Entertain Me ...with The Departed

The Departed -- I haven't bought a DVD in months -- mainly because of our Netflix membership -- but I knew as soon as I saw The Departed in the movie theaters this past summer that I would be purchasing it when it came out on DVD. I eagerly anticipated the release of the movie because I really loved it in the movie theater. So, when the movie was released on DVD this past Tuesday , I ran out to Best Buy to buy it and immediately watched it when I got home. I definitely didn't waste my money on the purchase.

Simply put, The Departed is a brilliant, intelligent and well-made movie. The cast featuring Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCapriano, Marc Walberg, Martin Sheen and MATT DAMON (insert Team America World Police punchline here.) are all perfect for their parts. The script is great. The action is intense and cliff hanging. And the movie is well directed. Sans one sloppy editing job switching from scene to scene in the beginning of the movie, it's pretty much a flawless film and one I will enjoy watching over and over again on DVD for years to come.

I highly recommend The Departed. ...

Happy Valentine's Day

It's truly a fake holiday made up by Hallmark. I think this because I tell and show my wife every single day that I love her, so there's no need for one holiday to tell her that I love her.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. Hope anyone reading this got your significant other/lover from another mother a card, gift or flowers on Valentine's Day. If you didn't, be prepared to be killed by the Hallmark clown.

Yankees Need to Pay Mariano

In his 11 year postseason career, Mariano Rivera has a 8-1 record, 34 saves, a 0.80 ERA, a .75 WHIP, and over 50 innings where he hasn't given up a hit. Those numbers are not good. Those numbers are not great. Those numbers are ridiculous! Completely ridiculous that Mariano isn't even in the same league as other closers in Major League Baseball season. He is far and above the greatest closer in Major League Baseball and maybe one of the best postseason players and dominators period in baseball history. And through all of those seasons, Mariano hasn't even been one of the Top 5 paid Yankees. Yet, he's been probably the most important Yankee during the 90s Dynasty.

So, it's pretty disheartening to me when Mariano expresses displeasure with the Yankees. Over the last few days, Mariano has talked about how he's feel disrespected because the Yankees didn't resign Bernie Williams and are treating him in the same way by allowing him to go into the final year of his contract without much talk of a contract extension. Mariano Rivera has meant more than any other Yankee player during the 90s Dynasty, period. He's meant more than Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Scott Brosius or Andy Pettitte. Maybe more than all of them combined.

While Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman says that he will wait until after the season to negotiate with Mariano - like he's done with other veterans in recent years - I think it's pretty important that he break that practice and give a blank check to Mo. Ask him how many more years he wants to pitch and ask him how much money he wants to make during that time period. Mariano Rivera deserves it. He deserves it probably more than any other player in baseball. The Yankees need to reward him for his value in the past and his value in the coming years as the best closer in baseball.

Pitchers and Catchers Report in Two Days!

Pitchers and catchers report to Yankees spring training camp in two days and while there's still more than a month left to the beginning of the regular season, I'm really excited for the upcoming baseball season. As you know from reading my blog, The Giants season was definitely a disappointment to me and I'm looking forward to the upcoming Yankees season to get over that hideous 8-8 season from the Giants.

This year is definitely different than previous Spring Trainings in Yankee camp. There's really no big names coming from other teams into the Yankees camp- short of Andy Pettitte returning to Pinstripes. This year is really focused seeing the potential of young prospects like Phil Hughes, Humberto Sanchez and Jose Tabata. There's been a lot of talk already about these young prospects, so I'm looking forward to seeing how they actually stack up against big league talent.

Lost Actually Reveals Some Answers

To my surprise, last night's mid-season premiere of Lost was actually pretty revealing. And I must say that I'm completely shocked that we finally go some answers (or did we?) We found out (or I think we found out...) that Julia from The Others is a doctor who was recruited by the Dharma initiative to work on the island as a researcher. So, we know (do we really know?) that the stranded castaways of Lost really aren't in purgatory or the figment of a mental patients overactive imagination, but rather they are indeed on a desolate island and the unwilling guinea pig subjects of former Dharma Initiative scientists.

We also found out that Alex of The Others is the daughter of Ben and no doubt the daughter of Rosseau, the French woman. During Season 1, the French woman referred to her child as Alex, so I can only assume that she is the wife of Ben. I'm definitely interested in learning more about this storyline as Season 3 progresses.

Prior to the mid-season premiere at 10 p.m., there was a hour long documentary of sorts where the first 2 1/2 season of Lost were recapped and interviews were held with two Lost producers. Although I really have hated the previous season filling recaps that the show's producers drum up on a consistent basis to try to draw new viewers to the show, I actually liked last night's Lost Survivor Guide. Although I am a dedicated watchers, there was definitely some interesting nuggets or "easter eggs" as the producers called them that made watching the Survivor guide worthwhile.

I'm definitely looking forward to next week's installment of Lost. Will more answers be revealed or will the producers raise new questions to frustrate me yet again? Even though last night's episode was fruitful, I'm voting on the latter.

Lost Returns to Raise More Questions

Season 3 of Lost returns on ABC tonight for 16 straight episodes after a 3 or 4 month hiatus. And with the return of a great dramatic, cliff hanging show also brings the return of an endless list of questions about the plot, the characters and the sanity of American TV viewers.

1. Where did the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 crash?

2. Who are the Others?

3. What is the Dharma Initiative?

4. How are the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 connected?

5. Are the Others former scientists from the Dharma Initiative?

6. Where did Michael and his son Walt go to?

7. Why do they fill so many episodes with endless backstory?

Lost is definitely one of my favorite shows on TV. Every episode is gripping. Every episode is truly an event. I eagerly await the next week's episode, seconds after this week's episode ends. But after EVERY episode, I ultimately end up asking myself why the hell I watch the show. Instead of answering questions that have been raised and talked about endlessly on message boards and blogs across the Internet - like the ones I mentioned above and hundreds of others - the writers constantly raise more and more questions.

Sometimes, my wife will walk into the room when I am watching an episode of Lost and will ask "What's going on?" My simple response to her is "I have no idea." I am simply always lost in Lost. Hopefully I'll figure it out somewhat this season.

Back with Another Edition of Entertain Me and Bore Me

I haven't blogged in about a week and I am completely going through blog withdrawal. In case you were wondering, my computer is working just mighty fine, but I have been away a few days visiting a friend who lives in Richmond and other than that I have been filling my days with filling window frame cracks with wood filler and my brain with a whole junk load of entertainment.

So, here comes another edition of Entertain Me... Bore Me, etc. etc.

Entertain Me

Goin' Retro with Doom and Contra -- I am a huge fan of next generation video games because of the gameplay, presentation and most importantly because I am a whore for next generation graphics. So, it's funny that I've been spending most of my waking hours playing two old school shooters from the 80s : Doom and Contra.

Contra remains one of my most favorite games ever, so I was pleasantly surprised when it was released on XBox Live Arcade a few months ago. Since then, I have played it by myself, but have had the most fun playing it over XBox Live with complete strangers. It definitely isn't as fun as when I was playing co-op at my old childhood house with my friends, but it definitely is a ton of fun and its gameplay has held up over the last 20 years.

Doom, on the other hand, was one game that I played sparingly while growing up. It was a crazy cult favorite back in the day, but I really never got into it as much as I have over the course of the last few months. I beat the game yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed the level design and enemies. Of course, the graphics are ridiculously terrible compared to today's graphics, but it is definitely a great, great game.

Unfortunately... Bore Me

Smokin' Aces - I was really expecting so much more out of this movie than I got. When I first saw the preview of Smokin' Aces, I literally jumped out of my seat as definitely expected to see a movie that was a cross between "True Romance" and "Lock, Stock and "Two Smoking Barrels". I am a huge fan of indy type movies like the two aforementioned ones along with great flicks like "Snatch," "Things to Do in Denver When Your Dead" and "Suicide Kings." I would also mention a few other Tarantino movies in there like Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill, but they are definitely more mainstream and really aren't as independent as True Romance was back in the day.

So, to make a long story even longer, I went with high expectations for Smokin' Aces. I went in expecting a crazy bloodfest with great twists and turns. And I left the movie completely unfufilled after a crazy bloodfest that had twists and turns, but just a retarded, stupid ending. I won't give the ending away if you are planning to see it. All I will say is be prepared to be bored out of your mind in between the crazy violent scenes.

Well, that was a long winded, winding Entertain Me, Bore Me - even the title was long and unoriginal. I promise to tighten up the writing with the next installment.