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Honestly, whether Aaron plays in 2024 will have more to do with how he likes playing for the Jets in 2023....which is honestly something we have no control over. The compensation is multiple high picks, which should increase the chances of filling multiple holes in the roster (TE, Safety, Edge, long-term need at OT). Zero cave-in by the Packers front office, which is nice. Would not be at all surprised if they used the extra 2nd as part of a deal to move up and get the TE they covet, particularly if "their guy" falls into the mid-to-late 20s. There's also something to be said about the finality. I will always be thankful to #12 for what he did in a Packers' uniform, but I did not have a high degree of confidence he could get the team back to a Super Bowl in the next few years.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2023/04/21/nfl-suspends-jameson-williams-and-others-for-violating-gambling-policy/ 4 Lions players suspended for gambling, including former Badger WR Quintez Cephus. Cephus, and CJ Moore were released after being suspended for at least 1 season.

Never forget that Florio's a Vikings fan.

https://www.si.com/nfl/2023/03/20/aaron-rodgers-trade-packers-jets-leverage Andrew Brandt's take on the Rodgers trade negotiations, just to get the discussion back on-track.

https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/49ers/nfl-rumors-raiders-pursue-jimmy-garoppolo-if-aaron-rodgers-quest-fails?cid=Yahoo&partner=ya4nbcs Hadn't seen a suggestion the Raiders were in on Rodgers prior to this, possibly because the ESPN story is behind their pay-wall. Maybe there's a bidding war we don't know about?

Per an e-mail I've received from the streamer, Women Talking has been added to Amazon Prime from now until Sunday.

I'm up to 6 of the 10 (missing Triangle, All Quiet, Tar, and Women Talking). All Quiet on the Western Front is on Netflix, so I know that I'll see that one before the ceremony; might have to break down and rent the others. I have a hard time not rooting for Everything Everywhere All at Once....which is such a non-Oscar-type film, I simultaneously have a hard time picturing it actually winning.

At least until a bankruptcy filing occurs, there is another streaming option to get Brewers games. I also assume the BK Court would look to operate the RSNs as a going concern (operating business) until they can be sold by the Court, rather than liquidating the assets....but I only practice in the bankruptcy courts on occasion (Disclaimer: I am not your attorney). What I do not know is how the contract between Bally & the Brewers (or any other team) would be affected in the event of the bankruptcy. If the bankruptcy itself constitutes a default under the contract, the Brewers could potentially opt out of the contract with New Buyer.

I've already seen 3 of the Best Picture Nominees! 1. Everything Everywhere All at Once 2. Top Gun: Maverick ... 3. Elvis (I'm not sure whether the movie Tom Hanks thought he was in would've been better or worse than the one everyone else filmed.)

The ideal use for Urias may well be in a Bill Hall / super sub role, where he plays every day between 3b/2b/ss based on matchups. Before that could happen, though, the club would need to find a regular starter at 3b. Likewise, Urias' splits for this year make that difficult to accomplish....as he actually has a reverse split in 2022. While that makes him a decent platoon partner for Brosseau, it causes problems putting him anywhere else on the infield (but for Kolton Wong having even worse splits against lefties this year).

The ideal use for Urias may well be in a Bill Hall / super sub role, where he plays every day between 3b/2b/ss based on matchups. Before that could happen, though, the club would need to find a regular starter at 3b. Likewise, Urias' splits for this year make that difficult to accomplish....as he actually has a reverse split in 2022. While that makes him a decent platoon partner for Brosseau, it causes problems putting him anywhere else on the infield (but for Kolton Wong having even worse splits against lefties this year).

They’re watching Sam Raimi movies, as there are directorial flourishes to how certain characters….end their fight scenes….which would not be out of place in the Evil Dead trilogy. The film is not gore-y, but it’s not like any of the other MCU films in that respect. As to the post-Thanos part of things - GETTING MORE SPOILERY HERE - the only part that’s really related to the snap is Wanda’s story. The Doctor’s romantic arc is certainly affected by his having been dusted for 5 years, but there’s a multiverse full of evidence as to how things work out between them. I’m exceedingly curious as to which direction the films go after this one, particularly the interplay between this movie & the Loki Disney+ series.

Finally saw it tonight; I enjoyed it more than any of the Best Picture nominees from last year (that I got to watch…sorry CODA). It uses content and ideas from pop culture, and repurposes them to tell a remarkably relatable story. ….and I hate to admit I didn’t recognize the auditor until the closing credits.

I feel similarly about Nightmare Alley. The film started slow for me, but the ending justified a lot of that world building. No spoilers, but that ending stuck with me…a lot more than the other best picture nominees I’ve seen. Speaking of which, I’ve now seen 5 1/2 of the nominated films (West Side Story is a bit much to get through in one sitting….which I say acknowledging my enjoyment of the musical that just missed the cut). Disappointed I didn’t see more, but life got in the way. Never actually posted about Licorice Pizza, but I appreciated it for being light & fun. Didn’t know all 3 of the Haim sisters were going to be in it. (At my theater, they played the band’s new video - also directed by Paul T. Anderson - before the film.)

Finished my self-imposed homework last night, with "Don't Look Up." I will stick by the rules of this site with respect to politics, and simply say that the connection between the Trump-ian President and the Steve Jobs-inspired donor muddles any satirical message the film tries to convey. (Also, I guess Big Tech doesn't follow the science, or at least not a peer review? Kinda loses the thread in the back third.) The film also disturbingly American-ego-centric, since apparently the U.S. is the only entity able to identify a comet, and the International attempt to deal with the comet fails because...reasons. Having not seen a single thing I could describe as enjoyable, I'll give this my best Gene Shalit, and simply say Don't Look It Up. I had watched "The Lost Daughter" a few days prior. I think Olivia Coleman is a tremendous actress, would recommend "Broadchurch" to any fan of TV Drama, and thought her prior Oscar nominations were well-deserved. I just found her character impossible to relate to; if the backstory that slowly comes out about the character is supposed to make her sympathetic, it failed. Likewise, her motivations in concealing a key piece of information from Dakota Johnson's character for most of the film didn't make sense, and didn't have any meaningful resolution. Ed Harris' character was interesting to me, but I just didn't feel like I "got" this film. Nothing about "Tick Tick ...Boom" should work for me, as someone who self-describes as not a Broadway-musical type. That said, it was the only one of the films out of the three that I could actually enjoy. Andrew Garfield's character actually felt like a real person (which shouldn't be surprising, considering the nature of the adaptation), as did the supporting characters. I'm sure musical theater fans have plenty of nits to pick, but if I were asked to recommend any of these three films, this would be my choice. Having gotten all the Netflix out, I might try to see some of the Amazon film(s) before next week's nominations.

Detoured off my Oscar nomination binge when I saw the other Edgar Wright film from 2021 was up on Netflix (the one which isn't "Last Night in Soho"). Highly recommend "The Sparks Brothers" to any music fans; I find myself wondering how I don't recall ever hearing of the band, despite them being adjacent to so much of the stuff I grew up listening to.

Trying to get a jump-start on my Oscars 2022 Best Picture watch, while I still have a 4K Netflix subscription. (Especially since Marcus Theaters won't movie marathon any film they didn't give a theatrical run....if that's still a thing they do in the COVID-times.) Watched Power of the Dog, which...went places I wasn't quite expecting. While most of the movie was about Cumberbatch's character, I don't feel like the relationship between the Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst characters was well-defined or well-served by the story (which is ironic, since they are a real-life couple). Will probably watch Tick, Tick, Boom next; I have heard good things about Andrew Garfield's performance (and he might have been in some other thing I watched recently), and I will probably carve out some time for Lost Daughter & Don't Look Up as well. Anything else I should keep an eye out for?

Just made the switch to DTV Stream a few weeks ago. Will have to trade login credentials with a family member for access to NFL Network (with someone who has YTTV, so they can access Bally Sports WI during Brewers season), but I've been happy with it so far. I wish the interface (through Roku) were a bit more user-friendly, but it's functional.

Back to films that released in the 2020s, I checked out Last Night in Soho for a $5 Tuesday. Don't know if it qualifies as "Must-see," but I genuinely enjoyed it; definitely went in directions I did not expect...which is as much as I want to say while avoiding spoilers.

It is also visually beautiful. A little too bright for my eyes in the theater at points, but that seemed entirely intentional for scenes from a desert planet. I kept wondering whether I thought the film was easier to follow because I vaguely remembered the David Lynch version, or if they used the extended run-time (factoring in the yet-unfilmed part 2) to better explain what was happening. Between Bond, Dune, Last Night in Soho next week, followed by Eternals, I am putting $5 Tuesdays at Marcus Theaters to good use right now.

If it's over-the-air, you could just get a Roku and download the network's streaming app. While you won't be able to skip the in-app commercials, you can watch just about anything from CBS, ABC, Fox & NBC the next day....for free. This is what I've been doing since my TiVo gave up the ghost a few months ago....though I will actually be moving to Direct TV Stream in the near future. Losing NFL Network, but it has everything else I would want, including Brewers games. With the NFL Thursday games moving to Fox & Amazon tonight, and moving full-time to Amazon starting in 2022, NFL Network isn't as essential as it used to be.

Mostly... SPOILERS - The Vision has been re-built, but lacks the emotional attachment to his memories / relationship with the Scarlet Witch. (Something similar happened in the comics awhile ago.) - "Our" Loki (the one from the MCU) still died in Avengers: Infinity War. A variant of that same character escaped with the Tesseract / Cosmic Cube during Endgame, and is the Loki that is still running around in the MCU....which is now seemingly under the control of a different Kang variant, causing a whole lot of multi-verse issues for the next batch of films. - The comics version of the Black Knight (Kit Harrington's character in Eternals) doesn't have powers directly, but his sword allows him to be resurrected if he dies while holding it. No telling if any part of that makes it into the film. He's not actually one of the Eternals, though. So far as I can tell, he shows up because he and one of the Eternals (Sersi) had a thing in the 90's Avengers book....which I hope gets adapted differently than it was back then. - The What If series is showing us different variations allowable by the multiverse (like Into the Spider-Verse did for Spider-Man, but with much more limited licensing rights). After Loki, it's hard to say whether any of it is particularly important, or just Easter eggs all the way down. Still fun, though. - Falcon is Captain America now. - A potentially more fun version of Hawkeye is coming to Disney+ in November. - Though Marvel hasn't said so explicitly, they seem to be laying all the groundwork for a "Young Avengers" spin-off. Disney+ will give you access to everything (which is great for the nerds like me who grew up with the Marvel characters back when only DC Comics characters got movies). The films should bring you up to speed on as much or as little as you need to know.

Laughing, because my Mom used to do the same thing, until I asked her to silence the app when I'm watching with the parents. One of my favorite things to do is pause "live" TV sports and try to sync it up to the radio call of the same (mainly Brewers and Badgers). That also means staying away from social media & any online box scores while watching that way. Lamenting that I can't do that right now, since my TiVo died last week....which is how I found out the hard way that Spectrum's app hasn't been available on Roku since December. (Fortunately, I have a Samsung Smart TV, so I can use that app for live TV.) Thinking about switching to TDS, which is a smaller Internet provider in my area that also bundles some version of what I assume is streaming cable (and I know has packages which include Bally Sports & BTN). They just rolled out fiber networking in my neighborhood last year. Anyone have experience with them?

Guilty as charged. Regarding your spoiler

If you didn't watch the MCU films that lead up to WandaVision, I would recommend watching the "Marvel Legends" episodes for Scarlet Witch and Vision, since they basically feed you the portions of the movie which set up the series. It's part of the Disney+ subscription, which I signed up for on Friday to watch the show. Personally, I loved the first two episodes, which is hardly a surprise since I grew up on the MCU source material. While I feel like I have a good "sense" of the what and the why for the series, I am curious to see how the story plays out, and particularly the impact on the characters...particularly the ones being introduced (in some cases, reintroduced) in the series, which is said to tie directly into the next Dr. Strange film. After the year off...it's nice to have something Marvel to watch again!