Stark: Essential Baseball Quotebook -- 2009 edition

Stark: Essential Baseball Quotebook -- 2009 edition

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NBA Summer League Demystified - How a Summer League Team is Built

I have to admit, I still follow the NBA. For years I've read updates about the summer league during the off-season. Yet if you had asked me about the league's purpose, I could only guess that it was used by a team to evaluate the readiness of its recent draft picks.

Sam Hinkie, the Rockets' Vice President of Basketball Operations was featured in ESPN's True Hoop blog and discussed his organization's approach to building a summer league team. Needless to say, my uneducated guess only tells part of the story. The link above is a quick-read and outlines the mindset of a front-office when building a summer-league team.

Go Orange Dept.
You'll also find an update on former Syracuse Orange center Darryl Watkins in the column.

Back Issues - Lex Luthor Bailout

I can never keep up with my magazine subscriptions. Nothing like a rainy day to chip away at a few of the piles that have accumulated in my living room. Below are some interesting finds from my reading.

Entertainment Weekly's Must List 3.27.2009
Below is a clip from the folks at FunnyorDie.com that shows you even super villains have been affected by the economic downturn.

"Lex Luthor Bailout" with Jon Hamm from Jon Hamm

Some Links

1. Criterion is launching a new site and warehouse on Nov. 25th. To celebrate... everything on the Criterion site is 40% off. Considering the quality, that is a steal.
   
2. Pearl Jam.com is hosting Vote For Change? 2004 a documentary put together by bassist Jeff Ament's filmmaker friends Rick Charnoski and Coan Nichols. The film chronicles the band's efforts, along with 17 other musicians, to "Get Out The Vote" in key battle ground states during the 2004 election.
3. A new Watchmen Trailer went up this evening.
4. The Cadillac Records Trailer has been up for some time now.
5. Continuing the music-related theme. The Black Keys DVD - Live at the Crystal Ballroom is available to pre-order.
6. The Sports Guy has a new mailbag up over at ESPN.com.
7. Just finished up the Iron Man DVD extras (more on those in the coming days). Here's some required Iron Man reading courtesy of Marvel.com.

The State of the A-Team

Ain't It Cool News recently reported (via an article in Variety) that John Singleton has left the long-in-development A-Team project. I really can't say whether this is good or bad. News about the project has been fleeting, but it did get me thinking about the potential for the A-Team franchise and the challenges of adapting television shows for the big screen.

Generally TV-adapts have a hard time balancing the two tasks of paying homage to the original series and updating the storyline for a contemporary audiences. For every skillfully executed project, there's a litany of forgettable ones - stuff like the Avengers, the Mod Squad, Starsky and Hutch, to name few. This recent news about the A-Team project has me thinking it will fare no better than this group.

So how do you avoid this? If I had my way, I would take the following steps.

1. Resist the urge to camp it up. Take a serious approach and set the show in a world that an audience recognizes as authentic.

2. The humor ought to be character driven. The cast is one of the show's major strengths. You do not need to stick the crew in silly circumstances to elicit humor.

3. Tell the story that audiences haven't seen before. The one that is established in the show's memorable opening (below)

Go with the origin story... the escape from the maximum security prison. Hold off on the missions and operating via the Los Angeles underground. And I'll say it. You even leave out the iconic van in the first installment.

This movie will come with a great deal of expectations, as a result of the formulaic approach to the show. I just hope the studio sees the value of the A-Team as a franchise. You could reload it sequel after sequel, so long as you don't bury it with a mediocre adaptation.

But as Dennis Miller would often quip, "Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong."

At 78 I Hope I'm This Active...

After watching the Gran Torino Trailer there is no question that Clint Eastwood has plenty left in the tank. Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News sums it up best... "Gran Torino is Clint Eastwood as an Archie Bunker You Do Not F@#K With!" His rage sears.

Before Torino, audiences will be able to catch Eastwood behind the camera in The Changeling, starring Angelina Jolie due in theaters next Friday (Oct. 31st). Eastwood hasn't been in front of the camera since '04's Million Dollar Baby. This peak at Gran Torino has me looking forward to his return. For a glance at a handful of Eastwood's passions and influences check out the following in the latest issue of EW - Inside the Mind of... Clint Eastwood. The Torino poster kicks ass.

Great stuff from the gang over at Funny or Die, Ron Howard, Henry Winkler, and Andy Griffith.

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

Barack-n-roll!