Week In Review #5

So the King of Pop leaves us along with many others, Nomar returns to a warm Fenway crowd, the Red Sox fend off Tampa and New York to hold their A.L. East lead at the break, I rank everything now, The All Star game where our Prez is cool even though he can't quite make it to home plate, and some NBA news.

Ok let's play catch up: Latest embarrassing Ipod Download-Will You Be There by Michael Jackson...I didn't have it...it seemed right. Latest DVD movies I have seen but won't review-Recently watched Quiz Show again...still great, and I am loosely considering watching and reviewing all of my top ten to justify their ranks (I'd like to mention a great article in the July 13-20 Sport Illustrated that talked about 1989 film Field of Dreams by Tom Verducci and did my favorite movie justice by explaining it's meaning beautifully). Also watched a cute film called Ghost Town with Ricky Gervais and Tea Leoni that I would recommend but don't want to review. Also for those who care I'm on Facebook and yes like everyone else I take many many quizzes...so you can find me by name. Hey in addition would much appreciate it if you became a follower...even if you don't read it frequently it would be cool.

Deaths: It seems the last few months we have lost many people of significance in our lives from an entertainment or historical standpoint. The loss of Michael Jackson I guess came to a shock to most, myself included. It was a monumental media event that is still on, and yes I am now tired of it. I think the overall performance of the media was less than great at times, and I am Ok with the bringing up of the last 16 or so years where we considered MJ a bit of a crazy person (think Howard Hughes meets Lemony Snicket), however no one can deny his impact on music, MTV, and charities. In sports we saw two awful endings...Steve McNair lost his life in a brutal murder suicide, and Arturro Gatti lost his life to what appears to be his own wife...when something like that happens it becomes hard to remember their heroic efforts in the ring or on the field..but we will try. Others of note include Robert McNamara (see Fog of War...a documentary with McNamara explaining Vietnam), Oscar Mayer, Farrah Fawcett, and Ed McMahon.

Sox Nation: Recently the Nation gave me another reason to love em... with the recent return of a Sox great NOMAH I was proud to see he got a very respectful ovation from a loyal and smart baseball crowd. Smoltz has been shaky and is obviously not more than a 5 or 6 inning guy...which means are recent bullpen struggles are cause for some concern, though not much overall we have the best talent in the game. Lowell returns this week, and there is still a trade in the Sox future, though I'm scared to see what it is and I hope it doesn't shake up this chemistry...unless it's Roy Hallady then go ahead take who you want...he is a stud. We are up by 3 games and clearly still the class of the A.L., not too much to complain about here...WHOOOA Johnny if I were you I'd be worried (Bill Simmons Podcast Reference...it's a great Podcast check it out at ESPN on itunes).

The Prez and The All Star Game: Well Pujols had to sit about 2 feet in front of homeplate to grab that ball before it skipped in the dirt...but really I don't care it wasn't W's strike, but it was a great show from the Prez who chatted up the locker room and came on the field in jeans and a Chi Sox outfit that he claims his wife thinks is cute on him...is this guy for real???? I just hope like Manny or Sosa...he doesn't turn out to be a fraud...like Pujols (the potential irony is they threw to each other) they might be the last two guys on earth I really need to be for real. As for the game just another A.L. victory and boy it was a fast game...I was OK with it, though I really did want Wakefield in there. Also Kudos to the Pregame which celebrated citizen all-stars...and they got to mingle with players on the field, also all the living ex-prez's delivering a very nice pregame charity pep-talk was nice to see.

Rank em up: As you may have noticed I have gone back to rank all my old DVD reviews after some complaints that I didn't give them ranks initially. I also ranked my top ten and may re-review them all as we go along here, so you can understand why I would rank them so high. If you have any other suggestions for this blog please let me know.

NBA: Sheed to Celts is nice...not as nice as Artest to the Lakers, if they keep Odom I fear a repeat. I think Iverson should go to the Bobcats like most people, but it appears he may go to the Clippers instead. I have to admit to being a pretty big Boozer fan, but if he leaves the Jazz, I doubt it will be a big loss...he gets paid too much and Milsap is a more efficient player at this point. Vince Carter to Orlando doesn't impress me anymore since they lost Turkuglu...he will be missed. Now the Shaq-fu to the Cavs, I'm just not smart enough I guess to know if that will have any impact at all, I suppose it makes them better but I need to see it with my own eyes.

Some TV: I really am looking around for some good TV with the summer free time off I have, but I still don't have anything great. Conan is doing OK, and Stewart and Letterman are still my tops...but TV shows like Mental that I wanted to like are just too cheesy. I will keep my eyes open and please let me know if I am missing anything. I spend my time watching History channel stuff, and HDTV concerts of 3rd eye blind from 2004 lol...yeah I need a girlfriend :(

Update: The Podcast will be done before September...that's really all I know...and I have no idea how many we will do, but as soon as we have it I will link it to this blog.

ADD ON: So on a recent podcast with Bill Simmons the Sports Guy (7/15 on ESPN), a discussion was held with Chris Connelly about what was the biggest movie of the 2000's...it brew up an interesting discussion. As some of you know I trust Simmons when it comes to movies as his favorite movie of the 90's is non other than The Shawshank Redemtion...and I was on board with his initial pick of Almost Famous for the 2000's. Connelly said there was no great film of 2000's and that the extended TV drama (Sopranos and so on) comprised the best work. I am not sure about that but in any case it was a good discussion and it had me angry when Simmons started to slide into The Dark Knight territory (good film not a great decade film). So if you have any thoughts on this as the decade is coming to a close I would love to hear them. Let me give you a few to consider...Almost Famous, Gladiator, Lord Of The Rings, A Beautiful Mind, The Pianist, Lost In Translation, The Cooler, The Aviator, Ray, Million Dollar Baby, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Crash, Brokeback, Slumdog, City of God, Syrianna, Black Hawk Down, and The Departed. I wouldn't have a few of these on my list but in considering the question I lean toward 3 standouts in no order...The Aviator (should have beat Million Dollar Baby in 2004 Oscar race), Almost Famous (A golden god of a movie, topped by Cameron Crowe only by Jerry Maguire), and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (absolutely haunting and great). What do you think, which one holds up the best, which is the most re watchable, and which one will we remember the most??