Future Poltergeist

This could be a daily feature if I had the stamina to write about it everyday. First featured game of Sportcenter is Twins at Red Sox. The feature opens by recapping Manny Ramirez continuing tantrum and demands to be traded. When Manny comes to bat, there is a mixed reaction from the crowd. And by mixed, I mean someone somewhere is booing. Or maybe a microphone has been placed in any random public place. Hard to tell anything definitive. The highlights also show an oh-by-the-way Torii Hunter going back for a fly ball, hitting the wall and injuring his ankle . Early reports suggest he'll be out 4-6 weeks. This is the heart and soul of a team contending for the Wild Card getting knocked out right before the trade deadline. Kind of a big deal. The followup report? A lengthy comment from David Ortiz about the crowd reaction. Obviously the biggest story from that game. ESPN is currently in the midst of 50 states in 50 days. This involves visits and reports from all of the ...

Must have missed this news earlier. Wonder how high this number will be eventually? Guess at a name? Hespera, goddess of dusk or Pontus, god of the deep sea.

Never have seen this movie, but long wanted to. If you're in the same boat, my advice is to skip it. The story is slow. The acting is slow. The music is nothing special (even if it did win Best Score). About the only positives I can mention are the scenery (Italian coast) and the cleavage ( Maria Grazia Cucinotta ). And the movie isn't shy with either. The story is of a small town man who isn't cut out to be a fisherman. A job opens to be a postman delivering mail to Pablo Neruda, poet in exile. They become friends and eventually Neruda teaches our fine postman how to make 'metaphores' and woo women. And then Neruda leaves, returning to his native Chile. Does he remember his Italian friends? Really who cares? This is mighty thin soup for a full length movie. One other thing ruined the movie for me. Pablo Neruda is a communist poet (and politician). He is revered and honored throughout this movie. Apparently he was one of the top poets for the deadlie...

My memory track of this movie went like this: thought it was great when it came out, later thought I'd overrated it. Having seen it again I'm back to thinking of this as a great movie. Epic in it's feel, the movie details the attempt of Scotland to gain their independence from England in the late 13th century and early 14th. Mel Gibson plays William Wallace, a Scotish commoner who rallied the people to oppose the English. Out of curiosity, I looked at a couple of histories to get a feel for this period. Churchill suggests that Wallace, not Joan of Arc, is the earliest major figure in history to urge nationalism. Who knew? (Churchill would also feel that this movie treats Edward 'Longshanks' unfairly.) The movie does play fast and loose with the details but it hits the high points fairly enough. And the overall message of 'Freedom!' is strong enough to overcome any such errors. Gibson plays the lead and als directs this film. This isn't a valen...

Sad news today for the White Sox. Sad because they could really use his bat. But sadder because he'll miss out on one of the best seasons in White Sox history. And David is right here that it'll be a shame if he doesn't get another chance to win a World Series. Thomas has long been one of my favorite players. (He's my sister's very favorite. Yes, she's got the White Sox bug, too.) Probably the best player in the history of the Pale Hose. He's been plagued by injuries over the last five years or so. Not nagging injuries. Unusual severe injuries. A seperated bicep. A bone spur the size of golf ball. And back to back seasons with stress fractures. Very sad.

Big Hurt signing autographs 

Roxane wanting to eat the bouquet. 

And a picture of me at Como park in February wearing a snakehead mask. When do you think Milan will make these fashionable? 

Gotten into a discussion here with an old high school buddy and thought I'd share it over here along with some general thoughts. This case is very complicated and if you've only read headlines or opening paragraphs of articles, you're not up to speed. I've been going here and here for commentary from both sides. The most reasonable course, IMHO, is to calm down, take a breath and see where this goes. (This is the same type of advice given here by Sen Coleman.) I suspect that this will come to nothing. As a scandal, this may be one of the biggest flops in scandal history. (Title comes from here .) UPDATE: And this is what I mean about not having all the info yet. Who knows where this thing will end up?

A great movie. Top notch cast. Groundbreaking effects. The space physics are very good (but not quite perfect). And, oh the story! I'm a bit of a space nut so the appeal may have been stronger for me but this one has it all. A true story of man against nature. This is also the ultimate celebration of geek engineers. The scene of them heroically putting together an air filter out of materials is a classic. As is the shot of them pulling out their sliderulers to verify an equation. The other thing that stands out for me is that this may be one of the most Romantic (in the objectivist sense of the word) movies of the decade. As Lovell says of the moon landing, it wasn't wishful thinking or clean thoughts that got us there. We just decided to go. After we finished watching the movie, I turned to the FP Gal and told her I thought the same guy did the music for 'Titanic'. Turns out I was right and James Horner did them both. (And I've since discovered he did ...

36 years ago, we landed on the moon. It's almost unconscionable that we haven't been back recently.

Doubtlessly, the handful of people that read this blog are wondering what my thoughts on Bush's Supreme court pick. This man has done some research and I find his variety of life experiences reassuring. I'm looking forward to the woodcarvings of the other justices. The difficult part of determining the qualifications of judicial nominees or candidates is that the layman can hardly judge. Without swimming in the legal pool it's tough to know who's a fool and who's a genius. And we can look forward to very little help on this matter as doubtlessly he'll become embroiled in 'scandal' sometime soon. I'd like a strict constitutionalist who doesn't find otherwise hidden rights or create policy. Policy should be left to legislatures. Someone who recognizes that there's a difference between a bad law and an unconstitutional law. That's what I'd like. What I expect is that this summer will soon become a circus. Wheee!

Because the FP Gal says she wants one.

A very cute movie. And one I was surprised to see on the list. Basically a live action cartoon of a farm story, the moral being that you should follow your own beat, or never let someone tell you what you can or can't do or something along those lines. 'Babe' features a young pig named Babe who has been won in a contest and is being fattened up for Christmas dinner. At the farm he is adopted by the mother sheep dog named Fly. She takes him under her wing (paw?) and tries to steer him in the right direction. Babe also befriends the sheep and later acts as a bridge between the world of sheep and sheep dogs. Two things elevate this movie. On the farm is a duck that is trying to be a rooster. He thinks that being useful on the farm will spare him from the dinner table. Unfortunately, his attempt to steal the mechanical rooster (alarm clock) makes him public enemy number one. The thing that makes this movie for me though, is the mice reading the chapter titles. It kills...

A friend saw Big Fish and really liked it. A very beautiful and touching movie. One of the few cases where a movie surpasses the book that it's based on. (The classic example being Jurasic Park.) Highly recommend Big Fish. Well worth watching. And there's probably some other movies I should mention, too. I've (mostly) stuck to reviewing the ones that are part of the movie project , but the FP Gal and I see other ones too. Don't think I've mentioned any since Million Dollar Baby , but I probably should. One of the better movies I've seen this year was a film called Millions . A movie about two young brothers that find millions in illicit cash. The older brother is very worldly and wants to spend the money. The younger one, though, is different. His world is populated with saints. He's studied them very carefully and they appear to him and guide his way. The idea of patron saints is odd (to this non-Catholic) and the movie plays that oddness very well. Sain...

Bastille day celebration with Calypso playing the part of the prisoner. 

Here we are at the midpoint of the season. What to expect in the second half? Firstly, if the White Sox stay healthy, they're money. I'd expect them to win the division easily, probably by double digits. Who finishes second (and possibly in the Wild Card)? The Indians have a much easier second half schedule than the Twins. They've played well of late but haven't been able to close the gap on Minnesota. I expect them to remain close. My guess is that Cleveland will edge them at the end, but it'll be close. Elsewhere, the Angels should be in the playoffs this year. They'd have to collapse for that not to happen. And who gets the other two spots? The AL East winner will either be the Yankees or the Red Sox (my guess is the Yanks). That leaves the Wild Card between five teams. Cleveland, Boston, Minnesota, New York or... Oakland. And frankly, they're the one team I don't want to see in the playoffs. Let's hope they get a stake through the h...

Difficulties with her laptop led the FP Gal to send it in for repairs this week. The good people of Apple were able to repair the thing in record time. This was paramount because we're not a one computer family. Between the two of us (and the cats) we're often online. One big problem though. When the laptop came back, the letter 'P' wouldn't work. Calls for service and a new keyboard didn't help. Great fears of having to send it back again. And then her brilliant hubby jumped into the fray. I emaild her a P and p and she was able to cut and paste her way to happiness. (And eventually service was able to figure out how to get everything in running order.)

Quiz Show Pulp Fiction Four Weddings and a Funeral Forrest Gump Shawshank Redemption Quite possibly the best set of movies in the 90's. 'Quiz Show', though good, is probably the least of these movies. Good, but standard. 'Four Weddings' is superior comedy, one of the best of the decade. But the gold standard movies here are the other three. 'Gump' won Best Picture. 'Redemption' is very well remembered. And the film study favorite would be 'Pulp Fiction'. After watching them all in the same month, what do I think? 'Gump' and 'Pulp Fiction' both were great from a technical standpoint. The special effects in 'Gump' weren't flashy but they were groundbreaking. The groundbreaking element in 'Pulp Fiction' was the dialouge. But...the story in 'Redemption' is what sets it apart. I'd award it Best Picture today if I could. Two great soundtracks from these movies. 'Pulp Fiction' is un...

The last of the great '94 movies. As with the others, if you haven't seen it, you should. Some of Tim Robbin's best work. Also some of Morgan Freeman's best stuff. You really can't go wrong with Morgan Freeman doing voiceover work. He's just very very very good at what he does. The story concerns a man (Robbins) convicted of murdering his wife and being sent to prison for life. "Life is what they give you and that's just what they take", as the movie says. The story details his struggle with prison rape, prison food and the dealing with life on the inside of a prison. The turning point of his time inside is when he convinces the guards that his skills from the outside can be of use on the inside. The rape stops and he's given special treatment. He uses his status to improve and expand the prison library and helps cons with their high school diplomas. Through the library he meets someone who can help prove that he's innocent. Some...

Sorry! Will try to do better.

Space probe hits a comet. Tonight at 1252a CDT. View from Kitt Peak can be found here .

Mosaic from Kitt Peak Observatory 

Kitt Peak, March 2004 

Minnesota is shutting down non-essential services as of today. Not sure how this will effect me, but I'm not worried. I know that this will create a hardship for some and I don't mean to minimize that hardship. My expectation is that this will be a short shutdown. Be very surprised if it lasts even a week. The pressure to get something done is going to be quite intense from the media with their fluff story focus on those hardships. The absense of hard news about what the actual fighting is over will also help pols come to a solution. The most irritating part is the public reaction in the letters sections and yesterday at my work. The letters have concentrated on calling both sides (or the other side) childish. Or hinting that they're drawing this out for the per diem. The per diem! As if a couple of bucks a day would be worth the political fallout of a shutdown. The buzz at work yesterday was that if we'd cut the Govenor's pay (and some of the legislators) ...