The Daily Diversion: March 2012

Saturday, March 31, 2012

City drop two more points as the cracks become more evident.... #mcfc #epl #mufc

City need miracle comeback to salvage a point at home. The stress of a title run is showing.

GettyImages
Nicklas Bendtner heads home

via soccernet.espn.go.com

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Stoke City 1-1 Man City:Crouch scores Goal of the Year - Stoke fans mock "the poznan," priceless! #scfc #epl #mcfc

via thesun.co.uk

Friday, March 23, 2012

Santorum sour grapes: "Might As Well Have Obama Over Romney" : time to bow out and unify the party

via washington.cbslocal.com

...with Santorum cracking under the pressure like a walnut, it's time for the last guy with a glimmer of hope to bow out, help unify the party...and beat Obama. It's OVER, Rick.

Sir Alex Ferguson hits back at Patrick Vieira's Paul Scholes jibe - #mufc #epl #mcfc

via soccernet.espn.go.com

...Vieira trying to play mind games with the master, Sir Alex. It's like bringing a knife to a gun fight...ha!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Stanley Thornton, 31, is adult baby with diapers, pacifier and bottles...sigh...the freak next door.

via thesun.co.uk

...and I think he is on disability or something? Sign of the Aztec apocalypse...

At the Panera...

I'm dining at the Panetta with my daughter and I stumble upon a knitting club going at it... needles flying!

Too cute, these little youngsters!

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Mancini: "City will win the title - I also believe in unicorns!"

via msn.foxsports.com

...an old tired line...what about keeping your mouth shut and your house in order?

Fortune for the day.

I wonder what the big award is going to be....a lamp in the shape of a leg?

Monday, March 19, 2012

Alex Ferguson mind games after Man Utd smash Wolves - I love it.

via thesun.co.uk

...only one more trophy possible for United...the EPL title. So Fergie won't let an opportunity to get into City's head go by.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

The True Grit debate...The Duke is still the Rooster to me.

For those who know me (and have occasion to look at my profile pic that I haven't changed in two years), I am a fan of the Mountain West. I grew up there as a kid and still enjoy going back when I can.

(btw, for those who know me and were completely unaware that I could even sport a cowboy hat, let alone work my way around the mountains...well I do!)

But I was more than a little annoyed when the Coen brothers came out with the remake of the classic western True Grit. The reason I was annoyed was that people were saying it was a classic, and that it was easily better than the original version (a good many of those never really having seen the original all the way through). Well, you might as well spit in my energy drink if you are going to say that! I am a fan of the Western...a truly American-made movie genre. And as such, I am a huge fan of John Wayne, one of the iconic legends of American film.

My first thought was "how could an nearly exact remake be considered more of a classic that the original?" I was intrigued, but resisted seeing the Coen version as a sort of mild protest...and because I rarely even go to a movie theater anyway.

So on the suggestion of a friend, I decided to watch the Coen version with as much objectivity as possible. While it was entertaining, it was in no way better than the Wayne version. But I wanted to be fair to the people (like Roger Ebert of all people) who gushed that the new version was more true to the book. So, I read the book.

Now, having read the book, seen both movies and considered the write-ups, I have come to this conclusion....the Coen brothers did nothing for the movie other than to make it a bit more scenic and flashy with modern technology.

Example #1: Rooster Cogburn: (Really this is the main reason...and this is what the movie is really all about. True Grit...not "Mattie Ross Gets Revenge")

Ebert went on and on about Bridges' portrayal of Rooster Cogburn as a more authentic one...and complained that that John Wayne was too old to be the authentic Rooster. But whatever Ebert was doing when he wrote the review made him forget the fact the Bridges and Wayne were almost exactly the same age when they shot their respective roles.

Bridges pretty much mumbles and snorts through the entire movie and rarely do we get much in a wide range of expression...this is NOT how the book portrayed Cogburn. In the book, Cogburn was more of a tortured soul who longed to do good. He felt he had tried his best, but life conspired against him to reduce him to his fate of a lonely and weary deputy U.S. Marshall. The book Cogburn told of his wife, his child, his attempt to run a restaurant...all in a way that makes the reader pity him. Even after the classic showdown in the meadow with Ned Pepper's gang, the book showed you he really wanted to be liked...he joined a wild west show. You really wanted to (and were compelled to) like him....even though you knew he had done some dark things in his life.

Wayne's Cogburn was truer to the book in my opinion. He had flashes of temper, streaks of meanness, moments of comedy, and times of humanity. Wayne was able to get all of that and manage to not mumble through the entire movie. Wayne was under-appreciated as an actor because he did mostly Westerns. Hollywood couldn't really respect him too much....and by the way, Wayne was a hard and fast Republican who was the star of the only movie out of Hollywood that supported the Vietnam War (The Green Berets). So mainstream Hollywood in that time all the way through today rarely give him much credit as an actor. But check his credentials, he has starred in critically acclaimed classic movies, despite being mostly westerns... Stagecoach, The Searchers, The Sands of Iwo Jima, The Quiet Man. He could hold his own.

Winner for me, hands down...Wayne.

There are many more reasons, but I will leave it at that for now and invite all to read the book, watch both movies and make up your own mind.

A recent tweet... file under the "why didn't I think of that?" category

@mental_floss: Sara Blakely invented Spanx in 2000. Today she's the world's youngest self-made female billionaire. (via @TheWeek)
Shared via TweetCaster

Gwyneth Paltrow injects herself with bee venom...it looks like she hits the botox hard, too.

via thesun.co.uk

...She says the bee venom makes her pain go away. Umm, yeah because her body is in pain because it got shot up with venom!!!....it's better than doping up on painkillers, I guess. But let's face it...she also named her child "Apple" which will require countless hours of therapy. Oh, and she named her other child Moses...