Frayed Knot

metirish wrote: Andrew Strong had an amazing voice ... And was only 16/17 y/o when making that movie. I loved that flick.

Never saw the original ... but I hope it asks me to buy fewer ridiculous situations and decisions by the characters than the end of this version did. I was staying at the Marriott With Jesus and John Wayne I was waiting for a chariot They were waiting for a train The sky was full of carrion "I'll take the mazuma" Said Jesus to Marion "That's the 3:10 to Yuma My ride's here..." -- Warren Zevon

Vic Sage wrote: i guess i'm getting old. I got about 1/2 way thru and had to turn it off. Lunchbucket wrote: I find these movies generally hard to take at first -- they come off like they're all about laughs through vulgarity -- but by the end they've demonstrated real heart and humanity as well I finally got around to this one ... and I find myself agreeing with both of the above. I was ready to his 'Eject' part way into it, but (after taking a break) stuck to it and it did get better as it went on. I'm not as ga-ga as most of y'all but it did make a nice rally from the mid-point on - and the hottie-geek matchups weren't as tough to buy as the one in 'Knocked Up'.

Elster88 wrote: 16 Blocks? Really? What was the damage in that one? Bruce Willis's career?

Because first you take Manhattan, THEN you take Berlin. Whatarrya, stupid or something?

More from BA: -- Owen dominated hitters during his college career at Francis Marion (S.C.), earning NCAA Division II 2007 pitcher-of-the-year honors after going 10-1, 1.04 and setting the Peach Belt Conference career strikeout record with 334 in three seasons. His success carried over into his pro debut, as he took advantage of short-season Brooklyn's pitcher-friendly Keyspan Park like few pitchers have. Signed for $50,000 in the 20th round, Owen claimed two-thirds of the New York-Penn League's pitching triple crown, leading in wins (nine) and ERA (1.49). He has a shorter and wider body than scouts would like but also solid-average stuff and an advanced feel pitching. He spots his 86-90 mph fastball to all four quadrants of the strike zone, and while he has below-average velocity, he can get to 91-92 when needed, even late in games. He has above-average fastball command, and he can vary his breaking balls depending on the situation, using shorter sliders for groundballs and bigger curves for strikeouts. Owen doesn't have much projection or a true plus pitch, so he's unlikely to become an elite prospect. But he's likely to get pushed aggressively to see if he can get advanced hitters out, and he could jump to high Class A in 2008.

Cubs & White Sox fans fight over the entire John Hughes catalog of films. Winner gets the first draft choice from the quartet of actors (Moore, Perkins, Lowe & Belushi) in 'About Last Night'

Barry Levinson is the starting pitcher for Baltimore, coming at batters with his 3-pitch repetoire of 'Diner', 'Tin Men' & 'Avalon'

I just got around to this one -- and I'm pretty much with Vic here. Ya gotta swallow hard and get past the part about her ever spending one waking moment with that dork once she's sobered up much less want to have his kid. Once you buy (or at least hold your nose and ignore) those parts it's got some decent moments and scenes.

The 2007 Rankings list is now complete and the results have been combined into the overall ranks. These changes have already been uploaded into the system and the links to the new alpha & numeric sorted lists also now include the results of this season. In the meantime, a quickie summary of how the landscape has changed: In all 10 new names received points this year - making the entire list 565 names long - although only 9 crack the top 500 and therefore get onto the posting status list. So welcome to: Aaron Sele, whose lone point puts him at #551 and not on the honor roll Mike Pelfrey just barely sneaks on at #499 Carlos Gomez debuts at #467 Scott Schoeneweis at #446 Joe Smith - #408 Reuben Gotay - #351 Damion Easley - #316 Jorge Sosa - #303 Luis Castillo - #279 and Moises Alou wins the top newcomer award by checking in at #194 So to make room for these new names we wave goodbye to: Jim Gosger, Hobie Landrith, Tom Grieve, Eric Gunderson, Tony Torasco, Gary Templeton, Luis Rivera, Jimmy Piersall, plus Moises's Uncle Jesus as they fall out of the top 500, off of our list, never to be heard from again. Cracking the Top-100: Carlos Delgado, Aaron Heilman, Billy Wagner Ousted from the Top-100: Danny Heep, Don Cardwell, Rico Brogna Movin' on up (or not): Guillermo Mota actually managed to FALL from slot #404 to #407 (that's what happens when you only get enough points to pass by a few guys ... but then even more who were either behind or were not even on the list jump ahead) Marlon Anderson moves from #315 up to #278 Lastings Milledge - #427 to #258 Ramon Castro - #272 to #223 Shawn Green - #343 to #195 Endy Chavez - #170 to #166 Pedro Feliciano - #233 to #164 Jose Valentin - Drops from #156 to #158 (see Mota, G.) Oliver Perez - #388 to #127 Orlando Hernandez - #214 to #116 Paul LoDuca - #127 to #106 John Maine - #200 to #102 Billy Wagner - #137 to #99 Aaron Heilman - #113 to #84 Pedro Martinez - #81 to #76 Carlos Delgado - #116 to #74 Carlos Beltran - #64 to #43 Jose Reyes - #52 to #31 Tom Glavine - #40 to #29 David Wright - #50 to #26 That Wright is the highest ranking active player means that the Top-25 remains unchanged. Wright also takes over the title of best ever 4-year Met with a sizable lead over Gary Gentry. Glavine held that post after last season but now he sits behind the likes of Armando Benitez & Tommie Agee on the list of 5-year Mets, just ahead of Rick Reed & Jose Reyes. Carlos Beltran was last year's best ever 2-year Met but this year he couldn't quite nudge out John Olerud for best 3-year guy. Meanwhile the other Carlos does take over that spot by getting his 2-year score above that of previous leader Eddie Murray. Mileposts: #50 - Steve Trachsel #100 - Carl Everett #200 - Claudell Washington #250 - Jay Hook #283 - (midpoint of the overall list) Mike Fitzgerald #300 - Shawon Dunston #400 - John Christensen and the new leadoff man at #500 is Lute Barnes Last (#565) - now and forever - Gus Bell

Lovell wound up making a cameo in 'Apollo 13' so he couldn't have been too mad. He plays one of the military men Hanks/Lovell shakes hands with after being fished out of the Pacific. "Tom Hanks plays who Tom Hanks wants to play." Which is, of course, the larger point. Or, as Hanks himself said in an interview, 'when the movie is called 'Charlie Wilson's War' what part do YOU want to play?' And while it's certainly not crucial that Hanks look like the actual Wilson, casting him as a large and larger-than-life Texan who few people know by sight probably matters a bit more than playing an average sized/looking astronaut than few people know by sight.

No I haven't seen it yet (mainly because I don't even think it's out yet) but I did finally get around to reading the book recently and my first reaction upon seeing the ads for the flick is ... Tom Hanks?!? Charlie Wilson - the socially liberal, hard-drinking party boy of a congressman who doubles as a fervently anti-communist & pro-Israel Democrat from a heavily Baptist district in East Texas's bible belt (try finding that combination in the Capitol today!) - is described as being a 6' 4" cowboy boot wearing guy with the sort of rugged good looks around which western-themed cigarette ads are based. And even though I realize that not many actually know what the real Wilson looked like, that description is not exactly one which screams out 'Tom Hanks' in your mind. And Wilson's CIA agent/partner-in-crime in the funding of the Afghan rebels was a street tough 1st generation Greek-American from steel country in western PA. So naturally that role is played by ... Phillip Seymour Hoffman? Just my opinion, but nobody who's as fair-skinned and blond as, oh I dunno, ME! should be playing a Greek. But I guess that's the Hollywood game. I'm sure a lot of dough was shelled out for the rights to the best-seller from a few years back and lining up multiple Oscar winners (Julia Roberts too) is the way to recoup the investment.

Edgy DC wrote: Is the title a reference to the Velvet Underground's "Heroin," in which Lou feels "just like Jesus' son"? If that was the inspiration it's not acknowledged as such in the flick.

I rented and saw this flick a couple years back although I don't remember what drew me to it at the time. I too thought the 'Sweet Pea' scene was hot I too didn't get the movie itself

Chris Pratt (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is the teenage son of a well-to-do Kansas City area family and the popular local hockey star until his reckless driving leaves two of his friends dead, another maimed, and himself with reduced mental and physical capabilities as the result of head injuries. Now four years into his recovery and therapy, some locals, aware of his past, aim to take advantage of his condition and convince him to act as an accomplice in the robbing of the bank where he works as the night janitor. Not much hilarity ensues as he struggles both with everyday life and with the direction in which his new "friends" are taking him. Ultimately, of course, what he needs to do is deal with his past sins and make the best of his life as it is now.

Oh I agree with all of that and have no intention of building the guy up as some sort of heroic or mystic figure. But part of what drew Krakauer to the story was the striking rememberences people had of him even those who just knew him in passing - while also making no secret of the fact that he saw a lot of his own youthful self in the kid. I just didn't think - as Sharpie did - that the movie presented an image of him that was a whole lot different from that in the book.

sharpie wrote: I liked the book which didn't make him out to be some sort of holy shaman but a confused kid with a strong sense of himself. Maybe not quite a shaman, but the book does portray the kid as someone who often had a profound effect on those he met during his trek, particularly on the older man who wanted to legally adopt him after spending just a few weeks with him. Then, upon learning about his death, was affected enough to renounce his religion as well as go back to drinking after swearing off decades earlier. I didn't think the movie went overboard in playing up that angle.

It's just one star thru ten. The descriptions are merely lame attempts at jokes.

Troubled teen under house arrest passes the time by watching his neighbors in anytown U.S.A., only with access to more toys and gadgets than Jimmy Stewart ever dreamed of. Combines the 'what am I really seeing' questions of 'Rear Window' with the 'there's evil in them 'burbs' aspect of ... well just about every movie set there in the last 10 years.

Vic Sage wrote: ending is ending. climax is climax. 2 different things. I think this is the part where someone chimes in; "That's what SHE said"

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Question for the room: Explain Green relative to Delgado Higher for the extra 100 ABs and the 24-10 HR gap. IsoP = .190 vs .139

Yancy, Of Gotay & Easley, who's 12 and who's 11??

Just speaking for myself ... Nymr83 wrote: 1. how is Castillo higher than Easley and/or Gotay on most lists? Better OBP and better defense 2. why the LoDuca-love? he had an 85 OPS+ and is not a good defensive catcher But he was the everyday catcher which counts for something. 3x the ABs of Castro 3. why is joe smith so low? i know he pitched less innings than wagner/heilman/feliciano (who he should be below) but they were quality innings Not many of them were. He started with 17 scoreless then gave up 18 runs in his next 27 innings and was essentially finished for the season by the end of June.

seawolf17 wrote: This is going make no sense out of context once JD/JCL jumps up a player designation, but if Valadius wants to bitch about a player ranking, how about we get Garry Templeton out of the Top 500? What a waste of a roster spot. Let's get these 2007 rankings up STAT and get him outta there. Figuring that there'll be about 9 or 10 new names up once this year gets added, one could follow along with JCL's assigned players and get a good look at the ones who are destined to go bye-bye.

Leaving aside the value of closers for a second, my main concern is one of producing a list through a particular method and sticking with that list even if it produced some illogical answers simply on the basis of, 'well, that's how things turned out'. The idea here is to produce a list where the order can be explained so even if no one else agrees with it, it should at least make sense to you. For example: * Blending pitchers & hitters is the toughest part of this project, but does Maine - who had an All-star half season anyway - really deserve to be behind Delgado? * How do Endy's fewer ABs, lower OBA & lesser power land him 2 slots above Castillo and 6 above Gotay? * Mota & Schoeneweis ahead of Smith?? In approx 1/3 more IPs they both gave up more than 2x as many runs