It's good to know that even after a prolonged period of silence, ETC's faithful followers are still there. Before I get the meat of todays action I'd first like to recognize some of our readers comments. If you were not aware, anyone can post a comment at the end of an entry and if it's noteworthy I will respond to it. Well we've had some action in the past few posts that I'd like to note. A new-ish follower of the blog has been posting some comments that I wanted to share.
In regards to the "Salute to the Stache" post, Spanky writes.....i think that there needs to be a drag down Beirut Tourney, loser grows the 'stache. I dunno though, you forgot both classic mustaches from the Princess Bride!too bad your rules are so strict. it's a shame to cut out Pai Mei from Kill Bill... that 'stache is the Odyssey, it's so epic. & if cartoons were allowed, Catain Hook, Ned Flanders, & good 'ole yosemite sam, all the way...
These are very good points. In fact I think there's really something about the beirut 'stache thing. You get 2 teams that are dedicated to the game and agree 100% to the rules. Best of 7 series, so first team with 4 wins is victorious and the loser must grow any of the mustaches from the 'stache list of the winner's choosing. But before the first ball is thrown, both teams must choose the stache they want the loser to grow. I really like this idea. If there are any volunteers please step foward. I know I would absolutely take part in this , and we can document the status of the stache by taking pictures at the various stages of growth. This is getting me fired up and excited, so its time to move on to the next topic.
There has also been some feedback in response to my favorite sports movies list. I realize that I left off a few very good movies, including Rudy, the Sandlot, Little Big League, Mystery Alaska, The Replacements to name a few. Here's the majesty of top 10 lists, you can debate them for hours and no two are exactly the same. That's my list and I stand by it. There's alot of pressure when it comes to making top 10 lists. I eat breakfast 300 yards away from 4,000 Cubans who are trained to kill me. What I want is for you to stand there, in your faggoty white uniform, and extend me some fucking courtesy. (Any opportunity to work in quotes from A Few Good Men has got to be taken)
Moving on. For some time now, in the post college days, myself and a few contributors to this blog have had daily email chains to help move the work day along a little more smoothly. Well in the past few days, our friend Pasquale (yes THE Pasquale of the Fab 5 Fame) has been mostly flying solo. The Pauper has recently started Med School, Dicky's been working Trade Shows in the city, MP4 is enjoying some much needed and deserved vacation time and I've been busy starting a new job. But that didn't stop Pasquale from carrying the email chain. The thoughts that were posted by Pasquale were so epic I've decided to share them all with you. What follows is the actual transcript from the email chain. As always, these have not been embellished for they need no embellishment. With all due respect to Pasquale, I believe this was his finest hour. I give you the one and only Pasquale......
looks like it will be a mostly solo show from me today with the occasional guest appearance which is fine by me, phone lines are open 718-937-6666.
When in doubt, i use clorox wipes to clean anything, i feel like that automatically makes things significantly cleaner
i feel like i definitely do not know how to use semi colons appropriately when writing. its definitely one of the more confusing punctuations to me. i feel like a semi colon should be used to prevent a run on sentence. how much do middle school english teachers harp on run on sentences? they despise run ons, i guess i might too if i had to read all that crappy poorly punctuated writing all the time too. middle school is definitely the worst to teach because everyone is such an asshole during those years. i feel like i transitioned pretty smoothly between topics in that little paragraph there. decent job by me.
not sure how or why this just popped into my mind but
"Thrust this into another man's flesh and they will love you for it......You, You just may begin to love them (sword thurst) for that"'
some delivery guy who came in here had a donny baseball shirt on. i definitely respect the guy for wearing a mattingly shirt. little know chris sexton fact (oursamedifference.com) don mattingly was at his first birthday party and there is a picture of mattingly holding sexton.
what is the point of teaching script to kids in school? no one writes in script on a regular basis, i would bet 85% of people who can write do so by just printing.
"When he was young he had a beautiful penmanship, i used to encourage him to print"
do you think the guys that sing the jingle to radio shows like mike francessa's just say that they are singers when people ask them what they do? i bet they don't, they definitely talk about the different jingles they sing. I'll bet money the guy who sings the mike'd up theme song loves that song, you can just tell that the guy singing that song has his eyes closed and is really grasping the microphone when he says "its mike francessa on the fan!!!"
if snickers ice cream bars were ever made illegal, i would definitely buy them on the black market
Ladies and Gentleman, a round of applause for Pasquale. I can't possibly top that so, until next time.....STAY SWEET!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
The Return of the Mack
RETURN OF THE MACK! Hello ladies and gentleman, boys and girls and welcome back to another edition of ETC. ETC. ETC. It's been a while since I've posted and that's because a lot has changed since my last post. I went on vacation (again) and I got a new job. It is the latter that is most responsible for the lack of posting in recent weeks but its the former that keeps me going. As the summer months ween to an end, I can only think back to the adventures in Stone Harbor and Maine and say "There's always next year".
Now I'm faced with the daunting task of 13 hour work days and a demanding schedule that is college football. After almost 2 weeks on the job I've finally got some free time and decided that my readers needed a little pick-me-up. So to my dedicated readers of ETC. ETC. ETC, know this.. We will carry on. Today is the day our followers declared in one voice "we will not go quietly into the night". We will not vanish without a fight. We're going to live on! We're going to survive. Today we celebrate...THE RETURN! (Thank you Bill Pullman. Thank you.)
So the other night I was clicking around the best of basic cable in my temporary home aka the friendly confines of a Hofstra dormatory. I came across the movie "For the Love of the Game". Kevin Costner solidifies his legacy as the greatest sports movie actor of all time in this flick. Before becoming Billy Chapel, the future hall of fame pitcher near the end of his career, Costner starred in several classic sports movies including Bull Durham, Field of Dreams and Tin Cup. He is the Frank Sinatra of sports movies. (His non-sport performances are more like Frank Sinatra Jr.) So this got me thinking about some of my favorite sports movies and I decided to make a top 10 out of it. Now let me clarify, this is my top 10 favorite sports movies. Not my top 10 best sports movies. For instance, Varsity Blues made my list. However in no way do I think its one of the 10 best sports movies ever made. Some day, and that day may never come, I will make a list of the 10 best sports movie. But until that day, accept this list as a gift on my daughter's wedding day (never ask me about my business)
10. Varsity Blues
It's the ultimate high school football movie. It's cheesy and cliche, and the majority of the football sequences will never happen in real life. But its awesome. It's got Ali Larter in a whip cream bikini. That really should be all I need to say. And it's got "Good Bad Movie" All-Star Jon Voight. Certainly not the best football movie ever made, but when its on TNT on a Saturday afternoon am I watching? You know it.
9. Miracle
The reason I don't have this higher on my list is because you know what happens before you see the movie. It's the most famous sports moment in the history of America. I'm sure even someone who doesn't like sports has heard the famous Al Michaels clip "Do you believe in Miracles?"That's the only drawback of making a sports movie based on actual events, there's no suspense. With that said this is a fantastic movie. It would 100% make my list of best sports movies. Kurt Russell is terrific as Coach Brooks and the actual hockey sequences are some of the best playing sequences of any sports movie I've ever seen.
8. For the Love of the Game
This would be much higher on my list if it weren't for all the sappy, slow and unnecessary parts of the movie involving Kelly Preston's character. She is needed to drive the story, but I think they went a little overboard. As for the baseball parts of the movie, I think they are terrific. It's got my boy Costner as the aging veteran in quest of a perfect game. Throughout the one game, we see flashbacks of his career and relationship with Preston. Good job by the makers of this movie to cast Vin Scully, the legendary broadcaster, as the commentator for the game. He adds the the reality of the game, along with actually shooting in Yankee Stadium with fans in the stands. And Kevin Costner was actually pitching in the movie, so good job by him for not having a stunt double or CGI to enhance the throws. I know this because it was before CGI was invented.
7. Any Given Sunday
This is a more dramatic and dirtier look at the game of football compared to Varsity Blues. It's got an all-star cast including Pacino, Cameron Diaz, Jamie Foxx, LL Cool J and many former NFL players like Lawrence Taylor and Jim Brown. The drawback of this movie is that it is very long, almost 2 and a half hours and at times feels like it is dragging. But it really captures the many aspects of football like the business side, the players view, the partying and inflated ego's. And it gave us "Steamin' Willie Beamen".
6. The Natural
Another classic sports movie that would be featured on the best sports movie list. It's only at number 6 on my list because it's a little slow. Robert Redford is Roy Hobbs, a mysterious baseball player with tremendous talent. There's a good chance you haven't seen this movie because it's a little older than the other movies on this list. I get chills every time I watch this movie. It gave us the mythical bat named "wonderboy" as well as a stellar performance by Wilford Brimley aka the guy on the Diabetes commercials aka the Postmaster General on Seinfeld. "There goes Roy Hobbs, the best there ever was".
5. Remember the Titans
Any movie with Denzel has instant credibility but his role as Coach Boone was one of his finest. This movie has the perfect balance of comedy and drama that a good sports movie needs. This is also based on a true story, but there's a good chance you hadn't heard this story before the movie came out. I highly recommend it.
4. Tin Cup
There really aren't alot of good golf movies. Tin Cup, Caddyshack and Happy Gilmore and the list about ends. Another great performance by Costner as Roy McAvoy, the driving range pro who is the best ball striker anyone has seen. Don Johnson and Cheech have solid supporting roles as does Rene Russo.
*Editors Note: I'm excluding Caddyshack off the list because I think of it more as a comedy then a sports movie. And I can't have 1 movie take the top spot on two of my lists.
3. Major League
Wild Thing Rick Vaughn and the rag tag Cleveland Indians try to turn their season around to spite the owner of the team who is trying to relocate the team. Wesley Snipes stands out as Willie Mays Hayes as does Tom Berenger as Jake Taylor. But the guy who steals the movie is Bob Euker, the famous Milwaulkee Brewers announcer, as the comically frustrated and partially drunk announcer. So many great lines from this movie like "too high? what does that mean too high?" as well as "Juuuuust a bit outside".
2. Bull Durham
Minor League baseball at its finest. You've got the journeyman cather "Crash" Davis (played phenomenally by, you guessed it, Kevin Costner) and the up and coming young star "Icky" Nooke Laloosh", played by Tim Robbins. Susan Sarandon plays the groupie who picks one player a year to sleep with and teaches them all she knows about baseball and love and life. It's got plently of humor in it and it produced some of ESPN's best lines of commercials when they parodied the "Lolly-Gaggers" scene.
1. Field of Dreams
I can rewatch this movie over and over and over. I can't count how many times I've seen this movie and I've never gotten sick of it. How can you? It's all at once about ghosts, baseball, corn, Iowa, medicine, books, dads and James Earl Jones. Costner once again carries an amazing sports movie. Very good performances by Ray Liota as Shoeless Joe Jackson as well as James Earl Jones as author Terrance Mann. My one request of the Pauper was to stop at the Field of Dreams in Iowa as he made his cross country trip of Enlightenment. Well as always the Pauper did not disappoint.
Now I'm faced with the daunting task of 13 hour work days and a demanding schedule that is college football. After almost 2 weeks on the job I've finally got some free time and decided that my readers needed a little pick-me-up. So to my dedicated readers of ETC. ETC. ETC, know this.. We will carry on. Today is the day our followers declared in one voice "we will not go quietly into the night". We will not vanish without a fight. We're going to live on! We're going to survive. Today we celebrate...THE RETURN! (Thank you Bill Pullman. Thank you.)
So the other night I was clicking around the best of basic cable in my temporary home aka the friendly confines of a Hofstra dormatory. I came across the movie "For the Love of the Game". Kevin Costner solidifies his legacy as the greatest sports movie actor of all time in this flick. Before becoming Billy Chapel, the future hall of fame pitcher near the end of his career, Costner starred in several classic sports movies including Bull Durham, Field of Dreams and Tin Cup. He is the Frank Sinatra of sports movies. (His non-sport performances are more like Frank Sinatra Jr.) So this got me thinking about some of my favorite sports movies and I decided to make a top 10 out of it. Now let me clarify, this is my top 10 favorite sports movies. Not my top 10 best sports movies. For instance, Varsity Blues made my list. However in no way do I think its one of the 10 best sports movies ever made. Some day, and that day may never come, I will make a list of the 10 best sports movie. But until that day, accept this list as a gift on my daughter's wedding day (never ask me about my business)
10. Varsity Blues
It's the ultimate high school football movie. It's cheesy and cliche, and the majority of the football sequences will never happen in real life. But its awesome. It's got Ali Larter in a whip cream bikini. That really should be all I need to say. And it's got "Good Bad Movie" All-Star Jon Voight. Certainly not the best football movie ever made, but when its on TNT on a Saturday afternoon am I watching? You know it.
9. Miracle
The reason I don't have this higher on my list is because you know what happens before you see the movie. It's the most famous sports moment in the history of America. I'm sure even someone who doesn't like sports has heard the famous Al Michaels clip "Do you believe in Miracles?"That's the only drawback of making a sports movie based on actual events, there's no suspense. With that said this is a fantastic movie. It would 100% make my list of best sports movies. Kurt Russell is terrific as Coach Brooks and the actual hockey sequences are some of the best playing sequences of any sports movie I've ever seen.
8. For the Love of the Game
This would be much higher on my list if it weren't for all the sappy, slow and unnecessary parts of the movie involving Kelly Preston's character. She is needed to drive the story, but I think they went a little overboard. As for the baseball parts of the movie, I think they are terrific. It's got my boy Costner as the aging veteran in quest of a perfect game. Throughout the one game, we see flashbacks of his career and relationship with Preston. Good job by the makers of this movie to cast Vin Scully, the legendary broadcaster, as the commentator for the game. He adds the the reality of the game, along with actually shooting in Yankee Stadium with fans in the stands. And Kevin Costner was actually pitching in the movie, so good job by him for not having a stunt double or CGI to enhance the throws. I know this because it was before CGI was invented.
7. Any Given Sunday
This is a more dramatic and dirtier look at the game of football compared to Varsity Blues. It's got an all-star cast including Pacino, Cameron Diaz, Jamie Foxx, LL Cool J and many former NFL players like Lawrence Taylor and Jim Brown. The drawback of this movie is that it is very long, almost 2 and a half hours and at times feels like it is dragging. But it really captures the many aspects of football like the business side, the players view, the partying and inflated ego's. And it gave us "Steamin' Willie Beamen".
6. The Natural
Another classic sports movie that would be featured on the best sports movie list. It's only at number 6 on my list because it's a little slow. Robert Redford is Roy Hobbs, a mysterious baseball player with tremendous talent. There's a good chance you haven't seen this movie because it's a little older than the other movies on this list. I get chills every time I watch this movie. It gave us the mythical bat named "wonderboy" as well as a stellar performance by Wilford Brimley aka the guy on the Diabetes commercials aka the Postmaster General on Seinfeld. "There goes Roy Hobbs, the best there ever was".
5. Remember the Titans
Any movie with Denzel has instant credibility but his role as Coach Boone was one of his finest. This movie has the perfect balance of comedy and drama that a good sports movie needs. This is also based on a true story, but there's a good chance you hadn't heard this story before the movie came out. I highly recommend it.
4. Tin Cup
There really aren't alot of good golf movies. Tin Cup, Caddyshack and Happy Gilmore and the list about ends. Another great performance by Costner as Roy McAvoy, the driving range pro who is the best ball striker anyone has seen. Don Johnson and Cheech have solid supporting roles as does Rene Russo.
*Editors Note: I'm excluding Caddyshack off the list because I think of it more as a comedy then a sports movie. And I can't have 1 movie take the top spot on two of my lists.
3. Major League
Wild Thing Rick Vaughn and the rag tag Cleveland Indians try to turn their season around to spite the owner of the team who is trying to relocate the team. Wesley Snipes stands out as Willie Mays Hayes as does Tom Berenger as Jake Taylor. But the guy who steals the movie is Bob Euker, the famous Milwaulkee Brewers announcer, as the comically frustrated and partially drunk announcer. So many great lines from this movie like "too high? what does that mean too high?" as well as "Juuuuust a bit outside".
2. Bull Durham
Minor League baseball at its finest. You've got the journeyman cather "Crash" Davis (played phenomenally by, you guessed it, Kevin Costner) and the up and coming young star "Icky" Nooke Laloosh", played by Tim Robbins. Susan Sarandon plays the groupie who picks one player a year to sleep with and teaches them all she knows about baseball and love and life. It's got plently of humor in it and it produced some of ESPN's best lines of commercials when they parodied the "Lolly-Gaggers" scene.
1. Field of Dreams
I can rewatch this movie over and over and over. I can't count how many times I've seen this movie and I've never gotten sick of it. How can you? It's all at once about ghosts, baseball, corn, Iowa, medicine, books, dads and James Earl Jones. Costner once again carries an amazing sports movie. Very good performances by Ray Liota as Shoeless Joe Jackson as well as James Earl Jones as author Terrance Mann. My one request of the Pauper was to stop at the Field of Dreams in Iowa as he made his cross country trip of Enlightenment. Well as always the Pauper did not disappoint.
I will leave you all with a little diddy from Field of Dreams that should ease the pain until my next blog. People will come Ray, people will come. Until then, as always....Stay Sweet
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