See My Vest

Laura and I have been talking a lot recently about favorite Disney songs - dating back to the pit band at the HBS Show doing a medley of Lion King, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and Little Mermaid hits - and her argument is that her favorite Disney song is actually See My Vest by Mr. Burns in the Simpsons.

I have to agree that this is definitely one of the best Simpsons songs EVER (maybe up there with SpiderPig) but I can't decide which one of Burns' items is my favorite. The top 3 are definitely:
1) Beret of Poodle (on his noodle)
2) Grizzly Bear Underwear
3) His loafers.... former gophers!

Anyway, this song has been stuck in my head for days, although we had many of the lyrics all wrong.

What Do Sheeps Sound Like?

Are you familiar with that special brand of silliness that manifests itself when you're really tired? The kind where even puns become super funny?

Por ejemplo: I realized this morning when I got up that our house guest Paul - who arrived after I went to bed - had already departed. I referred to us as "Ships that pass in the night" which when said in the vaugely Eastern European Balchy-from-Perfect-Strangers-esque voice Mike and I frequenly use when we're being goofy translates to: "Sheeps that pass in the night."

M: "What do you think that sounds like?"

Wait a beat...

L: "Baaa."

Hilarity ensues.

Aaand scene.

My Love Letter to Eric Berry

The NFL Draft starts on Thursday night this week in Prime Time. This makes me a little sad as I recall many (well, 4) Saturdays in college spent watching 14 straight hours of Mel Kiper's hair while hungover and waiting to see who the Eagles would pick. Granted, sometimes that meant waiting hours to see we had selected Mike Mamula, Freddie Mitchell, or traded out of the 1st round alltogether. This year, things are going to be different (knock on wood).

With the trade of Donovan McNabb to the Skins and the Sheldon Brown trade to the Browns, we have an embarrassment of riches at the top of the draft board. Five picks in the top 87, to be precise. This is my official plea to my favorite team to please, please, please package the 1st round pick plus some other stuff (a 3rd this year, a 2nd next year) to move up in the draft and select Eric Berry from Tennessee.

Brian Dawkins is my favorite Eagle of all time. It killed me last year to watch Macho Harris and Quintin Demps try and play Free Safety for the birds. Drafting Berry would be putting an ultimate playmaker in the Dawkins mold back in the secondary for the Eagles. A guy that can run, hit, and make plays is exactly what we were missing from that side of the ball last year and I would gladly trade an extra good draft pick to get a guy like Berry.

Please Andy Reid - before you pull the trigger on drafting a lameass offensive lineman from New Mexico or save that extra 2nd round pick to select an undersized LB from Akron, think of me and trade up to get me some Eric Berry - I will buy my new jersey the next day.

Summer Movie Preview... I have 3 points!

I still get Entertainment Weekly delivered from a random purchase at Best Buy like 3 years ago - i think they wickedly artificially inflate their subscription base just to juice $$$ from advertisers. Anyway, they came out with their Summer Movie double issue this week. I love the summer movie blitz and thought I would develop a small movie preview of my own.

3 Must See Movie
1 - Iron Man 2 (May 7) - loved the original, Tony Stark is one of the all time great heros (EW calls the movie a mix between Spider Man and Dark Knight... wow). Plus Laura and I saw Mickey Rourke (who has a ridiculous Russian accent in this movie) in NYC the other week and he looked craggled.
2 - The A-Team (June 11) - I love it when a plan comes together.... watching that van constantly blow over and flip over and the closing credits where the paper from the typewriter would fly into the air and land on the pile are two childhood A-Team memories that I treasure. This has a lot to live up to.... Liam "I Have a Particular Set of Skills" Neeson as Hannibal, Bradley Cooper as Face, Rampage Jackson as Mr. T, and that guy from District 9 that turned into the alien as Murdock. They better not mess this up. On the downside, they guy from Smokin' Aces is directing and that movie SUCKED. I am nervous.
3 - Inception (July 16) - I went back and forth on my 3rd must-see. I will give this the nod because of Christopher Nolan back in full Memento mode and with the talent of Leo and Joseph Gordon Levitt in the film. I am nervous that the plot involves stealing things from people's dreams and Ellen Page is involved, but I will press the I BELIEVE button.

3 Absolutely Not Movies
1 - Eat, Pray, Love (August 14) - hahahahah.... Julia Roberts in a movie that is described by EW as "a writer's yearlong global search for sustinence and serenity after a wrenching divorce." hahahahah... um, no.
2 - The Karate Kid (June 11) - wha??? NO! Didn't Hilary Swank teach you anything!?!? You cannot remake the Kid! Jackie Chan as Miagi? Jaden Smith as the incomprable Ralph Macchio? Billy Zabka as Billy Zabka? Actually, that last one isn't true, but still, NO!
3 - Marmaduke (June 4) - Owen Wilson.... really, dude? Apparently, the plot of this movie involves the title character (the dog) getting involved in a love triangle. Yup.

3 Movies That I Will DEFINITELY See on Netflix!
1 - The Expendables (August 13) - My #1 "if Laura owes me a favor, we are going to see this movie" movie. Described as earning a "hard R" rating - WTF does that mean!?!? - this movie involves Stallone, Willis, and the Governator. WOW!
2 - Jonah Hex (June 18) - Josh Brolin as some sort of dark comic book hero a la Sin City. Plus, Megan Fox is prominently involved and may be running at times. Supposed to be gritty and campy. Awesome.
3 - Robin Hood (May 14) - almost made it to the Must See list. Seems like Gladiator a few hundred years later. I love a good Russell Crowe action movie - he has been gone for waaay too long!

I also have very strong opinions on the Jake Gyllenhaal Prince of Persia but will write more about that another post.

Cole Hamels

I have pretty much hitched my Phillies phandom to Cole Hamels for the 2010 season. Even though Laura and I secretly think that Cole might prefer a beanbag hackeysack to a baseball, his performance this year (even more than J-Roll's health, Fat Joe Blanton's abs, the hole in Raul's swing, and Lidge's slider) is the most critical issue for the Phils to win the World Series.

Two weeks in and I am cautiously optimistic. I own Cole on both of my fantasy teams as a 3rd starter with the potential to either pitch like an ace or bum (2008 vs. 2009). After listening to Cole's game on the radio yesterday driving back from Syracuse, I took a look at the Fan Graphs performance so far and am pretty confused - not just by the stat dork sabermetrics (http://bit.ly/c5HGTU):

ERA (08/09/10): 3.09/4.32/3.86
K/9: 7.76/7.81/9.16
FIP: 3.72/3.72/4.02

I like what I am hearing listening to Cole's starts. I like the high K's numbers and efficiency of pitches. I am concerned by the love of the cut fastball and the FIP. If his FIP in comparison to the ERA was the cause for the optimism for this season, should I be worried that he is off of both his '09 AND '08 numbers??? Ugh.

Either way, give him some run support and I think he can deliver behind the workhorse behemoth that is Doc Halladay. Love it.