Moneyball

The Wife and I watched Moneyball this past weekend in an attempt to see as many of the best picture nominees as possible before the Oscars. A fantastic movie in my opinion, but I’m not here to review it. I’m here to talk about baseball. Every time I see a great baseball movie it reminds me that, deep down, I actually like that sport. I then lament for a few days until realizing that I am a Reds fan and The Wife is a Pirates fan, so between us, our teams have one playoff appearance in the last sixteen years (2010 Reds, Swept in LDS). I then proceed to hate on the sport for a few days. I growl and complain about its over paid athletes and long season. I rip the league for allowing the rich teams to prosper and the poor teams to die. And fat pitchers, what’s up with that? Then I just forget about it; baseball. I can’t remember the last time I watched a full game. Even in 2010 when the Reds made it to the playoffs for the first time in fifteen years, I just shrugged it off. So why do I love baseball movies, but not baseball?

I grew up on baseball movies like Angels in the Outfield, Little Big League and the Sandlot. I also remember seeing Major League at a young age (probably too young). So what do these movies have in common? Underdogs. In every case they are about teams overcoming to achieve. I think this is at the very core of why I love baseball movies. The movies give hope that anything is possible. You know, angels coming down from heaven to help you win, eleven year olds going pro and Charlie Sheen wearing glasses so he can pitch without killing people; winning. Everyone loves a good underdog story and that’s what you get from baseball movies. Moneyball fits right into this mold with one notable difference; it is true. Moneyball made me love and hate baseball all over again. It reminded me just why the sport is great, underdogs and streaks and the history of them game, which is rivaled by no other sport. It also reminded me that the game is about the money. Spoilers follow. Despite the efforts of the characters in the movie, they didn’t win it all. The movie tries to be hopeful by suggesting that the Red Sox won a few years later using the Moneyball principles, but the fact remains that Boston is one of the rich teams.

Call me a fair weather fan all you want. My answer is that I am a devoted Browns fan; I think that pretty much kills the fair weather idea. Maybe I just don’t like baseball. I’ve never really played it (organized). But I think it’s my deep feeling that may team and in turn many teams have no real chance to win. The underdogs have no chance. They have been bled out. Of the past twenty World Series winners, only two have been out of the top twenty richest teams (Toronto and Florida). Half of those wins come from teams ranked in the top ten richest teams (Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies, Giants and Angels). Seven of the wins come from the top two teams (Yankees and Red Sox). The teams at the bottom just cannot compete with this. Sure every now and then a middle of the road team may do well and even win it all; but those are rare and become even more so. I think Moneyball gets it right and wrong. There is no romance in baseball, until there is, but even then, it’s all about the money.

Review: The Woman in Black

DISCLAIMER: These reviews were written separately without either of us knowing what the other was writing.

The Wife: You're a wizard, Harry! Oops, wrong movie! Seriously folks our beloved Harry Potter, or Daniel Radcliffe, as he is actually known, did not disappoint in the thriller film, The Woman in Black.

Finally, I convinced the husband, who is a scary movie hater (seriously don't let him convince you otherwise... he drinks the hateraid!) to see The Woman in Black. I am sure I won this battle because the movie starred "the boy who lived." Alright, I know the Harry Potter jokes are getting old. Despite Daniel Radcliffe having the lead role, I still thought that the trailer for The Woman in Black was quite intriguing. That being said, Daniel Radcliffe was an added bonus because I was itching to see him outside of the Harry Potter role as well as in a film of this nature.

The opening sequence of The Woman in Black instantly had me on the edge of my seat, and I would remain in this stance for the duration of the movie! I certainly felt uneasy throughout the entire film. Of course there were a few cheap "jump" scares, but as a whole the film did an excellent job portraying an overall creepy atmosphere. I was instantly captivated by the story of The Woman in Black and found myself eagerly, yet cautiously awaiting each scene! As for Daniel Radcliffe's acting I will say that it was a bit weird at first to see him on screen without the famous spectacles and not as my beloved Harry. However, he quickly became the Arthur character of The Woman in Black and I was able to stop seeing him just as Harry Potter. He did an excellent job, and while Daniel Radcliffe will probably always be known for his role in Harry Potter, it is evident that the guy can act.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Woman in Black. As I mentioned previously, the eerie atmosphere completely enabled me to immerse myself in the scary movie experience. The end of the movie also left me thinking, and of course, made me want to sleep with the light on!

Hobo Dan: The Wife believes I hate scary movies. False. I like scary movies; it just takes more than loud, unexpected noises to frighten me. Luckily, while The Woman in Black is full of these cheap scares, it also provides some more tangible creeps in the form of lighting, acting and setting. To be honest I wasn’t looking forward to this movie. The Wife even admitted the main reason she wanted to see it was because of Daniel Radcliffe. By the way Daniel, you are excellent and I will never refer to you as “the kid from Harry Potter”. What I found was a creepy little story set in the English country side. This isn’t going to blow anyone away, but it is a much better investment than the average scary movies of late with their 3D effects and gallons of blood.

Like I said, this movie is at its best when setting the mood. Be it the old haunted house which is situated on Nine Lives Causeway where the road floods over at high tide, or the excellent camera and lighting tricks, the film is constantly giving you a sense of dread. The moody setting allows the cheap “jump out of your seat” scares to have their intended effect, but it also sets you on edge, never allowing a moment to relax. The acting is very good, although for a large potion of the film of the film Mr. Radcliffe is alone and has very little dialog. He does an excellent job using his face to react to things happening, but these scenes are never able to hide the fact that this was a book before a movie. I’m guessing these parts of the book are filled with inner monologue, shedding light into the thoughts of the main character that are missing for the film.

I enjoyed The Woman in Black. I didn’t find it as scary as the teenage girls in the theatre did, but I enjoyed it for its quality acting, beautiful scenery and interesting story which, if strengthened, could have really improved the overall package. So if you really enjoy scary movies, go to the dark theater and see this; preferably without the screaming teenagers. If you don’t generally fall for the “jump out of your seat” tactic, I’d still recommend this for story, cinematography and the creepy as hell porcelain toys.

Loquacious

No wonder this country is only getting fatter and fatter by the day. We are training our youth to be lazy. I meet up with a school bus route on my way to work every morning. I follow it for about half a mile through town before we part ways. During that time the bus stops seven times! Seven times in half a mile, all to pick up a single child at each stop! Would anyone like to explain to me why these kids can’t walk down the block and stand with the kids from the other house? It’s called a bus stop. You know, you meet up and all get on the bus at the same time. It saves everyone time (and would help keep me off blood pressure medicine). This part of the route could be reduced to two stops easily. I’m not asking for these kids to walk an uphill mile in a blinding blizzard on a busy country road. I’m talking one hundred feet on a well maintained, in town sidewalk. I guess it’s too much to ask the parents to have to watch their kids walk down the street a few feet and stand. They are more interested in getting the brats off to free day care so they can go back to their meth.

I guess you could argue I just have too much road rage or I should just leave for work earlier to avoid said bus. I suppose that's all true but then what would I have to complain about? The weather?

Word of the Week

Well Spleenwort was an utter mess. I didn’t manage to work that into anything other than some cop out tweets. Fail. Better luck to me this week I guess. What do you have for me wife?

Word of the Week: Loquacious

Loquacious: talking or tending to talk much or freely; talkative; chattering; babbling; garrulous: a loquacious dinner guest.
Characterized by excessive talk; wordy

Challenge: Use the word while ordering snacks at the movie theater Friday night.

Review: The Descendants

The Wife: I was under the impression that NOT TALKING was the main rule of viewing a film at the movie theatre. This concept was apparently lost to the handful of older adults (and by "old" I mean people probably in their 50s), who did not keep quiet during the entire showing of The Descendants last Friday evening. I mean seriously folks, teenagers know how to be quiet at the theatre! I am sure the husband will elaborate further on this incident in his typical dry-humor style below. Well, aside from the overbearing chatter and annoying, unnecessary, over-dramatic gasps we endured at the theatre, I must say that The Descendants is an amazing movie. It is certainly deserving of every Oscar nomination it's received.

The Descendants is set in beautiful Hawaii, which creates some gorgeous backdrops. The film shows a "softer" side of George Clooney as his character Matt must cope with several deep family issues. First off, in the beginning of the movie it is shown that Matt's wife, Elizabeth, is currently in the hospital on life support after suffering from a horrific boating accident. We later are introduced to Matt's two daughters, the youngest, Scottie, and the oldest, Alexandra. Early on, we learn that his relationship with the two girls is quite strained, and that he doesn't consider himself to be a great father or husband. His relationship with Alexandra, who is portrayed by Shailene Woodley (most known for her work in The Secret Life of the American Teenager) is the most distant. From the moment Woodley's character comes on screen, viewers can see that she hasn't exactly been a "model daughter" herself. She shows little respect for her father at first, but it is evident that she loves him. Early on we learn from Alexandra that Matt's hospitalized wife was having an affair with a local real estate man. After finding this out, Matt does some further digging and is told that his wife was planning to ask for a divorce prior to her accident. This revelation further complicates the emotions that Matt is going through. All of this is also going on during the time period where Matt, who was named the trustee of his family's land, must decide whether to sell or keep the property, which is his family's only direct tie to Hawaii.

As the movie progresses, we see Matt cope with the issues above, and eventually come to a point of forgiveness, all the while learning more about himself as a person and establishing a better relationship with his daughters. Matt also transforms into a better father, and as he changes, his views on the importance of his family's land changes. While The Descendants is an emotional journey, the film's end left me with a calming sense of peace.

Of course, The Descendants has many "sad moments," but there are bits of humor scattered throughout it. The acting is superb as well. Like I mentioned previously, Clooney was great. Credit must be given to Woodley though. I admit that I was VERY SKEPTICAL about how she would perform in this movie. The Secret Life of the American Teenager, which stars Woodley as the lead character and is one of my guilty pleasure shows, was my only view of her as an actress prior to The Descendants. In The Secret Life, I would give her acting skills maybe a 4.5 on a scale of 10. She blew me a way in The Descendants, however. Her character encounters a range of emotions, and she nailed each and every one of them. I can't believe the Oscars snubbed her by not giving her a Best Supporting Actress nomination, and meanwhile Melissa McCarthy of freaking Bridesmaids gets a nomination!?!? Really Academy?!?! As if I wasn't mad enough about the massive Harry Potter snub! Ok...talking about Harry Potter will get me totally off topic...so back to the movie of discussion! The Descendants was an amazing movie and I would highly recommend it! I'd love to see Clooney win Best Actor and I wouldn't have a single problem if The Descendants takes home the coveted Best Picture award either!

Hobo Dan: So I had a great paragraph about the loud idiot patrol that tried to ruin the movie and a joke about slushy gernades and the little kid who wanted to pee with his grandpa in the stall at Olive Garden. It all got erased. So here is what I have to say about people who talking during movies. Stop it, you inconsiderate ninnies. If you utter one more word I will walk up there and slap you across the face so hard your descendants will feel it (see what I did there). Inner monologue, get one. And lady who is crying uncontrollably, are you okay? Seriously the movie is emotional, but you are obviously carrying some baggage into the theater. Therapy?

So, The Descendants, a very enjoyable emotional tale, with George Clooney in it. I've got to admit, I'm not a huge Clooney fan. He sometimes seems like the same character in all his movies. Anyways, the acting in this movie was tops. Even that chick from that terrible ABC Family show wasn't half bad. Okay, she was actually pretty good. If it does end up winning the Best Picture Oscar, it deserves it.

Word of the Week

I am always looking for new ideas to add to the variety of features on this blog. Last month one of you, dear readers, gave me the idea to do a project series. I gave the suggestion a few moments of my time before realizing I had no intentions of learning how to knit and blogging about it. I really didn’t think about it again until last week when Wikipedia went black for the day of the SOPA protest. The next day, when it came back to us, I spent some time looking up all sorts of things on the site. For what ever reason I ran across a list claiming to be the 100 Best English-language Novels of the Twentieth Century listing Ulysses by James Joyce as number one. I have heard of the book but needed to know more so I read down the Wiki page. I found this next piece of information amazing. The novel is around 265,000 words long and uses a lexicon of 30,030 words (including proper names, plurals and various verb tenses)! Think about that vocabulary for a moment. I don’t think I even know 30,030 different words; let alone how to work them all into a work of fiction. This information, along with the suggestion by a friend and my desire to improve my own writing has led me to:

The Word of the Week!

The rules here are pretty simple. The Wife will officiate, verifying that I follow the rules. She will choose a word every Wednesday that, starting Thursday, I must attempt to work into my every day vocabulary. She is allowed to get the words from anywhere (suggestions, Internet) but they must be verified using Merriam-Webster's online dictionary. The only other restriction on what word she may choose is that it must be reasonably work appropriate. Once the word is selected I will blog about it on Thursdays and then attempt to put it to use in my every day speech. I’ll also tweet about uses on a daily basis and compile a list of uses in the next weeks post. If on a given Thursday I have a normal blog post prepared, I’ll just attach the Word of the Week to the end of that post. If I’ve been lazy, the Word of the Week post will be the primary post for that Thursday.

There is one more wrinkle before we get started. Challenges! Because simply using the word around people I live and work with will get easier the longer this goes on (they’ll get used to me spouting out seemingly random words) The Wife will also choose a challenge for me to try and fulfill with the word. An Example would be to use the word when ordering from a fast food establishment. You can also participate in the Word of the Week and the Weekly Challenge and post your findings in the comments section below each post. I have zero say in what word is chosen, but The Wife may be open to suggestions, so hit her up to torture me. So without further delay:

The Word of the Week is: Spleenwort


Spleenwort : any of a large genus (Asplenium) of chiefly evergreen ferns having linear or oblong sori.
Origin of Spleenwort : from the belief in its power to cure disorders of the spleen. First known use: 1578

And the Challenge of the Week : Use the word while ordering at dinner on Friday night.

Great, thanks dear...