Thursday, December 20, 2012
Baseball scoring
Really interesting infographic about scoring in baseball since 1871. Here are some other infograpics he has done. I wish I had the time to do these kinds of things.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Limitations of There Will Be Blood
1. As a character study, its really just about the life of a character, Daniel Plainview. If you dont particularly find his character intrinsically interesting and engaging then this movie does nothing for you.
2. Daniel Day-Lewis' portrayal of Daniel Plainview is so large that the character Eli Sunday never seems to be a true rival of his.
The biggest reason I struggled with this film is it seems to resist traditional analysis. For example, any time Plainview and Sunday are slapping eachother, I am asking if this is symbolic or some kind of social commentary about capitalism and religion. Instead, it seems that what you see is what you get. Plainview is competitive and is simply squashing out Eli Sunday, who is never really a great rival for Plainview, and hes really just squashed like a bug throughout the entirety of the movie. He has a minor win when he gets some of Plainview's oil money, and his greatest albeit temporary triumph is when he makes Plainview admit one of his greatest insecurities, which is that he abandoned his child, although it could be argued that Plainview did what was best for the boy and sent him to a school for the deaf.
Still, if this is supposed to be a clash between two great and powerful forces, it fails, because noone who watches this movie is ever convinced that Eli Sunday poses any kind of threat or could ever hang toe-to-toe with Daniel Plainview. Therefore, in my opinion, this movie fails to engage as the viewer is never drawn in to this rivalry, its just all Daniel Plainview mopping the floor with Paul Dano. Alternatively, if this is an artistic choice, say Daniel Plainview takes this boy who is not even in the oil business as a threat and must squash him, Im still not engaged. I get it, Daniel Plainview has a competition in him, he wants not only to succeed but see others fail.
If we compare this to something like Wall Street. Gordon Gekko is a similar character to Daniel Plainview, I think. But Gordon Gekko represents Wall Street, whereas Martin Sheen represents the blue collar working class. Charlie Sheen is thrown in the mix, and has the dilemma and drama to work out, realizing that his old man offers real value to society, he does the right thing and brings Gekko down and saves Sheen's company. This is the kind of symbolism that There Will Be Blood seems to consciously lack, and perhaps its more realistic. This seems to be the case for most people who have responded well to the film, chronicling the life of this character. For me, this does very little.
Daniel Plainview is a self-driven, powerful, competitive by nature, greedy force who is possible the face of capitalism at the turn-of-the-century America. He wins, but is never happy. He gains enough money to isolate himself, but all the wealth of the world doesnt make him any happier than when he was churning the mud in the mineshaft.
To me this is another case of, really? Thats it? Thats all there is to this movie? This is a man who is all consumed by his work and all the success in the world will not make him happy. Thanks, for Scarface retold in the turn-of-the-century America, but I'll pass.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Sunday, December 9, 2012
I need your help
So my dad and I have been doing the 40 import beer club at Brewe Has. You get a punch card and have to drink the 40 beers on the list. Not all at once, but just over time. We're four beers away and are gonna finish it up later today. We get our name on a plaque and a quote under our name. I have no idea what my quote is gonna be. I need you guys to help me think of something short, sweet, and clever/funny. Hopefully someone reads this before Noon CST today (Sunday December 9th).
Saturday, December 8, 2012
The Stick Of Truth
This game is going to be so good.
South Park: The Stick of Truth - World Premiere... by SpieleReportDE
South Park: The Stick of Truth - World Premiere... by SpieleReportDE
Friday, December 7, 2012
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Over 9,000 times better than Dragonball: Evolution
From the YouTube posting: "DragonBall Z -- Saiyan Saga is a non-profit trailer being made for private use, and is not intended for sales of any sort. No money is being made from this film. It is in no way affiliated with, or sponsored or approved, by Akira Toriyama, Toei, Shueisha, FUNimation,20th Century Fox or any of their respective affiliates or licensees. The content is for the private use of the viewer and should not be sold, rented, or used for any commercial enterprise in any way, shape, or form. We make no claim to any characters, storylines, names, logos or situations that are trademarked, copyrighted or otherwise protected by federal, state, international or other intellectual property law. This work is produced solely for the personal, uncompensated enjoyment of ourselves and other DragonBall Z fans.
We are two brothers who run a small video production company in the UK. We've been Producing, Directing, Shooting and editing for our company for over 5 years now and have always talked about doing a Dragonball Z Fan Film. We grew up watching DBZ and it provided many years of entertainment and enjoyment for us as we're sure it did for many of you. We, like every other DBZ fan, were sorely disappointed with Hollywood's attempt and producing a live action DBZ film. So this May we are set to shoot an extended Live action Fan trailer for the Saiyan Saga!
This trailer has been made to demonstrate the potential for live action DragonBall Z."
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Dale Sveum shot by Robin Yount
Cubs manager shot by Hall of Famer Yount whilst hunting elitist birds.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/dale-sveum-accidentally-shot-robin-yount-during-recent-015427977--mlb.html
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/dale-sveum-accidentally-shot-robin-yount-during-recent-015427977--mlb.html
Jim Deshaies!
So the Cubs hired Jim Deshaies as the new TV color commentator. While I think he will be great, we couldn't find ANYONE with a Cubs background? I know Brenly didn't have a Cubs background either but I was hoping to finally get a guy that did.
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