Bryan

She used to be a goddess - one of the hottest, sexiest people I've ever seen. She had an absolutely amazing body. Not so much anymore. Still above average, but there's a lot better out there now. Just my take.

I'll tell you what, I bought a 96 Saturn SC2 in January of 1998 with 24,000 miles on it for $9000. It now has over 140K and all I've done is change the oil, replace the air filters, and swap out a couple of sets of tires. I had $20K to put down on a car but I decided to listen to my brother [a financial planner] and go with the used car. FYI - I put $11K into my etrade account and split that money equally in Dell and Microsoft. Dell split three times and MSFT split twice. I paid off my student loans, bought a time-share in Hawaii, and put a down payment on a two-family house that has since increased in value by over 55%, allowing me to purchase a second two family house. Basically, that $11K has translated into almost 1/2 million $ in assets. I have a friend who has always driven nice cars and makes more money than me but he still owes on his student loans and still rents. Think about that for a little while... This is the right idea. Don't go for instant gratification, go for long term financial success.

Sad to see such a phenom get injured. Hopefully it's nothing too serious. However, this does open the door for someone else to sneak in and nab AL Cy Young. Verlander, Papelbon, Santana, Halladay, Wang, Mussina all have an opportunity.

Thome and Nomar should win. If anyone else does there needs to be an investigation.

Batman-on-Film is slowly becoming nothing more than a gossip page. BOF had Batman Begins casting and movie info nailed right from the start, but it's really been lackluster lately. Ryan Phillipe? John Cusack? Can't see either of them and if I had to guess I'd say somebody just made them up and emailed them in. Liev is the MAJOR fan favorite (by a lot) so I'd be shocked if they didn't at least contact him for a screentest. Phoenix has also gotta be right up there with who Nolan is looking at. He has the look, he has the acting chops and he could undoubtedly handle the role. He really hasn't been mentioned in any rumors either so that almost makes me feel better about his odds of getting the role.

The Yankees have been threatening to leave New York since the beginning of time. It's just a ploy, they aren't really going anywhere.

My official comic nerd membership card should be coming in the mail sometime this week. I don't pick up the series like 'Batman: #324', though I probably will eventually, but I have read a couple graphic novels. So far I've gotten to: 1. V for Vendetta 2. Watchmen 3. Batman: Year One (Just Finished) 4. Batman: The Long Halloween (Stopped after the first 50 pages once I realized that there were books before it in the continuity) I'm going to be starting Batman: Haunted Knight in the next couple of weeks once I finish reading 'The Futurist' by James P. Othmer (excellent so far, I highly recommend it) and Slapstick by Kurt Vonnegut (haven't started it yet). So, really, I'm just getting started. Once I get through my Year One/Haunted Knight/TLH/Dark Victory arc, I will undoubtedly continue reading if I can figure out what comes next in the continuity.

I've been watching some 'Big Brother' if I remember that it's on. That Will guy is hilarious.

He's been pretty terrible this year. He's still probably better than Huckaby, though. Maybe a change of scenery will help him. being an everyday catcher again will help him return to form You're NOT going to get the 1999 Javy Lopez, it's just not going to happen. There will be no return to form, he's not a .300 35 homer hitter anymore, but he can be a valuable role player if the change in scenery helps him.

Something tells me that reviewers will be reluctant to pan it due to the subject matter. I haven't seen the Flight 93 movie but I highly doubt that it deserved the 4 star rating that Ebert gave it. Are you talking about United 93? If so, it WAS that good (IMO). Just a very good, respectful, well-crafted film. Not extraordinary, but it's very well done.

He's been pretty terrible this year. He's still probably better than Huckaby, though. Maybe a change of scenery will help him.

Lidle will get figured out within his next couple starts and get hammered. Thank you, Nostadamus. Wilson can only play against lefties, he looks brutal against right-handed pitching. As I said earlier, Abreu is just a flat out elite offensive force, it'll be nice to have him down the stretch. Lidle will probably put up a 5 ERA. He pitched well today, but as the game wore on you saw him get hit harder and harder. He's probably better than Ponson, though.

Depp won't do it because he's not really looking to do mainstream stuff. Plus, Id rather have him play Wallace in Sin City 2 if he wants to do a comic movie. I think Schrieber has a great look for the part. Schreiber Phoenix

While Ed Norton is perhaps my favorite actor, I don't see him in the role at all. I can see him in the Harvey Dent DA mode, but not as Two Face. And further confirming my dorkism, here's a cool manip of Ledger as the Joker:

Since I'm bored I've decided to post my Harvey Dent favorites: 1. Joaquin Phoenix 2. Liev Schreiber 3. Denzel Washington (A bit out there, but I think he could do it. Never seen him do a role quite like this, it'd be interesting to see if he has the range.)

The reason Papi or Pujols don't get villified? They are (appear to be - Bryan) all around good guys. Its easier to hate someone whose dogged by criminal allegations and has a bad attitude (Bonds) then someone who has done a lot of good for the community and is one of the games nice guys (Pujols). I don't want to get into another Ortiz/Pujols steroid argument, but I will just say that most people don't want them to be taking steroids, so until there is any hard evidence otherwise they'll overlook the hints/clues that have been given to them. Media darlings get a pass sometimes, it's just the way it works.

Terrence Howard is a GREAT actor, particularly in Hustle and Flow where he is just flat out spectacular. I know he has nearly unlimited range, but this may even be a little bit passed him.

I don't have much faith in the Yankees farm system. The problem is, Abreu probably wouldn't have waived his no trade clause to most other teams. I think he would have waived it for any team that paid him a lump sum to waive it and picked up his options. His option for 2008 was declined and the Phillies paid him to waive his no-trade clause.

According to the press release it is just The Dark Knight, not Batman: The Dark Knight.

Penguin's a gangster. Yes, he happens to use the occasional umbrella as a weapon (a gun in most occasions). Bryan nailed the current interpretation of the character. I think Hoffman's perfect. And that title sucks, expect it to be changed. Kind of offtopic, but is there a definitive Penguin origin? Just started reading the Batman graphic novels I bought a couple months back yesterday. About 2/3 way through Batman:Year One. Is he in Haunted Knight/TLH/Dark Victory? Would be interested in reading it because if there is a definitive origin Nolan will probably play heavily off of it in the sequel. And I disagree, I love that title. It's much better than Batman 2 or Batman Continues. The Dark Knight was the name that the fans wanted, and Nolan generally gives the fans what they ask for. Someone needs to rename this thread to 'The Dark Knight', btw.

If I'm awake I will religiously flip on Boomerang at 12 AM and watch the nightly episode of Batman:TAS. It's just a flat out great show.

"Clutch doesn't exist." -Idiots

The Penguin is a horrible villain. I would prefer someone else to be him besides Hoffman, who shouldn't have to stoop down for this role after winning the Best Actor Oscar. Are you basing this on the Danny Devito portrayal? Because that really wasn't the Penguin at all. The Penguin isn't a mutant psycho who runs around with toy penguins that have bombs strapped to their backs. He's supposed to be a weird, short, long nosed wannabe aristocrat who uses his wealth/means for criminal activity. I've said it a million times and I'll say it again, Burton's Batman films really weren't Batman at all.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman has been offered the role of the Penguin. "As you have long suspected, the two main villains in the BATMAN BEGINS sequel will be The Joker and The Penquin. ... It seems Nolan has been listening to you guys when it comes to casting his other villain, however. I can confirm that an offer has been made to Phillip Seymour Hoffman for the role. Yet Hoffman has indicated that he may not get involved in the sequel. " http://www.batman-on-film.com/batmovienews.html

The sequel for Superman Returns is already confirmed, planned, and going to happen. There are DVD sales and merchandise that a movie makes money on as well, not just box office intake. Superman Returns will NOT get out of the red. It only gets 55% of its Box Office take. And it's not going to be able to make up the rest through DVDs and merchandising. If I'm not mistaken it's already been stated by an anonymous WB source that SR is not going to get anything close to the same budget and that we should expect more action in the next film. It will, and it will easily. I read in EW once that domestic box office accounts for about 20% of a film's take. That sounds low to me, in general, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if that's the case with this particular movie. Worldwide BO for SR is $317 million. So if you're right about that 55%, and I'll just take your word for it, then SR is at $174 million. It's budget was $260 million. You're right, I probably shouldn't say it WILL NOT get out of the red. It will be close, but WB WILL NOT easily make a profit and it WILL be a major disappointment for the studio. Here's an article you may find helpful: http://www.boxofficeprophets.com/column/index.cfm?indexID=46 "If a film does not at the very least recoup its production budget, it almost is certainly a disappointment to the studio releasing it. With all the costs associated in developing, selling and distributing a film, it is critical for films to exceed their production budget with the domestic gross alone (which SR will not do - Bryan). This can be said with the caveat that very few films actually lose money. It?s an old Hollywood adage that every film, given enough time, breaks even. Ultimately, making movies is still a business, and if a business is only turning a small profit on an investment, and a long-term investment at that, then the investment can be considered detrimental to the overall goal of the business. " WB gets only about 25% of the ticket price overseas, compared to 55% in the US. That's why the US domestic take is so much more important than the total worldwide gross. A film generally has to make double its costs WW to consider it a success. SR isn't even going to match its production costs domestically. You also have to multiply the production budget x2/3 to even get the accurate costs of releasing the movie. Ask any expert, Superman Returns was a complete and total disaster for WB. There's really no way to argue against that.