Amazon discontinued the ability to create images using their SiteStripe feature and in their infinite wisdom broke all previously created images on 12/31/23. Many blogs used this feature, including this one. Expect my archives to be a hot mess of broken book cover images until I can slowly comb through 20 years of archives to make corrections.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Baseball, Boardwalks And True Grit

For those of you who barely tolerate my baseball ramblings, you can thank your lucky stars that the season is officially kaput for my hapless Detroit Tigers. My kitties, who got declawed post-All Star break, finished up at an Even Steven 81-81. WooHoo! .500 baby!

Sigh.

But oh happy day for some of you. The Bat Cave is likely to be a Baseball Free Zone until at least late March. Enjoy the reprieve while it lasts.

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In other news, anyone else out there in Romance Bloglandia watching Boardwalk Empire? My first order of business once I got back to So. Cal. was to watch the first two episodes that were saved on my DVR. So far? I'm liking it. In fact, I'm about thisclose to being hopelessly addicted to it. At the very least it will keep me entertained until Justified comes back for it's second season.


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In the Oh Really? department, they've apparently remade True Grit. For those of you not in the know, this book by Charles Portis was first made into a movie back in 1969 starring John Wayne (for which he got his only Oscar). I'll be honest, of all the John Wayne vehicles, I kind of figured that The Searchers would get the remake treatment first - but True Grit isn't necessarily a bad choice. Jeff Bridges is taking over the Wayne role - and he and Josh Brolin certainly look their parts. Matt Damon on the other hand? I'm not so sure. Of all the actors I can envision being in this movie, Damon is pretty far down on the list. But who knows? Maybe he'll do alright....

15 comments:

Lori said...

Wow, I hadn't heard about True Grit. Not sure how I feel about it, although Yay for the western!! But all these remakes - it's like Hollywood admitting they can't come up with anything good on their own, so they're going to take stuff that was already good.

As for baseball? Yeah, in LA? Let's just say your .500 beat those boys in blue out.

Tracy S said...

Sigh. Your Tigers had a better season than my Brewers. 77 wins, 85 losses (.475). Ugh! Ken Macha was fired though, so there is that. LOL

Cathy in AK said...

RE: baseball sadness

Oh, please. The only team that did worse than the Mariners were the Pirates. A .475 season would have been a cause for dancing : P

The remake of "True Grit" looks decent, but judgement will have to be reserved. I agree with Lori about the seeming lack of originality coming out of Hollywood of late. It's either remakes or a bunch of ever-dopier sequels. *sigh*

Ann Bruce said...

Since the Coen brothers are doing True Grit, I'm watching it. I have yet to see a movie of theirs I haven't liked. Okay, maybe with the exception of Blood Simple. By the end of that movie, I wanted everyone to die because there's a fine line between unsuspecting and stupid.

BigDaddy said...

Holy Bat Girl, John Wayne is going to roll over in his grave. Probably
one of the best John Wayne acting roles, except possible the "The Searchers". I like Bridges acting but he is no Duke.

BigDaddy said...

Hey Girl did you hear the news Inge is signing an extension. 4 years?

Phyl said...

Hey! You get a lot of baseball fans here. As a phan of the only pro franchise to have reached the watershed mark of 10,000 losses, do you realize how freakin' awesome it is to have a chance at a 3rd straight WS appearance?

Wendy said...

Lori: Apparently there are no new horror or western ideas floating around Hollywood. Sigh.

Mayberry Mom: I'm glad my Tigers pulled it together to finish .500 but man, post All-Star break was rough. Of course Magglio getting hurt didn't exactly help matters. I don't care how good your team is, lose a guy who hits around .300 with 100+ RBIs and you miss 'im.

Cathy: Yeah, an ugly year for Seattle. Also, pretty ugly for the Angels as well. The West was a bit of a mess this year - outside of Texas....

Ann: The Coen boys tend to be hit or miss for me. No Country For Old Men took multiple viewings to grow on me....

Big Daddy: Well I knew you'd have an opinion about this remake! And I think I might be unhappy about the Inge resigning. I love that guy's glove, but his bat? Ugh.

Phyl: I need to double-check Doc's stats. I know he got (at least) 20 wins. I'm curious if he has a shot at the NL Cy Young.....

Phyl said...

Well, I'm TOTALLY biased, but still--21 wins (#1), 2.44 ERA (#3), 219 SO (#2), 9 CG (#1), 4 shutouts (#1), and of course the Perfect Game. The man's a stud and the only choice for this years NL Cy Young.

CindyS said...

Ut oh, how am I'm going to break the news to my Dad. Having grown up on The Duke I'll be interested to see the movie but seriously, can you beat John Wayne putting the reins in his mouth and pumping two shot guns? Nope.

And I'm in on Boardwalk Empire although I have to admit my mob knowledge is lacking. I watched something about the making of the show and I didn't realize how many of the men depicted in the show were real life gangsters. Al Capone I know. The rest? Nope.

CindyS

Hilcia said...

Wendy, I'm with Phyl... you DO get a lot of baseball fans here. Sorry about your Tigers, I an eye out for them all year because of you. :) My Yanks made it... but they faded (BAD)... especially after all the fanfare during the rest of the season. We'll see.

True Grit and the Coen Brothers, good match. I'm watching. :)

Tracy S said...

"Oh, please. The only team that did worse than the Mariners were the Pirates. A .475 season would have been a cause for dancing : P"

LOL It's all in the perspective I guess!

Wendy said...

Phyl: Game #1 is still underway, but so far your Phillies are doing well! 4 runs scored should be enough for Roy to win with....

Cindy: Ah yes, the money shot :)

I had no idea Nucky was based on a real-life corrupt official, but most of the other guys I knew about.

Hilcia: Well, I was thinking that the Rays had the edge on the Yanks to win the AL - but then Texas came out swinging, and now I'm not so sure.....

Mayberry Mom: The worst part was that a lot of people thought Seattle had a legit shot at the AL West this year....but they totally fell apart. My deepest sympathies Cathy! Been there, done that, own an entire box full of T-shirts.

Phyl said...

No hitter and an RBI. Masterful. Unbelievable. Suddenly I'm happy to live in the middle of Reds country :-)

Lynn said...

I'm late on commenting but gotta say your Tigers may have only finished at .500 but they still beat my Twins at the end. Now my team is psyching itself out of the playoffs again, I have no idea why they can't beat the Yankees.

As for True Grit, I'm a big John Wayne fan but I am not fond of that movie. I thought The Searchers or maybe Rio Bravo might have been remade first-oh, wait-they already redid Rio Bravo as El Dorado!