How to Make It In America
Here's the pilot episode of the new HBO series "How to Make It In America".
February 08, 2010
Can Danny: The Trade Deadline - Eastern Conference
I'm usually a proponent of trades but this trade season's rumors have been crazier than any in recent memory. Case in point is the 76ers; they are now offering Andre Iguodala in order to dump Sam Dalembert's contract but in just a few months Sam will become a viable commodity, a decent enough big man with an expiring deal.
On the other hand, a lot of the names out there are guys that people probably shouldn't be looking to acquire unless they are Mark Cuban and don't care about throwing money away. The Pistons would probably love to dump most of their team but does anyone really want four more years of Rip Hamilton? Is there a market for Ben Gordon's contract or Charlie Villanueva?
I wanted to write up an post about the 10 trades that need to happen but I can't really think of that many that actually make sense right now. Most every team in the league right now would be better off waiting until the offseason to make a move. There are a few deals that might make sense but here's my breakdown of how I think the Eastern Conference teams should handle the trade deadline.
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February 06, 2010
Can Danny: NBA = Fantasy Football
More and more, it seems like the NBA is just like your average fantasy football league. You have examples of dumping one manager but just ending up with someone even worse (see the Clippers losing Mike Dunleavy but possibly hiring Isiah Thomas). You have tons of trade talks and few actual trades. And, of course, you have this.
"I made one attempt to go grab a star player, to just see if somebody would do a stupid deal from the other end," Riley said.
"They call me and ask if I'll do something stupid, so I called a guy and said, 'Hey, will you consider this?' "
This just makes me believe in more strongly in the fact that most knowledgeable fans could handle the GM job just as well (or poorly) as a lot of the guys who are currently in charge.
February 05, 2010
S.I.N.S. - B.A.E.
It's raining, I'm lazy, and, well, that's all I got. I decided to waste some time throwing together another short I'll never shoot. This is the first webisode of an internet series that I don't think I'll ever actually do. The title is part of the punchline so for now I'll just say it's called B.A.E. This one isn't all that funny but it's a good set-up and I personally find the title to be good for a giggle. I was thinking about maybe trying to do this as a webcomic but I don't know any good artists. I have a second episode planned out and if I think of any other ideas, then I might try it but I'm not really spending any time trying to figure anything out so this is yet another idea that is probably going to die on the vine.
So without further ado, here it is.
February 04, 2010
Can Danny: Save the Clips!
Mike Dunleavy Sr. has finally stepped down as coach of the Clippers and one would think that he woudl soon be out the door as general manager as well since he hasn't done a bang up job in either position. Of course, now that there's a likely GM opening, every blogger will probably be throwing their hat into the ring as the new hypothetical GM of the Clippers and who am I to think I'm above that?
So if I was in charge of the Clippers, I'd approach things the same way that I suggested the Wizards should proceed. The first order of business is to get everyone in the franchise to realize that this team is on a three-to-five year rebuilding plan. Right now, I don't see anyone on the team who is untouchable and there are a number of guys who should probably go ASAP. I wouldn't even waste our time pretending like we were a player in the 2010 free agent market. The Clippers are such a mess that nobody would sign there unless they were vastly overpaid and, honestly, anyone who WOULD agree to come here would be suspect. Probably just another player looking for a payoff without care if they ever see the playoffs.
Since the team has little hope of using their cap space this coming offseason, they should be buyers in the current market; agree to take on unwanted salary in exhange for getting a talented youngster. So this might be my plan for the trade deadline:
1. Marcus Camby and Rasual Butler for Sam Dalembert, Jrue Holiday, and Marreese Speights
I'd love to get Thad Young but I'm not sure that possible. Also, I think I can probably get a good SF out of New York for taking back one of their contracts. In this deal, I bring in a solid backup for Chris Kaman and a young PG (who's also a local kid) to backup Baron and possibly take over the starting spot in the near future.
2. Craig Smith, Sebastian Telfair, Ricky Davis and Al Thornton for Jared Jeffiries and Danilo Gallinari
Yes, Thornton is a promising talent but he's 26 years old and still hasn't put it together so I think it's better to use him as a trade asset now rather than re-sign him and potentially overpay him. Also, if it means getting Il Gallo from the Knicks, I'm all for it. This deal would help clear almost ten million off of the Knicks payroll.
Of course, there could be some tweaking of those deals and maybe a different team sneaks in and makes a better offer but these seem like very plausible deals that would help improve the Clippers' young talent and not really kill their long term cap situation.
I'd then start preparing for the offseason and trying to figure out ways to dump Baron Davis or maybe get something for Eric Gordon, a player I like a lot in the same way I liked Mitch Richmond - very good player, not sure how much you're going to win with him. I'd even consider moving Blake Griffin since that knee injury scares the bejeezus out of me. I might see if I couldn't swap him for Michael Beasley.
As you can probably tell from names like Beasley and Gallinari, I'd make my first focus offense. High scoring teams will bring in more fans and, most importantly, create an atmosphere that players would be interested in joining. The Clippers are located in a city that most players would LOVE to play in; the problem is that they've not only been bad, they haven't been fun. Nobody wants to play for Mike Dunleavy Sr. I'm not a huge fan of George Karl but he might be free after this year and would be the right direction for this franchise to take.
And, as I've said time and again, I'd try to get the franchise to rebrand itself in 2011. New name, new colors, new attitude.
February 03, 2010
Vanity "Fair"
One of my resolutions is to, again, stop wasting time on internet message boards but they still are a good time waster and I have a lot of time to kill. Granted, I should be writing my actual screenplays and trying to make it rather than just chat about films but whatever, after a long day (or, usually, during the long day) it's a good break.
The reason I bring this up is because of the Vanity Fair controversy over their recent New Hollywood cover which puts the fair in Vanity Fair. Not a minority on the cover and people are in an uproar about it. Anyway, it came up on a message board and I believe so much in my response to that issue that I thought I'd post it here. Also, I had nothing else to write about this morning.
Really, what this controversy proves is that the token is still a powerful entity in supposedly post-racial America. For YEARS, Vanity Fair has been throwing out groups of white people with one or two minorities in the mix. For a couple years, Penelope Cruz was the last melanin standing. Here's a bunch of Leibovitz's Hollywood covers.
Mostly what this is is people getting upset over a symptom and not the disease. TV is getting whiter and whiter (and helmed by more and more men, even though women are running more studios). The film world hasn't gotten much more diverse over the years. George Lopez once stated that he hated when cops would go to a door during the movie because he knew that would be the only time he'd see someone that looked like him: either the suspect or the help. It's still the same.
If Vanity Fair had thrown Gabourey Sibide on the cover, would suddenly everything be alright? If in 2008, they had put Zoe Kravitz on the cover, would people have slept better? (I mention those two because both of them were featured in the actual magazines).Should Vanity Fair have played the game and thrown Zoe Saldana on there? Yes. But this Vanity Fair issue is a true picture of a fucked up system and what we're seeing now is people not liking a reflection and blaming it on the mirror.
February 02, 2010
How have I not seen this movie?
Accalimed director Mike Nichols and Academy Award winner George C. Scott in a film that was nominated for two Oscars!
The Tryout: Freelance Whales
Any other week, the Tryout might have been Los Campesinos' "Romance is Boring" or Soft Pack's self-titled EP.
Unfortunately for them, this is the week that I discovered Freelance Whales and got addicted to their sound. It's a little emo-y but I'm hooked. And how can you not love a group that got its start playing in NYC subways?
This album was my first music purchase of the year and I've listened to it over and over, especially the first two tracks - "Generator ^ First Floor" and "Hannah". Those two songs are pretty much already guaranteed to make my 2010 most listened to list. I probably never would have discovered these guys if it wasn't for amiestreet.com, a pretty cool online music outlet. Besides this album, I got a couple of cool free downloads from Wakey! Wakey! and ent.
Staying on the soft side is another instrumental band, The Album Leaf, whose new album just came out. I wasn't blown away by this one but I'd recommend giving their previous record a listen. A lot of people are raving about Charlotte Gainsbourg's album. I didn't give it a good listen but it didn't really wow me at all.Finally, fans of garage rock might want to give JEFF the Brotherhood a shot.
A pretty good week of music, especially considering the fact that I held out a couple bands who could be Tryout material in the coming weeks.
February 01, 2010
LINK: Unhappy Hipsters
The daily e-mail tip service Very Short List hasn't delivered too many worthwhile sites for me lately but they clued me into a gem this morning. Check out "Unhappy Hipsters", a site that takes photos from a modern architecture site and comes up with new captions that turn the photos into scenes of existential despair. Here's one of my favorites.
February SoulMix!
So here's this month's SoulMix. Not exactly in the Valentine's Day mood but then again neither am I. A couple of songs from my first album purchase of 2010, Freelance Whales and a couple more songs from SoulMix regular K'Naan (these two are from his first album). Besides that, there are some old classics and a song from a friend from high school. I really wish some show or movie would pick up "I Get Stupid" because it's a great song.
