Avatar - Must See in 3D!!!

I had zero expectations for the movie itself and the highest of expectations for the special effects and the 3D in particular. The storyline was one that is basically that of Last of the Mohicans. A white man joins the natives and becomes their greatest member to fight off the march of imperialism masked as capitalism masked as progress. There are themes of Iraq, the rain forest, corporate evils, Blackwater, the persecution of the Native Americans, and straight up hippy love of nature. Which is fine. It was not a surprise is all. It was what I expected.

The effects, however, were a complete and total WOW. It was so stunning to look at I don't think I blinked for an hour. The 3D had the occasional shot I found gratuitous and distracting but was much more integrated and nuanced than I thought it would be. The planet of Pandora is spectacular in every way. The blue people were still only OK as "actors" but much better than any other CGI person in a movie I have seen.

It isn't going to replace Godfather or Star Wars in the pantheon of my all-time favorites, but it represents a significant step forward in movie making...and it is miles better than the junk movies of Terminator Salvation and Transformers 2 and GI Joe.

Do yourself a favor and see it in 3D while you can.

HALL OF FAME - CHEERS

Cheers is the show of my youth. I was too young to watch the early seasons live, but I joined the fun during the early Rebbecca years. Cheers really made me feel at home. It probably played a part in me finding a home away from home at a local sports bar. Sam as the lovable ladies man and the fearless and hapless leader was always my favorite but Norm, Cliff, Frasier, Woody, and Carla were all fantastic characters that populated this corner bar in Boston.

The early years of Coach and Diane feel more dated than the later years. There are still some good episodes in the mix, but the outfits are atrocious and show seems very innocent for a show centered around a womanizer.

A couple of months ago I started DVR-ing the episodes on Hallmark when they flipped back to the pilot. I am up to Season 3 now and I am enjoying it. The early years are all about Sam and Diane. Season 1 is the flirting season, Season 2 is the dating season, and season 3 is the post breakup but still in love season. Out of the rest of the gang, Carla has the most going on. She is pregnant for the second time and has had some memorable moments, especially with her TV repairman ex.

I look forward to the wars with Gary's Olde Town Tavern, Frazier, Robin Colcorde... and a skinny Kirstie Alley.

An Up and Down Football Season Ends in Disappointment

I am an unabashed Penn State and New York Giant fan. Penn State ends its season on Friday afternoon against LSU in the Capital One Bowl. Win or lose it has been a very uneven season for Penn State. They lost to the only two really good teams they played, both at home. Their defense was great except for the few times it really needed a turnover or a stop. Their offense was below average all year.

The Giants started out the year like it was one of the three or four best teams in football, going 5-0. In going 3-7 since, the Giants defense became one of the worst in football. Blame it on injuries, blame it on the new defensive coordinator, blame it on the D-line falling apart...all valid reasons...but I blame it on the Yankees winning the World series. It must be come kind of balancing of karma or something, because that is the feeling I get when I think back on the Giants season. I just don't see any other reason for the team falling apart so completely on defense, not to mention the fact that the Giants went from one of the best running

Fantasy wise, my team made the finals in both leagues I was in, which is a first for me. I have never won a fantasy football league so this was a great year for me. That being said, I lost both championship matchups on the Minnesota Monday Night game. @#$&ing Favre!

So it is on to basketball and Spring Training is just around the corner. The jury (aka my opinion) is still out on the Yankees offseason moves.

Losing my job and loving Lost

All of a sudden I have a little extra spare time on my hands. I lost my job last week. Sad, I know, but after the initial shock wore off I realized I have a lot of time freed up to watch more TV... and write about it.

I will also still be posting at northstationsports.com about all things basketball.

First up on TV, I am getting revved up for the final season of Lost (starting February 2nd) by re-watching the first five seasons with my equally devoted wife. We re-watched the pilot episode tonight and the excitement and tension are still fresh. The opening shot, of Jack's eye being shot to life. His pupil dilates. He blinks. He realizes he is in a jungle, turns his head, and spots Vincent the dog. He staggers to his feet, wanders onto the beach, the camera pans to the left and the adventure begins. It is a beautiful thing, a well made piece of entertainment. This show is not perfect and I have my complaints too. Season two was poorly paced and the first half of season 3 dragged even worse. Then there was the Nikki and Pablo ordeal. But what Lost does so well is push the envelope. It tries things. It makes you think and that is such a rare and cool thing. Appreciate it while you can.

Side note:

And if you are buying or renting the show this Christmas season, do yourself a favor and get the Blu-Ray. This is the best and highest use of Blu-Ray I have encountered. The Hawaiian backdrop really pops.

Sesame Street gets political?

I love Sesame Street. It was the first TV show, along with the Muppet Show, that I really watched. Well the folks over at the Children's Workshop are taking some heat for having Oscar play the role of pundit on a fake news show. Check out the story here.

Celebrate the holidays with Mythbusters

I love a good marathon, and it only gets better if it is a holiday marathon. Discover is going to provide a nice chunk of marathon that you can flip in and out of without a care. My favorite Dicover show, Mythbusters, has a marathon on Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, and New Years Day. Click here for the full Discover run down.

I am sure there will be other marathons, and to sit back and flip between them is heavenly. It also helps when you know you don't have to worry about watching Penn State, who won't be playing on New Years Day...maybe Christmas Day. What a dog performance that was against Ohio State.

Anyway, Mythbusters is a good time and a great marathon show.

Curb Your Enthusiasm - Black Swans and Broadway Cops

Tedious work projects are now behind me. I feel reborn. I want to talk about the last two Curbs to start off round two here on the Navigator.

Best two episodes of the season hands down. The show is really building to a crescendo with the reunion episodes. A couple of thoughts:

- In the Swan, it was nice to see Larry getting eyeballed instead of doing the eyeballing.
- Marty Funkhauser grows on me more and more every time he is on screen.
- Has Jeff always been such a hound? He and his wife were always splitting up, but I don't remember the affairs like this season. They previously split up over Oscar the dog.
- There are only two ways to hurt your neck reminded me of when Larry had the hair caught in his throat for about 4 episodes. Hilarious.


The 3 big questions for the last two episodes are...Will Larry get Cheryl back? Will the reunion episodes be funny? How awkward will Michael Richards be?

It's the new anthem for NYC

The Yanks pulled out a huge win last night thanks to AJ Burnett and Mo Rivera. I think it is a legitimate question to ask if Rivera is the best pitcher in the clutch ever, starter or closer. Tonight is an off night and I hope to catch up on a few of the shows. Always Sunny and the Office will be tops on the must watch list.

Jay Z and Alicia Keyes performed what Derek Jeter calls the new anthem of NYC before the game. Click here to watch the performace. The new Ronan Tynan?

A couple of quick hits as I have been woefully neglectful in this space.

- I am surprised at how much I have enjoyed Grey's Anatomy this year. I thought it was over for me with this show, but it has been very good. Ditto Parks and Recreation.
- My two fanboy shows, Smallville and Heroes, have been better than I anticipated. Heroes will never be what it could have been, but it is not horrible. Smallville isn't what it used to be but this Smallville 2.0 is pretty good.
- Fringe is phenomenal. And the promos they are running are great.
- I have every Flash Forward on my DVR unwatched.
- Cougar Town is secretly my favorite new show. Modern Family is great. Community is eh. Accidently of Purpose is a little less than eh.

I am writing often at Northstationsports.com. Please check it out.

I am building a Navigator nation

Do you believe how much TV our nation's kids watch? Well, actually, I do. I love kids shows. Noggin is a good time. Click here to see how many hours per week?

And we're back

Sports Sports Sports

Penn State looked nasty crushing Michigan in the Big House. It was nice to get that monkey off our backs...speaking of monkeys...

There will be no rally monkey this year as the Yankees finished off the Angels yesterday. This is a dream match up for me as there is nothing better than crushing the spirit of a Philadelphia sports fan. This is must see, appointment TV of the highest order.

I promise a return to normal posting as soon as I catch up on it all.

What to Watch tonight - 10/22/09

Tonight is a very busy night of TV. There is 4 and 1/2 hours of TV shows that I follow. And I will probably not watch any of it. The YANKS-ANGELS Game 5 is on Fox at 8pm. If you are crazy enough not to watch, watch this instead...

• 30 Rock - NBC @ 9:30/8:30c
• Community - NBC @ 8/7c
• Flash Forward - ABC @ 8/7c
• Grey’s Anatomy - ABC @ 9/8c
• It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia - FX @ 10/9c
• Parks & Recreation - NBC @ 8:30/7:30c
• The Office - NBC @ 9/8c

JoePa is the man.

Watch the Penn State football game this weekend. They play Michigan in Ann Arbor this Saturday at 3:30PM. Michigan owns Penn State almost as much as Iowa does. And SI did a long and pretty good profile of the legend. Check it out. It is a must read.

Steve Phillips's crazy affair

In other sports news, former Mets GM and ESPN talking head Steve Phillips was laying down a 22 year old Production Assistant. And she went crazy. Never promise crazy a baby. (That's a line from Arrested Development).

Must read.

Yankees and Phillies - Very different 2-1 leads

How good have the baseball playoffs been? Wow! I am hanging on the edge of my seat for hours on end. As a Yankee fan and a Joe Torre fan, it was rough night for me last night.

This is baseball at its best. This is why I love sports. It is killing my TV watching though.

If you have a TV, watch the Yankees tonight at 8 on Fox. Let's Go Yankees.

Side note on Girardi: CC on 3 days rest is the right move. In fact the only move I question is taking out Robertson because he looked really good in getting the 1st two outs. But Girardi has been very active and using the whole pen all year so I am not gonna kill him for it here. The Yankees really have a hard time winning in Anaheim.

Side note on Phillies: I love the middle of the order for the Phillies. They are relentless. I would love to see the Yankees and Phillies in the Series for so many reasons. I just hope the Dodgers can send it back to LA. Rack up those miles.

Update: 5:07 PM: Forget to mention, the TBS crew is the worst booth ever. And Craig Sager is ridiculous. They make McCarver and Buck look like rock stars.

Mad Men - All Eyes on Don

Anyone else creeped out by the afflicted brother of the teacher? He has "fits". It is wild that "fits" is what we boiled epilepsy down to in the 60's. I don't know if everyone caught this but Betty mentioned Thanksgiving plans and being that we are in 1963 it looks as though we are heading straight for Nov. 22, 1963.

Peggy continued to amaze and the scenes with Roger were awesome, but the focus was on Don. Betty is freaking over the whole Don/Dick thing. I wonder if she put it together or just thinks he was previously married?

I love that the show turned away from Hilton. He was getting far too much play. Three episodes left. Western Union...it's been in my family for generations. I liked Peggy's idea better anyway. Do telegraphs still exist, as a novelty?

Curb - Denise Handicapped

Last week I talked about how easy it is to lose interest in any non-Seinfeld reunion episode. I feel myself getting impatient. But this week's episode was so funny that it made me (almost) forget about the Seinfeld reunion. Larry attempting to make a move on the Denise in the wheelchair was ridiculous and hilarious. It was equaled by Larry finding himself attracted to the benefits of dating the handicapped. It is classic Larry, isn't it? You get all the benefits without any of the hardships.

Did you bring it, Larry?

The best NBA teams of all time.

My buddy Nick and I posted our arguments for the best NBA teams of all time. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Hint: 1996 Bulls were overrated.

Mia Michaels is out on SYTYCD?!?

Mia Michaels, the free spirit who always makes people (not me) cry on SYTYCD, has twittered what appears to be a goodbye to the show. While I know nothing about who's good or not at dancing or choreographing, the people on the show couldn't make a bigger deal out of her.

Click here for the link to E!'s story.

Bird and Magic have an HBO doc!

HBO is making a documentary about the rivalry and unlikely friendship of Magic and Bird. I love the HBO documentary crew and can't wait to watch this. The Bird-Magic rivalry is the ultimate in sports rivalry in the last 30 years. The doc is set to debut in March.

Click here for more details.

Gilmore Girls creator gets a new gig on HBO

Amy Sherman-Palladino has a new series on HBO. As a huge fan of Gilmore Girls and a devotee to every show on HBO this side of Carnivale, I will be on this show like white on rice. Click here to read the release.