Friday, September 27, 2013

Jake for Grown-Ups

When kids who listen to the Neverland Pirate Band on Jake grow up, this is the type of music they will get into:



Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Early Football Predictions

I paid almost no attention to football in the off-season and, as such, felt I had no right to offer any opinion on how the season would evolve. With two weeks in the books though, I thought I would give my early predictions on who makes the playoffs.

AFC

1. Denver Broncos - The NFL should just pass a rule that states that any team quarterbacked by a healthy Peyton Manning should immediately collect a 14-2 record and the #1 seed and just advance to the playoffs. That's when things get interesting.

2. Houston Texans - From an early point of view, Houston is about the only team in the AFC that appears to have a prayer of challenging Denver for the AFC crown. That's more of a reflection on the hideousness of the AFC this year. Shades of Buffalo in the early 90's.

3. New England Patriots - New England will probably get better once they get people back from injury, but they are also aided by the fact that the East isn't that hot, despite surprisingly decent performances from Buffalo and Miami. I still think the holes are large enough though that a first round bye will elude them.

4. Cincinnati Bengals - I see the Bengals doing well when they play the AFC. But things will be a bit bleak at first with a 1-2 start (assuming they do lose to Green Bay as I think they will). It very well may be a case that the last game of the season against Baltimore will actually matter to who wins the division.

5. Kansas City Chiefs - The Chiefs may one of the biggest surprises this year. I wouldn't put it past them to come crashing down, but they seem a little more stable under Andy Ried. He has a good reputation for building good teams, it's just winning the playoffs that he has trouble with.

6. Miami Dolphins - This is an open spot that could be filled by San Diego or Tennessee if the winds swing just right. I'm leaning towards the fish at the moment just because I think San Diego will have trouble between Denver and KC in their own division and there are still just a few too many unknowns with Tennessee. Even in down years, Miami has hung tough with divisional opponents and I think they could get a surprising win or two that would vault them over the others for the last playoff spot.

NFC

1. San Francisco 49ers - Yes, I know they got the crap kicked out of them by Seattle. But I still don't trust Seattle's offense enough to give them the division. San Francisco now has their game at Seattle done with and should end up edging the Seahawks by a game or so.

2. New Orleans Saints - Deep down, I think a team from the NFC North deserves to be here, but I see them beating each other up enough that New Orleans will squeek ahead with a better record. In theory, Atlanta and Tampa Bay are good enough to challenge New Orleans, but Atlanta is hurt and Tampa can't seem to get it's act together to finish games. So New Orleans will pull ahead for a bit and then hang on as the rest of the division tried to catch up.

3. Green Bay Packers - I could be convinced that the Chicago Bears will prevail here. But I'm thinking that Green Bay's offense still has too many weapons and will outscore enough teams to get past the Bears. That's not a great place to be in, but it should carry them through enough of the regular season and a division title.

4. Dallas Cowboys - The East is the NFC's version of the AFC North. Someone has to win and go to the playoffs. Everyone else looks bad but the Cowboys look the least amount of bad so far. They have a good defense and their offense has moments where they are very good. They hung with Kansas City until the end so they seem to have the inside track for ending up on top of a bad division.

5. Seattle Seahawks - The defense is good and the home field advantage they have is insane. But I need to see more offense than just Marshawn Lynch to say that they are going to beat SF for the NFC West crown at the end of the season.

6. Chicago Bears - A set of random changes could easily see Chicago and Green Bay swapping positions, but the Bears defense is still not what it used to be and I don't think that Chicago's offense is as good as Green Bay's offense. Green Bay will probably win a couple of games just by outscoring people. Chicago will probably also try that but I see them falling short just enough to let Green Bay take the division.

Early Super Bowl prediction: Denver vs. Seattle

Monday, September 16, 2013

Monday Night Record Keeping

For the record, Monday Night Football is about to kick off and the entire MNF analysis crew (with the exception of Trent Dilfer) has picked the Bengals. They have more faith in the Bengals than I do. I will believe a Bengals win over the Pittsburgh Steelers (even when they are supposedly having a down year) when I see it.

Still, hope they win.

Pixar Rankings

A little while ago, I saw someone do a basic summary of the Pixar movies and their opinions of them. From that, I thought it would be interesting to rank all the Pixar movies based on my opinion. Now, I should say that I have seen all the Pixar movies and liked all the Pixar movies. Some are better than others obviously or you couldn't make a list. I would also say that I don't really care about technical achievement or anything. I only rate on quality of story or overall atmospherics.

14. Cars 2 - Unlike many other people, I actually liked this movie. I like spy thrillers and I don't have the problem that a lot of other people do with swapping out people for cars. But, it is probably the weakest of the stories and the least innovative of all the movies.

13. Brave - I like Brave, but with me it suffers from contrast with Wreck-It Ralph. Ralph was in many ways, the movie you would have expected from Pixar and Brave was the movie you expected from Disney. It also gets dinged a little bit for being a bit slow in the middle. Still, props for being the first Pixar movie to deal with the mother/daughter dynamic.

12. A Bug's Life - Bug's Life suffers mostly from contrast. First, it followed Toy Story and it just wasn't as good as that first movie. Second, one of the Pixar producers left Pixar and took the idea with him and made it at Dreamworks under the title of Antz. The pressure of Antz probably caused A Bug's Life to skip a few rewrites and the story suffered as a result. The circus bugs were a great rebound for the movie, but the main characters suffered as a result.

11. Cars - Cars is an interesting character study with very nice visuals, but it is a recycled story and the story drags heavily at times. I don't have the animosity towards it that some do. One of the biggest complaints I've heard is because it followed The Incredibles, which was the first Pixar movie to get more realistic looking humans. But that doesn't bother me. Still, it's a weaker overall entry.

10. Toy Story - I ding Toy Story for two reasons. First, although it was groundbreaking at the time, the animation has not held up well. There are commercials that have better animation now and while it is fun to watch now, there are moments (like the dog) that just take you out of the movie because of the contrast in appearance. The second point is the contrast with the second movie. The first movie is pretty much just Buzz and Woody, and Woody is a jerk through most of it. That works fine as a stand alone movie, but when you compare to the texture you get in the ensemble casts of the second and third movies, it just makes the first one pale by comparison. A good movie, just not as good as it's sequels.

9. Monster's University - I only have seen this one once and that was a couple of months ago. It was a nice send up of the traditional college underdog story (Animal House, Revenge of the Nerds, etc.). It also did a good job of fleshing out the one significant weakness of the first movie: Mike. The first movie was clearly a daddy/daughter story between Sully and Boo and Mike was left as the comic foil who didn't really quite fit in at points. Monsters University gave Mike some depth and helped explain why a heavy hitting scarer like Sully would be best friends with the dweeb like Mike. It didn't have a ton of emotional impact, but it was fun and I look forward to seeing it again.

8. Toy Story 3 - Toy Story 3 in theory should have eclipsed the second movie in terms of emotional impact and overarching story. However, there were too many moments where it felt like it was trying too hard. It was very dark, a times a bit too long, and Andy's sentimental reaction at the end just didn't really fit with a college kid. It was good, but it just missed what made the second one great.

7. Monsters Inc. - I've seen a high degree of contrast with this movie. Some people love it, some hate it. I think the appeal of the movie is tied directly to dad/daughter relationships. If you have kids (especially a little girl), you understand all of Sully's reactions and sympathize with everything he goes through. Likewise, you tend to find Boo cute. Otherwise, I could understand people saying that Boo is annoying and don't get sucked into the drama that goes on. Mrs. X has a very hard time watching this one just because of how Sully reminds her of her own dad. It's not Pixar's greatest but it does rate higher on my list than it might others.

6. Wall-E - This is a study in contrasts. Just about everyone who has ever offered an opinion on this movie raves about how great the first half is. In fact, if the entire movie were like the first half, with almost no dialogue and just the interaction between Wall-E and Eva, it would probably rate as just about everyone's favorite. Now, I don't despise the second half the way some people seem to, but it is weaker. I actually like the character of the Captain and the illusions to HAL amuse me. Nevertheless, it does change in tone dramatically and becomes just a bit more silly. Still, a great movie to watch.

5. The Incredibles - The Incredibles was probably Pixar's first move into a movie that was truly adult in nature. There were elements for adults in the previous movies, but they were still kid centric. The Incredibles finally stepped beyond that and made an animated movie that was aimed squarely at adults. It has stuff for kids, but I find that I appreciate it more, the older I get. I would probably rate it even higher, except that I thought that Mr. Incredible (Bob) was a weaker character for the focus. I thought the wife (Helen) was a more developed and complex character. I enjoyed her scenes more than with Bob and the movie got dinged down just a tad in my mind because she needed more focus.

4. Toy Story 2 - One of the very few exceptions to the rule that sequels will never be better than the original. This movie took what was good about the first movie and seriously upped the ante by distributing the story into an ensemble rather than letting Woody and Buzz carry the movie again. It also expanded the reach of the movie by incorporating the abandonment of toys (exploiting the parental metaphor). Seriously, anyone who does not cry during Jessie's back story song has no soul. Toy Story 2 also did not try to bite off more than it could chew by going too deep or dark. It kept things fairly whimsical and light, which made the poignant moments that more powerful.

3. Up - This is another movie that had much more of an adult focus and it worked extremely well. The montage of the marriage between Carl and Ellie alone made this a great movie and is another case where if you are not moved, you have no soul. The idea of escaping into a fantasy of the past to escape your present troubles, while at the same time refusing to face the new reality in front of you is fascinating story. The casting and portrayal of Carl is a perfect mix of curmudgeon and funny. His relationship with Russell is also both funny and touching. Doug and Alpha are played to their full comedic potential without going too far. My only knock on the movie is the villain. He reminded me too much of an ancient Ted Turner and just didn't quite work for me. Still, a great *SQUIRREL!* movie.

2. Ratatouille - I can't really explain why I like this movie this much. The main characters are good but there is nothing overly compelling about them and the story is pretty simple for the most part as well. But the mix, especially with the secondary characters just makes you want more of the story and I appreciate that. It also has one of the most interesting endings. I would also say that I first saw this movie during a very dark period in my life and the humor and atmosphere just made me feel good, so I may carry that over with me when I think of it. I probably rank the movie higher than most would.

1. Finding Nemo - This comes about as close as you can get to a perfect movie for me. It's touching in the father/son pursuit and relationship, it has memorable and interesting secondary characters, and it has a great sense of humor. Some people don't care for Dory, I find her hilarious and the interaction she has with Marlin works extremely well. This also doesn't even take into account the visual prowess that Pixar showed in the background, especially the coral reef flybys. Overall, I can't really think of any part of this movie that I don't like and would deprive it of my #1 ranking.

Taxes are Patriotic

I can understand the need for taxes and the like, but this is a level of propoganda that would have had Big Brother drooling over himself.