New Year, B-Day, Sports and Movies

[dlgood]

• Thanks for all the birthday wishes. A happy new years and holiday season to all. I've never had any problem with my Birthday so close to the holidays - save for the sad fact that the latter half of December is one of the most relaxing times of the year for me as work gets very slack - and that my Birthday always coincides with getting slammed again with responsibility.


• David Letterman's Top Ten List for Washington Wizards' Explanations for Gilbert Arenas' bringing guns into the locker room was about as Funny as Dave's been in a long time.


• It's a shame Georgia Tech's option offense doesn't seem to work against any good defense that has time to prepare. And yet Missouri couldn't stop Navy?


• Redskins hire Mike Shanahan. But Dan Snyder is still the owner. It won't work.


• Saw three movies this winter: Avatar, Sherlock Holmes, and Up in the Air. Sherlock Holmes was only okay. Story was weak. But the characters were likeable and fun, and it never bored me. That's all I really need.


• Avatar is visually fantastic, but the characterization of the antagonists are awful. I don't mind Cameron making strip-mining, soulless, materialist and militaristic corporations the villains. But did they have to be so stupid about it? If I can't respect the intelligence of the antagonists, I'm not going to get myself wrapped up by any 'message' promoted, whether it's the 'dances with wolves in space' or 'evil corporations' angle. It's a nice action/adventure/romance in space with fantastic and immersive presentation - and beyond that merits little thought but much enjoyment.


• Up in the Air, OTOH, was truly excellent. Clooney's suited for the role, but I was really impressed by Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick, who had good characters and did great work with them. Unlike Avatar and Sherlock Holmes, this movie did not go where I expected it to but did not leave me confused by how it got where it did. Big thumbs up.


• My three favorite movies of 2009, in order: "The Hurt Locker", "Up in the Air", and "Inglorious Basterds". All three are excellent in their own way, especially Hurt Locker. It is the best possible movie that could be made of that movie, if you follow. Not necessarily my favorite or the most fun, but possibly the best executed movie of the last five years. Kathryn Bigelow and Jeremy Renner derserve oscars.

Watch this space. I may yet have more thoughts and actual post this week. I haven't even gotten to TV.

Comments

[thelastgoodname.livejournal.com]

Iowa plays better defense than Missouri, for starters (although cfbstats tells me, pre-bowls, Missouri's rushing defense was better than Iowa's).

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

Missouri didn't just get beat, though - they got rocked. Maybe it's personnel, since Iowa's D-Line appeared unblockable - just as Iowa's O=line also dominated. Paul Johnson needs to get himself some better men in the trenches. It would also help him if Nesbitt was even a little better with his passing.

I'm still sad. I love watching the option.

[cactuswatcher.livejournal.com]

The word out of the St. Louis press is that the Missouri's coaching staff mostly mailed it in for that game. On offense they made little attempt to exploit Navy's defense over-playing the pass (they killed Arkansas a couple years ago when the Razorbacks did that). Missouri's defense has been really thin under Pinkel, and relies on the offense to keep the score up so the other team can't afford to run that much. After Navy easily marched down the field the second time to tie the score at 7-7, I turned it off. All too clear how it was going to end up.

My hope is that the whipping they got will encourage the coaches to pay more attention to defense.

As the Georgia Tech coaches told the disbelieving reporters before the game, they really need a few more key players to make the option work against better teams especially one like Iowa from a more run-oriented league.

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

That's pretty bad, and doesn't serve the players well in a game that is another NFL audition for them.

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Tech's O-Line still isn't where it should be, but imagine what they'd look like if they had a Brad Smith type at QB.

[rahael.livejournal.com]

belated birthday wishes!

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

Thanks

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

How did I miss your birthday? Ack! I hope it was awesome.

I completely agree about Avatar. I really want to see The Hurt Locker. One wah said they hope they focus on Jame Cemeron's face when Kathryn Bigelow walks off with the oscar (they used to be married.)

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm sure Cameron will be okay, because he'll always be able to take comfort in his one true love: James Cameron.

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

ha, and yes, that's about the size of it (and Cameron's ego.)