April 8, 2013
Monday Morning Quarter-Baking: Tattoo

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By J. Goodman

I’ve been holding back this MMQB for months. It was the fifth one I wrote and I thought it was soooooo good that I held it back. I wanted it for myself. As if I was going to develop it further and make something of it. Here we are months later and nothing has been developed further. At this point, I give it to you…the peeeeeeple.

No one, gets that reference, right?

[Ed. note: not at all]

Oh, well, here it is.

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Filed under: J. Goodman fully operational fullyoperational MMQB Monday Morning Quarter-Baking Tattoo revenge Elektra Jennifer Garner Tat2 Tattwo Tat3 movie ideas super hero 
January 21, 2013

Happy Martin Luther King Day everyone! I made this little tribute video, hope you all enjoy.

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Filed under: martin luther king martin luther king jr. dr. king mlk tribute dre rivas fully operational 
December 27, 2012
FILM DISTILLED: Inglourious Basterds - An Axe to Grind This week’s fourth Inglourious Basterds Film Distilled features Shosanna as played by the lovely Mélanie Laurent. *Film Distilled is a weekly series of freeze frames from some classic films (as well as some television) with editorial flourishes by Dre Rivas.

FILM DISTILLED: Inglourious Basterds - An Axe to Grind

This week’s fourth Inglourious Basterds Film Distilled features Shosanna as played by the lovely Mélanie Laurent.

*Film Distilled is a weekly series of freeze frames from some classic films (as well as some television) with editorial flourishes by Dre Rivas.

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Filed under: film distilled dre rivas fully operational django unchained inglourious basterds melanie laurent soshanna 
December 22, 2012
FILM DISTILLED: Home Alone An early Happy Holidays from your good friends at Fully Operational! [Ed. note: we have friends?] *Film Distilled is a weekly series of freeze frames from some classic films (as well as some television) with editorial flourishes by Dre Rivas.

FILM DISTILLED: Home Alone

An early Happy Holidays from your good friends at Fully Operational! [Ed. note: we have friends?]

*Film Distilled is a weekly series of freeze frames from some classic films (as well as some television) with editorial flourishes by Dre Rivas.

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Filed under: home alone film distilled dre rivas fully operational 
October 24, 2012
FILM DISTILLED: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Goodman told me he recently saw this classic for the first time. He’s a cretin, so he fast-forwarded through the “boring middle parts”. Ladies and gentlemen… J. Goodman! This used to be one of my ten favorite films. It’s since fallen out, but it’s still a great movie with one of the all-time great Jack performances.  P.S. - Goodman thought Nurse Ratched wasn’t bad looking [Ed. note: compared to all of the negative connotations associated with Nurse Ratched, that is]. I think she looks like a tall glass of death. No offense. *Film Distilled is a weekly series of freeze frames from some classic films (as well as some television) with editorial flourishes by Dre Rivas.

FILM DISTILLED: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Goodman told me he recently saw this classic for the first time. He’s a cretin, so he fast-forwarded through the “boring middle parts”. Ladies and gentlemen… J. Goodman! This used to be one of my ten favorite films. It’s since fallen out, but it’s still a great movie with one of the all-time great Jack performances. 

P.S. - Goodman thought Nurse Ratched wasn’t bad looking [Ed. note: compared to all of the negative connotations associated with Nurse Ratched, that is]. I think she looks like a tall glass of death. No offense.

*Film Distilled is a weekly series of freeze frames from some classic films (as well as some television) with editorial flourishes by Dre Rivas.

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Filed under: film distilled fully operational fullyoperational goodman j. goodman jack nicholson louise fletcher nurse ratched one flew over the cuckoo's nest FD Dre Rivas 
October 22, 2012
Movie Review: Argo

By Dre Rivas

I was asked to compare Argo to another film and the first that came to mind was Apollo 13. Like Apollo 13, Argo is surely to be nominated for Best Picture and Best Director. They are both based on true stories. Their filmmakers employ a clean, lean workman-like approach to the material; effective but never showy. Even though we may know their endings, we find ourselves leaning over in our chairs in the last act, gripping our armrests – or our neighboring audience member’s (hopefully, we came with them to the theater) – because the tension created is that effective. Both films feature fine performances throughout, but they aren’t an acting showcase for their leads, Tom Hanks and Ben Affleck. There isn’t any deep complexity to these men, though there may have been in reality. Story comes first in these films, even over character. This is not their story. They are just along for the ride. If you’re lucky, you get something close to what Ed Harris pulled off in Apollo 13. Argo isn’t as fortunate, though Bryan Cranston come closest.      

I would normally argue that the less you know about a movie,the better the experience is, but the truth is it doesn’t matter how much you know about Argo. It’s not what, but how. So I will get into some – though not too much – plot.

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Filed under: apollo 13 argo ben affleck bryan cranston fully operational fullyoperational movie review tony mendez Dre Rivas 
October 18, 2012
SPECIAL EDITION FILM DISTILLED: Speed 2: Cruise Control I love the first Speed, including it’s really stupid parts (there’s more than a few). And even though I was still fairly young and impressionable, I never bought what they were selling with Speed 2: Cruise Control. No Keanu? Come on…  Fifteen years have gone by and I still hadn’t seen any of this movie. Which is kind of weird. Sure, I heard it was bad but I see a lot of movies I’ve heard are bad. Sometimes on accident, sometimes on purpose. So when I was clicking through the channels the other day and saw it was on, I decided to take a peek and see what I was missing out on. Maybe it was one of those fun bad movies; movies so awful they’re good.  This is the same line of thinking those Nazi bastards must have had when they decided to open the ark of the covenant  I caught the movie midway through and as I watched this spectacle of really, really bad acting, bad dialogue, dull characters, amateurish editing, awful music cues… I felt the actual melting of my face.  Even the “action” was awful. I heard the movie was bad, but I had no idea how actively bad it was. Jason Patrick is dull. Sandra Bullock is stupid. And Willem Dafoe is a cartoon.  By complete coincidence, someone on Reddit the other day posted this truly glorious freeze-frame of Dafoe in the movie (original pic here) and I knew immediately it was fate. I couldn’t help but bridge that picture with the cartooniness displayed above.  And that’s the story of why we elected to do a Speed 2: Cruise Control Film Distilled this week. *Film Distilled is a weekly series of freeze frames from some classic films (as well as some television) with editorial flourishes by Dre Rivas.

SPECIAL EDITION FILM DISTILLED: Speed 2: Cruise Control

I love the first Speed, including it’s really stupid parts (there’s more than a few). And even though I was still fairly young and impressionable, I never bought what they were selling with Speed 2: Cruise Control. No Keanu? Come on… 

Fifteen years have gone by and I still hadn’t seen any of this movie. Which is kind of weird. Sure, I heard it was bad but I see a lot of movies I’ve heard are bad. Sometimes on accident, sometimes on purpose. So when I was clicking through the channels the other day and saw it was on, I decided to take a peek and see what I was missing out on. Maybe it was one of those fun bad movies; movies so awful they’re good. 

This is the same line of thinking those Nazi bastards must have had when they decided to open the ark of the covenant  I caught the movie midway through and as I watched this spectacle of really, really bad acting, bad dialogue, dull characters, amateurish editing, awful music cues… I felt the actual melting of my face. 

Even the “action” was awful. I heard the movie was bad, but I had no idea how actively bad it was. Jason Patrick is dull. Sandra Bullock is stupid. And Willem Dafoe is a cartoon. 

By complete coincidence, someone on Reddit the other day posted this truly glorious freeze-frame of Dafoe in the movie (original pic here) and I knew immediately it was fate. I couldn’t help but bridge that picture with the cartooniness displayed above. 

And that’s the story of why we elected to do a Speed 2: Cruise Control Film Distilled this week.

*Film Distilled is a weekly series of freeze frames from some classic films (as well as some television) with editorial flourishes by Dre Rivas.

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Filed under: cruise control dre rivas film distilled fully operational fullyoperational jan de bont sandra bullock speed 2 willem dafoe special edition fd 
September 12, 2012
Les’ Locks: Week 1 Recap

By Dre Rivas

Last week Goodman called up our buddy Les and asked him what he thought about last week’s games. Let’s see how he did.

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Filed under: andre rivas dre rivas football fully operational fullyoperational gambling j. goodman les's locks nfl nfl picks week 1 sports Warren Sapp 
September 12, 2012
FILM DISTILLED: Sneakers This has always been a favorite of Goodman and mine. We quote it constantly and to obnoxious degrees [Ed. note: that’s true]. We think it’s hilarious. Everyone else thinks we are losers. Either way, I’m OK with it.  *Film Distilled is a weekly series of freeze frames from some classic films (as well as some television) with editorial flourishes by Dre Rivas.

FILM DISTILLED: Sneakers

This has always been a favorite of Goodman and mine. We quote it constantly and to obnoxious degrees [Ed. note: that’s true]. We think it’s hilarious. Everyone else thinks we are losers. Either way, I’m OK with it. 

*Film Distilled is a weekly series of freeze frames from some classic films (as well as some television) with editorial flourishes by Dre Rivas.

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Filed under: ben kinglsey dre rivas film distilled fully operational fullyoperational kill my friend sneakers it's all about the information 
August 29, 2012
FILM DISTILLED: Predator When Dillon and Dutch meet for the first time in a long time, they engage in one of the most awesomely awkward handshakes-turned-air-arm-wrestles ever. There are few better action films than John McTiernan’s Predator. And Arnold was never better. *Film Distilled is a weekly series of freeze frames from some classic films (as well as some television) with editorial flourishes by Dre Rivas.

FILM DISTILLED: Predator

When Dillon and Dutch meet for the first time in a long time, they engage in one of the most awesomely awkward handshakes-turned-air-arm-wrestles ever. There are few better action films than John McTiernan’s Predator. And Arnold was never better.

*Film Distilled is a weekly series of freeze frames from some classic films (as well as some television) with editorial flourishes by Dre Rivas.

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Filed under: andre rivas arnold schwarzeneggar dre rivas film distilled john mctiernan predator FD Fully Operational 
August 27, 2012
Monday Morning Quarter-Baking: Horror/Comedy

By J. Goodman

Let’s face it, the niche horror/comedy subgenre is a bit redundant. Most horror flicks are pretty self-aware and go for the laughs anyway. The ones that don’t and try to stick to a pure horror plotline tend to be: A. not scary, B. boring. A few are skillfully done, e.g., The Others, but most are a waste of your time and money, e.g., Dream House.

Truth is, it’s the kids who are seeing these movies and they like funny/scary. Movies like Piranha 3D (not the sequel) and Cabin in the Woods. [Ed. note: Um, which kids? Didn’t both movies bomb?]

You may recall my past MMQB ramblings on my horror/comedy homage to Alfred Hitchcock The Birds, Avian: Campy, crappy Horror/comedy is what I do best, and I have another one ready to add to the mix.

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Filed under: J. Goodman MFK Monday Morning Quarter-Baking clue fully operational fullyoperational horror comedy mmqb movies movies based on games Scrabble horror movie 
August 25, 2012
Fully Fantasy Football: Tight Ends

By J. Goodman

We gave you exclusive (and dare I say, excellent) coverage of QBs, RBs and WRs. You now (almost) have the tools to draft an elite fantasy football team, but you still need to know which tight ends you should get your hands on and squeeze hard [Ed. note: way to go with the most obvious cliche ever].

Well, there’s still time, so start flexing those fingers.

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Filed under: fully operational fullyoperational fully fantasy fantasy football sports NFL tight ends vernon davis jacob tamme aaron hernandez kyle rudolph cowboys backup te jason witten brent celek kellen winslow jermichael finley dustin kellar Alge Crumpler Rob Gronkowski 
August 24, 2012
College Football Preview: Part 2

By Lawrence Lyman

I was at the Landing in Jacksonville collecting my winnings on an annual bet concerning the Florida-Georgia game with my friend Rob. The loser had to buy rounds of shots. I always attempted to stay gracious in victory. Rob’s a good UGA man and I knew how much he hurt when Florida beat Georgia. I consciously failed in these attempts and Rob would inevitably say “You Florida fans are a bunch of assholes, just like your coach.”

He said that when Coach Spurrier was there and he memorably said it via text after Urban Meyer beat Georgia in 2010. College football coaches are masters at creating a cult of personality for their fan bases. The current king of college coaches is Nick Saban. Saban is starting his sixth year at Alabama.

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Filed under: Lawrence Lyman college football Nick Saban Steve Spurrier fully operational fullyoperational SEC Alabama sports 
August 23, 2012
League Auditions: The Kings and Trailblazers

By Dre Rivas

Dre Rivas is a Knick fan just looking for another team to follow; a team that will act as a refuge from all the negativity the James Dolan era has inflicted upon the Knick fan base - a distraction, if you will, from the constant reminder of what this New York Knicks team could have been, and what it actually is.

Last week’s contenders: The Magic and the Jazz 

This week’s contenders: The Kings and Trailblazers. Let’s do this.  

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Filed under: sports nba tyreke evans brandon roy's knees yankees baseball demarcus cousins Trailblazers Sacramento Kings Portland Andre Rivas Dre Rivas Fully Operational fullyoperational Isaiah Thomas thomas robinson 
August 22, 2012
Book Review: The Education of a Coach

By J. Goodman

Stumbling through the aisles of one of the smaller less occupied NYC library branches, I came across the sports section. I like sports. I’ve read a number of books about sports. I’ve even read a number of books about sports by David Halberstam. I saw his book, The Education of a Coach, about Bill Belichick, and thought this could be a fun read.

Three things you will get out of reading this book:

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Filed under: Education of a Coach David Halberstam Bill Belichick J. Goodman fully operational fullyoperational book book review NFL football