Well, we've officially got our house all secure and bunkered up. I can't say its "boarded" up...cause we got metal shutters! In what can only be described as fortuitous thinking, the guy that built the house decided to install the brackets for hurricane shutters. While our neighbors were outside yesterday cursing and yelling (Who? Me??), it took us about an hour and a half to 2 hours to slap up the shutters and spin the damn wingnuts that tightened them.
I want it to go north, except if it goes north then it heads towards my parents or my sister. So I'll say that I hope it goes north and then heads out to sea.
I decided to do a column early because, as I sat thinking this morning, I thought to myself that God forbid anything should happen to me or my house--my poor readers wouldn't know the result of my # 1 movie of alltime!!! I couldn't live with myself if I kept you hanging like that, now could I?
SPORTS ALERT!! Ladies, look away---quickly!!
I have had some requests for my "annual" football selections....I won't mention the name of the person who's been "nagging" me (cough--WILEY--cough), but he's right...how can any of you properly make your entirely legal wagers in Vegas without my selections? How selfish of me! Let's take a look at college football, with one man's personal top 10. Let's try and remember....that the top 10 teams doesn't necessarily mean the best 10 teams. Away we go:
10) Utah--pretty easy schedule, Urban Meyer is a whitehot coaching candidate for a big school that's looking (hello Notre Dame!) and he runs a wide open offense.
9) Auburn--tons of talent including two guys who could be all-conference at RB, a veteran QB...as long as the administration leaves Tommy Tuberville alone this year they could sneak into the top 10. Lots of talented teams in the SEC this year.
8) FSU--talented? Oh, of course. Will Bobby B pull at least one rabbit out of his hat again this year? Of course. Why only # 8 and not higher? Well....let's remember...they have to play the Hurricanes AGAIN (its getting to be a mental thing for Noles players) and there's always the Chris Rix factor. Until he proves me wrong (and he has the talent to do so), I'll keep waiting for Rix to screw up again.
7) Michigan--I hate Lloyd Carr. He's a cranky, whining piece of crap. But, his team wins at least 9 games seemingly every year and plays in a big bowl game. You have to (reluctantly) give him credit for that. The maize & blue have to replace a 4 yr starter at QB and an all-american at RB though.
6) West Virginia--what?? The stinking hillbillies from Morgantown this high? What's the matter Jeff....hitting the pipe again? Nope...its like I said. The top 10 teams won't necessarily mean the BEST 10 teams. The 'neers have a ridiculously soft schedule without Miami & Va Tech (toughest game all year is vs. Maryland)
and will be this year's annual embarassing team that sneaks into the BCS.
5) Miami--much like the Noles, so much will depend on their returning QB. If Brock Berlin has the lights go on, they could really be a player in the BCS this year.
On the other hand, if he plays in the same fog he did last year, the hook could come early this year from coach Larry Coker. They will probably find the ACC just a tad
stronger than the Big Least.
4) Texas--isn't this song and dance getting old? The 'horns will most likely go
10-1, losing (of course) to Oklahoma, then go and play a terrific bowl game, end up being either # 2 or 3 in the recruiting rankings, and keep doing this seemingly for the rest of time immortal.
3) USC--they probably have more talent than anyone in the country, and Pete Carroll is a perfect example of the right coach getting the right job, but they have lost a LOT of people since last year that they were expecting to have this year. Mike Williams and Whitney Lewis were supposed to be their starting WR's....OT Winston Justice got himself in trouble off the field and is suspended for the whole season...RB
Herschel Dennis is facing a sexual assault allegation and is suspended indefinitely.
That's a lot of talent to lose before the season starts. However, that being said....there is just insane depth here and there schedule is weak.
2) Georgia--Lots of senior leadership with QB David Greene & DE David Pollack
going for an SEC title and the big kahuna itself, that being the national title. Usually that much veteran leadership plus great talent and a great young head coach (Mark Richt) usually means big things. Loss of starting RB Kregg Lumpkin will hurt, but they have a ton of talent at the position and watch out for freshman RB Danny Ware to make an early impact.
1) Oklahoma--returning Heisman winner, tons of talent, great coach....and a lot of pissed off players with something to prove equals=my choice for national champion.
Lots of guys who feel like they've got something to prove.
HELLO----LADIES!!! OVER HERE!! Yeah...right here!! That's it...no more sports talk for right now......
Let me finish up for now with my final top 10 listing (for those of you waiting breathlessly no doubt).....
10) The Shawshank Redemption
9) Rear Window
8) Outlaw Josey Wales
7) Godfather 1 & 2
6) Lord of the Rings trilogy
5) Unforgiven
4) Jaws
3) The Deerhunter
2) Road Warrior
and finally....after weeks of waiting...I offer to you...my choice...my own personal opinion if you will....as my number one favorite movie of alltime.....
1) Blade Runner--from 1982, director Ridley Scott's amazing vision of what our future will look like in 40 years, in the year 2019. Harrison Ford is Deckard, a burned-out (aren't they always?) cop in Los Angeles who specializes in the termination of "replicants", which is basically a new way of saying robots. This is the story that "I, Robot" would like to be. Technically, its absolutely stunning. The visuals of the director's imagining of what L.A. will look like 40 years in the future is dazzling. A superior cast, led by Ford, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos, Darryl
Hannah (there's that name again!) and others is terrific. But the heart of the film, the actor and the character who truly reaches out through the screen of your television and captures you is Rutger Hauer, never this great before or since (although he was truly creepy in The Hitcher), as replicant Roy Batty, trying desperately to avoid his termination date and the end of his life....and all the while trying to find out just what in the world it means to be human. This is true science fiction and its an amazing film to watch. There are however, two versions. One has the rather dull Harrison Ford narration (I guess the studio felt that audiences wouldn't "get" some of the allegories offered in the film and had to have it explained to them) and the other is without narration. The latter is the one to try and watch. Two scenes in particular to look out for: the first involves Harrison Ford & Sean Young--with a slow saxophone solo in the background. Its assexy and erotic a scene as you'll ever see. The other is the more famous scene, involving Ford & Hauer on a rooftop....both men fighting for their right to live, but in totally different ways. Hauer's speech is absolutely epic.
A visual wonderland.....and a great story to boot. *****
Later,
jeff
PS....I'll try and throw my Notre Dame preview up before tomorrow night's game, including offering my reasons why I did not have them on my top 10 list. (ya know, besides the fact that there not that good.)
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