Bengals management scores

Wow, what a week for the Cincinnati Bengals management. First, in order to pack the stadium for Sunday's climatic showdown with the Baltimore Ravens, the Bengals told season ticket holders that they could buy extra tickets and get one free. Sounds kind of silly, after all why would season ticket holders buy more tickets when they already have seats? But it makes sense. You want Bengals fans plus it rewards season ticket holders. Anyway, it worked. The Bengals are sold out. And remember, if the Bengals win, they're in the playoffs as a Wild Card. The Bengals have a twelfth man.

Second, the Bengals lowered ticket prices for 2012. What? Not only is this good for the fan who's struggling to make ends meet but the announcement was made by owner Mike Brown's daughter, Katie Blackburn. “We have a young team trending in the right direction,” said Katie Blackburn, Bengals executive vice-president, “and we are pleased to share this new price structure with our fans in an attempt to make some seats more affordable. We have a great home schedule in 2012 and look forward to it being an exciting season that builds upon this year’s success.” From Lance McAlister's Blog. Blackburn announcing this is significant since it seems that management has figured out that the fans are pissed off at owner Mike Brown.

And speaking of Katie Blackburn, on Friday, she spent a good chunk of a hour being interviewed on 1530 Homer's Bengals Pep Rally show. When was the last time you heard any of the Brown family being interviewed in front of the fans? Never. This week, the Cincinnati Bengals have just scored the equivalent of a public relations touchdown.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Review

Director David Fincher follows up his fine movie The Social Network (2010) with a film adaptation of Stieg Larson's novel, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo." Fincher brings the same visual style he used in The Social Network. It features a lot of subdued light, a kind of movie drained of color. Perhaps, that's perfect since the movie takes place in Sweden during the winter. Regardless, Tattoo reflects the moral ambiguity of its main character, Lisbeth.

The film starts out with Swedish journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) losing a libel case. Meanwhile Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), a gifted computer hacker has done an investigative report on Blomkvist for Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer), a wealthy businessman. Vanger wants to hire Blomkvist to investigate the murder of his niece, Harriet which happened forty years earlier. Vanger not only promises to pay money to Blomkvist but also will help clear his name. As Blomkvist starts to unravel part of the mystery surrounding the Vanger family, he hires Salander to assist him with the investigation.

Steven Zaillian 's adapted screenplay captures Lisbeth's character and her motivations as to who she is. Where he stumbles and it's probably the source material is the complex number of clues and plot points in the movie. You're going to have to pay a lot of attention to keep up with Lisbeth and Mikael. Still, coupled with Fincher's moody direction the film keeps your interest.

It's the performances that make this film worthy. Daniel Craig is excellent as a journalist who's beaten down but seeks the truth. Christopher Plummer makes his character as one who is unafraid of exposing the skeletons in his family's history. But this film belongs to Rooney Mara. Her Lisbeth is woman who has been emotionally scarred and will not give freely love any mate. Mara lets her face do all the talking. Most of the time she is feminist rage without words. One can read her emotions by looking at her face. Mara does a number of nude scenes but it's not gratuitous. The body piercings, tattoos and punk hair style are talismans for her character. It's a courageous performance and one that deserves a Best Actress Oscar nomination.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo strikes me as a Swedish form of film noir. The film is worth seeing for the performance of Rooney Mara. The grade is B +.

Triumph goes for it!

Okay, if you've seen the previous video where Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog was at MTV's VMA for 2002, you see that the portion where he tries to sniff Jennifer Lopez's butt was cut. Well, thank God for YouTube. Here is where Triumph tries to smell Ms. Lopez's butt and explains it's the Mt. Everest for dogs. Riotous.

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog at MTV's VMA

Okay, I'm guessing this Triumph video is from the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards program. Hey, I'm not into pop music. Anyway, our favorite Insult Comic Dog aka Triumph was there. Hilarious. Triumph also says this about Pittsburgh. "It's a wonderful town for me to poop on." Yes, the Steelers suck. Video below. Check it out.

Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog at the Bon Jovi Concert-Outtakes

Here are some outtakes from Triumph the Insult Comic Dog's interviews at the Bon Jovi Concert. Enjoy.

War Horse Review

There are times when director Steven Spielberg reinvents himself. Take for example, his movie Jurassic Park (1993) and compare it to Schindler's List (1993). Jurassic Park was your more typical Spielberg fare. Large action set pieces. But Schindler's List was more intimate. It felt like an European art film. Spielberg's War Horse is definitely another move away from the typical Spielberg approach.

War Horse is based on a children's novel of the same name by Michael Morpurgo and the play that arose from the book by Nick Stafford. The story takes place in England, where Albert (Jeremy Irvine) who teaches a thoroughbred horse to plow the family farm's land. A friendship develops between Albert and the horse which he calls Joey. Later, World War I breaks out. To pay bills, Albert's father sells Joey to a British cavalry officer, Captain Nicholls (Tom Hiddleston). Before he is deployed to France, Nicholls promises Albert that he will bring Joey back. As the war drags on, Albert joins the army.

It's not a cliche to say that War Horse is like nothing that Steven Spielberg has ever done. The film has long lovely visuals of the pastoral English countryside. Many of Spielberg's shots are reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick. They're like paintings. Yet, there are many cinematic touches. A close up of a machine gun as the British cavalry charges shows us the obsolescence of horses against modern technology. As Albert wanders through the trenches, we see dead German soldiers with gas masks on. It's a warning of the horror of a gas attack to come.

But War Horse is more than just Spielberg's brilliant visuals. Richard Curtis and Lee Hall's screenplay uses Joey as narrative device. As a horse, Joey shows remarkable courage but its his contact with each of his owners that demonstrates their humanity. And it's this humanity during the horrors of war that is the strongest anti-war message.

War Horse is a graceful film. Like Joey, it has great heart. The grade is A.

In Ohio, Newt Gingrich leads

The AP and USA Today is reporting that Newt Gingrich is leading the Republican presidential pack in Ohio. Not surprising since Republicans want anybody except Mitt Romney who was a moderate. You see the Republican party has turned hard right and anything that looks moderate is toast in the party. So much for Gerry Ford wing of the GOP. Here's the AP and USA story.