Monster of the Day: The Creature

Specifically, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, or the Gill-man:

The Gill-man is considered one of the Universal monsters (notable monsters from Universal studios) though he isn't as famous as Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, and the Wolfman.

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This one is for the football pundits who are (reasonably) trashing the Big Ten and (unreasonably) talking up Northwestern: Do you honestly believe the Wildcats are going to be in the B10 Championship Game come November? Or is pointing out the B10's inadequacies so easy that you just have to tack on some really stupid comment?

Monster of the Day: Skeleton Warriors

The skeleton warriors from Jason and the Argonauts:

You can see a clip here.When I was a kid we had a video of some documentary or feature about special effects and it showed a few seconds of these guys fighting. I thought they were the scariest/coolest bad guys ever.

Monster of the Day: Gremlins

I assume the Gremlins don't need as much introduction, or explanation, as the Weeping Angels.

The first Gremlins movie is a little creepy in spite of its comedic elements, the second is hilarious with a few creepy moments. I prefer the second.

Monster of the Day: Weeping Angels

As it's October, I thought I'd do a little something for my own entertainment that sort of followed a Halloween theme, so: monsters. My criteria: 1) they have to be from a movie or a television series and, 2) they have to be at least a little scary. To start, from Doctor Who, the Weeping Angels.

You can see a clip of the angels in action here. The angels are monsters with a gimmick. As long as you look at them they're nothing but statues. But as soon as you look away they come to life and either kill you or send you back in time. So, whatever you do... don't blink.

RE: Biased?

Interesting research. Surprised? I don't know. He's right, the audience you are talking to...ARE FANS OF THAT TEAM. They expect a little homer out of you. But, there does seem to be a little more credibility when it's "down the middle." If it's too one-sided, it sounds like you asked a couple of guys from the bar across the stadium to call the game.

I can understand the NY audience base wanting it to be more down the middle. Of course, it would be nice if Bret Musburger would act more like a professional than the local guy at a high school game.

After 155 games, I've probably tuned in to 80 games for at least some portion of the Tiger games on the radio. I rarely see a game on TV. In fact, I've listened so much to the radio guys...I can't stand the Tigers own TV guys. Dan Dickerson really has a great personality. I think his strikeout and home run calls are pretty good and he takes it to the next level when the game dictates it.

For example, his strikeout call in the 2nd inning is nothing compared to a bases loaded strikeout or a strikeout in the 8th inning.

On the other hand, if you are too much of a homer, it could get you fired. I believe that is what happened to Mark Champion. He was the radio play-by-play for the Lions for many years, especially during the Barry era. (I believe he still does the radio and/or TV games for the Pistons.)

I'm not exactly sure if he was fired, but his classic "Holy-macerole" blasts for every time the Lions screwed up may have cost him his job. Mark called it as he saw it...the Lions sucked and he let you know it. The Lions brass probably didn't care for that.

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Do you think Ed Hochuli has spent the referee strike pumping iron?

Did you know?

According to Wikipedia, Lee Corso was a roommate of Burt Reynolds at FSU.

Biased?

The WSJ has done a little research to judge just how biased hometown MLB announcers are. Mario Impemba and Rod Allen come in right about the middle.

An Unexpected Journey

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Just how bad is the Big Ten? I'm actually in agreement with the polls, there's not a Big Ten team that deserves to be in the top 15. And the teams that are usually bad (Indiana, Purdue, etc) look to be really awful. I'm as tired of the talk about SEC dominance as anyone, but we might as well just give Alabama the national title and call off the rest of the season.

Storytime

"SMASH!"

So we had a "date night" Saturday night and took advantage of Olive Garden's "never-ending pasta bowl."  I hit that hard.  We then proceeded to the movies to see what was playing.  We checked out the Fashion Square Cinema, but didn't like the options...of times for the movies.  It was already 8:30, but nothing was really starting before 10pm that was interesting.  So we figured we could leave for the Saginaw 12 because if they didn't have anything better, we knew we had plenty of time to get back to the other theater.

Saginaw 12 had many more options, but I didn't "see" anything after TDKR.  I was somewhat surprised it was still there.  But, they also had The Avengers!  Yeah, four months later, still available.  I figured I couldn't get TDKR or Avengers, but kept my fingers crossed.  So we narrowed it down to "The Campaign" and "The Words."  We knew The Campaign would have lots of crude humor, just how much was the issue.  The Words was the dark horse.

We knew a rated R comedy must be pretty bad...but we went for The Campaign anyway to at least get some laughs.  Well, I have my limit of Ef-bombs in the first five minutes of a movie, so we walked out.  Thankfully, it was only 9:30 and TDKR was right next door!  Bam, got what I wanted.  But, they were having technically difficulties and the manager practically walked in the door as we were sitting down (thinking he was coming after us) and said the movie is cancelled, you can get your money back if you want or blah, blah, blah.  We knew that wasn't an option.

So...walk next door to The Avengers, which also was starting in less than 5 minutes!  Awesome.  I really wanted to see that again anyway.  We sat in the back (there were 8 people there actually...I think some came from TDKR), stayed until about 11pm, made out, then walked out and went home.

Perfect date night.


Other movie news:  We rented Memento this week.  I hadn't seen it in about 11 years.  It took two nights, but still puzzled.  Then I decided to watch the first 20 minutes and the last 10 minutes before I took it back and I think I have it all figured out.  The movie was 10x better after watching the first 20 and last 10.  Awesome.

2012 Draft

Wherever the draft is held you're going to need some help to prepare. So here's a few links:

Yahoo! Draft Kit
ESPN Draft Kit
FoxSports Draft Guide

There's one other thing we need: a full complement of teams. So sign up already!

Car of the Day: Chevy Montana Sport

I saw quite a lot of these during my trip to Brazil. Volkswagen also makes a similar model.

Are You a Fan?

The following is a post I’ve been chewing on for awhile and finally took the time to throw it around.



Fan – noun: an enthusiastic devotee, follower, or admirer of a sport, pastime, celebrity, etc. (dictionary.reference.com)


What makes someone a “fan”? What allows someone to be a legitimate “fan” of a team, player, etc.? Is their an unwritten guideline?

Why am I a Detroit Tigers fan? Is it because I live in Michigan? Ok. But what if there were two professional baseball teams in Michigan? Is it the team I live closest? I live 100 miles from Detroit. What if I grew up in Michigan for 20 years and was a die-hard Tigers fan but then moved to New Mexico or Washington and lived there for 60 years. Does 60 years out-weigh 20 years? New Mexico doesn’t even have a MLB team. So do I get to remain a Tigers fan and/or am I allowed to pick any team I want since New Mexico doesn’t have one? Washington has a team. Do I now have to be a fan of the Mariners? Or, does the Mariner-nation have a waiting period that you have to prove yourself as a fan, not just because you now live in their state. Is their an induction ceremony for those that have been on the waiting list?

Is it because my dad is/was a fan of that team? Is it because I went to one of the games? Did I get a players autograph?

Is the team successful or a bottom dweller? Should that even matter? Is it because I like the name of the team or their colors? Is it because I graduated from that school/college? Does it qualify if my kids and/or parents attended there?

Is it because I know the NAMES of some of the players on the team? Am I a fan of a team because of certain players on a team? Take Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars. I was and still am a huge Dumars fan. Would I have been a fan of them if they were not Piston players? What if Thomas and Dumars would have played for another team after 1990? Would I then be a fan of the team they currently played with or would I only be a fan of the specific players, Thomas and Dumars?

See, loyalty worked until about 20 years ago, so some of that previous logic would be allowable. But in the past 15 years, there has been no such thing as loyalty in any of the big sports.

So, again, what allows me to be a “TRUE” fan of the Detroit Tigers, if there even is such a thing as a “true” fan. Are there multiple kinds? A “fan” and a “true fan?”

Buffalo Wild Wings

Rumor has it, BW's is the place to have a Fantasy Football Draft.  I've heard from a few different commissioners in the past week it's the place to be.  "They hook you up."  Draft boards, etc.  Even a $10 voucher for each person.  You have a 2 hour time block as well.  That works out to about 2 minutes to make your pick...which means I'm probably out then.

Rusty is ALL IN.  "Make it happen."  I'm sure KS would certainly like the idea.  The fat guys...ERRRRRRRR...runners like to eat, so they'd probably go for it.

But if we are doing a Baseball trip, we may not get away with two guy nights out in one weekend.  Then again, girls can take the kiddo's and shop if they want.

REACT TO ME!!!!

Out

RE: Warrior

Thanks for the recommendation.  It was even recommended by someone at church just this past Sunday.  It's the first movie I haven't feel asleep through in awhile (we typically start a movie at 11pm).  Started "Warrior" around 12am and made it all the way.  Wife liked it too.

If Nolte could keep his head on straight, he could turn in more performances like that.

Also, wish I knew more about "Moby Dick." That clearly had a parellel to the Paddy story.

Not sure if I liked this better than "Cinderella Man."  Both guys had to win to help the family survive.



On some other thoughts/spoilers from TDKR:

The chalk mark that Officer Blake was drawing in TDKR, what was it?  It is an upside-down Robin?  Was it a reference to Nightwing?  If so, and had I known that before watching the movie, I wonder if that would have changed anything for me.  Because I didn't know who Blake was going to become at the end.

Also, did Bruce Wayne and Celina Kyle kiss as their regular self and as alter-egos?  Was that to show something deeper in the relationship?

I thought the scene where Batman gets his butt kicked by Bane was interesting.  Every once in awhile the camera would show a quick shot of his henchmen standing above watching the fight.  They all had big guns...but no one was in a ready position.  There was even a look of embarrassment on their face.  Like they knew this wasn't going to end well for Batman and it was going to be hard to watch, but had to watch because no one had ever been able to take him down.  None of the henchmen looked worried that Bane might get into trouble and they better be ready to shoot.  It was like they were watching a trainwreck.  They didn't want to see it happen, but yet couldn't turn away.  You could argue they looked like they felt sorry for him.

REUNION?

Is everybody up for a baseball trip reunion. I'm thinking around the Labor Day time frame. Ironically the season will probably be on the line as the White Sox are in town for a weekend series. Since you are coming the farthest Stack are you in and what days are your option. They are still in town on Labor day with the Indians. Let's take out your Man Cards boys and pull this thing together. Arod just bought a Suburban so we already know who's driving. Late

Warrior

I watched Warrior last night and it was a terrific movie. I saw that it had received some pretty positive reviews so I put it in my Netflix queue, but honestly I wasn't that interested. It ended up leapfrogging some other movies because of availability but I let it sit around for a few days before I watched it. Then I was blown away. It isn't a lame MMA movie, it's a fantastic drama. It definitely invites comparisons to Rocky, but I enjoyed this much more. The plot doesn't break any new ground, but the film is so well acted and executed that you won't notice. Tom Hardy (Bane), Joel Edgerton, and Nick Nolte do an excellent job. Definitely worth checking out if you have a free evening in need of a movie.