Vic Sage

Best Picture Oscar nominees http://cdn.media.oscar.abc.com/media/2013/pdf/2013/nominees.pdf "Beasts of the Southern Wild" "Silver Linings Playbook" "Zero Dark Thirty" "Lincoln" "Les Mis�rables" "Life of Pi" "Amour" (foreign) "Django Unchained" "Argo" the only surprises here i guess are the inclusion of the foreign language film AMOUR (which is somehow also eligible as best foreign language film) and the exlusions of MOONRISE KINGDOM, THE MASTER and FLIGHT, which all got some pre-nomination buzz. Also: [u:1vbmervd]Animated Feature Film[/u:1vbmervd] "Brave" "Frankenweenie" "ParaNorman" "The Pirates! Band of Misfits" "Wreck-It Ralph" [u:1vbmervd]Documentary feature:[/u:1vbmervd] 5 Broken Cameras The Gatekeepers How to Survive a Plague The Invisible War Searching for Sugar Man [u:1vbmervd]Foreign Language:[/u:1vbmervd] Amour (Austria) Kon-Tiki (Norway) No (Chile) A Royal Affair (Denmark) War Witch (Canada)

what i'd like to know is who gave it 1 star? and why? I'm not being critical, i'm just interested in hearing the rationale. Yes, Kerry Washington was definitely underutilized. I would've liked to see a parallel story thread going on with her where, as Django learns to be a bounty hunter, she is trying to survive on DiCaprio's plantation (similar to the structure of EMPIRE STRIKES BACK). That way, you introduce the plantation characters early on, and you develop the relationship between Django and his wife throughout the film, so when they all meet up in the last 3rd of the movie, the stage has been set, the conflict heightened by anticipation, and the audience in invested in the resolution. It doesn't all just happen out of nowhere.

nice animation, too.

i don't think it's either a "nightmare" or a "mess". If no one gets in this year, someone will likely get in next year. If the writers want some more time to let the dust settle on the Steroids era before jumping in with both feet, or just want to penalize the PED suspects with a 1-year ("not on the first ballot, you don't!") suspension, and if some of the younger voters are considering a wider range of statistical criteria for enshrinement, thus leading to more diversity in the vote than in the past, then we'll have some planes stacking up over LaGuardia for a few years. And that's ok with me. Now if the writers continue to vote no one in over a prolonged period, then there may be a systemic problem to be reviewed, given that they will have been overlooking worthy honorees by any measure. But i don't have a problem, in principle, with keeping the standards high, and in considering the "morals clause", rather than lowering standards to a point where the HoF is debased and ultimately rendered meaningless. Now THAT would be a mess that is uncorrectable. In fact, I think the Hall is done more damage in the long run by voting in players with impressive but not all-time-great careers like Morris, Lee, McGriff, Mattingly or Murphy than it is damaged by holding out Clemens and Bonds for a few years.

DGA nominations: Ben Affleck - ARGO Ang Lee - LIFE OF PI Stephen Spielberg - LINCOLN Kathryn Bigelow - ZERO DARK THIRTY Tom Hooper - LES MISERABLES Hooper over Tarantino? I don't think so. LES MIZ was nearly ruined by his direction.

if death will prevent me from experiencing TUFF TURF, i await it gladly.

Bill Married his HS sweetheart, Jeanette, and they settled in Warwick, RI. They had 9 children -- all sons, and he taught them each to play a different position. After he retired, Bill took his family barnstorming, playing pickup games throughout New England. They were sponsored by Hershey's Almond Joy. The team, however, was never as good as they should have been.

when you add those idiots to the idiots who just look at win totals (Morris/254 v Schilling/216), i think that's enough idiocy to explain it.

2013 golden globe nominations: -drama ARGO DJANGO UNCHAINED LIFE OF PI LINCOLN ZERO DARK THIRTY � comedy/musical THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL ? LES MISERABLES MOONRISE KINGDOM SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK -animation BRAVE FRANKENWEENIE HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA RISE OF THE GUARDIANS WRECK-IT RALPH -Foreign Language AMOUR (AUSTRIA) A ROYAL AFFAIR (DENMARK) THE INTOUCHABLES (FRANCE) KON-TIKI (NORWAY/UK/DENMARK) RUST AND BONE (FRANCE)

Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985) ET, The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) Tuff Turf (1985) Bicycle Dreams (2009) - PEE WEE: already listed above - ET: Not a cycling movie per se (not about bikes, or races, or racers), but there are some cycling scenes, and there is the iconic "bike across the moon" shot, so yeah, i guess if you want to push it; - TUFF TURF: Really? How so? I never saw it, but nothing in the description would lead one to guess cycling is critical to either its plot, imagery or themes; - BICYCLE DREAMS: I was just looking at features, but if you want to add documentaries, that opens a door to another 5-10 movies, probably, including -- Stars and Watercarriers (1974) The Impossible Hour (1974) A Sunday In Hell (1976) Hell on Wheels (2004) Overcoming (2005) Road To Roubaix (2008) Chasing Legends (2010) Ride the Divide (2010)

a songwriter, he wrote "My Old Kentucky Home"... no wait ... "you make me feel like dancin"... no that's not right either. He was a slugging LFer past his prime. no, that's not it. Leonard Norris Foster (from Kentucky, and therefore he did in fact have an old kentucky home) was a middle infielder in the 1970s, who came up with the Braves before coming over to the Mets (76-77). He couldn't hit a lick. According to Wikipedia: "Foster had one of the more unfortunate debuts in Major League history, when playing his first game for the Braves against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Three Rivers Stadium on July 9, 1971. Fielding at shortstop, he commits an error on the first ball hit to him. After flying out in the 3rd inning, Foster hits into a double play in the 5th inning, followed by hitting into a triple play in the 7th inning." That's like a negative cycle, isn't it? tell me something about dark matter.

some others, too... A Boy, a Girl and a Bike (UK/1949) Jour de Fete (FR/1949) KEY EXCHANGE (1985) 2 SECONDS (Fr.CAN/1998) BEIJING BICYCLE (CHINA/2001) TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE (FR/2003) FLYING SCOTSMAN (UK/2006)

bike movies, eh? ... hmm. BICYCLE THIEF (IT/1948) BREAKING AWAY PREMIUM RUSH PEE WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE AND SOON THE DARKNESS (UK/1970) BMX BANDITS (AUS/1983) AMERICAN FLYERS (1985) QUICKSILVER (1986) DREAMRIDER (1993) a pretty short list.

What's not true? This: The thing with HOF voting is, in this case, all of these guys are presumably legislators in said system. If they think the voting process-- whether it's the mechanics, or the selection criteria, or the restrictive expiration dates on the sandwich coupon they get as a reward for submitting a ballot-- is flawed, they have other means to address said process... since they're all members of the organization, with a say over its bylaws/processes. Factually untrue. The sportswriters do not in fact have a say over HOF voting bylaws/processes and are not "legislators" in this system.

WGA nominations announced -- adapted screenplay: "Lincoln" "Argo" ''Silver Linings Playbook" ''Life of Pi" "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" original screenplay: "Zero Dark Thirty" "Flight" ''Looper" ''The Master" "Moonrise Kingdom"

wasn't he a muppet?

Not true. The BBWAA has no authority to change the rules; only the HOF Board can amend voting criteria and rules. And just because someone is a member of the BBWAA doesn't necessarily he/she has the authority to have published their personal opinions. They are supposed to be journalists, after all. And even if they can, why should they be limited to only one way to express their views? As a voter, they cast a ballot, and as a journalist, they can explain that ballot. This is jury nullification, without your caveats.

wasn't he that comic character actor from the 1960s-70s who starred in THE RITZ? He was good.

Depends on definition of "capable". First of all, its an assessment based on 47 plate appearances last year. That's too small a sample size to feel comfortable about projecting how he'd do in that role going forward. Secondly, while he certainly had some big pinch HRs (5) and RBIs (10), he also hit .214 in that role, with an OB% under .300. Again, too small a sample to know if he could maintain either the great power rate or terrible hitting rate. Until a guy has established himself over time, PHing is like relief pitching in that, due to small sample sizes, performance can be radically inconsistent from season to season. That's why its hard to put together a reliable bullpen or bench that stays together for a period of time.

Voting: Voting shall be based upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played. as long as sportsmanship and character are part of the voting criteria for the HOF, the Hall has put BBWAA writers in the position of being moral arbiters. However, as journalists, they are NOT supposed to be moral arbiters, but reporters of substantiated facts. These are two very different roles which are being conflated for rhetorical purposes. It seems to me a reporter who didn't report about steroids abuse (or cocaine abuse, or amphetimine abuse, etc) because he didn't have the evidence an editor would naturally require before publishing such a story, can still have the responsibility to use what he knows (or thinks he knows) about a player in exercising his HOF vote. In fact he is REQUIRED to consider those things, as per the voting criteria. Unfortunately, i think the "morals" criteria is applied inconsistently, where its applied only in the negative, to keep guys out that writers think are morally undeserving, but rarely used in the positive as a tie-breaker for a marginal candidate of sterling character (e.g., Dale Murphy). And I don't think that journalists should have this authority in any event. They should cover news, not create it. Judging morality of the particpants could well skew the way they report and cover the sport.

put me down as a vote for one of those "collapsing into a superdense mass" explosions. But how far is 30km? Assuming i'm in Westchester and they're either in Queens or Manhattan, is that far enough away?

it was as crappy a year in cinemAH as i can recall.

finally saw it and liked it alot. Christoph Waltz is once again terrific and hilarious, with just a hint of poignant humanity, and Jamie Foxx is suitably iconic as he grows in power and stature throughout the story. QT again gets great little cameos from pop culture figures of the past (Franco Nero, Don Johnson, Michael "Billy Jack" Parks, Bruce Dern, James Remar, Tom Wopat, Dennis "Breaking Away" Christopher, Russ Tamblyn, Don Stroud, Robert Carradine, etc), and QT's customary cameo is satisfactorily short and he has the good taste to blow himself to bits. The film's action is silly, funny, cartoonish and over-the-top, even as its themes are intensely serious. Fat Jonah Hill co-stars with Don Johnson in the "Klansman" scene, which is absolutely hilarious. The problem is not just length, but pacing. I don't mind a long movie, if it has an arc that keeps you interested and pacing that suits the story. But here the story feels like a sequence of set pieces, one after another. We're supposed to care about Django finding his wife (which is the story's "through line"), but we've seen almost nothing of their relationship, nor much about who each of them is individually, so the "quest" is more an intellectual conceit than the emotional core of the story that the movie demands. Also, the movie introduces major characters and new conflicts about 1/2 way through, without ever establishing them in the first place, so it just feels like another chapter. The ending is then attenuated, going on about 1/2 hour longer than it should. Still, overall, an entertaining film. My Top 5 films written AND directed by Tarantino (in order): 1- KILL BILL 1,2 2- PULP FICTION 3- RESERVOIR DOGS 4- DJANGO UNCHAINED 5- INGLORIOUS BASTERDS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_in_film What i saw this year: [u:6d8shel9]liked so far:[/u:6d8shel9] THE AVENGERS THE CABIN IN THE WOODS THE DARK KNIGHT RISES DJANGO UNCHAINED THE GREY THE HUNGER GAMES JOHN CARTER LES MISERABLES LIFE OF PI LINCOLN SKYFALL TED [u:6d8shel9]eh:[/u:6d8shel9] ABRAHAM LINCOLN:VAMPIRE HUNTER AMAZING SPIDER-MAN BRAVE CHRONICLE DR. SEUSS'S THE LORAX DREDD DARK SHADOWS FRANKENWEENIE HOBBIT PROMETHEUS SNOW WHITE & THE HUNTSMAN TOTAL RECALL UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING [u:6d8shel9]hated:[/u:6d8shel9] 21 JUMP STREET BATTLESHIP GHOST RIDER 2 PROJECT X THREE STOOGES WRATH OF THE TITANS What i still intend to see: HAYWIRE MOONRISE KINGDOM SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD SAVAGES KILLER JOE BOURNE LEGACY ARBITRAGE THE MASTER LOOPER PARANORMAN ARGO 7 PSYCHOPATHS THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS WRECK-IT RALPH CLOUD ATLAS HITCHCOCK KILLING THEM SOFTLY ZERO DARK THIRTY JACK REACHER THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK The Perks of Being a Wallflower Flight Beasts of the Southern Wild Safety Not Guaranteed Ruby Sparks [u:6d8shel9]my current top 10:[/u:6d8shel9] LIFE OF PI LINCOLN DJANGO UNCHAINED THE AVENGERS THE DARK KNIGHT RISES THE GREY JOHN CARTER CABIN IN THE WOODS LES MISERABLES SKYFALL But based on what I've read and heard so far, I'd project my final top 10 will end up looking more like this: LIFE OF PI -ARGO LINCOLN -ZERO DARK THIRTY THE AVENGERS DJANGO UNCHAINED THE DARK KNIGHT RISES -MOONRISE KINGDOM -BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD -SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

like the other guy, this guy's argument is valid right up to the point where he starts naming his ballot... Fred McGriff, Jack Morris, Don Mattingly... at which point he loses all credibility. I mean, how does a guy understand positional context, as he does with Piazza and his relative place among HOF catchers, then go on to vote for McGriff and Mattingly as HOF 1bmen and Morris as a HOF pitcher?