Snark, Critic and Pop!

The 25th Reich Web Teaser 1 HD from Revolution Pictures on Vimeo.

Moneyball is based on the true story of Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane.  After a remarkably successful 2001 season, the A’s lost star players they could no longer afford to bigger market teams who could pay higher salaries.  Unable to compete with New York or Boston in price, Beane turns to a new strategy.  Instead of relying on old school scouting and baseball tradition, Beane turns to statisticians (played by Jonah Hill) who analyze the game and find undervalued players who the math says will get on base and score runs.  I love baseball, know the Billy Beane story, and expected to like Moneyball.  But I didn’t just like it — I loved it.  Pitt as Beane is terrific, and the rest of the cast is excellent as well.  This is the first sports movie that takes the focus off the players or even the managers and focuses on the nuances of executive decisions, trading players, and cutting players.  One of the most thrilling scenes is where Pitt and Hill mastermind a trade to acquire reliever Ricardo Rincon.  Sounds boring?  It’s not.  It’s funny, engaging, and all around great, great stuff.  Fourteen stars! (continue reading…)

One of my favorite bands, The Violet Burning, is making a stop in Charlotte this week as part of their world tour.  The Violet Burning’s latest release, a 34 song triple album called “The Story of Our Lives” has been in regular rotation in my car since its arrival earlier this year.  Wednesday, Nov. 2nd the greatest flammable flower igniters and indy rock perpetrators will be performing at Hope Church in Mint Hill, a convenient 3-4 miles from my house.  Heck, I’d have driven a lot further and paid a lot more than $10 at the door, but by gum I’ll take it.  (continue reading…)

But I think I know now.  From Pittsburg:

Man Steals Sandwich, Uses Stolen Forklift As Getaway

For my specific brand of geek, it doesn’t get much better than this weekend.  Why? (continue reading…)

PETA is asking a federal count to grant constitutional rights to killer whales who perform at marine parks.  You see, the parks are violating the 13th amendment rights of the animals – it all goes back to the Ahab-Dick trial which divided a nation in 1851 and led Lincoln to declare the civil war on Germany and eventually led to us nuking Cuba.  (Thanks Wikipedia!)  The suit:

 hinges on the fact that the 13th Amendment, while prohibiting slavery and involuntary servitude, does not specify that only humans can be victims.

This is a slippery slope people… if dolphins can’t punch balls through hoops for my amusement, what’s next?  Dolphins having the right to bear arms?  Freedom of speech for dog?  Bears getting the right to vote?  But seriously, they are clogging up the legal system with this idiocy while places like Topeka Kansas can’t even find the funds to prosecute domestic abuse (person on person, no whales involved).

The Asylum’s 3 Musketeers is more fun than should be legally allowed in living rooms.  There.  I said it, and I’d say it again if I had to.

No, this is not your granddad’s Three Musketeers.  You know, the 1,383rd adaptation of Alexander Dumas’ literary classic that no one reads outside book reports.  (The 1,382nd Musketeer remake discreetly slunk in and quietly out of theaters this week, despite the undeniable star power of Orlando Bloom.)

Hey, you big Dumas, if I had the high school English teachers lobby in my back pocket, my novel Perfecta would be a literary classic too!

Nay, our friends at the Asylum have opted to modernize the Three Musketeers, and replace the “Three” with a “3″ so that their movie shows up earlier in the online ques. (continue reading…)

Muppets + Pro Wrestling + Halloween = Huh?

I’m watching Game 5 of the World Series, and Joe Buck just unleashed an amazing ESPN stat (and on Fox no less!):  David Murphy: 1ST PLAYER TO ATTEND BAYLOR UNIVERSITY & START WORLD SERIES GAME SINCE 1923.  The last being the Giants’ Mule Watson.  Mule was best known for trying to smuggle drugs into an Isaac Asimov novel. 

As the World Series has come down to the Cardinals & the Rangers, I am forced to admit that my prediction that the Cubs would win in 2011 was incorrect.  I have re-checked my match, and I had made a mistake.  It’s 2012!  Yes, the Cubs will win in 2012.  Bank on it.

A story that needs no hilarious commentary. From Geekosystem.com:

Despite what you may have assumed, alchemy is not dead. While there’s pretty much no doubt that it will never work, people are still trying it. Recently, Paul Moran from Northern Ireland attempted to put a twist on the old lead-into-gold trick by turning feces into gold. No word on whether this modification to the recipe was out of necessity or a indomitable sense of adventure. (continue reading…)