History

Profile count: 
46 825
Node count: 
384

Media Hijinks - Movies Everywhere!

Well folks, this is the final installment of Media Hijinks. Luckily, I get to leave off on a more positive note than usual. While there is one bit of questionable news, most of this week’s developments have been positive. It looks like we’re going to be getting some interesting movies in the next few years, movies that will appeal to all tastes, from super hero fans to those of us that lived through the children’s shows of the 80s. Read on for all the juicy info.

Image: 

Six of the Best Antiheroes of the Television World

Following in the wake of my last article, which detailed six of the best franchise movie antiheroes out there, I present a list of six great television antiheroes. Alas, I must first admit that I am not the kind of person that spends every waking hour watching television, so this list is made up of antiheroes that I myself am familiar with. While I would love to throw such iconic characters as Dr. House, Nucky Thompson, Don Draper and others onto the list, I have not seen the associated shows enough to cast a proper judgment. So you shall have to make due with this rather personalized list of six. Hopefully, you will agree with my choices and perhaps even recognize everyone on this list.

Image: 

Spending a Date Night at a Chicago Sporting Event

When you want something fun to do come date night, check out what’s happening at the local sporting venues. For couples that enjoy a night of viewing a game, this can be the perfect way to have some fun with the one that you love. Luckily, Chicago has more than a few famous venues to choose from. Wrigley Field is a venue with a long and illustrious history, if not necessarily the best winning record for its teams. U.S. Cellular Field is another great one for baseball fans.

Image: 

Review: Community - ‘VCR Maintenance and Educational Publishing’

Once again, the folks at Community bring us a solid 22 minutes of comedy with the latest episode, ‘VCR Maintenance and Educational Publishing’. While there weren’t too many big gimmicks this time around, the gags were clever and the story entertaining enough to make this a worthy entry into the Community archives.

Image: 

Media Hijinks - Casting, Releases and -sigh- Another Remake

First up this week, a small bit of Star Wars: Episode VII casting. It’s still just in the rumor department, but if the sources are correct then it looks like Abrams and his pals at Disney are looking to bring on an Oscar Winner to help flesh out the cast. And that actress is none-other-than Lupita Nyong’o of 12 Years a Slave. This could be an interesting development for the movie, if she says yes. No word on what her role would be, but some people are saying she’d end up as a Sith. Pretty cool, if I do say so myself.

Image: 

State of Stefen Romero

.

Q.  First, the bad.  Just so's we know that Doc has his head about him.

A.  It's mystifying.  He's played in the two TV games we've seen, and several times he has swung right through 91 MPH fastballs.  I don't get that.

We're not talking about guessing curve, getting heat  ... (er, I don't think so, anyway.  Could that be it?).  We're talking about being right on the pitch, timing-wise, and just not seeing the ball.  

Six Crazy-Scary-Insane Movie Villains

Ever since I first developed an appreciation for the cinema, I have had a certain respect for those actors that are capable of portraying truly great villains. A hero is just not as interesting if the person he struggles against is generic or does not feel dangerous in some way. Unfortunately, most villains are little more than obstacles for the protagonists to overcome. But sometimes, an actor (or actress) comes forward and puts on a performance that is positively cringe-worthy.

Today I have decided to put together a list of six of my favorite movie and TV villains. There are plenty more out there, of course, but these are some that were so vicious that they made me want to change the locks on my doors and buy a gun - just in case. These are not proper horror-movie villains (you can find a good list of those at this site). I concentrated mainly on the characters that are creepy and crazy. Hopefully, some of these are your favorites as well.

Image: 

D.J. Converts D.R.

.

Gordon, Spec and others have been enthused about D.J. Peterson.  Dr. D has not.  It's not that I've had anything against him; I just didn't get him.  Just as in "not knowing much about him."  Certainly the national sites have not hesitated to slot Peterson wayyyy high on the org list, often ahead of James Paxton (almost before Peterson played any pro ball).

Sabermetrics, as opposed to tools scouting, devotes its attention to performance history.  It's not like Peterson's performance record exceeds Ackley's and Zunino's, or anything like that.  And we hadn't had a chance to see him.

.

Deconstructing Deej

The Seattle Times has a very fine highlight reel, or three, from Friday's game.  By "very fine" we mean "lots of different highlights, from a good angle."  We were able to extract half-a-dozen stills on D.J.'s homer swing, which ain't bad as far as video quality from an early-March game.

Go take a look at D.J.'s swing, starting at the 1:45 mark on the last video.  What do you see?

.

.

.

WAIT!  We better initialize your system before we start coding.  Here is a Dustin Ackley groundout from the same game.  The point?  It's one thing to have a pretty swing against the bathroom mirror.  It's another thing to have a pretty swing when an enemy pitcher is trying to kill you in 0.4 of a second.  

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - History