The Unknown Poster

Denmark in fine form. I thought Willy looked very good. I didnt mind Hall. Thought things just werent going his way. He's better than he showed last night. Marve was great but small sample size. Liked Paris. One thing I noticed about Willy, and you guys who know a lot more can tell me if Im off-base - the second the ball was in his hands he was staring right at the guy he was going to throw to every time.

Id be somewhat surprised if he was fired for having one beer one time. Has to be more than that. But lets be honest - some places dont mind a couple of drinks at lunch but most do. I used to work for a place where it was okay to get a hummer in the bathroom. Doesnt meant thats the norm.

50 shots?? Yikes

This should be a gong show. Why do I have a feeling it won't be.

Beer.

Madani tweeted he was drinking during meetings.

What's the over/under on insulting Tim Burke this season?

If Josh can make the Jets it's puts us in a great position.

The West Wing is now on netflix. If you like House of Cards (which is excellent) you might like WW. Very good acting and broader stories than HoC. I'll reiterate my love for Californication if you want a comedy series. Going back a few years, Quantum Leap is/was on netflix. I haven't watched too many recently but that was a heck of a show (especially later seasons) and showed what a strong actor Scott Bakula is (despite his poor performance on Enterprise).

They played the stereotypes. For example kirks dad died when he was born so he must grow up to be a slacker who hates authority. All it takes is one speech from pike and Kirk is the best cadet ever. Stupid. They don't understand the Kirk character. Now Abrams is pulling the same crap with Star Wars making some grand proclamation about how the books aren't canon. What ourpose does that serve other than to upset fans? Films will always take precedence over books. No need to run fans' noses in it. I hate Abrams' war on spoilers too. No one is forced to read a spoiler. They have said it's to preserve their story but isn't that selfish? It's like we are are somehow blessed to be allowed to view their story. I only hope Disney and Lucas keep an eye on Abrams so he doesn't screw with Star Wars. I don't recall too many lens flares in the first six movies.

twitter really goes to show you the intelligence of some people. Even in media, you can tell who really needs the time and editing that goes into a traditional news story. Those that pop off without thinking are exposing themselves. I know Lawless isnt a fan favourite around here, but how often do we post his tweets as examples of stupidity? Never. Because even if you dont like him when he talks, there's a lot of logic and common sense. These clowns with their pot stirring are morons. And the worst ones are the ones that hide behind "just playing devil's advocate" or "just stirring the pot". If you're in media, have some class and professionalism. When was Bob irving ever quoted for stupidity? never.

I disagree and agree. I agree with you that it hurts the movie to be a slave to canon. But these writers dont know Star Trek well enough to use canon to their benefit. They have no choice but to be a slave. Im convinced that starting over completely alienates long time fans. And Im also convinced that Nimoy and the idea of going back to the adventures of Kirk et al were what pulled in lapsed fans. The big budget will always get the casuals. Paramount was disappointed with how Into Darkness did, thinking it would really blow Star Trek away. But I think it was the lack of inclusion of Nimoy or Shatner (Nimoy was a surprise cameo). I think the best Star Trek at this points would be showing us the Trek we loved from the 60's with modern sensebilities and budget. Dont re-do the movies we've seen. There are far too many great stories to be re-making The Wrath of Khan (though I admit I loved seeing that scene unfold, but they ruined it with the magic blood). Use canon to enhance the stories. Write it so that canonical references would not even register to a non-fan but would resonate with a Trekkie. Its not hard. Not hard at all. But I do feel they've gone down a path they have to complete now. They must have William Shatner in the next movie and make it an epic. "Fix" the timeline. Make these modern films a trilogy.

HBO is owned by Time Warner Cable, which is not exactly a forward-thinking organization. The funny thing is, you could make the case that HBO revolutionized TV viewing to a degree with shows like The Sopranos. It made quality adult dramas cool. It made premium TV more than just sports events and old movies. But Netflix is taking the HBO model and totally turning it on it's head. if Im HBO, im launching an App (if they dont have one...I watch it traditionally) and make it in the mold of Netflix. What does HBO cost in the US, $16/month? Something like that? I think it's $18 or so here but you get three channels, no? Anyway, charge $8 for an over-the-top delivery of everything you see on the traditional channel with the added hook that if you subscribe to OTT, you get their original TV shows fully released on day one of launch. if they did that it *might* convince to actually drop my movie channel subscription and subscribe directly. Cut out the middle man = probably more profit in their pockets. At worse, it might make be subscribe to both, at least for those months when they have a show I dont want to wait for (like Boardwalk, True Blood, Game of Thrones etc).

I've heard great things about The Wire. Will have to eventually check it out. The GF loves Hannibal, but I never got into it. The lead actor is suitably creepy though. I wasnt a fan of Prometheus. Loved the concept but I thought it was dull and needlessly "mysterious". its one thing to be thought provoking and leave some things unanswered, but it was confusing when it didnt need to be. I will point out that I believe it was written by Damon Lindelof, the guy many fans accuse of ruining Star Trek Into Darkness and Lost. Lost is on NEtflix. I watched it a couple of years ago for the first time. What a complete clusterf*ck of epic proportions. It actually insults me that the writers cared so little that they didnt bother to know where they were going. They've admitted as such. And one can certainly see it in the quality of the show as it progressed. The only thing keeping Lost going was the actors. Though I will say I found the finale very satsifying in how it ended (not so much the Island stuff).

I will say that the PA has done a poor job (along with the reps) of controlling the message. Or perhaps they've done a fine job and some players are just too stupid for their own good. Its one thing to publicly oppose your union (i oppose mine in many ways) but if you can't do so in a professional, intelligent manner, than dont bother trying. You're only hurting yourself. And whats with Madani? He tweeted that a front office CFL employee called the players 'fools'. Pretty incidiary comment to be so broadly attributed. Could have been the janitor for all anyone knows.

HAHAHAHAHA Foley!! Love it. Everyone is going to vote against the deal. PA better bring security. Oh yeah and Im going to vote FOR the deal. HAHAHA courage of his convictions right there. What a first rate loser. Get the F off twitter ya moron.

I took the opposite view. Well not entirely. I assumed they'd re-boot and tell new stories where established canon wouldnt be as important. but once they chose to use Nimoy, they opened themselves to the idea of the universe we know having existed. I think they should just tell new stories and let the fan servicing (which i love) be organic things. Like reference Nurse Chapel. Doesnt matter either way whether its Chapel or Smith but call her Chapel and you've serviced the fans. Using Captain Pike was also really smart and that actor is fantastic. They had him in a wheel chair at the end of the first movie to invoke Pike from the original TV show but then he's back on his feet in STID. The way Star Trek should have ended was most of the crew going their separate ways. Within the established timeline, the events of that movie pre-dated the first year of the TV series. Have Kirk promoted to Lieutenant and assigned to the Farragut (within canon). Have Spock stay on as Science & Second officer of the Enterprise under Pike. You could have McCoy stay on Enterprise under Chief Medical Officer Boyles (I think his name was) or be reassigned, it really doesnt matter. Chekov shouldnt even have existed yet. The opening to STID should have been the Farragut and it should have portrayed the Captain being killed and Kirk assuming command. Not only does this pay homage to established canon, but it mirrors Kirk's father's story from the first movie. It also establishes Kirk's leadership and heorics, especially if you actually portray him as doing something tactical to "save the day". With the farragut virtually destroyed, Kirk is promoted to Commander and reassigned to Enterprise (as part of the the film's central story). I liked the radiation death scene at the end, but it should have been Pike, not Kirk and the death should have stayed permanent. Pike going into the chamber and saving everyone mirrors canon, would have been just as emotional (if not moreso because trekkies would know what it meant to the Pike character and due to the portrayal by that actor, Pike was the most beloved of the new films anyway). it would have done more to teach Kirk about the true sacrifice of leadership than his wussy death at the hands of Khan and it would have organically elevated Kirk to Captain of the Enterprise. Voila. Instantly a better film. As for Khan, take him or leave him. Personally, I wanted to see "Space Seed" Khan. Seeing Kirk and Khan interacting before they originally did so in the original canon, with new influences on the characters and watching that while knowing what was to come in the future, would have been cool. But once Del Toro dropped out, they should have re-written the movie. Cumberbatch is amazing but that role was all wrong. Here's how I would have changed it when Del Toro dropped out (assuming you make no other changes to the script). You still have the character claim to be Khan. That way Abrams still gets his big reveal and his insane war on spoilers is somehow justified. But when Nimoy shows up, rather than essentially do nothing, he reveals to young Spock that the guys claiming to be Khan isn't Khan. it's Jochin (Khan's right hand man). If Jochin was awakened first, he would claim to be Khan to protect his leader. With that knowledge, Spock defeats him. The movie ends the same way, with the camera panning over the cryotubes, but instead of lingering on Cumberbatch's face, it lingers on the unmistakable face of Ricardo Montalban. Tell me that wouldn't get the Trekkie's all hot & bothered...

There has been conjecture that Damon Lindelof is the one who's influence on STID ruined it. He was only a producer on the first one. Orci writing the third with new writing partners and will direct it. Has the potential to be a train wreck or the best of the three. Orci is a self-professed Trekkie so we shall if his influence was what was making terrible movies passable or if he was the anchor all along. The issue I have with these guys is they ruined their own concept. I think the idea of a sequel/prequel was absolutely genius. But they openly said they were freeing themselves from canon because now they have a "new" future to explore. But they get so cute about the fan-servicing that it belies their intent. Does canon exist or not? Cant have it both ways. They had Spock say that the universe will try to unfold as it should, to explain away the coincedences and similarities between the two universes. But then they ignore that when it suits them. They changed how messing with the past works in the Trek universe. Star Trek has always shown that if you go backwards in time, you can change your own future. And then you can go forward in that same timeline and return to your time. Trek has shown that multiple universes exist but you move forward and backward in your own time. Bad Robot changed that to the infinite universes theory. All that did was take away some of the stakes of the movies. If this Kirk and Spock et al die, it doesnt matter because OUR Kirk, Spock et al are still alive and still did everything we saw. The actors are reportedly inked through a third movie. It's the 50th anniversary of Trek coming up. So if its me, Im writing a movie that resolves the issues that these new films created. I'd "right" the wrongs of the timeline in an epic movie that brings back Nimoy and bring in Shatner.

Im still in the corner of The Sopranos as the best dramatic TV series of all time, even though the creater got too cute at times and fumbled the ending. But from a pure storytelling perspective, Boardwalk Empire is better. The creator of BE is Terence Winters, one of the main writers/producers of The Sopranos and you can certainly see a lot of familar stories and themes. But whereas The Sopranos would set things up and then swerve you, BW 'goes there'. Its fantastic. Winters admitted he had a guest role for James Gandolfini had he lived which would have been the best stunt casting in a long time, made only better if he actually played Tony Sopranos' great grandfather or something. Californication is a Showtime series which is currently in its final season and experiencing a bit of a revival from a couple of lackluster seasons. I always found the loss of Mia as a regular character hurt the show (though Im in the minority among my friends) as I thought she was the most layered character and the engine that drove the main plots. But I suggest watching the series if you like adult comedies (past seasons are on Netflix). David Duchovny is tremendous and seemingly ageless. As an aside, both Duchovny and Gillian Anderson both look so good, its a travesty we havent got another X-Files film. Forget the last one, make a GOOD one. In fact, with the recent revival of sci-fi, Im surprised Fox hasnt revived the entire series. Enough time has passed to make it make sense that a young FBI agent who idolized Muldur comes along to re-open the X-files. Anderson is on Hannibal (I think) as a guest star so she could surely be had. Duchovny would surely do it, especially if its a smaller committment. Skinner is a regular on Dallas so his schedule would likely allow. Dallas is actually a really good show too. But I digress...

Yes it's a silly debate. The CFL is what the CFL is. My biggest fear though, still, is Toronto getting an NFL team. If that ever comes to pass, in a few years, you can kiss that big TV contract goodbye. Why would that be? Arent ratings for the CFL higher in places like Sk than Toronto? And in Canada, rating for the CFl are higher than ratings for the NFL. Certainly, losing the largest TV market would be a negative and probably impact the TSN TV deal, but Im not sure it would kill the CFL. The NFL also seems to be very responsible on this issue, insisting that any owner of a Toronto NFL team also own the CFL team to ensure it's continued survival.

Im very interested in trying Ozz. How is it? Orange's viewership skews younger and more female than House of Cards for obvious reasons. But Orange isn't *just* for women though it deals with Women in prison and problems women face. Its actually remarkable to have a series with virtually all the leads and supporting characters are women and most of them are non-white. Tell me what traditional network would ever have taken a chance on a show like that? It's worth checking out. But give it three of four episodes before you decide either way. It took me three episodes to decide I liked it. Now I love it.

Yes yes, Avengers 3 makes more sense. Its also smart to use something as seemingly "ridiculous" as Guardians to really expand the MCU rather than take serious films like Cap, iron Man etc and have them battling aliens on some other world. While Avengers might get there, Marvel is smart to dip its toe into that end of the pool in a smart way. As for Star Trek, I am a HUGE Trekkie. I liked Star Trek (the first modern one) but Into Darkness was so bad it actually made the first one worse on subsequent viewings because every little thing that sort of bothered me about the first one, I was willing to give it a pass because of the effort they had to undertake to make it all make sense. But man, these guys just dont get it. The idea of not doing a traditional re-boot was good. using Nimoy to bridge the gap was ingenious (you could only use Nimoy or Shatner but Nimoy worked a lot better in this sense). But the story was so convoluted that you had to read a comic book series to actually understand it and it relied on a one-note bad guy (played very, very well as far as one note bad guys go) obsessed with revenge to move the plot along. It injected comedy in all the wrong places and it showed a complete lack of true understanding of the characters. It was like the writers watched the original movies (and not the TV show) and grew up (as Im am sure they did) on the parodies and jokes of the aging cast and thought that was the real characters. They took the "womanizing" Kirk and exaggerated it. That wasn't Kirk. The Kobiashi Maru is a perfect example of this. Star Trek II establlishes that Kirk took the test three times. He failed the first two as every cadet does since it's designed as a no-win scenario. He hated losing so much and didnt believe in a no-win scenario, that he reprogramed the simulator to allow for the possibility of "passing" the test. Now, when you watch the movies (and the TV show) you imagine Kirk taking this test and using his advabnced tactical abilities to rescue the survivors of the Maru and escape the Neutral Zone. In the film, we get a goofball Kirk who re-programmed the test so that he didnt even have to do anything to win. All it showed was he was a good cheater, not a smart tactician. In Trek II, it was revealed he got a commendation for original thinking. I can imagine Star Fleet rewarding him if he actually did something that demonsrated leadership and skill. And ofcourse in the new film he didnt get a commendation - he almost got booted out of Starfleet. Just didnt make sense. It wasnt the Kirk we know. The ranks were all wrong. They promoted Kirk from cadet to Captain. The Enterprise was all wrong. The technology was too advanced. Chekov was totally ret-conned. The only character they got completely right was Bones. And they managed to screw him up in the second movie. Ugh. Dont even get me started on Khan, the pasty-faced Brit...

I actually hate Fantasy. i thought the Lord of the Rings films were terribly boring. I saw The Hobbit (mostly because they were playing a preview for Star Trek Into Darkness) and as beautiful as it looked, it was just ridiculous and boring. its just non-sensical kids babbling turned into big budget movies. But Game of Thrones I *do* like. Its more adult with contemporary influences. It's far more relatable. If anyone is interested in the business of Netflix, I highly recommend the book Netflixed. Tells the story of the rise of Netflix AND the fall of Blockbuster (the two were very closely related). Also touches on Redbox (which was originally conceived as a spin-off of Netflix). I was never interested in Netflix as a DVD rental service, only as a streaming service. But the story is remarkable. Eventually everything is going to be over-the-top (ie. internet delivered) and Netflix is on the cutting edge of that. Networks need to figure it out. HBO, like Netflix, does not reply on advertising revenue so they have no excuse for maintaining their old-school thinking (other than not wanting to "follow" netflix). HBO is somewhat different in that they deliver content mostly in the traditional sense. But they have an in-demand service also. If I'm them, I'm taking a program (like True Blood or Boardwalk Empire) and I'm experimenting with a new delivery model. Debut the series in the traditional sense and as soon as the first episode is over, have the rest of the season on the in-demand service. See what that does to subscribers. Im willing to bet it wont impact them in a negative way and that viewership numbers for the traditional weekly episode will still be "strong". Either way, it doesnt matter. As long as people dont cancel, which they wont because most people dont binge watch.

I think that was the point. They were not so happy with how X3 turned out so they figured they could just wipe away all the garbage they turned out. It's not a bad idea. I didn't mind the latest movie, I might have expected it to be better but as far as a summer popcorn flick goes it was OK. I think in future movies they have to stick with the new folks. I am just a big fan of MIchael Fassbenders Magneto. Captain America 2: Electric Boogaloo might have actually been my favourite comic book movie I thought it was that good, and it's not even a character I think is all that fantastic, but damned if they didn't do that movie really well IMO. I have no idea if it'll be good or not but I am looking forward to Guardians of the Galaxy just because based on the trailers it seems to know that it's a ridiculous premise and just intends to have fun with the movie which I think is something that doesn't happen enough in movies today. I thought the Winter Soldier aspect of Cap 2 wasn't as interesting as I had hoped. Bringing Bucky into the future sort of made the fact Cap was brought to the future (or present as the case may be) less special. They've done a good job of taking a character that is even more 'boy scout' than Superman and made him relevent where he could very easily end up a joke in a modern world. Guardians does look good. My buddy, who's a fan of the comic movies, saw the trailer and just rolled his eyes. I explained to him that it's supposed to be really good. And from what I hear, it has a major impact on Avengers 2 so it's going to be a real part of the Marvel C.U.

So then Days of Future Past *did* wipe out X-men 2 & 3? I think it was implied through some dialogue (or I read it online) that the future might not be "changed" as much as it's "re-routed". So the Dark Phoenix storyline might not have happened as we know it but could still happen. Sort of weird. but a very, very smart way of connecting the two generations and re-booting the originals in an in-universe way. Like I said, those two Abrams' hacks almost ruined Star Trek with their stupid ideas. X-men respected the film canon and treated the fans with respect and intelligence. Im very excited for an 80's film as I love that sort of period stuff, especially when handled seriously.