Friday, December 7, 2007

Winner!!

Peter McClain has WON! He will receive the Yankeeography DVD Mega-Set courtesy of A&E Video, pr firm Foundry Communications and of course the New York Yankees. Well done!

Trembling with excitement, he initially typed in correct answers but forgot to answer Question #2. But with prompting, he clearly knew all the answers and quickly got everything right. Michael Moriarty starred in the terrific miniseries "Holocaust," which is not currently available on DVD but should be. His co-star was Meryl Streep, who had debuted onscreen in 1977 in "Julia" but had a banner year in '78 with "The Deer Hunter" and this TV smash hit. She later gave one of the greatest screen performances of all time in 1982's "Sophie's Choice," for which she won every award in sight. Her co-star was Kevin Kline who in 1983 starred in "The Big Chill" with William Hurt, Glenn Close, Tom Berenger, Meg Tilly, Jeff Goldbum, Mary Kay Place and JoBeth Williams. All of them were on the cusp, makng this one of the great casting jobs of all time. The cast also during filming included Kevin Costner as the suicidal Alex, the person everyone was gathering to mourn. They filmed a number of flashback sequences but director Lawrence Kasdan decided it worked better without actually meeting Alex and letting his presence hover over the film. Costner is seen in the title sequence: he's the body being prepared for burial, with the most notable shot being one where someone tugs up a sleeve to cover the stitches on his wrist where he killed himself. You don't see his face. Kasdan felt terrible and gave Costner a choice, flashy supporting role in "Silverado" two years later that helped launch his career. (Being directed by Steven Spielberg in an episode of TV's "Amazing Stories" that same year helped, but since Kasdan had given Costner buzz via "Silverado," he gets full credit for launching a career stuck in mostly bad B movies (though "Fandango" is a small delight). Two years after that, Costner began his great run of movies with "The Untouchables," "No Way Out" and then "Bull Durham" and "Field of Dreams," two great baseball movies later followed by the golf flick "Tin Cup," the baseball movie "For The Love of the Game," and "The Upside of Anger," a drama in which Costner plays a washed-up, former pro baseball player.

Congratulations to Pete! The DVD set of Yankeeography DVD Mega-Set courtesy of A&E, pr firm Foundry Comm. and of course the New York Yankees is on its way.

5 comments:

priv8pete said...

I benefited from the same lack of competition as Joe. I am now an official boondoggler as I won this contest while on the clock for the State of New York!

Michael in New York said...

That makes the victory all the sweeter. And you'll never know how many people were trying but couldn't get all the answers in time.

Anonymous said...

I think Pete should be disqualified for ranking Bull Durham ahead of Field of Dreams.

Michael in New York said...

Really, Pete. Are you saying you don't cry during Field of Dreams? Have you no heart?

priv8pete said...

Crash Davis could kick Ray Kinsella's ass six ways from Sunday. Crash could take Ray, Billy Chapel and Denny Davies all at the same time and make funny quips while doing it. He's what Peter Parker would be if he eshewed the superhero role and were a career catcher in the minors!