Buffa's Buffet: 5 things on my mind

Growing older with your son carries virtues and laughs.

My son is 11 years old, but he sounds like he’s 15 years old. It’s like talking to a prototype that constantly evolves. His brain updates and reloads at a faster rate than I have ever accomplished, especially for a kid who has only spent a little over a decade on Earth. Will he be smarter than me by 18-21? Possibly, and I am completely fine with that.

If you have a son or daughter, and there’s a hesitation about understanding your co-production will be wiser than you, then what the fuck are you in the reproduction process for? The whole point is to improve upon the generation with each birth. My wife and I have ONE kid and FIVE pets, which equals about two whole kids of responsibility. Few people thought as they were planning to have kids, “You know what, let’s create a dumber version of us to carry on the name.” Nope.

I am proud of who my kid is becoming, and only care to hold onto the ride as it speeds up. One piece of advice to young parents should always be the simplest: Appreciate the time when they can’t talk, can’t move, and only have a small amount of space to move around in. That’s your time and it’s rare and limited. While the earlier years were stressful-finding things to do in Arkansas every day was a challenge-they will never be traded in for anything. Savor that age, because nothing pulls off more heists in life than time.

What soaks up a shitload of my time at the moment, and every December, is the remedial task for voting for movies before the big swing of awards shows commences. It’s my small moment in time to toss my say into the ring, and be proud of it. The negative aspect of that is watching flicks that were tailored for the AWARDS MOVIE CROWD, or AMC. Not quite a network; mostly annoying though.

Every winter, films are jammed down your throat to consider. One of them this year is TAR, starring Cate Blanchett. An actress so good, she could play you and me inside a year with little prep. If you can play Bob Dylan AND a pretty good Marvel villain, I think the talent is set in stone. But even her whip-sharp ability couldn’t pry Todd Field’s film out of that “dull, so serious” tone that drowns the better part of the movie.

By the way, TAR is over 2.5 hours long. The honor of a film critic is to CONSIDER the film, not necessarily watch every minute. The letters on the DVDs that show up to my house have “FYC” on them: For your consideration. What it doesn’t say is, “For your watch the whole damn thing or else.”

I watched all of TAR and didn’t care for it. The story of a renowned composer on the heels of her biggest performance yet only to see her entire world come crashing down. The events that unfold in the film aren’t abrupt or outlandish; brilliant people can be real assholes and careless with other human’s emotions, so it’s not a hard riddle to figure out.

Blanchett’s music savant pays the price for being a bitch, essentially. What did I get out of that movie: a fine performance? Sure. Entertainment? Little. When the last thirty minutes are better than the two hours before it, a problem exists. But it has a sweet 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, so that’s where the tide is heading.

PLEASE, whatever you do, disregard the onus of a RT score as a singular tool for consideration--except if it’s my rating of course. If that’s the case, treat it like a donor heart. I kid, but that score is one aspect of that movie’s personal appeal to you. Movies are sold to a generalized audience, which can have positive and negative side effects. I wish TAR was better, but it wasn’t made for a movie lover like myself.

What’s next on the watch docket? ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, the German perspective of World War I that is supposed to be a blend of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and 1917. I am game for that action, especially since it will interest my very smart son. A movie night with the kid beats it all.

Once again, fuck off, AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER. There will be a time and place for me to view James Cameron’s epic sequel; this week probably isn’t one of them. If you’ve learned anything from this year’s writings, it’s that I don’t like being told when to watch/review a movie. As my dad once told me, I’ll get there eventually; it just looks like slow motion.

“You can’t miss this one. If you do, we will judge you and all of your movie takes.”

This is another area of film critique and discussion that I despise. Whoever spits that line out at you, ask them if they’ve accepted Jesus Christ as their lord and savior, just to stop them in their tracks. Since Cameron finally finished one of his four sequels, everyone who loves movies has to stop in their tracks and worship it. That’s the running jargon, which I take with three grains of salt. For the people that need to hear this: If you don’t go see AVATAR 2, it doesn’t make you any less of a movie fan. Pour cement over those words, and let’s move on.

To baseball, where Ben Frederickson wrote in the Post Dispatch that the St. Louis Cardinals are a more friendly franchise for free agents at the moment. He’s true. The Cards have really never been shunned absolutely by a player, outside of Jason Heyward and Giancarlo Stanton. While the latter still can bash baseballs, both players and their all-around cost was nice to leave on another team’s shoulders.

Willson Contreras signed here for a smaller AAV than other destinations. The five years aided his decision-making process, but you could tell the team really impressed him. A personal message from Yadier Molina helped and a language bond with young manager Oliver Marmol must have been a factor, but Contreras decided to be here.

Nolan Arenado decided to be here. He had two chances to escape, and did not. Paul Goldschmidt was traded here, but signed long-term shortly after. Albert Pujols, a decade after a nasty divorce, decided to sign with St. Louis. Try to fill a hand with players who really didn’t want to be here, and it’s a hard job.

St. Louis’s battle is a continuing struggle on the value of their prospects. Days after STL locked in Contreras, Oakland A’s catcher Sean Murphy was traded to Atlanta in a three-team transaction. The rumored price for Murphy in a deal with the Cards involved a potential grab bag of young players and prospects.

According to that report, the team wasn’t willing to offer Brendan Donovan, Lars Nootbaar, or minor league sensation, Gordon Graceffo. They were willing to let Oakland choose two of four players from this pack: Dylan Carlson, Nolan Gorman, Alec Burleson, and Juan Yepez. Graceffo is the prominent prospect in that bunch, and the only player without a MLB rep. St. Louis loves their farm system more than an actual farmer loves his or her crops.

What else?

~Quality souls at work are so important. It’s impossible to link up with the amount of brains in my office, but a few good people shouldn’t be too hard to find. The unfortunate part is when those very cool employees become non-employees, drifting and leaving the pack. Left behind is an environment that isn’t as eclectic as it used to be. I’m also learning how to work around people again, after eight years of working alone.

~Chili is the go-to dish in the cold weather. So easy to make, and to make each one unique. It’s a kitchen sink stew with some more chunks added on for good measure. My wife literally put together a pot of chili in less than ten minutes this past weekend. Easy meals for the working folks are game-changers.

~Hey, who won that NFL game and why? Also, why did the refs flag one side over the other? One more thing: I don’t give a shit about football.

Have a nice night. Don’t hit anyone or drink too much, and you’ll be fine.