White Collar

I love the television series White Collar. I'm always taken with the uncovering of nefarious activities in 'high circles', such as the theft of art or precious memorabilia. I like that the plots, which I find interesting, move along at a good speed, and the banter between Neal Caffrey, Peter Burke and Mozzie is quite funny.

I remembered a program that showed on either the History Channel or National Geographic on this type of white collar crime and was surprised to learn that it ranks as the world's fourth most lucrative illegitimate activity. I couldn't locate the exact episode, but I came across some other interesting incidents—did you know that the Mona Lisa was stolen right off the wall of the Louvre Museum and could not be found for two years!?! But I'm really straying from my original thoughts. (It happens often.)

Anyway, I'm intrigued (as I said in the previous blog post) with the unfolding script that Landis began when he typed several emails to cycling officials. And I'd love to see a movie about it in due time (also mentioned in the previous blog post), but what I'm adding now is that Jeff Eastin, the creator of White Collar, would be my choice to put in charge of script production. The story of the peloton in the light of organized doping, played from an investigative, legal point of view, and presented with 100% accuracy with no 'creative liberty' taken, would make for some fine viewing.

I have a few casting suggestions for Jeff, if I may call him Jeff, beginning with Lance Armstrong. It would be really great if Rick[y] Schroeder played LA. He's perfect for the role. He's a terrific actor who could convincingly pull off both Lance's charisma and his fierce ways. Just take a look at them below.

See!?! Didn't I tell you Ricky Schroeder would be a good choice? I'll take the credit when he signs the contract.

Next up is Floyd Landis. Matt Damon gets my vote there.

Now, my intention was to google a few actors for the real life roles, but searching for these pictures took longer than expected, so I'll just suggest one more character, for now. Jeff Novitsky, the official who's investigating the allegations. I was going to google "bald-headed actor" but before I could, I came across the pic of someone who looks the part (literally). And I hear he really hates tennis, the job he's done all his life. So, maybe he can try his hand at acting, he might like it.

"Wired To Win"

Wired To Win: Surviving the Tour de France is a movie which was released in 2005, after five years in production. It's a mixture of fantastic visuals of France, with the science of the brain in its role during the race, described as the most grueling of sports events on the mind and body. What intrigues me most about the film is that's it's an Imax film. An Imax I tell you!!

The Featurette is gorgeous in itself, with the crew and others talking about some of what it took to capture the event on film. One example was rigging an Imax camera to a motorcycle, with the camera being operated from a helicopter 2,000 feet away! The filmmakers make use of 3D computer generated imagery which is excellent. You can see the movie trailer here.

I attempted to find out if there is a DVD version, but something tells me that Imax films may not be readily available in that format. Still, I sent an email enquiring about it to the producers. It's already been a whole four hours—why haven't they replied!?!