That Was Strange

So, let's see if I've got this straight. Rich Hill got the win in a game played on August 16th, but failed to play in the game he was scheduled to start that day. The guy who got that start is a 26-year old tomato can named Ryan O'Malley who went 8 scoreless innings in his first major league game after posting a 7-7 record with a bland 4.08 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP at Iowa.

Baseball's been around like this since 1876. This has got to be another first.

Now, for an update. Yes, there hasn't been a lot of activity on this site for the past few weeks. This is partly because the topic of primary focus, the Chicago Cubs, is pretty boring.

It's also because this writer is on the move again, careerwise. I shall have a new home of employment beginning Monday. My home will initially be in Mt. Prospect (a stone's throw from "The Loft", Slothy). Eventually, likely next spring, it will be a new bank about 2 1/2 miles from the homestead. It was a Godfather offer -- I couldn't refuse.

The time off has been spent cleaning some files, contacting a few clients, spending time with the little Murton's, and ignoring the bulk of current events. The time has also been spent watching some ficks and catching up on old TV shows.

This first flick will be discussed next...

After The Rental - Munich

This film created a lot of controversy when it came out. Steven Spielberg (aside: this is a man who loved restoring "Lawrence of Arabia" while sitting next to David Lean because it was like having a DVD commentary track, but never gives HIS OWN commentary tracks to the fans) tries to head off the controversy on the DVD with a special introduction.

Too bad it doesn't work.

The first two acts of the movie are pretty standard thriller stuff. The Mossad hit team tracks down and exacts revenge against the Black September/Palestinian planners of the slaughter of 11 Israeli Olympians at the 1972 Munich Games. Then, the final act deals with issues of guilt and moral equivalence between the killers of athletes who gathered in peaceful athletic competition and the killers of the killers.

The final shot of the film is of the leader of the Mossad team (a bland Eric Bana) walking away from his Mossad "boss" (Geoffrey Rush) with the camera centered on the then still standing World Trade Center.

The message of the scene was, to me, clear: The cycle of violence started after Munich resulted in the fall of the Towers.

Bullshit.

I don't see how Spielberg can claim this movie was "angle free" and close with such a shot. Given that, the movie was an utter failure as anything other than a conventional thriller.

On the other hand, I am very looking forward to seeing Daniel Craig as the new James Bond. Also giving a great performance was Ciaran Hinds as one of the Mossad team members.

Mentioning Craig does bring up a subtle point that I'm not sure was intentional. The assassination team had five members, four of whom had a degree of conscience about what they were doing. Daniel Craig's "Steve" was single minded in his desire to kill all the terrorists.

Steve was also the only one of the five to finish the operation unscathed.

Ivychat rating: Reaches first due to catcher interference.