Frayed Knot

I'm not one automatically given to disliking Disney-tinged stuff, even when it comes to sports movies. I liked THE ROOKIE well enough and also enjoyed Kurt Russell as Herb Brooks and really the entire project in MIRACLE. But this one, based on the real life reality-style contest to find and train a couple of cricket playing boys in India towards becoming ML pitchers, looks really awful. That ESPN, owned of course by Disney/ABC, spent about 3/4 of a BB2N show a couple days ago pimping the premier and actors while ignoring the actual games certainly didn't help the cause.

Yeah I'm not sure what specific 2013 injury BA is referring to, but it would be nice if whatever it was was now behind him and he could get on a steady forward path. And if nothing else the defensive reports (not just here but elsewhere as well) are good enough to where you don't suspect he's one of those who'll need to be moved off of SS down the road which would in turn make his hitting that much more critical.

We're overdue for a little Cecchini news and we get it this week as he checks in a #4 on BA's 'Hot Prospect' list 4. Gavin Cecchini, ss, Mets Team: low Class A Savannah (South Atlantic) Age: 20 Why He’s Here: .458/.462/.875 (11-for-24), 5 R, 3 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 6 RBIs, 1 BB, 2 SO, 0-for-1 SB The Scoop: Raise your hand if you saw this one coming. Cecchini, whom the Mets drafted 12th overall out of high school in 2012, ranks third among SAL shortstops with a .168 isolated slugging percentage—behind only 2013 college drafts JaCoby Jones (Pirates) and Pat Valaika (Rockies). This despite Cecchini playing half his games in the hitter’s graveyard that is Savannah and despite entering the season with a career .318 slugging percentage in short-season ball. Fully healthy this season, he’s showing off a rounded tool set that includes feel for the barrel, solid wheels and a strong defensive game. An encouraging write-up even if based on just a small sample

And you both missed Kevin Appier at 167 Players with only one year* in the top half of our list 131 - Mike Hampton (2000) 167 - Kevin Appier (2001) 175 - Marlon Byrd (2013) 182 - Tsuyoshi Shinjo (2001) 191 - Tommy Davis (1967) 208 - Chris Capuano (2011) 214 - Mo Vaughn (2002) 219 - Juan Lagares (2013) 221 - Carlos Diaz (1983) 227 - Brett Butler (1995) 230 - Mark Bomback (1980) 231 - Claudell Washington (1980) 233 - Desi Relaford (2001) 234 - Pedro Astacio (2002) 235 - Eric Young Jr (2013) 237 - Hisanori Takahashi (2010) 244 - Kevin Mitchell (1986) 245 - Mark Guthrie (2002) 247 - Zack Wheeler (2013) 250 - Ed Bressoud (1966) * keeping in mind that one year in this case means only placing on our list in one season ending ranking even if you played in more than one -- cough cough Mr Sparkle

His stretch so far in PSL has been so hot that I have to fight the urge to look up his stats on a daily basis, something that's fun to do but ultimately not always the best way to follow a prospect's progress.

Well I didn't actually make the poll, I just suggested that it be pulled out of the general purpose thread and given its own turf. One of the mods poll-arized it.

....

Hey it (MG) may even be a good movie, I don't know. Never saw it and suspect I never will (like I said, was pretty much past the target demo before it ever hit). It's just kind of weird to suddenly be swamped with articles telling me that something I was only passingly familiar with was a major cultural event worthy of numerous retrospectives and 'where are they now?' updates. That's something I expect maybe from the likes of VH-1 and those 'List' shows they used to do where the culture geeks there would declare every passing fad of their childhood to be a universal touchstone. But these 'Mean Girls' hosannas, in addition to coming out of the usual pop culture suspects, are also being done by the likes of the NY Times and Washington Post.

I didn't know until the rash of TENTH ANNIVERSARY articles and retrospectives (at least a dozen in the last week or so) that the movie MEAN GIRLS was a major cultural touchstone in this country. I mean, look, I realize that I was way out of the target demographic for this flick and all, but I don't think I even heard about it until years after it was out and even then it was only because Lohan was becoming such a mess by that point that that movie was brought up to show that there was actually a time before she was a human train wreck. But apparently MEAN GIRLS was THE culturally shared experience for the first decade of the 21st century with more quotable lines known to all than anything since maybe CASABLANCA, or at least since ANIMAL HOUSE.

That was nicely, nicely done.

The 8 walks vs just 10 Ks is an impressive ratio (SSS alert at always)

I, on the other hand, kind of liked it. Not much of a plot to be sure (the Coens even said that they threw in the cat just to offer at least the hint of one) but I enjoyed the little slice of life about a sad sack guy trying hard to make it in a tough business only to find that not only is everything going wrong for him over the few day period of the movie but that it's all about to get a whole lot tougher. Apparently some of the folkies still around from that era were disappointed that the movie was too much of a downer and didn't depict enough of the positive spirit of the times, and also that the main character was about as un-Van Ronkian as one can get despite his memoir being the germ for the movie.

A not very pleasant folk singer in early '60s Greenwich Village roams the coffee shops and record offices looking for ways to jump-start his career, but instead manages to be more successful in annoying and mooching off people along the way.

The difference with DeNiro is that he barely seems to be trying. His output these days seems to be either small roles in larger films where he doesn't have to work too hard or carry the load, to just awful 'Meet the Fokkers' kind of stuff that's so far beneath him you wonder why he bothers. For a while I was thinking that he was just going for a handful of big budget nonsense so as to finance that Tribeca project he was fronting, but by now it seems like this "phase" has gone on too long for even that. No matter what one thinks of Woody's output these days, it's not like he's out making teen comedies or some other type of thing that's not in his wheelhouse. He's just (in the opinion of many anyway) putting out pale imitations of what he's always done. Newman too (at least as far as I can remember) wasn't doing schlock toward the end, he just either wasn't getting offered good enough stuff or he wasn't always choosing wisely.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Who the fuck is Robert De Niro anymore? And are De Niro flicks still highly anticipated events, or are you dating yourself? No, but neither is his appearance in a movie something you think a movie would want to hide. Nor was this movie something that you think HE would want to hide. And it's not like I'm upset about this or anything, just kind of puzzled as to why his role went uncredited and also why his small though hardly minute contribution (credited or not) to a multi-award nominated movie went virtually unmentioned.

I mean I know this stuff happens occasionally, but it's often because the movie is bad and the actor wants to disassociate himself from it. F. Murray Abraham, IIRC, refused to let his name show on the credits for BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES but that one is entirely understandable. In this case though it wasn't like the movie was bad or that the part was so tiny as to not merit inclusion. The only other thing I can think of is that DeNiro is too big to get what would have to amount to like 8th billing so he figures no mention is better than that. But it was weird finally getting around to seeing a much talked-about movie some five months after it was released and being surprised halfway through to learn that Robert Freaking DeNiro was even in it! I wouldn't have thought that kind of surprise was possible.

I'm with those who thought the movie to be fun and with some good performances but not all that deep. You can barely can figure out who's scamming who much less why and so I didn't find myself caring all that much how things turned out. Now for the real question: Why was Robert DeNiro's part in this not only uncredited but also unmentioned in all (at least all that I've heard) the discussion of this much talked-about film?

Pretty much agree with what seems to be the consensus here: entertaining without being too deep. I didn't even mind the length so much because it at least kept moving right along even if it was not always moving towards something all that new. The problem was I kept comparing it to GOODFELLOWS [DiCaprio in Liotta's role, etc. - especially during the narration/talking to the camera parts] and unlike that one you just don't care as much about the characters even though, for all the sleaziness of these guys, at least they weren't killing people on a regular basis.

Not that I intentionally left Bono out of the little roster up top (just wanted to throw some names out really) but I guess the success of U-2's 'Angel of Harlem', along with the front man's big mouth/ego, tends to tab him as the go-to guy when talking about how American soul influenced European kids. And while that viewpoint certainly merits inclusion in a docu like this, it's not like he brings anything to the discussion that Mick & Keith--with their more era-appropriate views and, oh yeah, actual monster cuts recorded there vibe--couldn't and didn't add. I too would have liked to see/hear more of the southern rock era.

The turbulent times and absolute magic of a little music studio set amongst the cotton fields of Alabama In Muscle Shoals they've got the Swampers and they've been known to pick a song or two ... Gregg Allman Arthur Alexander Mick Jagger Keith Richards Aretha Franklin Jimmy Cliff Percy Sledge Wilson Pickett Alicia Keyes et al

THE 87 "BEST PICTURE" OSCAR WINNERS TO DATE THE FULL LIST (1927-2013): * = did not see *2013 - "12 Years A Slave" 2012 - "Argo" 2011 - "The Artist" 2010 - "The King's Speech" 2009 - "The Hurt Locker" 2008 - "Slumdog Millionaire" 2007 - "No Country for Old Men" 2006 - "The Departed" 2005 - "Crash" 2004 - "Million Dollar Baby" * 2003 - "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" 2002 - "Chicago" 2001 - "A Beautiful Mind" 2000 - "Gladiator" 1999 - "American Beauty" 1998 - "Shakespeare in Love" 1997 - "Titanic" * 1996 - "The English Patient" 1995 - "Braveheart" 1994 - "Forrest Gump" * 1993 - "Schindler�s List" 1992 - "Unforgiven" 1991 - "The Silence of the Lambs" * 1990 - "Dances With Wolves" * 1989 - "Driving Miss Daisy" 1988 - "Rain Man" * 1987 - "The Last Emperor" 1986 - "Platoon" * 1985 - "Out of Africa" 1984 - "Amadeus" * 1983 - "Terms of Endearment" 1982 - "Gandhi" 1981 - "Chariots of Fire" * 1980 - "Ordinary People" 1979 - "Kramer vs. Kramer" 1978 - "The Deer Hunter" 1977 - "Annie Hall" 1976 - "Rocky" 1975 - "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest" 1974 - "The Godfather Part II" 1973 - "The Sting" 1972 - "The Godfather" 1971 - "The French Connection" 1970 - "Patton" 1969 - "Midnight Cowboy" 1968 - "Oliver!" * 1967 - "In the Heat of the Night" 1966 - "A Man for All Seasons" 1965 - "The Sound of Music" 1964 - "My Fair Lady" *1963 - "Tom Jones" 1962 - "Lawrence of Arabia" 1961 - "West Side Story" 1960 - "The Apartment" 1959 - "Ben-Hur" * 1958 - "Gigi" 1957 - "The Bridge on the River Kwai" 1956 - "Around the World in 80 Days" * 1955 - "Marty" 1954 - "On the Waterfront" 1953 - "From Here to Eternity" * 1952 - "The Greatest Show on Earth" 1951 - "An American in Paris" * 1950 - "All About Eve" 1949 - "All the Kings Men" * 1948 - "Hamlet" * 1947 - "Gentleman's Agreement" 1946 - "The Best Years of Our Lives" 1945 - "The Lost Weekend" 1944 - "Going My Way" 1943 - "Casablanca" 1942 - "Mrs. Miniver" 1941 - "How Green Was My Valley" * 1940 - "Rebecca" 1939 - "Gone with the Wind" * 1938 - "You Can't Take It with You" * 1937 - "The Life of Emile Zola" * 1936 - "The Great Ziegfeld" 1935 - "Mutiny on the Bounty" * 1934 - "It Happened One Night" * 1932/1933 - "Cavalcade" * 1931/1932 - "Grand Hotel" * 1930/1931 - "Cimarron" * 1929/1930 - "All Quiet on the Western Front" * 1928/1929 - "The Broadway Melody" * 1927/1928 - "Wings" How many have you seen? 58/87 List up to 10 films on the list that, if you got home tonight and it was on, you'd happily watch it again from beginning to end: "Annie Hall" "The Godfather" "The Godfather Part II" "The Sting" "Patton" "On the Waterfront"

Going back 20 years, aside from '12 Years'--which I'm not avoiding, just haven't gotten around to yet--the only BP winners I didn't see were 'English Patient' and 'Lord of the Rings', but in the case of those two there's little chance that I ever will. Of the others in that two-decade span, while you wouldn't have to beat me before I'd agree to see either 'The Artist' or 'American Beauty' again, I'm certainly not going to watch either one willingly.

Vic Sage wrote: Goldie Hawn is on her way there, too. I hope these women are watching this closely and stop mutilating themselves. Whoever sold women on the idea that lips the size of car bumpers are an attractive look should be horse-whipped.

Eva Marie Saint - a one-time hot blonde with ties to Alfred Hitchcock (and an Oscar), turns 90 this year, claims (and looks) to have had no work done, and looks terrific. Kim Novak - also once a hot blonde with ties to Hitchcock, is 81, has obviously had a ton of work done, and looks and talks like a train wreck.

Vic just has a McReynolds thing.