Hold on a minute-- A Moneyball MOVIE?
From the link:
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It’s a busy day for Brad Pitt! Variety reports the star is in talks to play the lead in "Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game," a movie based on Michael Lewis’ non-fiction book. "Devil Wears Prada" helmer David Frankel is attached to direct, and Steve Zaillian ("Schindler’s List," "Gangs of New York") has signed on to pen the script.
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In related news, Jeff Bridges has agreed to play the lead role in The Bill James Handbook 2004.
over 3 years ago
nickjs21
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A mispelling.
But it would be cool if Moneyball became a hot new dance move. Do the Moneyball.
Steel Nick
I would have imagined that happening before a movie coming out.
Burn on, big river, burn on...
by Turkmenbashi on Oct 20, 2008 6:59 PM EDT up reply actions
It dawned on me not long ago that FJM has reached a point where it’s unreadable, crazed rambling. I don’t see it’s point anymore. As an erstwhile fan, I’ve come full circle. I’d rather listen to Joe Morgan for three hours than read that damned site. He may be a professional writer and all—and a good writer, too—but I think there are many, many posters around here who are at least interesting and insightful than Tremendous. I think it’s time for him to get a new project, to abandon FJM and its persistent snark.
How come no one ever talks about how great RoyalsReview is?
Eh, I still like it. I don’t read it as often or as in-depth as I used to, because as you said much of it is repetative, but there’s still new writers and new topics out there to make fun of. The JoeChats are all the same (let’s count how many times he uses “consistant”!) but there are other posts that I still find enjoyable. As long as bad baseball writing is still being published, someone has to put the idiots in their place.
The best thing probably is to hit [Grady] 2nd -- Jay
by Buckeye Brad on Oct 21, 2008 1:11 PM EDT up reply actions
Maybe I’m coming down a little hard on it, Ken in particular. I’ve been on a personal anti-snark crusade lately, because I see it creating fractures between people close to me.
Anyway, you won’t see me rush to defend the FJM crowd when their material goes out-of-style. And believe me, it’s very much in style now, but one day it won’t be. Live by the sword, die by the sword.
Pretty strongly agree with this entire comment.
RoyalsReview kind of made himself a bit unwelcome here a few months ago, just kind of crossed the line in beating a horse to death, to death, to death. I mean, he’s not actually unwelcome, he’s totally welcome, but there was a little unpleasantness is all.
Hah, I don’t read it as much either and some of it is getting a little old, but that means it’s a perfect time for the movie deal, right? Seriously, though, how about a comedy with a Yankees Office-style front office vs an A’s Goonies-style front office?
by FranklinScott on Oct 21, 2008 2:32 PM EDT up reply actions
(don’t mean this as a slight to fleerdon. Just the opposite. I think he’s got a real talent for this, but he seems intent on becoming a lawyer, which is also fine.)
Why thanks. To answer your implied question, I was lucky to have some early exposure to what a career in writing, of any kind, really, is like and knew it wasn’t for me. That’s a rocky field to till.
by fleerdon on Oct 23, 2008 10:54 AM EDT up reply actions
In defense of FJM, recent posts have acknowledged that he’s running out of material. KT is smart enough to know he’s wearing out his welcome on some fronts. that said, I agree with Brad that it’s nice to have somebody willing to call out the epic buffoonery perpetrated by “sportswriters” on a daily basis.
Burn on, big river, burn on...
by Turkmenbashi on Oct 21, 2008 3:45 PM EDT up reply actions
I hate to say it, but from last season of the Office it would seem that FJM isn’t the only place he’s suffering writer’s block.
This season has looked promising so far though. Nothing will top season 2. Or the British one.
Steel Nick
I enjoyed last season, but it might be because I’m a relative newcomer. I watched season 4 before anything from 1-3.
Burn on, big river, burn on...
by Turkmenbashi on Oct 21, 2008 4:28 PM EDT up reply actions
Well I hope you’ve watched them by now.
And the British series. And the subsequent Christmas special (really).
Steel Nick
And Extras. Not exactly the same, but also very good.
by Peter Bendix on Oct 21, 2008 4:45 PM EDT up reply actions
Not all of them. I watch what gets recorded on my DVR. I really should fork out the cash for them on DVD though, I’m sure it’d be worth it.
Burn on, big river, burn on...
by Turkmenbashi on Oct 21, 2008 9:43 PM EDT up reply actions
Same here. I just started watching this summer after hearing so many people talk about it, and I’m sorry that I wasn’t watching sooner. It’s hilarious. I’m keeping up with the reruns that TBS plays on Tuesday nights. If I have time I may start renting the DVD’s.
The best thing probably is to hit [Grady] 2nd -- Jay
by Buckeye Brad on Oct 21, 2008 7:53 PM EDT up reply actions
I’m positive Ken Tremendous (whatever his real name is) is on the commentary for at least a couple of episodes.
Steel Nick
Then I definately have to get the DVD’s. Does he do a DwightChat?
The best thing probably is to hit [Grady] 2nd -- Jay
by Buckeye Brad on Oct 21, 2008 10:20 PM EDT up reply actions
green
Anti-Ben Fran before it was cool.
by Gradyforpresident on Oct 22, 2008 11:20 AM EDT up reply actions
I’d first echo GFP’s statement about the Daily Show during this election cycle. But also argue strongly that it has been particularly insightful in its history, actually have a significant impact on how the media views itself in addition to being a major source of news commentary for many many people.
Yeah, I think anyone who think it’s not insightful is basically oblivious to the media commentary that is its bread and butter.
The lacking insight remark was probably a little harsh for the reasons you guys have listed. What I meant is that the shows lacks a great deal of insight into substantive political issues.
I don’t think that substantive political analysis has ever been its main function. I think its main function is to show people the incredible inadequacy of the mainstream media. A sentient media is critical to democracy, no matter what your political perspective. The Daily Show is to mainstream news media as THT is to ESPN’s baseball analysis, only funny.
"Lotta heart in Cleveland." - Ian Hunter
by Denver Tribe Fan on Oct 22, 2008 6:28 PM EDT up reply actions
But THT actually does real analysis. Their utility is that they provide real analysis, not to just say, hey, ESPN is a bunch of idiots. (You know, what FJM does). After we realize ESPN is a bunch of idiots, we still need actual analysis.
But their job isn’t to do real analysis; it’s to do comedy. (And, coming from a math major, let me tell you that doing real anlaysis is quite difficult.)
The best thing probably is to hit [Grady] 2nd -- Jay
by Buckeye Brad on Oct 22, 2008 9:58 PM EDT up reply actions
I was going to make that pun after reading your first sentence, but you did it for me.
by Logodaedalus on Oct 22, 2008 10:24 PM EDT up reply actions
Actually, while you are right that they’re not on par with THT, they effectively do analysis by revealing all of the things that the mainstream media doesn’t (for whatever reason) report. Then people can actually decide based on real information, the same way that you can use the data on THT to evaluate performance.
"Lotta heart in Cleveland." - Ian Hunter
by Denver Tribe Fan on Oct 22, 2008 10:51 PM EDT up reply actions
I find it very funny and sometimes insightful. Stewart often makes points both in his interviews and in his “headlines” that nobody else has made.
Brad, sorry, I had to delete your response … your examples had a couple hot-button names and situations in them, and we just don’t want to go there.
Well that explains why I couldn’t find it. Sorry, I wasn’t trying to be political in any way.
In addition to what’s been already written, I think Stewart does a good job with his interviews. Even when’s he talking with someone he obviously disagrees with, he lets that person say their points and mentions when he agrees with their perspective. Their best work, of course is showing the hypocracy and stupidity of the media. Some of their stuff is biased, and they take liberties with editing to make people look stupid, but it’s pretty good as long as you realize it’s comedy first.
The best thing probably is to hit [Grady] 2nd -- Jay
by Buckeye Brad on Oct 22, 2008 9:53 PM EDT up reply actions
First, I’ll have to defer to you guys on this year’s election cycle being good as I haven’t watched it consistently for about a year. I used to find it very funny, then only sporadically funny, and finally not really at all. I’m not sure if this is because of a decline in the quality of humor or a change in my sense of humor. Could be a little of both.
The reasons I’d point to are first, a substantial decline in the quality of the correspondents. For me, Carrell, Colbert, Helms, and Corddry have not been adequately replaced. Rob Riggle is good, but after that, they’re very meh, and John Oliver is particulary unfunny.
Second, a change in the show’s direction. They have gone from a mostly apolitical satire of the news towards more of an overtly political show that pokes fun at a specific subset. I was with them for a while, even after this incremental shift, but it just got old for me.
Third, a change in Stewart’s personality. Stewart claims he’s the guy in the back of the room throwing spitwads at the front of the room. He used to be that guy, but he isn’t anymore, and I think his on-air personality has reflected that. To me, he seems like he has become self-righteous and has partly turned into the guys that they were originally satirizing.
John Oliver is particulary unfunny
Whoa
To me, he seems like he has become self-righteous and has partly turned into the guys that they were originally satirizing.
Double Whoa
I think the real phenomenon here is a general fatigue with trying to be clever and entertaining about their subject matter. I sense a much higher level of existential dread on the show than I did a year or two ago. For me, this works, because I feel a much higher level of existential dread these days.
I completely disagree with both of those statements also.
The best thing probably is to hit [Grady] 2nd -- Jay
by Buckeye Brad on Oct 22, 2008 9:54 PM EDT up reply actions
the daily show has been amazing this election cycle. totally redeemed itself.
Anti-Ben Fran before it was cool.
by Gradyforpresident on Oct 22, 2008 11:20 AM EDT up reply actions
Speaking of baseball entertainment, did anybody watch that Bronx Is Burning miniseries or whatever it was? I was busy, though I recall some of the cast being actors I enjoy.
by fleerdon on Oct 20, 2008 8:10 PM EDT reply actions
Here’s the real question: if they make Moneyball in to a movie, will Joe Morgan watch it?
The best thing probably is to hit [Grady] 2nd -- Jay
He’d probably think Billy Beane was a horrible director.
Steel Nick
by nickjs21 on Oct 20, 2008 10:29 PM EDT up reply actions 4 recs
I predict that this movie will keep getting nominated for the best picture Oscar, but never actually win it (though it will come in under budget).
"Lotta heart in Cleveland." - Ian Hunter
by Denver Tribe Fan on Oct 21, 2008 9:45 PM EDT reply actions 5 recs
There is also a Freakonomics movie in production, those are two books that i just never imagined would get any sort of film treatment. Also, as an aside, Lewis is married to former MTV News reporter Tabithia Soren. Sweet!
by millionairesrow on Oct 22, 2008 10:29 AM EDT reply actions
I don’t see what the big deal is. Moneyball has a super strong narrative, interesting characters and a lot of tension.
I don’t really find this surprising at all. Movies, even big studio big budget movies, are often about sort of odd things when you focus on the source material, however, the source material isn’t really important. Everything else is.
See: A Beautiful Mind, Flash of Genius (that windshield wiper movie), others.
Making Freakonomics into a movie, however. That seems bizarre.
It will be interesting to see if they can translate that narrative to a movie. A narrator? Billy Beane telling it? Broken up segments where Giambi, Hatteberg, and Bradford narrate? No narrator? How do they end it? Beane/Pitt smiling at the camera and saying, “My sh*t doesn’t work in the playoffs”?
Steel Nick
I think you’re being a bit too literal. It will be a movie about a baseball season and it will follow the front office, the A’s, and a couple of minor leaguers throughout. Giambi, Hatteberg, and Bradford will probably be featured but they won’t narrate, there won’t be a narrator. They will just have plot lines that make their feelings and emotions clear. A lot of liberties will be taken and it will be end up looking like a movie, just like all these other movies based on real life events and retellings.
It will end with the A’s losing and then some epilogue about the A’s success/non-success probably in text over the screen.
I’m more interested to see what actors are cast as what ballplayers, just for the novelty of it.
It’s screenwriting, not not rocket science.
they should do gang leader for a day
Anti-Ben Fran before it was cool.
by Gradyforpresident on Oct 22, 2008 11:21 AM EDT up reply actions
yeah. yeah it is.
Anti-Ben Fran before it was cool.
by Gradyforpresident on Oct 22, 2008 5:59 PM EDT up reply actions
I actually own the whole Proclaimers album that “1000 Miles” is from, and sing out loud to the whole thing. It’s pretty awesome.
by fleerdon on Oct 23, 2008 10:57 AM EDT up reply actions
this may forever disqualify me from being white, but, I, uh, actually don’t get into music that much. i have no discernible taste, nor – and this makes me really not-white – do i judge other people harshly on their music tastes.
i like rush, JT, RHCP, Weezer before they sold out, Outkast -esp. Big Boi – and the Snakes on a Plane soundtrack is money.
oh boy.
Anti-Ben Fran before it was cool.
by Gradyforpresident on Oct 22, 2008 8:32 PM EDT up reply actions
I don’t think you have a real good grasp on this “white irony jokes” thing.
Or maybe I don’t have a good grasp on it.
But what you wrote makes not a lot of sense and the music you listen to is very “white” whatever that’s supposed to mean.
this is what it’s supposed to mean
Anti-Ben Fran before it was cool.
by Gradyforpresident on Oct 22, 2008 10:19 PM EDT up reply actions
me too
Anti-Ben Fran before it was cool.
by Gradyforpresident on Oct 22, 2008 11:24 PM EDT up reply actions
That makes about as much sense as the rest of that website which is to say little to none.
“Stuff white people like” should be renamed “Stuff that a handful of young white people, along with lots of people of other ethnicities, who generally work jobs in the arts, think it would be funny to attribute to white people liking.”
That website makes me cringe. It’s like something from a DeLilo novel. Oh, wait, is there an entry about DeLilo I’m opening myself up to?
By us? Sure. But by the “general” public? I doubt it. That blog has a pretty substanital reach and I think there’s supposed to be a book coming out.
To put it more clearly, and to toe the line of blog appropriate discussion, I have a huge problem with the dichotomy that the site creates. Foremost in a host of things I find trouble is that there’s the question of who, within the context of the parody, the site is supposed to be addressing. You have to assume it’s some person from a more “authentic” upbringing one that is somehow less white, less cornbread, less boring, and less lame. This authenticity immediately becomes desirable.
This creates a whole host of issues not for people like “us”, that is people who are entrenched enough in a middle class lifestyle and the ways of the internet that we can devote hours to a baseball blog as fully functioning adults, but for people who exist closer to the fringes of our cultural norm. People who might be racially diverse but less diverse “culturally”, people who might be extremely diverse “culturally” but not diverse, or not apparently diverse, racially and many other groups that you could imagine.
If you don’t think these kinds of issues and jokes are trickling down to people who can’t or shouldn’t have to handle these issues come teach at a relatively diverse middle school for a couple of months. If hipsters want to make fun of hipsters while attempting to distance themselves from their parents’ generation, well, fine. Do that.
But don’t inject a racial element that is totally, completely, non-relevant. Associating the word “white” with things being lame or whatever is every bit as dangerous as associating that kind of descriptive word for a person with evilness or domesticity or high IQs or low IQs.
Post will be deleted in 5.4.3.2.
And regarding my comment below — I get what you’re saying here, and you have some very valid points. I just don’t think it’s enough to get worked up over. Again, I agree you could make a very strong argument that sites like this perpetuate racism, but I just don’t think most people retain enough memory of internet “memes” to make it an actually issue. People of all colors read SWPL, chuckle, and move on with their days.
Burn on, big river, burn on...
by Turkmenbashi on Oct 23, 2008 9:46 AM EDT up reply actions
I see that argument. I actually spent a few years of my life doing relatively serious comedy, not enough to call it a career but enough to file it on taxes, so I have a soft spot for protecting authorship in this sort of sense.
However, I’m also extremely wary of the “It’s just a joke” stance. I’m revealing a lot of my true colors here but I really believe this kind of thing fairly quickly our collective cultural subconscious and, for the reasons above, I think that’s a bad thing.
It’s not that you have to be a particularly intolerant or whatever person to read and enjoy the site-you don’t have to be any of those things. Just like the author, most young, relatively smart, relatively invested young people are able to parse out what the joke is-that it’s about hipsters. But if it’s about hipsters why not cut to the chase and make it about hipsters-a group that one elects to be in as opposed to a group one is placed in by categorization.
I can definitely appreciate what you’re saying, I just tend to not let myself get too worked up by these types of things. Frankly, the popularity of things like “Dancing with the Stars” frightens me more in terms of potential damage to society.
Burn on, big river, burn on...
by Turkmenbashi on Oct 23, 2008 3:36 PM EDT up reply actions
Andrew, at the risk of sounding overserious and therefore sarcastic, you’ve managed to eloquently speak to an inkling that was seated deep in my subconscious with this, ever since I first heard of the site. Thanks.
For more context, The Atlantic did a little profile of the site’s author.
by NickFantana on Oct 23, 2008 10:19 AM EDT up reply actions
It’s an interesting profile. I had assumed he was somewhat aligned with Lasch, who I had to read in college and I had assumed he was very smart, which he obviously he is.
It raises a lot of interesting questions. Would I be more comfortable if he capitalized White People? Probably. Would I be more comfortable if he addressed the subject matter the same way others have-through unpopular academic books? Maybe.
I just don’t like that it’s parody. I don’t like that a serious discussion is being put in very public space without a contextual framework. I guess I don’t trust the marketplace of ideas. Huh. Maybe I’m a fascist.
I’ll also comment that it’s interesting that he doesn’t think it’s about hipsters but is instead about some sort of overclass-more like yuppies. I think those terms are becoming sort of similar.
Oh for sure. I got sick of having my under-cultural preferences re-packaged and sold back to me. That’s why I switched to doom metal.
by fleerdon on Oct 23, 2008 11:04 AM EDT up reply actions
Hipsters often become yuppies when they figure out they’re not going to be able to support themselves with their band/zines/various other attempts at art
by Logodaedalus on Oct 23, 2008 12:17 PM EDT up reply actions
i’m curious, what did you think of that satirical new yorker cover on the obamas?
Anti-Ben Fran before it was cool.
by Gradyforpresident on Oct 23, 2008 11:06 AM EDT up reply actions
and because i can see this is toeing the line, if you want to respond, email me at andrewmswift@gmail.com.
Anti-Ben Fran before it was cool.
by Gradyforpresident on Oct 23, 2008 11:07 AM EDT up reply actions
I don’t think that’s what “toeing the line” means…
by Logodaedalus on Oct 23, 2008 12:18 PM EDT up reply actions
I don’t like that a serious discussion is being put in very public space without a contextual framework.
Not that you don’t know this, but I think that’s your thesis and I think it’s spot-f’ing-on. There’s a nonchalance here that’s somewhere near the heart of this guy’s archetype and it’s troubling.
by NickFantana on Oct 23, 2008 11:36 AM EDT up reply actions
Or you could, ya know, have a sense of humor about it and brush it off
Burn on, big river, burn on...
by Turkmenbashi on Oct 23, 2008 9:42 AM EDT up reply actions
First … what a weird draft that turned out to be.
Second … conveniently not mentioned …. four high school pitchers were selected ahead of Kazmir and Hamels, the 3-4-5-6 picks. The first two never made it to Double-A, and the fourth (#6) is Adam Loewen, who has yet to make a significant contribution. The only winning pick there is #5 overall Zack Greinke, and emotional problems have kept him from being a high-impact guy, although he’s been quite valuable anyway.
Drafted right before and after those guys, #2 and #7 overall, were B.J. Upton and Prince Fielder.
adam loewen, coincidentally was just released and is going to try and “pull a rick” and come back as a position player.
Rick Ankiel has done a serious disservice to the used car and insurance industries, by convincing washed-out minor league pitchers that they can come back as outfielders.
by FredOx on Oct 23, 2008 11:33 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Many of them can, but they wait too long to pull the trigger. This is why I’m lobbying for Lofgren to make the switch. I haven’t managed to recruit anyone yet…
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