Hello,
There has been an incredible amount of dislike directed towards Jimmer Fredette. People have mocked his skills, his religion and many other things. The consensus seems to be that he's going to be a NBA bust. That wouldn't surprise me, but can't we give him a chance. Why are there so many personal attacks? He has performed admirably when he's on the national stage so far. Maybe he will continue to do so.
It's fine to be skeptical about how he's going to do in the NBA, as I think he's going to struggle. He certainly was a great player at BYU, but I'm not wanting the Jazz to draft him. That being said, there seems to be a lot of hate towards Jimmer. I just don't understand why. What has Jimmer ever done to hurt anyone? Is the hate because he's Mormon? Is he hated because he's white? Is it Brandon Davies backlash? I just don't get it.
Only time will tell if he will be a good player. It seems he has a hunger to play in the NBA and is using this hunger to motivate him even more. He won't be as prolific a scorer in the NBA as he was in college, but few people are. However he knows how to score and he has incredible range. There are reasons that some people project him to go as high as #7. I'd rather have Jimmer than Kyle Singler for instance. Jimmer I wish the best for you. I don't think you will ever shut up all your critics, but I hope you shut up most of them.
If the NBA does have a lockout, which looks probable right now, any success Fredette has would be a good story for the post-lockout NBA.
Rumors of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban considering buying the L.A. Dodgers are circulating. I'm not necessarily a big Mark Cuban fan. But he won't be a worse owner than Frank McCourt. Cuban has more than plenty of money. Dodger fans won't have to worry if he can make the payroll every two weeks or not. Also he has the deep pockets that would allow the Dodgers to trade for and sign big name players. He also has seemed to figure out how not to stand in the way of his teams success. Cuban is learning how to be a Bob Kraft type of owner. An owner that doesn't need to hog the spotlight or embarrass ones team. Kraft seems to be a very intelligent and well liked man. Cuban seems to be evolving towards that. Now if we could only get Jerry Jones to go to the Bob Kraft school of how to be a proper owner. When I think of a team, the owner isn't the first person I want to think about.
Quick reviews: I went and watched "The Green Lantern" this past weekend. It was okay. I thought some of the casting was a bit strange. Ryan Reynolds doesn't really seem to be the superhero type. Although he's more the superhero type than Tobey McGuire or Seth Rogen. I just didn't care a lot for the Green Lantern character. Even for a superhero, it's just not a very believable character. Reynolds personality also seems to be blank.
Blake Lively also seems to be miscast. I do think she's without a doubt a very hot babe. However I wasn't feeling her to be right for this movie. She was much more believable in "The Town". And that love story, what the hell was that? I can't even remember Lively's characters name, which is exactly what I mean. Anyway her character and Hal Jordan seemed like they wanted to get together, but both seemed ambivalent about it. That is until they hook up in the last couple minutes. That's probably one of the worst love stories I've even seen on the big screen. (The most miscast Superhero movie ever is "The Green Hornet". The superhero being Seth Rogen and the alleged babe being Cameron Diaz? That movie is one of the worst examples of Hollywood greed.)
I'd have to give "The Green Lantern" a C-. It wasn't the worst movie ever, but it does seem to be a waste of time to go to. I left the movie vowing not to go to any more summer movies that seem to be merely filler. Movies like "Transformers 3" or "Captain America" I will only go to if my kids want to see it. Does anyone really expect that "Transformers 3" will be good?
The contrast to the summer filler movie is "The Hunt For Red October". Thanks to my friends at the library I was able to check this movie out. I watched it with my kids. Now this was a great movie, I'd forgotten how great it was. First of all any movie that has such great actors as Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Sam Neill, Courtney B. Vance, Scott Glenn and James Earl Jones should be good.
Jack Ryan is such a great character, the movie is based on Tom Clancy's novel. Clancy is a very good novelist, however this is one of those rare occasions where the movie is better than the book. A great, taut movie. This is crafted so much better than most modern movies. Things don't just come out of nowhere, the story slowly builds. When things happen it's based on previous plot points. (Unlike say "The Killing", where things that were never previously mentioned come out of nowhere. For instance, Holder seeming to be working with someone to frame Darren Richmond.) Although "The Hunt For Red October" is 135 minutes, there isn't any filler. That movie wouldn't have been as good if scenes had been cut. (Unlike again "The Killing", whose story should have been told in no more than 10 episodes.) I could go on and on, but I won't. Grade: B+
One of the signs of great fiction is that you want to read or watch more from that same creator. Due to the excellence of "Hunt" I started reading Clancy's "Without Remorse". Chronologically it's the first book in his Jack Ryan/John Kelly series. Can you believe there are 12 books in that series? I thought there were only 6 or 7 books.
themusicaddict June bookclub selection was "I Am Legend". The book was published in 1954 and the movie was released in 2007. The movie contains the core story of the book, but that's about it. Major differences include the importance of a dog as a character, who the real enemy is different and many other things. I would estimate about 20% of the story is the same. Although extremely different I liked the story in both the movie and the book. However it's another rare case where the movie was better than the book.
The most disappointing thing for me was that I didn't realize the book is a collection of short stories. When I finished reading the "I Am Legend" story I didn't realize it. I just kept on reading. It took me a few minutes to figure out that I was reading a different short story. I had thought it was just a different chapter. I was gearing up for the second half of the book and it completely caught me off guard. It was like watching the Season One finale of "The Killing", but with the "I Am Legend" book it was my fault. I hadn't read that under false pretenses.
I'm not sure what the July book club selection will be yet. I'll announce that on or around July 1st. Do you have any suggestions, please leave a comment if you do.
Songs of the day: Again I think Nirvana is possibly the most over rated band of all-time. If he had living I have a feeling that Kurt Cobain would be living in Axl Rose like seclusion working on his next great opus. That being said, no one can deny the greatness of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" of the impassioned cover of this blues classic:
I have been listening to the new Def Leppard live CD "Mirror Ball" as I'm driving to work. Although I've seen them in concert 4 times already, I'd like to see them at least one more time. Two of the best concerts I've ever been too are Def Leppard concerts. Too bad that I'm so poor and that the Lep will be at the poorly designed USANA Ampitheater. However it is one of the best songs at their peak:
themusicaddict
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