Just watched Get Him to the Greek. I watched it because Russell Brand's character was hilarious in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
But this one didn't have the same brilliance. It had a few moments of hilarity (seeing Ricky Shroder, who I hadn't seen since Silver Spoons, was one for me), but was mostly pretty dull.
I think Brand did a good job, and Hill was also pretty decent, but the script wasn't all that good. Also, I forgot to choose, so I think I saw the unrated version. I think I'm just going to make it a point to skip unrated versions in the future; the couple that I've seen just haven't added anything worthwhile.
Anyway, not really worth seeing, overall.
20101124
Righting the ship
After their worst game of the season a couple of nights ago, the Caps put things together better for a very nice game against the Hurricanes. The score was only 3-2, but the game was very well played outside of the first eight minutes of the third period.
I was really surprised by that, especially with Green out. In fact, the power play looked much better tonight than it did the last stretch in which Green was missing. The defense selection was very... mixed, I guess. Green being out was quite worrisome, but Poti in was good. Sloan out wasn't too bad, but exchanging him for Fahey was less encouraging. But they mostly held together quite well.
I was happy to see Varly back (though somewhat less so, given why he was back), although I didn't think he looked all that great. I guess I've gotten spoiled by watching Neuvy so much, but Varly seemed a bit out of position fairly frequently. And he certainly allowed a lot more rebounds. I'm hoping that is all because of rust. Having said that, there's no way at all to blame him for the first goal, and the second one would have also been tough.
OV had his best game in quite a while. Perhaps swinging him over to the other side threw the defense off more than it affected him. Plus, he cut to his backhand for only the second time I've seen all year (though I've only seen most of every game, not all of them). And he was really buzzing around. He didn't pot any, but did have three assists, and consistently looked like a threat. Ya-hoo!
Anyway, don't want to get too excited, but the team looked really good overall. Now, to head down to Tampa and try to take a couple of points from the Lightning.
Happy Thanksgiving, all!
I was really surprised by that, especially with Green out. In fact, the power play looked much better tonight than it did the last stretch in which Green was missing. The defense selection was very... mixed, I guess. Green being out was quite worrisome, but Poti in was good. Sloan out wasn't too bad, but exchanging him for Fahey was less encouraging. But they mostly held together quite well.
I was happy to see Varly back (though somewhat less so, given why he was back), although I didn't think he looked all that great. I guess I've gotten spoiled by watching Neuvy so much, but Varly seemed a bit out of position fairly frequently. And he certainly allowed a lot more rebounds. I'm hoping that is all because of rust. Having said that, there's no way at all to blame him for the first goal, and the second one would have also been tough.
OV had his best game in quite a while. Perhaps swinging him over to the other side threw the defense off more than it affected him. Plus, he cut to his backhand for only the second time I've seen all year (though I've only seen most of every game, not all of them). And he was really buzzing around. He didn't pot any, but did have three assists, and consistently looked like a threat. Ya-hoo!
Anyway, don't want to get too excited, but the team looked really good overall. Now, to head down to Tampa and try to take a couple of points from the Lightning.
Happy Thanksgiving, all!
20101120
A new Story
As I mentioned earlier, I finally caught Toy Story 3 last night. There was some initial disappointment, as it was a 3D movie being shown in a 3D theater, but wasn't shown in 3D. But it was shown on a real IMAX screen, as opposed to that crap screen on which I saw Avatar a while ago.
I guess I don't have a whole lot to say about it. I enjoyed it a whole lot (more than my wife did); she missed quite a few of the jokes. Actually, I think I and the guy who sat a couple of seats away were the only ones who got quite a few of them. And we also recognized most of the toys used. (I didn't own many of them, but my nursery school (hah! irony) had quite a few of them.)
It was probably the least original Pixar movie thus far, although that's only a very slight knock. As much as I'm hoping for an Incredibles sequel (to say nothing of a blu-ray disk), I hope they aren't going to keep making sequels. I know they're planning to start doing two movies a year, so maybe it'll be one original and one sequel each year. I guess that wouldn't be too bad.
Regardless, I did enjoy it quite a bit. The Spanish bit for Buzz was really funny, although the Jessie/Buzz part was a little odd. And I really liked how it ended, even if it was fairly predictable. Oh, and I loved the Totoro showing up, although I kept expecting it to do something more than just be there. Maybe give Woody a seed packet, or something. And I would have changed one line; after the crane, I would have changed the line to "The Claw chooses".
I did spot the pizza delivery truck. I thought I might have spotted Wall-E in there briefly as well (or maybe Wall-A); I guess when I get the disk, I'll check on that.
Anyway, if you haven't seen it yet, but you're thinking about getting it or just watching it... It's worth it. I wouldn't put it up as one of Pixar's best, but even their worst is still a lot better than most of what gets made.
I guess I don't have a whole lot to say about it. I enjoyed it a whole lot (more than my wife did); she missed quite a few of the jokes. Actually, I think I and the guy who sat a couple of seats away were the only ones who got quite a few of them. And we also recognized most of the toys used. (I didn't own many of them, but my nursery school (hah! irony) had quite a few of them.)
It was probably the least original Pixar movie thus far, although that's only a very slight knock. As much as I'm hoping for an Incredibles sequel (to say nothing of a blu-ray disk), I hope they aren't going to keep making sequels. I know they're planning to start doing two movies a year, so maybe it'll be one original and one sequel each year. I guess that wouldn't be too bad.
Regardless, I did enjoy it quite a bit. The Spanish bit for Buzz was really funny, although the Jessie/Buzz part was a little odd. And I really liked how it ended, even if it was fairly predictable. Oh, and I loved the Totoro showing up, although I kept expecting it to do something more than just be there. Maybe give Woody a seed packet, or something. And I would have changed one line; after the crane, I would have changed the line to "The Claw chooses".
I did spot the pizza delivery truck. I thought I might have spotted Wall-E in there briefly as well (or maybe Wall-A); I guess when I get the disk, I'll check on that.
Anyway, if you haven't seen it yet, but you're thinking about getting it or just watching it... It's worth it. I wouldn't put it up as one of Pixar's best, but even their worst is still a lot better than most of what gets made.
That was Ugly!
Didn't get to watch the Caps game until pretty late last night (finally saw Toy Story 3, in IMAX, no less), and thank goodness for that. Why? Because it meant that I could skip all the breaks, and get through it much sooner. But I still was frustrated enough to turn it off with eight or nine minutes left in the third. And thank goodness that I did, as it seems to've gotten even uglier.
It was a pretty weird game, though. Overall, the Caps seemed to outplay the Thrashers, but couldn't put it past Pavelec, and couldn't do much to stop the Thrashers shots. The failure to put it past Pavelec was especially weird, though, as he was allowing some very good rebounds with Caps in the area, but they just weren't able to put their sticks on those rebounds. There was also some bad luck as at least two shots rung off the posts quite hard (Knuble and MarJo, maybe?).
Anyway, the A team better show up and play really hard tonight. I'm hoping Knuble will be able to play; he took a Fehr shot off the face and didn't return.
So how bad was it? Five goals allowed, and none scored. I really hope that gets the team angry, and they bring that Anger to the Flyers tonight. I guess we'll see how it goes.
It was a pretty weird game, though. Overall, the Caps seemed to outplay the Thrashers, but couldn't put it past Pavelec, and couldn't do much to stop the Thrashers shots. The failure to put it past Pavelec was especially weird, though, as he was allowing some very good rebounds with Caps in the area, but they just weren't able to put their sticks on those rebounds. There was also some bad luck as at least two shots rung off the posts quite hard (Knuble and MarJo, maybe?).
Anyway, the A team better show up and play really hard tonight. I'm hoping Knuble will be able to play; he took a Fehr shot off the face and didn't return.
So how bad was it? Five goals allowed, and none scored. I really hope that gets the team angry, and they bring that Anger to the Flyers tonight. I guess we'll see how it goes.
20101117
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.
Yes, that's a grammatically correct sentence.
Anyway, bit of a game of contrasts this evening. Good: could watch the game on TV. Bad: had to do it in low definition. Good: could still see the numbers of the players. Bad: mostly.
Good: the first period was probably the best first period the team has played this year. Bad: the second period was not the best second period this year. Good: Neuvy's goaltending in the third period was especially good. Bad: it needed to be. Good: the fourth line had an excellent game, with two goals and a lot of time in the offensive zone. Bad: they were the best line of the night. Good: the power play was very good. Bad: they were only on the ice for 2:13, all continuous.
But once you add all of that up, you get a 4-2 victory, keeping the Caps at the top of the standings, as well as tops in scoring. The power play continues to creep up the rankings, while the PK continues to drift downwards.
Beyond that, I think I like MarJo on the top line. He looked good again tonight, showing speed and a little defense. Flash was a scratch; no complaints there. Semin looked very good again; I'm beginning to think there's no way the Caps afford to keep him next year (barring significant increase in salary cap). And Bradley had himself quite a night, matching Semin's goal and assist.
I wish I knew what was going on with Tom Poti. Sloan and Erskine have been playing much better of late, but I'd really feel a lot better if we didn't have to play both of them. And I hope Flash hasn't played himself out of a trade.
That's about it, I guess. We'll see if we can continue the excellent play going down to Atlanta on Friday. I'm assuming Holtby will be getting the start in goal.
Anyway, bit of a game of contrasts this evening. Good: could watch the game on TV. Bad: had to do it in low definition. Good: could still see the numbers of the players. Bad: mostly.
Good: the first period was probably the best first period the team has played this year. Bad: the second period was not the best second period this year. Good: Neuvy's goaltending in the third period was especially good. Bad: it needed to be. Good: the fourth line had an excellent game, with two goals and a lot of time in the offensive zone. Bad: they were the best line of the night. Good: the power play was very good. Bad: they were only on the ice for 2:13, all continuous.
But once you add all of that up, you get a 4-2 victory, keeping the Caps at the top of the standings, as well as tops in scoring. The power play continues to creep up the rankings, while the PK continues to drift downwards.
Beyond that, I think I like MarJo on the top line. He looked good again tonight, showing speed and a little defense. Flash was a scratch; no complaints there. Semin looked very good again; I'm beginning to think there's no way the Caps afford to keep him next year (barring significant increase in salary cap). And Bradley had himself quite a night, matching Semin's goal and assist.
I wish I knew what was going on with Tom Poti. Sloan and Erskine have been playing much better of late, but I'd really feel a lot better if we didn't have to play both of them. And I hope Flash hasn't played himself out of a trade.
That's about it, I guess. We'll see if we can continue the excellent play going down to Atlanta on Friday. I'm assuming Holtby will be getting the start in goal.
20101116
Security Theater of the Absurd
Orwell would have been proud of this one. Or nauseated, I suppose. But we have another example of bureaucracy gone mad in the case of John Tyner. The short version is that he refused the invasive scanner, and then, when told he would be patted down, told them not to fondle his groin. They informed him that he could then leave. He got a refund for his ticket, and was about to leave the airport when told he would be fined for doing so.
Now the TSA has gotten its panties in such a twist over this that they held a press conference to say that they were, indeed, going to sue him. What's more, they would be suing him for even more money than originally (and absurdly) threatened.
The suit, of course, is a transparent threat to stop others from doing the same.
This would be a good time to give money to EFF, or EPIC, or the ACLU, to try to fight back against these government over-reaches. There's also a petition.
One useful thing that could (and should, but I'm skeptical) come out of the various Tea Partiers being elected is that they might provide some traction to preventing further abuses of power along these lines. We'll see.
Now the TSA has gotten its panties in such a twist over this that they held a press conference to say that they were, indeed, going to sue him. What's more, they would be suing him for even more money than originally (and absurdly) threatened.
The suit, of course, is a transparent threat to stop others from doing the same.
This would be a good time to give money to EFF, or EPIC, or the ACLU, to try to fight back against these government over-reaches. There's also a petition.
One useful thing that could (and should, but I'm skeptical) come out of the various Tea Partiers being elected is that they might provide some traction to preventing further abuses of power along these lines. We'll see.
20101114
Thrashing Aimlessly
Didn't get to watch the game until well after it ended, but it was an interesting one. First, I realized while watching that I forgot to point out one thing I alluded to when discussing the last game. I said that the Caps dominated play in the first and third, but didn't do at all well in the second. What I meant by dominating was, specifically, that they were keeping the play in the offensive zone.
Anyway, to get back to today's game... It was not a good night for Neuvirth. He got the win, but only saved 23 of 27. Y'know, thinking about it, they played much better in the first and third than in the second again today. They got the first goal again, and even tacked on an insurance goal before allowing Atlanta to narrow the gap.
But again, the second period was awful. They got a fourth goal of their own, but allowed three goals to the Thrashers. On one power play, they allowed Atlanta to get a shot from behind the defense three times. Not surprisingly, one of them scored. OV allowed the one that led to the score; not one of his better games (the goal he scored was a fluke, although he did have a very nice assist on Semin's goal).
To pick a couple of others: MarJo had a pretty good game, especially in the third. Erskine had a good game, with his second goal of the season and a butt-kicking of Boulton. Hendricks had a very nice game, with a pretty goal and a +3 rating. Steckel almost managed to get his second straight 20-faceoff win game, but had to settle for nineteen. He was also the only Capital to win over 50% of his faceoffs.
Overall, a pretty solid effort, although the team's third period of the season where they allowed three goals. Hopefully, the defense will do a better job, in general, on Wednesday against Buffalo.
Anyway, to get back to today's game... It was not a good night for Neuvirth. He got the win, but only saved 23 of 27. Y'know, thinking about it, they played much better in the first and third than in the second again today. They got the first goal again, and even tacked on an insurance goal before allowing Atlanta to narrow the gap.
But again, the second period was awful. They got a fourth goal of their own, but allowed three goals to the Thrashers. On one power play, they allowed Atlanta to get a shot from behind the defense three times. Not surprisingly, one of them scored. OV allowed the one that led to the score; not one of his better games (the goal he scored was a fluke, although he did have a very nice assist on Semin's goal).
To pick a couple of others: MarJo had a pretty good game, especially in the third. Erskine had a good game, with his second goal of the season and a butt-kicking of Boulton. Hendricks had a very nice game, with a pretty goal and a +3 rating. Steckel almost managed to get his second straight 20-faceoff win game, but had to settle for nineteen. He was also the only Capital to win over 50% of his faceoffs.
Overall, a pretty solid effort, although the team's third period of the season where they allowed three goals. Hopefully, the defense will do a better job, in general, on Wednesday against Buffalo.
20101113
Down in OT
Not a whole lot to say about the game tonight. The Caps played very well in the first and third periods, and pretty poorly in the second.
OV had a very blase game, not really doing much of anything.
MarJo had a very good game, buzzing around a lot and causing trouble for Buffalo. Alzner also did very well, getting a goal and playing good defense in his own end.
Boudreau used some interesting line combinations, moving MarJo up to the top line for a chunk of the game, dropping Backstrom down also.
Holtby had a fantastic game. The three goals he allowed; he was screened on the first, a bad bounce gave an unblockable shot on the second, and the third was... well, he got behind the defense. I was a little disappointed he missed that one, but he didn't misplay it, or anything like that. He just missed it. The only bad thing he did in the game was getting a little over-ambitious in playing the puck behind the net. That was the one time the defense bailed him out.
Otherwise? The officiating was not very even. There were several non-calls on Buffalo that were a bit suspect, and they seemed to come down harder on the Caps than I thought warranted. In particular, the penalty on Backstrom at the end of the game; I could not figure any way that that would be a four minute penalty. In fact, it looked marginal to me being a penalty at all. Overall, the penalty killing was quite good, allowing only one goal in the seven man-down situations.
Anyway, the six game win streak is over, but at least the team got a point out of it. That keeps them a point ahead of Philly, who squished the Panthers. It also gives some more room to catch up to the Western Conference teams who are slightly behind the Caps with games in hand. Ah well.
Back to the Phone Booth tomorrow to face the birds. Hopefully things will go a bit better.
OV had a very blase game, not really doing much of anything.
MarJo had a very good game, buzzing around a lot and causing trouble for Buffalo. Alzner also did very well, getting a goal and playing good defense in his own end.
Boudreau used some interesting line combinations, moving MarJo up to the top line for a chunk of the game, dropping Backstrom down also.
Holtby had a fantastic game. The three goals he allowed; he was screened on the first, a bad bounce gave an unblockable shot on the second, and the third was... well, he got behind the defense. I was a little disappointed he missed that one, but he didn't misplay it, or anything like that. He just missed it. The only bad thing he did in the game was getting a little over-ambitious in playing the puck behind the net. That was the one time the defense bailed him out.
Otherwise? The officiating was not very even. There were several non-calls on Buffalo that were a bit suspect, and they seemed to come down harder on the Caps than I thought warranted. In particular, the penalty on Backstrom at the end of the game; I could not figure any way that that would be a four minute penalty. In fact, it looked marginal to me being a penalty at all. Overall, the penalty killing was quite good, allowing only one goal in the seven man-down situations.
Anyway, the six game win streak is over, but at least the team got a point out of it. That keeps them a point ahead of Philly, who squished the Panthers. It also gives some more room to catch up to the Western Conference teams who are slightly behind the Caps with games in hand. Ah well.
Back to the Phone Booth tomorrow to face the birds. Hopefully things will go a bit better.
20101112
Some more thoughts on the public option (and the deficit)
I was thinking of writing something more about the public option anyway when I ran across this article about the so-called Catfood Commission. The part about medical spending is dead-on, and this is why the public option was so important. The budget projections for it showed it putting some downward pressure on medical expenses.
In fact, it gives some possibility (not assurance, but at least hope) that medical care could be improved for everybody except the insurance companies. How would it help care providers? By simplifying and reducing paperwork.
Why would the paperwork be a big deal? Part of it is that there should be many fewer denials (as I alluded earlier, no profit motive for doing so), but the larger issue is standardization of paperwork (and digitizing medical records, which the insurance companies have been fighting for years because, being easier to search, it increases transparency). If that doesn't sound like a big deal, consider this: a friend of mine's dad is a doctor. He had a small practice, and his wife took care of the paperwork. Dad finally retired, handing the practice over (or selling, I really neither know nor care) to another doctor. My friend's mom worked full-time for more than a year afterwards, just taking care of the paperwork generated by the care my friend's dad did.
To get back to some of the other proposals of the commission, let's think about their suggested increase in Social Security full benefits retirement age. My first thought was that it wasn't too big a deal, given how small the age increases are, and how far away they are. But one thought gives me pause. The people most likely to be relying on Social Security for their retirement are those least likely to live those extra years. So I'm not sure whether it's problematic or not.
Reducing the mortgage deduction? I'm actually ok with this, even though it wouldn't be good for me, personally. In fact, I think it should be reduced slightly more, even, limited not only in dollars, but in number of houses. It doesn't make sense to me to get a deduction for a second home. It just seems to go against the rationale of the deduction.
Eliminating the charitable donation deduction? Given the uproar over having the deduction be a flat 28% rather than scaled to your tax bracket, it seems a non-starter. I don't have a strong opinion on it, though; it depends on how much it would reduce charitable giving.
Eliminating the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT)? I've got mixed feelings about this. I like the idea of the AMT, but a) it should only be hit by people making a lot more money than currently happens and b) some things shouldn't count as deductions you're comparing the AMT against. For a), I think it should be people with income over $1M, indexed to inflation for the future. And with respect to b), some deductions, particularly state and local taxes, shouldn't really apply.
The thing that really torqued me, though, was hearing that they're talking about reducing the size of the government workforce. In a booming economy, I could actually get behind this idea, but talking about it when unemployment is already above 9% (and many more are already being forced to work part-time instead of full-time) just pisses me off. Did the people on this commission miss that the thing people want most is more jobs? Eliminating 200k jobs just isn't the way to respond to that.
In fact, it gives some possibility (not assurance, but at least hope) that medical care could be improved for everybody except the insurance companies. How would it help care providers? By simplifying and reducing paperwork.
Why would the paperwork be a big deal? Part of it is that there should be many fewer denials (as I alluded earlier, no profit motive for doing so), but the larger issue is standardization of paperwork (and digitizing medical records, which the insurance companies have been fighting for years because, being easier to search, it increases transparency). If that doesn't sound like a big deal, consider this: a friend of mine's dad is a doctor. He had a small practice, and his wife took care of the paperwork. Dad finally retired, handing the practice over (or selling, I really neither know nor care) to another doctor. My friend's mom worked full-time for more than a year afterwards, just taking care of the paperwork generated by the care my friend's dad did.
To get back to some of the other proposals of the commission, let's think about their suggested increase in Social Security full benefits retirement age. My first thought was that it wasn't too big a deal, given how small the age increases are, and how far away they are. But one thought gives me pause. The people most likely to be relying on Social Security for their retirement are those least likely to live those extra years. So I'm not sure whether it's problematic or not.
Reducing the mortgage deduction? I'm actually ok with this, even though it wouldn't be good for me, personally. In fact, I think it should be reduced slightly more, even, limited not only in dollars, but in number of houses. It doesn't make sense to me to get a deduction for a second home. It just seems to go against the rationale of the deduction.
Eliminating the charitable donation deduction? Given the uproar over having the deduction be a flat 28% rather than scaled to your tax bracket, it seems a non-starter. I don't have a strong opinion on it, though; it depends on how much it would reduce charitable giving.
Eliminating the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT)? I've got mixed feelings about this. I like the idea of the AMT, but a) it should only be hit by people making a lot more money than currently happens and b) some things shouldn't count as deductions you're comparing the AMT against. For a), I think it should be people with income over $1M, indexed to inflation for the future. And with respect to b), some deductions, particularly state and local taxes, shouldn't really apply.
The thing that really torqued me, though, was hearing that they're talking about reducing the size of the government workforce. In a booming economy, I could actually get behind this idea, but talking about it when unemployment is already above 9% (and many more are already being forced to work part-time instead of full-time) just pisses me off. Did the people on this commission miss that the thing people want most is more jobs? Eliminating 200k jobs just isn't the way to respond to that.
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