Monday, December 22, 2014

Monday, December 15, 2014

Terrence Malick's Knight of Cups




February 2015 (?)
Written and Directed by Terrence Malick
Starring Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman, Antonio Banderas

Sunday, December 14, 2014

The 2001 U of Miami Hurricanes 17 First Round NFL Draft Picks























ESPN 30 for 30 - The U Part 2

"We had Antrelle Rolle, Sean Taylor, Vince Wilfork, Kellen Winslow (Jr), and Willis McGahee... and they all sat on the bench."

Reggie Wayne and Santana Moss had been drafted the year before. Not pictured because they weren't taken in the first round: Clinton Portis and Frank Gore.

Thursday, December 11, 2014

An Agent's Email to Leonardo Dicaprio

And other Sony Pictures email leaks from the North Korea hack.
Gawker - "Leaked: The Nightmare Email Drama Behind Sony's Steve Jobs Disaster"


From: Robert Newman

Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2014 1:42 PM

To: DiCaprio Leonardo

Cc: Yorn' 'Rick

Subject:

Dear Leonardo,

I'm writing as I heard last week of the sad news that you may not be doing'Jobs'.

While I am of course biased, I nevertheless want to give you my thoughts with the hope that this somehow stays together.

Certainly on Danny's part, he's long wanted to work with you again, and in the 15 years since "The beach" you have both grown immeasurably in your craft and abilities.

With this text, Danny feels he's found a script that can be as enduring a character study and portrait of our age and times as 'Citizen Kane 'was for a previous generation, from a writer who is the equal of Paddy Chayevsky.

With Scott Rudin, you have a producer who is perhaps the greatest ever at making intelligent, important films in partnership with Sony who, as we've seen with films such as "the social network", "Capt. Phillips"and "Moneyball" ,will spend the necessary marketing and publicity money to get audiences and award attention.

Steve Jobs was a man who came from nothing and nowhere to change the world ,as surely as Thomas Edison did, and and there's no better actor than you with the artistry and talent to help people understand what that must've been like.

Further, the production isn't set in the middle of the jungle, nor require a physical transformation, but will be shot in a city such as San Francisco, allowing you to give your sole creative focus to exploring the richness of the dialogue and character, with your pick of costars.

Just as you must surely feel great pride in helping bring Marty his Oscar on "the departed", everyone involved in this production desperately wants to help bring you the Academy award you so richly deserve.

I remember speaking with you years ago about 'boogie nights', and all you could have done with that wonderful part, and I truly believe this is an opportunity we will look back on with regret if we don't make happen.

Your pal,

Robert

Sent from my iPhone

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Keepin' it real son

















New Yorker - "The Way of the Wu"
By Sasha Frere-Jones

"There have been few unexpected appearances as lovely as Dirty’s verse on Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy,” which created a bridge between unchecked lunacy and showroom optimism that nobody has been able to cross since."

Friday, December 5, 2014

Jonathan Wilson's 2014 World Best XI

















Sports Illustrated - "2014 World Best XI: Best players by position in a year to remember"

GK: Manuel Neuer - Bayern Munich, Germany
RB: Philipp Lahm - Bayern Munich, Germany
CB: Vincent Kompany - Manchester City, Belgium
CB: Diego Godin - Atletico Madrid, Uruguay
LB: David Alaba - Bayern Munich, Austria
DCM: Javier Mascherano - Barcelona, Argentina
RCM: Luka Modric - Real Madrid, Croatia
LCM: Xabi Alonso - Real Madrid/Bayern Munich, Spain
RF: Luis Suarez - Liverpool/Barcelona, Uruguay
LF: Cristiano Ronaldo - Real Madrid, Portugal
CF: Diego Costa - Atletico Madrid/Chelsea, Spain

Second XI
GK: Thibaut Courtois - Atletico Madrid/Chelsea, Belgium
RB: Pablo Zableta - Manchester City, Argentina
CB: Thiago Silva - Pairs St.-Germain, Brazil
CB: Mehdi Benatia - Bayern Munich, Morocco
LB: Cesar Azpilicueta - Chelsea, Spain
MF: Paul Pogba - Juventus, France
MF: Yaya Toure - Manchester City, Ivory Coast
MF: Toni Kroos - Bayern Munich/Real Madrid, Germany
F: Arjen Robben - Bayern Munich, Netherlands
F: Neymar - Barcelona, Brazil
F: Lionel Messi - Barcelona, Argentina

And then Zlatan's Best XI.

"the puzzle of soccer in North America"


















WSJ - "MLS: Where Do We Go From Here?"

"“We all want to meet the objective of consistency,” MLS commissioner Don Garber said in an interview this week. “We will have that once we are built out with the right number of teams with the right stadiums in the right markets.”

And then there is the issue of the league’s level of play. October brought a throaty squabble with Jurgen Klinsmann, coach of the U.S. men’s national team, over whether the best U.S. prospects should play in MLS—where they can help improve the quality and popularity of a league that aims to be among the world’s best by 2022—or in Europe. The best players reside there, and Klinsmann regularly and publicly states that he wants the top players to make the jump across the pond, despite MLS’s multimillion-dollar investment in domestic player development."

Frank Gehry on His Design for the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi















Watch here.

Spectre

























October 23, 2015
Written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, John Logan
Directed by Sam Mendes
Starring Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz

The 24th Bond movie is just starting production this week and will be shot in "Pinewood London, Mexico City, Rome, Tangier and Erfoud, Morocco, Sölden, Obertilliach, and Lake Altaussee, Austria." Interesting that Star Wars VII has already finished production before Spectre started yet has a later release date.