#Fip in the big city

[confusedhomicidalrage]

"Alright, so the two boys you're gonna adopt are...from Gatlin, so they will probably not get used to the big city easily" the woman explained calmly, as Fips rolled his eyes. Does this woman think he didn't hear it? Lawrence just smiled kindly, trying not to make the woman feel uncomfortable. As the bus arrived, the woman mentioned how she was gonna "get" the boys.

"wow...we're actually adopting two children" Lawrence muttered, still slightly in disbelief that this was truly happening. He had such bad baby fever from all the fanfiction Fips wrote, and now they were finally getting kids on their own. Fips laughed at Lawrence's excitement, and jokingly said: "No shit, Sherlock"

"Fuck you, Watson" Lawrence playfully fired back, but the two quickly got their attention directed to their future sons. The woman smiled, and pointed at the younger one, introducing him as Eli, before pointing at the older one, and saying his name was Joshua.

"aw.." Lawrence cooed, finding them both absolutely adorable. Fips immediately walked up to them and greeted them, but before he could actually talk, Lawrence walked forward and squished Eli's cheeks, making him squirm.

"schnucki..." Fips laughed, finding His best friend's immediate liking to their new son's hilarious. Joshua smiled awkwardly as Fips then kissed him on the forehead, while Lawrence was squishing and squeezing Eli, before he got pulled back slightly.

"Don't overwhelm him" Fips mumbled, as Eli blushed in embarrassment, but smiled a little. Joshua chuckled, he was sure his new Fathers were gonna take great care of them...

"anyway! I'm Fips!" Fips then enthusiastically said, as Lawrence quickly introduced himself too: "And I'm Lawrence! And as you know, we're gonna be your new dads!"

"so...can we call you both papa?" Eli asked, wanting to make sure. Joshua himself wanted to make sure the two were fine with being called Papa, Father, dad, etc... since their old Father wasn't...the most positive man.

"yes, of course!" Fips said, making Lawrence nod excitedly. Fips then grabbed Joshua and Eli, taking them to the car so they could go home. Lawrence agreed to drive, while Fips sat in the passenger's seat, with Eli and Joshua in the backseat.

"They seem nice..." Joshua whispered to Eli, quiet enough so Fips and Lawrence couldn't hear. Eli nodded, completely agreeing with his older brother's statement.

[travelingtheusa]

MISSISSIPPI

2024 Oct 27 (Sun) – We drove into Jackson today.  On the way, we stopped at the Mississippi Petrified Forest.  It was interesting.  There was a pathway through old forest with waypoints along the way.  We had a pamphlet that described some fact at each of the waypoints.

      Continuing on to Jackson (about an hour away from the campground), we were shocked to find the city empty.  There was very little sign of anybody.  Lots of homes and businesses were boarded up.  Garbage littered the roads and yards.  We only spotted one homeless person, so they have found a way to crack that nut.  Just about everything was closed.  I am hoping it was because it is Sunday in the bible belt.  Everybody was at church?

      After some maneuvering, we found the Merci Train parked behind an old depot.  We parked and walked around the train.  The one side facing the south had most of the emblems burned off.  They are insignia for different French provinces. 

      Next, we drove to the Two Mississippi Museum.  Inside was the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and the Mississippi History Museum.  Both were incredibly beautiful – new, modern, and comprehensive.  How could something like this be in the middle of such abject poverty?  The governor should be focused on helping the citizens of this capitol city.  We spent several hours touring the two museums.

      We enjoyed lunch at Hal & Mals Restaurant.  It was started by two brothers in the late 1800s and grew to a popular blues gathering place.  The cost of the meal was cheap, too.  I had quiche with a big side of hash potatoes and a salad and Paul had sausage gravy on biscuits.  We left a nice tip.

2024 Oct 26 (Sat) – We packed up and left at 9:25 a.m.  The drive was long (200 miles) but easy.  We pulled into the parking lot of a closed business and had a quick lunch before resuming our drive.  When we were 15 miles away, I called to tell the owner we were on our way.  He said someone would meet us and show us where to park.  The gentleman had a very heavy southern accent and it was hard to understand what he was saying. 

      When we arrived, a black man in a beat up old pickup truck with an accent worse than the owner (if that is possible) met us and showed us to our campsite.  The pseudo campground is 12 paved sites split across a public road.  There is no fence, no picnic table, no fire ring, no office, no nothing!  We are literally parked on the side of the road.  There is garbage all around the place.  Most of the campers here are long term in travel trailers.  I do not feel safe here.

      Later in the afternoon, the owner showed up and asked for $60 a night = $120!  He proceeded to tell us about a multi-billion dollar data center that Amazon is building down the road.  Workers are coming in from all over.  Although he didn’t say it, the intimation was that people are willing to pay his fee.  We gave him cash (I don’t think he would have been able to accept a credit card anyway).

2024 Oct 25 (Fri) – I had an appointment with the ophthalmologist this morning.  She said the surgery was healing well but the pressure in my eye is a little elevated.  This means I need to watch out for glaucoma again.  The doctor also drained the cyst under my eyelid.

      After the doctor, we returned to the campground, packed up Sheba, and drove to the veterinarian.  She is having serious issues with her back legs, especially the left one.  When we came home two nights ago, she was holding her left leg up.  When I tried to touch her, she growled and spit at me.  She is in pain.  The vet says she has lost muscle mass in her back legs, most probably due to aging (she is 13-1/2).  He gave her shots (rabies, FIP, and distemper).  She also got a shot for pain, which should last about a month.  The vet also gave us something to help with her constipation.  It is a paste that we put on her paw.  Supposedly, she will groom herself and lick it off.  We’ll see about that.

      Since we had Sheba in the car with us, we stopped at Wendy’s for lunch.   Then we made a quick at a liquor store for libations and returned home.

2024 Oct 24 (Thu) – The group went to Ocean Adventures this morning.  There was a reptile show, sea lion and dolphin show, and bird show.  We looked at each other and agreed we have been jaded.  We have seen better.  We had a potluck.  I made an apple dump cobbler for dessert.  Some of us arrived in costume.  Paul won the scariest.  There was also an award for best dressed and most original.  The winners got a bottle of wine.

2024 Oct 23 (Wed) – The chapter had their membership meeting this afternoon.  They invited me to speak.  Hopefully, I gave them hope and inspiration.  The group went to Café New Orleans for dinner.  We split a muffaletta and red beans & rice.  Not as good as Copeland’s but the camaraderie was nice.  When we returned to the campground, we went to the club house and played RIGHT-CENTER-LEFT.  Paul won twice and we walked away with $11.  It was fun.

2024 Oct 22 (Tue – Samantha’s birthday) – After enjoying a chapter provided breakfast again this morning, one of the members gave a talk on the history of the Mississippi Magnolias chapter.  They are celebrating their 20th anniversary.  The chapter was started right here in this very campground.

      After his talk, we drove to Gulfport to Chandeleur Brewing Company for a tour and tasting.  When we arrived, the place was not open and no one else had arrived yet.  We walked over to the Gulfport History Museum across the street but it wasn’t open.  Back across the street was Fishbone Alley.  When the town was doing some renovations, they discovered paving stones under the asphalt.  Those bricks had been made by Graves Stones, a company in the town that is now out of business.  They lined the alley way with the bricks and painted pictures on the walls of the alley.  Like other projects, it started out as a nice idea but it was not kept up.  There was lots of graffiti mixed in with the murals.

       At noon, we walked back to the brewery and it was open.  Several of the group were already inside.  We were given a tour with a comprehensive description of how they make their beer.  Along with the talk, we were given 3 different tastings exemplifying different tastes.  When the tour was done, we went into the bar/café and had lunch.

      After we returned to the campground, I went to the clubhouse to play in the Hand & Foot Tournament.  It was fun and I held my own.  Then I ran back to make corn casserole for the potluck.  We all enjoyed dinner together, followed by games and cards.

2024 Oct 21 (Mon) – The chapter cooked breakfast this morning.  There was biscuits with sausage gravy, eggs, fruit cup and OJ.  After breakfast, Paul and I played bean bag baseball with the group.  There were 12 of us playing.  My team won.  There was happy hour at 4 and the group provided dinner at 6 p.m. 

2024 Oct 20 (Sun) – We went to the Outback Steakhouse for lunch then shopped at WalMart for groceries.  The MS Magnolias chapter met at 4 p.m. and after social hour, we all drove to the Panda Palace for Chinese buffet.  There were quite a few items available to choose from.

2024 Oct 19 (Sat) – Since we only had 100 miles to go today, we lolled around and took our time packing up.  After the slides were pulled in, Paul changed the tire on the RV.  We’ve been riding around with the spare tire on since we were in Myrtle Beach.

      We finally hit the road at 11:10 a.m.  The drive was easy and the weather was good.  We arrived a little after 1 p.m. at Parkers Landing RV Park in Biloxi.  The campground is pretty full.  It has lots of old live oak trees around and in the park.  Our campsite is concrete with FHU.  There is a very nice pool but it is not heated.  I would not be swimming in that!

      Once set up, we drove into town to a new restaurant that opened about two weeks ago.  According to the clerk at the RV park, people have been raving about this place.  Flatheads was a medium size café with an interesting menu.  Paul had fried catfish and I had a smashed burger.  We brought the fries home to reheat for dinner.

2024 Oct 18 (Fri) – Talk about a one-horse town!  There is only one restaurant (semi); the rest are all fast food – McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, etc.  The restaurant is more of a fast food indoor café – you go up to the counter, place your order, and they bring it out to you in a package to go.  There are about 6 small tables in the room and you can sit and eat there, but the place is really a fast food place disguised as a restaurant.   

2024 Oct 17 (Thu) – We drove into town to find a laundromat.  When the wash was in the machine, we drove to a tire place to get our flat repaired.  Next door was a liquor store, so we stopped in to get some libation.  They did not have Jim Bean Vanilla but they had Red Stag.  Then it was back to the laundromat to put the wash in the dryers.  Next stop was lunch at the town café.  The portions were huge and we had plenty of take-home.  We also stopped at the gas station to get fuel.  While Paul gassed up, I walked over to a liquor store in the shopping center.  They had Vanilla Jim Bean.  Yay!  Back to the laundromat to fetch our clothes then back to the tire center to get our spare then back to the campground. 

Poor Sheba is having a bad day of severe constipation.  She has spent most of the day wandering around outside digging and digging.  We don’t know if the walking and digging helps but she insists on doing it when she has a bad day.

2024 Oct 16 (Wed) – We packed up and left Lake Village, AR, at 10:10 a.m.  It was a long drive – over 4 hours.  But the weather was pleasant and most of the drive was easy.  We ran into a little bit of construction and a left-over car fire but it didn’t delay us too much. 

      We arrived in Collins to find the owner waiting for us.  He bought the campground in June and they are still feeling their way.  He kept asking us for an ETA.  I think he might have a job and had to leave it to come here to greet us.  There are several cabins/small homes around the campground that appear to be occupied full-time.  I guess they are rentals.  The camping area is inside the perimeter and sites are dispersed among tall pine trees.  It is a nice place.  We have FHU on grass.

[philodendrongirl]

OH OH Here’s my caffeinated rant for today: No cat is totally safe outdoors and if you let your cat outside you are risking its life knowingly. No matter how smart u think ur cat is there’s too many unpredictable factors in the wild especially in big cities. On top of diseases and contributing to overpopulation humans are a big part of this unpredictability. Yes, people might steal your cat. Too bad! On top of the more uncommon factor of some people will maim or kill your cat, drivers here are regularly violating various traffic laws and speeding just to speed. Cats can’t predict that. Get your cat neutered/spayed and keep them inside! If they seem unhappy indoors, make them an enclosed outdoor space, increase enrichment, or rehome them with someone you know has this. For every cat who’s “lived a healthy life as an indoor/outdoor with no problems”, there’s 20 who’ve become diseased or died, or contributed to overpopulation due to this same neglect. There should not be 4 month old cats pregnant on the streets. There should not be babies dying with FIP because they had unlimited access untreated to other cats. These diseases are nasty and they don’t discriminate. When you have no control over the situation, it’s a different story - though still depressing. Fosters and clinics have seen enough suffering because of this. Overcrowding there is also a huge issue, again, because of overpopulation! No cat deserves to be euthanized because there isn’t space at a life-saving clinic to care for them. KEEP THOSE BABIES INSIIIDE SO HELP ME GODDDD 🎶🎶

[thecurioustale]

This is Zirin Aloryane, one of the Guards of Galavar from After The Hero: A Curious Tale. A dead Guard, sadly, as she died right before the Prelude; we never actually see her alive. But her work was instrumental in Gala's plan to change the world for the better, and her absence looms large in the early chapters of ATH.

Fip industries absolutely nailed the character, and put up with quite a few revisions on my part. She's taking commissions right now, and could always use the custom, so go see what she can do!

Some context for the final image: In Gala, scarves are the symbols of sociopolitical power, and Zirin is wearing a white, blue, and green scarf befitting her position. The art depicts her at work, organizing the great endeavor of swaying the hearts and minds of the peoples of Relance to the Galance Ideal through the delivery of material and civic improvements to people's quality of life. She is dressed warmly because the City of Sele is extremely high in elevation and it's very cold there.

This is the first time I have ever commissioned original art of my original characters. Being an artist as I am, it probably wouldn't surprise you to learn that I am poor, so I simply cannot afford commissions on the grandiose scale I would like; otherwise there would be hundreds of these arts in the world by now. But this was my first experience, and it was educational and fascinating.

I learned the particular nuances of how describing a character for the purposes of having another person draw them is quite different from describing them myself in words of fiction. I learned that our personal interpretations of some more abstract words are very influential on the art creation process; some of the words I used to describe Zirin to Fip actually resulted in revisions that were less faithful to the character, and this is in part because of these different interpretations of the same words.

I also had a chance to interact with my own aversion to, yet familiarity with, some common illustration conventions regarding human bodies, like how female characters are typically drawn with legs much much longer than in real life, or huge eyes and tiny mouths. I asked Fip to give Zirin realistic proportions, but this turned out to be a very difficult thing to negotiate, because, once you factor in the confounding variable of the fact that non-photorealistic art styles have their own idiomatic transformations of real-world human proportions, it turns out that there is much more ambiguity in physical descriptions than I ever realized.

Another learning point for me—although this one I anticipated—is that I have to let go of things sometimes. If I hadn't; I would still be giving Fip revisions right now: not because there's anything wrong with the final image, but because I am a very particular sort of person, and a perfectionist, and I have very exact images in my head sometimes.

But maybe the most interesting thing I learned from this experience, and one of the biggest reasons I am happy with my choice to commission Fip for my first Curious Tale art commission, is that Fip has been a fan of my work and has her own mental image of these characters, and is capable of bringing things to them that I had never thought of but which fit amazingly well. That top-left image, with six different concept sketches of Zirin, was the very first work Fip turned in, and is just amazing in how well it captures the character despite how little I had told her about Zirin. (I basically just said "Think Nicole de Boer's Ezri Dax for looks," and mentioned how Zirin was a consummate institutionalist.) Fip, a fellow artist and someone well-versed in my work, faithfully captured the spark of Zirin Aloryane, so much so that, for the first time in a long time, I found myself feeling regret that this character is already dead and that there are not many opportunities ahead of me to write her.

So, a big thanks from me for this wonderful commission: a fitting first entry in hopefully a long line of art commissions, from Fip herself and many more artists to come.

Comission made for my good friend @thecurioustale of their character Zirin from their novel the curious tale. This is one of my favourite books and it was an absolute priviledge to get to work on this with the author.

Here are the extra sketches i did while refining the character

[fipindustries]

michaeldavid96 said: I’m looking for a sugar baby to love spoil her with gift and pay her weekly allowance of $1000 PayPal and cash app Only,

delightfulexpertroadmug said: I’m a single daddy… looking for a honest and loyal sugar baby…DM me to be surprised and be spoilt with some money… $2000 weekly as your allowance

either these are jokes or bots, in which case, congratulations, i made it i guess

[ohsnapcracklepopfriends]

31 and 40 (DON'T SAY A TEAM OF CARRAGHERS THOUGH)

31. Favourite captain

Of all time, either Stevie Gerrard or Philipp Lahm, obviously I have a strong bias lol.

I think Stevie was a really good captain, he just embodied the spirit of the club completely and made everyone believe in Liverpool as much as he did even when there wasn’t much to believe in.

Fips I think is much more underrated. I genuinely think he is one of the best players I have watched and definitely one of the best leaders. I mean just look at his achievements as a captain and a player it’s incredible. He is just a seemingly effortless leader that is strong without being heavy handed. I just adore him.

Right now, I think Hendo obviously. He is the most captain-captain I’ve seen in a while in a time where Auba is a premier league captain (nothing against Auba as a player he’s just not really a captain). Honestly though, I know Thomas Müller isn’t technically a captain but he also just is and he’s so good at it. I also think Declan Rice is going to be one of the best captains, he’s so good already and so promising for further improvement. Anyways I should stop waffling now.

Putting a break before the next question because I’m rambling way too much prepare for an essay

40. Dream XI

Team of carraghers kidding.

I’m doing current because even that is too hard, forget all time. This isn’t going to be the best players or like a cohesive team even, I’m just going to do players in each position I’m excited ab at the moment lol

GK: Yann Sommer

He is just so good and so underrated that I decided to go for him over Manu, Ali, Ederson, etc. who have basically everyone singing their praises

RB: Trent Alexander Arnold

You already knew this. I fucking love this man. Is he great at actually defending? Maybe not. Is he a fucking fantastic player who is up with the best in the world? Absolutely. Is he also adorable and very scouse? Yes. Which plays much into my bias. But, if I were to back any defender in the world to score me a goal, it would be him though sule does seem to think he’s a striker rn

CBs: Virgil Van Dijk and Ruben Dias

Basic bitch choice I know. I can’t think of many centre backs that I’d really trust for every minute of every game as a manager. Not Sule. Not Rudiger. Surely not Dier. Not Maguire. I think maybe Thiago Silva is another name that could be thrown in here as a really good cb and out of principal I won’t say Varane.

LB: Alphonso Davies

Big shock! Not Andrew Robertson??? Ugh it was close. Phonzie just has so much pace and so much career ahead of him to be the best left back in the world. Though, if anyone hasn’t seen Robbo’s performance against Man City, I think it was in the Community Shield in 2019, please watch it. It is one of the best performances I have ever seen.

Mids: KDB and Joshua Kimmich

We’re going for a 4-2-3-1 I think lads. KDB is probably the best player in the world so obviously he goes in my team. He is breathtaking but everyone knows this so I’ll move on to Jo. Joshua is definitely not as silky or versatile as KDB—I said I’d move on but that man could play any position I stg. What he lacks in polish he makes up for in pure stubbornness and emotion. He plays with his heart on his sleeve and I cannot watch him play without a smile on my face. He is so enrapturing to watch and I just love him to bits. (Again maybe my German bias talking here)

Forwards: Mo Salah, Kylian Mbappe, Federico Chiesa

Okay I get this is a weird trio. I know. After Mo’s goal at the weekend I am more convinced than ever that he is the best player in the world fucking fight me (definitely my lfc bias lol) Mbappe is an obvious choice, plus I just want to pretend he will play on the same team as Mo at some point lol (ideally lfc). After watching the Champions league Juve v Chels game, I am so fucking excited about Chiesa. First of all, he’s a total cutie pie. Second, he scored the goal that beat Chelsea: which is always a great thing in my books. And he is just such an interesting player to watch. I absolutely adore watching him both in the Euros and now in the Champions league.

Striker: Robert Lewangoalski

Fucking obviously. The man scored 41 goals last season. He is the best striker in the world. Robert has the most breathtaking awareness of exactly where the goal is at all times. He could score with his eyes closed and his hands tied behind his back. He is incredible.

[aurordream]

I think we’re looking at Galar upside-down.

Not in terms of in-game, of course. But as a pokemon-invested Brit, I’ve been looking closely at the map of the new region, and it didn’t make much sense to me at first. I was trying to find all the landmarks I know from my country in the new region, and nothing was in the right place. But I’ve since come to the conclusion the reason for this is simple - Game Freak didn’t directly copy the UK to create Galar, but actually turned it upside down, flipped it, and then greatly distorted the proportions.

Now that I’ve rotated and flipped the image, the parallels are starting to get clearer. The most obvious landmark for this comparison is London. The major city in the very north of the correctly-oriented Galar map is a definite London counterpart, and it is roughly in the right place, if we make the South East of England larger and significantly shrink the South West. You can very clearly see Big Ben and the Palace of Westminster, opposite the London Eye as in real life. The major tower in the centre reminds me a lot of the Post Office Tower as well.

Obviously in real life, London isn’t surrounded by snowy mountains. But game freak do seriously seem to be taking creative liberties with the exact geography of the region.

Immediately south we have this town, which was a little harder for me to place. But if we stick to approximately the same location compared to London, it is in roughly the same place as Oxford. And the building in the middle does remind me of the Radcliffe Camera, a major Landmark of Oxford University. We also see a huge Library in the trailer, which makes me wonder if it could be located here - the Radcliffe Camera is a library in real life.

South-west of this town in the original map we can see the hill figure from the trailer. Now, hill carvings like this are located all over the country, so there’s no immediate parallel here. However, a HUGE number of them are located in South and West England, including the oldest and most famous of the traditional horse carvings, the Uffington White Horse in Oxfordshire. 

...there’s also the Cerne Abbas Giant in Dorset, which I think the Galar figure has a greater resemblance to, but the location doesn’t fit as neatly and the carving also has certain... attributes that I don’t think Game Freak would want to reference in a family friendly game. (And I mean, more fool them, he’s one of my personal favourite landmarks)

Practically next to the hill figure, we can see a rocky area which looks like its probably going to contain the mines seen in the trailer. I think this could be intended to parallel Wales - in the flipped and rotated map its in pretty much the right place, and Wales has a long and rich mining history. South Wales also isn’t far from Wiltshire, an area that has a particularly large number of hill figures, and North Wales is very close to Liverpool and Manchester. Wales is also very mountainous; Snowdon is the highest mountain in the British Isles outside of Scotland, so the landscape would fit too - though in every other area Game Freak seem to have ignored the topography so perhaps we shouldn’t pay too much attention there.

Right next to the mines, we’ve got a big, industrial red-brick town with a stand out clock tower. I’ve seen a few people compare this to the Balmoral Clock in Edinburgh, and I can’t deny the resemblance. But considering its location and apparent proximity to ‘Wales’, the apparently industrial nature of the city, and the red colour of the buildings, I think it’s actually Manchester.

Beyond this town, things start to get a lot more rural and indistinct. I don’t think we can doubt that the area immeditately below ‘Manchester’ on the original map is the Lake District, as again its in exactly the right place on the rotated/flipped map.

Beyond this, there doesn’t seem to be anything distinct at all. The starting area seems to be simply generic English countryside, and although I’ve looked at the remaining towns I can’t personally locate them. If anyone else can, I am all for some answers!

[iloveyoupittsburghpirates-blog]

You Are Officially Eliminated, Pittsburgh Pirates

My Dearest Pittsburgh Pirates,

I know, I know. I’m late. I’ve been a little under the weather and haven’t felt up to writing. No, this isn’t some passive aggressive way to punish you for officially being eliminated from the post season this week. I was seriously sick. You actually put together a nice week. You swept the Kansas City Royals at home to get them across that 100 loss threshold. You weren’t as successful in the final homestand of the season losing two out of three to the Milwaukee Brewers. The season finale at PNC Park was particularly ugly losing 13-6 in a game that featured you giving up a three-run wild pitch. You never cease to amaze me. You’ve played half of your series in Chicago already and have won the first two. That’s something I wouldn’t have expected when you weren’t ridiculously injured. With the Miami rain makeup on October 1st being cancelled, that means you will only play 161 games this season instead of the usual 162. You are 80-76 which means you are only one win away from having a winning season. This season obviously wasn’t everything you or I wanted it to be, but it’s shown upside and potential. It would be nice to cap off 2018 with a winning season. You didn’t have one for twenty years so, while that’s never the ultimate goal, that isn’t nothing. While you are already looking ahead to next year, it would be nice to finish out healthy and strong.

Speaking of health, you now had two significant injuries hit the pitching rotation this week. Chad Kuhl had Tommy John surgery this past week which means he is out for the entire 2019 season. You and him lived in denial for the last few months probably seeing if there was any improvement in order to avoid surgery. That didn’t happen. 14-16 months of recovery means we will see him in 2020 with a long road back to the major league level. With Nick Kingham getting racked in a spot start on Sunday, the rotational depth for next season looks shaky. The other injury is Joe Musgrove whose season is over. He’s dealing with a stress reaction on the front of his pelvic bone and an abdominal wall muscle strain. I don’t know what the hell that means but apparently they will see how it progresses in the next six weeks to see if it requires surgery. That doesn’t sound like something that should carry in to next year, but surgery is surgery so you never know. Musgrove put together a fine first campaign with you, putting up a 4.06 ERA, a 3.58 FIP, and a 1.18 WHIP. Not bad at all for his first full season as a starter. He looks like the only quality part of the Cole trade especially with four more years of control. Let’s just hope that we don’t add him to the list of people missing the start of next season because there’s a lot to be excited about with him.

Speaking of excitement, Pablo Reyes is making quite a name for himself. He was promoted with other September call ups and has played well enough to be an everyday starter for the rest of this season. Polanco’s injury has given him the chance to start in RF every day. His value could really be in his versatility given that he can play both corner outfield spots, 2B, and 3B. Since September 1st, he has splits of .357/.426/.595 for a 1.021 OPS in only 42 at bats. He also has three homers in that time. Reyes wasn’t exactly an offensive force in the minors this year. In AAA this year, he had splits of .289/.341/.435 for a .776 OPS in 420 at bats with 8 homers and 36 RBIs. Not exactly crushing it. He did add 13 stolen bases which isn’t a bad bonus. I don’t know yet if he’s a legitimate candidate for the bench next season but with most of our available money this offseason going to prospective infield starters, it would be nice to have some other options. There’s a distinct possibility this is a rare offensive streak that could be gone before we know it. He does seem to have a nice, compact swing and the ability to be a difference maker. It’s early but he reminds me a little of a young Josh Harrison. That might be an overstatement as utility players go, but he’s been fun to watch so far.

Speaking of JHay, one big moment happened this week. PNC Park said goodbye to Jordy Mercer and JHay, two players unlikely to return next season. Mercer has always had a steady glove and was very helpful in the 2013-2015 playoff run. His WAR in 2013 and 2014 were 1.9 and 2.8 respectively. I’ll always appreciate the consistency he provided at shortstop which can be a hard thing to find. Thanks for the run, Jordy. JHay was marred the last couple years with injuries, a less than stellar bat, and an inflated contract. Before that, JHay was the most electric player on the team. He was a ball player by every definition of the term. He played every position, sparked rallies, and always had clutch hits. The stage never seemed too big for him. Everyone will always talk about the two different times he brilliantly maneuvered a rundown in a perfect depiction of intelligence and athleticism. In 2014, one of his two All Star seasons, he was arguably your most important player and led you to the playoffs finishing the season with a 5.5 WAR and 9th in MVP voting, unheard of for him before that season. Other than Cutch at his peak, JHay was my favorite Pirate. I know the ‘blue collar Pittsburgh player’ label gets thrown around a lot, but he really exemplified it. I’ll always root for good things for JHay. He was a hard worker and a likeable star.  I’ll miss you, JHay. Thanks for everything...

 The final week of the season is upon us. It’s actually basically half over thanks to my delay. You play two more games against the Chicago Cubs, who are still fighting for the division with only a half game lead in the division and a chance to help send them to Wildcard game instead of a division championship. You end the season with a three-game series in Cincinnati with the Reds. The rest of this week will be about getting to a winning season. Then you can start to look ahead to the offseason and 2019, where there’s an actual reason for excitement. This offense needs a lot of help but it’s always easier to find hitting then it is pitching. With the rotation and even the bullpen basically set, there are reasons to be optimistic. I’ll get into that more next week. For now, let’s just finish out strong and, most importantly, healthy. The only disappointment recently has been the seriousness of the injuries that occurred down the stretch. We can’t afford anymore of those so PLEASE be careful. I beg you. Have a good final week and I’ll talk to you soon.

                                      I Just Don’t Want Anymore Bad Things To Happen,

                                                                              Brad

P.S. stands for Pittsburgh Steelers who got an ugly but much needed win on Monday night over the Tampa Bay Bucs. The offense and defense played a terrific first half getting them out to a large lead. They squandered that in the second half thanks to bad offense, bad defense, and an absurd amount of penalties. It was an ugly game to watch but all that matters is the W. This week the Steelers (1-1-1) face the division rival Baltimore Ravens (2-1) at Heinz Field on Sunday Night Football. It’s a huge game, like every Ravens game usually is, so here’s hoping they can clean up their play and keep the offense rolling.

[fipindustries]

new skill unlocked! [pony tail]

[brido]

Your Opening Week Baseball Guide

Well, March Madness is over. Your bracket probably sucked anyway. So you probably need to get caught up on the first week of baseball. I’m here to help you. And while it’s probably way too early to draw any real conclusions from the first week, I don’t want you wandering around looking as clueless as Gabe Kapler. EARLY SEASON BURN. It’s okay if you don’t get that joke yet. You will. Let’s start...  

AL East  

Current Playoff Team: Red Sox

Projected Playoff Teams: Yankees, Red Sox

See, what did I tell you last week? Winky smile. After the Red Sox blew a comfortable lead on Opening Day, I’m guessing that every psychotic Boston fan wanted Alex Cora run out of town. Now they’ve rattled off 5 wins in a row and we’re contemplating whether or not the Red Sox might have the best rotation in baseball. I mean, probz not. But a week in they sure do. 

You think Giancarlo Stanton is under a microscope in New York? Dude already got booed. It’s all fun and games in New York when you’re crushing two home runs on Opening Day, and it’s a lot harder four games later when you’re 0-for-5 with 5 K’s in football weather in the Bronx. I think he’ll be fine. Maybe Yankees fans should worry more about Dellin Betances.     

AL Cy Young: Dylan Bundy, Orioles.

For all the deserved accolades of Boston’s starting pitching, the best in the AL so far as been Bundy, whose WAR leads the league, accompanied with a 1.35 FIP and a 0.69 ERA. That being said, the rest of the conversations surrounding division are a guessing game about where the Blue Jays will be before the trade deadline and whether or not they should trade Josh Donaldson. Right now, FanGraphs has them a game off the second wild card spot and FiveThirtyEight has them at 26% to make the playoffs. That’s a tough call if that happens.��It’ll probably be a much easier decision for the Orioles, so we’ll see who gets to slobber all over the chance to land Manny Machado for the postseason.       

AL Central

Current Playoff Teams: White Sox, Twins

Projected Playoff Teams: Indians, Twins (FiveThirtyEight only)

If you’re a Twins fan, you’ve got to be loving this early start from Brian Dozier. And Jose Berrios. And Eduardo Escobar. Right now I’m feeling confident in their chances. I’m probably even more excited if I’m a White Sox fan, since projections have them around 68-73 wins and they’re currently on pace to crush that. Yeah, they’re only 5 games in. I don’t want to get too excited. But the Sox have homered in every game. Matt Davidson’s 3 home runs on Opening Day were just a blip on the radar compared to the attention Stanton got. And this is a young team already headed in the right direction. The national sports media is still waiting around for the Indians to get hot before they care about any of this. 

AL West

Current Playoff Teams: Astros, Angels

Projected Playoff Teams: Astros, Angels (FanGraphs only)   

Did you see all the fancy Astros ring and banner celebrations? It’s looking like that’s gonna happen a lot down in Houston. George Springer led off the season with a home run for the second year in a row. They’re widely considered to have the best staff in the Majors (sorry Boston... and I guess everyone else). They’ve got four guys playing the outfield. And if the Division wasn’t looking so tough, we might be able to project the Astros at a billion wins this year. Speaking of which...

AL MVP: Carlos Correa, Astros.     

This Opening Week shit can probably get eye rolls for most things, but Correa wouldn’t be a bad pick to be MVP, anyway. Right now, Correa leads the League in WAR and he’s been the second-best hitter, so I’m giving him the early lead over Mitch Haniger of the Mariners and Didi Gregorius of the Yankees. 

AL Rookie of the Year: Shohei Ohtani, Angels. 

Remember when this guy fucking sucked in Spring Training? That was kind of fun. Now the Babe Ruth comparisons aren’t actually that insane. Ohtani might be the hardest-throwing starter in baseball. His hitting is starting to resemble the power exhibition he puts on in batting practice. And maybe we don’t need BREAKING NEWS every time this guy gets a hit, but this is one of the only over-hyped stories of the young season that actually has my full attention. Oh yeah, and he’s only 22.       

NL East

Current Playoff Teams: Mets, Braves, Nationals 

Projected Playoff Teams: Nationals, Mets (FanGraphs only)

I think there might be an East Coast bias when Derek Jeter sitting in the stands in Miami gets more attention than actual games in the Midwest. But a lot of the attention is actually warranted so far. The Mets are going to be interesting this year. They only won 70 games last year, which made me skeptical of picking them for a Wild Card. Right now, they’re projected anywhere from 81-88 wins. Maybe Mickey Callaway is changing the culture there. I don’t know. But after the first week, I’m actually going to say...

NL Cy Young: Matt Harvey, Mets.   

He’s back, baby! Or not. Like I said, nobody knows. But I’ll take that 0.00 ERA and 1.56 FIP as a good sign. Plus, it’s not like he has to be ‘the man’ in Queens anymore. 

NL MVP: Freddie Freeman, Braves. 

He’s been the best hitter in the League so far. And he’s probably the best player in baseball that America and your girlfriend have never heard of. The Braves have had the best offense in baseball early on. Freeman is a big reason why. Because he always is.     

The Nationals always seem to have fifteen different compelling storylines over the course of a season. There’s the lingering fact that they’ve never advanced in the playoffs. They have the impending free agency of Bryce Harper to talk about over and over and over again. I’m sure Nats fans love that shit. And since Harper always seems to be amazing in April, it’s not going to slow anything of those talks down. How anticlimactic will it be when he re-signs with Washington? Anyway, Adam Eaton has also made a big splash in his return from injury. So there hasn’t even really been much attention on their non-Dusty-Baker manager just yet. It’s just a matter of time to see who they’re gonna lose to in the first round. HUGE BURN to their zero fans that I know of.     

You know which new manager is getting scrutiny? Gabe Kapler of the Phillies. It seems like every team has a new manager, but only one pulled their starter when he was dealing on Opening Day and then blew a 5-run lead. And only one called to the pen with nobody warming up. And only one looks like he’s not gonna be done reigning down destruction on Philadelphia until every one of their relievers have Tommy John surgery. That’s probably harsh. But it’s also probably funnier to me because he also looks incompetent anywhere outside of a cross fit box or a gym that only plays butt rock. I’m guessing he figures it out eventually. 

Hey, look! Derek Jeter is sitting in the stands with Papi and Posada! 

NL Central

Current Playoff Teams: Pirates, Brewers 

Projected Playoff Teams: Cubs, Cardinals.  

Is it ever too early to start freaking out about the Cubs? I mean, Ian Happ was great in Spring Training. Then he homered on the first pitch of the season and after that, it’s basically been suck city. The Cubs offense is setting all-time records for striking out. They’re 2-3 after playing the Marlins and Reds, who are projected to win a combined ZERO games this year. Maybe we can blame the 17-inning game against the Marlins on Day 2. Maybe it’s way too early to be worried about anything. Maybe I should take solace in the fact that their bullpen has looked dope AF and that was a huge problem last year. They’re fine, right?   

As far as the rest of the division goes, you’ve got a fast start from the Pirates, who have only played in frigid weather. The Cardinals picked up Greg Holland, which could be huge for their chances at the Wild Card... or the Division, I guess. The Cardinals and Brewers played in a game that started and ended with back-to-back home runs. And Paul DeJong has probably been the most interesting story for STL. He’d be my second pick for MVP, after Freeman. He also hit .257 last year so whatever. 

NL West

Current Playoff Team: Diamondbacks

Projected Playoff Teams: Dodgers, Diamondbacks (FiveThirtyEight only)

If you’re a Dodgers fan, what’s freaking you out more; bad outings and decreased velocity from Clayton Kershaw or bad outings and decreased velocity from Kenley Jansen? Because both things are happening. Kershaw is 0-2 and you can hear the whispers about whether or not he’s past his prime, even though everyone was blowing him in Spring Training. Jansen has an 18.00 ERA. Is this the dreaded World Series hangover that is obviously not happening in Houston? I’m looking at the rest of that staff and thinking they’re probably going to be fine. The moral of this post is that everything is fine. Probably because as a Cubs fan, I’m trying to convince myself that everything is fine.    

As far as the rest of the Division goes, Nick Ahmed has had a hot start in Arizona. Joe Panik’s solo home runs in the first two games led to two 1-0 games for the Giants, which was super fucking weird. And Charlie Blackmon actually hit on the road for the Rockies... where he’s staying put. And just for fun...

NL Rookie of the Year: Christian Villanueva, Padres.      

Maybe the Phillies should call up Hunter Greene to make anyone give a shit about NL rookies this year. But Villanueva is tied for the NL rookie lead in WAR and he’s mashing for the shitty Padres. The Cubs actually got Villanueva with Kyle Hendricks in the Ryan Dempster trade. But they decided they probably didn’t have room for him in the infield, since he doesn't strike out every time at bat. Oh man. SELF BURN.   

So this is a good place to start. Everything will look completely different in a week. But that’s part of the fun. Baseball is fucking awesome.  

[chikaraspecial]

If you’re a fan of independent wrestling, you’ve probably heard of The Carnies. The former Team IOU re-branded at the end of 2016, and have made waves in companies such as Ring of Honor, CZW, AIW, Beyond Wrestling, CWF Mid-Atlantic, and NOVA Pro in the past year alone. Years before that, they made their mark on the Southern independent wrestling scene as Team IOU, even winning the FIP Trios Tournament in 2015 with Jake Dirden.

Come October 28th, Nick Iggy and Kerry Awful will add CHIKARA to the list of companies they’ve debuted for in the past year, squaring off against former Campeones de Parejas, Sonny Defarge and Cornelius Crummels. It would be a big win in the cap of the Ringleader and Dog-Faced Gargoyle to best the former Campeones on their first night in the company, but you know the two businessmen are planning to work their way back into the title picture themselves. Which of these two teams will leave the Windy City with the win?

“Deep Breath” - Saturday, October 28th (2:00 PM) - Chicago, IL

1. The Carnies (Nick Iggy & Kerry Awful) (0 Points) vs. Sonny Defarge & Cornelius Crummels (1 Point)

[iloveyoupittsburghpirates-blog]

Until We Meet Again, Pittsburgh Pirates

My Dearest Pittsburgh Pirates,

I’ll give you this: you finished strong. The 2017 baseball season ended for you yesterday and you finished with a record of 75-87 by going 4-2 in your final week. You were only a measly seventeen games out of first place but the good news you avoided finishing in last place by seven games. Way to go! This season will go down as even more disappointing than last season and you were coming off a 98 win year in 2015. This one hurt more because last year you expected, at least slightly, to take a step back. A.J. Burnett retired, Neil Walker has been traded, and you were still trying to fill the void left by Edinson Volquez’s departure the year before that. The “bridge year” had ended and it looked like the young staff could take steps forward. You can argue that it did but the offense took about thirty steps back. Losing Kang to the Visa, Marte to the suspension, Matt Joyce and SRod to free agency, and Polanco to multiple hamstring injuries cost you over sixty homers. That’s a lot especially when the league destroyed the record for most overall homers hit in one season. That immediately puts you at a huge disadvantage. Obviously some of those things were out of your control (i.e. Kang and Marte) but you had opportunities to do something about it and you didn’t. Maybe you knew this roster wasn’t where it needed to be without them. I don’t know. I do know that after back to back losing seasons you need to do something to improve this roster. You can’t stick with the status quo and expect things to change.

Could this be it? Everyone treated the final two home games of the year on Tuesday and Wednesday against the Orioles as if they could be Andrew McCutchen’s last in front of the Pittsburgh crowd. I still think the chances of that are very slim but it’s important to give one of the greatest players in franchise history his due just in case it comes to fruition. Cutch gave the home crowd a show on Tuesday night and they paid him back in full. Cutch hit his first career grand slam in a 10-1 smashing of the Orioles. The relief Cutch showed rounding the bases showed how much it meant to him. He took a curtain call after the fans wouldn’t relent and that would be his first of three that evening. He hit a three-run homer later which garnered another standing ovation and a tip of the cap. The final one came when Clint Hurdle made the classy move of sending Cutch out to play defense only to immediately pull him so the crowd could give him a much deserved round of applause. He went 4 for 4 in that game with two homers and eight RBI’s. I’m glad Pittsburgh acknowledged what Cutch has done for this franchise just in case it’s over. I believed for a long time we would never see a winning season again and never see a player of Cutch’s capabilities step onto the field in a Pirates’ uniform. Talk about the pitching all you want but we don’t make three straight playoffs if Cutch isn’t on your roster. Hell, we very well might still have the consecutive losing seasons streak going without him. He is a generational player. After an abysmal start to this year, he finished with splits of .279/.363/.486 for a .849 OPS, 28 homers, and 88 RBI’s. He even added eleven steals and played a far more respectable center field. Cherish the moments you watched him play. Cherish him handing his batting gloves to two elated kids in San Diego. Cherish an MVP winner. Cherish a man who loved to play for this city. Cherish a man who made you a winner again. This dedication might be pointless right now if he’s standing in center field on opening day next year but, in case he’s not, thank you Cutch for helping me believe in Pirates’ baseball again. You are easily my favorite Pirate that I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching in person.

In a down year, you look for silver linings in order to keep you optimistic moving forward. Obviously, Cutch’s bounce back was a big one. Josh Bell becoming a home run hitter and looking like he has the potential to be a corner stone piece was gigantic. Felipe Rivero becoming one of the best closers in baseball was a lovely surprise. I think the biggest surprise though might be the performance of Trevor Williams. When quality starting pitching is so hard to find, you can’t overstate how important Williams breakout season could be. Williams 4.07 ERA and 1.31 WHIP look decent especially for the number four or five guy in your rotation but when you see his second half numbers it’s becomes even more interesting. In the first half of the season, his ERA was 4.80. That included his first start in Los Angeles when he got tagged for ten runs. In the second half, his ERA was 3.35. His WHIP has actually remained fairly consistent in the two halves. First half it was 1.27 and second half it was 1.35. Those aren’t WHIP’s that blow you away but they are decent and, given it’s his first season starting in the majors, there’s reason to believe that could improve. His FIP’s were about the same as well with the first half at 4.06 and 3.99 in the second half. His strikeouts increased in the second half of the season but so did his walks which would explain his increase in WHIP. He stranded 64% of the runners he put on base in the first half and improved to strand 78% of runners after that. These are all very encouraging numbers. When you remember that you acquired Williams from the Marlins as compensation for pitching guru, Jim Benedict, taking a position there, it seems like a smart move. When you learn that Benedict was fired by new CEO Derek Jeter this weekend, the move looks brilliant. I don’t know if Williams can continue to perform at this level but there’s reason to believe that you have found your number four starter for now and for the future.

Jameson Taillon finally looked like an ace caliber pitcher again on Saturday night against the Washington Nationals. The Nationals didn’t have anything to play for but they still had their normal starting lineup in there and Taillon dominated. He pitched seven innings allowing four hits, one run, one walk, and striking out five. We haven’t seen this Taillon since his return from testicular cancer and if that’s not a good enough reason to give someone leeway than nothing is. Taillon has the ability to be a true ace and his ceiling could even be higher than Gerrit Cole’s. I don’t know what the state of the rotation will be next season but I’m optimistic. If they don’t trade Cole, which is possible, they have someone who pitched almost 200 innings and struck out almost 200 hitters. His home run numbers have to decrease significantly for him to be a force but given that he gave up more than two and a half times the amount of homers this year than he has in any other season, there’s hope that this was an anomaly. With Williams at the four and options like Chad Kuhl, Steven Brault, and Nick Kingham at the five, the only person you really need to get back on track is Ivan Nova which might be easier said than done after his poor second half (5.83 ERA, 1.61 WHIP). You would like to think that Tyler Glasnow could be a part of this conversation too but seeing as he can’t pitch three innings without walking five to six batters, he’s in the “worthless until proven otherwise” category. I’m not certain the rotation will be great or even good next year. I do have more confidence in this staff than I have had in the last two and I believe they are in better position for next year than the offense.  Let’s hope these pitchers play up to their potential and that you find a way to improve the offense.

I bitch and complain a lot. I harp on the mistakes you make over and over again. I have the luxury of sitting in the peanut gallery and analyzing everything you do with a microscope without knowing everything that goes on behind the scenes. It’s weekends like this past one that put things into perspective. Sports are fun. I take them as or more seriously than anyone else and sometimes you realize they only matter so much. When you see the devastation in Puerto Rico or the senseless massacre in Las Vegas, you remember that sports only have one responsibility: to entertain. Enjoy them. Enjoy them more than I sometimes do. That’s why they exist. I could complain more about a disappointing season but instead I’m going to thank you for being there. Thank you for giving me something to focus on, even once in a while, to take my mind off the insanity that’s out there. Many things need to drastically change to prevent tragedies like this but they don’t happen in a baseball blog. I tell you how much I love you all the time, and I do, but right now I want to say I love you to all the people who make my life worth living. You don’t know what could happen next and you never want to be in a situation wishing you would have said it more. To the people that read this, to my family, and to my friends, I’m grateful for you every day. These are difficult times and the one thing no one can stop you from doing is loving. I know this has devolved into schmaltz and cheesiness but there are few days when it’s felt more appropriate. Be more compassionate. Be more appreciative. I know I will be. We have a long fight ahead of us to stop horrific tragedies like today. All I currently have is the power of words so I will just want to say it once more: Thank you, all. I love you dearly.

                                   With Sincere and Desperate Hope For a Better Tomorrow,

                                                                                           Brad

P.S. stands for the Pittsburgh Steelers who got their season back on track with a huge win on the road against the division rival, Baltimore Ravens. You grinded out a 26-9 win on the back of great defense and Le’Veon Bell having his first real Le’Veon Bell type day (186 yds from scrimmage and 2 TD’s). You are now 3-1 and standalone at the top of the division ahead of the Ravens (2-2), Bengals (1-3), and Browns (0-4). You get only your second home game in five weeks on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars. You are 3-1, you have had one home game, and your franchise QB has been above average at best. I’ll take it…

[weekendwarriorblog]

WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND May 3, 2019  - LONG SHOT, THE INTRUDER, UGLYDOLLS, EL CHICANO

This is another one of those infamous “lots of new movies taking on a juggernaut” weekends and surprise, surprise, I’ve actually seen three of the movies, although I’m going to recuse myself from actually reviewing them for reasons I choose not to get into.

Definitely my favorite of the three new movies is Lionsgate’s LONG SHOT, the new romantic comedy pairing Seth Rogen with Charlize Theron and directed by Jonathan Levine of 50/50 fame. It’s a fun politically-tinged comedy that surrounds Rogen and Theron with a great cast including June Diane Raphael, O’Shea Jackson, Jr, Bob Odenkirk, an unrecognizable Andy Serkis and Alexander Skarsgard. You can read my interview with Levine over at The Beat, and my interview with Jackson will go up sometime later this week.

I also liked director Deon Taylor’s THE INTRUDER (Sony/Screen Gems), a super-creepy psychological thriller, starring Dennis Quaid, Michael Ealy (keep an eye on this guy!) and Meagan Good, who I’ve been a fan of since she starred in Rian Johnson’s Brick. I’m really impressed with Taylor as a director, as he continues to crank out films via his Hidden Empire production company. He actually has about four or five movies in various stages of post-production, including two that will be released by Screen Gems, so if you aren’t familiar with Taylor’s work, don’t worry… you will be. The Intruderis certainly a fun introduction, a simple psychological thriller with three solid performances. If you’re looking for something to see this weekend, you could definitely do worse than this.

I’m not sure that Ben Hernandez Bray’s action-thriller EL CHICANO, released by new distributor Briarcliff Entertainment, is my cup-of-tea, though I’ve long been a fan of the movie’s co-writer and producer Joe Carnahan. It stars Raul Castillo in the dual role of an L.A. police detective investigating a brutal gangland murder, as well as his gangster twin brother who was killed years earlier. The title character is a vigilante who comes around to stop gang violence by any means necessary, and Castillo’s character believes that it was actually his dead brother. the movie  also stars George Lopez and a mostly-Latino cast, which is quite an achievement for Bray and Carnahan. I think some people will really dig the action scenes and the character, and I hope it does well because there’s definitely some more room to tell more stories about the characters. (You can read my interviewwith Bray and Carnahan on The Beat.)

Not sure if I have much to say about STXfilms’ UGLYDOLLS, which features a musical voice cast including Kelly Clarkson, Nick Jonas, Janelle Monae, Blake Shelton, Pitbull and Gabriel Iglesias. As you might guess, it’s the one movie this weekend I haven’t seen, and I have absolutely no interest or plans to see it ever. I just don’t care. Maybe there are kids or parents out there that do, so good for them!

Anyway, none of the above matters since Avengers: Endgame will still be doing huge business in its second weekend. By the way, I finally got around to seeing that and I quite enjoyed it, especially how it defied almost all of my expectations despite not really knowing anything about the movie in advance. In fact, the only scene I saw from the movie at CinemaConended up being a bit of a red herring, something you’ll totally understand if you’ve seen the movie.

You can see how I think those movies will do at the box office on my Box Office Preview at The Beat!

LIMITED RELEASES

I’m going to start with the docs this week, cause there are some good ones… okay?

Opening at the Metrograph Friday is Gretchen Hildebran and Vivian Vazquez’s timely DECADE OF FIRE about the South Bronx in the ‘70s and how Black and Latino neighborhoods were abandoned by the city government as building after building burnt to the ground, destroying those neighborhoods until the people stood together to rebuild. (If you saw Baz Lurhmann’s Netflix series The Get-Down, you could see some of the results of what happened.) I saw the movie at Doc-NYC last year and was blown away by how well the story was told. The screening will be accompanied by a number of related panels at the Metrograph over the weekend and also next week. You can learn more about those here.

Speaking of the Bronx, the Netflix documentary KNOCK DOWN THE HOUSE, directed by Rachel Lears, looks at some of the amazing women who ran for the House against incumbents last year, including the Bronx’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The movie won the Audience Award for documentary at Sundance in January, and it’s opening at the IFC Center and Film at Lincoln Center in New York on Weds and will also be streaming on Netflix. I really liked this documentary a lot, mainly because like many, I’m endlessly fascinated by the amazing Ocasio-Cortez and how the ardor towards her keep growing the more she gets out there. I certainly will vote for her if she ever runs in an election I can vote for her. Lears’ movie is quite fantastic as it’s on the ground with these women throughout the political campaign process.

The next two docs played at Tribeca this past week, but I just couldn’t find the time to see either. The first is Werner Herzog and André Singer’s MEETING GORBACHEV (1091, formerly The Orchard), which compiles three conversations that Herzog had with former Soviet head of state Mikhail Gorbachev, who is now 87 years old, talking extensively about the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. It opens at the Film Forum in New York Friday.

I’m a little more annoyed with myself for missing Hulu’s ASK DR. RUTH, directed by Ryan White, because I’m definitely interested in learning more about Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the Holocaust survivor who became known as the country’s most famous expert, as it follows her leading up to the days of her 90thbirthday. This doc opens at the Landmark at 57 West and Quad Cinemas in New York on Friday, plus it will be on Hulu on June 1.

Also back this weekend is one of my favorite French filmmakers Olivier Assayas with the dramedy NON-FICTION (IFC Films), which I previously saw at the New York Film Festival. It’s about an author (Vincent Macaigne) who bases much of his work on his own life (kind of like Assayas?), and it once again teams Assayas with Juliet Binoche, who plays the wife of the author’s publisher who has an affair with him. What I liked about this over some of Assayas’ more verbose character-driven dramas is that it’s actually kind of funny, especially with its spoof of the publishing industry. I’ll probably try to see it again, but it’s opening in New York at the IFC Center and probably a few other places as well.

Normally, my favorite movie of the weekend would be a Zhang Yimou martial arts film like SHADOW (Well GO USA), because I’m such a fan of Heroand some of his other films in this ilk, but for whatever reason, this one just did not connect with me. Part of that was that I just found this story confusing, and it really dragged in between the action scenes, which certainly looked lovely, like a good ballet, but still kind of disappointing.

Abramorama is releasing Dan Pritzker’s BOLDEN about the life of jazz artist Buddy Bolden, known as the “first Comet King of New Orleans,” as played by Gary Carr, into select citiesFriday. The film also stars Ian McShane and Michael Rooker. I’m shocked that I hadn’t heard much about this movie, especially since I saw commercials during SNL over the weekend.

This week’s Bollywood release is Student of the Year 2 (FIP), directed by Punit Malhotra. As you might guess, it’s a sequel to the 2012 romantic comedy, this one involving a love triangle between a guy and two girls.

There’s lots of other odds ‘n’ ends, none of which I’ve had a chance to see including Tell It To the Bees (Good Deeds Entertainment), Clara(Screen Media), Hesburgh(O’Malley Creadon Productions), The Convent (Vertical Entertainment) and the movies Dead Trigger and Bardo Blues. I’ll be honest that I’m a little burnt out this weekend trying to cover Tribeca (which I hope to write about very soon) as well as all the other theatrical releases. I’m not sure any of these will make that big a difference in the grand scheme of things, and this is my column, so I decide what I write about and how much I write about it.

LOCAL FESTIVALS

The 18thTribeca Film Festival continues through the weekend but if you feel like going out to the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens, you can check out Panorama Europe 2019, which runs from Friday through May 19. It also takes place at the Czech CenterAND the French Embassy. It opens on Friday night at MOMI with Barbara Albert’s Austrian drama Mademoiselle Paradis, starring Maria Dragus (The White Ribbon), who will be there in person. I haven’t seen the film but I love some of Albert’s previous films, Free Radicalsand Falling, both of which I think I saw at the New York Film Festival in years past? The festival continues through the weekend with new films from all over Europe, mostly playing at MOMI but with single repeat screenings at the other two venues. This is a festival I wish I had more time to cover, as I’m sure there are some great underrated films in the festival, but sadly, I just do not have the time right now.

STREAMING AND CABLE

I’ve been wanting to see Joe Berlinger’s Ted Bundy movie EXTREMELY WICKED, SHOCKINGLY EVIL AND VILE, starring Zac Efron, since I first heard about it, and I’m happy to say that it really lived up to my expectations. It’s as much about Bundy’s relationship with his girlfriend Elizabeth Kendall (Lily Collins) as it is about the trial against Bundy for kidnapping and murder dozens of women. I’m a big fan of Berlinger’s documentaries, and this is a fantastic second foray into dramatic work, working from a screenplay written by Michael Werwie based on the book by Kendall. Efron works well as the charming serial killer who is constantly in denial about his actions, but I also really liked Collins’ performance as the woman trying her best to support her man despite the horrible allegations against him.  Berlinger combines actual archival news footage with the performances by his cast to create something as compelling as any of Netflix’s crime docs. The film also stars John Malkovich, Jim Parsons, Haley Joel Osment, Brian Geraghty and more.

As mentioned above, Netflix will also stream the doc KNOCK DOWN THE HOUSE starting Wednesday, and other movies premiering this week include William Bindley’s coming-of-age film The Last Summer and Gabriela Tagliavini’sDespite Everything (A pesar de todo) on Friday. Clearly, there’s a lot of variety and options on Netflix this weekend… but lots of stuff in theaters, too (as seen above and below).

REPERTORY

METROGRAPH (NYC):

A bit of slower weekend for repertory stuff but the latest episode of the Academy Presents takes place on Saturday with Costa-Gravas’ 1969 film Z. Late Nites at Metrograph  will screen Gus Van Sant’s 1991 film My Own Private Idaho, starring Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix on Friday and Saturday night, and Playtime: Family Matinees  will screen Henry Koster’s 1950 film Harvey, starring James Stewart.

THE NEW BEVERLY (L.A.):

At Tarantino’s rep theater, people will have a chance to see Vincente Minnelli’s Gigi (1958), based on Colette’s novella, in a matinee on Weds.  On Weds and Thurs, there’s a double feature of cool indies with Miranda July’s Me and You and Everyone We Know  (2005) and Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank (2009), starring Michael Fassbender. Friday and Saturday sees double features of Kathryn Bigelow’s 1987 vampire film Near Dark and Karyn Kusama’s Jennifer’s Body  (2009). The weekend’s KIDDEE MATINE is the 1994 Little Women, while Tarantino’s Death Proof (2007) will show at midnight on Friday. The Monday matinee is the Val Kilmer comedy Real Genius from 1985.

MOMA (NYC):

A couple new series start here on Wednesday, including the shorterModern Matinees: On the Move series, which will show Raoul Walsh’s 1930 film The Big Trail on Weds, Alfonso Cuaron’s Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001) on Thursday, and Harold Ramis’ 1993 film Groundhogs Day on Friday. Abel Ferrara: Unratedwill also begin on Wednesday with screenings of Ferrara’s 2000 film Mulberry Street, his 1995 filmThe Addiction (with the filmmaker onhand for a QnA), Ferrara’s Chelsea on the Rocks (2008) and New Rose Hotel (1998) will screen on Thursday, then his 2014 films Welcome to New York and Pasolini on Friday. (Oddly, the latter will get its first official theatrical run at the Metrograph starting Friday, May 10.) This is a fairly extensive retrospective with Ferrara and many of his actors talking about the movies after they’re shown, and that alone might be enough to get me into midtown. MOMA is also in the midst of another series called Roberto Gavaldón: Night Falls in Mexico, running through Sunday and showing rare screenings of the works of the Mexican filmmaker’s work from the ‘40s, ‘50s and 60s.

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

The Egyptian continues to slaughter… in a repertory way … with its new series Cassavetes & Scorsese: Love is Strange, a series of double features starting Thursday with Shadows (1958 and Who’s That Knocking On My Door (1967), followed by The King of Comedy  (1982) and Opening Night  (1977) Friday and Scorsese’s 1976 film Taxi Driver and Cassavetes’ Minnie and Moskowitz (1971) on Sunday. Also, the Egyptian will have the great Jean Pierre-Jeunet on-hand to talk about his Oscar-nominated film Amelie (2001) after it screens on Saturday night.

AERO  (LA):

Meanwhile, at the Egyptian’s sister theater, we get “The Fiction and Non-Fiction of Olivier Assayas” including a double feature of Irma Vep (1996) and Summer Hours (2008) on Thursday. Edward Zwick’s 1989 film Glory will be screened on Saturday followed by a QnA with Zwick, while Jean Pierre-Jeunet appears on Sunday to show his recent film The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet as well as a double feature of The City of Lost Children (1995) and Delicatessen (1991).

FILM FORUM (NYC):

The Film Forum’s “Trilogies” series continues with Aki Kaurismäki’s “Proletariot Trilogy” of Ariel, Shadows in Paradise and The Match Factory Girl, Roberto Rossellini’s “War Trilogy” and Satyajit Ray’s “Apu Trilogy” screening screening one final time next Tuesday. You’ll also have one final time to watch Krzysztof Kieslowski’s “Three Colors Trilogy” over the weekend. The weekend’s Film Forum Jr. is the 1962 monster battle movie King Kong vs. Godzilla.

QUAD CINEMA (NYC):

James Ivory’s 1981 film Quartet is getting a 4k restoration rerelease via the Cohen Films Collection, and Ivory himself will be there Friday night for a QnA. Isabelle Adjani won the Best Actress Award at Cannes for her performance as a woman who finds shelter with a couple played by Alan Bates and Maggie Smith after her husband is imprisoned in this adaptation of Jean Rhys’s 1928 novel set during Paris of the ‘20s.

BAM CINEMATEK (NYC):

Starting Friday and running through the month is Black 90s: A Turning Point in American Cinema, beginning with Charles Burnett’s 1990 film To Sleep with Anger, starring Danny Glover, and running along with Burnett’s short When it Rains. (Burnett will be there on Friday for a QnA after his films.) Also showing Saturday is Zeinabu Irene Davis’ Compensation (1999), Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust(1991) and Haile Gerima’s 1993 film Sankofa and the series will run through May 22.

IFC CENTER (NYC)

Waverly Midnights: Parental Guidance  shows the classic 1973 horror film The Exorcist this weekend, while Weekend Classics: Love Mom and Dad  goes with Mike Nichols’ Postcards from the Edge (1990) and Late Night Favorites: Spring shows John Waters’ Female Trouble (1974).

FILM OF LINCOLN CENTER (NYC):

The newly-renamed uptown is celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year by taking part in a FREE program of classic films as part of the Block Party celebrating Lincoln Center’s 60th Anniversary this Saturday.

Next week, we get more new movies including Warner Bros’ Pokemon: Detective Pikachu, the Anne Hathaway-Rebel Wilson comedy The Hustle from U.A. Releasing and STXfilms’ Poms.

[fipindustries]

trying the teacher/mother/researcher look