I thought finally getting Joe bleeping Morgan sacked from his job was validation enough and then I read Michael Lewis' afterword in Moneyball and I knew that the author, too, jumped for joy and punched the air triumphantly too when that happened. But I guess I am getting ahead of myself.

Having done a number of book-to-script adaptations I am often more than a little intrigued to see how others do it. I knew some of the Billy Beane story when I saw the movie this past summer, but I hadn't read the book until this past week. It truly is a fantastic story -- even if you're not a baseball fanatic -- and if Brad Pitt got you to see the film (how much did I like it? Didn't want to punch Jonah Hill, playing Beane's right-hand man Paul DePodesta, in the face once the entire time (I think I may have mentioned that previously)) and you want to go a little deeper, than I really recommend picking up the book and going in-depth.

But, for me, the afterword was like the cherry on top when the author shares some of how the baseball establishment reacted to the tome, most notably Morgan. I have long decried the diminutive second-baseman as one the absolute worst announcers ever because when he makes his "point" he rarely permits what is actually happening in the game affect his take despite all evidence to the contrary. The former Big Red Machine flag-waver never read the book although he lambasted Billy Beane for writing it and he proved to the actual author, Lewis, as he did to me that the more Morgan spoke, the more he got it wrong. I am not claiming to be the expert that Lewis became spending a full season in the know, but it was good to see fine minds thinking alike when it came to Morgan. So there!

On the flip-side, I read the first two Stieg Larsson books before seeing the Swedish movie versions of those two (having lent the 3rd book to someone, I am waiting to get that back so I can finish up the trilogy of books and original films) and was rather disappointed by the films. They stripped so much of the complexity from them leaving mostly plot points. And while they got part of the all-important Lisbeth Salander's physical attributes right in my mind (yes, I am writing about what should be her almost-freakishly small breasts) the Swedish actress looked too old and too tough for the part.

So I was intrigued to see what David Fincher would do with the material; I had not known that Steven Zaillian had penned the script before the movie started. I was concerned that it would be more than Americanized -- I feared that it would be set in the States which would have forced many, many changes. But I was more than pleasantly surprised by the resulting film; It's one the very rare cases where the American re-make is not only necessary, but also surpasses the original language film. Sure there were changes made and, much like the Swedish movie, the filmmakers here also chose to give away the same major plot point 650 pages into the second book in the first film. I am glad I had already devoured that as well.


In my own writing, I think I am starting a new project for the coming year. At this point, I am undecided as to creating a new top-secret blog as its platform or if it's just going into a notebook.

That is all...

B.