Put That Burner on High!

I haven’t really heard any interesting rumors this off season apart from the M’s possibly going after Rich Harden. And as swell as that was, this latest one really gets me excited:

John Paul Morosi of foxsports.com

“The Mariners have made progress toward a deal with free agent Chone Figgins and are clear frontrunners to sign the third baseman, multiple major league sources told FOXSports.com. The team and Figgins’ representatives engaged in serious talks Thursday. One person briefed on the discussions said he wouldn’t be surprised if the sides agreed to a deal of at least four years over the next several days. But he cautioned that there is “nothing done” yet.”

At first I was meh. Then I read some of USSM and LL’s thoughts and I was still meh. But after thinking about who else I wanted to succeed Beltre I finally came around.

One of my favorite things to hear in baseball is “And the runner goes!”. Figgins stole 42 bases. That’s quite a bit more than any Mariner has in recent memory. The idea of an Ichiro!-Figgins 1-2 is quite appeasing. That is some serious speed.

Defensively he’s been a great 3rd basemen for most of his career and provides enough flexibility position wise that he won’t be blocking any prospects. The more I read and talk about this the more I get excited.

BUT! It is a rumor. And as reported there is nothing done yet.

The winter meetings start on Monday and I think we’ll be in for a real treat. If you’re into that kind of thing.

They Twittered All Over the Place

I put a little thing that shows Nancy’s and my Twitter tweets in the sidebar. Hopefully this slightly reduces the amount of things you have to check each day, although I hear that the hardcore Tweeters just have separate applications for that anyway. Then again, those people probably also use RSS feeds and won’t even actually even know what the site looks like any more.

I feel foolish now.

Present Combat 2

Modern Warfare 2

The biggest media release of all time. Not the biggest game, the biggest anything. That’s what day one for Modern Warfare 2 was. Bigger than any album, any movie, any Sarah Palin book. Sure, anyone who played Call of Duty 4 probably saw it coming (and there were a lot of us), but is this game really worth all the hype? Eh, sure, why not?

Call of Duty 4 was an incredible game when it rolled out in 2007. One of the most engaging FPS single player stories combined with a revolutionary approach to competitive multiplayer made it one of the best games of perhaps the greatest year in the industry’s history. Now it’s two years later, everyone has ripped off the online gameplay and there have been some pretty damn immersive single player games. With that in mind, it’s kind of a shame that Infinity Ward played it safe and decided to make a sequel that simply went bigger and more refined, instead of a new direction.

The campaign mode took me a little over five hours to beat. Unlike the previous game, this story throws out any plausibility rather quickly. The developers recognized that the nuke scene was the one that really resonated with players, and clearly decided to try to deliver moments of a similar caliber on practically every level. So they made a crazy story involving nukes, Russians invading the U.S. and one disturbing civilian massacre. That scene, by the way, they warn you about ahead of time and give you the option to skip. It is somewhat chilling, and a disappointment that you pretty much have no options but to follow what happens to its one, weak conclusion. However, the single player is fun, albeit a little more Michael Bay than I would have preferred.

Oh, and the dialogue. Everything’s always “Oscar Mike this, Oscar Mike that.” It felt like the military jargon was kind of forced in, but I dunno, maybe that’s what its like out there. What does deserve props is the great voice cast featuring Lance Henriksen, Keith David and countless other celebrities in roles you may or may not notice (seriously, I found 50 Cent, but who’s Will Arnett?). There’s also a nice score from the legendary Hans Zimmer, which really gets the job done.

Of course the draw to this game is the multiplayer, and there are two modes here for you to enjoy. The expected competitive online mode, and a new cooperative mode called Spec Ops. Spec Ops is easily the best part of the whole game, pitting you and a partner is a serious of tough situations and asking you not only to survive, but to succeed. There’s a nice variety of objectives and a ranking system that keeps you coming back until you’ve got each mission perfected. Very nice stuff and I certainly can’t wait to hop back in for some more of that.

The main multiplayer mode is very much the same of the previous game’s, but slightly better. They’ve introduced death streaks, like kill streaks but for when you die a lot without killing people. Good. There’s lots of stuff like that, but you know, I’m not really gonna get into it because I still don’t like playing on Xbox LIVE with strangers that much and everyone I know that plays Xbox plays on my fucking Xbox. At least I can say that the splitscreen multiplayer is fun too. I bet most people don’t even know this game has splitscreen multiplayer. That’s like asking if a computer can play laser discs.

So, yeah, bigger, badder, more bad ass. It’s hard to argue with success, they say. Still, I wish Infinity Ward had felt comfortable taking a few more risks with what is now the king franchise of all video games… And everything else, I guess.

Video Update

Hey gang, I just finished my final video for my Film Foundations class. The class has been running behind schedule lately, so our last video assignment was basically just the simple task of “telling a story that includes music.” Unfortunately I didn’t know that this assignment was due today until monday, so I filmed the whole thing by myself yesterday.

Anyways my latest video is essentially about myself trying to finish a paper on “procrastination” for a psychology class. When would that ever actually happen? I don’t know, maybe I’m supposed to address bad study habits? It’s kind of a stupid idea and definitely cheesy. I actually had a lot of trouble with the rule that all videos must not exceed three minutes. Not one of my better videos but it has a few chuckles here and there.

What’s sad (and I don’t mean to sound arrogant) is it’s still better than just about every other video that’s been submitted thus far. Are these the same people I’m going to have in my Editing and Streaming class? That’s like the next level. I’ve already signed up for three classes for winter quarter (strangely enough they’re all taught by the same guy who I already have.) “Editing and Streaming”, “Audio and Recording I” and “Business of Film Practices” or something is next, who knows what I’ll produce for those classes.

P.S. Oh yeah, about the progress of the first “The Morgue” sketch video project thing. It’s looking real nice, Paul and I still need to shoot one more scene and I’d imagine it would be done by the end of next week. If not that than just a few days more, should be great.

My Video

21st Century Fox

Fantastic Mr. Fox

After director Wes Anderson’s last two movies, which weren’t without their charms, but were kind of lacking in the story department, I was almost ready to give up on him. However, Anderson’s latest offering, an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s childrens book Fantastic Mr. Fox, shows Anderson truly exploring new and inventive territory while still retaining his signature style.

After retiring from his days of stealing chickens, Mr. Fox decides to embark on one final raid on the farmers Boggis, Bunce, and Bean. Mr. Fox (voiced by George Clooney) is joined by a band of furry creatures that are voiced by an assortment of Anderson regulars such as Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Michael Gambon, and Willem Dafoe, as well as Meryl Streep as Mrs. Fox.

I guess the most striking thing about Fantastic Mr. Fox is the look of it. The old-fashioned stop-motion approach is pretty charming, and the attention to detail on each of the characters and sets is quite impressive, even in this world were computer animation seems to be thought of as the only option for animation. It’s also pretty cool how the film has that signature look of a Wes Anderson movie but is able to blend it with the stop-motion look of the film so seamlessly.

Much like last month’s Where The Wild Are, this film is kind of questionable in regards to its accessability to the younger kids. Anderson’s dry wit is in perfect form in this story, but I’m not sure that most kids will pick up on some of the humor, and some parts of the story are a little dark, but nothing too bad for any kid that’s read a Roald Dahl book before. And despite the fact that it definitely has Anderson’s typical hipster feel to it, I think any kid could enjoy the vivacity and energy with which this story is told.

So for Wes Anderson fans, I think this about as good of a foray into kids films from the director that you could ask for. Fantastic Mr. Fox is nothing short of a pure visual delight, while still retaining all of the wit, humor, and quirkiness of Wes Anderson at his best.

A Grand Band

Matt & Kim – Grand

In the wake of all the festivities and gorging on turkey, I came across an indie rock album from earlier this year that somehow went under my radar. Hearing about New York duo Matt and Kim strangely enough from Paul, I’ve found a lot to like about this piano and drum combo that released their second album last January. Known primarily for their lead single “Daylight” which has been featured in commercials and an episode of Community (which has also featured their song “Good Ol’ Fashioned Nightmare”) Matt and Kim use catchy piano progressions, along with big beats and your typical “goofy sounding guy who can’t really sing” vocals to create pleasing urban indie pop/rock.

Featuring the duo of Matt Johnson (vocals/keyboards) and Kim Schifino (Drums/Backup Vocals), “Grand” is a fairly simplistic album. There doesn’t appear to be any guitars in sight or bass that’s not synthesized as keyboards and inventive percussion keep this boat afloat. Now I’ll admit that sometimes “Grand” feels a little repetitive with it’s basic approach but there’s definitely a charm to it as well. I think Kim Schifino’s drum beats are what drew me in initially. Her diverse playing style seems to incorporate everything from rock, to hip-hop rhythms, to something that sounds like it could be from Stomp. Top on Matt Johnson’s off-beat vocals and skills on the keys and you got yourself a “grand” indie sound.

What’s really surprising to me is how short this album is. At 29 minutes you’d think that brief runtime might be annoying but somehow it feels just right. Songs rarely wear out their welcome and I wouldn’t feel the need to add or subtract any tracks from this album. It might take you a little time (as it did for me) for it to grow you but I’d say give it a chance. It’s not one of the best albums of the year but it’s a welcomed addition and I’m glad I got to hear it before year’s end.

Favorite Tracks: “Daylight”, “Good Ol’ Fashioned Nightmare”, “Lessons Learned”.

You Get What You Give

Well it seems we’ve crossed that threshold into the holiday season once again, and I’d just like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. It seems inevitable that the flow of blog posts slows down around the holidays, but I figured I’d try and post something for today. I thought I’d keep the tradition going of posting a mildly amusing Thanksgiving-related Youtube video. This is the best I could come up with, so enjoy.