These days, it isn’t often that I have the time to go out and see too many movies (nor find the time to write about them when I do actually see one); however, this past weekend I was able to finally check out District 9.

With my nerdy tendencies, Sci-Fi/alien movies, tend to pique my interest. This movie especially was getting my attention before it’s debut from the cryptic trailers and solid reviews coming out. The fact alone one of the previews had an alien saying “We just want to go home” (when does that ever happen in any alien flick?) made me really want to know what the movie was all about.

I must say I was not disappointed in the least.

The basic story of the movie is that some 20 years ago, aliens made their first contact with Earth in quite a strange way — having their space ship literally stall out over Johannesburg in South Africa. After seeing no activity from the ship in weeks, a task force cut their way into the ship to discover thousands upon thousands of malnourished aliens. Originally, the world sought to help their new visitors out, providing food and shelter for the now stranded aliens.

However, an inter-galactic culture/species clash quickly occurs. Violence erupts, human contempt for aliens emerges, and it quickly becomes clear that co-existence is not going to be a walk in the park. Enter a large multi-national corporation, MNU, with deep pockets to solve this little problem: separate humans from aliens. Thus, District 9 was born to house all aliens in Johannesburg, an area where no humans (save for MNU representatives) are allowed in.

Fast forward nearly 20 years into the future, and you have the beginnings of the movie’s storyline.

District 9 has become nothing more than a run down and crime-ridden slum. Aliens are not completely bound by the walls of District 9 either, and contempt is growing yet again for MNU to solve the problem. There solution this time is to build a new “District” and evict all aliens from District 9 to their new location, which they tout as “better and more secure” — yet it’s accommodations look akin to a concentration camp (the main protagonist, Wikus van der Merwe, even says as much later in the film).

From what starts out as something MNU considered as a simple procedure takes a quick turn for the worst. While searching for alien weapons to confiscate, Wikus finds a mysterious tube, the contents of which explode in his face. From that plot twist, we soon learn the true intentions of MNU and the real reason why they will not allow the aliens to leave: their weapons (something hinted at earlier in the movie). While MNU has collected several of the aliens’ weapons, they cannot use them as their technology only seems to respond to their biological makeup — and Wikus’ little accident might just hold the key they’ve been looking for.

I’ll try to leave the summary details at that to prevent spoilers, but your usual action from an alien flick does pick up at this point, and does it very well too. The end of the movie is basically one long action sequence, and for a film of what is rather low budget these days, does a much better job than movies of five times its budget.

What really shines overall is the story. It is deep, well told, and also includes several criticisms on today’s society: racism, greed, and lust for power just to name a few. All of this is far from forced as well. The story is simply played out in front of you and, as you watch, you see the themes pop out without the movie seemingly trying.

The way the story is told is also fantastic. The movie starts mockumentary style as first you get the background of District 9 and then get the chronicling of the eviction process by following Wikus and his team. After Wikus’ “accident”, we switch to a blend of security footage and the “normal” third-person perspective, which really drove home some of the more sinister aspects of MNU. Most of the second half of the movie is told from the familiar third-person perspective and then finally wraps up with the mockumentary close (and one last final quick scene in third-person that ends the movie perfectly). While it may seem like that is a lot of craziness to follow, all of it blends in perfectly and the transitions to each style are seamless. In all honesty, it is hard to imagine this story told any other way.

I would suspect most people would claim the ending is far too open ended and leaves room for a sequel. I highly disagree on that note. I think a sequel would ruin District 9 and the ending. The movie seems to have been made to spark discussion and leaving the future up in the air to the viewer is a perfect way to end such a movie. Debates between viewers can leave far more creativity open than a movie telling us exactly how it happened (which will also easily lead to disappointment for some).

District 9 also seems to have hopped on the viral train like Cloverfield did. You can “monitor” District 9, check out MNU, and read an alien blog about MNU’s lies (which even includes a link to writing in alien font) among other things. Much like Cloverfield, these all blend into the movie and make it more of an overall experience than simply just another movie. However, unlike Cloverfield, District 9 can easily stand on its own. You aren’t lost about what is going on as I felt Cloverfield did — if you didn’t follow all the external sites/fake blogs, you were going to get nothing but question marks above your head. Anyone I have run into that liked Cloverfield would always say the same thing: “You had to follow all the sites before you saw the movie”. That is a ridiculous way to judge a movie, and it is far from a “groundbreaking experience” when one piece of the puzzle is severally lacking.

District 9 does it right. All of the viral links complement the movie and do not define it. I went into the movie having no knowledge of any of the links above, yet I still came out of the movie with a very positive impression. It made digging into the sites more of a fun experience than a chore just so I could figure out what in the hell was going on.

Bottom line: This is a great movie well worth seeing. If you are expecting your normal shoot ’em up alien movie, you likely won’t like it until maybe the end. Unlike previous alien movies before it, the aliens are not some crazy dominate species here to crush the poor little earthlings — they are the oppressed.

Final Grade: A

…well okay…they raised just over $7,000 for it.

I just wanted to make a quick note to congratulate TheSpeedGamers for reaching yet another one of their charitable goals. This time playing Mega Man games for 72 hours and surpassing their $7,000 goal for the Earthday Network.

Great work again guys, and thanks to any of my readers that helped out and donated!

TheSpeedGamers will be gaming for charity once again this weekend. They will be playing through just about the entire Mega Man library for 72 hours. The marathon will start in just a few hours, kicking off at 6pm CST.

You may remember me writing about their previous week long Final Fantasy marathon that raised over $50,000 for ACT-Today (Autism Care and Treatment). This time around TheSpeedGamers will be raising money for the Earthday Network. Their current goal for this weekend’s fund raising efforts is $7,000. In the spirit of being green, they will be doing their commentator feeds outside when possible to use sunlight in lieu of indoor lighting.

Just like last time, TheSpeedGamers will be streaming their marathon live on their website. Please do stop by their website to check everything out.

Also just like the last event, I will mirror the Chip-In widget as well as their video feeds here as well if you don’t wish to make the extra click.

One thing that I did not publicize well (mostly because even I wasn’t very aware of it) was that there are prizes available for donors:

Many great prizes will be given away to viewers and donators. Mana potions is supporting us again by giving the top 3 donators (6pack combo Mana/Health, T-shirt, Wristband, Mousepad) and top 3 runner-up donators (4pack Mana/Health, wristband) for the event.

…

I received an email from The Megas offering three great prizes for the marathon. Three bundles with a CD and a Mega’s shirt of the winner’s choice. If you haven’t already, check out The Mega’s debut album Get Equipped, a tribute to the MM2 soundtrack .

Please help support this endeavor and spread the word!

Marathon Schedule:

Mega Man 1-3 – Cameron
Mega Man 4-6 – Daniel
Mega Man 7-8 – Dan-Cam
Mega Man 9 – Oscar
Mega Man 64 (Legends) – Phil
Mega Man Legends 2 – Gwellin
Mega Man and Bass – Gwellin
Mega Man X-X3 – Britt
Mega Man X4-X6 – Chase
Mega Man X7 – Undecided
Mega Man X8 – Kilgard
Mega Man X Command Mission – Baltes
Mega Man Network Transmission – Gwellin
Mega Man Battle Network 3 Blue – Ferenc
Mega Man Zero 1-4 – Rob
Other games may be played or replayed with spare time.
Mega Man 1-8 and Mega Man X-X6 will most likely be played on their respective GameCube collections.

This past weekend for the Texas Rangers was busier beyond belief. In a football town that will see the Dallas Cowboys kickoff the preseason this week, all the talk on The Ticket this morning was about the Rangers. The increased coverage wasn’t just because the Rangers won yet another series against the Angels, making them 9-3 against the Halos this season nor because the Rangers are now tied with the Red Sox for the AL Wild Card. While the on-field performance was very news worthy (especially one certain pitching performance), the majority of the headlines came from off the field actions.

Rangers Bid Farewell to the Nicaraguan Headhunter

While the Rangers were just a few hours away from starting what was easily the biggest series of the year, they decided to make a major roster move. That move was designating Vicente Padilla for assignment, and announcing that Dustin Nippert would replace him in the rotation.

Quick aside on the term “designate for assignment” (DFA) as it can be quite confusion since you have likely heard all or some of the following: the Rangers have effectively released Padilla, the Rangers can trade Padilla, or Padilla could be placed on waivers. So which is it? The answer in short, is all of the above. The Rangers have removed Padilla from their 40-man roster, has been placed on waivers and as of Friday afternoon, they have 10 days to decide which action to take with him.

What this means is that a team can claim Padilla on waivers and pick up the $3 million he is owed for the remainder of his contract. According to the waiver rules, the Rangers could decide at that point to work out a trade with the claiming team, or simply allow the team with highest waiver priority to have him. The Rangers cannot put Padilla back on the 40-man roster after a DFA as it is a different move than just placing him on waivers as they did earlier in the season (and then later placed him back on the active roster). If none of the above occurs in the 10 day period, the Rangers must either send him to the minors (which they have said they won’t) or release him and pay off the remainder of his contract.

So as far as Padilla goes, come Monday, August 17, he will be without a team.

Why is this? Well simply put, the Rangers have made it quite clear they want nothing to do with Padilla. He has been put on waivers once and has gotten a wonderful bad teammate label. Just take a look at this quote from Marlon Byrd:

After the game, OF Marlon Byrd said it had become “redundant” to talk about Padilla’s penchant for hitting batters. On Friday, he said Rangers management did their part to back up the rest of the team.

“It’s about time,” Byrd said. “When a player disrupts a team, eventually there is going to come a time when management has enough. They have seen enough. We are fighting for a playoff spot. The last thing we need in the clubhouse is a distraction like that. There are 25 guys in this clubhouse who are behind management on this. They showed that they are serious. They did their job. That just serves as assurance that they are doing the right thing here.”

If that doesn’t send a clear message to the rest of baseball the Rangers don’t want him, I don’t know what else does. You don’t trade for, nor claim off of waivers and pick up a tab for a guy a team clearly doesn’t want. You let the Rangers eat the $3 million and try to get Padilla for a better bargain if you want him.

Padilla was “disappointed” by the move. He also flat out denied that he never had any issues with the club or that he was laughing at Michael Young getting pegged in retaliation for yet another bean ball he threw:

“If they say that, they are saying something I am not,” Padilla said. “Why don’t players say it to my face if I’m a bad teammate. We’ll talk about it.”

…

“I was laughing at Michael?” Padilla said. “That’s crazy. I was in the clubhouse.”

…

“They know I throw inside,” Padilla said. “If I throw inside they have to move. It’s natural. It doesn’t matter who it is. You have to throw second or third hitters inside if it’s Sammy Sosa or Barry Bonds.”

…

“I had a good time,” Padilla said. “The fans treated me well. I don’t know what has happened this year. I never had a problem with them. I had three years with the organization. I’m going to keep training. I can pitch if I get the opportunity. They want to wash their hands of me? That’s fine.”

I’m convinced from these quotes Padilla has completely lost it.

Tiexeira has told the media that he complained about Padilla’s headhunting before, as he was the favorite retaliation target when he was a Ranger. I have heard both Hamilton and Kinsler go on record (via radio interviews) that they have done the same thing as well.

He also must have a body double, as the TV clearly showed him laughing (EDIT: updated with link of video) when Young got pegged, and I’m not the only one that saw it:

In Padilla’s last start he lost to the Oakland A’s, in the first inning he surrendered a home run to Scott Hairston, two batters later he hit Kurt Suzuki.

Two innings later, the A’s retaliated by plunking Michael Young. Immediately after that the TV cameras caught Padilla, sitting in the dugout, smiling a smirk face. When asked about it later, he denied laughing at Michael saying he was in the clubhouse.

Yeah I watched the game, I saw exactly what was said, right after Young was hit he was smiling in the dugout, not the clubhouse.

Denial is fun.

As far as his “throwing inside” excuse, it is laughable. Nolan Ryan threw inside and backed people off the plate and he never reached a number like 49 hit batters in less than three seasons. That just doesn’t happen by accident. Throwing inside means you brush someone back and more often than not, they can get away, or they get an occasional smack on the arm, jersey or back if you really misfire. But no, Padilla throws at people, throws it where they can’t avoid it and he consistently does this to people he doesn’t like (see: Mark Tiexeira) or people that have good success against him (see: Kurt Suzuki).

I love how he is wondering why the fans and the organization turned on him. I mean, I isn’t like there was a huge backlash for him assuring the Rangers had no chance in the Yankees game when he mentally gave up and plunked Tiexeira twice because he felt like it. It wasn’t like the Rangers sent him a clear message by placing him on waivers either.

Good riddance.

Hamilton: Sober Since 2005, If You Forget About January, 2009

Oh boy, I’m sure Josh’s wife loves the fact that these are floating around the internet.

Josh had to answer some hard questions about what went down in Arizona before spring training was underway. It appears that he had just a *slight* relapse into his alcoholism:

“I’m embarrassed about it, personally, for the Rangers, for my wife, my children and my family,” Hamilton said at his locker with a handful of his teammates joining the crowd of media that had formed. “It reinforces one of the things that I can’t have is alcohol. It’s unfortunate that it happened. I was out there getting ready for the season and took my focus off the number one factor in my recovery – my relationship with Christ. I hate that this happened. I am human.”

…

“I wasn’t mentally fit or spiritually fit,” he said. “It just crossed my mind ‘Can I have a drink?’ Obviously, I can’t. One drink leads to two and two drink leads to 10 or 12. When I was in AA, one saying I heard was one drink is too many and 1,000 is never enough. Alcohol just doesn’t mix well with me.”

The photos show Hamilton dancing with girls, licking whipped cream off one, and having whipped cream licked off him in another. According to the report on Deadspin, which cited unnamed sources, Hamilton asked where he could also purchase some cocaine. Hamilton said details of the night remain foggy, but wouldn’t be surprised if he asked the question. He is, however, tested three times a week for recreational drugs, including cocaine and has apparently passed every test. Before the January incident, Hamilton had been sober October 2005 after being suspended on multiple occasions by MLB for failed drug tests. Alcohol, however, is not on the list of substances for which Hamilton is tested.

“When I drink, it always tends to lean that way,” said Hamilton, whose drink of choice in the past was Scotch. “As far as I know, I don’t believe I [took drugs].”

Given the frequency of his MLB-mandated testing program, its unlikely that Hamilton would have passed a test he says he took no later than two days after the incident if he had cocaine in his system.

Though Hamilton’s mentor and Rangers coach Johnny Narron accompanied him to Arizona, Hamilton said Narron did not accompany him to dinner on the night in question. He went out on his own.

“When you get some time under your belt, you start to take things for granted,” Hamilton said. “Obviously, I didn’t have enough time under my belt. ”

Hamilton said, however, that he spoke with everyone in his “support staff” immediately after the night to make them aware of the situation and to apologize. That support staff, includes the Rangers front office, After Care counselors who work with MLB’s Drug Abuse prevention program and his family. Hamilton and Daniels both said they were aware the story might eventually find its way to the public, but opted not to be proactive in addressing it.

Now, let me get a couple of things out of the way before I continue on with my thoughts on this. First off, I don’t believe he took drugs that night as he is tested like crazy by baseball. I also think it is commendable that he informed the Rangers and his family about his slip up. I also am not faulting him for making a mistake because, and make no mistake about it, he is a recovering addict, and recovery at times does includes moments of weaknesses and taking a few steps back on occasion.

That being said, there are a couple things that concern me about this situation.

The main issue I have is that, post-January, he had been said nothing publicly about this incident until the photos came out. I fully believe he told the Rangers and his family about this, but I am wondering why we didn’t hear anything until these photos were leaked to Deadspin. Now it isn’t like I want Josh to keep me updated for everything in his life, but as public as he has been on the issue (he wrote a book about it for crying out loud) and how much people look up to him, wouldn’t it have been prudent to at least mention this?

Having a slip-up is one thing, but hiding something like this hurts his credibility and that isn’t something that can be explained away as easily as a few drinks and some compromising photos. Considering just how much he has been public about his struggles the potential for strong backlash and cries of hypocrisy are quite high, which is just simply sad and unfortunate. Not only did he hide this from the public, but he didn’t tell Johnny Narron, the man he credits to keeping him sober, about his fall of the wagon either, which is also extremely concerning as well.

I’m glad he addressed this when he did and took full responsibility for it, but it seems to me like this was a dark cloud hanging over his head all season. While he claims that this incident has not affected his season, I find it interesting that he seems to be playing a lot better after he learned about the photos:

Hamilton said there is no connection between the relapse and his subpar offensive season. He blamed injuries for the lack of offensive production. Ironically, just as he learned of the photos Friday, he went 2-for-5 with a three-run homer on Friday.

Considering that he was 4-for-13 (.307) with 2 runs scored and 3 RBI, which is a far cry from how he has been batting lately, I seem to think a weight has been lifted off his shoulders that he doesn’t realize.

I could very well be reading too much into this as far as his performance, but I do hope he can move on. He still has the support of his teammates which I’m sure will go a long way. The day after he went public, C.J. Wilson backed him via Twitter:

I’ll only say this once about Josh so listen up- he’s a bigger man than anyone I know. Who else can admit EVERY mistake they’ve ever made?

However, when the Rangers come to him for contract talk, I have a feeling the offer my not be as generous thanks to this incident.

Mr. Holland’s Opus

Let’s close with something bright and happy shall we?

Derek Holland closed out the series by composing quite a masterpiece of a start, going the distance for his first complete game (and a shutout at that) giving up only 3 hits, 1 walk, and struck out 8. He did so by throwing only 96 pitches, 73 of which were strikes. He also threw 5.2 innings of no-hit ball.

Superb doesn’t even begin to describe that start…dominate might though.

When folks ask why I didn’t want to risk trading Holland in a deal for Roy Halladay should hopefully now have their answer. Why would I want to rent Halladay for two years and big money when the Rangers can have Holland for far cheaper and far longer?

It should be obviously clear that he not only has the tools to succeed in the bigs, but he has the tools to be the stud everyone has projected him to be.

Hopefully Feliz will be able to come along in the same way very soon. Just imagine a future rotation front-loaded with Holland and Feliz and try not to have a big smile on your face about that.