Kong is King

I'm pretty sure you couldn't possibly be as excited as I am about the arrival of Mighty Kong on DVD tomorrow. It's flown kind of under the radar, without much of the usual TV spot-type fanfare that usually accompanies more worthy movies like, say, Cheaper By the Dozen 2. But nonetheless, those of us who make up Kong's Minions - or to put it more appropriately Peter Jackson's Minions - have known for some time that March 28 was the date to circle.
I went looking to see if there would be any sort of Extended Edition DVD, and sure enough, it turns out there are plans in the works for some sort of Director's Cut down the road. But I also found and wanted to share this site, part of KongisKing.net, which offers 36 weeks of post-productions diaries on the movies. Now Jackson shrewdly released the production diaries around the time of the movie, but the post-production diaries, containing everything from Andy Serkis in his mo-cap (that's motion capture, if you're as out of the loop as I was before I watched these) suit aping Kong to Howard Share explaining his rationale for the soundtrack, which we'll never hear (sniffle), are dynamite.
If you're bananas over Kong (I had to get that line in somewhere) or just a geek over the making of big budget blockbusters, it's worth checking out. One factoid that I learned - over 350 hours of film went into the 3-hour movie. And they said it was too long...

The Skinny on Scottie

My buddy Don (a fellow teacher-in-limbo, also from GW) and I went up to Robinson High School last night to see the Virginia AAA state quarterfinal game between Herndon High and Highland Springs from down near Richmond. The real reason we went, however, was to see Herndon's All-Everything guard Scottie Reynolds, who was just named to the McDonald's All-American game and had a nice write-up in the Post this week. So, being the curious guy that I am, I wanted to check this kid out. I remembered on my way to the game that I hadn't been to a high school basketball game since the last one I covered for the Daily Messenger back in the spring of 2004. Thankfully, I don't remember who it was that played that game. But I digress...
There's a lot of hype around Reynolds. He's signed to Oklahoma, and has the aforementioned accolades already. I know, however, that it's a tendency of folks in these parts to blow their teams/players way up and to think they're better than anybody anywhere. Case in point - Redskins. So what's he really like?
Reynolds has game, that's for sure. His biggest strength is his outside shot, which he's fearless at. He doesn't mind taking the big shot and having the ball in his hands at crunch time. Paired with a good big man in college, he'll be a nightmare for Big 12 defenses. That's what I saw. What I also saw, however, is someone whose hype has blown him up to be way better than he really is. He reminds me a little of the Gerry McNamara-type point guard - solid, bold deep shot, floor general, heady, but struggles to get by defenders on the perimeter. And just the same that McNamara will never be remembered as one of the greatest high school players in Pennsylvania history, I hope Reynolds isn't the best Virginia has to offer. I know too little of the history of this state's hoops, but I do feel a little chip on New York state's shoulder, having come from there. Having the Washington Post behind you and the visibility that comes with DC-area AAU travel teams means that you'll get more pub than, say, former Niagara Falls standout Paul Harris - signed to Syracuse and a much more complete basketball player than Reynolds.
But just you wait and see which one is conference Freshman of the Year next year...