'Watchmen' down?

WTF, Fox?

According to the Associated Press, 20th Century Fox is continuing to seek an order to delay the release of "Watchmen." Warner Bros. contends that Fox isn't entitled to any part of the distribution.

Guh — hopefully this thing gets worked out soon.

Online Escape: The Friends Theme and Sugar Ray

Pacquiao – pride of the Philippines

If it's difficult to carry the hopes and dreams of an entire nation, Manny Pacquiao does an amazing job of hiding the pain.

The 29-year-old Filipino boxer's meteoric rise from being a poverty-stricken child who sold stolen cigarettes to becoming the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world is a fairy tale that has captured the imagination of the Filipinos across the world.

"Pacquiao represents the heart, determination and relentlessness that many Filipinos and Filipino Americans are proud of," said Evan Osborn, a local Pacquiao fan.

And it's easy to see why. The Pac Man employs an exciting fighting style, combining break-neck speed with immense power. He has gone to battle with the some of the sport's top stars and – this is key – he's taken them down. Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Juan Miguel Marquez – all top-tier fighters at the top of their game.

So when Pacquiao faced off against Oscar De La Hoya in their 147-pound welterweight match last Saturday, it was hyped to be a dream boxing match between two future hall of famers. It was David vs. Goliath. Pacquiao – who started his career at 106 pounds soaking wet – had never fought over 135 pounds, while his opponent had been fighting 20 pounds heavier for the past eight years.

For most fighters, jumping two weight classes and facing the biggest name in the sport sounds like a insurmountable obstacle.

Apparently Pacquiao didn't get that memo.

For eight rounds the Pac Man methodically picked apart the Golden Boy, landing left straights at will and barraging him with flurries of power punches that led to an eighth-round TKO.

It wasn't just a victory – it was an annihilation.

While the win added another notch to Pacquiao's growing legend, it's his affect on his people's national pride that's even greater. His influence is so great that on the night of the fight, the country reported zero crime.

Zero.

In an Associated Press story, the country's executive secretary said that Pacquiao's victory boosted the morale of the Filipino people in the midst of financial woes.

If only we can get our very own Pacquiao here in the states.

Advice for young photogs

When shooting pictures with a reflective surface, don't get yourself in the shot like our dear friend Nick Ut from the AP did.

Angering car lovers

One thing I've learned over the years is that car lovers really don't like it when you insult their vehicular tastes.

Case in point: our Managing Editor Aaron Cole reviewed the '09 Dodge Challenger (read the review here) in today's paper. While the review painted a less-than-stellar picture when it highlights the flaws of the car, he did say it's "impractical, nearly undriveable, tremendously fun and turns every head within a city block."

Just like every other unnecessarily amped-up vehicle from crotch rockets to riced-out imports to big honkin' SUVs, it's oh so fun, but oh so inefficient.

While there's only two comments on the story (so far), we found a thread on a Challenger forum about it with mostly negative reactions about the review.

This reminded me when I was in college and the opinions editor of our newspaper wrote a piece about how super-sized trucks were on the verge of extinction after domestic car companies were posting record losses (shameless plug for my college paper). It was more commentary about how Japanese car companies were winning because of their research efforts on efficiency and reliability than anything else. Regardless, we got lengthy letters from truck lovers who tried disproving everything he wrote in response to the piece.

But one thing that remains constant between these incidents: the key insult is "tree-hugging Boulder liberal" Mark Udall.

(Er... scratch the Udall part, I'm still suffering flashbacks from Bob Schaffer's commercials from the election season.)

2008 Starz Film Fest - Opening Night

I've covered the Starz Film Festival for four years now and the one thing that stays constant is the excitement on opening night. There's always an electricity in the air as film patrons fill the Ellie Caulkins Opera House to kick off the cavalcade of movies.

Last night was no different as the festival launched with the latest film from Director Rian Johnson (who was also a former Dry Creek Elementary student – go Dolphins), "The Brothers Bloom." It's about two con-artist brothers, played by Mark Ruffalo and Adrian Brody, and their adventures. It's a fun, lighthearted film filled with many laugh-out-loud moments. Shameless plug: see my full review next month at www.aurorasentinel.com.

I was a little disappointed by the Denver Film Society's in-house short to kick off the festival. Last year's was fun with Mayor Hickenlooper and Ron Henderson. This year featured local comedian Magic Cyclops in a lackluster bit.

"Dog," the 90-second short that opened the show, was a cute animation about one boy's reaction to his brother's dog dying. (It can be seen at http://www.hermannkarlsson.co.uk)

Now that the festival's underway, there are a number of flicks that I'm planning to catch:

• "Chocolate" (Thailand) - Saturday at midnight
  Think Tony Jaa if he were a female. The latest movie from the director of "Ong Bak" is sure to be filled with as much action as his previous two.
  
• "Slumdog Millionaire" (UK) - Saturday at 7:30 - $30
  Awesome flick. Check out my review at http://www.aurorasentinel.com/articles/2008/11/14/living/reviews/doc491d36fccbb9d136330687.txt.
• "Waltz With Bashir" (Israel) - Sunday at 1 p.m.
  It's an animated movie about a veteran of the 1982 Lebanon War.
  
• An Evening with Don Hertzfeldt - Saturday, Nov. 22 at 8 p.m.
  Hertzfeldt has been one of my favorite animators since I discovered him in college. His pieces are off the wall, a little crazy, but always hilarious.

Welcome home, Chauncey

Denver's son is coming home.

Chauncey Billups, the former George Washington High School and Colorado Buffs star comes back to the Nuggets along with Antonio McDyess.

A.I., we hardly knew ye.

But this is a good move for the Nuggs. Heck, it's a good move for both teams.

With Billups:

• The Nuggets get a top-tier pass-first point guard
  Denver has plenty of scorers without Iverson — Melo, Smith, and to a lesser extent, Kleiza — but haven't had a true quality point guard to feed them the ball. Anthony Carter is a nice backup point, but he's not on the same level as Billups.
• Size and defense
  At 6-3 and 202 pounds, Billups gives the Nuggets more size in the backcourt. Plus the two-time All-NBA defensive second team guard will give Denver something they've been lacking since the Mutombo days.
• Outside threat
  Billups gives the Nuggets another consistant 3-point shooter aside from J.R. Smith. This outside threat opens the inside and more scoring opportunities for Nene and Kenyon Martin.