But first, as always, and especially on today (Memorial Day), we will honor America and the men and women who have fought and died for these great United States, and the freedoms that allow me to spend way too much time doing stuff like this:
Also, another quick reminder of a very special, worthwhile, and FUN event coming up at the end of the week:
If you like good music and good people, all the while benefiting a great organization that does immense good for kids in our community, then you'll want to be sure to get your tickets to this concert. It'll be a great time!
And now, we will get today's action started, with the World Men's Regional Championship with 7) Boone Diggity Langston vs. 13) Andrew Salzman.
*Warning: Some brief adult language is possible. Reader discretion is advised*
Andrew, as the challenger, rises to the podium and selects....
John Cazale. Well i had my whole long answer, and then the internet fucking ate it because i cant have nice things. So here is an abbreviated version because it's late, i'm sick and i have work tomorrow.
Originally I was going to screw around and pick someone terrible. Nick Cage was the first person that came to mind. However, he was in Con Air, which automatically makes him ineligible for my mockery. Next up was Eva Mendes, because she is the worst actress I have ever seen. I can't help but laugh when she's onscreen. (And in a random aside, I, for whatever reason, saw Ghost Rider, starring these two. It was amusing in a terrible way.)
Now, for my actual choice: John Cazale. Only 5
movies in his career: Godfather 1 and 2, The Conversation, Dog Day
Afternoon, and The Deer Hunter. Murderers row. Not a dud there. His
career was unfortunately, cut short, but that's amazing peak, and
unlike others, there's nothing he's been in that we like to pretend
doesn't exist.
Hell, maybe his special movie karma could have even made the Godfather 3 not terr... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA sorry, he's not that good. But unlike others who may go for the jones (Adam Sandler? Paris Hilton?) or serious (Meryl Streep?), I'm taking the guy who flashed across the screen like a comet, then unfortunately vanished. #upsetcity Plus he's from Boston.
Hell, maybe his special movie karma could have even made the Godfather 3 not terr... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA sorry, he's not that good. But unlike others who may go for the jones (Adam Sandler? Paris Hilton?) or serious (Meryl Streep?), I'm taking the guy who flashed across the screen like a comet, then unfortunately vanished. #upsetcity Plus he's from Boston.
Interesting pick. Initially, I thought that you were saying John Caviezel (the guy who played Jesus and now is on that one TV show), and thought that you were pulling a really deep wild card (but then I saw the Godfather movies referenced and so looked into it further). For those of you not familiar, John Cazale is Fredo from the Godfather movies.
Honestly, Nicolas Cage is one of my favorite actors, and so I'll detour for one second to talk about him for a second: he's not a terrible actor, he just screwed out of all of his money and had to take really bad movies (the man has an Oscar, has played a WIDE ARRAY of roles; he can do rom-coms, he can do action, he can do drama, and he naturally brings comedy to everything -- especially when he tries to do a Southern accent....that gradually fades over the course of the movie).
While it is easy to mock Nic Cage (he has done some pretty bad movies), he also has done some incredibly good ones, too! You mentioned Con Air, but don't sleep on The Rock, Leaving Las Vegas, Face/Off, Kick-Ass, Lord of War, and even the National Treasures are pretty good (for being kid movies). The man has range. He can do action (Con-Air, Kick-Ass), he can do dramatic (Leaving Las Vegas, his Oscar-winning performance), biopics (Adaptation), family movies (National Treasure, The Croods), romantic comedies (It Could Happen to You, Honeymoon in Vegas, City of Angels), and he also can play a hero and a villian....in the same movie! (Face/Off) So while he has been in some awful movies -- (side note: if you thought that Ghost Rider was bad, then don't bother with Ghost Rider 2...that movie was unwatchable. And that is not a label that I apply liberally...that movie was awful.... end side note) -- I will stand by Nic Cage because the man produces when he is called upon. He is sort of like Scottie Pippen: he can make a good team great, and a bad team "okay"; he raises the caliber of the team.
There is nothing that can brighten a day like a good dose of Cage Rage. His freak outs are legendary. So, yeah, Nicolas Cage probably would have garnered a lot of favor from me, haha. But you are completely right with Eva Mendes. I don't know if she is the worst actor that I've seen, but her and Kate Hudson both have an uncanny ability to bring the quality of a movie down, and look amazing while doing it. Same with Jordana Brewster. I have never seen two actors (Cage and Mendes) have less on-screen chemistry than those two...TWICE. People forget that they were paired prior in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans, and they were equally poorly paired in that one, too. Nicolas Cage's hilarious Southern accent made up for it, though.
As for your pick, I say that it was a wild card simply because he is truly an obscure pick. I'm open-minded, though, and so I can see where you are coming from with the pick: he has been in some great movies, and played some big roles in those big movies. If you were only going to have a handful of movies on your resume, there are probably not a better handful to have. And, from what I saw on YouTube when trying to research the guy, a lot of undisputed great actors all hailed him and his talent, so I'll go along with it. We'll see what Boone Diggity picked and see if he can top it.
Boone Diggity now steps to the podium and selects....
Matthew Perry : Greatest Actor Ever. It's Chandler Bing! C'mon!
Interesting pick. I wouldn't have really thought of him as a notable actor (obviously, he can the comedic role of Chandler Bing in Friends and he was okay in that other movie franchise he was in -- Longest Yard? Whole 9 Yards? -- with Bruce Willis), but I don't know if he has a whole lot else to stand on. I guess he did another TV show for NBC somewhat recently, but I don't really watch TV anymore, and so I have no idea if it is still on...I'm guessing not, though.
Personally, I would not have used any of my 20 picks on drafting Matthew Perry because he is a rather one-dimensional actor, in my opinion. And, while I also would not have drafted Fredo with any of my 20 picks, either, I'll go along with the justification that Andrew used -- had he not died at a young age, his trajectory was looking promising....even if he was goofy-looking himself. Who knows? Maybe he gets in with the mob movies like Scarface, Goodfellas and Casino? Then maybe parlays those films to be Paulie or one of the other guys in The Sopranos? Then you'd be looking at an iconic guy with an impressive roster of films and TV to have on the resume, for sure.
While I disagree that Fredo is the greatest actor ever -- I wouldn't even put him probably in the Top 75 (due to such a small line-up of featured work) -- I don't think that Matthew Perry is worthy of consideration either. And, since it's between these two guys, I'll have to go with the dead guy who was in some iconic roles. Andrew lucks out and advances to the Famed Four on the pick of an obscure actor, simply because Boone picked an even more unlikely candidate. Incredible! He'll need to up his game for the Conference Championship, for sure, because Emily is no slouch.
And, quickly, a reminder of the up-coming Happy Hour event at Spirit of 77 on Thursday, June 5th -- 5pm-7pm with food and drink provided by Kyle Bunch of American Family Insurance.
And now, to close out the Enduring 8 round, the Portland Women's Regional Championship, represented by the stastistically-toughest match-up, 1) Kristen Dutra vs. 2) Tara Walsh!
Tara, as the slight challenger, is up first and her selection is.....
Meryl Streep. Streep is a goddess amongst us and is the caliber to which all actors - male and female - strive to achieve. Fin. She has played EVERY character and Greg (Walsh) literally watches Devil Wears Prada when it comes on...plus two words: Sophie's Choice. Dude. I mean COME ON.
That's a good pick. I can't argue with picking Meryl Streep because, while I think she got a late start in movies (spending the first part of her career on stage), she has done some notable movies....even though I haven't seen any of them, I know their names and know that she is one of the most decorated actors of all-time. I believe, she has more Oscar nominations than anyone else in history (18), so that speaks volumes to her longevity and role selection.
Only knock that I have against Meryl Streep is that she has a lot of nominations, but only 3 wins -- I mean, 3/18 isn't an impressive statistic. And, for being as adored and respected as she undoubtedly is, it makes me wonder why she hasn't been able to win more. For example, I don't think that she would get screwed by the Academy, nor can she be that unlucky to be up against a greater nomination 15 out of 18 times. So that does raise a question in my mind (since I don't have personal experience with her acting, I go by the statistics).
However, she was drafted pretty high (6th overall) with BDub's 3rd round pick in our Actor Draft earlier this year; the first female actor drafted (I later drafted Jodie Foster with my 6th pick / 11th overall). And, again, across YouTube will show you that she's a favorite of some of the biggest names in all of cinema and entertainment; no argument there.
I'm a little confused about the emphasis on Sophie's Choice, though.... [update: that is one of her movies, not an award (a la the Peoples' Choice Award)]. But, hey, good pick -- I like it and I liked it when BDub drafted her 6th overall. It was one of BDub's better picks, I think, since he went with Ron Jeremy 3 picks later (12th overall). Yup...that Ron Jeremy.
Kristen is up now and she picks....
Robin Williams. He won an Oscar, he can do drama and comedy, and everything in between, and he was Mork. And he's from SF.
Ohhhh good pick. Unexpected pick but a good one nonetheless. Unlike Meryl, I have a lot of experience with Robin Williams' work and I think that this is a good match-up. Robin Williams, in my opinion, doesn't get the respect that he deserves. While, sure, he is more known for his comedic and zanny roles (Mrs. Doubtfire, Aladdin, Toys, etc.), he can do everything and does every role impressively well. I can't think of any movie roles that he has taken and just sucked at. In fact, I don't know of any of his movies (that I've seen) that have been bad.
He's been in some great movies (at least to me), such as Hook, Good Will Hunting, Jack, Death to Smoochy, Patch Adams, What Dreams May Come...and then, of course, you've got Mrs. Doubtfire, Man of the Year, the two Night at the Museum films, and so on. He has quite the diversity in his roles, and even played a rather chilling villain in 24 Hour Photo. I do think that if he wasn't perceived more as a clown, he probably could have more awards. However, I like the work that he does and awards aren't everything. Look at me: I'm awesome and have only 4 awards to my name. Awards don't define us -- they just decorate our mantle.
And, props to Kristen for bringing up his TV acting, too. I had forgotten about his role as Mork from that one TV show (Mork & Mindy?) that, I believe, was a spin-off only because Robin Williams was able to make the character strong enough to take on its own show.
While he went undrafted in our Actor Draft earlier this year, I probably would have used one of my 20 picks to draft him. In terms of hardware, Meryl does have him beat in Oscars 3-to-1, BUT he's batting .250 at the Oscars...whereas Meryl is batting .017......since I think that Robin Williams can do everything that Meryl Streep can do (maybe a little more), I'm going to side with him on this match-up and advance Kristen to the Famed Four as the Portland Women's Champion. It's controversial, sure, but I view it as a toss up and am not deterred by controversy.
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Well, there we have it! The Regional Championships are over and we are now down to the Famed Four in this year's Tournament of Champions! The Conference Championships will be held on Wednesday & Thursday, then we will close out next Saturday (May 31) with the crowning of the new Champion of Champions!
-Ryan.
Commissioner
May Mayhem Tournament of Champions
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