow down one of the youngest and most talented lineups in baseball. There is something special about shutting down a slugging lineup like the Rays that is more impressive then if someone no-no-ed the Padres.
This ‘blog’ is being blogged while I watch the Phillies play the AAA affiliate from San Diego in a make-up game. Oh wait. Does their hat say San Diego Padres? There is no way this is a major league team I am watching the Phillies handle, but I guess that is to be expected from a Padres team that really does not care.
Anyway, back to Buerhle. During the Phillies game they showed a clip of the clubhouse watching Buerhle’s masterpiece, including the immaculate and timely snag by Dewayne Wise in centerfield (definitely the play of the year, way better than Murphy’s behind the back toss because of its timing). Watching Scott Eyre and Clay Condrey jump around the clubhouse like little kids unwrapping an Xbox 360 on December 25th made me envy not being around enough baseball fans in my life. Not only is baseball these guys job but they are also fans. I wish I could get paid to have fun like that, but oh well.
I guess it is inevitable that I will give in to all the Roy Halladay hype and talk a bit about one of the best pitchers in baseball and the hopes that he may finish the season in red.
If anyone is going to snatch Halladay in the Blue Jays’ wholesale makeover of the team at this year’s deadline it will be the Phils. The minor league roster has plenty of coveted prospects and J. Happ’s value will never reach this height again.
For those of you out there that think a young lefty like Happ is not worth giving up, either you don’t understand baseball or your dealer gave you some extra wacky stuff for your pipes. No pitchers can survive as two pitch pitchers when one of those pitches is an 88 MPH fastball. He might be great this year but eventually the dedicated players around the league (obviously this qualifier eliminates the Mets) are going to watch enough tape to figure him out a bit. He may be a solid number 3 for Philadelphia, or, God willing, the Blue Jays someday but Roy Halladay is a Cy Young candidate every year.
If the Phillies and Dodgers were to play another best of seven for the Pennant then the pitching match-ups would most likely be Hamels/Billingsly – Happ/Wolf – Kershaw/Blanton. On paper, those match-ups are fairly even. However, throw in former Cy Young winner Roy Halladay out as your number two pitcher and the Dodgers will have to go through two aces two times if they hope to move onto the World Series. Blanton and Moyer could both be at their worse and the Phillies would still be a heavy favorite in this series.
So here is this one man’s opinion and that is all this statement can be considered.
Ruben Amaro needs to get this done.
I know that all Phils’ fans will be watching for Kyle Drabek and he might be a formidable ace in the big leagues at some point in his career but for me, that will be ok. This is the second best pitcher in baseball (in my opinion, only slightly behind Lincecum). Try to keep Michael Taylor if possible and make the deal and watch the rest of the N.L. tremble.
So with that being said about the potential blockbuster to bring the Doc to Philly it is time to talk this week in baseball.
The Phillies remained hot out of the All-Star break and became the first team in years to win their last 5 before the break and their first 5 after. The streak ended at the hands of the Cubs (with an assist to Chad Durbin) at Wednesdays matinee. Thankfully I missed the performance because I was at work watching pitch for pitch on my technologically inept Nextel phone. However, my thoughts, and most likely the rest of Philadelphia’s feelings can be summed up by a text I received from my brother once the game slipped away.
“Chad Durbin makes me want to punch babies” – Dan Schmidt. Very delicately, and accurately, put.
Speaking of our weak bullpen, Chad “I want to punch babies” Durbin and J.C. Romero will be heading to the D.L. leaving room for Tyler Walker to step in, something anyone who read Saturday’s blog knows I am happy to see. Andrew Carpenter will also return to the bigs and take over mop-up duty out of the pen.
There was also good news that Bret Myers may return in August, well ahead of schedule, following surgery to repair his torn hip labrum. This is great news, especially if the Phillies can land Halladay or another top of the rotation pitcher. Bret Myers can be that right-handed arm out of the pen I am dying to find going into September, and hopefully October.
Perhaps I should stop writing this because Cole Hamels is starting to get beat around by the AAA Padres. A home run by Kyle “.190” Blanks has made this a one run game and all the positive vibes I released into Microsoft word is beginning to shift horribly in the opposite direction. I am starting to curse at Howard for his hole-filled swing and I was riding high going into this blog tonight, so I am going to wrap it up before cynicism overcomes my better judgment.
Katherine Heigl, an evil girl and special agent guinea pigs,
Ok, well at least two of the three are repetitive, and I’m not referring to the one with the slightly adorable, slightly creepy CGI rodents.
I heard that Heigl was the first choice to play the part of the evil little girl in “The Orphan” but she wouldn’t stop bad mouthing the director during the casting session so they hired an actual little girl, instead of someone who just acts like a one.
Heigl bashing aside, this weekend’s crop of new films hardly seem like main event summer attractions.
What, did every studio already fill their September slates? Has the summer blockbuster season ended already? But, I’m not ready to go back to school yet!!
Sorry about that. I just panicked for a second. I’m better now.
So “G-Force” follows the exploits of a crack team of CIA trained animal operatives. Not exactly your typical blockbuster, but I guess it will have to make due.
Finally someone made a movie about CIA-trained Guinea Pigs!!
It does boast a fairly impressive cast, which includes, Nicolas Cage, Steve Buscemi, Tracy Morgan, Bill Nighy, Will Arnett and Zach Galifianakis.
I guess this is the movie for you if you’re one of those parents who avoided “Harry Potter” due to religious objections or simply because 153 minutes is a long time to spend watching teenagers make googly eyes at each other.
Next up is “The Orphan” which stars Peter Sarsgaard and some creepy kid. And the girl from “The Departed.”
Ahh Peter... <3
But mostly the fantastic Sarsgaard. I would watch this guy in anything. For those of you keeping score at home— add this guy to the man-crush list.
The movie follows a nice family who adopt a not-so-nice orphan. Mayhem ensues.
And then there’s Heigl’s “The Ugly Truth,” which also stars Gerard Butler, who seems to be making anything offered to him these days.
Rather then post a picture of Heigl, I elected to post another shot of Sarsgaard. We all know he's prettier than she is anyway...
In the film, Butler attempts to fix it so that men will like Heigl (no easy feat) and— spoiler alert— probably ends up falling for her himself.
Basically, its one of those “men are different then women, isn’t that so FUNNY” type of movies.
So, all that being said, it looks like “Harry Potter” will probably reign supreme at the box office once again next week.
Methinks that he must have used some diabolical wizardry to make all the big summer blockbusters disappear.
I’m extremely excited for football season. It’s always a good time with football. Since I like to stick to the entertainment side of life I don’t write too much about sports. Luckily, television and sports for reality shows like MLB Network’s The Pen (focused on the great Phillies bullpen) and in a few weeks HBO’s Hard Knocks returns with the Cincinnati Bengals being the team of choice. It was only two years ago the world enjoyed the antics of the Cincinattica Bengals (Sports Guy’s nickname for them of course). Only comedy can ensue from Hard Knocks: The Cincinnatti Bengals. Yes, I will review this on a (hopefully) weekly basis. It’ll be terrific. Speaking of The Pen though…
The show delivered the best episode yet. The middle of the episode focused on Clay ‘The Con Man’ Condrey’s journey to the major leagues (David Murphy, of course, wrote about his journey in March for the Daily News–terrific piece), the episode updated folks on Jack Taschner’s re-assignment to the IronPigs, and they actually didn’t speed through 3 weeks of baseball action. The show didn’t bother to delight their audience and indulge them in the 22-1 victory over the Reds but Mitch did narrate a series of highlights of what the guys do in the bullpen during games. Tyler Walker being designated for assignment has yet to come in The Pen but I’m sure it’ll be a doozy. Overall, I’ve enjoyed the look-in at the bullpen. I haven’t learned anything new about the bullpen. I think they are saving all of the actual who they are outside of baseball for next week. Highlights have been when the crew followed Lidge to Reading for a rehab assignment, the pen’s adventures in San Diego, the lunch when Taschner, Walker, Lidge, and Condrey recalled their major league debuts.
TRUE BLOOD
In this episode, the Rev’s wife got sexy with Jason in a bathtub (her reward for him), Jason once again moved up in the ranks of the Sun, Godric (or is it Goddrick) was revealed as the Maker of Eric, Lafayette is back at Merlotte’s and not the same ol’ Lafayette, Daphne is also a shapeshifter and Sam likes her even more now, Maryann continues to be a so and so by messing with Tara at work as well as wearing Grams’ clothes and inviting and then manipulating her way to a permanent stay in Sookie’s house, Tara continues to be played, Sookie bothers Barry a whole lot, Godric’s crew aren’t loyal, Jessica and Hoyt are a more interesting couple than Bill and Sookie, Bill is still hilarious, Terry and Arlene seemed to have become close thanks to Maryann’s ‘whatever-the-hell-she-does-to-people’ jawn, and Sookie agreed to go undercover within the Fellowship of the Sun. I enjoyed ‘Never Let Me Go.’ First of all, the title reminded me of the Third Eye Blind song ‘Never Let You Go’ and, secondly, interesting things transpired. Sam continues to be suave as hell. Looking forward to next week.
THE ‘LOST’ EPISODE OF THE DAY!
Doc Jensen posted 15 questions that fans want answered in season six. I will do that as well in the future. Comic Con is THIS weekend. The LOST panel is Saturday. I’ll provide my thoughts on not only LOST but also Dollhouse and any other panel Joss Whedon is on. Perhaps I’ll even cover Kevin Williamson’s The Vampire Diaries starring Boone from LOST. I might indeed wait to comment on LOST’s panel until I listen to the podcast. Decisions, decisions. Surely I’ll be providing you with Dollhouse material. Onto the episode:
The episode: Pilot, Part 2
Original Airdate: September 29, 2004
Written By: J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof (Story by JJ Abrams, Damon Lindelof, and Jeffrey Lieber)
Directed By: J.J. Abrams
Content: A group of survivors attempt to broadcast a distress signal for help, while Jack tries to save a man who has been impaled by a piece of shrapnel from the plane. Flashbacks show the events just prior to the crash from the points of view of Kate and Charlie.
Why It’s Worth Re-Watching: Ideally, you watch the pilot as a whole and not in parts but as this is the episode of the day and not episodes…you know the deal. It is a request by STEVE, the other man behind the weekly in-season LOST rankings. Obviously, for rewatchability, it’s the second half of the Pilot that began it all–all the magic, mystery, intrigue, etc. It’s the beginning of a very special series. The end of the episode will leave the unitiated in silence. Mostly, it’s cool to see how the series has progressed. The people were as mysterious as the Island they were on. One of my favorite scenes in this episode leads to a subplot in Hearts and Minds. I won’t give either away because it’ll make it less fun when you re-watch and connect the dots. Sawyer shoots a polar bear, Rousseau’s transmission is picked up and translated by Shannon, Sawyer’s backstory is hinted at when he looks at the letter he wrote to himself while Giachinno’s music swells, Locke tells Walt a secret (also has one of my favorite Locke lines), the symbolism of Backgammon, Jack begins his attempt to heal Edward Mars, Hurley faints at the sight of Mars’ blood, Claire feels her baby again after eating shellfish Jin made for people, etc, etc. It ends with Charlie’s infamous words: ‘Guys…where are we?’
There is very little in the world more entertaining then watching movie critics attempt to out do each other.
If one critic “loves” a movie, another “adores it.” One will call something “a fantastic movie,” while another pronounces it to be a “monumental cinematic achievement.”
With movie critics, one-upsmanship just goes with the territory.
This is the only critic I care about
I mean, how else will you find your way onto a newspaper ad or a TV spot? Or, better yet, a DVD box?
Truly though, there has been NOTHING as much fun as watching critics try and come up with new and exciting ways to trash “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.”
Ready... aim... criticize!
Here are just a few of the best and most creative examples of critical venom spewed at Michael Bay’s latest, which incidentally is sitting at a steady 20% according to rottentomatoes.com.
And that’s including the fanboy site’s reviews. When it rains it pours, Mr. Bay.
“Like watching paint dry while getting hit over the head with a frying pan!” Peter Bradshaw, Guardian
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” is a horrible experience of unbearable length, briefly punctuated by three or four amusing moments. One of these involves a dog-like robot humping the leg of the heroine. Such are the meager joys. If you want to save yourself the ticket price, go into the kitchen, cue up a male choir singing the music of hell, and get a kid to start banging pots and pans together. Then close your eyes and use your imagination.” – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
“Take all of your flatware, pots and pans, put them in the dryer, turn it on and watch it for 2.5 hours. What you see and hear will be similar to watching this overlong, overloud, dreary sequel.” – Philadelphia Daily News Short Takes
And then there’s Peter Travers of Rolling Stone, who scoffs at all other’s puny attempts to mock “Transformers 2.” He gave it zero stars. For reference, “I Love You, Beth Cooper” received one star.
“Disguised as a human director, Bay is actually a destroyer of dreams. When Hasbro invented those Transformers toys, the intention was for kids to use their imagination about what those bots would morph into. Bay crushes that imagination with his own crude interpretations that seem untouched by human hands and spirit. I know there are still 17 months to go, but I’m thinking Transformers 2 has a shot at the title Worst Movie of the Decade.”
But that wasn’t enough. Not for Travers, who went on to bash “Transformers 2″ AGAIN in his “Harry Potter 6″ review several weeks AFTER it came out.
“Like that’s bad. Like character and motivation have no place after Michael Bay banished them in Transformers 2.”
Wow. You would think Michael Bay ran off with Travers’ girl AND stole his new puppy to boot.
At the Lionville YMCA there was a week long camp in which young children, ages 6-12, were taught the basics of baseball. I watched as kids learned how to run under a fly ball, even though they still didn’t understand the concept of catching the ball. I watched them swing through the ball on a tee. While working on throwing the ball to first base they made the catch Scott Smalls and his stepfather having a catch in the beginning of the Sandlot look like Shane Victorino throwing a line to Ruiz; nailing a runner attemping to score from second. That being said, would these kids feel insulted by Tim McCarver trying to explain the game of baseball to them?
Would even these rookies with plastic gloves shake their heads solemnly at comments like “”Well, David Eckstein, like most of us, has 20 digits. Ten fingers. Ten toes,” “Pitching is such a vital part of the game, as far as winning is concerned,” and “There is a world of difference between a count of one ball and two strikes is a lot different situation than hitting with two strikes and one ball.” Keep in mind these are all real comments made by Tim McCarver. If anyone out there reading finds themselves bored or in my case, needs to put off studying for a few hours, may I suggest going to shutuptimmccarver.com. Yes, that is a real web site filled with quotes actually said by McCarver during a live broadcast.
I think that FOX is attempting to do to baseball what VS. is doing to the NHL. As a matter of fact, I am going to make “VS.” into a verb. I am going to send this to Webster’s and see if it sticks. VS. (ver-siz) v.: to sabotage a professional sport by making it nearly unwatchable. Symptoms include announcers with no knowledge of the game, advertising campaigns that spark no interest in the game, and highlighting things no one cares about.
This actually leads me to have to ask myself the question: How is it that I am working for next to nothing at the YMCA while my student loans are reaching a dollar amount that Pacman Jones would actually spend at a strip club while Tim McCarver is saying things like this on television. I mean this is FOX, the television station that carries the World Series, network’s go to guy in the booth. I am sure that without any broadcast experience I could use my baseball knowledge to be a better color guy then McCarver by light years, yet he’s making the big bucks while I am forced to buy Giant brand everything at the grocery store to save a few dollars per trip. And people ask why I am so cynical.
Speaking of cynicism I wonder what Tyler Walker is thinking right now. The 33-year old right-hander pitched in 11 innings while acting as a fill in for Phils relief pitchers on the DL and maintained an immaculate 1.64 ERA. Walker quickly became a guy good ole Charlie could bring in to get some right-handed bats out and was not just a converted starter that had nothing better to offer than to eat up some bullpen innings.
Speaking of converted starters, Walker’s spot was taken by Clay Condrey, the same Clay Condrey that a few months ago was getting ahead of Blue Jays hitters 0-2, before allowing a run parade to assure that the Phils Interleague record would rival the Natinals (if they can’t spell it right on their jerseys than I will not give them the respect to spell it right here). Well now Condrey is back on the team, lurking in the bullpen for a chance to prove he is a glorified AA pitcher while Tyler Walker can go back to the minors and continue his torrid season with 1.40 ERA at Lehigh Valley.
Life isn’t fair sometimes.
Now to get to some positive notes. The Phillies are on a seven game winning streak going into Saturday’s night game in Florida. The starting rotation has finally come into its own, even if Cole Hamels still has me chewing my nails down to the knuckle during his starts. Don’t tell me that you think he looks ok on the mound, this is a guy who torched every team he faced on the way to a World Series MVP, allowing 5 runs to the laughable Pirates lineup. It is not acceptable. However, even with Cole making things nerve-wrecking at times we still have the bullpen settling in as well, including a few reliable guys who made it possible to come back after Cole’s tough outing. Who was the winner of that game again? A guy who shut down the Pirates in the 9th to allow for the big time comeback. Oh, Tyler Walker.
The bullpen is going to be a problem down the stretch, mark my words. When you still see guys like Chad Durbin and Clay Condrey pitching innings with the game on the line, there is going to be issues.
One more final question for anyone out there reading to ponder while I get ready to go see Harry Potter with the fiancé. Is there going to be a point where we cheer for the Mets to win games against our closer competition like the Marlins and the Braves. The Mets have gone from slumping to jumping out of a plane without a parachute. At some point this season the Phillies are going to hit a snag of their own and the Marlins will make a push for the division. With that being said, do we cheer for the Mets to steal some games from the kids in Florida or continue to revile them?
E-mail me at KS609536@wcupa.edu with your answers or anything else baseball/Phillies. I will give you my answer when I am back sometime next week to shed some light on the world of the MLB.
Well, “Harry Potter” mania is likely to continue throughout the weekend as only TWO new films are due out and chances are good that they WON’T be at a theater near you.
Both, “(500) Days of Summer” and “Death in Love” are out in limited release this weekend, so expect the boy wonder to continue to trounce the competition.
The indie dra-medy “(500) Days of Summer” stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. It tells the story of a boy and a girl who fall in love, but then the girl doesn’t. Bad times. JG-L is always great in these little movies, though I continue to be mystified by Zooey. Sometimes I think she is a good actress and then sometimes “The Happening” happens. This one looks like a quirky surprise, right along the lines of “Garden State” or, more recently “Away We Go” with a sprinkling of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”
It goes wide on July 24.
“Death in Love” on the other hand… well its hard to explain. Something about Nazi’s, sexual confusion, love, generational angst…. that old chestnut. I dunno. It has Josh Lucas in it. You remember him right? He was in “Sweet Home Alabama?” What about “Poseidon?” No the newer one. Yeah that guy! Oh and the dude from “The O.C.” Adam Brody is in it as well. Sounds like an indie movie if I ever heard one. Enjoy!
So, while the rest of the world sees “Harry Potter” for the second time and Janice Redington goes to see it for the 15th, I applaud those you out there who are giving the little guys a shot. Bravo!
Now, if you’ll excuse me. I need to go buy more “The Dark Knight” merchandise.
With another of sequels in full swing, here’s my take on the absolute worst of the worst sequels ever.
Now, I tried to use a bit of restraint here. Sure, it would be easy to put things like “Friday the 13th Part 8″ or “Children of the Corn 36(66)” on here, but really that’s not fair. Crappy sequels go with the territory in the genre. That being said, a few horror films do make the list, but only because they were SO egregiously, vomit-inducing-ly bad that they needed to be here. In fact, it wouldn’t have been a list without them.
Brace yourselves… it’s about to get ugly up in here… up in here.
Bottom 5
5.) “Star Wars Episode II”
I wonder when exactly George Lucas forgot how to write dialogue?
Thoughts: George Lucas’ blowhardy, pretentious prequel trilogy hits its lowest three hours. At least the first one was fun. “Attack of the Clones” is comatose until the pretty cool lightsaber duel at the end. And then Yoda shows up and ruins everything.
Worst Scene: Yoda hopping around like a bunny rabbit on crack. Funny yes, but it’s Yoda! Why does he even have the cane if he very clearly DOESN’T need it?
Compared to Predecessor: Worse because it lacks the shear popcorn fun of “Phantom Menace.”
4.) “Halloween 3: Season of the Witch”
God, even Rob Zombie's nonsense was better than this... well almost.
Thoughts: A “Halloween” film without Michael Myers? What’s the point? Some evil company tries to destroy the world with masks. Originality has never been so unwanted.
Worst Scene: Any one that features that HORRIBLE commercial jingle. I tell you, this jingle burrows into your brain and lays irritating eggs and when they hatch, they will have you signing for months, maybe even years— “Happy, Happy Halloween, Halloween, Halloween/ Happy, Happy Halloween/ Silver Shamrock.” My god. I haven’t seen this thing in years!
Compared to Predecessor: Much, MUCH worse. Please never leave again Mr. Myers!
3.) “Batman and Robin”
This was better...
Thoughts: This one is tough for me as I really like Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze. I know, I know forgive me but I’m a sucker for that big hunk of Austrian muscle. This take on Batman epitomizes everything that went wrong with the Joel Schumaker versions and why the franchise was in such dire straights when Chris Nolan took over. Too much flash, no substance. And nipples on the Bat suit.
Worst Scene: Any one featuring the aforementioned nipples.
Compared to Predecessor: “Batman Forver” wasn’t that great either, but this one is slightly worse.
2.) “Matrix Revolutions”
Talk about beating a concept to death! We get it! It's raining and there are a lot of Agent Smith's! Enough!!!
Thoughts: This one is a toss up between “Reloaded” or “Revolutions.” Both were horrific films, but “Reloaded” had those cool ghost twins. The point is, that after all that talking in the first two films what do we get? More talking and no answers. How is that possible you may ask? Don’t worry, the film’s directors— the Wachowski Brothers— found a way. No story lines are wrapped up, no answers are provided. The only way this movie could have been worse is if the Wachowskis personally punched you in the face on your way out of the theater.
Worst Scene: The entire conclusion where two very uninteresting characters talk circles around each other in a park for what feels like an hour.
Compared to Predecessor: Worse, but only slightly.
1.) “The Exorcist 2: The Heretic”
The term "heretic" is so appropriate for this mess.
Thoughts: It’s really amazing how so much can go wrong with a franchise so quickly. Every single terrifying element from the first film is gone from this one. This movie is so bad it actually makes the first one seem less scary… until you re-watch it that is.
Worst Scene: It would be easy to say the whole thing… easy and true but how about the flight of the bumblebee sequence? Or the fact that the demon’s name is Pazuzu. You just TRY and sound serious when you say Pazuzu. It doesn’t work. It’s like trying to be serious and saying Sarsaparilla. Doesn’t work. Should have just named the demon Snuffleupagus.
Compared to Predecessor: Not really fair to do so. At least part 3 was actually pretty good. Unfortunately, this one was so bad it scared most people away from it.
Well that’s all for now. Please feel free to share your own lists, as long as the “Best of” list has “T-2″ in the top spot. Haha… just kidding… but seriously. I don’t take kindly to not having “T-2″ listed as the best sequel of all time. It’s just how I roll.
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