I think her name is Lucy but they all call Loose. I think I thought I seen her on eighth and forty-deuce.

Quick Hitters and Random Thoughts

--Matt Leinart?! Really?! I can't think of another quarterback not named Carr who they could have brought in to be a bigger vote of no-confidence in Orlovsky.

--I’ve sung the praises of Pillars of Earth since it began and now that it’s ended let me praise thee once more. It took a 1,000 page epic and boiled it down to concentrate on as many key elements as possible without totally confusing the audience with rushed stories. In the beginning it’s difficult to keep up with who’s who and their motivations, but eventually it becomes clear. The plotting and scheming is reminiscent of what we saw on Rome especially with regard to Atia’s character whose English twin is Regan Hamleigh. Regan and her son William’s incestuous tones are uncomfortable to say the least and you just want them both to burn in hell for eternity. The involvement of the church is especially interesting with Matthew Macfadyen and Ian McShane delivering outstanding performances. McShane’s Waleran is twice the thief, schemer and killer Al Swearengen was on Deadwood. Really the entire cast is good and you can never get enough of Hayley Atwell. If you’ve been looking for some 12th century English historical fiction (and who isn’t?) then Pillars of Earth is for you.


--Apparently the rumor is that the next season of Top Chef will be an All-Stars edition and that is a VERY good thing. This season has been really stale after last season’s fantastic four went to the wire. Apparently Stephen from the 1st season is in as well as the likes of Spike, Dale, Tiffani Faison, etc. More of the list is here, but there may be a spoiler as to who wins this current season.
Although after this week I’m thinking most everyone knows who’s going to win. Yeah, Ed and Kelly may come up with the meal of their lives, but I just don’t see a way Angelo doesn’t win this especially in Singapore with the Asian influences he’s always using. It was a helluva run for Tiffany. I’m not sure if someone has been kicked off who was rolling as hot as she was. Prior to last night she had won 2 of 4 Quickfires and in the last 6 Elimination Challenges she won 2 and was in the top group in the other 4.

--Why would Hung be renewed for a 3rd season?!?

You'd think the kids alone would be enough to permanently shelve this.

--Kristin Cavallari and Jay Cutler?! If you haven’t seen Cutler running for his life this preseason you’re missing out.

--If you watched the end of that Utah/Pitt game you know why they need to do something about these timeouts right before field goal attempts. Same thing happened in the Iowa State/Northern Illinois game right before the half except the NIU kicker actually missed all three times.

--It’s one thing if you’re the Colts and you go winless in the preseason. It’s another thing when you’re the Panthers and you don’t score an offensive TD in the entire preseason.

--Congratulations to Sunny’s Kaitlin Olson and Rob McElhenney on the birth of their son this week. Little Axel Lee arrived on Wednesday, but forced the parents to miss the second half of the Phillies/Dodgers game and you know Mac doesn’t like missing Chase Utley at-bats.

--I watched the first few episodes of The Big C, but once all the September shows come back I probably won't stick around for Big C. Oliver Pratt kills in it though and there's Anna Parisse (Pacific, Rubicon) again.

--Rubicon continues to intrigue week after week. Kale is throwing out some of the best one-liners from “I wouldn’t want to see you get caught in any mayhem” to, “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not trying to kill you.” Jessica Collins is also pretty damn easy on the eyes. And I think we finally get Clay “Sheeeeiiiiiiit” Davis next week.


--Bryan Cranston hosting SNL next season should be good.

--Damn, apparently Dick Stockton could’ve gone to the voice of the Dolphins but decided to stay at Fox. He was reliably good for a long time, but then his birthdays started to be announced by Willard Scott and he’s been going downhill since.

--The Hollywood Reporter’s latest rumored replacement for Steve Carell comes out of left field to me. But it’s Harvey Keitel who seems just too Harvey Keitel-ish for me to be on The Office.

--Angelo’s says tell me how my ass tastes to Papa John’s and Domino’s.


--I had higher hopes for Little Big Men, the latest 30 for 30, than what was delivered. The story of the 1983 Kirkland Little League team that beat Taiwan is an incredible one and when it stuck to the story and its participants it was solid stuff. However, the narration made everything waaay too sweet and syrupy for my tastes. It’s Little League baseball so that boys of summer, care free, time of our lives, apple pie feeling doesn’t need to be crammed down the audience’s throat. Those feelings are understood and come across without forcing them. The editing at times was also jarring and amateurish. I mean you can only slowly zoom in on an emotional face so many times before it loses any type of effect you may have wanted to achieve. It was great to see Cody Webster now and how he didn’t end up under a bridge talking to his home run ball. All the old footage was obviously great to see as was Cody’s humbleness. If this story had played out nowadays I can’t even imagine the coverage Cody would have drawn. He would have been on three reality shows before he was 18.

This 30 for 30 was okay, but certainly not gonna crack my Top 5 which remain:
The Two Escobars
The U
Run Ricky Run
Birth of Big Air
Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL?

--There’s bad timing and then there’s the 1560 fantasy draft on the same night Sons of Anarchy premieres. By the way an episode of a SAMCRO fantasy football draft would be priceless.

--Wow Louie, just wow. I’m referring to his show last week and not the drunk tweeting binge he went on Wednesday night. Tom Noonan, fresh off Damages, delivered one of the most uncomfortable, surreal, holy crap speeches ever with his story to the kids of the crucifixion. I mean, WOW. Final two episodes of the season air back-to-back next week.

--I don’t know how I had never come across this genius before, but I have now been introduced to Jonathan Lee Riches. Priceless Wikipedia page here.
The guy handwrites lawsuits usually dealing with identity theft and temporary restraining orders and they’re directed at everyone from President Bush to The Garden of Eden to the 2006 Eagles to the 48th Annual Grammy Awards to Mark Cuban and everyone and everything in between. His latest awesome effort involves mostly Carmelo Anthony. It details how Melo stole Riches’ identity and used his money to get into Syracuse. And you know what else? Yeah, Melo did steroids with Dwyane Wade at Barry Bonds’ house. Yeah, I know why doesn’t the mainstream media report this?! “Anthony melt my popsicle,” is an example of his skilled writing. Some of his lawsuits like against Alice in Wonderland contain seamless pop culture references that honestly read like something Abed would write is senility set in. They’re that good. If you want to read about how Nolan Ryan and Robin Ventura teamed up and how Jerry Buss sold him Jeannie Buss on eBay, well here ya go. I highly recommend it.

--I finally got around to watching Gone Baby Gone and it was as good as advertised. It won't take me nearly as long to watch The Town.

Questions, comments or if you were putting your registration sticker on your car but your dumb ass scratched off the inspection sticker instead…