Lost Highway Found at Last

We've met before haven't we

More weekend off topic from The Curly R, Friday I picked up my regular copy of The Onion, new issues drop Thursday but arrived too late for me to nab on the way in to Metro and when I went to website for the link to the hilarious story about the Washington Nationals evolving the cliched Kiss Cam into the crowd pleasing Fuck Cam (be sure to link through to the full size image) I saw a link to the AV Club's latest re-review of a new cult classic, this week Scott Tobias ran through the David Lynch masterpiece Lost Highway. This is one of my favorite movies, top twenty if not top ten

At this point I should probably reveal that there is another David Lynch movie in my top ten, Blue Velvet. Knowing this and that other movies among my top ten or twenty are the Gary Oldman vehicles Romeo Is Bleeding and Leon/The Professional, the Crispin Glover-Keanu Reeves pic River's Edge and Christian Bale's American Psycho (still the toughest book I have ever read) should give you some idea of my deranged tastes.

Like David Lynch's later Mulholland Drive, Lost Highway is disjointed and tells a story that is difficult to follow. Bill Pullman plays a musician that may or may not have committed a crime, Patricia Arquette plays two roles, one of which is Bill's character's doomed wife and Robert Blake, in what so far is his last movie role, plays the Mystery Man, taunting Bill's character about something he does not really understand. Check the first video clip in the Onion piece for the seminal moment between the two as the Mystery Man greets Bill's character at a party. I bought the movie soundtrack alone for the background music in this scene.

I saw this movie on its release in 1997 in the theater and then again later on a premium movie channel, there was no other way to see it for the last decade as this movie was not on DVD. Well I am pleased to say Lost Highway has finally been released on DVD and I have already ordered it.

Enjoy your weekend.



Robert Blake as the Mystery Man in Lost Highway from here.

Happy Birthday Chris Cooley

Not afraid to reach for what he wants

Please join me and the entire staff of The Curly R in wishing a happy birthday to Redskins tight end Chris Cooley, Chris turns 27 today.

Chris attended Utah State after a three letter career in high school, Chris played both ways in football, played baseball and was a state champion wrestler. Selected by the Redskins in the third round of the 2004 NFL draft, Chris left college as the receiving leader among tight ends his senior year in 2003, was first team all-Sun Belt Conference and was a Mackey Award finalist.

Immediately Chris was an impact player for the Redskins in Joe Gibbs' first year back as head coach catching 37 passes and six touchdowns, most on the team, in the Year of Max Protect. In 2005 Chris nearly doubled his production with Mark Brunell throwing to him, catching 71 passes and seven touchdowns as the Redskins rolled into the playoffs. Three of those touchdowns came in game fourteen against the Cowboys at Redskins Stadium as Washington beat the snot out of the piece of shit Cowboys.

The 2006 season was a downer for just about everyone on the team, Chris made the best of it by leading the team in catches with 57 and was only 56 yards behind receiver Santana Moss in yards, with whom he tied for the team lead with six touchdown catches.

Before the 2007 season Chris got his due, signing a six year thirty million dollar contract with nine million dollars in bonus, my fears that Chris would get comfy and drop off in production were unfounded as Chris led the team again in receptions, this time with 66 catches, as well as touchdowns with eight as the team rolled into the playoffs again.

Last season in 2008 as the Redskins started 6-2 and finished 2-6 Chris shined, leading the team in receptions with 83 though he only had one touchdown to the chagrin of every fantasy owner that had Chris including one of my neighbors.

In the main Redskins fans will take Chris Cooley over any other tight end in the league right now, he is performing in the upper tier. I am not taking a risk by telling you 2009 should be another great year for Chris.

There is more, so much more about Chris Cooley, you do not need me to tell you, Chris is everywhere, these happy birthday posts for me are about bringing you news and bios of players, coaches and execs you may not otherwise know, Chris is by far the highest profile Redskins player, and has a long and visible career ahead of him after football.

Happy birthday Chris!



Chris Cooley: Getty Images from here.

Happy Birthday John Hastings

Growing em up big and strong

Please join me in wishing Redskins head strength and conditioning coach John Hastings a happy birthday, John turned 45 back on Sunday 5 July.

The upcoming 2009 season will be John's fourth as head strength and conditioning coach and eighth with the team, John's staff is in charge of ensuring players are in peak condition for football, strength, endurance, flexibility and mental toughness are all part of John's game.

John has quite a story, having nearly died from liver disease in 2004, he made it to the top of the transplant list just in time and made an amazing recovery, going through that experience no doubt has given John a different outlook on each day than many of the people around him.

Happy birthday John!



John Hastings from here.

Happy Birthday Chris Wilson

Keep it cool Chris, we can use you

Please join me and the entire staff of The Curly R in wishing Redskins defensive end Chris Wilson a happy birthday, Chris turns 27 today.

Chris hails from Flint Michigan where he often heard he was too small for football so he developed a philosophy of dominating the man in front of him and letting the rest take care of itself. Chris attended and played football 62 miles away at Northwood University, an NCAA Division II school in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) containing teams like Grand Valley State, Ferris State and Tiffin University. His senior year in 2004, the American Football Coaches Association named Chris an All-America, he was also all-GLIAC that season.

With no interest from the NFL Chris found his way to the Canadian Football League, a summer football league currently in week two of its 2009 season, he signed with the British Columbia Lions and was a member of their 2006 Grey Cup championship team asterisk the Grey Cup is the CFL's Super Bowl. That Lions team was so full of bad asses they broke the Cup after the game (op. cit.).

Chris drew the attention of the Redskins in the 2007 offseason and was signed as a free agent. Since coming to Washington Chris has been a situational player, an undersized pass rushing defensive end with a quick first step. In two seasons with the Redskins Chris has registered 27 tackles and five sacks, that is a pretty good ratio, it would appear the defensive coaching staff knows how to use Chris.

So far this offseason with the departure of Marcus Washington Chris has been in transition to a hybrid position, part strong side linebacker and part pass rushing defensive end (op. cit.), it so happens this is the same position first round draft pick Brian Orakpo has been playing, there is as ever for a role player like Chris a great deal of uncertainty about the future in the NFL. Chris knows this and knows all he can do is dominate the man in front of him. Chris Wilson is a Curly R favorite.

Happy birthday Chris!



Chris Wilson: AP photo from here.

Happy Birthday Carlos Rogers

Planted

Please join me in wishing a happy birthday to Redskins cornerback Carlos Rogers, Carlos turned 28 last Thursday the second of July.

After a senior season in which he won the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation's top defensive back, Carlos was picked ninth overall, one the Redskins two first round picks in the 2005 draft, the other being quarterback Jason Campbell, Carlos' Auburn University teammate (War Eagle).

Though he did not unseat incumbent cornerbacks Walt Harris and Shawn Springs, Carlos was the top reserve and with Walt nursing calf and quadriceps inujuries through the preseason, Carlos got his chance to start in game three against the Seahawks. Though battling some injuries of his own, Carlos finished 2005 with 47 tackles and two interceptions.

So convinced were the Redskins that Carlos was shovel ready, the team released Walt Harris in the 2006 offseason, leaving Carlos to team up with Shawn Springs. Unfortunately the 2006 season did not go as expected, with Shawn Springs having preseason surgery on a year old abdominal hernia, missing seven games and really being effective in only about six. Forced into the primary cornerback role too soon, Carlos was overmatched and had such a tough time in 2006 that I even offered to buy him flan if he would just catch an interception.

The 2007 season saw Washington re sign boomerang Redskin cornerback Fred Smoot and the trio of Shawn, Carlos and Fred started out hot and helped the team to a 4-2 record before Carlos tore his ACL and MCL in a collision with linebacker London Fletcher in game seven, the massacre by the Patriots, and his season was over. He was not on the field for the playoff run.

After a surprisingly quick rehabiliation Carlos was back for the 2008 season and there is simply no arguing that Carlos was playing at a Pro Bowl level for the first six or so games, the team began to slow down before heading off the 2-6 cliff and by the end of the season all the cornerbacks were victim to the classic let's see what we've got for next season syndrome as the Redskins tried to figure out between Carlos, Shawn Springs and midseason pickup DeAngelo Hall who was going to be with the team next year. With Carlos a known quantity, Shawn's contract expensive and DeAngelo a candidate for free agency signing, Carlos ended 2008 on the bench.

Washington released Shawn Springs in this, the 2009 offseason and signed DeAngelo to a long term contract, Carlos and DeAngelo enter this season as incumbents and with Carlos unsigned beyond this season, my hope is he will find contract year motivation, turn in a great performance and sign his own deal to stay in town a few more years.

Happy birthday Carlos!



Carlos Rogers planting Cowboys receiver Patrick Crayton in the last Washington-Dallas game at Cowboys Stadium: Reuters Pictures from here.

Happy Birthday Pete Kendall

For two seasons Pete had Jason's back despite playing in front

Please join me in wishing former and hopefully future Redskins left guard Pete Kendall a happy birthday, Pete turns 36 today.

After the departure of future boomerang Redskin left guard Derrick Dockery to the Buffalo Bills after the 2006 season and the subsequent failure of the Todd Wade Experiment in 2007 training camp, Washington shelled out what turned out to be a fourth round draft pick to the New York Jets for unhappy left guard Pete Kendall.

Pete was given a raise and moved into the starting position immediately. And all Pete did was start every single one of his 32 games in Washington. Pete was especially effective in run blocking, at one point early last season as right guard Randy Thomas continued to recover from his 2007 triceps injury and Stephon Heyer and Jon Jansen teamed up to bungle the right guard position it was almost like a punchline how much the Redskins were running to the left, Dillweed or someone else out there has the numbers, it was classic Redskins: we are running to the left, you know we are running to the left, we know you know and you know we know you know and you still can't stop us.

Derrick Dockery came back from Buffalo this offseason and Pete's contract expired. As far as I know Pete is still looking for a starting, job, well it is second week of July and Pete is still on the street, if I were his agent I would be exhorting him to pick up the phone and see if the Redskins are still on the market for depth at left guard. Pete could extend his career and the Redskins could be set for a couple of seasons along the Offensive Line of Great Uncertainty.

Happy birthday Pete!



Pete Kendall and Jason Campbell: DB King from here, DB is a local photog with an incredible stream on Flickr and a photo blog here.

The Galactic Core

One of the coolest things I have seen in a long time

A photog at the 2009 Texas Star Party in Fort Davis Texas took the incredible sequence of images above, check the original video here and read through the comments to see how he did it, it has to do with disabling a stock lens filter for one that permits hydrogen alpha infrared, as the party nears dawn the Milky Way rises with the galactic center displayed prominently. If you have ever been out in true darkness and seen the galaxy and the satellites above then you will appreciate this, what you see in this video could not have been visible to the naked eye.

Enjoy your Saturday, I am currently unemployed and sequestered in a remote cabin in Cecil County Maryland with a stash of whiskey and surrounded by Eagles fans, feel free to drop a comment or send an email with one liners for the Philadelphia crowd.



Vimeo embed from here, Vimeo is the service I prefer over YouTube, to get a look at any of the 100+ videos I have posted on Vimeo, have a look here.

Thank You James Thrash

Real Redskin

Though Jon Jansen was technically the longest tenured Redskin at the time of his release in May having been with the team since 1999, James Thrash was the senior Redskin. Now James has been released, unable to pass a phyiscal and the team needs to move on. James had not participated in June OTAs with a bulging disc in his neck, foreshadowing the injury that would end his tenure with the team.

James was an undrafted free agent out of Missouri Southern University in 1997, the Philadelphia Eagles originally signed him in April of 1997, then released him in July just before training camp. Three days later James was signed by the Redskins.

James played his first four seasons for the Redskins, mainly as a reserve, his breakout year came in 2000 when he started nine games and caught 50 passes for 653 yards and two touchdowns, James was moved up in the depth chart when receiver Michael Westbrook tore knee ligaments in the game two against Detroit.

In the 2001 offseason James signed a five year deal with the Eagles as a free agent and returned to the team that cut him before rookie training camp and spent three seasons there, statistically his best years were in Philadelphia, James was part of three straight NFC Championship teams as an Eagle. When Philadelphia made their move in the 2004 offseason and signed receiver Terrell Owens, the team traded James back to the Redskins for a fifth round pick in the 2005 NFL draft, a pick the Eagles shrewdly used to select defensive end Trent Cole, a leading Eagle to this day.

I asked lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery for his take on James' time in Philadelphia. Here is what he had to say:

I liked the guy... [James] worked hard in practice and in games and brought very little ego to the game. I wish there were more guys like him at the skill positions in the NFL.

Curly R aside: read into these Eagle fan comments what you will considering that James was directly replaced in 2004 by Terrell Owens, who seems to be the opposite of this description of James Thrash.


In Joe Gibbs' second go round with the team starting in 2004, James would join receivers Laveranues Coles and Rod Gardner and would play a different role, one he would continue through last season: the gutty guy.

In the five seasons, 2004 through 2008, James played in his second stint with the Redskins, he never caught more than seventeen passes, and only caught nine each of his past two. His role evolved into so much more, and he became a glue for this team:

The big play. The Redskins have never been able to find a suitable complement to receiver Santana Moss. Antwaan Randle El became a role player and none of the legion of receivers tried out or signed by the Redskins the past five seasons was able to displace James as number three. If Santana or Antwaan got dinged and came out of the game, or if you ever found yourself yelling at the TV, we could really use a big play here, it was usually James Thrash that went downfield and out of character, gave up the body and made the play. Some examples:

2008 game eight at Lions: second quarter, Lions lead 10-3, Redskins ball at the Washington 17 with 36 seconds left in the half, on third and nineteen Jason Campbell goes deep to James for 29 yards, the Redskins are able to hang on and score a field goal as the half expires to cut the Lions lead to 10-6.

2007 game nine versus Eagles: in a barnburner at home James catches two second quarter 31 yard bombs from Jason Campbell before pulling in his second touchdown reception of the game to put the Redskins ahead 12-7.

2006 game eight versus Cowboys: with no timeouts and the game tied 19 all in the fourth quarter, two minutes left in the game and the Redskins at midfield, Mark Brunell finds James short over the middle on third and seven, James crosses and reaches for seventeen yards to keep the drive alive and set up a tying field goal try.


Blocking. It had almost become a caricature the past three seasons, when you saw James Thrash in the game, that usually meant run play. An outstanding blocker at the line and downfield, James helped spring his teammates and particularly Clinton Portis. Even when you knew James was in the game as a blocker he was still going to knock your ass down.


Special teams. Back with Rock Cartwright on nearly every kickoff and rushing downfield on kickoffs and punts, James knew the value of hustle. Even as he became less valuable to the team as a receiver he maintained a key role on a unit where youth dominates and future starters are stashed.

James finishes his playing career with the Redskins having played nine seasons, played in 118 games, starting 24 of them, caught 126 passes for 1620 yards and pulled in seven touchdowns, made countless blocks and had limitless hustle.


Good luck, we will miss you James, thank you for all you did for the Washington Redskins.



James Thrash celebrating a touchdown early last season in Dallas: AP photo from here.

Anything for a Buck - Part Two

You have more, you want more

Now that the NFL is legally cleared to get in the lottery game, would the Redskins play it as an investment in the community, or as Dollar Days at the used car lot? Curly R's two part series on the lottery and the Redskins concludes.

Part One: The Lottery Is a Regressive Tax on the Poor
Part Two: "Redskins fans and lottery fans have an awful lot in common"

=====

The Redskins were the second team to announce a partnership with a state lottery agency, behind the New England Patriots by a day which I am sure infuriated Dan Snyder, and in making the announcement the team played the event as it would an impact player signing or new coaching hire, with Super Bowl trophies and cheerleaders on display.

There were even Redskins players on hand, the two mentioned by the Washington Post's Dan Steinberg were tailback Clinton Portis and tight end Chris Cooley.

The lottery game itself, if you can call a scratch off card a game, is called Redskins Mania and it costs twenty dollars (op. cit.). The prizes range from twenty dollars to one million dollars, if you exclude zero dollars as a prize that is. According to the announcement on the team's website the odds of winning a million dollars are one in 1.3 million, with the overall odds of winning any cash prize one in 2.78. Second chance drawings, in other words drawings for those non winning tickets, include a bevy of prizes, from season tickets to a road trip with the team to Dallas to a luxury suite and more.

According to the Post, five percent, or one dollar, of the twenty dollar cost of the ticket is to pay for overhead (op. cit.). The NFL licensing cost was not called out in the break down, I would assume that cost is a part of overhead, so the team gets some part of a dollar with every ticket sold in Virginia.

And the funny thing is, as usual, the team and the league tried to play it straight and yielded no hint of irony in the coverage, no sense of awareness that any remaining shreds of morality on gambling issues had burned off and that all that remained was rank hypocrisy.

Wait, I take that back, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell telling a reporter that the league does not want to be all quote high and mighty unquote about gambling is a bit ironic, Roger and the league now want to parse words Bill Clinton style, the meaning of the word is is kind of stuff, see the league wants to discourage betting of the type the is dependent upon the outcome of a game and well, these scratchers are just games of chance with no connection to actual on the field action of the NFL.

Except for Nevada where you can sit all day in a sports book and bet on NFL games, straight up, against the spread, in a parlay, over/under, the list goes on. Shit if you are in a Nevada sports book on Super Bowl Sunday you can bet on who wins the coin toss and whether the first play from scrimmage is a run or a pass.

So what is good for Nevada is not good for the rest of the country. Why then do we not see or hear the league railing against the spread makers? Surely the league does not pretend that the ESPN and Yahoo pick 'em pools around the country are run for fun, do they?

Note to the NFL: you worry about your players and the quality of the product, I will worry about whether betting on a game is a good idea.


There were also some tasteless comments from the Redskins players in attendance, even if they were said in jest and the medium of the written word adjusted for Dan Steinberg's delivery does not convey this sense, these rich young men should know where to draw the line in comments.

When a question in the Redskins press conference asked about the absence of player likenesses on the ticket, both Clinton Portis and Chris Cooley lobbied for the endorsement and the money that would come with it. Clinton even went on to say he needed to scratch himself a winner so he can give it all up and move to some remote island and live in luxury.

In a time when national umployment is rounding ten percent these two guys, Clinton's 2009 salary number is over six million dollars, Chris's is over three million dollars, the median income in 2007, the last year nationwide numbers were available, was just over fifty thousand dollars, meaning Chris' salary number this year is 60 times what the average American makes and Clinton's is 120x, these guys are out there joking about using the NFL's partnership with a public entity to score some endorsement dollars and pretend at needing a lotto score to give it all up and lead the good life.

Dudes, you already won the lottery, you are star NFL players. There is a whole class of people in this country that play the lottery every day out of desperation and you are making fun of them.


Note to Redskins officials re: code of conduct for any and all events featuring players and or team officials where economic disparities between league entities and players and the fans that enjoy the sport or the target audience of the next shiny object with a licensed NFL logo on it may be highlighted: make them wear dark suits, stand silently for the event and if there is any opportunity for the representative to speak, words should be limited to benefits accrued to the community and public causes through the team's engagement. References to money, having lots and or needing more should be avoided.



Altered Virginia Lottery logo from here.