Afternoon Baseball

They are back, and irregular in schedule as ever. Apparently, one or one-and-a-half people enjoyed them.
To you, then.
1. The Ben Stiller movie index -- Classics, Underrated, Overrated, and well, the bad. Can't say I disagree with much.
"Starsky & Hutch" truly is underrated. It's perhaps the best vehicle for Owen Wilson of the many, many Stiller movies he's been in. And Snoop Dogg always makes things lively (even the much-darker "Training Day"). Plus, look at the casting -- Jason Bateman, Juliette Lewis, Amy Smart, and Carmen Electra. Oscar-winning, no, but underrated.

2. Keeping on the movie theme, Mark Wahlberg is not a leading man. Most-illustrating point:

"But actors who command attention without doing anything are rare, which is precisely what makes them stars. Wahlberg doesn't possess that brand of built-in charisma. You can see the distinction plainly in his "Departed" scenes, almost all of which place him right next to Martin Sheen. ... Try to imagine Wahlberg as Willard in Apocalypse Now -- he's almost the same age now that Sheen was then -- wearily intoning, "Saigon...shit. I'm still only in Saigon." Wahlberg could play Kilgore, but never Willard. (Robert Duvall is a legend because he can do both.)"

3. This aired a few weeks ago, but this "Bart and Lisa vs. the UPS" subplot kills me. Especially the subtle Bart line, "Who knew guys in brown shirts could cause so much trouble."

4. "Andy Barker, P.I.," a show so sensational is was almost immediately canceled. It's Conan-esque humor put to TV with the everyday but bizarre Andy Richter humor, apparently a tough sell outside 12:30 a.m.

5. I still haven't seen "Blades of Glory" (I almost completely fail to see anything in theaters) despite plugging it more than a year ago. Jenna Fischer, the unluckiest receptionist ever, talks about that and lots more. There's an "Arrested Development" bonus at the end.

6. The best for last. The cuddly "Cute Knut" polar bear is a worldwide phenomenon -- even making Vanity Fair. More on that with video here.
Here's the best places to find quick collections of photos before he gets too big to be cute: Berlin Zoo; Der Spiegel; German public broadcaster RBB (in German, but extensive); Knut on Flickr.

Labels: Midweeklinks