October 10th, 2006 → 10:26 am @ Seth Mnookin
It’s no secret that I like pointing out the sheer ridiculousness of assorted Times articles; as any media observer knows, I’m far from the only person who sees a certain amount of obstinate boneheadedness in the Times. (A humorous aside: the Times couldn’t even spell the name of the author of that story’s name correctly.)
Yesterday’s Times contained another doozy: Laura Holson’s shockingly incredulous story on Warner Bros. The thesis is pretty much summed up in the story’s hed: “After Big Flops, Warner Hopes for ‘Sleeper’ Hit in Smaller Films.” Here’s the evidence to support that thesis:
* Warner Bros. has had some unexpected flops from “conventional choices” that seemed “safe from the start.” One prominent example is M. Night Shyamalan’s “Lady in the Water.” Why any M. Night project would be called “safe” — he’s never reached the artistic or box office success he had with “The Sixth Sense” and has become increasingly ridiculed in Hollywood and among critics — is beyond me. What’s more, “Lady”‘s premise is laughingly indulgent: Shyamalan decided to spent $100 million or so filming a fairy tale he wrote for his daughter in which a superintendent saves a young woman from a pool…except said woman turns out to be a character from a bedtime story. Safe, indeed.
* The studio has “successfully paired offbeat directors with mainstream projects. Tim Burton, for instance, was not an obvious choice to direct ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,’ nor was Johnny Depp an obvious star.” It’s unclear what we’re supposed to take from this — I assume Burton is an “offbeat” director, but in what world is “Charlie in the Chocolate Factory” a mainstream project? What’s more, Burton has directed his share of mainstream successes, like, say, the first three Batman movies. And it’s hard to think of a more obvious pairing for a “Charlie” movie than Burton and Depp, who famously teamed up in “Edward Scissorhands.”
* Now Warner is dependent on hoping that “smaller, riskier films” succeed…smaller, riskier films like Martin Scorsese’s “The Departed.” It’s “smaller,” I guess, because it only cost $90 million, and ‘riskier’ because Scorses, Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, and Leonardo DiCaprio teaming up to make a gangster film is an obvious case of box office poison.
But for every head-slapping mess, the Times has more than its share of brilliant, holy-shit, page-turning gems. The Arts and Business sections are both as good as I ever remember them being. And there’ve been a number of pieces I’ve clipped as of late for no reason other than I want to make sure I have a chance to read them again. Take this Sunday’s story on post-traumatic stress in elephants and what it can tell researchers about human behavior. Or Joe Sharkey’s first-person account about flying over the Amazon in a corporate jet and getting clipped by a Boeing 737. (Unfortunately, I waited too long to post this and now you need to have a Times Insider account or pay to read it.) For the past several days, the Times has been running a series on “how American religious organizations benefit from an increasingly accommodating government,” and unlike some of the paper’s we-want-a-Pulitzer-multiparters, this one is a worthwhile (even necessary) and fascinating series that few papers have the resources or the brainpower to pull off. Finally, in today’s paper, there’s an amazing story about a suburban high school teacher wh0 serially seduced her male students. (And I do mean amazing: the teacher married one student, had his child, and then seduced that child’s friends.)
EDIT: Burton, of course, only directed the first two Batmans…the good ones, with Michael Keaton.
Post Categories: Media reporting & New York Times
October 9th, 2006 → 10:05 am @ Seth Mnookin
In Judaism, you become a man at age 13. I’m going out on a limb here, but I’m betting 13-year-old Alex Reimer is a member of the tribe. (I’m sure Denis Leary would love riffing on that.) Reimer, for those of you who’ve been on a deserted island for the last couple of years, is the broadcasting phenom and host of “Without a Curse,” a weekly Sox podcast on mysportsradio.com (it’s posted every Monday and Thursday). Reimer’s been the subject of Boston Globe profiles and handled his appearance on the Tonight Show with far more aplomb than I would have. (No Jon Stewart appearances for him (yet, anyway), so at least I have him on that count.) Reimer’s smart, opinionated, fearless, and crazy informed about sports…kind of a Saturn Nuts of podcasters.
Last night I had the honor of being interviewed by Alex; perhaps not surprisingly, it was one of the more informed and insightful interviews I’ve done for Feeding the Monster. He posted the podcast this morning. It’s worth listening to…not for me, but for him.
Post Categories: Alex Reimer & Feeding the Monster Press & Podcasts
October 8th, 2006 → 10:21 am @ Seth Mnookin
“[M]omentum going into the playoffs means nothing, right? Wrong. … Since 1950, the 1990 Cincinnati Reds and the 1974 Oakland Athletics are the only other teams to win the World Series despite finishing the season with a sub-.500 record over their final 30 games. But they had records only slightly under .500, finishing at 14-16. …
So playing well at the end of the season is important. It not only increases the chances that a team will make the playoffs, it also increases the chances it will reach its ultimate goal. …
Playing well at the end of the season may even be more important than playing well over the entire season. World Series champions had a higher winning percentage (.622) over their final 30 games than they did over the entire season (an average of .606). This is not true for World Series runners-up. World Series runners-up win at a clip of .610 over the entire season and over their final 30 games.”
“Success in September is the Key to Winning in October”
by Martin B. Schmidt
New York Times
October 8, 2006
2006 Playoff Teams and Their Records Over the Season’s Final 30 Games
New York Yankess: 18-12
Detroit Tigers: 13-17
Tigers Win Series, 3-1
Minnesota Twins: 19-11
Oakland A’s: 17-13
A’s Win Series, 3-0
Los Angeles Dodgers: 18-12
New York Mets: 15-15
Mets Win Series, 3-0
San Diego Padres: 21-9
St. Louis Cardinals: 13-17
Cardinals Win Series, 3-1
So, to review: in all four of this year’s Division Series, the team with the worse record over the final 30 regular season games won. The Twins, with the best record in the AL over the season’s last month (and a day), were swept. The Padres, with a .700 winning percentage and the best record in all of baseball over that same period, lost in four games to a team that played .433 ball. Of the four teams in the LCS, two had losing records in September and one (the Mets) went .500…and they only managed that by sweeping the last place Washington Nationals during the season’s final series.
But this must be an anomaly, right? Not in this millenium. The team with the worse record over the season’s final 30 games has won four of the last six World Series: the 18-12 White Sox beat the 19-11 Astros last year; the 21-9 Angels beat the 22-8 Giants in 2002; the 15-15 Diamondbacks beat the 19-10-1 Yankees in 2001; and the 12-18 Yankees beat the 16-14 Mets in 2000.
Yeah, success in September sure does seem to be the key to winning in October.
Post Categories: Media reporting & New York Times & Sports Reporters
October 7th, 2006 → 10:48 pm @ Seth Mnookin
“They have won almost 600 games over six regular seasons, spending nearly $1 billion on salaries. They have imported some of the biggest stars in baseball, created their own cable network, set attendance records at their ballpark and broken ground on a new one.
But the one thing that used to define the Yankees, the boast spelled out across the marquee at Yankee Stadium, has escaped them. The Yankees no longer win championships.
Another year is over, and another chance is gone. The Yankees shuffled meekly from the postseason stage Saturday, falling to the Detroit Tigers, 8-3, in Game 4 of their American League division series at Comerica Park.”
— “For Yankees, October Has An Early Exit”
Tyler Kepner
New York Times
October 7, 2006
Indeed. The Yankees — the heralded best-hitting team of all-time, the first team in history with three $20 million players, the first team in history with 11 $10 million players, and the second team in history with a payroll over $190 million (last year’s $208 million Yankees were the first) — have lost in the first round of the playoffs for the second year in a row.
Tomorrow’s headlines are gonna be fun.
The breakdown:
Alex Rodriguez, $25 million: 1-14, 4 Ks, 0 RBI, .071 av., .133 obp, .071 slg.
Derek Jeter, $20.5 million: 8-16, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 15 tb, .500 av., .529 obp, .938 slg.
Jason Giambi, $20.5 million: 1-8, 1 HR, 2 RBI, .125 av., .417 obp, .500 slg.
Mike Mussina, $19 million: 0-1, 7 IP, 5.14 ERA
Randy Johnson, $15.5 million: 0-1, 5.2 IP, 7.94 ERA
Bobby Abreu, $13.5 million: 5-15, 4 rbi, .333 av., .412 obp, .400 slg.
Johnny Damon, $13 million: 4-17, 1 HR, 3 RBI, .235 av., .278 obp, .412 slg.
Hideki Matsui, $13 million: 4-16, 0 RBI .250 av., .250 av., .312 slg.
Jorge Posada, $12 million: 7-14, 1 HR, 2 RBI, .500,. .563, .786
Gary Sheffield, $10.75 million: 1-12, 1 RBI, .083 av, .083 obp, .083 slg.
Mariano Rivera, $10.5 million: 1.0 IP, 0.00 ERA
Jaret Wright, $7.5 million: 0-1, 2.2 IP, 10.12 ERA
Kyle Farnsworth, $5.17 million: 2.0 IP, 0.00 ERA
Cory Lidle, $3.3 million: 1.1 IP, 20.25 ERA
Ron Villone, $2.5 million: 1.0 IP, 0.00 ERA
Bernie Williams, $1.5 million: 0-3, .000 av., .000 obp, .000 slg.
Mike Myers, $1.15 million: 0.0 IP, infinite ERA
Post Categories: 2006 Playoffs & Yankees
October 7th, 2006 → 10:46 am @ Seth Mnookin
From this morning’s Jerry Krasnick ESPN story on the Yankees 6-0 Friday night loss — and 2-1 deficit in the ALDS — against the Detroit Tigers:
“We negatively need to have more life,” Damon said. “Not so much rah rah, but that inner confidence that says, ‘Every time I go up to the plate, I’m going to get the job done.’ And when you don’t, the next guy needs to have that confidence.” (Emphasis added)
I assume that’s a typo on Krasnick/ESPN’s part, but there definitely is a lot of negativity:
New York Post
Yankees Loss Is Un-Kenny; Team on Brink After Rogers’ Gem; Joe Fumes
Paper Tigers: Yanks’ Expensive Ship Needs to be Wright-ed
New York Daily News
Yankees Face Doom, Gloom; Torre’s warning: End is Near
Last Licks for A-Rod; May Be Goner if Yankees Fail
Bernie Gamble a Bust
Yanks Big ‘O’ 0-for-key spots
New York Times
Yankees, Looking Powerless, Face Elimination
Rodriguez, Batting Cleanup, Fails to Repeat Success Against Rogers
Post Categories: 2006 Playoffs & Johnny Damon & Yankees
October 6th, 2006 → 10:51 am @ Seth Mnookin
I’m about to take off for Brattleboro, Vermont, where I’ll be reading as part of their annual literary festival. As a result, I won’t have any trenchant comments on:
* The Yankees loss to the Tigers.
* The continuation of A-Rod’s playoff disappearing act. Yesterday, A-Rod struck out with the bases loaded in the first. Since Game 4 of the ’04 ALCS, he’s 4-35 with 0 RBIs in October.
* The Dodgers loss to the Mets. Grady Little started the rookie Hong-Chih Kuo (who-o?) (sorry – – couldn’t resist) instead of Greg Maddux. Seriously. (Let’s hope nobody takes Keith Law’s and Bill Simmons’s columns and reads them to Grady.)
* Nomar’s injury.
More, and more of those year-end wrap-ups, over the weekend…
Post Categories: 2006 Playoffs & A-Rod & Feeding the Monster Readings & Grady Little & Oblique references to Grateful Dead lyrics
October 6th, 2006 → 10:36 am @ Seth Mnookin
Two must-views:
1. The dual guitar solo on Dragonforce’s “Through the Fire and Flames.” (The whole clip is only about a minute long. I was tipped off to this by Kelefa Sanneh’s Times piece from earlier this week. As K. says: “A one-minute video of Mr. Li and Mr. Totman trading impossibly fast solos — from a song called “Through the Fire and Flames” — has been viewed nearly half a million times. (The fretwork is astonishing, but what’s even better is watching Mr. Totman swig a beer while Mr. Li plays.)” It’s truly mind-blowing…and actually better than Jake Shimabukuro’s ukulele rendition of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Tangentiallly, it’s becoming clearer and clearer that Kelefa is the best music writer in the country. I can’t think of a bad piece he’s written, and at least twice a week he comes out with something that examines some aspect of the music world in a whole new way.
2. Rock ‘n roll tour riders have been the subject of much fascination and awe ever since Van Halen demanded that their dressing rooms have bowls of M&M’s…with all the brown ones taken out.
Without further ado, I present to you the Iggy and the Stooges rider, dug up by the Smoking Gun. It is the best tour rider ever.
Some selected examples:
* “By the way, if there are any Reality TV executives reading this — hardly likely, I know, but — here is my idea for a Reality TV show. It’s called ‘Dead Dog Island’, where a group of contestants/dog lovers is asked what is their favourite breed of dog, then whatever they reply…they are then presented with a dead dog of that particular breed, which they have to cook in a number of different ways…”
* Sandwiches: “Hopefully not one of those sandwiches from Subway with beef and alfalfa sprouts sticking out like a Florida retiree’s bikini bottoms. Yuk.”
* Backstage entertainment: “Someebody dressed as Bob Hope Doing fantastic Bob Hope impersonations and telling all those hilarious Bob Hope jokes about golf and Hollywood and Bing Crosby.”
* For the Stooges dressing room: “6 cans of red bull or similar. Something with testicles in it. Or testicles lite.”
Read all 18 pages. It’s worth it.
Post Categories: 2006 Playoffs & A-Rod & Feeding the Monster Readings & Grady Little & Oblique references to Grateful Dead lyrics
