[Midnight in Paris]

Been watching movies non-stop during the last two weeks.

Midnight in Paris - 10/10 - Got this movie on Blue-Ray for Christmas and watched it for the second time. First and foremost this movie is absolutely beautiful in high definition.  It captures the physical beauty of Paris like no other film I have ever seen.  Also, the two main themes of the movie are explored in a creative and thoroughly enjoyable fashion.  As of right now my favourite movie of the year.

Hot Coffee - 9/10 - One of the better documentaries I have ever watched. It takes a look into the case of the woman who sued McDonald's for burning herself with their coffee. The movie effectively shows how the public (including myself) wrongfully condemned this woman paving the way for American citizens losing all power to get rightful compensation if they experience wrong doing at the hands of a corporation.

Fast Five - 5/10 - I am not the target audience of this movie. It seems like a more coherently put together instalment than the previous three. However, it remains a mindless action flick for those who love beautiful cars and epic chases. If your fan of the series there is a lot of "nostalgia"  that may make this the best film in the series for you.

Win-Win - 8/10 - An all around good film. I majored in Justice Studies and appreciate films that illustrate how the family environment can drastically alter a child's life. This film effectively portrays how we can condemn a kid for poor choices when they were just dealt a losing hand and given better parenting they could have achieved great things.

Crazy Stupid Love - 6/10 - The film has a hard time balancing the drama and the comedy. It has a interesting  relationship between Steve Carrel and Juliana Moore's characters. It just gets lost in characters doing outrageous things in the name of comedy. If the comedy works for you, this could be a very enjoyable film.

30 Seconds or Less - 8.5/10 - I thought this movie was fun and hilarious. Surprisingly, I found many of the scenarios here to be much more likely than ones that occurred in Crazy Stupid Love.

127 Hours - 10/10 - This is the second time I watched this movie. Like Midnight in Paris, this movie is beautiful in Blue-Ray. It is a true story that is effectively portrayed through film. My favourite movie from  2010 and one of the most motivating true stories of all time.

Cowboys and Aliens - 3/10 - The opening scene was extremely entertaining. It just became  boring right after it. I will have to watch it again to see if maybe I just wasn't in the right mood.

The Hangover 2 - 6/10 - I was expecting to hate this movie. I ended up finding it funny. Not as good as the first time around but this sequel has its moments. It knows the type of film it is and embraces it.

I think the difference here is that Burnette and Ryan were proven commodities, of course with risk but proven players nonetheless.With Darvish we are committing a large sum of money to a player with a serious possibility of not working out or being vastly overpaid for an extended period of time. I think along with Bautista extension, this is the riskiest thing this franchise has done in some time.

I don't think either guy can be justifiably called proven when they signed. They were players of some talent who'd had ok years but neither guy had a consistent track record of overwhelming success. Both signing were risky and neither paid off. There may be slightly more risk to Darvish but it's not overwhelming and certainly not much in the ways of a "new era".

Not to mention that, if the argument being made is that this new era is catergorized by a signing that is riskier and less likely to pay off than the Burnett and Ryan signings than, well, I'll take the old era please.

I disagree. I think there was risk involved with AJ/BJ, but, only in regards to over payment and health. They both had success at the major league level prior to being with the Jays.
Burnette had two great seasons under his belt. Ryan had one great as a closer and two solid ones as a reliever. The risk for both was if they could stay healthy.

With Darvish. You have health concerns in regards to how will he adapt to the MLB game. Living in a new country along with are more difficult schedule with less days rest than he is accustomed too. There is a great chance that he burns out midway through the season. We also have zero idea how he will adapt to the North American game. He is a great pitcher, but, the quality of batters in Japan is inferior. With AJ and BJ we knew what we would get out of them, just the risk was for how long. We don't know if we will get anything out of Darvish.

I feel this is the biggest gamble the Jays have made in a long time. For that reason, I don't think this "New Era" is an overstatement. They are spending a ton of cash on a complete wild card. We are paying hypothetically, 50 million plus...say 13 million for 5 years for a prospect. We also outbid the biggest spenders in the league to get him.

With that being said you raised a good point "That's not a mere formality after winning the posting fee. The Jays and Darvish could be miles apart on terms of a contract.". Also, we are basing these discussion off of rumoea, maybe the Jays weren't even close to winning the bid.

I haven't seen this much excitement among fans in a very long time. People are getting excited at the prospect of signing Darvish when a week ago they were ready to crucify Rogers for that statement by AA.

So at the very least, if the Broncos can't compete with the good to great teams, with Tebow they have risen to the level or above the rest.

Which is fine, but it then raises the question as to what extent rising to the level of mediocrity or outright terribleness should be celebrated when, in most cases, it's done by the barest of margins.

Until they have better options.

If Tebow doesn't improve his passing game and the Broncos continue in state of best of the mediocre , than the Broncos should entertain other options via free agency or trade. I think the next four (potentially) games for Denver will be a real indicator of how far they go with Tebow. If he doesn't improve by any margin or completely falls off the map (and Broncos had a great streak of luck as many feel) than I don't doubt Denver will look for options in the summer and have him on a short leash next season.

Either way, the media is making him out to be a saviour...which he is not. But he does disserve some credit for this change in Denver along with the defence and coaching staff. Some of these games he passed horribly only to go on fire in the fourth quarter. Aside from his lack of ability to throw consistently, everything else about this kid would be a desired quality on an elite quarterback. For that alone, I'd give him this season and a few into the next season (unless some miracle allows Denver to grab a top 10 qb in the summer).

I think people shouldn't write Denver/Tebow being untested. Of course, they haven't played good or great teams...

Except they have. The Lions are a pretty good team and they beat the Broncos 45-10.

Statistically (haven't checked), I think every(most) teams they've played had a better record than them this and the previous season. So at the very least, if the Broncos can't compete with the good to great teams, with Tebow they have risen to the level or above the rest.

You'd think they would have learned to ease back on the hyperbole after previous "new era" Japanese players.

At the same time, signing Yu would indicate that Rogers is willing to spend competitive dollars, which is obviously of considerable significance.

Arguably he could indeed be meaning a new era in terms of the Jays' spending habits.

There are, if anything, more problems with that interpretation. I mean, for starters, the Jays wouldn't have committed dollar one to the deal until they actually have Darvish signed. That's not a mere formality after winning the posting fee. The Jays and Darvish could be miles apart on terms of a contract. I still don't think signing Darvish would represent a "new era" for the Jays but, if it did, then this isn't signing Darvish.

But more importantly, I mean, the issue with Rogers as owners isn't really a lack of willingness to spend money. They're still the ownership group that signed AJ Burnett and BJ Ryan, extended Doc and gave Vernon Wells 120+ million. As recently as '08 the Jays were at 97 million dollars in terms of opening day payroll. Provided Darvish doesn't ask for more money than Pujols this contract wouldn't represent a new high for Rogers spending either in terms of on a single player or on the team. Even if you want to count a posting fee as Salary then, assuming Darvish gets something in the range of 12-15 million a year for five years then you're still, if my math is correct, roughly 20 million dollars off that 2008 figure.

I think Darvish is a unique enough player and circumstance that signing him doesn't tell us too much about who they may sign in the future. Regardless it would take signing Darvish and Fielder and Madson and....I don't know, Beltran, for the Jays to be significantly above where'd they'd been payroll wise only a couple years ago.

I think the difference here is that Burnette and Ryan were proven commodities, of course with risk but proven players nonetheless. With Darvish we are committing a large sum of money to a player with a serious possibility of not working out or being vastly overpaid for an extended period of time. I think along with Bautista extension, this is the riskiest thing this franchise has done in some time.

DShulman_ESPN Dan Shulman
Nothing confirmed on Darvish, and we may not know till Tuesday. If it's true, it's the beginning of a new era for the #jays #bluejays
2 minutes ago

That strikes me as a bit of an overstatement.

You'd think they would have learned to ease back on the hyperbole after previous "new era" Japanese players.

At the same time, signing Yu would indicate that Rogers is willing to spend competitive dollars, which is obviously of considerable significance.

Arguably he could indeed be meaning a new era in terms of the Jays' spending habits.

I think that is more along the lines of what was meant. The new era of "going for it" rather than sitting back and watching everyone else going for it. We will know soon. No reason for the spending to stop with Yu. Go big or go home!

Yeah. I agree and don't think it is an overstatement at all.

We've gone from a week ago thinking the Jays wont spend until attendance increases to spending over 50 million just to talk to a potentially elite pitcher.

It is very exciting the willingnes of management to spend money on someone like Darvish who is a high risk signing. It is a sign that this franchise is finally making its move.

Of course, we could have lost the Darvish sweep stakes and these all rumors.

I think people shouldn't write Denver/Tebow being untested. Of course, they haven't played good or great teams...but lets not forget the Broncos are 6-16 (I could be off) without Tebow...they are/were not a good or great team. I think it is an accomplishment that Tebow could come in and turn help turn things around. Could it have nothing to do with him? Of course. Should most of the credit have go to the defense? Yes.

That being said, this team has had multiple last minute come backs. If anything, I think Tim Tebow at least brings this team confidence and provides motivation for them to keep competing. They had the the towel thrown in on Week 5 and things changed when Tebow came in.

That being said, if Denver loses every game from Sunday till the end of the season...Tebow would be likely cut or given a few games next season. I think Denver would replace him with a top 10 established QB in a heartbeat.

From actual decent sources we can cofirm a few things or at least be confident in them.


1) Wilner stated that not even the winning team knows that they won yet. Any rumors at this point are likely not true. If teams don't know, the leak would have to come from the Japanese Club (who knows the winner) or Major League Baseball. All these local reporters have zero chance of finding out. The Japanese Club will accept the big officially on Tuesday. Offical word wont come until then.

2) Another respected reporter claimed the bid was "sky high". This can mean a dozen things, the likely is one team bid an absurd amount. People were expecting the bidding to be from 50 million to 60 million...higher then 60 million would be sky high in my opinion. Does this eliminate the Jays? I am not sure. If this rumor is true, given the Jays history of not over spending I wouldn't put my money on them. Hopefully, I am wrong and sky high means north of the border ;)

3) It seems Jays/Texas had the most interest in Darvish and are the favourites by most reporters. A lot of people seem to think the Yankees didn't make a serious bid.

[Still, this whole process just highlighted what a joke it is that the NBA owns one of the franchises.]

ESPN's reporting:

To the Clippers: CP3, two second round picks
To the Hornets: Gordon, Aminu, Kaman, Minnesota's unprotected #1

Pretty good return for the Hornets all things considered. The Lakers/Rockets package wouldn't have been as good long term but probably would have made them more competitive next year. Still, this whole process just highlighted what a joke it is that the NBA owns one of the franchises.

A few days ago I would agreed. That being said, they got a better deal for the Hornets by rejecting the deal with the Larkers. Seems like they made a smart decision.

Win or lose, if the Jays actually bid it is a good sign they are willing to spend money. Just seems they are trying to do it as intelligently as possible.

There are some rumblings in the twittersphere that the Jays may have submitted the highest bid in the Yu Darvish sweeps.

From what I gather all reports on them winning the bigging is speculative at best.

http://twitter.com/#!/Buster_ESPN/status/147083693767397376

Rumored Bidders:

@NewSchoolSSShan Shariff

Hearing the Rangers, Jays, Nationals and Mariners submitted bids for Yu Darvish. Oh, and someone else was playing possum-the Yankees. #MLB

Comic Books...at 25 just got back into collecting comic books. Opposed from my childhood, I am not too big a fan of any of the traditional mainstream titles. I collect a lot of smaller titles that for me at least compare to the quality of a good movie, book or television show.

I also collect movies...I have over 300 DVD's and 100 Blu Rays. When I was younger I'd buy any movie that was at a discounted price. Since Blu Ray I just buy movies that I consider among the best.

Oh man I love picking up discounted movies. I used to go crazy at those Blockbuster deals (4 dvd's for 20$) and have amassed a large library sometimes soley based on the fact I was buying the movie for about the same price as a rental. To this day I have films in my collection I havent even seen yet.

RIP BlockBuster.

I did the exact same thing. Used DVD section of BlockBuster provided the best bang for your buck for movies. Like you as well....at least 20 movies I haven't watched yet that I own (on DVD). I have corrected my impulse buying with Blu-Rays lol.

Comic Books...at 25 just got back into collecting comic books. Opposed from my childhood, I am not too big a fan of any of the traditional mainstream titles. I collect a lot of smaller titles that for me at least compare to the quality of a good movie, book or television show.

I also collect movies...I have over 300 DVD's and 100 Blu Rays. When I was younger I'd buy any movie that was at a discounted price. Since Blu Ray I just buy movies that I consider among the best.

[Be interesting to see what it takes to get Gio. I have a bad feeling the Jays will have to overpay to get him here.]

Be interesting to see what it takes to get Gio. I have a bad feeling the Jays will have to overpay to get him here.

-From what I am told he struggled with AL East teams.

I guess that depends on what Gio can do in the East. The problem really is sample size. He only pitched about 10-11 innings against Bos/Ny last year. Any numbers, whether they are good or bad, are tough to analyze at such a small scale.

Any potential deal will probably include Snider. It's a shame because he has so much talent and I still believe he can be a big part of the team's future (provided they don't keep messing with his swing).

With the trade for Francisco...I imagine either Thames or Snider wont be with this team by Spring Training.

Be interesting to see what it takes to get Gio. I have a bad feeling the Jays will have to overpay to get him here.

Positives:
-Only 26.
-Controllable contract through 2015.
-High strikeout rate.

Negatives:
-High walk rate.
-ERA is one run weaker on the road, worrisome considering Oakland is a pitcher friendly park.
-It is going to cost us a top prospect...they were asking for D'Arnaud(rumoured)... Most people seem to think it will cost us a top five prospect and another decent one.
-From what I am told he struggled with AL East teams.

It is one thing we got Gio and his home/road statistics were similar. I think if we do trade hopefully we are paying a price with the pitcher friendly park in mind.