Movie Added: Sugar

My best laid plans of seeing three movies today fell by the wayside for some house hunting...

BUT, I did manage to get to see one of the movies on my list - Sugar.

Sugar's the story of a young man from the Dominican Republic looking to make it to the big leagues as a pitcher. The story follows his path from one of the youth camps in the DR that baseball fans often hear about to spring training and... well, to preserve a non-spoiler setting, we'll just say "on from there."

I really dug the movie as I thought it painted a very strong [and probably very realistic] picture of what that transition must be like for those players. As a baseball fan, of course, I dig all the Spring Training and "on from there" stuff as it seemed more realistic than a lot of the past baseball movies have handled that topic.

The ending I also found to be very satisfying as it was one that you can take as either a depressing ending or an uplifting ending, depending on how you perceive the rest of the movie's plot as well as the main character's desires.

Give a bonus point to some excellent music including a Spanish cover of "Hallelujah" and you've got a very solid basehit on your hands. Maybe not a homerun - but definitely a line drive to the gap.

BLUE'S REVIEW: Definitely see this if you're a baseball fan. If you're not, you may not enjoy it as much but I think there's enough there for you to warrant a viewing. Fair warning though - there are some subtitles involved so be prepared for some light reading.

You Make The Call!

Lolla vs ACL - Which One Would You Choose?

The Force Is With Me

These posters are awesome...

Now That's Interesting

Yesterday, MMA sites were all aflutter with the news that Anderson Silva had signed for his next fight. He'll be fighting at Light Heavyweight later this year against the former LHW Champ Forrest Griffin.

Wow.

Just when I think the UFC doesn't have many more fights that I'd pay to see, they somehow manage to dig one up. The mere thought of this one makes me a little giddy. Silva's taken a lot of heat over the past six months or so since he's had two fights in a row that were less than explosive - and far less than entertaining. We miss the Silva who decimated Rich Franklin - twice. Oh, and by the way, how weird is it that Franklin is training with Anderson Silva? Bizarre.

Anyways, in my humble opinion, a fighter like Griffin who will go balls-out to throw down in every fight he's in is exactly what Anderson Silva needs. Plus, it's a top LHW contender for Silva in what many think is babysteps towards Silva going after two titles.

Personally, I still want to see him destroy GSP but after his last couple fights, I'm less convinced that would happen. But the fight is apparently still being discussed. They want another GSP defense and at least one more Silva win before they look at it seriously.

A Silva win over Griffin might just pave the road into what is, on paper, the biggest fight that the UFC can deliver right now.

Fucking Torre!

The Title of this post were my exact words after reading the results of tonight's game.

Okay, I need a Yankee fan to be reading this post and let me know if Torre is known for this and somehow I just missed it last year. Is he really this bad at handling his bullpen? I know he has a reputation for riding a pitcher to total fatigue but... mercy Jesus, how many fucking times can you go for a five out save in the first month of the season?

So, they summoned Broxton from the 'pen in the 8th again. And he blew the save. Then they take him out.

I just don't get it.

How many five out saves?! HOW MANY?!

Can someone tell him I'd prefer to have a closer with A LIVE FUCKING ARM after April?

Sweet Jesus.

I'm sooooo frustrated with the bullpen and Torre's handling of it so far this season.

Can someone get Grady Little on the phone?

...

Well, let's not be rash.

Bullpen Part Two

Gah.

Another win given away by a tired and ineffective bullpen. Bellasario was the culprit tonight, failing in his efforts to hold the lead in the eighth inning.

So, what now?

They say Eric Milton looks pretty good in AAA. Apparently, he just picked up the Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Week award which is good news. Jeff Weaver also appears to be somewhat ready as well.

The problem is - both those guys are starters. So, they plug one of them into the fifth starter hole and slide James Macdonald into the 'pen? Makes sense, I suppose. At the moment, that probably helps quite a bit since most of the starters are having trouble getting past five innings or so.

Other than that, all we can do is wait. Wait for Cory Wade to heal up and pitch again and hope that Torre doesn't pitch him until his arm falls off. Wait for Kuo to regain his confidence and pitch like it. Wait for some of the other 'pen guys to show some consistency. Heck, while we're at it, we can wait for Kuroda to get off the DL which... who knows what that means to the rotation.

The offense is... okay. Lots of missed opportunities still but that'll always hang out there probably. I'm not real concerned about the offense as long as the pitching comes around.

Mass Hysteria

After a day of washing my hands at work much more frequently and with everyone cracking swine flu jokes, I come home to find this headline on Yahoo...

Is swine flu 'the big one'?

Public health experts have long feared a new flu could appear and kill millions worldwide.

Wow.

Is that really necessary?

I understand the need for sensationalism to achieve maximum clickthrough rates but... come on... really?

Even if it's true, is there a need for it? Can it accomplish anything more than generating a mass panic? Not to mention it'll jam emergency rooms with people convinced they're suffering from it.

Randomness

Here's a few random thoughts on this late Saturday evening...

** With their win tonight, the Dodgers are tied with the Cardinals for the best record in baseball. Yes, yes - it's still early, I know. But even under the "it's still early" umbrella, I don't think anyone could have predicted that. Plus, after my complaining about the bullpen recently, Ramon Trancoso steps in tonight and delivers four innings of shutout ball in Coors Field of all places to get a four-inning save. An awesome performance for him.

** The Lakers take one step closer to getting out of the first round. The games are sloppy and quite ugly at times but they've definitely been entertaining. Kobe had one en fuego of an evening to make up for the other night's shitfest. Now, if only we could get Bynum to snap his head out of the clouds and play some decent ball.

** Cheesecake Factory's Chocolate Coconut Cream Cheesecake is a gift from the heavens or as I put it earlier - "Oh my god, I think my mouth just orgasmed."

** Swine flu? SWINE FLU?! Are you fucking kidding me?!

** A pair of ROH shows went down over the weekend in the Midwest and for the first time in a long time, the writeup of a match's result made me really want to see that match. Jerry Lynn defending the gold against Roderick Strong in a bloodbath somehow sounds amazing to me even though I haven't much cared for Lynn in years and I can't stand Roderick Strong usually. Weird.

** The list of "indie" movies that I need to see in the area is growing rapidly. Sugar, Sunshine Cleaning, Anvil, and Tyson are all out there and teasing me to come see them soon. I've pretty much resigned myself now to the fact that I probably won't get to see Watchmen on the big screen. Que lastima.

** The NFL Draft was today... I guess. I still don't care.

** I realized tonight that I still never got around to reviewing the screening of Caprica and the BSG Panel we attended on Monday. Damn. Soon hopefully.

** I had an idea this morning for a quite dirty sex comedy... in the shower. That's quite ironic in an Alanis-like-raaaaaain-on-your-wedding-day kind of way, don't you think?

Alright. I work in the morning and I feel like I haven't had a decent amount of sleep since Tuesday night. Peace, love, and soul to all my adoring fans!

Coachella on YouTube

God bless the Internet.

The Internet has allowed us to see and hear things just days after they happened - usually in excellent video or audio quality as opposed to the "old days" where you would wait weeks or months or even years for some barely audible crap.

This post was supposed to just make fun of the naked guy who got tasered at Coachella but when I ran the search for Coachella 2009 on YouTube, there was so much other very cool stuff that I wanted to share instead.

So, fuck the naked guy!

...err... well, not really.

But enjoy!

A Bullpen, A Bullpen - My Kingdom For A Bullpen

I'll ignore the fact that the Lakers just lost and focus on the Dodgers very quickly.

Yes, they won.

But it wasn't for lack of effort!

For the second time in two weeks, Joe Torre has summoned Jonathan Broxton from the bullpen to pitch a five out save.

Now listen here, Joe... I don't know how they do things back in NYC but out here, that's a recipe for disaster.

A two inning save in 2009 should be saved for the most desperate of situations. I'm talking a huge game in September or October with playoff implications. Not twice in the first three weeks of the season!

It worries me. The 'pen is likely going to be a rough spot all season and right now, Broxton's the only thing going well in it. So, if you abuse him [as Torre is infamous for doing] then there's nothing left. For Christ's sake, they're already talking about bringing up Weaver to pitch out of the bullpen.

You've got Bellasario who is basically an unknown. Kuo who is injury-prone and apparently has confidence issues now after his royal fuckups last week. Cory Wade is injured because Torre ran him into the ground last week. They're hesitant to use McDonald much since he'll probably need to start until Kuroda comes back at least.

It's getting ugly out there. In the past, I was perfectly confidence (most of the time) when the 'pen took over the game. Now, I'm nervous as soon as it happens. And no, calling Broxton in early doesn't soothe my fears.

"It's still early" - I know.

But this wound needs to be treated before it gets worse.

Oh, and in a parting shot, I figured the Lakers would lose one in Utah. It's not like they could play any worse than they did tonight, right?

Dodgers: Week Two

It's rough to write about how awesome Week Two was after two pretty shitty losses but I shall!

A week ago last Monday, the Dodgers opened their first homestand of the year against the Giants... and proceeded to beat the crap out of them.

Then the Rockies came to town... and proceeded to get the crap beat out of them.

In six games, it was some obscene amount of runs and hits that was just amazing considering Manny hadn't really done much yet.

But the road has a way of fucking everything up. Yesterday, it was poor starting pitching and a lack of timely hitting [especially in the 9th.] Today, the bullpen gave it up.

It's a long season though so there's no need to get stressed out about it... yet.

I'm looking forward to the weekend series against the Rockies as it's sure to be an offensive showcase. Of course, I also thought that'd be the case in Houston.

Andre Ethier was NL Player of the Week so that rocks.

All winter, everyone speculated that the offense wouldn't be the problem. So far, they're right.

This is a very disjointed post. I need to stop writing so late in the evening.

Ahead Of His Time

Maybe a little better?

Not like you can tell but..

...some BSG & Caprica cast members.

PaleyFest

Event sponsored by Zune. Photo taken on an iPhone. Sounds about right.

Ohhhh, Laker Fans!

I didn't get to see the bulk of the game but what I saw was glorious.

Okay, maybe not glorious but I was happy that I was able to see the end of the game during my lunch break - even if I did have to clock in a couple minutes late so that I could catch those waning seconds of action.

And yes, it would have been cooler if there wasn't a nutball about five feet away who was talking to himself the whole time. "Take 'im to the hole, Kobe!" "Ohh yeah! Make 'im your bitch!" and other assorted quips. Scary.

From the stuff I've read since I got home, it sounds like it was a bit of a weird game with the Lakers piling on in the first half but slacking off a bit in the second half. They got the "W" so that's all that's important... for now. But soon enough, they need to show the kind of killer instinct that they'll need to finish teams off later on.

Now, as for the other LA sports team. How 'bout them Dodgers?

Oh, and I have a really distasteful joke about the Just-Swept-By-The-Twins California Angels...

...but I shan't make it because I think it's even too distasteful for me.

So, for now... I'll simply enjoy what was an awesome day for LA sports fans.

Movie Added: Pineapple Express

Potentially, there could have been more added to this list today.

We went to the Block of Orange today with the intent of going to the movies. Now, I must add that we went there much to my dismay. Of all the shitty malls in SoCal, The Block has GOT to be one of my least favorite. But we were going anyways because we wanted to have dinner there.

But then... it happened.

THE FUCKING TICKET MACHINES DIDN'T WORK! WHAT THE FUCK?!

So, we had dinner and left. Now, that may seem a bit extreme but... well, when you're going to a place under protest, it doesn't take much to make you bail out.

No movie there.

We came home and I told the Missus to watch the copy of Rachel Got Married we rented last weekend so we could return it.

Holy shit... that movie was bad. I mean, colossally bad. Horrifically bad. It was... bad.

It was too annoying to watch so I bailed out about five minutes before the Missus turned it off because it was driving her crazy as well.

So, in the end...

Pineapple Express
I'm not sure what to say about this one. It has weird, silly comedy that a lot of people just might not get if you've never smoked weed or been around people when they were. There were scenes that I could relate to that I'm sure others would not. But all in all, there was some funny shit there.

Blue's Review: If you like goofy, silly, drug-addled comedy... SEE IT!

SILVA!

Haven't written much about MMA lately cause there hasn't been much of interest to write about. I've given up on The Ultimate Fighter after last season's disaster with that jackass Junie so that's been removed from my DVR permanently. I did see the Strike Force show on Showtime last week and I did dig that quite a bit. It had some definite highlights and was a fun show to watch.

But this weekend on the other hand...

SILVA!

Ahhh, the return to the cage of my favorite MMA fighter. I love me some Anderson Silva. The comparisons they write to Silva being like Tyson was in the 80s seems to ring true to me. I can totally picture people gathering nationwide waiting to see just how badly Silva's going to outclass his opponent. He's the most explosive striker in the sport and a true joy to watch in the cage.

And then there's Chuck.

Chuck's at a major crossroads in my opinion. Another loss has GOT to make him seriously consider retirement. He needs a win and an impressive one because at the moment, I have no desire to see him fight anymore. It's becoming kind of sad actually. Chuck was once the UFC's biggest draw - but how much longer can that last if he can't win a fight convincingly?

It should be a fun night of fighting.

Dodgers: Week One [and change]

I was supposed to write this up on Monday and got distracted. I was hoping to do one of these every Monday - at least, that was the plan - throughout the season as a kind-of "This Week In Dodgers" update. We'll see how that goes since we're already behind schedule.

Opening Week was... interesting.

We had a sluggish offense for most of the week although that seems to be improving quite a bit. Pitching was somewhere in the middle. Good performances by a couple of starters, really bad performances by a couple of others. And then there was a couple of bad bullpen outings.

But it's still early!

This week has gone better but I want to save that for next Monday in my ongoing attempts to do this.

Anyone Got A Chair?

I don't know why but on my way home today when I was stuck in traffic, Terry Funk wandered across my brain.

And then came this...