'The Hobbit' expanded into three films... how is this a bad thing?

how can we turn a kids book into a massive, sprawling, epic trilogy? easy, with JRR Tolkien's rambling appendices!

saw on yahoo news that peter jackson is expanding "the hobbit" into a third film (previously only supposed to be two films)

and as usual, these total whackos come out of the woodwork bashing the "greed of hollywood"... which is probably true. they will make a lot more money with three films... but i can't see how anyone in "the hobbit"s target audience is not super excited about this.  i think the only half-fair criticize might be in the name of the movie... how much if this is treally from the book 'the hobbit' (no, i dont really care).

can't wait to watch this bastard "burgal" some dragon treasure

jackson has said that (and there is no arguing this) that there is simply limitless amount of source material to draw from. this is not like he is just making up what he wants to fill out three films.... i still have no idea how this will play out... i am guessing he is going to stretch the story of the hobbit over three films, and fill in the three films with the ongoing activity in the other part of middle earth.... how is this a bad thing?  if i had to pick a preference, i might rather him focus one whole film on the hobbit... and then two others on middle earth.... but in the end, we're probably getting 8 to 10 hours of more middle earth on film...

aka, a tolkien-nerd's wet dream...
( and thats not even counting possible extended editions, and bonus footage).

i am pretty fired up its a trilogy (yeah, trilogies are overdone these days, but whatever. if its three good movies, its better than good movies)

Blind South Korean dominating Olympic archery

"Me rikey rinning Orympic medals"

Legally blind South Korean archer Im Dong-hyun set the first world records of the London Olympics, breaking his own record in the 72-arrow mark and participating in the team shoot record during Friday's ranking round. 

Im, 26, won gold medals in the team event in both the Beijing and Athens Olympics. He has only 10 percent vision in his left eye, and 20 percent in his right, meaning he is considered legally blind.  He has said that when he looks at the targets, he sees colors with blurred lines between them. He does not wear glasses in competition, saying he he relies on being able to distinguish between the bright colors of the target.

Where to begin with this story?  First of all, the rest of the archery competitors should feel embarrassed as hell.  Not only is this guy legally blind, but he has the slanty Asian eyes to boot.  Its a double handicap for crying out loud.  Secondly, can this guy double dip and also compete in the Special Olympics?  If so, why haven't I been placing bets on him?  I have to imagine he's universally hated in the international archery inner circle.  Olympians probably hate facing him..."Oh shit.  That blind Asian is going to humiliate me again..."  And Special Olympians probably just flat out hate him..."Goddammit.  That bullshit legally blind Asian entered the contest again??"  Its gotta be a lonely existence for Dong-hyun...well, unless you count the shit ton of gold medals he's probably won over the course of his career. 

I think the larger point is how ridiculous the archery competition has become.  On paper it seems like this would be entertaining to watch.  But the reality is I'd rather watch the insanity of speed-walking.  The compound bows have gotten so advanced it looks like these guys are pulling the trigger on a weapon they borrowed from Chewbacca, the announcers use terminology that sounds completely foreign, and I have no damn clue how the scoring is done. 

"Steady Milly...ready...aim..."

I mean, holy crap, a freaking blind guy is dominating the competition - how difficult can this be??  It would be like if someone with no arms started racking up wins in swimming.  I would think the sport of Archery requires the contestants to have Legolas-like vision...but apparently Milhouse Van Houten could show up sans glasses and do pretty well.  At what point does Archery have to take a look in the mirror and think just maybe the sport has gotten completely out of control?  Is this not a total black eye? 

Wouldn't it be better if the sport regressed to pre-Industrial Age technological limits?  It would have to be more entertaining, and it would certainly make it impossible for blind Asians using fancy compound bows to humiliate the crap out of everyone.

Fake Encore! It's a Fake Encore, Right?

actually we never even asked for an encore.

Saw the Gaslight Anthem last night at webster hall.... they rock. like really kick ass at their shows. just an awesome performance.  i only had one complaint. the fake encore.

this is not their fault. fake encores are an epidemic, and they are pointless.... and frankly, a little insulting.

last night show featured the band walking off the stage saying "goodnight" to the crowd after playing for a little over an hour.  people are conditioned to expect a fake encore... and the gaslight obliged. they came out and played for almost another hour.

what an encore!!!

i mean, come on... why even do that? they basically played two sets. thats awesome. call it that. why (half-heartedly)  fake like you are done, when you fully plan on playing another hour? i don't get it. fans aren't faked out.... if they were, they would probably riot since playing an hour would really tick the majority of the crowd off.

the term encore is defined as: "a demand, as by applause, for a repetition of a song, act, etc.,"

most bands save their fake encore for a final one or two songs... some even have a fake 'double' encore.... these were songs they had intended to play all along... as a concert goer, i would much rather have them just play straight through. i can handle not knowing when the show will end.

is it an ego boost thing? i mean, i guess bands like to feel like they are being called back on stage... even if they're not, really.


i have no idea what the thought process is.... i've never been in a band (unless you count the four squeezers, but we were way ahead of the accapella craze by about 20 years and were never given a fair shake).... i bet they started off as "if they call us out for an encore, what song should we play?" type of discussion before the show... then became "when they call us out, we're gonna play these two songs"... and now its "we just gonna do second mini-set"


again, thats fine. i guess my problem is with the "goodnight" or any language the band throws out there, trying to play it off like they are done.... 


but if i had the choice, i'd rather just hear all the songs you planned on playing, with out a drawn out farce. if you need to take a few breaks throughout the show, go for it. 

lonesome billy always tells it like it it.

the only band i know of that does not do this is buffalo tom (and that's in large part because the venues they play these days don't have a 'back stage' for them to retire to)... but when they get to the end of the show, bill janovitz always jokingly says "and we're gonna go right into the encore"

i appreciate the honesty bill.

just don't tell him he reminds you of boggs from shawshank

i also saw roger clyne and the peacemakers at bb kings about a month ago... they did the fake encore thing.... and they were done... off the stage, show was over... but the crowd was going bonkers... they wanted an encore... and they got back on stage and played another. you could tell it was authentic, becuase they literally were debating on what song to play.... it was very cool. probably the only non-alta mira related 'real' encore i've ever seen (PC tangent - alta mira's 1999 performace at that party featuring hank the angry dwarf was one of the best shows ever... plus their encore involved them actually playing 'ophelia' for the second time. never even heard of anyone doing that)

good show, hank!

actually, now that i think about it, i am just as much as a fraud on this. because even after buffalo tom's 'honest non-encore' i'm still screaming like an idiot for 'one more song'... the same way i wanted the peacemakers to play after their fake encore.... actually thats probably why they do it in the first place... just to shut up drunken fans... writing this may have been a waste of time.... not encore worthy at all.

and the gaslight seriously kicks ass. can't wait to see 'em again. fake encore and all.

2012 Mets: "Comeback-Breaking"

this garbage could pile up fast

The 2012 season sure seems like its gone up in smoke these last 2 weeks.  From Gee's blood clot scare, to johan going back on the DL... its been a brutal stretch.

But the fact is, even though I was enjoying the hell out of the 2012 season, and i loved the fact the Mets were hanging around, i never really felt like this season was going to wind up in the playoffs.

I did feel, however, that this season was shaping up as a fantastic spring board for this roster, going into 2013 and beyond.  So when things like injuries and errors and even a historically bad bullpen start to explode all at once - I am not totally surprised. This is a far from complete team.

But what i had not counted on is the possible negative baggage these players might be gaining.... especially when it comes to the washington nationals.

In  my opinion, one of the reasons this years team seemed so fearless is because, for the most part, this roster was not scarred by the brutal finished in 2007 and 2008. They have no experience being continuously, and emotionally destroyed by the phillies or braves (and to a lesser extent the marlins).... And as a result, they played pretty loose - and had the ability to bounce back from bad losses because "hey, its just one loss!".... but the last 2 weeks have seem some unconscionably brutal losses... especially to the Nats.    And when you look back at the whole season so far, they seem to have lost to the Nats in pretty much any way possibly. each one more painful then the next. Mickey Pipes emailed me referring to these losses as "comeback-breaking".... which is pretty much the perfect way to describe them.... After enough of these kinds of defeats, it has to start to weigh on a team. We've seen it before.

The mother of all these 'comeback-breaking' losses was the game where Valdespin cracked the 3-run dinger off Clippard to give the mets the lead in the 9th... two blown saves later, and i think that game will be looked back on as where it really started to unravel. As they went to the 9th in that game, even with our uber-shaky bullpen, i thought to myself, "this is the mets fighting out of yet another losing funk." They had been doing it all year. every time you thought they might fall off a cliff, they pulled out a magical win, or went on a winning streak.... and even though i was afraid they might blow that lead - i also thought 'this is where they pull the season back from the brink yet again"

as we now know - they didn't do that....they lost in awful fashion... and in my mind, i felt like they had their season broken at that moment. (though i didn't think it would be such a quick decent to sub-.500... i just thought, 'we really are not going to be a playoff threat from here on out').

Despite the nonsense from the NY media that "new york fans will not tolerate rebuilding" - When the season started i think most fans were ok with the idea this was a transitional season for the team though it was probably combined with contempt for the ownership).

fastforward to late july, and now i am concerned there is a chance this roster might begin to view the nats the way it seemed the teams of past years viewed the phillies and braves... when it came down to a close and late situation... it doesn't matter, they're gonna beat us.

The reality is i am probably projecting a ton of my own fears onto the roster. i know the braves and phillies sure had me mentally defeated.... it figures the nats are the team that seems to be evolving into the NL Easts perennial power... i mean why not, up until this season they were the only ones who had never tormented the mets before... and in less than one season i've gone from being essentially indifferent about the washington baseball team to pretty  much despising them, their fans and the fact they netted two franchise players with back to back #1 picks.... What annoys me more is that after winning the 2006 division, and leading almost all of 2007, i thought the Mets were going to become the perennial favorite to win the NL east.   The Nats have a little of that 2006 Mets feel.... i can only hope they self combust like the mets did in 07 and 08.

And like other irrational mets fans, there are a lot of times i feel like i jinxed the team as well. there is small stuff like, "i was sitting in this chair when they scored in the 7th, so i will sit there again"... and also some bigger stuff i think i jinx (did i mention this is irrational?).  Back in 2007 the met hat i wore all the time was just super gross, so i bought a new one.... this was right before their epic collapse... and i just bought a new mets hat this year at the all-star break... and just like that, they fall apart again.... i also have a deep rooted jinx history when it comes to drawing a met... they almost always become total bombs after i finish the drawing (granted i've picked some doozies) . ones that jump out are the defensive dynamo pat howell, who i drew after he made about a dozen unreal catches during the 1992 season...i think he was out of baseball a month later.... right around that same time i was convinced that the mets new temporary closer, who was succeeding while john franco was on the DL, was going to be a star.... so i sketched out a drawing of anthony young... yup...he definitely became famous.

the reason i bring this up is i just finished this design before the all-star break... so you can blame me if it gets real bad for RA in the second half of this season.

sorry RA...

Does Cinnamon Toast Crunch Promote Cannabalism?

with all the recent news of face eating and zombie/cannibalistic behavior in the news, i think its time to point the finger at the real culprit of this trend. its not 'the walking dead', its cinnamon toast crunch with their sadistic/cannibal commercials.

am i the only one creeped out by these? a new one seems to pop up every month, and it always involved one or two CTC squares eating other squares...

 what ever happened to the three old chefs, luring kids into their bakery? that was much less creepy, and that was REALLY creepy.

after breakfast, lets hit the showers, kids!

i think they eventually killed off two of the chefs, and stuck with the oldest, sanduskiest of the trio as the main mascot...

and now they've moved onto cannibalism.

if anything, its a testament to how tasty the cereal is.  its managed to remain a popular cereal with such disastrous marketing efforts....maybe they like the challenge... who knows....

you know what, to hell with it... they probably are trying to look as creepy as possible. any time i see a commercial i am going to watch it to see what new ways they can have these CTC squares murder each other... they even have one where a sqaure eats himself... so its also into suicide... just fascinating, delicious, and totally f'd up stuff.   they really should just go all out with a zombie-like commercial with a bunch of squares chasing down one or two squares - then then turning on each other in total mayhem.  why not.... though now i am hungry for some human flesh...