Diamond in the Rough

Appaloosa

With a whole slew of movies that opened this weekend, It was certainly difficult deciding on what movie Peter and I would check out. Where I figured we’d end up seeing Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist Peter reminded me of a movie I’d totally forgot about, the well received yet limited release western Appaloosa, a nice little gem unfortunately caught in the rough of some much bigger releases. Going in I really didn’t know what to expect but looking back I have no regrets.

Set in the 1880s in New Mexico I believe, Appaloosa tells the story of two friends, Virgil Cole (Ed Harris) and Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen) who are hired to defend a small town from a murderous rancher Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons) and his goons. With their hands tied in keeping the town safe and not to mention some romantic tension from the arrival of an attractive widow (Renee Zellweger) Virgil and Everett’s friendship is ultimately put to the test in this charming old fashioned western.

Opting for a much lighter, comedic tone in many of the social sequences Appaloosa still has it’s fair share of tense standoffs. A well photographed film Appaloosa is a pleasant mix of contemporary westerns and the old fashioned westerns of the 50s and 60s. Ed Harris makes for a likable lead while still keeping as cool as a cucumber and the soft spoken Viggo is an excellent choice for Harris’ quite yet courageous companion… Actually the film has a pretty damn ensemble of actors. Jeremy Irons delivers as usual in the role of the devious Randall Bragg, Renee Zellweger adds a nice bit of cheer, Timothy Spall of Harry Potter and Sweeney Todd fame is some nice comic relief, and the always intimidating Lance Henriksen is tough as nails as one of Harris’ deadly rivals.

The action is tight and suspenseful, the dialogue is sharp and the story, which may occasionally ramble, is a classic western tale right from the pages of Robert B. Parker’s novel. One of the only aspects working against this feature would probably be the pacing. A few scenes dragging on a little too long and the mood and structure at times is a bit puzzling. It was actually pretty surprising to see the film was only 114 minutes once the ending credits finally rolled. Definitely one of those movies where you really have no idea where it’s going to end and I think that tended to be distracting.

All in all if you like westerns or even just watching Viggo Mortensen act bad-ass, this is pretty good. Ed Harris definitely has skill as a filmmaker/screenwriter to go along with his already impressive acting talents and in the realm of modern day westerns this is a solid entry.

There really is only one October

I can’t express how excited I am for playoff baseball in words. These series are some of the most interesting match ups in the last twenty years. Baseball is changing. Teams are changing their philosophies on evaluating talent and how to build a baseball team. These play offs have a little old school and a little new school. After a long six months we finally see the product of two separate leagues giving it their all. Here’s my predictions.

National League Divison Series

Philadelphia Phillies Vs. Milwaukee Brewers
This is probably the hardest to predict, but I’m gonna have to go with the Phillies. The Brewers barely got into the post season solely on the back of CC Sabathia who pitched on three days rest three different times. With out their other ace Ben Sheets, they are not really as intimidating in a 7 game series as they would have been.

Los Angeles Dodgers Vs. Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are the better team. With two absolute studs in Rich Harden and Carlos Zambrano anchoring their staff, they are the clearly better than the Dodgers who came out of a weak National League West. But we must remember, this is the Cubs. They have recorded unfathomable collapses year after year, and haven’t won for a century. Anything can happen in this series.

American League Division Series

Chicago White Sox Vs. Tampa Bay Rays
The Tampa Bay Rays have overcome too much adversity to fall apart now. They have won at home, on the road, and without some of their key contributors. They just find a way to get it done. They play great defense, have great pitching, and they hit the ball over the fence. As much as I want Jr. to win, I can’t help but feeling what a waste all this would be if Tampa’s dream season were to end here.

Boston Red Sox Vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
I hate the Angels. I also have a great resentment of the Red Sox, but they are the lesser of the two evils in my opinion. I think very highly of general manager Theo Epstien, and think the Red Sox are not really a wild card team. They’ve been here before, they know how to win, and it will be proven once again that the Angels can’t get it done in October.

So with Tampa and Boston advancing in the AL and Chicago and Philidelphia advancing in the NL, here are my Championship series predictions.

National Leauge Championship Series

Chicago Cubs Vs. Philidelphia Phillies
This is a really tough one. Philidelphia has some great key role players as well as a solid pitching staff. Also you have two of the most experienced managers in the game with Sweet Lou and Charlie Manuel. I’m gonna have to get on the Lou bandwagon and pick the Cubs because they are the best in the National League, and you can’t mess with that pitching staff.

American League Championship Series

Boston Red Sox Vs. Tampa Bay Rays
Tampa Bay won the American League East. Tampa Bay proved to those national media bimbos time and time again that they are for real by beating the Red Sox in key situations. Home, Away, it didn’t matter. This young team knows how to play and more importantly they know how to win.

World Series

Tampa Bay Rays Vs. Chicago Cubs
The National League sucks. It is weaker in every aspect. This Tampa Bay pitching staff including James Shields, Scott Kazmir, and Edwin Jackson will eat apart this Cub lineup and the offense will hit their share of bombs. I give your World Champion Tampa Bay Rays.

Newtendo

Nintendo had an event in Japan today, and they revealed what industry insiders have been predicting for days now, the new DS model. Called the Nintendo DSi, this new version features slightly larger screens, a camera, an SD card slot, and new Internet features.

The DSi has a web browser, and better WiFi features, I guess. Also, Nintendo has the DSi Shop coming out, from which players will be able to download games and whatnot to their console.

The only bad news is that the DSi won’t have a GameBoy port. Looks like the ol’ GBA has finally died.

The SD card slot is part of a bigger initiative by Nintendo to use the cards for memory. DSi owners will be able to play MP3s through the improved speakers off of their SD cards. Also, finally Wii owners will be able to download to and load from their SD cards, which is why games like Rock Band 2 will finally have DLC. The DSi is going to cost rougly $180 and be out in Japan in November. It won’t be out in the U.S. until next year, because DS Lites are still selling fine here.

Nintendo also announced some new games. Not bull shit like Wii Music, real games. There’s an adaptation of a DS game, Another Code. Also, the stale Dynasty Warriors franchise will make its first Wii appearance. In better news, they are bringing back two awesome franchises with Sin & Punishment 2 and a new Punch Out. The first Sin & Punishment was a neat N64 rail shooter that didn’t come to the U.S. until it hit the virtual console a year ago.

Nintendo of America also announced that Club Nintendo was finally coming to the U.S, so crazy fanboys finally get to sign up for wacky merch from the house Mario built.

So us Wii gamers finally have something to look forward to. And you DS hold-outs, the wait is finally over; you’ve got a great new version to buy. Pretty soon, it’ll be hard to come up with an excuse not to have at least one GameBoy Pen in your house.

We Only Got 4 Minutes to Save the Economy

The Senate has, finally, passed $700 billion buyout in troubled assessts. 74-25, Both Obama and McCain voted for it, which begs the question: why am I writing about this on Cat Fancy? I don’t know. I don’t really understand this better than anyone else.

This new bill will cost more than $700B, because they’ve added to it. It raises the FDIC insurance cap (what?) as well as key elements to attract House Republicans. There are tax breaks for families and businesses and…

I don’t really care enough right now. I’m very tired. But this is serious stuff. I encourage you all read up on it as much as you can, this will effect all of us.

One thing I’m certain about though, is that I’ve been extremely disappointed with our government’s speed in the face of this crisis. With McCain suspending his campaign and resuming it, as well as Congress taking time off, it’s like they don’t care enough to fix this problem.

At bleak times like this, we’ve got to put our hopes in future. After all, it’s not like the apocalypse is coming… Oh wait: