Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Happiness is...

On the Dan Le Batard show I heard about this video being guaranteed to put you in a better mood, and I have to admit - it's pretty strong.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Teen Wolf in the news

In a move that sounds remarkably like an episode of Family Guy, Tampa DE Greg White has changed his names to Stylez G. White, a moniker in honor of the best friend (outside of his platonic friend Boof) of Michael J. Fox's character from the ridiculous 80s movie Teen Wolf. Which leads to an obvious question - is it more cool or less cool that he acknowledges that it's in honor of Teen Wolf. Had he not mentioned it, I would have assumed it was in honor of Furious Styles from Boyz n the Hood. Hmmm. I'm going to have to say it makes him less cool.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Will Barry Sanders, Jr. be the most hyped athlete of all time?

Every now and then I get into a conversation about going to a football game when it's cold outside. It can be a badge of honor for some people to flirt with hypothermia, and for others it's idiotic to stay outside when the temperature is in the teens. For me, it depends on the importance of the game. And the biggest notch on my belt is December 27, 1998, at what was then PSInet Stadium. It was in the low teens - absolutely brutal. But nothing was keeping me from the meaningless battle of 5-10 teams. The reason: it was the only chance I ever had to see Barry Sanders live. Barry Sanders would retire in July at the age of 30, still in his prime and within a typical Barry Sanders season of the all time rushing mark.

As we get further away from that day more harmful to the Detroit Lions franchise than any Matt Millen personnel decision, the memories of Sanders highlights become less salient, and the players of that era who now work in the media like Emmitt Smith, Michael Irvin, Troy Aikman, and Deion Sanders somehow seem more memorable. But for any football fan in their thirties, Barry Sanders is the most exciting man in sports entertainment.

I say this in order to provide some context for what is sure to occur over the next six or seven years: Barry Sanders, Jr. will surely become the most hyped high school football player of all time. This past weekend he scored three TDs for Heritage Hall in the Oklahoma Class 2A State Championship Game.

That's a 14 year old freshman, who averaged 8.4 yards per carry on the season, stepping his game up and being the best player on the field in the championship game. By the time he can see an R rated movie, he might be a household name, at least to the same degree Lebron James was. He's already a Youtube sensation.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Another freaking list

Empire Magazine has released their list of the 100 greatest movie characters of all time, and it's not a bad list. My grievances are the omissions of Colonel Nicholson as portrayed by Alec Guinness in The Bridge on the River Kwai, and Terry Malloy as portrayed by Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront. Characters I'm not a huge fan of that are on the list are Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell in the Escape... movies), White Goodman (Ben Stiller in Dodgeball), and Donnie Darko.

100. Martin Riggs - Lethal Weapon 1-4

99. Hal-9000 - 2001: A Space Odyssey

98. Charles Foster Kane - Citizen Kane

97. Clarice Starling - The Silence Of The Lambs

96. Ethan Edwards - The Searchers

95. Freddy Krueger - A Nightmare On Elm Street 1-6, Wes Craven's New Nightmare

94. Buzz Lightyear - Toy Story 1 & 2

93. Martin Q. Blank - Grosse Pointe Blank

92. Randal Graves - Clerks

91. Scarlett O'Hara - Gone With The Wind

90. The Wicked Witch Of The West - The Wizard Of Oz

89. Princess Leia Organa - Star Wars Episode IV-VI

88. Jessica Rabbit - Who Framed Roger Rabbit

87. Dracula - Dracula

86. Roy Batty - Blade Runner

85. Vincenzo Coccotti - True Romance

84. Agent Smith - The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions

83. Mr. Blonde - Reservoir Dogs

82. Marv - Sin City

81. Wolverine - X-Men, X-Men 2, X-Men: The Last Stand

80. Norman Bates - Psycho

79. Boba Fett - The Empire Strikes Back, Return Of The Jedi

78. Axel Foley - Beverly Hills Cop

77. Ed - Shaun Of The Dead

76. Dr. Emmett Brown - Back To The Future 1-3

75. Marge Gunderson - Fargo

74. E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial

73. Jack Torrance - The Shining

72. V - V for Vendetta

71. Snake Plissken - Escape From New York, Escape From L.A.

70. Atticus Finch - To Kill A Mockingbird

69. Keyser Soze - The Usual Suspects

68. Napolean Dynamite - Napolean Dynamite

67. Frank Booth - Blue Velvet

66. The Bride - Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2

65. White Goodman - Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story

64. Withnail - Withnail & I

63. Wall-E - Wall-E

62. Mathilda - Leon

61. R.P. McMurphy - One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

60. Ace Ventura - Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls

59. Tommy Devito - Goodfellas

58. Rick Blaine - Casablanca

57. Brick Tamland - Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy

56. Juno MacGuff - Juno

55. Lt. Frank Drebin - The Naked Gun

54. Luke Skywalker - Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Return Of The Jedi

53. Luke - Cool Hand Luke

52. George Bailey - It's A Wonderful Life

51. Mal Reynolds - Serenity

50. Quint - Jaws

49. Walter Sobchak - The Big Lebowski

48. Tony Stark - Iron Man

47. Blade - Blade, Blade II, Blade: Trinity

46. Anton Chigurh - No Country For Old Men

45. Amelie Poulain - Amelie

44. Peter Venkman - Ghostbusters

43. The Man With No Name - The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

42. Alex DeLarge - A Clockwork Orange

41. Mary Poppins - Mary Poppins

40. Patrick Bateman - American Psycho

39. Marty McFly - Back to The Future 1-3

38. Donnie Darko - Donnie Darko

37. Edward Scissorhands - Edward Scissorhands

36. Harry Potter - Harry Potter 1-6

35. Maximus Decimus Meridius - Gladiator

34. Rocky Balboa - Rocky 1-6

33. Tequila - Hard Boiled

32. Jason Bourne - The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum

31. Aragorn - The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

30. Jigsaw - Saw 1-5

29. Daniel Plainview - There Will Be Blood

28. Gandalf - The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

27. Tony Montana - Scarface

26. Ron Burgundy - Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy

25. Yoda - The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi

24. Ash - Evil Dead I, II & Army of Darkness

23. Harry Callahan - Dirty Harry

22. Ellis 'Red' Redding - The Shawshank Redemption

21. Michael Corleone - The Godfather Parts I-III

20. Forrest Gump - Forrest Gump

19. Jules Winnfield - Pulp Fiction

18. Travis Bickle - Taxi Driver

17. Hans Gruber - Die Hard

16. Neo - The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions

15. Ferris Bueller - Ferris Bueller's Day Off

14. The Terminator - The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

13. Gollum - The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Return of the King

12. John McClane - Die Hard 1-4

11. James Bond - Goldfinger

10. Vito Corleone - The Godfather

9. Ellen Ripley - Alien 1-4

8. Captain Jack Sparrow - Pirates Of The Caribbean 1-3

7. The Dude - The Big Lebowski

6. Indiana Jones - Indiana Jones 1-4

5. Dr. Hannibal Lecter - The Silence Of The Lambs, Hannibal, Red Dragon

4. Han Solo - Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Return Of The Jedi

3. The Joker - The Dark Knight

2. Darth Vader - Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jed, Revenge of the Sith

1. Tyler Durden - Fight Club

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

The other, other white meat

I saw this today on Deadspin (in their competition for Sports Human of the Year) and thought it was absolutely the greatest baby picture in the history of the world. It would make Cosmo Kramer shit his pants. Ladies and gentlemen, I present - Baby Mangino!