A Tale Of Three Goaltenders

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****UPDATED-Written before the Blues impressive road warrior like 4-3 overtime win last night in Columbus over former Blue goalie Mike McKenna and company.  The outcome fits into my piece below.  Jaro Halak, after getting rocked early due to some bad defensive turnovers and sharp home team play, recovered and made great saves in giving his team a chance to come back.   Halak came through big time last night.  Enjoy the piece, published yesterday afternoon.”****

The Blues are sitting pretty right now and are in no truly dire position to buy or sell parts.  Sure, there are a few leaks on the roster that could use sealing but there are no glaring holes.  For every letdown like Patrik Berglund there is a bright new light like Jaden Schwartz.   They are hustling their way through the ferociously competitive Western Conference and doing very well.   Before tonight’s game with the Columbus Blue Jackets, The Blues walk into the arena with a record of 21-6-3 with a goal differential of 106-70.   Sit on that as we continue.

Looking at that record, one would be hesitant to point out any problems.  Sure, that record leaves us tied for fifth in the Western Conference at 45 points but if we win tonight and the Kings/Sharks do not, we are suddenly in 3rd place.   That is how tightly wound the NHL is this year and how hard it will be to find your footing in the playoffs.   That is why it is important to enjoy the record yet keep your eyes on the future and the biggest prize.  Lord Stanley’s Cup.

As a Blues fan waiting for that first parade on Clark, that is all we think about.   Holding it high and standing taller than the rest.  Any Stanley Cup team lives or dies on their goaltending, which is why it’s important to point out the fine situation the Blues find themselves in as we cruise towards 2014.

Jaro Halak is the starter in his fourth and final year of his contract and is playing very well.   He is 15-5-2 with a save percentage of 91 percent and a goals against average of 2.24.  He has two shutouts and has shown moments of greatness  in net.   Some don’t like his style because upon first glance it is a laid back slow moving way of stopping shots.   It has always been Halak’s way and served him well in his career as a starting goaltender.

Halak isn’t perfect and has shown signs of instability, both mental and physically.  He has been pulled 3 times and shown the ability to not be mentally prepared for a game. Against the Ducks at Scottrade last weekend, Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said the team picked up on something in Halak’s pregame and exposed in with 4 first period goals in knocking out the Slovak.   Every goalie has these moments but how many more will Halak have.  He is the starter so he gets bigger smack when he has a bad game than the backup gets put through the ringer.  Same as a starter getting shelled as opposed to a reliever.  When people depend on you to be the #1 and you don’t perform, eyes are on you.  Right or wrong, that’s sports.

Brian Elliot has also done a very good job as the backup.  He is 6-1-1 with a shutout and a 93 % save percentage as well as a 2.14 goals against.   Sure, he has played less and doesn’t get as exposed as Halak, but in his role as a backup, Elliot has flourished.  He has been chased at least once himself and can sometimes look lost on simple straight shots but he has also rescued the team from potential blowouts.  His style is as different from Halak as it gets.  He is a hyper active goalie with quick movements and adjustments.  There are times where one thinks he simply moves too fast for his own good.

Elliot has done a fine job.  However, when pushed to being the starter, over a long period of time, has shown the ability to be solved by opposing teams and become less stellar as the consecutive starts piled on.  Like Halak, he can be had and the more games he plays in a row, the likelihood of that happening only grows.

Reading this, you may think I am shooting our goaltenders down.  I am not.  Here is the situation.  The Blues have two very capable goaltenders.  In my eyes, neither can be a clear cut starter and with a tandem like this, neither HAVE to be.  Head coach Ken Hitchcock can simply play the hot hand and when that goalie starts to fade, you insert the other.

As much as I want to see Jake Allen make an appearance soon, at this moment, he isn’t needed.  He is a fine insurance policy shall injury strike the Blues in the net, but right now let him flourish in the minors.  Allen is young, highly touted and hungry.  We saw what he could do last season.  In February of this year, Elliot wore down in the starter role after Halak’s 35th muscle pull, and Allen stepped in and took over while Elliot went to the minors to deal with his situation and regroup.  While he wasn’t perfect himself, Allen dominated games, craved the spotlight, never showed an ounce of fear and informed the Blues brass he was ready for the big stage.

As desirable as that is, right now, the Blues are fine.   They have a decent amount of money allocated to these two goalies on the roster and need to ride them while they are producing at this kind of level.   Halak may never be a clear cut #1 guy for a whole season due to his inability to stay healthy and suffer off breakdowns.  Elliot may never be able to handle the month long load of being a #1 goalie.   The good news is neither have to be and can come together a  two bodied force and propel this team towards the halfway mark and hopefully into the playoffs.

We all know Halak’s injury history and Elliot’s ability to be exposed, and get how that can affect the playoff hopes for this team.   As great as this team has been, we haven’t seen a truly deep playoff run in a long time.   We tossed out the Sharks two years ago and got swept by the Kings.  Last season, we got a 2-0 lead on the Kings and saw every facet of the team break down.  Both times, Elliot was in the spotlight and lost his way.   What will happen in the spring of 2014?  Nobody can tell at this point so it’s important to watch these two stoppers do their thing and push this team towards the glory hour.

Individually, Halak and Elliot aren’t perfect.  Together, as a tandem, they are nearly unbeatable.  The Blues have a good situation with their goaltending.  No friction or controversy.  Good old fashioned depth.  Enjoy it because other teams only envy it.

Thanks for reading.  Reach me at buffa82@gmail.com or @buffa82 on Twitter.  

Photo Credit-www.stltoday.com

Parenting and Imperfection/Reflecting On Sandy Hook 1 Year Later

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Tonight, when you have reached your wit’s end with your kid and feel like throwing yourself or something heavy through the front window, look at your kid for a second.  Appreciate that they are healthy and alive enough to drive you crazy.   Being a good parent is all about keeping things in perspective.  Perfection is never attainable in parenting.  You will utter curse words under your breath and mutter phrases that would make other parents label you as a bad person.    Being the caretaker of a child is built around providing them safety and care throughout a battlefield of chaos.  Like marriage, you don’t ever win fights with your kids.  You try to win rounds and accumulate enough points by the end of the day so they end up learning something or you don’t need three glasses of scotch.  It’s a long run but damn is it worth it.  (I just threw a coin in the curse jar….too bad I don’t have one of those yet.)

Remember tonight when you happen to sniff your hand and it smells like a glorious concoction of snot, chocolate, ritz cracker crumbles and 3 hour old poop that it is ALL worth it.  Keep in mind one year ago today 20 parents lost their 6 and 7 year old kids when a kid brought three guns into Sandy Hook Elementary and unleashed a level of rage and violence that is still hard to digest 365 days later.   Be glad that you still get the chance to deal with the little brat who won’t sit still when getting dressed or doesn’t want to eat the meat on his dinner plate.  When he wants to watch Polar Express for the 60th time and you have grown scared of the CGI Tom Hanks, do it anyway and be glad to deal with this brand of chaos.  Every time I truly get mad(okay most of the time) with Vincent, I remember those 20 parents who don’t have the chance to get mad with their kids anymore.  Sure, some of them have younger or older kids and didn’t lose all of them.   They did lose a kid and feel the hatred running through their veins every time they walk into the kid’s room and see nothing changed from December 14th, 2012.

The fact is when I pick up my kids perfectly distorted toys off the ground tonight, I will do it with a small level of gratitude.   Just think about the idea of walking into the room for consecutive days with everything in its perfect spot.   Trucks aligned in a row.  Train tracks all put away. No stuffed animals thrown.  Clothes folded inside a drawer.  No pieces of cereal on the ground gathering dust.  The mere thought of it scares the shit out of me.  I almost have to go knock a tray of toys onto the floor right now just to go through the motions.   I can’t imagine how parents who have lost a young child must feel.  This is in no way a smack to parents who lose 20 year olds or older kids fighting overseas, killed in car accidents or to other horrible circumstances.   I fully believe a parent SHOULD NEVER have to bury their child.  It has to be the other way around or I will never call this world a grand place.

There is something brutally tragic and horribly unfair about losing a young child, toddler or baby.   A stomach pain erupts when you think about it.  For once, you feel a truly violent edge standing up inside you.   When the idea of losing a human being who isn’t old enough to defend themselves comes around, there is only sadness and despair inside this 31 year old stay at home dad.

I get a lot of 1 on 1 time with Vin these days.  There are good days and bad days.  Days where french fries and candy make up a meal and others where the 2 year old practically eats a salad.  He holds me in the palm of his filthy hand most days, but every night I look down at him or think after I put him to bed how lucky I am to be a parent and have a healthy rambunctious kid.  Other families had their light taken out of their lives far too early.   Kids with cancer and disease.  Kids involved in school shootings.  Kids at the wrong place at the wrong time.

The first thought I had last December when I heard about Sandy Hook was just cold.  Sitting at Ronnoco Coffee doing UPS orders, I thought about my little Vinny sitting in one of those classrooms playing his butt off and learning.   I then thought of that kid walking into the room with those weapons and went through the entire situation.  I made myself do it, as horrible as it was.  Out of respect to those families and to the idea of it.  As much as we don’t want to think tragedy could actually happen to us, it is seriously right on our doorstep at all times.   Every single day.

So do me a favor and forget about perfect.  Remember, perfect can mean sadness.  Perfect is a row of trucks or cars sitting untouched in a kid’s bedroom.   We don’t need perfect.  We need strength and life from our kids.  If you think you are an imperfect parent, then you are probably are and guess what, it’s alright.  It’s just fine.

Join the party and appreciate being a part of it.

Thanks for reading.  Reach me here, at my email buffa82@gmail.com or @buffa82 on Twitter for comments, feedback or thoughts.

 

Sons of Anarchy: Sopranos Meets Hamlet

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imageedit_7_4946720514Feeling the need to get a show to catch up on and enjoy?  I have one for you.  Sons of Anarchy isn’t just a show about a group of criminals on bikes who hold the reins of a town called Charming in California.   It’s much more than that and creator/writer/cast member Kurt Sutter sprinkles in Shakespearean themes and blunt violence to remind viewers what they are watching is fresh, original and genuinely demented.  Think of “Sopranos on Motorcycles wrapped inside a Greek Tragedy” and you have this FX network pulpy drama.

It is one of FX’s best and most popular shows because it hasn’t worn down after 6 seasons of action and the storytelling methods from Sutter and his writing team are unpredictable and heartbreaking at the same time.   The 6th season wrapped last night in truly tragic and powerful fashion, and this film-addict is still uncoiling from the emotional trauma of the 2 hour finale experience.  Sutter and his team aren’t afraid to shock viewers with a major character death and did that on Tuesday night.

Sure, you can’t convince Breaking Bad fanatics to consider a different kind of creative poison these days when it comes to explosive finales, but allow me to tell you why Sons is one of the most tragic, brilliant and bleak TV shows.  This is a show you need to binge watch.

Put this show in the category of “antihero adoration” because the lead protagonist, Jax Teller(brilliantly played by Charlie Hunnam) is far from a good natured man but it’s his sense of family and loyalty that keep us rooting for him while he commits/agrees to murderous criminal behavior.  His struggle with power and how to swing it as he works his way through the criminal lay of the land sets the tone for the series.

Teller lives in the same neighborhood as Walter White and Tony Soprano but carries youth on his side.   Men who surround themselves with family and rely on those ties to keep their soul a little less dark.   This is what makes the show work so well.  Sutter handled this material while writing for The Shield and knows how to create troubled men and women who do bad things but redeem themselves with their vulnerabilities, ignorance of evil and the honor shown in bringing peace to the future.

Sutter’s casting is impeccable.   Hunnam, Ron Perlman, Kim Coates, Tommy Flanagan, Mark Boone Junior, Theo Rossi, and Ryan Hurst make up the heart and soul of the show’s club, SAMCRO(Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original).   All of these actors are character actors ripped from careers spanning hundreds of films but locked in tightly on this show.  The work of Hurst as Opie, Jax’s right hand man and confidant, stands out due to the effect the character has on our protagonist.

In the 6th season, Jax and the Sons are aiming to cleanse themselves of the gun trade and move into more legit practices of income but when a school shooting brings down the wrath of the FBI and the gun used is traced back to them, all hell breaks loose.  This is a rundown of every season.  Jax steers the club towards safer waters, but their past and actions reel them back into hell.  Sutter’s marvel lies in his way of masking certain plot points with male camaraderie and small doses of humor.  You don’t see a big death coming and even if you do, the manner in which it happens is poetic and tragic.  On Tuesday’s season finale, a main character was killed off and with the 7th season setting up to be the last, the death will spring all kinds of creative life on the show.   Each season, a couple major characters are killed off or a few characters’ are turned around.  The way television shows stay fresh is writing creatively and making no character safe.  Without a net to catch you creatively, the show constantly gets fresh air.  Far too many shows write with limited ambition and thus run out of gas quickly.   Shows on FX like Rescue Me, Justified and The Shield ran so long because they are creatively limitless and any character can be put in jeopardy.   No show does this tactic better than Sons of Anarchy.

Katey Sagal and Maggie Siff(Gemma and Tara) are the two female voices on the show, playing Jax’s mother and wife, respectively.   This is where the Hamlet themes come into play.  The effect and influence of women on the kings that serve the land is heavy material to work with, but Sagal and Siff are pros.   Gemma and Tara are set on a collision course for ownership of Jax’s soul from the very first episode of Season 1, and in the 6th season, that internal battle comes to a bloody and furious head.  If the finale of this season doesn’t leave you gushing for air and ready to hit a punching bag, I am not sure what show will.   Sutter pulls zero punches because he isn’t dealing with real history here and has placed his characters in a dangerous world of envy, power, violence, loyalty and the hazards of mixing business with pleasure.  Sagal and Siff are both Emmy worthy because they don’t rely on gimmicks or melodrama to play women who are fiercely independent and highly dangerous women on a show dominated by men.  If you are one of the critics of shows who hate the underuse and underwritten roles for women, check out this show.

Special mention must go to Dayton Callie, who plays Sheriff and SAMCRO ally Wayne Unser.  Playing a character holding enough guilt and internal struggle for a warehouse full of older men, Callie is a Scottish born actor who does his best work right here.  Like many of the cast members, the work of the actors on this show will overshadow whatever they have done or will do after this show ends next year.  Look at Sagal’s work here as the string pulling mother, and you won’t see the goofy mom from Married With Children. Hunnam, Hurst and Flanagan have done various films but achieved nothing like the status they have gained through this show.  If anyone is memorable outside of SOA, it is Perlman due to his heavy dosage of film work and his role in the Hellboy series.   The cast is synonymous with the roles on the show and that is a big reason it works so well.  Guest stars like Jimmy Smits, Peter Weller and Adam Arkin only help the action.

Should you watch this show right now?   Yes, because it blends action, drama, blunt storytelling and a realistically bleak tone that proves to be addicting.   Sutter paints dread all around the exterior of the story because he never wants the viewer to forget the mistakes and weight of guilt that the characters walk around with.   These aren’t good people but they are interesting and worth following.  If you miss Sopranos, watch this show.  If you want something that works faster than Boardwalk Empire or Ray Donovan, watch this show.  If you want a show that holds up creativity wise (not Dexter), watch it now.

Kurt Sutter aims to please here but torments your soul long after the finales rest.  He makes use of every detail of the plot in crafting his twists and reveals.  A sink full of water and dishes, a love of a man for a woman he can’t have, the effect of kids on a man’s decision and the length bad men run in order to be track down their soul.  You never forget what you are watching because the plot never slows down or gets too neat.  This is a show about how actions lead to bad things and how the amount of lies told can lead to a blunt clarity no one can handle.   Hunnam’s work here is the heart and soul of the show.  The actor can do more with a cold stare than most can do with three paragraphs.   His trek through the 7th season is worth sitting down tonight and catching up.  The best way to find out what the fuss is all about is to get a little dirty, watch and find out for yourself.

Brew a few pots of coffee, find a trusted brand of frozen pizza and settle in for the ride of your life with Sons of Anarchy.  It may not be an HBO or Showtime production, but as Mad Men and Breaking Bad have proved, there is a fine slice of television being performed on AMC and FX.   Once Sopranos wrapped up, everyone needed a fix for the criminal enterprise of entertainment.   SOA has filled that gap just fine and hasn’t lost a step in its 6 seasons.

Reach me at buffa82@gmail.com and @buffa82 on Twitter for comments, feedback and thoughts.  Any response is appreciated.  

-DLB

Inside The Greatness of Boardwalk Empire

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“You Can’t Be Half A Gangster.”

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Boardwalk Empire isn’t a show that will immediately sweep you off your feet, because it takes its time building it’s storytelling bridges and requires you to buy in completely on its historical premise.  When I think of this show, I think of Mad Men with less talking, more sex, more bloody violence and actual real life characters thrown into Terrence Winter’s greedy world of depressed anti-heroes.   There are no good people on this Boardwalk.  Everyone is covered in dirt, blood or carries a ten mile walk of guilt.  For simple reasons, Boardwalk Empire is one of HBO’s greatest shows that you may not know enough about outside of it’s shiny features.

Take the central character of the show, Steve Buscemi’s Nucky Thompson (based on Enoch Thompson), for example.   He is a former city treasurer who has his hand in every pocket in town and lives life a 100 dollar bill at a time, keeping everybody at a distance and maintaining the coldest of hearts.  Yet Nucky is on the verge of collapsing if he lets his guard down for a second.  He killed his prodigal son.  He’s threatened to kill his own brother twice.  He burned down his father’s home.   He will shake hands with a man and make a deal, only to back stab him the next day.   In a way, Nucky signifies the world Boardwalk Empire strives to live.  Cutthroat and sinister to a point of life and death, a hot barrel tip of a Tommy Gun makes most of the decisions around on this strip but the strongest who survive carry the sharpest mind.  Buscemi is so direct and adept at playing slick snakes that Thompson was tailor made for him.  At best, he is a supporting player holding a leading man’s deck of cards with his brain power alone.

When this show was on the verge of debuting back in 2010, several people debated whether you could build a show around Buscemi.  In the process, they were missing the entire point.  While Buscemi’s wickedly ruthless businessman is the moral center of many of the storylines, he is one body inside the best ensemble of actors currently working on television.  Buscemi was scooped up by Winter back when he was writing episodes of The Sopranos for David Chase and Buscemi was guest starring.  Take a look around and you see a viciously versatile group of performers that helps you understand what makes this show run so hot and heavy.  A show about the roaring 1920’s and the effect of Prohibition on organized crime just wrapped up its fourth season with tantalizing flavor, and knowing the cast is just as good as knowing what makes this program tick.

Michael Shannon as a disgraced FBI agent with a nasty underbelly of anger lurking inside of him as he slowly works his way into play with Al Capone, played by steamy vigor by British actor Stephen Graham.  Arnold Rothstein, given the same of chill by Michael Stuhlbarg as the glasses of milk his character constantly consumes.  A forgotten talent in Gretchen Mol, playing the most keen and deadly mothers those days have ever known in Gillian Darmody.   The son was Jimmy Darmody, played with a youthful end of innocence by Michael Pitt.  His friend, Richard Harrow, a fellow soldier from the sea, given a building’s worth of heart and soul by British actor Jack Huston.  A man with only half a face but a full blooded cry for love, Harrow was a bit part that travelled full circle due to Huston’s grace.   His menace only feeding his will to survive and be desired, Harrow epitomized the aim of the entire series.  Bittersweet sadness wrapped inside a bullet.

Shea Whigham, as Nucky’s brother Eli, is highly effective as a man constantly walking the line between shame and honor in the shadow of his big dealing brother.  Vincent Piazza’s grating attitude and deadly arrogance as a young Lucky Luciano with Anatol Yusef holding many different cards of virtue as Meyer Lansky.  Kelly McDonald played a fine hand as Nucky’s Irish immigrant wife Margaret while Michael Kenneth Williams shows a whole new bag of morality tricks as the benevolent gangster Chalky White.

Winter doesn’t mess around when it comes to decorating his regulars with seasonal power and his guest list is astonishing.   Jeffrey Wright as Valentin Narcisse, a new age suit who aims to take all the treasures in Season 4.   Bobby Cannavale’s Emmy winning performance as the monstrous loose cannon Gyp Rosseti.  Sure, Cannavale chewed scenery and turned in a performance that didn’t require nuance, but watching him tear through the carefully crafted world of Nucky was spellbinding and wildly entertaining.   Ron Livingston and Patricia Arquette were valuable presences as well in this past season.

Boardwalk Empire works you over like baseball does.  It’s a slow boil that takes time and patience and delivers the goods to those who can wait.  Dealing with real life characters, Winter’s balances the pot of unpredictability by bringing in the fictional players like Gyp Rosetti so the normal players can be kept on their toes.   The set design is immaculate and the music is perfectly set to the tune of those times but it’s the acting that places this show at a high level.  There isn’t a single performance that feels phoned in.  Everything comes from inside the actor and out towards our senses at the speed of a bullet.  For a show without a real good guy and lead character, Winter makes due by suiting these anti-heroes up with enough spicy traits to keep us guessing who is noble and who is just plain greedy.  A show about a period in time where the price of liquor turned regular criminals into deadly souls and turned a dirty enterprise into organized crime.

If I am holding out here with plot details, trust me it is on purpose.  Boardwalk Empire needs to be seen to be appreciated.  The setup is simple.  Nucky has a ton of power and everybody else wants a piece of it yet has to pay a price.  In a way, it is like the love child ofSopranos and Game of Thrones.  Power, envy, despair, guilt, violence and pure sexual anger are the roots of those quiet gem.

If it feels like the cast is loaded with testosterone pumping males, then that was the intent and the relevance of its time in history needs to observed.   There are no fairy tale romances on this show or real housewives to be annoyed by.  This is a world ruled and dictated by powerful yet flawed men. If you give it the time to let the whiskey settle, Boardwalk Empire will rock you to your core.  These men aren’t just mad.  They are truly bad.

Written by Dan Buffa

Film-Addict Co-Creator and Writer

Reach me at buffa82@gmail.com for feedback, comments and general thoughts.  It takes two to tango, so start the conversation.

Appreciating Woody Harrelson

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Here is something I posted on Film-Addict last night.  A spotlight on the work of Harrelson, an actor truly on a hot streak.   Check it out.  If you like it, spread it across the email boards, social media waves and to your friends homes.  If it reminds you of that bad take out food you ordered last night, delete it immediately.  I aim to dazzle your minds for a brief moment and leave you wanting more.  I don’t want to tear open a wound in your stomach and have you reaching for the pepto bismol.  Read on folks.

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He has come a long way since playing Woody Boyd on Cheers for 9 years, but Woody Harrelson is slowly becoming one of the most versatile actors in the business.  He can play comedy, do the action, perform the drama or combine all three into a performance.  He is currently on fire and I am here to tell you what he has been up to.

He is currently gracing screens as two very different characters.   In The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Harrelson is Haymitch, the alcoholic wise man who once won the Games and now tutors Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen.  Opening today, Woody plays the menacing Harlan DeGroate, an underground fight/drug kingpin deep in the dangerous mountains of New Jersey facing down a pair of brothers in Out Of The Furnace.  From tending Ted Danson’s bar to facing down Christian Bale’s justice, here is how Woody did it.

This certainly isn’t the first time that we have seen Woody’s fearless versatility.  A-list directors have gotten their dose of Woody.  He was nominated for an Oscar for playing Larry Flynt in 1996’s The People Versus Larry Flynt, directed by Gus Van Sant.  He was the poster boy for derangement in Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers.  He played a small yet key role in Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line and co-starred with Billy Crudup in Stephen Frears’ The Hi-Lo Country.   Harrelson flashed his comedic abilities with White Men Can’t Jump and Kingpin as well, showing the many flavors to his ability.

In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, Woody flailed a bit.   Whether it was a lack of good scripts or a willingness to see what the rabbit hole of comedy looked like, he peeked his head down a little too low.   With failed endeavors like Scorched, Play It To The Bone, Anger Management, She Hate Me, After The Sunset, and The Big White, one started to wonder what was left for Harrelson.  Then, he teamed up with Charlize Theron for a little film called North Country in 2005.  Playing Theron’s lawyer in a fictionalized account of the first prominent sexual harassment, Woody got back on top in what started a series of solid supporting roles.

In my opinion, that is Woody’s repertoire.  Taking a supporting role, stealing a few scenes and coming out holding a fair share of the viewer’s attention, Woody got back to working with Hollywood first class filmmakers.  In 2006-2007, Woody turned in a series of small yet vital roles in Richard Linklaker’s A Scanner Darkly, Robert Altman’s A Prairie Home Companion and The Coen Brothers’ No Country For Old Men.

In 2009, his career hit a new high with the unexpected success of Ruben Fleisher’s comedic take on the zombie genre, Zombieland.   Starring with a young Emma Stone and Jesse Eisenberg, Harrelson was in his wheelhouse, playing a gun toting Dale Earnhardt loving dead man walking killing machine.  He was the best part about the movie and that included a Bill Murray cameo.

Doing his classic bob and weave into different genres, Woody portrayed a military officer in charge of informing families of fallen soldiers in The Messenger.  Sharing the screen with Ben Foster, Harrelson was quietly devastating as Captain Tony Stone.

In 2011, Woody went to the bottom of the dark side pit as a maniacal cop in Rampart.  Take Denzel’s dirty cop from Training Day and spin him a few times and you had Officer David Douglas Brown, a racist corrupt homicidal cop in the days of the Rodney King cultural breakdown.  It was a mesmerizing performance and one that reminded you what the actor was capable of.

He hasn’t slowed down a bit.   In 2012, he starred in the first installment of the Hunger Games, reteamed with Eisenberg in Now You See Me, played a key cog in the Sarah Palin HBO film Game Change and played a hilarious gangster in Seven Psychopaths.

This year, he followed with Catching Fire and Out of The Furnace.  Watching him go 100 percent pure evil in Cooper’s Furnace is a revelation to behold.  While some may call it scenery chewing, I saw his performance was wildly unpredictable and entertaining.   There was a pain behind his villain, a need to own every soul who came into his presence that was rooted in a jealousy of anyone who seemed tougher or better than him.  Woody’s performance was one you couldn’t get enough of that when it started to come to an end, the movie lost a little of the spark.  That’s how far he has come.

He is becoming more selective and keeping his eye on the prize.  While the Academy hasn’t awarded him yet, The Golden Globes and Emmy Awards may come calling.  Reteaming with his Edtv co-star Matthew McConaughey in HBO’s highly ambitious detective noir drama series, True Detectives, the TV series more promises deep and darker thinking Woody.

The thing that amazes me with Woody, 52, is how easily he can slip into the darker roles after playing lighter ones.  Few actors can do that.  Harrelson built his early career on comedy, so it’s in his system and shows up in nearly all of his performances.  However, when it comes to characters full of depravity and inner demons, Woody is one of the go to guys right now.  His arsenal is a peculiar yet sharply fastened one.  Wildly unpredictable with a Southern twinkle in its eye.

Check out Harrelson in theaters in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire or Out of The Furnace.

Care to share some thoughts, throw me some feedback at buffa82@gmail.com.

Read more about the world of film at my site, http://www.film-addict.com

 

Mozeliak and Cards Sitting Pretty

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Good morning folks,

As Major League Baseball’s offseason dial starts to pick up with fierce intensity, Cardinals fans can be safe and assured that their general manager isn’t sleeping with his cell phone attached to his eye lobe.   John Mozeliak filled out his big need cards before Thanksgiving hit, and at the moment is sitting pretty at his desk waiting for smaller deals to materialize.  After acquiring Peter Bourjos through a trade and signing free agent shortstop Jhonny Peralta to a multi-year contract, Mo is now looking to fill out smaller spots on his roster but doesn’t necessarily feel the need to bend over backwards for any team.   That’s a good feeling for him and the fans.

This is where being a Cardinals fan has its supreme virtues.   When the games are over and the suits take the field for offseason trade jockeying and free agent bidding, fans get tense and probably lose more nerves than they do during the season.   For Cards fans, we can look back just 2 years and remember the anxiety following the Albert Pujols trade rumor mill.  It wrapped up in early December but for more than 4 weeks, that was all anyone could think about.    Since then, the Cards have done pretty well, stocked their team with young talent and now sit as a team ready to start spring training.

What else is there for Mozeliak to possibly look at improving?   Finding a power bat that can come off the bench and put in some time at third base or second base would be nice.  A player like Michael Young, who spent the last part of 2013 on the bench of the Dodgers.  He has pop, can play multiple positions and be a fine asset to have to protect against injury and give you depth on a bench that ranked as one of the worst in baseball in 2013.  Sure, you have Matt Adams on days where Bourjos, Oscar Taveras and Allen Craig play but Adams could easily be at first base for a decent portion of the season unless zero injuries happen.  If Mo needs to look at anything, it’s finding another veteran bat that can be counted on in late innings.   This isn’t a huge need but one that I am sure our guy is keeping an eye on this month.

Jon Jay is another question.   Does he stay or does he go?  He will be asking for 3-3.5 million dollars, which isn’t bad money for a 4th or 5th outfielder.   If you keep Jay, do you also keep Shane Robinson around with the steady diet of young outfielders coming up through the ranks of Springfield and Memphis.   If I am Robinson, I don’t want to start the season as the 5th outfielder or go down to Memphis.   Shane played very well last year in a smaller role and deserves more playing time.   If Jay stays, I see Shane on the way out for his own sake.   It will be different in 2014, with Bourjos and Taveras playing factors in the playing time slots.  If I were Mo, I would look for a trade suitor for Jay, who could have some value with his overall performance the past 2.5 years in center field.  Sure, he was once a very good bench player but that was before every team in the majors built  up a book on pitching him.   Now may be the time to sever ties with Jay.

The one thing the Cardinals don’t need is pitching of any kind.   That is a sweet fact.   It’s nice to not have to be the team to hand an aging pitcher like Scott Karmir 2 years and a lot of cash to fill a roster spot.   The Cards have 8 pitching candidates for the rotation and a heavily loaded bullpen with plenty of arms working their way through the ranks of the minors.  I don’t think this team needs to be thinking about acquiring serious pitching talent for many years.  When Shelby Miller is being set up as a contender for a rotation spot, you know you are in good hands.

What will Mo do?  The options aren’t great.  Michael Young, Jeff Baker and Kevin Youklis are among the available hands.  Anyone higher will cost too much?   I doubt we see anything done by our GM before the New Year hits.   He will be patient and can afford to be with his quick movement.

Other M.L.B. offseason news tidbits-

*The Jacoby Ellsbury/Yankees deal is atrocious.    Right when the Yankees were starting to move away from outrageous contracts, they step back into the bank theft role and give Brian McCann and Ellsbury huge deals.  The McCann one is sound on a few levels, with his LH hitting and relatively young age and value.   The money there isn’t too smart but when compared to the 7 years and 143 million given to Ellsbury, it’s definitely wiser.   Look, I think Ellsbury is a good player and worthy of a decent contract.   However, he isn’t a spring chicken and is very injury prone.  This contract reeks like the Carl Crawford/Boston Red Sox deal did and that is horrible.   Every time a crazy contract like this is finalized, I look back at the deal John Mozeliak struck for Matt Holliday in January of 2010 and cherish the bargain that it was.

*If Mike Napoli seriously thinks he is getting 17-20 million per season, then I should put myself on the market to see what I am worth.   Napoli isn’t worth 15 million much less 20 million and not if the deal is over 2 years.

*If it is true and the Royals really did offer Carlos Beltran a 3 year/48 million dollar deal, good for them.    There isn’t a guarantee he will take the money but he is exactly what that team needs and he would be returning to the place where he started his career.  He would also get to face the Cards twice a year and that is a scary if comforting though.  Most of all, I respect Kansas City for putting themselves out there and doing their best to secure a big prize.   If it is true, that’s a good move for them. Update-The Royals did not offer Beltran the contract and he will go elsewhere.

*The Houston Astros have acquired Ryan Jackson, Adron Chambers and Dexter Fowler in the past 2 weeks.  Watch out contenders!  They will lead the American League in infield singles and strikeouts easily.

*While the Nationals gave up a few young players to make it happen, I really like their acquisition of Doug Fister, an underrated starter from Detroit who was overshadowed by Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer.  Fister put together decent numbers in the American League and could improve coming over to the NL.   Sure, Comerica Park was a pitcher’s park, but Washington isn’t necessarily a sandbox and in my opinion, Fister will fare well there.

*It is not true that the Yankees are trying to lure Barry Bonds out of retirement to come be their DH and accept a 6 year, 280 million dollar deal with a guarantee of high quality “clean protein shakes” on a daily basis.  Completely false.

*It is also false that the Yankees offered Charlie Sheen a healthy wage to reprise his role as Rick Vaughn in a real life relief role.   Let me be the one to shoot that down.

*Robinson Cano just signed a 10 year/240 million dollar contract with the Mariners.  Blame the game, not the player.  People always get in an uproar about player contracts in baseball and forget that the suits started this game and the players are only playing it very well.  Cano gets out of Yankee land(where he got a ring) and now goes to a Seattle team begging for some true firepower.  Jay Z got him his money and that is that.

*Curtis Granderson leaves the Yankees for the Mets for 4 years and 60 million.   Solid deal and puts the Yankees in play to land Carlos Beltran.

It is indeed the season to be jolly and for owners and agents to be crazy.    That’s December in baseball.   Let the games begin.   It’s a good thing the Cardinals and Mozeliak are mostly spectators.

Thanks for reading this,

Dan L. Buffa

@buffa82 on Twitter

Reach me at buffa82@gmail.com

Manny Pacquiao Reinvents Himself in China

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I am a little late to the Pacquiao-Rios fight coverage but sometimes you have to take the time required to allow an action packed boxing match to digest in your system.   Certain things send you directly to the keyboard.  Others allow you to wait.  After I watched the fight at a house full of boxing gents young and old, I was on the road to KC in less than 6 hours.  Out in the country of DeSoto Kansas, there isn’t a lot of internet reception for you to play with.   So the Pacquiao triumph on the other side of the world didn’t hit the page until now.  What transpired in Macau last Saturday night?  The reinvention of one of the best boxers of our generation.   Manny Pacquiao is back friends.

Facing a young bully puncher in Brandon Rios, living on a prayer in his highest paid fight card ever, Pacquiao had a lot to lose.   He could have ran into another right hand and slammed into the canvas.  His career could have ended far far away from Las Vegas, where he gathered most of his glory.   You can tell me all day how Rios was a straight forward moving talentless puncher, but I will remind you in the sport of boxing anything can happen at any time.  Manny knew that and so did Brandon.

From the first round, though, Manny was in control.   He was back at his crafty sharpness in the ring, jumping in like a rattlesnake with fierce combinations and darting and turning out of trouble.   At his best, Pac-Man doesn’t just stand in the middle and exchange.   He bounces around, fires left jabs and right hooks and slowly takes opponents apart who wrongfully judge a man’s size next to his punching power.   Rios smiled all night in an attempt to throw crazy snake eyes at a fighter who knew damage was being done.   Rios’ face usually doesn’t bruise that much.   He can take a punch and stand there and exchange.  The difference tonight was Pacquiao’s defense and quickness didn’t allow Rios to set his feet and fire anything back in return.   Sure, he landed a solid shot every once in a while but each time, Manny shook it off like his mother just slapped him and came right back.   Manny was relentless and boxed the younger fighter into exhaustion and frustration.   It was a clinic that PAC badly needed to put on for his fans and doubters.

A fair share of boxing fans were ready to bury Pacquiao’s career out in China.   You just couldn’t make out the invisible shovels next to their seats.   I knew Manny had a few great fights left in him.   I watched the Bradley fight over and over and saw how highway robbery.  I saw a guy starting to pound the opposing fighter’s face into bloody submission before that said opposer(Juan Manuel Marquez) landed a magical counter hook and knocked out our protagonist.  I didn’t see a disastrous loss of skill in Pacquiao.  Sure, he has aged a bit and lost some of his punching power.   However, smart boxers adapt and get better as they get older while others rely on the same old tricks and get flat lined quick.

When people say Pacquiao has lost something, I agree with them but leave out the negativity.   Every boxer loses something as they get older, and they must adapt to stay strong and at the top of their game.   Every boxer carries the every fight danger of getting dropped and Pac knows about this full well.  However, watching him fight against Rios, I noticed a stronger minded fighter than I had seen in his career.   Pac isn’t the killer he used to be and doesn’t have the blazing power that can stop Ricky Hatton in 2 rounds or destroy Oscar De La Hoya.  He is 34 years old and has to rely on different tricks, like punch accuracy and speed.   Pacquiao still has the speed and has brilliant accuracy when it comes to utilizing his jab and landing combinations.  If you have those two things in check, victory and time are in your corner.   Manny has lost something, as every great fighter not named Floyd Mayweather Jr.(as deadly at 36 as he was when he was 26) runs into at some point.  Pacquiao has rebounded by using a more tactical approach, one that includes even more head movement, jabs and combinations.   At his worst, Manny stands and trades.   At his best, against Rios, he darts in, picks apart his opponent and slips away.   He controls the space inside the ring and makes it torturous for the other fighter to get comfortable.

Manny is a changed fighter, but as we saw November 23rd in China, that is not necessarily a bad thing.   The movement and speed he showed could keep him going for another 2-3 years.   Judging by the face of Rios’ at the end of 12 brutal rounds, his power isn’t looking so bad either.  Manny’s shots would have destroyed other boxers quicker.  I give credit to Rios for being super tough, eating those punches and earning a decision loss.

Ladies and gentlemen, Pacquiao is BACK!

Thanks for reading,

Dan L. Buffa

@buffa82 on Twitter

Reach me at buffa82@gmail.com

A Few Words With Frank Grillo

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“First movie I saw with my pop. Longest Yard with Burt Reynolds. I said “I wanna be that guy””-Frank Grillo

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On his twitter page, Frank Grillo plainly states, “I’ll fight any superhero with my bare hands.”  That’s the essence of the gifted actor and tells you all a movie loving soul needs to know about this underrated performer.   He is blunt, worthy of your attention and a lot more than “a face of film” in my opinion.  Grillo is a born and bred New Yorker just hitting the age of 50 this year and he hasn’t lost an ounce of will.  The statement could be blindly tied to his role as Crossbones in the next summer’s Marvel sequel, Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

However, when taken on its own, the Twitter bio can be placed on top of Grillo’s entire career.  He’s a fighter in this game of filmmaking and always will be.   Grillo takes on Jason Statham in this week’s Homefront and I had to chance to ask him some questions about his trade craft.

While his first role was a bit role in a 1993 film called Deadly Rivals, I remember him hitting my vision in 2002’s Minority Report playing an officer colliding with Tom Cruise’s runaway cop.  That is signature Grillo.   Bashing skulls with the pretty boy movie stars and leaving a dent in your mind long after the credits roll.   In 2011’s Warrior, Grillo played a MMA trainer who brought Joel Edgerton’s professor back to the land of hand to hand combat warriors.  You didn’t catch his face on the poster, but that isn’t the point.  The point is the performance Grillo turned in that caught critic’s and fan’s attention.  To an actor, it’s all about the work.

When I call him a character actor, Grillo respectfully disagrees and lays it out firmly but fair.  “I’m not a character actor. Who is really?  Ernest Borgnine, I guess. I’m an actor. I’ve been leading on TV and in film. You need to understand the business to understand who’s the guy and who supports. It’s not a meritocracy.  A Character actor is an old term for an actor who plays the same character.”  Again, this is blunt response and not an actor being rude.  I respect Grillo for bringing it straight with me and not phoning in the answer.

When I ask him how much time he gives to a script to hook him, he says it usually happens quickly. “First ten pages and I’m in or out. It’s a gut thing or a money thing.  If the script’s good, I’ll do anything.”  Too many actors languish on scripts until they force themselves to do it or do so at the request of their agent.  Grillo sounds like an actor who takes his career and puts it in his own hands.  There is an old school grace about him that flickers throughout his words.  He leaves the B.S. to other actors.

Grillo continues on the idea of the label of character actor being overused.  “It all has a lot to do w international value.  Those guys are brilliant. But don’t necessarily have a lot of drawing power. Not a meritocracy.”  He sounds like a guy who knows what he has to do and will just keep fighting his way through juicy roles.

I asked him who is the biggest badass he has ever faced on film and his answer is unequivocally quick.  “(Liam) Neeson.  Hands down.”  Grillo and Neeson shared the screen in the outstanding and underrated film The Grey, directed by Joe Carnahan.  There is hope that Carnahan and Grillo will remake a Charles Bronson film someday if funding comes through.

What is up next for Grillo?  A lot of versatile film fare.  In 2014 he has Demonic with Mario Bello.  Captain America: Winter Soldier.  Big Sky with Kyra Sedgewick and Bella Thorne.  A Conspiracy on Jekyll Island with Minnie Driver and John Lequizamo, Ed Westwick, Mary McCormack as well as a Direct TV series called Navy St., which Grillo compares to Warrior.

My favorite Grillo scene is clear cut.  He is magnetic in every role he takes but his role as Sarge in End of Watch involved a scene at a cop’s wedding where Grillo’s weary and wise cop tells this group of soldiers about this incident with a partner.  He tells these young men how this guy took a bullet for him and that the bullet “was mine and he took it.”  Grillo says it was “last minute” and it plays in parts during the wedding scene but it’s one of the lasting images I took from that film and I rated it my top movie of 2012.  Grillo was a big reason for that.  He was so good as Sarge you would have thought he wore that badge for years.

That’s why Grillo calls himself simply an actor.   That is what he does and he does it very well.  I implore you to check out this man’s work and get to know his name as well as his face.  He has big things ahead of him and while fighting superheroes may be involved, I personally think something a lot better awaits Grillo.

After answering these questions the day before Thanksgiving, Grillo says thank you and that my work here on him is much appreciated.   Trust me, Mr. Grillo, for this film-addict, the pleasure is all mine and it will stay that way as long as he keeps working.

Signature Frank Grillo Films–The Grey, End of Watch, Warrior, Homefront, Pride and Glory, Disconnect, Prison Break, and a brief stint on The Shield.

Connect with Grillo on Twitter at his handle, @FrankGrillo. 

 

Written By Dan Buffa

Film-Addict Co-Creator/Writer

@buffa82 on Twitter

Reach me at buffa82@gmail.com

(Getting to talk to Frank happened on a whim.  Truly, out of nowhere.  I praised his work in a tweet on Tuesday and he replied in gratitude and I asked him about a quick interview and he complied.  This interview was done over Twitter direct message.   A way that Twitter is powering my passionate career as well as many others.  The global ground of opportunity.)

Buffa Bullet Round

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Live from KC, I am breaking out one of my favorite blog tactics.   Random fire stream of consciousness….here we go.

  • Being out in the country has it’s ups and downs but every once in a while is just what you need.   Out here in DeSoto, Kansas, there are times where I need to post a Film-Addict piece and I feel like screaming at meaningless air, but I remind myself that this is a time to relax and forget about internet service and cell phone bars.
  • Every day I look at my kid and think, “what the hell did I do to deserve such a prodigy?”  He is like me in more ways than one but also shows plenty of personality spice from his mother.   For instance, the pouty face comes from the wife.   His ability to beg.   Her too.  And the greatest thing of all.  Stopping at nothing in order to get what you want.  Vinny is a true breed of crazy and that is from the wife and I.   He is the kind of kid who gets second looks from strangers, legit smiles, friendly waves and a big chuckle when they hear his ITALIAN name.  Vincent Buffa!
  • The righteousness officers have came out in full force on the Jhonny Peralta trade with the Cardinals.   All of a sudden, any player who makes a mistake and uses PED’s doesn’t deserve a second chance or a good contract once he proves he can hit without the roids.   Peralta made a mistake in the spring of 2012 and was penalized for it.  He served his 50 games in the 2013 season and came back stronger than ever at the end of the season to help drive his team to the playoffs.   Peralta deserves as much of a chance as anybody to make a comeback.   Any Brewers fan who forgives Ryan Braun or Yankees fan who feels the need to call Andy Pettite a hall of famer can attest to the fact of second chances.   Any Braun fan will try to throw a connection between their player and Peralta, but let me clarify something.  Ryan lied when confronted about his usage and in the process ruined a man’s life(the tester who made the error with the urine sample).   Braun is a liar and a cheater.  Peralta admitted his mistake and did his time.  What’s wrong with a man coming back and earning a second chance with his ability?  Cards GM John Mozelaik wouldn’t have brought this guy into the fold for four years if he didn’t sit down with the man and look dead into his eye and make certain his misgivings were finished.  Mo and his team did their homework.  And by the way, when Peralta was on the PED’s, his production went down.   Off the enhancers, his numbers spiked this past fall.  So give up the fight moral chest beaters.  Peralta earned the right to get a big contract and his partnership with the Cards is based in logic and need and not cheat or greed.   Find a different tree to climb.
  • The Blues are more impressive this season than they have been in previous seasons.    This team is winning on the road and taking command on home ice.   David Backes is scoring goals regularly.  Jay Bouwmeester has turned into the latest genius signing of GM Doug Armstrong.   The goaltending tandem was thrown a wrench when Jaro Halak endured a beatdown in Washington, but the Slovak has bounced back and turned in three fine performances since then, including an absolute war in Boston Garden that saw our Note outlast the Stanley Cup Champion Bruins in a shootout.  Monday night was most impressive.   On home ice in their last game before the Thanksgiving break, The Blues shut out the Minnesota Wild 3-0.   They dominated the game and never let it get close to shaky.  After a Wild goal was taken back early, utility specialist Vlady Sobotka sank his 5th goal of the season and the Blues were off.   This Hitchcock built team thrives on taking away teams energy in the neutral zone and using an aggressive forecheck to control the puck in the offensive zone.   A strong defense of Bou, Jackman, Polak, Pietro and Shatty grounds the team while goal scorers like Alex Steen and playmakers like T.J. Oshie set the tables.   Veterans in Brendan Morrow and Derek Roy are doing their part but the best thing about the Blues is there isn’t a lone star on this squad.  Everybody contributes.  Every game.  Ken Hitchcock wants no passengers on this Stanley Cup train and in a conference with so many strong teams, The Blues will have to maintain this course.  For some reason I like their chances more this time around than previous seasons.   Call it game to game observation or homer syndrome.   I know what I am seeing.  Hold onto your pants as I say this.  This is a Blues team I can see contending for a Stanley Cup title.  Digest that with your turkey and gravy this week.
  • Frank Grillo is an actor you should investigate instead of basically recognize his face.   A genuinely gifted character actor known for roles in The Grey, Warrior, End of Watch, Disconnect and this week, Homefront, Grillo is true grit personified.  I will be writing about him this week along with spotlights on Woody Harrelson and the Cinemax returning series Banshee.  Look for those here and on Film-Addict.
  • The Cards aren’t done yet but they could be.   This is rare for any team but this year John Mozelaik didn’t mess around or wait on teams to dictate the pace.  Again, I praise Mozelaik for acting swiftly and getting the parts he needed for this well oiled baseball machine.   The last thing I would look for is Mo finding a bat who can play third base and second base.  Someone like Michael Young.  He can sit back now and pick from the best crops now that desperation is out of the picture.   Smart GM’s work at their own speeds.  This was the case with the Cardinals top suit here.
  • I have seen a lot of fine films the past few weeks.   Dallas Buyers Club, with two powerhouse performances from Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto.  Homefront promises a fine slice of Jason Statham action ass kicking pie.   Delivery Man is decent Vince Vaughn comedy with just enough nuance.  My personal pick for the crowd is Philomena, a heartfelt comedy starring two British pros in Judi Dench and Steve Coogan.   A true story about a former journalist helping an older woman get in touch with her long lost son touches the heart but never forgets to include a wicked sense of humor.   Dench is marvelous as usual but the actor  to watch and appreciate here is Coogan, who co-wrote and produced as well.  Playing an atheist who is helping a woman who believes in GOD even though nuns took away her child, Coogan isn’t just spilling one liners here.  He is playing an angry mad man and someone who encounters a dose of fresh grace when he helps this woman.   The film is perfect for the holidays.
  • Need a comedian to watch that will make you laugh your ass off and keep it clean so you can bring the DVD to your family holiday get together?   Rent or buy Jim Breuer’s latest standup show, And Laughter for All.    Dealing with the middle age metal head loving father/husband miseries known to many people, Breuer sprinkles in impersonations and stories about faking a bomb threat and taking his kids to a crazy safari.   It’s all money in the bag if you ask me.  Check it out.
  • When it comes to music lately, I am looking up bands with a great song and seeing what else they have to offer.   Here is a list of bands with a song you undoubtedly have heard and one I have discovered that isn’t played and deserves the airwaves.

The Lumineers-

Song You Know-“Ho Hey”

Song You Need to know-“Charlie Boy”

Mumford and Sons-Off their latest album, Babel

Song You Know-“I Will Wait”

Song You Need To Know-“Not With Haste”

The Heavy-

Song You Know-“How Do You Like Me Now”

Song You Need To Know-“Stuck”

Kings of Leon-off their latest album, Mechanical Bull

Song You Know-“Wait For Me”

Song You Need to Know-“Comeback Story”

The Black Keys-

Song You Know-“Howlin For You”

Song You Need To Know-“Sinister Kid”

I have no need to provide descriptions.  You will find out why when you find them on Youtube.   I will do future editions of this in Bullet Rounds and Music Spotlights.

  • Every time I happen to leave town, I end up firing weapons.  This time, I got to fire with my father in law, Ed.   He is basically a cool version of Lee Marvin.  We went to an outdoor range, which is my preferred setting to fire a weapon.   Indoor ranges are foggy and too shoved together to feel safe firing deadly weapons. Today I shot a 9mm Beretta and a Ruger along with a six shoot pistol.   There are few instant reliefs than firing a gun at a safe range.   Power, authority, coolness, needed skill and greatness all in one dose.
  • Suddenly, a live police chase right here in KC is breaking out.  As I write this, police are chasing a man through a rural neighborhood in Kansas City.  As we speak, he is trapped in a house and the police are closing in.   True story.
  • The Rams have made a turnaround and it started with a loss.   Yes, that’s right.  When the Rams welcomed the powerhouse NFC rival Seattle Seahawks into the Edward Jones Dome on October 28th.   They battled the current NFC best team to a 15-9 finish but had the ball near the goal line with seconds to go and with a chance to win the game.   This was Kellen Clemons first game as a starter.   This was the game where Robert Quinn and Chris Long helped the defense break out.  Now, at the time the Rams were 3-4 and not looking horrible and just lost Sam Bradford.  The Rams nearly beat the Seahawks and while they lost another close game to the Titans a week later, they have followed with their two best showings of the season against Indianapolis and Chicago.   They wrecked havoc on Andrew Luck and the playoff bound Colts 38-8 and after a bye week beat up the Jay Cutler-less Bears 42-21.  What triggered this turnaround?  An established reliance on the running game, which found footing where Zac Stacy was inserted into the starting role on October 6th against Jacksonville.  That is where the seed was planted.  Jeff Fisher and Brian Schottenheimer deciding to use this turnaround in the season to reset the emphasis on smashmouth football.  Clemens doesn’t feel the pressure to win games by himself and Tavon Austin has gotten unleashed lately.  Jared Cook is catching passes again.  Robert Quinn is turning into a young Reggie White on defense and suddenly the Rams are getting ahead in games and dictating the pace.   What lies ahead?  Matchups with The 49ers, Cards and Seahawks on the road with home matches against Tampa Bay and New Orleans.   Sure, there may be 1 win in there in foresight but this team has proved anything is possible.   Winning without their starting QB is a huge step forward for a franchise that couldn’t win with 5 different QB’s and 3 different head coaches and 6 different offensive coordinators.  The Rams could finish with 6 wins but take into account their losses and it’s a miraculous feat.  Rams football is truly exciting again and it doesn’t revolve or Bradford or Steven Jackson alone.

I end with this.   Remember Grillo, the actor I told you to follow but probably have already forgot.   Well, get his name in your head.   Today, I made contact with him on Twitter and will write an in depth Q & A session that I will post on my site here and Film-Addict.  This is why I soldier on with Film-Addict even though a profit hasn’t been made and isn’t in sight.  Getting the chance to interact with actors and filmmakers who make the magic happen.   That drives me every day.

That’s all I got.  Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for reading this.

-Dan L. Buffa

@buffa82 on Twitter

Reach me at buffa82@gmail.com 

 

Hello Jhonny Peralta

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Quick take reaction to the close to finalized signing by the Cardinals of free agent Jhonny Peralta.

First, let me commend John Mozeliak for showing urgency in resolving the needs of this team.  He tested the trade market and found a match for David Freese and improved his horribly 2013 ranked outfield defense with Peter Bourjos.  However, when it came to finding a shortstop, the requests of teams seemed to be too much for Mo to bear.   So he went to the free agent market and found a decent acquisition in Jhonny Peralta.   For money that will be 4 years for around 52 million, Peralta will take over at short until the 2018 season.   This is a quality acquisition.

Did Mo overpay for the guy?  In my opinion, he did not overpay and basically met the market demands while improving his team drastically.  Take away the .230 hitting combo of Daniel Descalso and Pete Kozma and enter the .300 hitting Peralta who is capable of cranking 20 home runs.

Sometimes the price can’t be measured by the player you get but by the market he exists in.   On the market, you had overrated Scott Boras represented Stephen Drew and you had Peralta.   Mo wisely picked the latter who could provide his team with pop and a glove that provided a .988 fielding percentage as recently as 2012.  I do not love this deal but it has grown on me over the last 18 hours.   Let’s break it down.

Peralta isn’t young.  He is a 10 year MLB veteran with time split between Cleveland and Detroit who is 31 years old and will finish the proposed Cardinals deal at 35.   That presents concerns going forward but it’s what he has done with the bat that provides the biggest upside here.   Four times in his career, he has hit 20 or more home runs.   As recently as 2011, Peralta hit 21 home runs, drove in 86 runs, and hit .299.    He doesn’t score a lot of runs and strikes out a lot.  He has played 140 or more games in 8 of his 10 seasons.  At his best, his on base percentage is around .350.   At his best, he is around 4 wins above his replacement.   I see this guy and I see somewhat of enigma.   He didn’t have a good 2012 season when it came to batting average but he produced 13 HR and 63 RBI.  In 2013, he hit .303 with 11 HR and 55 RBI in only 107 games.  He gives you pop, a decent average and someone who can make plays in the field.   This isn’t an overwhelming player by any means but one who can thrive in the right surroundings.

Peralta helped his offseason cause by hitting .333 in the 2013 postseason with 10 hits while playing shortstop and left field.

For people who hate the money in the deal, would you rather us give up Shelby Miller, Matt Adams or Carlos Martinez in order to acquire J.J. Hardy?  Do you want to take on Andrus’ 120 million and give up 3-4 players in return?   This signing signifies how badly Mozeliak wanted to hang onto his young talent and not bend over backwards for other teams demands.  Mozeliak surveyed the market and made his choice.   You can tell he wasn’t going to give away a player like Adams, whom Mo coveted, to anyone and in the end the asking price for a shortstop under team control was too steep.

Peralta solves a problem at shortstop for the Cardinals.   He isn’t anyone’s first choice for the job but he will be a fine improvement and fill a need.   He gives you an offensive upgrade at a position left out in the cold by the Cards for too long.   No more Pete Kozma or Daniel Descalso.   Expect Peralta to get 155 starts if his body can hold up.   He is the shortstop for the next four years.

Inside 3 days, Mozeliak solved two needs.  Outfield defense and shortstop offense.   Those problems have been solved.    And guess what?   The Cards didn’t part with one single piece of their heavily equipped young arsenal of talent.    That is the best part about the Peralta deal.

I expect our GM to sit back  now and survey the trading/free agent landscape for a couple smaller deals or possible trades but he doesn’t HAVE to do anything.   His needs have been filled.  This team didn’t have many holes to begin with.  The Cards are ready to contend again.   This year The Birds will have Oscar Taveras.   The Cards could have Stephen Piscotty in the outfield as well.   They will have Bourjos and Wong in the same lineup giving pitchers problems.  Matt Adams and Allen Craig patrolling first base.  Matt Carpenter back at third base.   Holliday in left.  And a most valuable asset behind the plate in Yadi Molina.   A pitching staff including at least 7 starting candidates with a loaded bullpen.   Things are good in Cardinal Nation and it’s not even Thanksgiving.

Well done, Mo.   Peralta is a producer and somewhat with an element of surprise.   He comes here with the Cards not having to hand over a draft pick to the Indians and no players on their current roster.   Before you cry out about other players or the money, remember what Mozelaik didn’t give up.

That’s all for now.  Have a great Sunday!

Thanks for reading this,

Dan L. Buffa

@buffa82 on Twitter

buffa82@gmail.com