Well, It's been a while.

With a combination of a busy, but awesome, weekend and being sick the last 4 days, twogging has not been on the top of my list of things to do. But fortunately I'm back for the time being.

Im going to touch on sports video games. The post will be short and I'll hopefully be able to go back to my Braves preview before Sunday's season opener.

Okay so all my life I really haven't played all that many video games, mostly cause I just get bored. But one exception has been sports video games. My favorite games are definitely Ken Griffey Junior Baseball from '97, ESPN Football, and NCAA 09. But since Griffey Junior 12 years ago there hasn't been a baseball game that I could play all weekend. But I know there is one out there, unfortunately it's on the PS3. First off I'm going to talk about the poor excuse for a baseball title called MLB 2K8, which is what I'm stuck with on the 360. MLB 2K8 looks okay, but in the end you just find yourself incredibly frustrated by the unbelievably lazy production value. Keep in mind that the 2K8 series is the only baseball title available for the 360, so the most played next-gen system is stuck with this POS.

Things that infuriate me about this game:

1) The incredibly small text on all the menu screens. Think of a windows screen with size 8 font, on every single important screen. It makes playing in bed, which is a mere 4 feet from the screen) absolutely impossible, and I must play video games in comfort.

2) Jon Miller and Joe Morgan: my absolute least favorite announcers on earth. Joe Morgan manages to make me angry even though I know I'm not actually listening to him talk.

3) The opposing pitchers never throw balls. I was facing Johan Santana and I let every pitch through for 5 innings and he through 2 balls. 2!!!!!!

4) Elite players will hit a home run every time you throw the ball in the strike zone. Well, not every time. But when facing Manny Ramirez I threw him 3 unhittable 89mph sliders down and in, and he hit 2 of them for Home Runs and the other to the gap for a double. Same goes for Pujols, Justin Morneau, Alex Rodriguez and so on.

5) They mispronounce at least 30 players names. I mean, come on.

6) The whole pregame thing that they do. THe Screen is unnecessarily busy. There are far too many things to look at and think about. I like simplicity on-screen, and I think everyone else does as well.

There are still a bunch of things that are wrong with the game. But to be honest I'm getting frustrated thinking about them. So I'm going to move on to the game that has been said to be good enough to get inducted into Cooperstown. MLB the Show 09 improves upon the Show 08 and makes me want to buy a PS3 as soon as I have $400. I played it on my brothers system back home and it was incredible. Realistic graphics (unlike the cartoonish 2K8), incredibly fluid gameplay, engaging play calling, and plays like the script of the game wasn't written prior to opening the box.

Either way, I'll have a PS3 soon. My roommates will be happy for Blu-Ray, I'll be happy for the Show.

So it begins...

April begins the inevitable summer movie season. In preparation of Hollywood's biggest couple of months, I have taken a look at the next couple of months and picked 20 films I plan on seeing.  The numbers correlate with my level of excitement. The list represents everything from high profile sequels to smaller arthouse fair. Bring on April and August!

20.  Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen (June 24th)

Why it could be good: Transformers, though needlessly convoluted, did offer exactly what it promised: Robots destroying robots. On that front, Transformers 2 looks to up the robot destruction ante. 

Why it could suck: As mentioned, Transformers had FAR too much exposition and, well...plot. I could care less how they got their power. Shia Labeuf and his family problems? Cut it. Any other movie I'd welcome narrative complexity, but with Transformers, keep it simple and clear. Quickly set the stage and let your Bots go to work, or you run the risk of having yawns outweigh the eye pops.

19. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (May 1st)

Why it could be good: The first two X-men films were superb examples of comic book adaptation. By staying faithful to the tone and characters of the comic, but not inhibited by preexisting story lines, X-Men 1 and 2 provided gravitas to melodrama. Hugh Jackman brought to the character of Wolverine a nice blend of "fist pumping", action hero swagger and touching humanity. A movie based completely around him? Why not.

Why it might suck: The trailers it look more like the insipid X-Men 3 than anything else. Boring and bland, the advertising campaign alone has pushed Wolverine all the way up to my 19th slot. Rumors of endless script revisions and massive reshoots should also cause a few eye brows to raise.

18.  The Taking of Pelham 123 (June 12th)

Why it Could be Good: Tony Scott and Denzel have previously teamed up for two very slick, but overall entertaining films. Man on Fire and Deja Vu, had Denzel doing what he does best--being Denzel. Scott meanwhile excels with flashy, self aware cinematography keeping the pacing and momentum high from frame 1.

Why it Might Suck: Though entertaining, Man on Fire and Deja Vu both come dangerously close to being guilty pleasures. Thematic simplicity is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as you keep it that way. Pelham 123 looks dangerously close at taking itself too seriously. If Scott, Denzel, and company treat the material as a summer film, all should be fine. Turn the script into heavy social commentary, and we might have a problem. 

17. All the Good Things (July 24th)

Why it Could be Good: The cast. Jeffery Dean Morgan (Watchmen), Ryan Gosling (The Notebook, Half-Nelson), Kirsten Dunst, Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon), and Kristin Whig (SNL). Any film with this...random and eclectic of a cast deserves a spot on the list. Oh, and the film's director ,Andrew Jarecki's, also directed one of the all time great documentaries Capturing the Friedmans.

Why it Could Suck: Until this afternoon, I had not heard anything about All the Good Thing. The plot as taken from IMDB ( A detective begins to unravel a missing persons case that looks to spell doom for the heir to a New York real estate dynasty) doesn't do any favors.

16. Terminator Salvation (May 21st)

Why it Could be Good: Christian Bale and his muscular, immersive style of acting looks to be a revelation as the iconic character of John Connor. The ad campaign promises a gritty reboot to the Terminator series, rather than a strict continuation.  The film looks tailor made for the season in which it is being released. 

Why it Could Suck: Try as I might, I simply cannot believe that the creative minds behind Charlies Angels and Aeon Flux will be able to deliver a quality product. There is no other film in my top 20 that I want more to be great, yet expect to be terrible. 

Braves 2009: Corner Infielders

This year is kind of going to be the first year in a major transition in Braves culture. Starting with 3rd base and Chipper Jones. Chipper is on the downslope of his career, which actually hard to say considering he won his first batting title last year. But there is no denying that Chipper, who turns 37 April 27th, isn't entirely reliable as a full time player anymore. Although, the Braves are a better team with him in the lineup. He is a terror for opposing pitchers around the national league and there is no reason to think that wont continue into this season. For the days he will inevitably be out ( he hasn't played more than 134 games since 2003) the braves will be lucky enough to dig into their deep and talented bench. Omar Infante and Martin Prado offer solid at-bats and superb defense at 3rd. The offensive production from 3rd base should be great, Chipper walks a lot, hits for high average, and when healthy has prodigious power. Sooner or later though the Braves are going to have to move on from the Chipper and there is no obvious person ready to step in for Chipper once he retires, or falls apart. 

At 1st base is going to be Casey Kotchman. Personally, I'm a huge fan of Kotchman. He plays solid Defense, and makes contact all the time.  He may not have the power of Tiexiera or the RBI production, but Kotchman will be a rock in the 5 or 6 spot for us this year. He started off slow last year, having difficulty accommodating himself to NL pitching and being 2500 miles from his old stomping grounds in Anaheim.But he hit .321 in his last 22 games as a brave. Which were the type of numbers he boasted while playing for the Angels. Kotchman is only 25 and is under contract with the Braves until 2011. It's fantastic that we have a player of his caliber under contract. He's a Brave of the future and I'm pumped up about it.

Sorry to be so brief on this one. But tomorrow is the rest of hte infield and Catcher. I'm excited about it, and you should be too. 

Adventureland interview

Following on the heels of the previous Adventureland entry, here is comingsoon.net's interview with Writer-Director Greg Mottola. He talks a little about his experiences pre, during, and post Superbad that's pretty fascinating.

I highly recommend reading this fairly short interview if you plan on seeing Adventureland in theaters next week. A really sweet, simple flick.

Click Here

Braves 2009: Bullpen and Bench

The bullpen and the bench will be an interesting situations for the Braves to figure out going in to the beginning of the season. Both are seemingly deep with the bench having far more experience than the bullpen.

Bench: The Braves are very wealthy when is comes to bench players. At least three of our bench players could start on other major league teams. Omar Infante hit .293 last season in 317 at-bats no less, Martin Prado hit .320!! in 228 at-bats, Greg Norton was one of hte best pinch hitters in the game, Josh Anderson or Gregor Blanco provide crazy speed off the bench and solid defense. Then Matt Diaz is probably one of hte top 5 hitters on the squad. In all honestly I would be happy with a lineup that included those 5 guys. With that kind of depth and skill the Thrashers have incredible protection from injury devastation. Which we all know is incredibly important. Another fantastic thing we have going is that Corky Miller is no longer our 2nd catcher. His paltry .083 batting average p[retty much guaranteed an out in the 8th AND 9th spots of hte lineup, killing many possible rallies at the end of games. He's replaced with David Ross who played and hit .225 with Boston and Cincinnati last season. In short, I'm super pumped about the bench. They have a legitimate shot at collective .275 this season. If they provide some power, we could add another huge dynamic to our offense in the late innings.

Bullpen: This is a worrisome area for me. On paper we have a chance to be dominant on the back end with Rafael Soriano, Peter Moylan and Mike Gonzalez. But all three have dealt with severe injuries and have had major surgeries with in the last 18 months. Gonzalez was inconsistent in his return at the end of last season, Moylan has been solid in the spring, but had his tommy john surgery only 10 months ago(usually a 12 month recovery), and Soriano has already been dealing with injury in the spring. And outside of those three there isn't much. Charlie morton, Buddy Carlyle, Blaine Boyer and Jeff bennett look to be incumbents(JoJo got sent down to Gwinnett today Bobby wants him to get more starting work, JoJo looked unstoppable in hte spring). Carlyle has been solid, so has Boyer but Morton and Bennett have been nothing too short of terrible. Kris Melden has been spotty, but good in a couple situations. THe lefties are beginning to look more and more questionable though. Going into spring, newcomers Eric O'Flaherty and Boone Logan looked to be shoe-ins for the pen, but they've sucked. Especially Logan who has struggled mightily in two consecutive appearances against late inning players (mostly minor leaguers). Either way, the bullpen is the biggest question mark for hte entire Braves team. But as long as our starters dominate like I think they will, the bullpen wont get taxed liek they did last year.

Also, hopefully we give good ole Will Ohman a call. He's still sitting at home waiting to get signed. He's a solid lefty who's just demanding far too much money for teams to spend. But if he lowers his price tag just a tad, we might see him in a Braves uniform again next year.

Tomorrow, Corner Infielders.

And "The Slumdog" Goes to..

I really enjoy Judd Apatow's work. I think 40 Year Old Virgin was one of the freshest films to come out in its year. While Knocked Up proved even better, with Apatow's pacing and technical skills improved. Naturally, Superbad seemed like the next logically step in the Apatow cannon. The redband trailer looked great, along with stellar word of mouth proceeding the August release date. I vividly remember Superbads release, as it coincided with my first week of college. Judging by reviews,trailers,and the current context of my life, I was already in love with Superbad ready to proclaim it THE movie of my generation (genre wise). I gathered on a Friday evening my budding group of three day old friends. We sat in the theatre. Collectively cheered at the first glimpse of The Dark Knight. And all laughed hysterically at Jonah Hill's porn tirade, which opens the film. Then something happened, while every ones laughter continued, mine stopped. It wasn't my girlfriends look of disgust and it wasn't even my initial thought the the movie was suffering from my sky high expectations. The film just didn't seem...right. I GOT it. I begrudgingly understand WHY Superbad is my generations cat nip. But I never understood exactly WHY the film left me cold. That was until I saw Superbad director's Greg Motolla's follow up-- Adventureland. So, the first recipient of "The Slumdog" is somewhat controversial. Come on up to the podium Superbad.

Now Superbad, I know you have an 87% fresh rating at Rottentomatoes along with legions of adoring college fans and old, left over yuppies. I realize you see yourself as a microcosm of today's highschool culture, where actual morality arises from the profane. But I got something on you Superbad, I've seen the movie your director wanted you to be. And what he wanted you to be, and what your four letter minded writer Mr. Seth Rogen had in mind...well, they don't fit.

Seth Rogen wanted you to be fast, cutloose, alot of "dick jokes". Essentially his highschool experience hyper realized. Greg Motolla meanwhile saw you as a meandering onslaught of articulate emotions professed in drunken, insecure highschool stupor. Adventureland, Greg Motolla as the sole writer, shows the film that I could feel trapped inside of you. An Apatow film meanwhile is fast and loose, shrugging through the pitfalls of life with either a marriage or a baby...then a marriage. While your characters are about to leave behind their best friends. These Kids who by worrying about the minutia of life rather than seeing the big picture are accidentally experiencing...life. This is melancholy stuff that needs to be dealt with, yes with humor (even filthy humor...hey highschool is filthy), but also understated gravitas. By undercutting feeling with four letter words, puke/fart/phallic jokes, or broad grandstanding by your actors, you betray what your proclaimed to be "an authentic take on the awkwardness of the high school experience."

Other problems exist with the film such as the PAINFULLY long, creepy party sequence and the unnecessary amount of scenes with Seth Rogen and Bill Hader. Mainly, Superbad treads dangerous cinematic waters, as a film that causes and will continue to cause an entire generation to actually believe that THIS was their highschool experience.

Hockey

So I was squeezing my mind grapes and I want to talk about Hockey. It boggles me that hockey isn't huge. Sure they have a professional sport here in the US. But it's always pushed to back page news every where, especially here in Georgia. Sure the Thrashers suck, but it's a shame that they aren't adored in this state. Hockey is a sport that appreciates pure speed, agility and grit. In a sport where fighting is virtually legal and hitting/physical play is more than encouraged. People in this country are forever starved for fast paced hard hitting action. Hockey offers it all. People here in the south need to get over the whole idea that it is played on a cold surface, something us here in the south seem to care very little for. Hockey is an unbelievable sport and the NHL houses some of the greatest athletes on the planet. I would take Ilya Kovalchuk (6'1" 225) over most any athlete on the planet. These guys are fast, agile and haft incredible hand eye coordination. Forget the fact that you cannot pronounce the majority of their names and just sit down and watch a hockey game, allow yourself to get immersed the beauty that is hockey.

Where the Wild Things Are...

A film that started with great promise but quickly descended into rumors and speculations of possibly being shut down due to insane budget inflation and flares of temper on the set by Spike Jonz (director of Being John Malkovich and Adaptation) finally has itself a trailer...

Where the Wild Things Are, was such a crucial part of my child hood that even the possibility of seeing a screen adaptation has me giddy. Now after seeing the newly released trailer, this is by far the film I am most anticipating this year. I have seen the trailer 4 times and it still gets to me.

In every person there is something WILD

2009 Braves: Pitching Staff

Okay so we've got only a couple weeks before that magical day. MLB Opening Day. Lucky for us Braves fans the Bravos are playing the World Champion Phillies before the rest of the league even starts playing. The game is April 5th and Im going to do what I can to get you prepared.

Hopefully I can get a somewhat coherent run-down of the Braves, who I expect from the team and what I expect from each position player. Also you out there should know that I am going to be overly optimistic. Consider my predictions with a grain of salt. But chances are that I'll be close to right, considering I'm a genius.

Lets start with the Pitching Staff

1. Derek Lowe

2. Javier Vasquez

3. Jair Jurrjens

4. Kenshin Kawakami

5. Tom Glavine

At first glance the obvious is that it is completely made over from last year. Last year the Brave depended on 3 old(er) injury prone pitchers to anchor their rotation in Smoltz (traitor) Glavine (the good guy) and Mike Hampton (waste) which failed miserably. Well now Smoltz left us in the dust for his new digs in Boston (gross), Hampton went back to Houston( finally) and Glavine stayed with us for a discount (woohoo). But now Glavine is at the bottom, as you can see, which is where a 43 year old pitcher should be. The Braves went into the offseason hoping to get 3 quality starters, and we got three. Kawakami Lowe and Vasquez join Jurrjens and Glavine to form one of the most solid top-to-bottom rotations in the show. Vasquez was solid for Puerto Rico in the WBC and Lowe has dazzled, along with Kawakami showing that he's going to be accurate and durable. With Lowe being the most likely candidate for Opening Day our 1-4 pitchers have a legitimate shot of all reaching 200 innings. An unbelievable feat considering last year Jurrjens led the Braves in innings with 188 and 2/3. I feel like this rotation is not going to disappoint in the least bit. Lowe is a deadly sinker-baller with impeccable control and produces an incredible amount of sweat on the mound. Im am incredibly excited about Vasquez, he's pitched at least 200 innings in 6 of his major league seasons, including the last two. Vasquez also has been in the top 10 in strikeouts each of the last 3 years, and those were spent in the AL. Last year Jair Jurrjens proved to the world that the Detroit Tigers are idiots. Before last season Jurrjens was traded to the Braves along with super prospect Gorkys Hernandez for Edgar Renteria. Renteria is already gone from Detroit and the Braves might end up with two starting players from the trade. Anyway Jurrjens proved is metal last year and went 13-10 with a 3.86 ERA and finished 3rd in the rookie of the year balloting. He can only improve and is having a terrific spring thus far. Kawakami is sort of the unknown commodity. He won a Japanese version of the Cy Young award a few years ago and is a proven vet in Japanese baseball leagues (which turns out to have some decent players). If Kawakami can give us some solid innings and 10-15 wins we will be in fantastic shape. Next is the wily vet Tom Glavine. Glavine was supremely disappointed with his injury situation last year. He had NEVER been on the DL until last year (looking at you Chipper) and wound up having elbow and shoulder surgery. But he is on his way back and pitched 3 shutout innings against the Mets last week. Any sort of production from Glavine will be added bonus on top of an already rock-solid top 4. Although Glavine will be pushed all season by uber prospect Tommy Hanson. Hanson is giving Bobby Cox a very difficult decision to make. Hanson has made it difficult by his well documented domination of hte hitters dominated Arizona Fall League and his continued success against major league hitters in spring training. When all said and done though, the Braves have one thing they didnt have last year, and that is incredible depth. And on top of all of that, we expect Tim Hudson back by August. Things are looking up.

Predictions:

Lowe- 18-9 3.40ERA

Vasquez- 15-10 3.75 ERA

Jurrjens- 16-11 3.30 ERA

Kawakami- 12-8 4.10 ERA

Glavine- 8-8 4.40 ERA

Hanson- 6-1 3.10 ERA

Well that was fun. I was planning on knocking out the whole team in one post but looks like that will be too long. Tomorrow I'll do Bullpen and Bench.

On another note, there is this guy David Hale who writes for the Macon Telegraph, if you want to know anything concerning UGA athletics, he'll have it on his site. Check it out

Adventureland

One of the great things about UGA (and really any big college campus) are the free movie screenings. Around 6 times a semester, a studio will role into Athens and test out a new tentpole summer movie or try and build buzz around a smaller release. The movies vary wildly in quality from dismal teen movie rip offs like Sex Drive to the critically respected albeit college friendly film Knocked Up.

Well last night was one of those nights, where you line up an hour early with your printed out admit one pass, eager to grab free crap already in a fairly forgiving mindset. I have to say I was fairly excited about last nights screening of Adventureland.

Adventureland is director Greg Mottola's followup to his smash hit Superbad, and instead of it being a raunchy successor, it proved to be a much more low key film then I ,needless to say the audience, was expecting. Instead of a fast paced Judd Apatow raunchfest with heart, it felt more like a pleasant John Hughes film fused with Linklater's Slackers. Here's the plot summary:

It's the summer of 1987, and James Brennan (Eisenberg) has just graduated college. James is all set to embark on his dream tour of Europe when his parents (Wendie Malick and Jack Gilpin) suddenly announce that they won't be able to subsidize the trip. Now the only things James has to look forward to this summer are sugar-fueled children, belligerent dads, and an endless parade of giant stuffed animals. When James strikes up a relationship with captivating co-worker Em (Stewart), however, he finally starts to loosen up. Suddenly, the worst summer ever doesn't seem quite so bad. (wikipedia)

Eisenberg is effective with his Woody Allen ramblings, while Stewart still impresses as a mildly destructive undergrad. Hader and Whig supply the film with its only Apatow appropriate scenes, as the film gently and pleasantly meanders from interaction to interaction, taking a few plot pit stops along the way.

If I sound a bit underwhelmed...well perhaps I am, however a day after seeing Adventureland I feel as if I am looking back on a lazy summer filled with unremarkable events but memorable people. I believe that's its biggest achievement. When remembering important summers in my past, I struggle with the specifics while vidly remembering the feelings. Alot of Adventureland I felt, while the rest with the whole "plot" thing, I could have done without. Grade: B