IT’S ALL HAPPENING!

by John Walters | 9 Comments

by John Walters

Tweet Me Right


Send in your suggested quote. Here’s ours: “I too have a blind eye I’d like you to see…”

Starting Five

Out Of Sessions

You have two choices once you accept Donald Trump as your lord and savior: You either do everything he wants you to do, i.e. express complete fealty, or you eventually end up in the gutter. Beside your career.

Former Trump sycophant and U.S. Senator from the great state of Alabama discovered that the hard way when, as newly installed Attorney General, he recused himself from the Mueller investigation. For 20 odd months since, the guillotine has been hovering over the back of Sessions’ neck.


Today it came down faster than you can say, “You’re a rude and terrible person.” Trump will install Matt Whitaker, a former tight end on the Iowa Hawkeyes who the president hopes will serve as a lead blocker agains Robert Mueller.

Whitaker got here by being an outspoken critic of the Robert Mueller investigation and offering a solution: bleeding it dry by withholding funding.

Kind of funny how less than 24 hours after the Democrats take over the House of Representatives, Trump fires the dude who was the firewall against Trump firing Mueller. In the immortal words of George Costanza, “WE’RE TAKING IT UP A NOTCH!”

2. Acosta Accosted

Here’s CNN’s Jim Acosta versus President Donald Trump, the high—or low- —light of yesterday’s 86-minute White House press briefing. In our opinion, there are no winners here.

Trump is being Trump, of course (“Oh, here we go…”) but Acosta isn’t exactly being respectful when he lectures the president on the difference between an “invasion” and “immigrants.” No one likes a pedant (trust us, we’re as pedantic as anyone we know).

We don’t agree with the the fear-mongering the White House is engaged in (and you’d be wise to note that yesterday, for the first time in more than a week, Fox News had no footage of the caravan; hmm, wonder why not?), but we think Acosta had more than enough Q&A time by the time the president cut him off. There were dozens of other reports in the room who likely wanted to ask a question, too. It’s one thing to request a follow-up, it’s another to clutch the mic so long that the home viewer wonders if you’re about to announce that “Now we’d like to do a deep track from our first album.”


(The Magic Loogie video: Back and to the left. Back and to the left. Baaaaaaaack and to the left.)

Acosta simply refused to surrender the microphone. He’d already asked a question or three and maybe if he wasn’t satisfied with the answers, that’s too bad. I’m not in the habit of defending Donald Trump, as you know, but what was the president supposed to do? If Trump had simply refused to answer any question by Acosta, I’d take his side. But Acosta actually got the president to react to three different questions, or at least questions interrupted. This wasn’t a one-on-one.

At a certain point the president is allowed to move on. And it is the president, not Jim Acosta, who sets those parameters. By refusing to relinquish the mic, Acosta was hijacking the presser. And from what I’ve seen, he’s not about to apologize for that. That’s why CNN loves him. He’s a bulldog, albeit a polite and respectful bulldog.

But he often treats pressers as an extended debate between himself and Trump (or Sarah Sanders). From our vantage point, there’s a wide spectrum between being the president’s lap dog and refusing to play by the rules, as he was.

Acosta left the president little choice but to step away from his own mic, as that poor White House intern tried to intervene. And my Twitter timeline, which is full of journalists, are all taking Acosta’s side. But I’m not. He asked his questions, and Trump rudely and condescendingly, as is his nature, gave his answers. At some point Trump gets to move on. And Acosta doesn’t get to say when.


As for Sarah Sanders later justifying the revocation of Acosta’s pass because he put his hands on the female staffer (and Corey Lewandowski, of all people, tweeting out his support of this censure) we’ll roll the tape and send it over to Dean Blandino in the replay booth. Still, if you peruse both videos, you’ll notice the White House version is chop-shopped. Wonder why…


Let’s be clear, because I can already see the sparks shooting up from Susie B.’s keyboard. I don’t think the White House has any justification to suspend Acosta’s hard pass (but then I don’t think they have any justification to fire Sessions, or to do most of the things they do every day), but I don’t think Acosta adhered to decorum, either. He was going to continue asking questions until someone forced him to stop. He, too, was out of control.

3. Borderline Insanity

Here’s the drill that we’ve all become accustomed to…

Where? Thousand Oaks, Calif., a nightclub called Borderline.

How Many?  12 dead

Who? Not Honduran immigrants, so that’s a relief.

What Next? Thoughts and Prayers; President Trump praises law enforcement in a tweet and since the gunman was Caucasian, makes no mention of him; “It’s Too Soon To Talk About Guns” timer is automatically reset.

4. Overdue Book

Saturday night’s sub-freezing Florida State-Notre Dame data point just got a little more interesting. Fighting Irish quarterback Ian Book, the nation’s completion percentage leader at 74.5%, will apparently miss the data point with, as Al Michaels would put it, “a rib.”


How seriously injured is Book? Will he also miss the Syracuse data point, or is the coaching staff holding him out of FSU (a very winnable game) so that he’ll be ready for Syracuse, a more daunting foe, at Yankee Stadium on November 17? And will it be all Brandon Wimbush come Saturday, or will Brian Kelly sprinkle in a little of freshman Phil Jurkovec?

Stay tuned.

5. Two Generations Of Dickersons

You never hear them mention it on CBS This Morning, but host John Dickerson is the scion of a White House reporter (Hooray, Nepotism! Part 674) who had plenty of experience covering a president who would ultimately resign due to a scandal. Dickerson, who formerly hosted Face The Nation on CBS on Sunday mornings, is the son of Nancy Dickerson, a pioneer among women in on-air political coverage.

Nancy with John Chancellor, Harry Reasoner, and I don’t know who that dude on the left is…

Nancy Dickerson, who died in 1997 at the age of 70, is truly worthy of one of those slow-paced, historical CBS Sunday Morning profiles. A school teacher in Milwaukee, Nancy Hanschmann set off on her own to Washington, D.C.. with the dream of becoming a broadcaster. A single lady, she landed an associate producer’s gig at…Face The Nation.

In 1960 she became CBS’ first female correspondent (she covered Kennedy’s corpse being returned to Andrews Air Force base) and then from 1963-1970 worked for NBC. In 1962 she married a wealthy industrialist, C. Wyatt Dickerson, and they had two sons. They lived on a 46-acre estate in McLean, Va., called Merry wood, that overlooked the Potomac.

Dickerson then went on to work for PBS and produce independent pieces. She is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. We can understand why her son doesn’t want to bring up his mom’s name too much, but she is sort of a legend in the biz, particularly when it comes to women who cover the White House.

Music 101

Waiting

Sometimes it’s best to cleanse your musical palate with a simple garage rock classic. Here’s Green Day with a simple four-chord ditty (A, D, B minor, E, repeat) from the year 2000.

Remote Patrol

Bucks at Warriors

10:30 p.m. TNT

Get me to the Greek….Freak

Okay, even I’m interested in this one. Giannis and Dante take on the Splash Brothers. A moment of silence, please, for Milwaukee beat writers who have to type Antetokounmpo and DiVincenzo in all their gamers. These two squads are a combined 18-3 and the Bucks are the most exciting new super team in the league (I’m far more intrigued by them than the LeLakers).

IT’S ALL HAPPENING!

by John Walters | 1 Comment

by John Walters

Tweet Me Right


A blatant plug.

Starting Five

American Stalemate

The Democrats, after an eight-year absence, regained control of the House of Representatives. The Republicans gained three seats in the Senate, extending their majority. The darlings of October, at least with the liberal media—Stacey Abrams, Andrew Gillem and Beto O’Rourke—all lost. Voter turnout was up over 35% from the last midterm elections.


The intensity and passion was there, but it wasn’t quite a Blue Wave. The more rural a state or area, the more likely you are to see MAGA out in support of Trump and white nationalism. The more urban or educated a state or area, the more likely you are to see people out in support of Democrats or diversity.


It’s a culture war and the battle lines have been drawn. I’m not sure how we ever unite over this. The jobs are in the cities, as are the educational opportunities or the opportunities for those who are educated. But there are still plenty of votes in rural America (and Florida, Texas and Ohio), enough to keep the Senate red and enough to win the electoral college. It’s a republic, not a democracy, after all, and Trump and Mitch are playing this game to win. And you might not like their tactics, but they do know how to play this game.

2. Dead Pimp Scrolls

Some of the weirder nuggets from yesterday’s mid-terms:

–Iowa goes “full retard,” as well as full neo-Nazi, by reelecting Senator Steve King.

–Nevada elects Dennis Hof, the rooster from the Cathouse series in which he openly boasted about owning seven brothels in Nevada, to a state assembly seat. The only problem is that he died 21 days ago. Hof is a true HOF’er.

Cortez: From concrete jungle to the swamp…

–Americans elected their first openly gay governor, in Colorado (Jared Polis…yes, they went to Jared), its first Muslim woman representative, its first Native-American female rep (two, actually) and its youngest-ever female representative, who happens to be Latina (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 30).

3. Revenge Tour?


The Selection Committee’s new top four: Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame, Michigan. We gots no problem with that, but we are curious as to why so many members of the media have fallen in thrall with the Wolverines’ self-proclaimed “Revenge Tour.”

Revenge Tour? The band has only traveled to South Bend, Evanston and East Lansing. Hep Alien did more dates over a greater range. This is only a tour Bob Seger could love.

You’re not really a great team until you win a meaningful game on the road (ask Alabama, 29-0 winners at LSU on Saturday; better yet, ask No. 5 Georgia, who lost badly in Baton Rouge last month). Michigan’s trio of road games: a loss in South Bend, a win Evanston that required a comeback from a 17-0 deficit, and a win at Michigan State in a game that was in doubt until the fourth quarter.

Have the Wolverines looked impressive in the Big House? Damn right they have. Are they better than they were on Sept. 1? Yes.

The funny thing is that right now they may get their wish and ours: a date with Alabama.

4. “The Call On The Field Is Targeting”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0O392ZEUpc

One man and some tape versus millions of years of evolution? Yeah, I’m going with the gator, too. Good for him.

5. ‘Heat’ Check

So the other night we watched Heat for the first time and it was pretty much as Michael Mann-ish as we feared it would be. It’s as if someone decided to make a three-episode arc of Miami Vice, except they wanted to set it in Los Angeles and then populate it with some of the best actors of that or any era: Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, William Fichtner, Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, Dennis Haysbert, Hank Arazia, Mykelti Williamson, Natalie Portman, Ashley Judd, Amy Brenneman, even Jeremy Piven, etc. Then they tossed in Tone-Loc and Henry Rollins because why not?

Heat was released in 1995, so Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs had both already been released. Mann was still drawing stick figures while Tarantino was doing sketches of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Also, it’s kind of difficult not to think of Mann as a misogynist and well, maybe, a little narrow in his views. All the women live only to be used and abused by their men (and they still stick by them, to the point of absurdity) and the only black character is an ex-con.

(This is the most famous scene from Heat, but there are at least two others, when Pacino is irate, that are even better)

The saving grace: Al Pacino just chews the f***ing paint off the scenery and is simply so fan-damn-tastic. If you haven’t seen it, it’s on Netflix. Re-watch the scene where he’s shaking down his informant in the junkyard. It’s a joy. And of course the scene in which DeNiro, the head of a crew of bank robbers, meets Pacino, the detective pursuing him, at a diner for a summit meeting is a time capsule scene. Here are the two most acclaimed actors since 1970 finally, finally sharing a scene together.

Honestly, the Pacino is the very, very best thing about Heat. He really did have quite a renaissance in the early ’90s.

As good as Pacino was, Val Kilmer was simply that bad. Everything about his performance screamed, “It wasn’t in our budget to get Brad Pitt.” Anyway, there was this scene at DeNiro’s Malibu hideout that I noticed and apparently I’m not the only one. To wit, what the hell is going on with Val’s left elbow here??? And why is it never explained? And why didn’t they just shoot the scene differently, or ask him to put on a long-sleeved shirt, to hide it? Ewww.

 Music 101

I’m A Believer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W83InivbUSQ

When you think of the bands that were making music in 1967—The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, The Byrds, The Band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Mamas and the Papas, The Doors, The Who—it’s rather astounding that The Monkees had the top-selling record that year: This record, written by Neil Diamond. That’s Mickey Dolenz on vocals, which have never been given the credit they deserve. That’s what happens when your band is also a TV show. But they made some memorable music.

Remote Patrol

22 July

Netflix

“You will die today. Marxists, liberals, members of the elite.”

The events of July 22, 2011 shook Norway and all of Europe to the core. And sadly, the violence unleashed by a solitary individual that claimed 77 lives in a pair of coordinated attacks (the second a killing spree of teen youths on the tiny island of Utoya) has become a harbinger of the bloodshed we have seen here, as it was precipitated by a white nationalist who saw himself as a soldier in a race war.

Less than half of this film is the attacks. The second part is how a few survivors, particularly the teen above in the middle (played remarkably well by Jonas Strand Gravli), recover and deal with the trial of the murderer. The chilling scene that stayed with me is from the courtroom, when an avowed older white nationalist is called as an expert witness on the phenomenon. He explains that white supremacists are completely in line with the murderer’s ultimate goal, they just think that his tactics undermined their crusade. That the way to win this war is to wage a far more clandestine battle. As we have seen take place in the U.S.A.

“The alt-right, the far right, you can call us whatever you want,” the man says. “We’re deadly serious about seizing power, about changing society completely. But a single man’s violent act won’t help us to reach that goal.”

 

WE FIXED COLLEGE FOOTBALL (at least the FBS)!

by John Walters | 3 Comments

by John Walters

Six power conferences. Each have 12 schools. 72 is a wonderful number (not quite as beautiful as 64, but close). We’ll leave the divisions up to someone else, but ideally each school plays 8 intra-conference games (5 in division, 3 outside) and 4 non-conference games. The fans win, as these conferences do their best to respect tradional placements while putting a premium on geographic proximity, which is what makes the sport so appealing to its fans (and yes, Notre Dame remains an independent).

Before you say this could never work, consider this: If the below were the existing framework and someone suggested, as an improvement, the construct of conferences that is currently in place in reality, would anyone go for it? No. 

ACC

Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina, N.C. State, South Carolina, UCF, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest

–12 schools

Granted, this is more like the South Atlantic Coast Conference, but at least it is comprised entirely of schools whose states are located along the Atlantic Coast. Wild, right? The ACC stretches no farther north than Charlottesville. We hate to lose the Terps, but they’re needed to make the Big East more robust. UCF has the nation’s highest enrollment and is located in Orlando. A sleeping giant that has already been roused.

BIG 10

Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State, Louisville, Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue, Minnesota, Wisconsin

–12 schools

The Hawkeyes’ in-state rival joins the conference, and orphaned Louisville, which never belonged in the ACC, finds a home. Recall, the ‘ville is located just across the Ohio River from Indiana. Louisville, Kentucky and Cincy probably all belong in the same conference, but which one? Until anyone figures that out, we’re parceling them out to foster homes.

BIG 12

Baylor, Colorado, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M, TCU, Texas Tech

–12 schools

Welcome back to four emigres whose return is sorely needed. This is truly a powerhouse conference now.

BIG EAST

Army, Boston College, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Maryland, Navy, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, Temple, West Virginia

–12 schools

People say the Northeast lacks enough powerhouse schools after Penn State, but no one has ever accused this region of being lacking in prep talent. Let’s keep some of them home by placing all the best schools from this quadrant, the most densely populated part of the nation, in one conference. Every school is within driving distance from NYC, the media epicenter of the nation. And having Army and Navy gives the conference immediate national prominence. 

PAC-12

Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, Cal, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Utah, Washington, Washington State

–12 schools

The University of Colorado is located EAST of the Rockies. There’s a reason they refer to it as the Continental Divide. Sub out CU, insert BYU, and now you have five states, each with at least two schools and each school with an organic rival.

SEC

Arkansas, Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Tennessee, USF, Vanderbilt

–12 schools

From an unwieldy 14 schools back to 12. Eliminate the Texas footprint and accentuate the Florida footprint. Tampa is a recruiting hot bed. We’d have no major problem with adding FAU instead, but for now, USF.

IT’S ALL HAPPENING!

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by John Walters

Tweet Me Right


“You’re”

Starting Five

1. Good News! We’re Doomed?

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a giant space turd???

No, it’s Oumuamua, and astronomers and physicists are not sure what it is, but it sailed past the sun a month or two ago and picked up speed doing so. Now a pair of bored Harvard researchers who just wanted to see their names in the paper (and in MH), Shmuel Bialy and Abraham Loeb, are proposing that it “may be a fully operational probe sent intentionally to Earth vicinity by an alien civilization.”

At least that’s what they wrote in the November 12 issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters (right after their piece titled, “Why I Chose To Join The Astrophysical Journal Letters).

A reminder that the creators os Superman were also a pair of Jewish dudes, and he too came intentionally to Earth and was sent by an alien civilization.

2. CARrEy

This happened a week ago Friday—or last month—but with daily spate of offal being ladled out here (this, for instance, took place just an hour or two after Cesar Sayoc was captured and less than 24 hours before Pittsburgh), we missed it. Here’s Jim Carrey‘s insightful and passionate acceptance speech after receiving the Charlie Chaplin Award for humor at the BAFTAs in London.

4. Ballot The Blue Sky

Is this “fair” or is this “balanced?” We’ll go with the latter, since both halves of the stage are balanced out with a horse’s ass. That’s Fox News’ Sean Hannity abandoning any veneer of objectivity by campaigning with Donald Trump, who still has not learned how to tie a tie, last night.

We won’t go down the entire rabbit hole of the midterms, other than the fact that we think you’ll see Michigan at No. 4 tonight (wait, wrong election). In the House of Representatives, there are currently 235 Republicans and 193 Democrats. All 435 seats are up for grabs today.

These Ottawa Senators have some ‘splainin’ to do…

In the Senate, there are 51 Republicans and 47 Democrats. 33 of the seats are up for grabs in regular elections and two more in special elections. Speaking of Senators, there’s a scandal involving a small group of Senators that you’ll be relieved to learn took place in Canada and actually involves hockey players.

4. Slug Worth

Eight years ago Sam Ballard was a 19 year-old rugby player in Sydney, Australia, having a few drinks with his mates in someone’s backyard. A slug crossed their paths. On a dare, Sam ate it.

Ballard before his fateful choice

He soon became sick. Then his limbs stopped working. Doctors eventually diagnosed that within the slug there had been a parasite they call “rat lungworm,” which is even worse than it sounds. He fell into a coma that lasted more than a year. Could not eat. Was paralyzed. Finally, he died.

Just an ironic reminder that the villain in Willy Wonka, a man who made treats for young people, was named Slugworth.

5. The Surge of Serge

Remember when Serge Ibaka was a wonderful complement to those OKC teams that featured a TRIO of future NBA MVPs (and Hall of Famers) in Kevin Durant, James Harden and Russell Westbrook? Well, the native of the Congo and third-youngest of 18 children is now in Toronto and in the last two games, played on consecutive nights in Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, the 6’10” Ibaka made 23 of 25 shots.

We imagine most of them were dunks, but still: 15 of 17 on Sunday night while scoring a career-high 24 in a win against the L.A. Brons  and 8 of 8 last night for a team-high 17 in a win at Utah. Both Raptor wins, both without Kawhi Leonard. The Raptors are 10-1.

By the way, did you know the Raptors are coached by a dude named Nick Nurse? Neither did we.

Reserves

That’s Kersti Kaljulaid, 48, in yellow. She’s the president of Estonia and she ran the New York City Marathon on Sunday. Kaljulaid crossed the finish line in Central Park in 4:02:40, which is very respectable for her age group.

Music 101

She Don’t Use Jelly

Believe it or not, this Flaming Lips song is 25 years old. It’s older than Weezer’s biggest hit, which is making us rethink the genius of Rivers Cuomo since this tune and “The Sweater Song” have a riff in common. This was a hit in the dying days of MTV, back when “120 Minutes” was a cool show and there was still hope for music videos. The band’s only song to chart in the Billboard 100 (55), it received a nice bump by being featured on Beavis and Butthead and also because of this live appearance on some dude’s low-rated studio show…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMZ0VZhunm4

Remote Patrol

MIDTERM ELECTION COVERAGE

8 p.m. 

ABC CBS NBC PBS FoxNews MSNBC CNN

You Beto, you Beto, you bet….

We chuckled when we heard a Saturday promo that said, “No one does election coverage quite like Fox News.” That’s the problem, Rupert (Do y’all remember Karl Rove a few years back?). We could’ve put Duke-Kentucky in here, but we’re not fans of the top two teams playing a glorified open scrimmage two weeks before Thanksgiving. Schedule that game over the Christmas holidays, at least.

IT’S ALL HAPPENING!

by John Walters | 3 Comments

by John Walters

Tweet Me Right

Starting Five

1. No Stemming This Tide

The matchup most of us were waiting for, No. 1 Alabama at No. 1 LSU, was yet another Nick Saban-produced yawner. The Crimson Tide won 29-0 and the only dents in the Tuscaloosa Invincibility Shield were the fact that they finally failed to score a touchdown on their first possession of the game and that Tua Tagovailoa finally threw a pick, his first of the season.

Dig, Alabama IS by far the best team in the country, but they’re not out of the kudzu yet. They’ve got Auburn at the end of the month and War Eagle is never intimidated seeing as how so many of the players on both teams grew up with one another. Georgia, in Atlanta, is no gimme either. The curious thing is that we still see the Tide getting a playoff berth if they lose either of those two games.

2. Rick Roll: The Walking Dead

So Sheriff Rick Grimes explodes a bridge on The Walking Dead in order to save Alexandria, but with him on it. Fortunately, in his farewell episode, a helicopter appears from above (deus ex machina turns out to be an actual machina) to rescue him both from having to appear in future episodes but also so that he may appear in AMC-produced films documenting the further adventures of Sheriff Rick.

So did TWD borrow this character farewell from The Bridge On The River Kwai or Saving Private Ryan? Or both?

We stopped watching TWD about three seasons ago, although we’ll admit to being obsessed with it before then. At this point, though, the show is a personification of its title. How ironic is that?

3. Anderson of Nazare

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdVuwarDAHU

We really enjoyed this piece on 60 Minutes on the world’s biggest wave (on the Portuguese coast) and the man who, at least for a ride or two, conquered it. If you’re scoring at home, Anderson Cooper has dived with great white sharks off the coast of South Africa, dived in croc-infested rivers in Africa, and ridden a waverunner in front of 25-foot waves off Nazare.

No wonder his hair is white.

Speaking of which…

4. For Pete’s Ache

Forget that he looks like the oldest lesbian in the cell block on Orange Is The New Black, SNL‘s Pete Davidson flirted with Lorne Michaels having to fire him after he mocked a one-eyed Republican candidate, Daniel Crenshaw, who lost his right eye as a Navy SEAL serving a tour of duty in Afghanistan.

Davidson: “This guy is kind of cool, Dan Crenshaw.”

Weekend Update co-host Michael Che (knowing what’s coming because obviously they did this in dress rehearsal): “Yo, come on.”

Davidson: ““You may be surprised to hear he’s a congressional candidate from Texas and not a hit man in a porno movie.”

One note here. The Fox & Friends gang will use Davidson’s low blow to declare that “both sides” are going over the line. Of course, the difference is that Davidson’s a comic with some serious mental health issues while the person F&F is trying to equate him to is the president of the United States.

The Davidson kerfuffle, alas, overshadowed a hilarious line by Che earlier in the segment. Complaining about how if the liberals in his orbit would just shut up about his not voting, Che reminded them that he’s an actual native New Yorker and that if they really wanted to help out they’d go back to Ohio or wherever they are from and vote there. “You know how red states stay red?” Che said. “They send their liberal kids to coastals cities to study improv.”

Devastating.

Also liked the cold open, particularly for the mention of the “1990 Detroit Pistons” (the specificity of the year was perfect) and the shout-out to/ripping of Alec Baldwin (he should’ve made a cameo in the Five-Timers Club bit in handcuffs, though).

5. Bear To Your Right

We cannot wait to learn that this is actually the Hunter Valley Ski Lodge just a couple hours north of New York City.

Music 101

Chick-A-Boom (Don’t Ya Jes’ Love It)

From off-beat songs like this 1971 radio hit by Daddy Dewdrop did Dr. Demento build a syndicated radio career.

Remote Patrol

No Country For Old Men

Netflix

Llewelyn Moss: Take the money and run

The MH staff held a movie night in our North American headquarters last night and this 2007 Best Picture winner from the Coen Brothers still holds up. It will always hold up. We still think Tommy Lee Jones deserved to win Best Actor in this category, though it’s pretty difficult to argue with the scenery-chewing work of Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood. We’ll be honest: another reason this film captivates us is that Josh Brolin’s Llewelyn Moss looks, sounds and behaves like the adult version of one of our childhood best friends (who would go on to briefly pitch in Major League Baseball for the Angels).

Every last actor in this film is authentic and you can just taste the west Texas dirt in your mouth as you watch it. Other films have come along and attempted to invade this space (see, Hell Or High Water) but they just tried too damn hard. The best Coen Brothers film, and for us this is that, never overexert themselves. This is a genuine classic.