Vic Sage

Heathers is a fascinating, darkly funny little movie that is to "teen HS coming-of-age comedies" as LORD OF THE FLIES is to THE HARDY BOYS. But DIE HARD is a huge, iconic movie that created a sub-genre. And it holds up pretty well today, even after repeated viewings.

ELM ST is a clever little horror film, with a lot more on its mind than it would otherwise appear. and BB is little more than a string of musical numbers and car crashes. But you know what? Jake and Elwood are just too cool to vote against. Ya see, they're on a mission from god.

cartoonish, hyperkinetic and convoluted oedipal sf/comedy vs mediocre romance novel comedy yuck on both their houses.

DOH!! geez. Grimm's comment threw me. 1. Santana 2. Pelfrey 3. Maine 4. ___ (via Delgado trade) 5. ___ (via system or FA)

If you've got Santana, Maine, and a decent #3 for Delgado, you can sign a retread as a #4 (like a Randy Wolf), and have open tryouts amongst all hands for the 5th slot. I think the Mets have enough AAAA players and prospects-on-the-cusp to find a servicable 5th starter.

i won a H2H baseball league, which was some consolation for sucking in the Cranepool league this year. But i agree, 83... i hate H2H. I dont do football, but i'm planning on doing basketball again this year. My boy David Lee is about to have a breakout year, baby!

CF is, as almost always, correct. Delgado is a tradeable commodity, and Texiera is the best offensive player on the market (of all the players who aren't a 37-year old Manny Ramirez, looking for a 7 year deal). He's also a great defensive 1bman, for whatever that's worth. I have little confidence on either Murphy or Delgado repeating their 2nd half performances, so requiring them BOTH to do so for the offense to work scares the crap out of me. I have similar fears of Sheets and Sabathia. And F-Rod's peripherals are in decline. Trade Delgado for a decent #3-#4 SPer; dump all other expendable salaries for nothing (Castillo, Anderson, Castro, etc), play Murphy at 2b, and sign Texiera, Dunn and Fuentes.

she shoulda been naked...

for more discussion of LOGAN'S RUN, SATURN 3 and other films, see... http://cranepoolforum.net/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=8860

to the extent it evokes Sayles and Springsteen, i see that as good things. Blades was terrific. Mostly, though, i love the magical realism, which is rarely done this well.

Robocop was well-crafted and original in vision and style. The Untouchables was well-crafted and not. I think that's a little unfair. They're both derivative, just from different sources. DePalma is a film school geek whose films, like the Coen Bros, are always about other films (mostly hitchcock, but not exclusively). UNTOUCHABLES is self-consciously about Hollywood filmmaking, and its cliamx is a homage to the "odessa steps" sequence from Eisenstein's POTEMKIN. Paul Verhoven's ROBOCOP, however, is derived from other media, from cyberpunk fiction to anime like "8th Man" (which was the basis for the movie's story) and the Japanese superhero series "Uch� keiji Gyaban" (the first of Toei's "Metal Hero" series) was the basis for RoboCop's design. Comic books like IRON MAN were influential as well, as well as recent SF of that period, like BLADERUNNER (which was the film that inspired the screenwriter originally) and TERMINATOR. Other derivations: Robocop's musical theme is the same five-note motif used in the score of Bride of Frankenstein; the repeated line 'I'd buy that for a dollar!' comes from Cyril Kornbluth's short story 'The Marching Morons', which is a similar satire of commercial culture. I will agree that ROBOCOP is original in blending many non-Hollywood influences into its overall vision. It feels strikingly modern compared to the old-fashioned qualities of UNTOUCHABLES. But i think one can overstate its "originality' by ignoring its pop culture influences.

Jenny Agutter was way hot. Did you ever see WALKABOUT?

UNTOUCHABLES is classic Hollywood craftsmanship; ROBOCOP is an over-the-top comicbook movie. A close call. But... GO, ROBO, GO!!

Close call. I went with "Buehler, Buehler" because i can always watch it. Despite the artistry of ROGER RABBIT, i find it increasingly tedious with repeated viewings.

2 good pics, but i went with RISKY BUSINESS. The great Tangerine Dream score, and its the GRADUATE of its generation. Established Cruise as a star. It's smarter than it pretends to be, which is consistent with its general theme of cynicism. WEREWOLF is a solid blend of horror and comedy, which is hard to pull off. But it's failure is inherent in the werwolf genre... the hero is doomed. So you've got to make his ultimate demise meaningful, in some way, in order to justify the tragedy. But it wasn't. He just gets shot after going on a rampage. Also, the failure to include the Zevon song is fatal.

TESB v WS... you're kidding, right?

i'm with JCL. I'd offer arb to Perez, and that's it. He's the only 1 we'd get compensation for and that i would want back at anywhere near (or above) his current salary. If we can sign Tatis and Ayala to reasonable deals, given their age, injuries, and limited recent history of success, then i'm amenable to their return, but no arbitration. Easley i'm slightly less interested in, but would be willing to have back if he comes to ST and wins a job. but that's it.

30. Santana 29. Wright 28. Beltran 27. Reyes 26. Delgado 25. Pelfrey 24. Perez 23. Wagner 22. Tatis 21. Church 20. Maine 19. Murphy 18. Schneider 17. Smith 16. Easley 15. Castillo 14. Castro 13. Sanchez 12. Schoeneweis 11. Chavez 10. P.Martinez 09. Ayala 08. Heilman 07. Evans 06. Feliciano 05. Stokes 04. Pagan 03. Cancel 02. Figueroa 01. R.Martinez

what's a good website where i can cut and paste the season's stats into a spreadsheet? i tried Yahoo, but the numbers don't import as numbers, so i can't use formulas or sort it without retyping the whole thing. I tried Baseball reference, but each line of stats is a single cell of text.

saw it with the missus. review to follow. for Woody filmography, see MATCHPOINT thread: http://cranepoolforum.qwknetllc.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=2131

Manuel is a former "manager of the Year", who just got a .500 team to play .600 ball. He is no spring chicken, so he'd be a fool not to use whatever leverage he has at this moment and turn it into as long a deal as he can obtain... whether its from the Mets or another team. I'm ok with him getting a 3-4 year deal. I like him. He's got a sense of humor, is baseball smart, has an aura of relaxed confidence and seems able to relate well to his players... in short, he's got everything that WWSB lacked. Frankly, i would prefer to see Manuel with the 4-year deal and Omah "ya know whattimean" Minaya with the 2-year deal.

Alan Parker filmography thread: http://cranepoolforum.qwknetllc.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=8442

Catchers - Castro/Schneider under contract First basemen - Delgado's option likely to be exercised Second basemen - Castillo may be moved/dumped, so I like Orlando Hudson from amongst the following: Willie Bloomquist (31) Jamey Carroll (35) - $2.5MM club option for '09 with a $0.15MM buyout Craig Counsell (38) Ray Durham (37) Damion Easley (39) David Eckstein (34) Mark Ellis (32) Mark Grudzielanek (39) Jerry Hairston Jr. (33) Orlando Hudson (31) Tadahito Iguchi (34) Jeff Kent (41) Felipe Lopez (29) Mark Loretta (37) Nick Punto (31) shortstops - i think we're okay here thirdbasemen - ditto centerfielders - double ditto Left fielders - Other than Murphy, how about Dunn? Moises Alou (42) Garret Anderson (37) - $14MM club option for '09 with a $3MM buyout Milton Bradley (31) Emil Brown (34) Pat Burrell (32) Carl Crawford (27) - $8.25MM club option for '09 with a $2.5MM buyout Adam Dunn (29) Cliff Floyd (36) - $2.75MM club option for '09 with a $0.25MM buyout Luis Gonzalez (41) Jerry Hairston Jr. (33) Raul Ibanez (37) Gabe Kapler (33) Kevin Mench (31) Jason Michaels (33) - $2.6MM club option for '09 Craig Monroe (32) Greg Norton (36) Jay Payton (36) Wily Mo Pena (27) - $5MM club option or $2MM player option for '09 Manny Ramirez (37) Juan Rivera (30) Fernando Tatis (34) Right fielders - Does Church keep the full-time job, or do we consider: Bobby Abreu (35) Casey Blake (35) Cliff Floyd (36) - $2.75MM club option for '09 with a $0.25MM buyout Brian Giles (38) - $9MM club option for '09 with a $3MM buyout Ken Griffey Jr. (39) - $16.5MM club option for '09 with a $4MM buyout Vladimir Guerrero (33) - $15MM club option for '09 with a $3MM buyout Gabe Kapler (33) Jason Michaels (33) - $2.6MM club option for '09 Fernando Tatis (34) Brad Wilkerson (32) Starting pitchers - if we let Pedro and Perez go, how about Lowe, Dempster and/or Garland? Or do we go for the gold and go for CC? Kris Benson (33) A.J. Burnett (32) - can opt out after '08 season Paul Byrd (38) Roger Clemens (46) Matt Clement (33) Bartolo Colon (36) Ryan Dempster (32) Shawn Estes (36) Josh Fogg (32) Freddy Garcia (33) Jon Garland (29) Tom Glavine (43) Mike Hampton (36) Mark Hendrickson (35) Livan Hernandez (34) Orlando Hernandez (43) Jason Jennings (30) Randy Johnson (45) John Lackey (30) - $9MM club option for '09 with a $0.5MM buyout Jon Lieber (39) Braden Looper (34) Rodrigo Lopez (33) - club option for '09 Derek Lowe (36) Greg Maddux (43) Pedro Martinez (37) Sergio Mitre (28) Jamie Moyer (46) Mark Mulder (31) - $11MM club option for '09 with a $1.5MM buyout Mike Mussina (40) Carl Pavano (33) - $13MM club option for '09 with a $1.95MM buyout Brad Penny (31) - $8.75MM club option for '09 with a $2MM buyout Odalis Perez (32) Oliver Perez (27) Andy Pettitte (37) Sidney Ponson (32) Mark Prior (27) Kenny Rogers (44) Glendon Rusch (34) C.C. Sabathia (28) Curt Schilling (42) Ben Sheets (30) John Smoltz (42) Tim Wakefield (42) - perpetual $4MM club option Kip Wells (32) Randy Wolf (32) Closers - we'll be paying Wags $10.5k next year, so how much more do way pay to Fuentes or K-Rod? Brian Fuentes (33) Eric Gagne (33) Eddie Guardado (38) Trevor Hoffman (41) Jason Isringhausen (36) Brandon Lyon (29) Francisco Rodriguez (27) Salomon Torres (37) - $3.75MM club option for '09 with a $0.3MM buyout Kerry Wood (32) Middle relievers - this list makes our current bullpen actually look good, although Affeldt might be worth a look. Jeremy Affeldt (30) Luis Ayala (31) Joe Beimel (32) Joe Borowski (38) Doug Brocail (42) - club option for '09 Shawn Chacon (31) Juan Cruz (30) Alan Embree (39) - $3MM club option for '09 Scott Eyre (37) Kyle Farnsworth (33) Casey Fossum (31) Keith Foulke (35) Tom Gordon (41) - $4.5MM club option for '09 with a $1MM buyout LaTroy Hawkins (36) Mark Hendrickson (35) Matt Herges (39) - club option for '09 Bob Howry (35) Jon Lieber (39) Jason Johnson (35) Damaso Marte (34) - $6MM club option for '09 with a $0.25MM buyout Trever Miller (36) - $2MM club option for '09 with a $0.4MM buyout Guillermo Mota (35) Will Ohman (31) Darren Oliver (38) Chan Ho Park (36) Horacio Ramirez (29) Al Reyes (38) Dennys Reyes (32) Arthur Rhodes (39) Juan Rincon (30) Glendon Rusch (34) Rudy Seanez (40) Brian Shouse (40) Russ Springer (40) Mike Timlin (43) Ron Villone (39) David Weathers (39) Kip Wells (32) Matt Wise (33) Jamey Wright (34) MY PLAN: - trade Castillo, Delgado, Schoenweise, Sanchez, Heilman for whatever bullpen help we can get and prospects - sign Hudson, Dunn (for 1b), Lowe, Affeldt and Fuentes - resign Tatis - give Murphy, Niese and Parnell more playing time ss/ Reyes 2b/ Hudson 3b/ Wright 1b/ Dunn cf/ Beltran rf/ Church lf/ Murphy / Tatis c/ Schnieder / Castro Santana Pelfrey Maine Lowe Neise Fuentes Affeldt Stokes Smith Feliciano Parnell / Kunz [long-man/spot starter]

my general misanthropy makes me root for the Cubs, because if they win the world series, it will mean the end of days is nigh.

As a Mets fan, I love "worst to first" teams.