Big Fish Recap 1/20/2010 - What the Hell is Brett Favre Doing Here?!

The Cobra Kai took the field Friday night with a different look than in seasons past. This was a team determined and focused on winning the championship. The lineup was altered but the mission remains the same……Strike First, Strike Hard, and No Mercy!

There are moments in life that are remembered forever….and the feeling from the beginning was one this team won’t soon forget.” There was a different feeling heading out onto the field of battle last Friday in the dugout….it was feeling of confidence and one of this is OUR Season. Said Capt. Tucci after the game.

Well, Strike First and Strike Hard is exactly what the Cobra Kai did last Friday against their nemesis the Beat Downs. The first hit was the landing of their star player Chris Favre as The Swami used his swami like influence to recruit him away from the Beat Downs to the Kai’s with the allure of playing for a championship contender. But the real Knockout punch came in the 1st inning from Roundhouse Reger to set the pace for the entire night and hopefully the season. Reger stepped up to the plate and ripped a shot heard around Red Bug Lake deep over the Left Center Field Wall to give the Cobra Kai a lead we would never relinquish. I had been working on my swing during the offseason and I just wanted to set the pace for the Kai by driving one deep to keep the Beat Downs on their toes but when I connected I just knew that one was not landing in the park” Roundhouse said after his last game was abruptly ended when a ball shattered his ride against the sharks and he is obviously back with a vengeance.

Our bats set the pace for the Kai Friday Night as everybody chipped in offensively as Sprague’s new look knee high socks put an extra jump in his step ripping 2 doubles against a seemingly helpless Beat Down Defense that was so rattled throughout the night they had to shift their fielders 3 different times as nothing they did seemed to slow us down. DonJuan also apparently was working on his swing in the offseason as he ripped 3 deadly shots over the SS head to continue his career league leading OBP of .989.

Everybody pitched in on a total team effort. Sully used his new Avatar Catcher body to gun down a Beat Down trying to start a rally in the bottom of the 6th after they decided to test his arm. “I channeled my inner beast and just wound up and unleashed…..after he was called out I told myself…I’m staying up all night and calling some bitches tonight baby!!!!” Sully said….maybe a little too much information but that is the Cobra Kai way.

To win at the highly competitive Red Bug lake field it as all about character and perseverance. Well, our character and resolve was tested in the bottom of the 7th as the Beatdowns tested us with a huge rally to bring the game within striking distance. The Cobra Kais held a 15-5 lead heading into the 7th inning. However, Koko did not want to leave anything to chance so he quickly put on his Superman Underoos which where a tad looser since he slimmed down 30 lbs and ripped a shot to CF and with his new and improved svelte self felt his crazy legs carry him all the way around to 2nd Base for his first career double. Next play he scored and it proved to be vital as the Beatdowns made their rally in the 7th.

The Swami was his usual self also setting the pace with his violent Left to Right assassin style swing punishing their Outfielders and leading the Outfield on a defensive assault to not allow the big hit. “Let it not be mistaken, I came to Red Bug for two reasons Friday…..To Kick Some Ass and win a championship” the Swami said after the game. It was a brief but effective statement from the usually profound Swami.

However, that is all that really needed to be said about our team’s play. The defense stood strong for most of the game as JohnnyBlaze settled into 3rd Base where he is an absolute natural and defended that territory even gunning down the BeatDowns last breath to end the game at 3rd Base…….It was a fitting end to the night.

After the game the Cobra Kai’s newest addition summed up the night the best. When asked why he left the Beatdowns for the Cobra Kai Chris Favre said:

“Everyone in the league knows the Cobra Kai is one team in the league with the character, talent, and chemistry that will eventually take down the Sharks dominance. When Elliot approached me about joining the team it was like a dream come true. Every player at RedBug dreams of donning the Black and Gold of the Cobra Kai and while I was sad to leave my team it was on opportunity I could not pass up. I look forward to joining my teammates in toasting to victory over the Sharks…..and until that day comes I will do whatever it takes to help them win every night.”

Well, the Kai are 1-0 and will not take the field this Friday in observation of Koko’s wedding vows…but we look forward to resuming our run at the championship next Friday against .Com…….Strike First, Strike hard……and No Mercy!!!!!

Avatar

Special effects have been a part of movie making for decades. When a new effect is invented, it sometimes takes a few years for a breakthrough film to completely legitimize its use. Star Wars did it for scale models in 1977, The Matrix became the gold standard for "bullet time," in 1999, and in 2009 Avatar has finally set the benchmark for CGI.

James Cameron has once again taken on every naysayer, every doubter and critic, all the studio heads, and proven them all wrong for a monumental second time. Back in 1997, Cameron was mutilated in the press for going over the $100 million mark on the budget of Titanic. The studios were calling for his head, entertainment gurus were marking the death of his career and audiences were getting ready for another Waterworld. Cameron even gave back his entire fee for directing Titanic before the release because he was under so much pressure to make it work. Well, over a billion dollars and a Best-Picture Academy Award later, Cameron was “king of the world.” You would think the pessimists had learned their lesson.

Flash forward to 2009 and here we go again, although this time around, Cameron would not be fazed in the slightest by all the negativity. Not only was Avatar going over budget, but it was getting into the hundreds of millions over budget. And to add some more kindling to the fire, the first peaks of the so-called groundbreaking special effects were very underwhelming. Well, another billion dollars and talks of more Oscar nominations later, Cameron is not just king of this world, but also the Torok Makto of Pandora.

There is no denying that Avatar has finally given that last criterion of legitimacy to CGI effects. Not given its due in trailers or television commercials, the incredible special effects in Avatar really do need to be experienced first hand. Cameron himself even invented new technology specifically for this film, and 3-D is a must when viewing this computer-generated masterpiece. Human actors seamlessly interact with CGI counterparts and the motion capture technology of the Navi people is unparalleled.

Of course all the eye candy in the world is completely worthless without a good story to go with it. Avatar is not the most original or creative film in terms of plot, characters, or action. But it is at least up to par on all three of those categories. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington, Terminator: Salvation) is a disabled Marine in the year 2154. He is taking over an important mission left by his identical twin brother who was killed during battle. The Avatar program’s purpose is for humans to kinetically link with Navi, Pandora natives, bodies that are grown in a lab. Once linked, they can then communicate with the natives to try and find a diplomatic way for humans to collect the precious mineral the planet possesses. However, the company in charge of the operation has a more covert use in mind for the Avatar program.

Sam Worthington is developing a niche for himself as the strong and complicated, yet vulnerable protagonist. There is not a lot of background on Jake Sully in this film, but Worthington is great at making audiences feel like they’ve known him for years. He has deepness in his expressions and mannerisms that screams, “troubled past.” The rest of the cast and voice-over actors fill their parts nicely and Sigourney Weaver’s appearance gives the film the sci-fi stamp of approval.

However, there are some troubling facets of Avatar that may actually be purposeful by Cameron. The part of Quaritch, (Stephen Lang, Public Enemies), is the cookie-cutter, stereotypical military drill sergeant that speaks in cliché dialogue and always thinks a bomb is better than diplomacy. Quaritch is just a cog in the troubling vision Cameron has for the human race. It’s difficult to accept that over 100 years into the future the human order has not only halted its evolution, it’s actually regressed. Although this should not be such a shock considering the multiple works in which Cameron has shared his distain for human nature, i.e. Aliens, Terminator. What sets Avatar’s case apart from Cameron’s past films is how the malevolence of human beings is not hidden in a cause for the “greater good.” Except for the small group of rebels, the humans in Avatar seem to be completely void of a conscious. The hired military personnel is completely brainwashed and holds no line between right and wrong. It is also left unanswered whether the Navi are the first extra terrestrials that humans have come in contact with, and if so, how could we leave it up to a greedy corporation to be the first to engage them? Some more background on the plummet of humanity was needed in this film so the audience could accept the belligerent behavior of the human threat. Although, it could be argued that many viewers will not have a problem with this acceptance, as they may share the same pessimistic view of the human race that Cameron has warned us about so many times before. Avatar is one of the few films that are powerful enough to turn human loyalties against its own kind, which is also a decision that conflicts Jake Sully in the film.

In its infancy, Avatar has already frozen its place in carbonite as one of the most important sci-fi films of all time. True, it will be more for the cutting-edge special effects than story writing, and the characters will never reach the iconic level of a Luke Skywalker or Ellen Ripley. Avatar will most likely be remembered as a milestone in movie making and more of an overall great experience than a great film.

Story: 7.5
Acting: 7.5
Writing: 7.0
Captivation: 9.5
Replay Value: 9.5

Total = 8.2

Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------