LiveBlogging: 49ers v. Cardinals Monday Night Football (Fourth Quarter)

The offense looks tepid, but on the bright spot, teams the 49ers have outscored through three quarters this week: Cleveland, Atlanta, Kansas City, Jacksonville, Tampa Bay and the NFC Championship representatives New Orleans and Chicago.

So I hesitate to type this, because I don't want Wisenhunt to realize it, but two quarterbacks that the 49ers could never beat, no matter how bad or good their teams are: Brett Favre and Cardinals backup Kurt Warner (shh).

A third down Blitz, I saw it coming, how couldn't the Niners' coaching staff?

After this game, I doubt will be seeing many 49ers or Cardinals games scheduled in primetime, in fact, I think I heard all the major stations are trying to work out a deal to see if the Cowboys could just play every televised night game for the next three years.

Again the referees help out the Cardinals with a crappy personal foul call on an incidental face mask.

Thanks to the referee and a stupid penalty on Mark Roman for taunting (after a 20 yard run by Leinart) the Cardinals take the lead 17-13. Can't really blame the defense, they've been playing great but have been on the field way too much. Now its up to our offense. Crap.

Mr. Woodcock trailer, wow two penis jokes in the title. That's got to be worth something, huh? No. It actually reminds me of a slapstick version of that episode of Freaks and Geeks where Haverchuck's mom dates his P.E. coach.

I know they didn't have Gore for the pre-season but the offense looks awful...no holes for Gore, no time for Smith to throw, when he does he's missing open receivers, this does not bode well for the season if they can't fix this. Sorry I know its getting repetitive, but after seeing the vast improvement of the defense, it becomes that much more apparent.

Is Joe Montana around somewhere? Let's get him dressed for a last minute comback.

Stop saying "San Fran", Gollic, what does not saying "cisco" truly save you, .04 of a second?

Darrell Jackson misses a possible game winning reception.

Nice 4th and 1 pickup by Smith, I would like to see him run a little more, especially if the coverage is good, may cause the safety to play up and open up the receivers.

A questionable false start penalty against the Niners (appears the Cardinals jumped off) makes it the fifth questionable penalty to go against them, home field advantage ain't what it used to be.

Wow, how did this all of the sudden become an exciting game?

Jackson redeems himself with that fumble pick-up.

The Niners take the lead, Walsh lives! Walsh lives!

And the second interception, game over, man. Somehow the Niners win.

LiveBlogging: 49ers v. Cardinals Monday Night Football (Third Quarter)

Thoughts thus far:

The 49ers defense is looking much better than last year. The one touchdown drive was only for thirty yards due to the Alex Smith fumble, the field goal was after a 4th down penalty. Fitzsgerald and Boldin have been quiet and that opening interception. However, they need to do a better job stopping the run.

With the exception of a few Gore runs, the offense has looked bad. Play calling too conservative and the line is not giving Smith any time.

Nice way to start the second half for the 49ers, two false starts to start on the Cardinals. Nice stop by Walt Harris. First round draft pick Patrick Willis in the backfield before Leinart gets a hold of the ball.

Where's the intentional grounding? Leinart tosses it away to no one to avoid a sack. Third crappy call or lack thereof against the Niners thus far.

6 Plays, 5 Penalties for the Cardinals in the third quarter so far, way to go taskmaster Ken Wisenhunt.

This offensive play calling is atrocious, spread it out man. Couldn't Norv Turner work two jobs?

Lame third down call, even if Gore caught it he wouldn't have scored or got the first down.

13-10. 49ers regain the lead, but this is no way to pay tribute to Walsh.

Another nice defensive stop. Eventually we need to actually sack Leinart. This game is more Ditka than Walsh.

Cialis commercial. "E.D." now impotent men have a hip slang word for their homosexuality, er, inability to make love to their wives.

Um, offensive lineman, little advice, it helps to block the defensive guy running towards your quarterback a little bit.

Look at that, give the guy some time, and a third and eight completion! Wow, let's try that a little more.

Alex Smith's soul patch is not helping him hit wide open receivers. Or block for himself.

Wow Ditka says these offenses are too conservative.

Patrick Willis is looking like a great pick so far.

Any crackheads still awake in the East Coast just drifted to sleep at 12:41 AM Eastern Standard time, after that, the 98th punt of the game.

And another quarter ends..hopefully I can stay awake to compose some thoughts for the fourth qu......ZZZZZZ (when I fall asleep I type Z's)

LiveBlogging: 49ers v. Cardinals Monday Night Football (Second Quarter)

Do you think Marvin Harrison or Peyton Manning ever called Edgerrin James during the summer and were all like, "Hey Edge, remember that Super Bowl win, that was awesome, I mean the highlight of my life...oh yeah, you signed with Arizona last year...my bad, I forgot. Hey, how are the Suns looking? Oh, that's right the Cardinals...Well good luck with that, yeah, I'm fine, we're going to go for that repeat, which is nice."

7-3. Dumb penalty is costly, perhaps now the offense can put a scoring drive that involves more than ten yards.

I'm sorry, horse collaring is a penalty in the NFL, isn't it?

Hey it's the fourth drive, time to introduce the offense, ESPN!

SHIT! The offensive line has to try this whole blocking the defender thing out, hard to blame Alex Smith for the fumble when he gets turned around and finds two 300lb linemen jumping on him.

10-7 Cardinals. The offense needs to start sustaining a drive or put up a big play.

Mike Ditka is shocked, shocked I say that a wide receiver provided a block! In other news, this is the first game Mike Ditka has watched since 1987 (considering he was coaching until 1999, not a good sign).

When you throw that immediate line of scrimmage throw to receiver, usually nice to gain some yards or at least not lose any.

Smith shows a pair and dives for the first down!

Hey the banjo guy is still alive and attending Niner games! Bay Area sporting legend.

2005 49er MVP, Kicker Joe Nedney ties the game.

What a weak ass penalty call on Shawntae Spencer, and considering that there was no way it was going to play any part in that play makes that a pathetic illegal contact penalty call, way too keep the Cardinals drive alive referee, good to see Tim Donaghy found employment after his NBA career ended.

Wow Matt Leinart looks like a scared child running away from Michael Jackson in the open field. Sorry lame joke, but what do you want, I am improving whilst watching the game.

Nice third down stop. Apparently the 49ers secondary is doing a great job, Ditka keeps telling us so, but ESPN doesn't find it necessary to actually show visual evidence.

Don't run into the punter. Don't run into the punter. Close.

10-10 halftime tie. I wonder if the 49ers are what Dennis Green thought they were. Possibly.

LiveBlogging: 49ers v. Cardinals Monday Night Football (First Quarter)

No wonder there is such an East Coast bias, this game doesn't even kick off until 10:25pm Eastern Standard time. Hopefully this game will at least entertain the thirty inomniac crackheads that will be awake by the game's East Coast end time.

Mike Nolan in a suit! Esquire's 11th Best Dressed man in the world, 2007. The 49ers in their classic 80's unis. Your nightly fashion report.

So far Ditka's been nice to the Niners. Forgiven...for now.

Alex Smith is 1-1, 100% completion percentage so far!

Nice offensive line there Niners. False start then cave in for a 2 yard Gore running loss.

Love the one yard throw on 3rd and 17. Great call, offensive coordinator.

Now the 80 million dollar cornerback will get to test his mettle against two of the better receivers in the game, Larry Fitzsgerald and Anquin Boldin. I don't think there's anyway for a cornerback to live up to that salary, but as long as he doesn't bring back memories of the last expensive free agent cornerback the Niners signed, Antonio Langham, that'll be okay.

Nice! The cornerback not making 80 million dollars intercepts the first Leinart pass.

What happened to the starting lineup announcing? Does ESPN not do that?

Gore is not touched and the Niners score first. At least they won't have to worry about being blanked at home like last year's bay area football team who opened the season with a Monday Night doubleheader.

Arizona calls its patented quarterback about to get sacked tosses it to running back who fumbles the ball and watches the ball bounce off the cornerback grasp and back to the hands of the running back for a first down run play again.

Keith Lewis blows a defensive stop...but at least that gives us a shot of his cool mohawk.

First quarter ends...so far, so eh. Niners leading and looking strong on defense but thanks to the running in to the kicker penalty, the Cardinals are driving.

The Mikes seem to be striving for respectibility knowing that their ESPN's Doubl A announcing team.

LiveBlogging: 49ers v. Cardinals Monday Night Football (Preamble)

Are you ready for some typos and poorly constructed sentences? Duh duh duh dun.

In celebration of the San Francisco 49ers first telecast night game* since turning Mexicans off American Football for good in 2005 when the NFL generously pitted the 49ers coming off a 2-14 year against tonight's opponent the Arizona Cardinals coming off a (I'm guessing here) 5-11 campaign. Who could forget the 49ers prior year's sole night game, the Ken Dorsey/Craig Krenzel 2003 Orange Bowl rematch? I'll tell you who, Rex Grossman, I believe he has that game on DVD and sends it as a response to every Chicago sportswriter who asks week after week "could it get any worse?" It will also be the first Monday Night Football game in San Francisco, the stadium is now apparently titled Bill Walsh Field in Monster Park at Candlestick Point, since their 2003 trouncing of the Tommy Maddox-led Pittsburgh Steelers.
*the Niners did have a game on the NFL Network last year (a victory over eventual division champs, Seattle) but seeing how that channel operates as a soverign station telecast solely in the mind of the elves that live under your younger brother's bed.

What better way to end the first week of the season then a head to head match up of two teams that ended with a combined 13 wins last year? ESPN thinks so highly of this game that they resorted to the gimmickry of having it announced by three guys named Mike (Golic, Ditka, and some other dude), surely forgetting NBC's disatrous early 90's pregrame show Dickin' Around featuring Dick Enberg, Dick Stockton and Dick Vermeil. Seriously though, I do have issues with Ditka announcing a game that will serve as a memorial to Bill Walsh. Ditka and Walsh were contempories and Ditka often times talked smack about him and his team, most famously dismissing the 49ers as a "finnesse" team. How's this for finnesse Ditka, in their two NFC Championship match-up, Walsh's Niners beat da Bears by a combined score of 51-3, Walsh's defenses sure finnessed your teams out of the end zone.

Okay, rant over. Let's try this thing out. Best case scenario: the 49ers soundly beat the Cardinals and look like the play-off team people are saying they could be. Worst case scenario: a fifth straight loss to the Cardinals, Frank Gore sustains a injury that keeps him out for the year, and my fiancee comes to her senses and leaves me.

New Beverly Cinema's September 2007 Calendar

Caught Alejandro Jodorowsky's psychadelic epic The Holy Mountain at the New Beverly last night (side note: Wow) and was informed that the September/October 2007 calendar weren't ready yet. Their website, however, lists the double features for September and I wanted to reprint the listings so you can get a sense of why I am so devoted to the theatre. This is the first calendar that recently passed away owner Sherman Torgan had no part in (there is a nice collage of photos of Torgan at the theatre), the new programmers did a great job perserving his aestheic on this month's (Bergman heavy) calendar.

September 2, 3, 4:

Vanishing Point 7:30 (also Sunday at 3:45)
Hells Angels on Wheels 9:25 (also Sunday at 5:40)

Quentin Tarantino is a big fan of the theatre and held a two month long Grindhouse festival here in March and April. Here are two of his favorite films, if you've seen Death Proof you no doubt remember all the references to the car from Vanishing Point, and he has programmed director Richard Rush's (The Stunt Man) Hells Angels on Wheels at various events, it stars Jack Nicholson as a Hells Angels member who gets in trouble when he falls for the leader's girl.


September 5,6:


Sawdust and Tinsel 7:30
Summer with Monika 9:20

Get better acquainted with the works of late auteur Ingmar Bergman with these films, neither of which are available on DVD currently (though Sawdust will get the Criterion treatment in October).

September 7,8:


The Karate Kid 7:30 (also Saturday at 2:50)
Rocky 9:50 (also Saturday at 5:15)

John G. Avildsen directs both of these inspirational underdog sport stories which each spawned countless sequels (there are ten combined Rockys and Karate Kids!). One can only hope Ralph Macchio has a script in the works called Daniel LaRusso where Daniel-san coping with the death of his teacher Mr. Miyagi decides to get back on the mat for one more event.

September 9,10,11:

Harold and Maude 7:30 (also Sunday at 3:30)
A Thousand Clowns 9:30 (also Sunday at 5:20)

The younger generation bonds with their elders in completely different ways in these two films, Harold is a certified classic, but A Thousand Clowns is also a gem, with a great energetic perfromance by Jason Robards, it is also currently unavailable on DVD.

September 12,13:

Fanny and Alexander 8:00

Ingmar Bergman's autobiographical penultimate feature takes a nostalgic, tragic and magical look at two siblings who are uprooted from their comfortable family when their mother remarries a priest who turns out to be the most evil step-parent this side of Cinderella.

September 14,15:


Boogie Nights 7:30
Roller Boogie 10:20

Do you like the Boogie, you like the disco? The film that put Paul Thomas Anderson on the map screens with a film from the era Nights is set in, the 1979 Linda Blair rollerskating epic, Roller Boogie.

September 16,17:


Playtime 7:30 (also Sunday at 2:55)
Mon Oncle 9:50 (also Sunday at 5:15)

Two of Jacques Tati, the revered Frech director influenced by Buster Keaton and the silent movie comedians, most well regarded films, watch as Monsieur Hulot contiues his battleun against modern technology.

September 18:

Demon Rage (aka Satan's Mistress) 7:30
Scream of the Demon Lover 9:30

This month's Grindhouse Tuesday double bill is simply demonic. Since I am unfamiliar with both titles, I'll let the IMDB plot synopsis describe the goodnes you're in for. Demon Rage: " A woman in an unhappy marriage finds sexual fulfillment in her relationship with a ghostly, speechless presence who doesn't quite say who he is." Scream of the Demon Lover: "A beautiful woman travels to a remote estate to seek employment as a biochemist for Baron Janos Dalmar. She finds herself attracted to him and immerses herself in her work to suppress her lusty desires. A rash of brutal murders occurs in the area and she discovers that the Baron is not what he seems.

For more on the Grindhouse festival, go here.

September 19,20:


The Ritual 7:30
The Magician 9:30

Two more lesser known Bergman films, both not on DVD. Ingmar himself is the lead in The Ritual, his only credited performance!

September 23,24,25:


What's Up, Doc? 7:30 (also Sunday at 3:40)
Paper Moon 9:20 (also Sunday at 5:30)

Director Peter Bogdanovich and star Ryan O'Neal colloborate during the peak of their fame in the early 70's. See O'Neal go verbally mano a mano with his female leads, Barbara Streisand, and daughter Tatum.

September 26,27,28,29:


Mala Noche 7:30 (also Saturday at 3:50)
My Own Private Idaho 9:10 (also Saturday at 5:30)

A Gus Van Sant double bill. His rarely screened debut film (coming to DVD via Criterion) plays with his loose adaptation of Henry V starring River Phoenix and in his first but thankfully not last forray into the Shakespearian tongue, Keanu Reeves. Insert "whoa" joke here.

September 30, Oct 1,2:


TRON 7:30 (also Sunday at 3:35)
The Last Starfighter 9:25 (also Sunday at 5:30)

In 80's movies if you played video games too often in the you often found yourself becomming part of the game! Marvel at 1982 era CGI!

Death Take a Holiday...Seriously.

Okay, I want to finish this month of belated eulogies with a couple of brief mentions and then hopefully not write anything about death for a long time; Bob Dylan, Clint Eastwood please take good care of yourself.

Merv Griffin 1925-2007
Sure he may have had a popular talk show and built a game show empire (as a kid I recall pretty much every afternoon game show concluding with an announcer informing us that it was a "Merv Griffin production") , but to me Mr. Griffin will always be the Elevator Killer.


Tony Wilson 1950-2007
One of the biggest behind the scene names in the British punk & post-punk movement, Tony Wilson founded Factory Records whose roster included seminal bands Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio and the Happy Mondays. He also opened the popular Manchester nightclub The Hacienda which brought dance music to rock audiences. He was the basis of Michael Winterbottom's 2002 film 24 Hour Party People where Steve Coogan gave a wonderful and hilarious performance as Wilson (perhaps now we can get a new DVD cover). Here's a 1984 interview with Wilson at the Hacienda where you get a sense of Wilson's personality and wit:

And here's a clip from the movie where Coogan as Wilson converses with God who overall praises Wilson's accomplishments but with one caveat, not signing The Smiths:


Ulrich Muhe 1953-2007
He appeared on the verge of if not international fame at least a long and interesting career as a character actor coming off his great performance as a Stasi agent hired to spy on a playwright in this year's Academy Award winning Best Foreign Language film, The Lives of Others. After seeing Others I had thought that he would make a great Bond villain. His final performance will be in a Italian/German co-production called Nemesis, hopefully it will attract a stateside release.

Jeremy Blake 1971-2007
Artist Jeremy Blake's suicide following the suicide of his longtime girlfriend Theresa Duncan is a fascinating and tragic story of two very talented people pushed to the edge by paranoia. To get a more in depth look at the story, here's an article that sums up what drove the couple to the edge. I'll have to admit that I knew very little about Ms. Duncan before her death, but I knew Blake's work, most notably the cover to Beck's Sea Change album and his inter-scene color animation experiments in Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch Drunk Love.

Death Goes to the Movies, Sees an Arty Foreign Film at a Rep Theatre

The belated eulogies continue as we grieve three giants of film:

Ingmar Bergman 1918-2007
Michelangelo Antonioni 1912-2007
Sherman Torgan 1943-2007

Whether or not you know anything about world cinema, the first two names are instantly familiar to you, and if you are a film buff, then in the last few weeks you probably have read approximately 457 articles or blog entries about their death. I don't feel I have a fresh or interesting new perspective to add to the conversation, I enjoy films by both men, but have seen far too little (three of Antonioni and about eight of Bergman) to consider myself well versed in their oeuvre. For informed opinions, I recommend reading this interview with Bergman fanatic and disciple Woody Allen at Time. And for Antonioni, Martin Scorsese should do.

What I did find interesting was the reaction that their day-apart passings stirred in cineastes. At the Criterion Collection forum, the overwhelming conclusion was that the two auteurs' passing signaled nothing short of the final death blow for the foreign art film. A strange assertion seeing how in the past 25 years, Bergman directed all of one theatrically released film (he was however still very active in theatre in his home country of Sweden) and Antonioni co-directed one feature, in 1995. Agreeing with the assertion that the art film is officially dead was none other than noted feminist author Camilla Paglia, but while she loved her some early Bergman and Antonioni, she doesn't consider the death of art films as such a bad thing(link).Meanwhile, as they are apt to, the contrarians came out to declare Bergman as "not all that", most famously Chicago Reader critic Jonathan Rosenbaum, which inspired a reaction from Roger Ebert, basically amounting to: "is so!"
I do see the worrywart foreign film buff's point to some extent. How many modern day foreign filmmakers, or at least those who work solely or primarily in their native country, are the household name that either Bergman or Antonioni were, even by people who never saw one of their films? Pedro Almodovar, perhaps. Maybe Wong-Kar Wai. All the other big name modern foreign auteurs I considered have worked pretty evenly between their country and American features (John Woo, Ang Lee, Alfonso Cauron, et cetera). Let's be frank, there was never a time when Ma and Pa Kettle in the Heartland ever thought "You know what I'd like to watch tonight? A film dealing with ennui amongst the European elite, that's what!" "What? While there's that dreamy meditation on god existsence?" However, there was a time when its was considered a necessity to catch the latest arty foreign fare if you lived in a major metropolitan city or college town (see Woody Allen's 70's input for examples). Many of Bergman's films were theatrically distributed in America via major studios such as Warner Bros, as were three of Antonioni's most notorious (albeit English language) input from the 60s & 70s, including his only American made film, Zabriskie Point , which famously concludes (I must admit I haven't see the film, hopefully his death will prompt a DVD release) with "FUCK AMERICA" written in the sky.

I remember when I was kid seeing the poster for Bergman's Fanny and Alexander in the lobby of the theatre where I saw A Christmas Story (and what a great double bill those films would make, two radically different takes on childhood holiday nostalgia). I grew up in San Jose, not exactly a small town, but in 1982, pre-internet boom, not a major metropolitan city by any stretch. Today, foreign films, unless they have a sellable hook or are genre fare, tend to be stuck mainly to the festival circuit and a one or two week theatrical engagement, even in Los Angeles and New York. Whether that is due to changing exhibition methods or DVD or a shift in general taste in America towards escapist fare is up to a lengthier debate then I am prepared for on this humble blog, but what I will state is that even if Ingmar and Michelangelo lived and made films into their 200s this would not alter the fate of the foreign art film, which will always have its devoted following, but probably never regain their prominence in America.

A death that saddens me more than the two directors (who at a combined age of 187 weren't exactly spring chickens) was Sherman Torgan, a name that unless you live in Los Angeles is no doubt unfamiliar to you (sadly its probably the case even for many that do reside in LA). He was only 62 years old when he suffered a heart attack and died in late June. He was the owner/manager/propertier of the New Beverly Cinema, one of the last remaining repertory theatres in Southern California, and my personal favorite.

The New Beverly, a former pornographic theatre, was refurbished in the 70s by Torgan and turned into a rep theatre with revolving double bills of classic, cult, foreign and forgotten films, usually changing features every two or three days. When I moved to Los Angeles a few years ago, it was the place that made me fall in love with the potential of the city. I've had two first dates there as well as the second date with my fiance. In the five years living here I've seen theatrically for the first time at the New Beverly: Notorious, MASH, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Sunset Boulevard, The Magnificent Ambersons, Duck You Sucker, Bottle Rocket, and a week before Sherman's passing, Barry Lydon to name just a few. It struck me while watching Barry Lyndon why I loved the theatre. Here I am experiencing a thirty year old methodically paced three hour epic considered at the time of its release a major disappointment with about a hundred others who were caught in just as much rapt attention and awe as myself.

While I never had any conversations with him personally, I will always remember Sherman as the guy who was eternally running low on small bills and would give a little staredown to those that paid using a twenty dollar bill for his cheap (especially in Los Angeles) seven dollar admission. I always tried to make a point of giving him exact change as a small form of gratitude for his work. Sherman made keeping the admission affordable a top priority, and I'd often notice people in the theatre that look downtrodden or even homeless, I assumed Sherman would let them in free of charge, giving them entertainment and temporary respite from outside.

The theatre felt like a secret to many of LA's film enthusiast, if you look closely you can see the famous New Beverly calendar make appearences in Swingers and Border Radio, but in March it gained some exposure as Quentin Tarantino threw a two month long Grindhouse Festival at the theatre to promote Grindhouse. The Los Angeles Times who usually gives the theatre little more than perfunctory notices in its revival theatre listings dedicated a weekend Calendar front page to the festival. When I caught a few of the films in the series I was greeted with a sight I had never experienced, lines around the block. This was one secret I had no problems sharing however, and I was glad that its once questioned future seemed bright for a change.

After much soul searching, Sherman's son Michael has decided to keep the theatre operating, and to that I say "thank you". I know the loss of a father trumps a film geek's loss of his or her favorite theatre, but the New Beverly was Sherman's gift to us and his life's work, and I am glad that it will be around to entertain and educate its patrons for the foreseeable future (though if you want to put in new seats, I will totally be okay with that!)

Think globally, act locally is a famous if simplistic slogan, but Torgan's theatre represents that very ideal. For it and its ilk are the places that will ensure that films by the likes of Bergman and Antonioni will not only still be seen, but seen in a theatre with a receptive audience, where they should be.