Sliced Bread: January 2008

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Jo-Willy's day is delayed

It wasn't supposed to be this way.
At least that's what a lot of people will lead you to believe.
Throwing the word 'upstart' around like it was going out of style, most of the people talking about the Men's Final at the 2008 Australian Open obviously wanted to write about the out-of-nowhere rise of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the French sensation of Congolese descent.
Unfortunately for them and Tsonga, this was not Jo-Willy's day.
Instead, the young Serbian star Novak Djokovic outlasted Tsonga in a tiebreaker in the fourth set. Without a doubt, if many people had their druthers, Djokovic would have not hoisted the trophy on his first Grand Slam victory last night in Melbourne.
Tsonga, with looks like that of a young Muhammad Ali and the following that of a rock star, was supposed to be anointed as tennis' Next Big Thing with a victory in this unlikely Finals pairing that didn't include the two big names expected — Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal.
But the match went to Djokovic, who looked to be on his last legs leading up to the tiebreaker after earlier taking a medical timeout to deal with cramping in his leg. Had the tiebreaker gone the other way and play continued into a fifth set, there was little doubt the fresh-looking Tsonga would dispatch Djokovic.
Worse still, Djokovic is no fan favorite. He made no fans with his persistent bouncing of the tennis ball directly before service, and his willingness to chastise his detractors in the stands did him no favors, either.
But at the end of the day, Djokovic has a Grand Slam victory and Tsonga has a lot more fans.
So what's so wrong with that story line? Wrestling has its heels. And if Tsonga got to be as good as someone like Federer, wouldn't there be a backlash similar to what the NFL's New England Patriots are coming up against, sitting at 18-0 and 60 minutes away from another Super Bowl victory?
Let Djokovic have this victory, love him or hate him. He and Tsonga look like they have a lot of tennis left in them for us to enjoy and debate in the coming years.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Prurient interests

Prepare yourself to be sickened by the comments made by some of the paparazzi covering the death of actor Heath Ledger on Tuesday, Jan. 22. Via The Huffington Post:

As the body came out, screams of "Body! Body! Body!" could be heard as onlookers scrambled to get a good look (one woman screaming loudly, and repeatedly, "Don't f---ing push me!"). Soon after, a reporter was heard asking his cameraman, "Was it good? What did it look like?" to which the cameraman responded, "It was wrapped in black. A black bag."

If this is the direction coverage of celebrity is going, I weep for this world.

There Will Be Atonement For Old Men and Pregnant Teens... and Clooney

I can remember days where I would have Oscar pools with friends, seeing who can best predict the outcome of the Academy Awards. Most years I'd seen every film shown within 200 miles of my place of living. My, how things have changed.

This year, I haven't seen a single nominated film for Best Picture, even though two of them ("There Will Be Blood" and "No Country for Old Men") were directed by guys who rank very highly on my list of directors working in the biz today (Joel and Ethan Coen, and Paul T. Anderson).

In fact, I'm not sure I've seen a single film nominated for anything... The fact that "The Simpsons Movie" got snubbed in the Best Animated Feature category doesn't help matters much.

With this in mind, take the following ramblings about this year's nominees with a grain of salt:

• Short of a "career achievement" nod to Tommy Lee Jones or a sympathy vote for Johnny Depp to win after a string of brilliant performances, there is no surer bet this year than Daniel Day-Lewis winning the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in "There Will Be Blood." Not only is he due for a win after losing to Adrien Brody in 2002, but Academy voters will relish getting the somewhat-reclusive actor to stand up on a world stage and just be himself.

• Julie Christie will win Best Actress for her portrayal of a woman battling Alzheimer's in "Away From Her." This is the first time I've heard anything about Julie Christie since I first watched the David Lean version of "Dr. Zhivago." Oh, and she once was attached to be in "American Gigolo" until Richard Gere dropped out and she decided to follow suit. Soon after she did that, Gere rejoined the project. Ouch.

• There will be a collective explosion of nerd-dom (I like to call it a "nerdsplosion") when fans of the Coen Brothers and Paul T. Anderson are forced to choose between the two (or make it three) in the Best Director and Best Picture categories for "No Country For Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood." My guess? Academy voters will remember The Dude from "The Big Lebowski," drink White Russians and go bowling, completely forgetting to fill out their ballots. Advantage: Anderson.

• Eddie Murphy will get to attend the ceremony because "Norbit" was nominated for Best Makeup... No word on whether Murphy's baby's mama — "Scary Spice" Melanie Brown — will picket the event.

• I will not actually watch the ceremony and say I did... this trend will likely continue until Steve Martin is hired again to host the evening's events. (Sorry Jon Stewart, but Colbert is funnier, with or without union writers)

Sunday, January 13, 2008

No bull - We want to tell your story

While it's hard to throw a stone in Aurora and not end up hitting a bit of suburbia, we know there are a few of you out there with a nice piece of land on the outskirts of town, grooming and feeding your prize livestock for the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo.
If you're in or around Aurora and want us to catch up with you in Denver during the next two weeks for your Stock Show experience, give us an e-mail at charrop@aurorasentinel.com or news@aurorasentinel.com.