M. Night must be stopped December 12, 2008
Posted by crazycuban in TV/Movies/Books.Tags: Aang, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Jesse McCartney, M. Night Shyamalan, Zuko
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Zuko protects an Earth Kingdom village from a pack of thugs. (Wikipedia)
M. Night Shyamalan, it is time you are stopped.
I’m not talking about the crimes against humanity that you committed with “Lady in the Water” or “The Happening.”
Instead I am referring to a travesty in the making that is near and dear to my heart.
That is the plan to turn one of my favorite cartoons, “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” into a live action movie.
Most of what Mr. Night has done in the past has been crap, but I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because of how excited I was at the prospect of seeing Avatar in live action.
Now that excitement has been almost completely wiped out.
Casting has just recently been released for the key actors in what rumor put it would be a three-movie epic. Fitting since the cartoon series had a three-season run.
Now for those of you not familiar with the world of Avatar, here’s a brief rundown.
It all centers around the Avatar, a 12-year-old airbender called Aang. Okay, technically he’s 112, but he was frozen in ice for 100 of those years so we won’t count that.
Basically it’s Aang’s job to save the rest of the world from the Fire Nation, which has been at war with the other three nations for those 100 years.
The Air Nomads have already been extinguished leaving just the Earth Nation and what remains of the Water Nation.
Each of these nations has their own unique forms of bending and the Avatar is the lone person with the ability to master all four elements.
That is what makes him basically the ultimate badass in this world.
Anyways, moving on, the entire series has a strong Asian influence as all the nations study martial arts and seem to surround themselves in the Asian culture.
It was pretty much an assumption that the roles would not be filled with Asian actors since it’s an American movie, but this is just ridiculous.
The role of Aang is being played by an unknown kid from Texas. I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt since he at least is a karate expert so that should help.
I’ll also give a chance to the actors tabbed to play Sokka and Katara, Aang’s two companions along the path to saving the world.
But where I draw the line is the talk about having singer Jesse McCartney play the role of Zuko, the banished prince of the Fire Nation.
Now, for all I know, the young Mr. McCartney may in fact be an excellent actor, but he is no Zuko.
Zuko is arguably the biggest badass in the Avatar world behind Aang and his father, firelord Ozai. Uncle Iroh and Princess Azula have an argument as well, but that’s neither here nor there.
The point is, Zuko’s casting is crucial to the success of these movies, and if Jesse McCartney is the best we can do, you may as well cancel the project right here and now.
There’s no way a pretty boy singer can pull off that role, and to try to pass McCartney off as Zuko is just flat out insulting to fans of Avatar – preteen girls not included.
It would be like having Hugh Grant play Darth Vader or something like that. There just would not be the same level of fear there.
Now, word is this part is still being negotiated so hopefully something comes up and Mr. Night is not allowed to ruin this movie with this casting decision.
I would have no problems with the part being played by an unknown, like they’re doing with Aang, as long as it’s someone who can pull it off.
A miss on either of those two characters spells death to the movie’s chances.
And to Mr. Night, if you screw this up, you may as well choose a new career.
It’ll take a special level of sucktitude to not make this movie a success, but if your casting is any indication, you are well on your way to doing just that.
“Miami’s got the Dolphins, the greatest football team … December 11, 2008
Posted by crazycuban in The Sporting World.Tags: Chad Pennington, Miami Dolphins, Super Bowl
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Dolphins QB Chad Pennington has numbers that rival his Jets replacement Brett Favre. (Getty Images)
… we take the ball from goal to goal like no one’s ever seen. We’re in the air, we’re on the ground, we’re always in control. And when you say Miami, you’re talking Super Bowl.”
Okay, so maybe no one’s mentioned Miami and Super Bowl in many a years.
Well, unless you’re talking about another team traveling to Miami for this coveted game.
In fact, the Dolphins have been about as far from the Super Bowl as you can be lately.
The worse of it was last season’s pathetic 1-15 campaign.
The lone game the Dolphins won was against the Baltimore Ravens – in overtime – and the Ravens were in the midst of a free fall for the ages.
They were so bad that head coach Cam Cameron was fired after just one season in charge. General Manager Randy Mueller was shown the door as well.
Then longtime Dolphins icons Zach Thomas and Jason Taylor were shipped outta town.
It didn’t look like things would be getting better anytime soon.
Even though the owners opened up the wallets to bring in Bill Parcells and all of his cronies, it was hard to keep the faith.
After all, the man pegged as the new head coach – Tony Sparano – would be in his first season as a head coach in the pros.
And there was the whole no quarterback thing.
Then Chad Pennington was brought in and I was less than thrilled.
He was better than when the Dolphins had had recently, but most of the talk about his was less than positive, especially the talk about his arm strength. From everything that was said, I was surprised that his throws got past the line of scrimmage.
But then the season started and something strange happened … they started winning games.
Before the year started, I told my roommate I’d be thrilled with a 6-win season.
It soon became clear that was aiming too low.
The Fins currently sit at 8-5 and are in a three-way tie atop the AFC East standings.
While they need a lot of help to do the improbable and return to the postseason, the fact they are even this close to accomplishing that speaks volumes to what the coaches, Pennington and the rest of the team have done this season.
And what they have done is bring hope to Dolphins fans.
It’s hard for me to remember the glory days.
The Fins have only been to the Super Bowl twice in my lifetime – once after the 1982 season and again after the 1984 campaign – and I was all of 3-years-old during the last game.
They haven’t been horrible since then, making the playoffs numerous times and even reaching the AFC Championship game once or twice.
But they’ve never been a dominant team.
Marino was always one of the league’s best, and who didn’t love the Mark brothers as well.
Still, that was not enough.
And lately things had been just sad.
Before this season, Miami had gone 20-42 the last four years, and it’s only that respectable cause of that fluke 9-7 season in 2005.
They’ve been through numerous coaches since booting out Don Shula, from Jimmy Johnson to Dave Wannstedt to Nick Saban to Cameron.
Alas. unless this proves to be another fluke year, it seems like Miami may finally have gotten back on the right track to being a consistent contender once again.
Next up for the Dolphins as they try to return to the playoffs is a game Sunday against the 49ers. Coincidently, the Niners were the Dolphins opponents the last time they made the Super Bowl. That day ended in a 38-16 loss for Miami.
Who better then to use to show that the Dolphins are indeed back.
Hopefully what they show is that the Fins that are back is the teams of the olden days, and not the ones of the 1-win days.
