Archive for March, 2010

Instant Classic



Let me say this. The parents and/or teachers responsible for this play deserve a Humanitarian Award and they deserve it yesterday. In a world of increasing political correctness and in the face of the pussification of America these people GET it. They understand that life is short and that it’s OK to laugh a little. They say “Fudge you!” to the adult losers who banned dodgeball in gym class because their kid losers were getting bruises from foam balls. They say “Fudge you!” to the hippies and lesbians who protest everything because they’re too lazy or ugly to get real jobs. Most importantly, they say “Fudge you!” to the activists who say that violent movies and music are the cause of youth violence. Shitty parenting causes youth violence. Watching The Shining when you’re 7-years-old causes you to be less of a pussy. Thank you HBO free preview weekends.

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Bardo Gets LOST

There is so much to say about last night’s Richard Alpert centric episode of LOST, that I’m sort of overwhelmed in trying to figure out how to get to everything. There was all the Ricardo in the Canary Islands stuff, the Ricardo in transit stuff, the Ricardo stuck in chains mid-jungle stuff, Richard with Man in Black stuff, Richardwith Jacob stuff, and the Richard with Hurley stuff. Oh boy.

Instead of a Cliff-Notes run on last night’s Ab Aeterno, here are the things that stood out to me, easily numbered for convenient follow up comments.

1.) Overall I enjoyed the episode. I found it more compelling than the Sawyer angle the week before. Sure, I care way more about Sawyer, but I was  appreciative of the writers for weaving in more “island mystery” into Richard’s backstory. And speaking of backstory, interesting that this was the first flashback of the year. I wonder if that had any significance since we’ve been getting a steady dose of sideflashes this season.

2.) Did anyone else love the sequence where Ricardo rides the horse to the doctor and cannot afford the time for a doctor to ride half a day back to Isabella nor afford the money for the cure? To me it was a time-appropriate allegory for the national healthcare debate.

3.) Really? Reaaallly? A old wooden ship (diversity?!?!) smashing through a giant stone statue and the stone statue is the one worse for wear? Reeeeeaaaaallllllllllyyyyyyyy? You’re better than that LOST.

4.) Richard’s conversations with the Man In Black and Jacob were the high point of the episode for me. There were some awesome nuggets in these conversations, which may have been the closest to spoon feeding as the LOST producers have ever given us:

  • We now can fully comprehend the reason of the island, to keep hell from breaking loose over the rest of the world.
  • We understand Richard’s role with Jacob, as a go between from him to the people Jacob doesn’t want to meddle with. This seems like a cop out for Jacob who says he wants to show MIB that people are naturally good but then has to meddle to show he is right…
  • And if this is Jacob’s mission statement, then why would he have Richard tell Ben to gas the entire Dharma project?
  • Jacob’s promises seem to take shape right away (Alpert’s eternal life) whereas MIB’s promises are made for the future and have dependant clauses  (Alpert’s wife comes back, Sawyer off the island, Sayid gets Nadia)

5.) This is my biggest take away from the episode. MIB tells Richard that in order to kill Jacob, Richard cant let Jacob speak a word to him. Of course Jacob does and the rest is history. Parallel this to the conversation Dogen had with Sayid about killing Flocke. Joe Biden alert, “This is a big fucking deal.” This is clearly the rule Jacob and MIB have about being killed and is interesting for a few reasons:

  1. Why wouldn’t Jacob and MIB just go around the island speaking to everyone very quickly speak to everyone to ensure they couldn’t be killed? Maybe this is like the thing where a Bond bad-guy never takes the easy kill on 007 when they have the chance.
  2. Lets figure out who Jacob and MIB have spoken to thus far:
    i) Jacob- Hurley, Richard, Ilana, Ben (we’ll get back to this in a second)
    ii) MIB- Richard, Sayid, Claire, Kate, Sawyer, Ben
  3. Under this theory, Jack can still be the one to be the hero to kill Flocke at the end of the year. And though Sawyer cant kill Flocke, watch out for him lending a helping hand and using what he’s learned from spending time with him.
  4. About that whole Jacob talking to Ben thing… Follow closely because I am about to posit that the show hasn’t been totally honest with us. Jacob spoke to Ben before Ben killed him in last season’s finale. Don’t believe me? Well check it out

If the rule is “don’t let him say a word to you,” than perhaps Ben hasn’t killed Jacob. Think about it and let me know how you see it.

 

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Baywatch Casting Call

Long awaited, much anticipated and shamelessly baited…here is the latest chapter of the March Madness Mailbag.


S(FP)G,

So I was listening to the Baywatch theme song today (judge if you want but that song is the tits). Anyway we can all agree that its a travesty that Baywatch hasnt been remade yet. What will be harder to figure out who should be cast in said remake. I know if anyone has the intersection of breasts and television in their wheelhouse, its you, so impress us with SFP’s 2010 Baywatch Cast.

-Josh in DC


The real reason it took me so long to post the finale of this mailbag was because I really wanted to nail this question. Usually I plow through these columns like they’re 2-for-$3 Filet ‘O Fish sandwiches, something half-witty comes to my head and I just write it down. I haven’t proofread since college. But when someone asks something that is so directly in my hot zone I feel obligated to put some time into it. I didn’t want to disappoint. So here goes…

The first thing I did was figure out a list of roles I was trying to cast. There is no sense just throwing together a list of busty girls and calling it a day, I want to come up with a list that producers don’t even need to tweak. Just write the pilot and call up these people’s agents and lets get this thing done.

Next step was determining casting criteria. I decided that everyone I nominate needs to be someone who would/should actually take the part if it were offered. I’m looking for actors/personalities who need work, and for whom appearing in a Baywatch remake would actually make sense for their careers. And they need to have at least 1 entry on IMDB and it can’t be porn. That’s it, not very limiting.

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So I decided that the show needed 8 actors and actresses filling 8 specific roles or else it just won’t work. Some Baywatch seasons worked better than others and I think it all comes down to cast balance. You need a clear star and leader, which The Hoff provided in Mitch Buchannon, as well as equally important supporting parts: The Hot Guy (previously David Charvet and David Chokachi), The Bombshell (Pamela Anderson, Erika Eleniak, Donna D’Errico, and Gina Lee Nolin), The Cute Girl (Nicole Eggert, Kelly Packard), The Brunette (Yasmine Bleeth, Carmen Electra), The Token Black Guy (Gregory Alan Williams) and the Kid (Jeremy Jackson). I decided that the 8th spot should go to a hybrid of the short-haired, flat-chested not-as-hot much-more-serious woman (Alexandra Paul) and the one ethnically diverse babe (Traci Bingham). We’ll call this character the Sophisticated Exotic Girl.


First we need to find the new Mitch and then we can fill in the rest. This guy needs the perfect blend of wisdom, enthusiasm and abs (and a good running pec ripple for the opening monologue would be key too). I wracked by brain for a while to think of an actor in their mid-30’s with good abs who’s career isn’t successful enough to turn down the role but who is still recognizable enough (perhaps from a past TV show) to be the star. I’m pretty sure there is only one guy who can slip right into this role, and it is without a doubt Mario Lopez. He is a lot shorter than the Hoff, so we would need to work on a few camera angles, but I think it’ll be fine.

1mario


There are a few of these parts that are absolute no-brainers and my choice to play The Brunette is an absolute gimme: Audrina Partridge. Huge boobs? Check. No acting ability? Check. Already cast in Into the Blue 2: The Reef? Check. This is as obvious as it gets.

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garnerellerbeeAnother no-brainer for me is when it comes to recasting Garner. The look, the attitude, and the look: Seth Gilliam has it all. Who you say? Gilliam played Ellis Carver in The Wire and has desperately needed work since. And just look at the similarities! All we need is an ATV! Time to throw on that white polo Seth, you got yourself a job!

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Next up, the Cute Girl. I outsourced this one to Bardo because I couldn’t think of a really likable girl that could tug a couple heartstrings and carry a couple episodes. He delivered in a big way, suggesting a girl that would follow in Nicole Eggert’s family sitcom-to-Baywatch legacy: Christine Lakin. Sure she was a tomboy in Step by Step but she has grown all the way up. Judging by her recent IMDB history (which includes roles in Butf**ker, Reefer Madness and Wiffler: The Ted Whitfield Story) she is as available as The Insneider at 3:00 AM on a Thursday.

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Moving on to the Exotic/Sophisticated Girl/Woman. See kids, not every girl on Baywatch can make you feel tingly underneath your Umbros. Somebody needs to interpret the distress signal, and this character will do just that. Coast Guard needs technical lingo? No problem, give these lines to the Exotic/Sophisticated Girl/Woman. In the same spirit that I cast Gilliam I am casting another offspring of one of my favorite past television shows. Naturally I’m talking about Kandyse McClure, better known as Lt. Anastasia Dualla aboard the Battlestar Galactica. She can talk the technical talk and has a great body to go with it. Being a casting director is seriously the easiest freaking job in the world.

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Since I’m saving the best for last let’s get The Kid out of the way. I’ve decided that Mario Lopez is too young to have a kid of his own, so The Kid in the remake is going to be a homeless kid that Seth Gilliam’s character took under his wing after a beachfront drug bust. Boom. Hollywood magic. I’m going to shamelessly give the role to Lost’s Malcom David Kelley. Walt just turned 18 in real life (not Island years) which means he is old enough to have a love interest but young enough to rely on the adults. Sort of like Hobie after he was allowed to surf by himself but before the methamphetamine and sex tape.

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OK, we’re almost at the Bombshell. Be patient. The 7th cast position is probably the least important. We need a guy who can’t overshadow Mario Lopez in stature or celebrity but who still appeals to the ladies. We need a guy who can have an relationship with either the Brunette or the Cute Girl but not steal the spotlight. We need a guy who is physically superior to waves. Basically a decent looking guy with little acting ability. I’m going to assume that whatever business he left the RW/RR Challenge: The Island for fell through and that Abram Boise is ready to work. Yes, Abe from MTV. What? Write your own blog.

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We made it. Bombshell time. Let me preface this by saying that deciding on someone to replace the legendary CJ Parker was the most difficult decision I have made since I chose not to go back to Panama City Beach for Spring Break 2009. CJ was a legend. She gave me boners back before I knew what to do with them. So this wasn’t easy, and as you can imagine took a lot of research. I finally concluded that the best way to honor Pam was to choose someone that came from the same background as she did (Playboy and Canada). The only problem is that Playboy is into C-cups now and Canada doesn’t have that many hot busty women. England does. Her name is Keeley Hazell and her IMDB page is as skimpy as her bikini. She could be a glamour model her whole life, or she could be a legend. Up to her.

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Tough Streak

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ashley


It might be time to stop predicting things…at least until the next season of Real World/Road Rules Challenge…

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Join The ‘Dise’s March Madness Pool

Congratulations! Just by visiting this site you have punched your ticket to possible immortality. Go to the SportsFanParadise.com group page at ESPN.com’s Tournament Challenge and fill in your bracket. I’m not blogging until 100 people have signed up, so get on it!

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The Mouth of the South is Alive!

akcEditor’s Note: It has been months since we heard from Karaoke Craig, but this weekend, out of the Carolina blue, I get an email of musings from the ‘Dise’s southern correspondent. You just never know with this kid.


None of these items are necessarily enough for a column, but I thought they deserved to be brought up. The ‘Dise needs to hear from its Southern Bureau more than once a year, so hang tight.


I think more so than springs in the past, I find myself dying for the start of baseball season. Part of it is the already legendary emergence of the J-Hey kid, part of it is the fantasy baseball rotation of Hanson-Porcello-Wainwright-Billingsly and Santana I’ve pieced together, but I think a lot of it is my desire to put two of my longtime favorite sports out of my mind for now. I think college basketball and the NFL are heading in bad directions, and I think baseball is well on the road to recovery from its own dark era (the juice days).


In college basketball, the one-and-done system has killed the quality of play and the recognizability of its stars. It’s out of the NCAA’s control, unfortunately. The NFL, on the other hand, and as Gregg Easterbrook so perfectly put it, is getting too big for its britches. Who had a problem with the 16-game schedule? No one I know, other than the owners, who want to take what’s already the most successful league in the world and milk more money out of it. I certainly don’t feel like relearning the value of a 1,000-yard season, 100-tackle season or 300-touchdown career.


Who had a problem with the draft? No one I know, other than the owners, who wanted to squeeze TV money out of a fun weekend event by moving it to prime time and dragging it out even longer (by the way, no one hates the omnipotence of prime-time scheduling more than a guy who works the dinner shift in a restaurant. Spring training is all the baseball I’m going to be seeing this year).


Who has a problem with the overtime format? Everyone, so the NFL does nothing. Why do Goodell and the league show no interest in following popular opinion on these issues? And why do we have to have this bizarre offseason, when the salaries are uncapped and some free agents are free agents whereas others aren’t, so teams don’t really know how to plan for the future (other than my team, which opted to play it safe and release everyone over 30 other than the kicker, the punter and Steve Smith) just because the CBA might expire? Why does the CBA even have to expire? Can’t they just use it until it stops working? And why are we faced with the possibility of a lockout when it’s standard thinking that the NFL has the least player-friendly CBA of the four major sports? We already buy PSLs, pay half a day’s wage for parking, buy owners stadium and buy satellite TV to watch our teams. I find it unconscionable that the owners aren’t getting a big enough piece of the pie. Sorry to go all Peter King on you for the last 300 words there.


I feel like Julius Peppers was the Carolina Panthers’ version of Nomar Garciaparra. Except I don’t feel like the Panthers are going to suddenly win the Super Bowl without their sulky, mega-talented star.


Jason Heyward, on the other hand, is like Peppers, Matt Wieters, Ken Griffey Junior, LeBron James, Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper rolled into one. My kids are going to be named Karaoke Jason and Karaoke Heyward. Couldn’t be more excited for the next 15 years, or until five years from now when he signs with the Yankees for $300 million.


Spring training has opened my eyes to the usefulness of Twitter. I reluctantly joined the Twitterverse a year ago, but recently added a bunch of followees. In between tweets from Jason Whitlock getting into pissing contests with his readers and Bill Simmons letting me know whenever the Celts are on ESPN Classic (uh, thanks), I get the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s beat writer, Dave O’Brien, tweeting spring training lineups, injury updates, links to blog posts, and everything else I’d otherwise have to navigate the AJC’s Web site to find. Handy when I’m at work and don’t have time to sit down and Google whether or not they changed Heyward’s last reached-on-an-error into an infield single yet.


The Carolina Hurricanes recently confirmed their minor league affiliate, the Albany River Rats, would move to Charlotte. Which means that when a player gets called up from the minors to go to the NHL, he’ll have to move from a bigger city (Charlotte) to a smaller one (Raleigh). Has that ever happened before?

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Dear Shank,

In response to this article…

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Mike Stiriti
Date: Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 2:55 PM
Subject: Please don’t immediately delete this without at least giving it a skim
To: dshaughnessy@globe.com

I was a journalism major and I have a decent vocabulary but I can’t really come up with a very sophisticated way to call you a piece of shit, so I think I’ll just leave it at that.

Is it not enough that Nomar was a great guy and a great player? “Off the field, he did charity work, kept his mouth shut, and interacted well with fans. He was one of the three great shortstops of his era, alongside Alex Rodriguez and Jeter.”

So he didn’t pander to the negative Boston sports media…so what? You’re a group of old men who pray for failure so that you can write articles that incite emotion and books about curses.

Nomar deserved better…it’s a shame that he played here back when newspaper writers were relevant.

Please respond if you would like to further explain yourself.

- Mike Stiriti
23 Monument Sq.
Charlestown, MA 02129
cell: (781) 589-5715
work: (617) 753-9127


UPDATE:

So I was standing on Congress St. last night waiting patiently for the 93 bus when I got a call from a restricted number.

“Hi, Mike? This is Dan Shaughnessy.”

He goes on to say that he respects anyone who puts their phone number in their hate mail and figured he’d call back and defend himself. We yelled at each other for about 10 minutes, his point being that Nomar was not a “good guy” because he lacked common courtesy to the media, mine being that it didn’t matter how he treated the media, that his job was to play baseball.

I called him out on quoting Lucchino but not calling him a fraud as well, and for being a generally negative asshole. He defended this by saying that if he were a weatherman and woke up on January 1st and said that it was cold out, he wouldn’t be negative but simply honest. I said fine, but that he wakes up on July 4th when it’s 65 degrees and says that it’s cold.

We went back and fourth for a few more minutes, but ultimately ended it politely. He said that next time instead of calling him a piece of shit that we should just get a beer together, and I agreed and offered to buy.

Do I agree with 95% of what Shaughnessy writes? No. Will I start agreeing more now that I spoke with him? Probably not. But do I have a lot of respect for him after he actually took the time to call me? Yeah, I do.

And, for the record, if I actually thought he was going to call back I probably would have toned down the initial email a bit. Lesson learned, but no, I’m not apologizing.

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Nomar Retires with the Sox

And all is right in the World.

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Star-Studded Mailbag Part II

Hey Jackass,

Since the only time you blog anymore is to answer mailbag questions, here ya go: What did you think of Lost last night?

Namaste,
The Smoke Monster

I’m glad you asked. While last night may haven’t been the most well-written episode of this final season, it was definitely the “Ah-ha!” show that we were all looking for. If you watched last night and didn’t think “Ahh, now I get where this season is going” then I feel bad for you.

You can totally see the sides forming on the Island. MonsterLocke clearly has Claire and Sayid on his team, the group of Others, and perhaps Kate by default. Jack, Hurley and Richard have joined a pathetically yet charmingly deflated Ben, along with Sun, Miles, Ilana and Frank. This certainly seems like the war that Widmore was speaking of.

As for Widmore, it was good to see him enter the mix for the stretch run. It also seems like he could very easily be on MonsterLocke’s team, as he spotted the crew on the beach but then continued on course, perhaps to the Hyrda Island where they could dock and meet up with the “bad guys” (or good guys, I’m not sure).

As for the flash-sideways universe (FSU), I think I finally get it. I had been waiting for the 2 worlds to converge, but I think it’s time to just appreciate it for what it is. I’m not saying that the characters aren’t still tied to the Island or each other, but I am done wondering when it will all make sense. Clearly, the FSU is being used (poignantly, I might add) to show these characters for what they really are. We are getting to see them as real people, stripped down, and without 5 crazy seasons of Island craziness to influence them. We are seeing who they are at their core, and who they would have been in the regular universe had the Island/Jacob not entered their lives.

On the Island, Ben chose Jacob over his daughter. He chose to save the Island over being a loving father. Thanks to last night’s episode (for my money Michael Emerson’s best performance of the series) we learned that deep-down Ben would choose compassion over power. If all the FSU does is continue to teach us about the characters that we have grown attached to then I certainly won’t complain.

A few more quick notes:

- Sun needs to stop asking questions. We get it. You’re looking for Jin. And you don’t know anything. You’re confused. You don’t get it. Now shut the fuck up.

- Alex looked HOT in the FSU. It’s like the difference between a good looking Survivor contestant on Day 39 and then at the reunion show. Kudos.

- Do you think the characters have scheduled bye weeks? Like did Sawyer look at the shooting schedule and say “Nice, I get to play golf Week 6!”?

- Ilana can calm down. I get that the guy you worshiped just died. I get that he was your father-figure, and that you were supposed to protect him. But chill, will ya?

- Since when did Jack become the man? He went from constantly complaining and asking questions and going on pointless missions to a true American bad-ass. Pounding poison pills in people’s faces and lighting dynamite before casual conversations??? This isn’t the Jack I remember. But I like this guy. I really do.

- I love that Miles snagged Nikki and Paulo’s diamonds. That’s the kind of shit that separates the fans from the fanatics. Either way that was a classic throw-in.

- I have heard people complaining about this season, saying they don’t like the FSU, don’t like where it’s headed, blah blah blah. You know what? Stop watching if you don’t like it. Oh, what was that? You can’t stop? Because you’re obsessed? Because all week you look forward to Tuesday at 9:18?? That’s what I thought. Just shut the fuck up and enjoy it. Not like you could write it any better.



S(FP)G,

What do you think about season 2 of the Jersey Shore taking place in Miami?

Sincerely,
Snookers

Hey girl! Honestly, I like that the show is hitting the road, since you can only go to Karma so many times before wearing out your welcome. That said, you guys may fit in a little too well in Miami. Tanned, juiced muscleheads aren’t exactly an exotic breed on South Beach. I’m not sure if the show will work now that you guys will fit in better. Also, I’m interested to see how 1) you all react to being celebrities, and 2) how Miami reacts to having you guys there now that you’re all famous. I don’t think anybody is going to be punching you or making fun of Pauly this season, I think there will be too much love and too little drama.

That said, if MTV showed an hour of you guys waiting in line at the DMV every Thursday I would tune in. So you can pretty much do no wrong. Think of this season at your Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze. Everyone in your target audience is going to watch no matter what, just try to make it entertaining. Go guido, go guido, GO!!!


Mike,

Do you remember this commercial?

It’s Mac from Always Sunny!

-Matt in Nashville

I 100% remember that commercial. Great find. Wow. Great find.


Hey Sports Fan Paradise Guy,

Just wanted to say hi. You busy this weekend? Want to hang out?

- Corey Feldman

Dude…too soon.


Hey SFPG,

So after posting the Baywatch themed Lost intro yesterday I can’t get the song stuck out of my head. Anyway we can all agree that its a travesty that Baywatch hasnt been remade yet. What will be harder to figure out who should be cast in said remake. I know if anyone has the intersection of breasts and television in their wheelhouse, its you, so impress us with SFP’s 2010 Baywatch Cast.

Yours,
Bardo

ANSWER COMING TOMORROW…STAY TUNED

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Oh Canada

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