caulfield12

Foster has a small role in Rampart too, a very good Woody Harrelson movie about an unhinged (to say it nicely) LA police department officer. Saw Conan here in China in 3-D yesterday, god, that was awful. I wonder how many more 3-D movies they can foist on the public before people stop going? The only reason we went is because two of my co-worker's sisters from the Philippines had never seen a movie in this format before, and boy, were they disappointed. I told them movies like Avatar and How To Train Your Dragon were so much better movies to see as an example. Even the upcoming re-release of Titanic in that format, probably. Disney's John Carter made up for a relatively weak $30.6 million debut at home by bringing in $70.6 million abroad from 55 territories representing 80% of the market. But the real story here, of course, is John Carter, which Disney infamously spent $250 million to produce. With that kind of price tag, Carter really needed to open to $50 million at a bare minimum. Other films that reportedly cost around $250 million include Spider-Man 3, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and Avatar, and those four movies debuted to an average of $99 million. John Carter, on the other hand, collected an estimated $30.6 million this weekend. That’s slightly better than the $25 million or so that most in the industry were predicting, and would represent a solid start for many films. But it’s a dismal showing for such a costly project. Both the movie and its marketing campaign are to blame for the soft opening. The film, which garnered mixed reviews and marked the first live-action undertaking for Pixar’s Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, WALL-E), is based on Tarzan author Edgar Rice Burroughs’ 1917 book A Princess of Mars. That book was the first in a series of Barsoom sci-fi novels that later influenced films such as Star Wars and Avatar. However, since the general public is not overly familiar with the Barsoom works, John Carter appeared derivative of the very things it inspired. Also not helping the movie out was its cast, headed by an unproven Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights). True, Avatar featured the similarly untested Sam Worthington, but James Cameron’s name is as big as any movie star, and he at least surrounded Worthington with some familiar faces like Sigourney Weaver and Michelle Rodriguez. The most familiar face in John Carter was… Mark Strong? But it’s really Disney’s marketing that performed a disservice to the movie. For months, John Carter suffered from muddled ads and trailers, none more misjudged than its Super Bowl commercial, which wrongly assumed audiences were so familiar with the John Carter brand that simply seeing the movie’s title would excite them. Also hurting matters was the generic title, which Disney shortened from John Carter of Mars with the reported belief that “of Mars” would turn off female moviegoers. But Mars is the project’s major selling point. Without it, the movie became a sphinx to the general public. Who is John Carter? Where is he? Why can he leap great distances? I understand the desire to not reveal too much of a film’s story, but these are basic questions that weren’t answered by Disney’s advertising until right before John Carter‘s release. By then, it was too late. The film tilted toward men, whom Disney says comprised 63 percent of the audience. It also skewed a bit older than one might expect a PG-13 sci-fi adventure would, with 59 percent of the audience over age 25. Showings in 3-D represented 64 percent of the movie’s gross. And audiences generally liked John Carter, with CinemaScore participants giving it a “B+” rating. One CinemaScore finding is particularly worth noting: Only 8 percent of those polled said Taylor Kitsch was their reason for buying a ticket. Compare that number to 72 percent for Safe House star Denzel Washington.

Simon Castro got bombed out of the stadium by the Dodgers. 1+ IP, 6 hits, 5 runs alllowed...a bit like the first Gustavo Molina appearance. I guess that's good, in one sense, it makes it more likely he'll be sent down to work on things as a starter and not as the 6th/7th guy out of the Sox bullpen.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Mar 10, 2012 -> 01:46 AM) I'm an idiot. Somehow forgot that I watched this last year so I got a 2nd showing. Still enjoyed it. I'm a big Statham fan, and I also like Ben Foster a lot too. He's still never had another role as good as the villain in 3:11 to Yuma. Looks like John Carter's headed for the high 20 millions in terms of box office, rather than the $20-22 million most were predicting. Still, a huge disappointment and a ton of work domestically and internationally to come halfway close to breaking even on that $250+ million budget, which I guess includes marketing costs (hopefully for Disney).

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 10, 2012 -> 07:14 PM) Link Are they really ready to make Stewart the long man out of the bullpen? What's the point? I don't mind if it's Santiago, because I think there will be enough games where Humber, Peavy and Sale (especially) come out early and he has to give them 2-3 innings, or in blowouts...and Axelrod or Castro would be fine for this role as well. Having a 32 year old journeyman like Eric Stults make the roster as the 3rd lefty makes very little sense. Or Brian Bruney/Josh Kinney retread types. Leyson Septimo, fine, whatever. Hopefully all three roles at the end of the bullpen go to rookies we can develop at the major league level with Cooper.

QUOTE (hi8is @ Mar 10, 2012 -> 02:48 PM) Funny, the video feed is only in the 3rd inning Since yesterday against the Cubs, 28 outs in a row. At least the infield defense looks strong with Escobar, Martinez and Lillibridge looking more and more comfortable on the infield. Stults with a 1-2-3 top of the 5th. Konerko single finally breaks the string. Line drive to LF. Of course, it was off Feldman, not Colby Lewis.

28 outs in a row for the Sox. Please, please bring Brooks Boyer back to try to plug some season ticket packages and keep fans from StubHub with the dynamic pricing lecture. Start to feel a bit sorry for that guy. Not the easiest job in the world. Eric Stults on for the Sox. Stewart pitched much better than his last time out. And Rios badly misplayed another ball in RF. Yeah yeah, the swirling winds and high sky excuse, but took a horrible circuitous route according to DJ.

Cespedes is making his debut for the A's today. Things have really quieted down about Soler the last couple of weeks, haven't they? Immigration/visa/mlb clearance issues. Konerko and Dunn both K. Yikes. Almost 7 innings without a hit. Strikes out the side, AJ goes down next. 4 K's in two innings for Lewis.

Five base runners in 2 innings isn't going to work. Axelrod seems to be afraid to challenge batters inside, nibbling a bit. My video just froze too, before that final out to get out of the inning to the OF. 1-0 Rangers, bottom of 2nd.

Axelrod loads the bases with no outs. Not looking good. Martinez not having the most impressive range at SS. Forceout at 2B, run scores, followed by weak flip out to CF, runner has to hold at third...Fukudome kept the throw down at least in CF.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/10/business...tml?_r=1&hp The hottest book since Twilight, it's being described as semi-porn (erotic fiction) for MOSTLY adult women.

QUOTE (hi8is @ Mar 10, 2012 -> 02:20 PM) Odd, when I listed to the SCORE 670 online - it is just playing something about college basketball. Not sure how to get the game feed from the SCORE. Any suggestions? Yorvit Terrealba with a single to lead off the 2nd inning.

QUOTE (hi8is @ Mar 10, 2012 -> 02:20 PM) Odd, when I listed to the SCORE 670 online - it is just playing something about college basketball. Not sure how to get the game feed from the SCORE. Any suggestions? Hmmm, not sure to get it online unless you pay $14.99 for MLB Gameday Audio. But maybe someone else can help. The games also used to be carried at ilemi.eu, but those are regular season games.

Thanks. Lillibridge overmatched on a high fastball...a little bit far off the plate. Not a single hit for the White Sox since the 4th inning Viciedo knock yesterday. Threatening to be about as boring offensively as last year. Maybe Mitchell will continue to impress, there's that.

I'm listening to SCORE here at 415 am in China. MLB.com has it at Gameday Audio, I think they also have the Rangers' announcers as well.

Axelrod with first pitch. Interesting to see that they're giving Ozzie Martinez more playing time at SS and Escobar/Lillibridge more at 2B/3B. Borbon strikes out, breaking ball. DJ claims there's some pressure on Dylan to pick it up today after getting bombed the first time out. One hit surrendered, but gets out of the inning. Next SCORE radio broadcast is a full week from now. Yikes. More Melton or other teams' broadcasters.

Not Statham's best, not nearly his worst.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 9, 2012 -> 07:46 PM) But we won a game... What I meant was the last time we started out this poorly in the spring, it was 2007. Hopefully there's zero correlation.

The Kid and His Bike is an excellent (French) film. Should be shown to all parents wanting to adopt a teenage child from a foster home.

Quentin was known to have a strong or at least above average arm. We saw glimpses, but never on a consistent basis. As far as Short goes, he was always going to struggle to make it at any position besides CF (where he's not suited) because of his lack of power and relatively low walk rate. He was/is a little bit similar to John Shelby, Jr., albeit with a higher batting average and a bit less athleticism.

There are a lot of analogies with Weber and Tom Davis, although Davis had a track record with Stanford and BC previously. Davis did very well with George Raveling's recruits (almost made the Final 4 and had a #1 ranking in the mid-80's) and then from that point on, the best he could do was usually getting to the NCAA's and losing in the 2nd round to an ACC superpower. Ultimately, it always comes down to recruiting, and when you have Chicago at your doorstep, you have to lock down those recruits. Ultimately, Tom Davis lost his job at Iowa because he couldn't keep Raef LaFrentz, Kirk Hinrich and Nick Collison in-state. In retrospect, be careful what you wish for...after Davis led them to the Sweet 16 his final year, there's been a grand total of one NCAA tourney win in the past 10+ years, over Creighton. Then following year, when some were picking them #1 in the country preseason, they totally collapsed with a 5-11 BIG 10 record. In their other two appearances, first round losses to Cincinnati and the devastating loss to Northwestern (LA) State in 2006 when they were up by 17 in the second half as the #3 seed. They hired too "glamour" choices in Steve Alford and Todd Lickliter had the former NCAA Coach of the Year record on his resume, but winning at Iowa is always going to be about recruiting, plain and simple. And they can't hire JUST a recruiter or they'll end up with another version of Ron Zook.

Well, we started out 0-4 in the spring of 2007. That was certainly not a positive harbinger of things to come. Let's hope there is no correlation this time.

Sale threw an 0-2 fastball, center cut, which was Farmer was complaining about. He walked the previous batter on a 3-2 change. Earlier in the line-up, he did K a guy with an 0-2 fastball, so DJ was defending the pitch selection.

How many hits did he have all last season against LHP? Something like 6 or 8?

DeAza better not keep repeating that throw through to the plate and putting runners at 2B when they should be at first still. Saw that enough with Rios last year. Sveum's the 52nd manager of Cubs. In the 1950's, they had "head coaches" and not managers, interesting.

Mike Davis, haha. Steve Alford. Deion Thomas. Bruce Pearl.