Slacker post of the week....

For those of you who hang on this blog's every word, and there aren't likely too many that don't have the last name of Archibald, I must first apologize for not posting at all this week.

Between the GRE's, extra classwork and a bunch of other busy things going on I haven't posted but wanted to get this up before Super Bowl Sunday.

I also had tickets to the Blazers game tonight and the Rose City's finest put on a great show. Even with the disappointing outing from Greg Oden, Brandon Roy, Rudy Fernandez and LaMarcus Aldridge were enough to get buy a pretty crippled Jazz team.


I was most impressed with point guard Sergio Rodriguez who seems to be finding his own during this Steve Blake injury. Tonight he did a pretty good job controlling the tempo of the game, making good decisions with the ball and hitting a couple of shots. He also set up Przybilla at least a couple of times and hit Fernandez for a couple of highlight reel dunks.

Still think that the Blazers are better off standing pat, or making a move for a legit starting small forward/point guard/backup power forward if they are going to do anything over the next few weeks.

I still think Richard Jefferson would be a great get for the Blazers but at this point it seems unlikely that that big of a deal would go down. I also wouldn't mind seeing a push for Rudy Gay, although it would take a ton, or David Lee.

On to Super Bowl news....

A couple of years ago, my twin little sisters were pretty good basketball players at Seaside High School and their basketball team made it to the state playoffs. I traveled with my parents to watch them play in their first round game at Junction City High School, which they won.

Then, by some OSAA scheduling miracle, the Gulls had to travel back down the I5 corridor to Roseburg to play Douglas High School.

Most of you probably know that Douglas, a small school about five miles from Roseburg, is the alma mater of Troy Polamalu, the now safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

While at the game, I couldn't help but notice the insane amount of Polamalu jerseys being worn by students at the game and the similar hairstyles displayed by some of the young men.

Thru a friend I was introduced to the Douglas High School Athletic Director who was relating a story about Polamalu.

Apparently, every off-season Polamalu makes a trip back to Southern Oregon and always stops by the high school. He doesn't come to be recognized at an all-school assembly or even to make an appearance to speak to an athletic team.

He always requests that nobody in the media know about his visit and often doesn't even warn the school when he is coming. When he gets to the school, Polomalu heads straight to the Special Education classroom where he spends the day working with the high schoolers with some sort of disability. The athletic director said that he is the most gentle and caring volunteer that the school has.

Now, some of this may be urban myth, or a high school athletic director exaggerating the truth a bit. But from everything I have seen or heard of Polomalu, it could just as well be true.

My point in sharing this is that the guy, despite his big hits and aggressive nature on the field is a pretty good guy. I will be rooting for him as much as anything else on Sunday. Maybe you should too.

Actors talking with actors

Over at Newsweek, they've transcribed a lengthy six-way interview between Brad Pitt, Frank Langella, Mickey Rourke, Anne Hathaway, Sally Hawkins and Robert Downey Jr. where the actors—all nominated for Oscars this year—talk about their craft and share some insight into their films.

It's a really interesting read, though it seems like Brad Pitt is trying to hard. (Dude, you're not a comedian; quit it!) I also wish Sally Hawkins had talked a little bit more, even though I hated her movie.

My favorite part is the very end, where Langella says this:

Well, our time is up. We can now let you all go.
LANGELLA: I'd like to say, for the record, I'm the oldest male at the table, and the only one who didn't get up to go to the bathroom.

I love curmudgeonly old assholes.

Link to the Newsweek story.

Dennis Wilson – Pacific Ocean Blue

A while back, The Vanguard received a copy of the re-release of Dennis Wilson's 1977 album Pacific Ocean Blue, and to my surprise, I found out that the erstwhile Beach Boy drummer had created an album that I actually really enjoyed. Maybe those surf bums had more than one eccentric genius?

Blue has great symphonic pop hooks, and his imperfect but endearing vocal stylings really hold the whole thing together. And it's appropriately titled too—this shit sounds like the relaxing ocean. To bad he died, I would have liked to hear more of this.

Here's a track:



The reissue also contains an entire unreleased album, Bambu, that's pretty damn good as well, all packaged in a deluxe, 2xCD edition.

Sorry for the late pass, but if'n you like the Beach Boys, check this out.

(mini) Grindhouse Trailer Fest

To accompany Anita' kick-ass piece on Portland's Grindhouse Film Festival, here's a couple of trailers for the film that the festival will be showing this weekend.

Both films play at the Hollywood Theater this Saturday, starting at 7:30 p.m. Check out the print edition for the full story on the Film Fest and the obsessive mind behind it.

Torso:


Pieces:

New term: Saddlebacking

New from Dan Savage:

"Saddlebacking: sad•dle•back•ing \ˈsa-dəl-ˈba-kiŋ\ vb [fr. Saddleback Church] (2009): the phenomenon of Christian teens engaging in unprotected anal sex in order to preserve their virginities

After attending the Purity Ball, Heather and Bill saddlebacked all night because she’s saving herself for marriage. Unfortunately her parents found out because they got santorum all over the sheets."

Visit here: http://saddlebacking.com

"Pooper" Bowl-5 sports movies more interesting than the Super Bowl

As we all know, sports suck. They're loud, sweaty and involve people who I still harbor resentment towards for being cooler than me in high school.

However, do you know what anti-sucks? Sports movies!!

Whereas actual sports rarely involve touching character arcs, broad lessons about racial diversity and charming/mysteriously talented animals, sports movies have all these things in droves.

With this in mind, here are five movies about sports to watch this weekend. All of them are guaranteed to be better than actual sports.

1. "Air Bud: Golden Receiver"


Obviously, if people were meant to play sports then we'd look half as cute in pads and little leather helmets as does this Golden Retriever. We do not, the Golden Retriever wins.

2. "The Puppy Bowl"


The Puppy Bowl is probably one of my favorite things in the entire freaking world. Since discovering this bizarre annual event some three years ago, I have spent the majority of my mental capabilities trying to find out just what in hell is going on with this thing.

First the basics: The Puppy Bowl is a feature that Animal Planet broadcasts every Super Bowl Sunday wherein a series of puppies are placed in a football-field shaped play pen and allowed to fall all over each other as they please. And that's pretty much it. Oh, and it just keeps going like this for about 12 FREAKING HOURS.

No commercials, no attempts at explaining what in the hell is going on; just puppies, rolling around, for 12 hours straight.

Needless to say, this raises all kind of pressing questions: How does one win a Puppy Bowl? What does a puppy have to do to qualify in the Puppy Bowl? Does the kitten halftime show represent some kind of bizarre inter-species rascism? Is this actually TV programming or just some kind of a conceptual Dadaist mindfuck from the higher-ups at Animal Planet?

Seriously, watch this shit. It is like nothing you have ever seen.

3. "Rudy"


Recommended for fans of plot arcs so broad they can be seen from space. Oh, and fans of Lord of the Rings because there's nothing like seeing Samwise Gamgee do what he does best: mope and become marginally talented at football.

4. "Rollerball"


Another thing that sucks about "real" sports? No one dies (well, most of the time anyway). Not so in 1975's "Rollerball"! In this movie the world's sexiest man play's the world's most dangerous sport in an ultra-corporatist future where all is not as it seems. Also, there are pistols that make trees explode.

5. "Baseketball"


Did you know Ernest Borgnine was in this? Not that I don't love me the perpetual thirteen year-old-ness of Matt and Trey, but Ernest Borgnine? Doing dick jokes with hotdogs? I mean the man has an Academy Award, he's a hallmark or his generation and-oh what's that? Breasts? Wait, what was I saying?

New Crystal Chronicles trailer released

Nintendo has released a new trailer for Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers. Please, God, talk them out of using that music anywhere in the game.