Road to South Africa

…begins in Barbados.  Or maybe Dominca.  With the CONCACAF World Cup draw concluded this past weekend, U.S. Soccer can begin to see what it will take to reach the World Cup Finals in South Africa.

Yes, the World Cup, which has already begun for some regions, two years of vital and often hostile matches, and the U.S. will face the winner of Barbados/Dominica in June (Barbados is higher ranked).  If the seeds play out, we would next do the round robin with Cuba, Trinidad & Tobago, and Guatemala, from which the top two would advance to the final CONCACAF qualifying round.

I am… Clark W. Griswold

with tannenbaum firmly secured on our new Family Truckster (the Dodge Grand Caravan/Chrysler T&C is the official Truckster of the aught-x decade btw…) we returned from the hinterlands of Cole’s Station, IL, a-caroling all the way!

So far we really like our new Truckster and are looking forward to getting her out on the open road for the oncoming Griswold Beem Family Vacation!

Yes, I am that guy now…

Movie Review: Beowulf

…directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary, starring the digtial replicants of Angelina Jolie, Anthony Hopkins, Ray Winstone, John Malkovich, Crispin Glover, as well as the awesome might of CGI.

If you want whining about motion-capture animation replacing real actors, complaints (or fanboy drooling) over digital nekkid Jolie, or hand-wringing about the PG-13 rating, go elsewhere. We are in the land of Beowulf now. That’s Beowulf, an original in the pantheon of mythic heroes, without whom there’s no Joseph Campbell thesis and therefore no Star War series; no Tolkien philology and no Lord of the Rings. Beowulf, the canonical epic poem in Old English, oldest manuscript in our language. Beowulf, who drinks, boasts, fights monsters, and philosophizes about it all later. About damn time he got his own big fat movie.

Thankful for Viking Movies

And gravy, of course. And all the important things everyone else always lists.

But this year, we give extra extra thanks for Viking/Norse movies.

Beemsville’s Top Five:

Video Review: Brick

Brick written and directed by Rian Johnson, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Nora Zehetner, and Lukas Haas.

This film is suburban high school noir. Or, more accurately, it’s an old school detective noir set around a west-coast high school in the burbs. Brendan (Gordon-Levitt) is your outsider kid looking to help out an ex-girlfriend, Emily, who promptly disappears and comes up dead. From there, Brendan navigates the interlinking circles of high school social sets and local drug dealers to find the killer and exact some justice.

What’s cool about Brick is the way it hits the film noir/loner detective genre beat for beat, yet still seems fresh. Once you get past the momentary jolt of hearing high school kids talk like outcasts from a David Mamet play, you can really get into it. No wonder the film was winning acclaim at Sundance. Writer/director Johnson shoplifts from and plays homage to great noir offerings from The Maltese Falcon to Chinatown yet doesn’t get too caught up in his own cleverness.

TV Pick: Journeyman

No, it’s not about legendary Journey front man Steve Perry (though that might be cool); it’s you’re basic reluctant good guy time traveler. Journeyman follows Heroes Monday nights on NBC (9:00 Illinois time), which is the main reason we started watching it. That and the fact that the wife and I are old Quantum Leap fans. Of course we’ve kept watching because the show is pretty good.

much more after the bump…

Review: The Chinatown Deathcloud Peril

…by Paul Malmount.

The Chinatown Deathcloud Peril by Paul Malmont takes us into the golden era of the pulps–literally and figuratively. This novel is about pulp writers caught up in pulp-style adventure and intrigue. And not just any pulp writers: Lester Dent, author of Doc Savage, Walter Gibson author of The Shadow, and a young ambitious writer named Ron Hubbard. You also have cameo appearances by Howard P. Lovecraft and several other famed writers of the day (don’t want to give away any surprises).

I-L-L!!!

Illinois shocks top-ranked Ohio State in Columbus

JUICE!!!

Fire Out…

of the MLS playoffs.  Courtesy of the New England Revs and Taylor Twellman’s impressive bicycle kick between two defenders.  TT will probably never score a more difficult (read, lucky) goal.  I hope this isn’t a harbinger of this weekend’s sports results.

Succint Preview…

…of the Fighting Illini bball team. This based on viewing two preseason games (thank you, Big10 Network)–well, really one-and-a-half, as I slept through part of the first one. Two lopsided wins. It could’ve been worse. For example you could lose to Grand Valley State or the University of Freaking Findlay (love that headline–go Falcons, I mean, Oilers!)

The Motion: Bruce’s motion offense already looks better than it did last year. Maybe because he has big guys suited for his system? Maybe because Shaun Pruitt barely played? Still, a couple of times deep into the shot clock with nowhere to go. Hope that’s not a theme.

The D: Defense will be there. You can count on that. With all the bodies, we will hack-attack teams to death at times. Still not enough quickness on the perimeter to be truly frightening, though…