Aug 100
Reality check: why Avatar wasn’t really all that great
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"I'm flying Jack, I'm flying!" ...oh wait, wrong James Cameron movie.
Back in December of 2009 (Christmas Day, actually. See how dedicated I am to this blog and my readers?) I wrote about my five favorite movies in 2009. My list, you may remember, wasn’t exactly conventional: I included movies like 2012 and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen instead of some of the more conventional favorites. (And I’ll still defend those choices as good movies, or at least better than everyone gives them credit for.)
One of those conventional favorites, released for the first time a week before I wrote the post, was James Cameron’s Avatar. It made (and topped) many people’s best movies of 2009 list, and it eventually became the highest grossing movie of all time. This weekend, it was rereleased in theaters with an extra eight (no really, eight!) minutes of special, never-before-seen-but-just-as-green-and-blue footage.
Let’s stop kidding ourselves. Despite its sales, despite its hype, and despite the fact that sequels are already in the works, Avatar wasn’t really that great. Read on to find out why.
Aug 101
Why fantasy football is the greatest thing ever
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Chris Johnson wasn't the NFL MVP last year, but he was the MVP of a lot of fantasy football leagues. And really, that's what's important.
We all have that one friend who’s a stat geek. (Heck, it may even be you. Heck, it might even be me.) He’s good with math, obsessive over numbers, watches SportsCenter like its his job, and generally spends way too much time rationalizing and analyzing human performance and rattling off condescending tidbits like “Tom Brady didn’t have a good game last week? That’s typical; while he normally plays well against the Titans against a left-handed quarterback and a tight end who wears a number divisible by 6, he’s actually only a 15% passer in games called by Jim Nantz on second Sundays of a month.” Twenty years ago we made fun of people like this: math-nerd-wannabe-jocks who were missing the point of sports.
Today though, you’ll find these guys dominating fantasy football leagues (clearly indicating, by the way, that I’m definitely not a stat geek. At least not a very good one.) A child of the Internet revolution and the World Wide Web, fantasy football has blossomed into a billion dollar industry which is now mainstream. Last year the Indians had a fantasy league, the cast of The Office had a fantasy league, and while I’m guessing Barack Obama wasn’t in a league himself, I wouldn’t put it past his staffers. The point is, nearly everyone with even the slightest interest in football (and sometimes, not even then) are in a fantasy football league.
Why is everyone (including this guy) so into this phenomenon? I take a look, after the break.
Aug 100
Optimizing your morning cup o’ joe
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Mmmmmm, coffee...
I’ve written a post about this before, but hey, it’s been two years, I’ve gained some new readers and I’ve made a couple changes and refined my coffee process. So I’m posting my guide to a great cup of coffee again, with some George Lucas-esque revisions.
Aug 101
Freedom means love without condition
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On September 11, 2001, four airliners crashed into the World Trade Center, Pentagon and a rural field in Pennsylvania. The coordinated terrorist attack resulted in the collapse of the twin towers of the World Trade Center, irreparably changing the skyline of New York and the world forever. Within hours of the attack, Muslim extremists were suspected, and by less than a month later, the FBI released the names and photos of the attackers: Muslim extremists, working for Osama bin Laden.
Aug 100
A bold prediction
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Manny Acta hasn’t had a lot to smile about this season. The Indians, after winning their final two games this weekend against Toronto, are on pace for 68 wins, meaning they’re on pace to finish the season 68-94. In the year the Indians won the Central Division (a mere three seasons ago), they had 96 wins. Sounds grim, right? Maybe, maybe not. I’m about to make a prediction. It’s a prediction so bold, so out there, so crazy that you’ll have to click the jump link to see what it is.
Jul 103
The night is darkest just before the dawn
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I’ve held off on making this post for a few days because I’ve kind of been bouncing back and forth, and honestly, I don’t know that I’ve ever settled on anything conclusive. But nonetheless, here are some random thoughts, five days removed from “The Decision,” after the jump.
Jun 100
“They didn’t even need me tonight”
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AP Photo/Dave Weaver
What do you do when a team you didn’t care about 5 months ago is playing for a national championship? You write a running diary of course! Read on, after the break.
Jun 100
A brave new world
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Since free agency began in 1976, much has been made of small-market teams’ inability to compete with teams from large markets. In 1977, for example, perhaps the earliest case of a high profile free agent came along in Reggie Jackson. The Yankees were far from the only team able to afford him, but nonetheless Jackson signed what was at the time one of the largest contracts in the game: almost $3 million over five years. Backed by the new owner George Steinbrenner, the Yankees’ payroll exploded to over $60 million by 1997, and to $209 million by 2005.
Jun 100
To infinity, and beyond…again…and again!
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At some point, Pixar is going to make a bad movie. I mean, it has to happen at some point, right?
Right?
Note: I don’t think I give anything away, but consider this a general warning that I will be talking about Toy Story 3 in the paragraphs that follow.
Jun 100
“Rick Monday…you made a great play”
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Today is Flag Day, perhaps the least remembered of the U.S. Patriotic holidays. June 14th is when the school year is over, the summer is just beginning, so it’s not surprising that for many people, June 14th is just a normal day.
We’re obviously not celebrating a piece of fabric; we’re celebrating what it means. The flag is a symbol of freedom, sacrifice, and honor, and represents the best our country can be.
About Jimmy
Jimmy is a 2009 graduate of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH, and currently works as a software engineer in a Columbia, SC startup. He mostly writes about baseball (particularly the Cleveland Indians), politics, movies and programming. He also enjoys a cup of great coffee and a good book or movie.
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