Christmas Viewing List for Men

Like most men, I don’t really get fully into the ‘Spirit of the Holidays’ as is culturally expected of everyone. I enjoy them yes, but I don’t always feel the need to, you know, go over the top like a cliché out of a Christmas movie.

Speaking of, I thought it might be worth throwing together a list of movies you can watch if you are like me or with others who may feel the same way… in other words, guys. The following movies are some of the best films I have seen over the years that feature the holidays – keeping to the theme – but appeal to the man in us who just want to laugh or see things blown up.

Genius Dreaming



This scene of a train blasting through a normal day of traffic is part of a brilliant psychological exploration of DiCaprio's character

 Caught the movie Inception the other night and I must say that I dearly regret not seeing this film in theaters originally. On the surface the visuals of the graphics are amazing throughout numerous sequences of the film, and beneath the surface the writing and acting in the picture are fantastic.

Inception picks off where the Matrix trilogy left off in several ways. First and foremost, the concept of the film exploring the depths of the mind and dreaming, including layers within layers, took the idea of artificial reality to new dimensions that the Matrix trilogy did not, which was something that I expected the series to explore in the final film, but ultimately fell flat with the superhero type embodiment that the main character Neo took on in the finale.

In addition, the movie brilliantly wove the storylines of three vastly different characters throughout in a manner that was worked flawlessly.

A New (British) Pauly Shore?

With the recent media blitz for his newest movie, The Tempest, Russell Brand has been making his rounds of the talk shows of late. I am not new to Russel having seen him make the rounds before and in movies such as Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but something popped in my head the other night seeing him on Craig Ferguson…

Is Russell Brand the new Pauly Shore?

Unstoppable, Unviewable

I will admit, I knew going into the movie that there was a good possibility that the film would be in the classic ‘cheesy disaster flick’ genre. And with my father, as big a train nut as can be without having worked in the industry, having noted that there were some inaccuracies to what would happen in the movie technically did not deter me from seeing the movie because I did not grow up by his side enjoying the passion for them and still have great respect for it. I still figured it would provide for good show on the big screen and it did, after all, have pretty good actors in it with Denzel Washington and Rosario Dawson.

It was a decent enough movie and I am sure most would find it an enjoyable watch as apparently the critics have given it decent reviews.

For me however; the movie was ruined by lazy writing and directing. I was disappointed that so much of the story was told and action shown through phony local media news reports. Utilizing that once or twice in discriminate fashion would have done well to display the scope and urgency of the situation, but it became a lame crutch to provide information, such as names and background of some minimal characters, and ‘narration’ of what was occurring during the action sequences. Sure, we have all seen the crazed media coverage in current events, but even the rate in which information was disseminated was far from realistic.

Wolfman Weak

I watched Wolfman in its debut on Cinemax tonight and I have one word: yawn. I did continue to see the movie out to its conclusion. In part, because Benicio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins are good actors and Hopkins does a great job playing the creepy, mysterious father in the movie, but unfortunately the star power is the only thing that makes this pic somewhat enjoyable as it is probably a decade late in being made.

The transformation of the werewolves is interesting, but I’ve seen similar stuff in other movies already and, let’s face it, werewolves (and vampires) have been a bit overdone in the past five years. If this had been put out 10 years ago, it would have been a huge blockbuster.

Spanning Comedy & Drama

It appears it has been over two months since I have written in this space. I keep meaning to, but just never get to it, settling for occasional facebook posts for the general stuff or tweets for soccer. But watching last night The Last Samurai, which features Tom Cruise’s character keeping a journal, inspired me to once again put fingers to keys (as opposed to pen to paper) with real ambition for this site.

It had been a while since I had seen that movie. I caught it about a quarter in while flippin through the channels so I figured I would pull out the dvd and give it a spin. I have to say it is the last great movie Cruise has done.

Collingwood clobbers as St Kilda feels pain of the Buffalo Bills, sort of

A week ago, it was a fantastic finish to the 2010 Australian Football League season with St Kilda making a fantastic rally from 24 down to pull level with regular season champion Collingwood in the AFL Grand Final. Except… it was not over. By the rules of the league, a draw in the Grand Final results in a replay of the championship game, something that has only occurred twice previously with the last time 33 years ago in 1977.

The replay likely may be the last by the way the talk had been last week following the final horn as it was a surreal scene with exhausted and bewildered looks upon the players’ faces on the ground.

Recommended Movie: Sleep Dealer

'Plug into the new American Dream.' So after watching the typical boring Indy blowout I came across a little film on Cinemax on demand that was pretty interesting despite a one-line promo description that made it seem a little questionable. I am glad I took the leap and selected Sleep Dealer (probably should have used a different title).

The 2008 picture revolves around a future in which a young man, Memo (Luis Fernando Pena), accidentally does something that results in the death of his father, who manages the small family farm in a tiny Mexican village that has been ruined by the corrupt corporations that have taken control of fought-over water sources and dammed the river they relied upon.

A picture worth a 1,000 head-crushing songs

I can hear the ringing in my ears right now. This is a photo I never thought I would see… a shot of the head men from Slayer, Anthrax and more importantly, rivals Metallica and Megadeth. Four of the heaviest metal bands of all-time, the originals really, are together for a series of shows that in this time of the World Cup equal the must-see scenario of a semifinal set of any of the following… Spain, Brazil, Germany, Argentina and England. These guys are legends that every metal band aspires to be or emulate… and they are still kicking ass. I loved Megadeth’s Rust in Peace, which they are currently on their own special tour celebrating the anniversary of, as well as Metallica’s Master of Puppets and Justice for All, but even the latest releases are good and heavy and are regularly spinning in my cd player. I’ve always been more of an Iron Maiden and Testament man instead of Anthrax and Slayer, but I’ve got mad respect for what the two have done as well, and they certainly make the show a must-see as each of the Big Four brings something different to the stage. A whole new generation of music was essentially born from the Anthrax-Public Enemy collaboration on Bring the Noise, which fused metal and rap. Anyway, here’s a link to Megadeth’s Facebook photo gallery which has shots from the Rust in Peace anniversary tour and the promotional pics featuring the leaders of the Big Four and the entire bands.

College conferences need more changes

The past few weeks have been amazing. As ‘westerner’ from the state of Washington, I grew up watching the Apple Cup every year and attending a few. I never imagined the Pac-10 changing, but always thought that Colorado seemed more fitting to me to be in the conference. In fact there are a few others like BYU, Boise State, Idaho and a few of my Eastern Washington rivals from the Big Sky I-AA (yes, I still call it that) like Montana and Montana State that should probably be incorporated based on location and the western mindset. It seems a bit strange to me that the Pacific Conference (let’s lose the silly numbers in the names already) would have Texan and other schools from area – it’s just a completely different vibe that comes with them.

But it is the business of college football, and it ultimately comes down to the almighty dollar. Change is coming.

But it is not going far enough.

I have felt for many years that the college ranks need to be reconfigured. I still absolutely fervently believe a playoff is a must (if I-AA and the other lower levels with less resources can manage, why can’t they build a playoff/bowl hybrid system for the top flight) but the other need change is in the levels themselves. It looks like the restructuring that may be taking place in college football is naturally headed in the direction I think the big sports need to go by creating super-conferences.

So what needs to happen? Two things…

Shrinking the Top Flight: Let’s face, the top levels of college football and basketball are too big. I grew up cheering for the Washington State, but the Cougars are rarely among the elite any more. And then there are the mid-majors, who on occasion produce a big bowl upset or bust everyone’s tournament bracket. But there is no need for them to be on the same level. The top level in football needs to be cut to 50-60 teams, creating a new second level with the dominant I-AA schools moving up. And basketball needs to shrink down to 80-100 so that the regular season means something and you don’t see schools beating minnows by 20+ points because they need to schedule non-conference opponents without endangering their overall record.

But here is the big concept…

Separation of Sports: If there is one thing all this restructuring talk points to is, it’s that the money behind football drives everything when it comes to the conference structures. But why should all of a school’s sports programs be affected by what one team of dozens is doing. Even if you go back a few years, there was movement among conferences for basketball, the other big money college sport. These schools are all grouped together today because of football and basketball with no regard for the other athletic programs. You shouldn’t look at a conference’s full list of sports programs and see a quarter or half of its member schools not fielding a men’s soccer team, for instance, while the others do.

Collegiate athletics are at such an advanced state, there is no reason why each sport shouldn’t have its own governing structure and conference alignments to allow themselves to maximize their goals and efforts. How much better would soccer and women’s basketball be if they were all separated out and allowed to build their own super-conferences so that it is not just one or two teams dominating every year because the other schools in the ‘football conference’ don’t emphasize that sport as the others do. This would also benefit the big sports too. Look at basketball and my hometown school Gonzaga, which doesn’t play football. They should be in the PMBC (Pacific Men’s Basketball Conference) with Washington, USC, UCLA, Arizona in place of schools like Oregon and Oregon State, who rarely fare well on the court.
This idea will one day come, I am sure of it. It may take another 10-20 years before the business and operation of collegiate athletics forces this change, but it is the next logical step. I am sure there are administrators in the game who have thought of it, maybe even discussed it secretly among their peers. But to publicly suggest the idea would finally destroy the myth that the schools are connected as they are for ‘academic’ purposes.