MLB All-Star Game: 2008 (Yankee Stadium)

Watching the Allstar game in the top of the 13th now. Let’s just end this thing. I can’t believe Aaron Cook escaped 3 innings with no damage. I guess Clint Hurdle isn’t really sweating it if the NL doesn’t get homefield advantage in the World Series. The 2 force-outs at home followed by the acrobatic Tejada play from Short in the 10th. Then the McClouth throw-out from centerfield in the 11th.

I’m glad that the game wasn’t decided on the run that Papelbon gave up in the 8th since everyone in NY misinterpreted Papelbon’s comments to mean that he thinks he should close the game instead of Mariano Rivera. We would have been hearing about the Papelbon/Mariano drama for weeks to come, and people like me would have been contesting, “well if Navarro would have helped out Papelbon with a throw-out instead of a throw-away, like he did for Mariano, then this would be a different story.”

Uggla just made like his 5th error in the bottom of the 13th, and Joe Buck and Tim McCarver are tyring to make excuses for him. It’s too bad for Uggla too cause Ken Rosenthal was talking earlier about Uggla and his dad used to come to Yankee Stadium to watch the greats and his father had always wished that his son would play a game in Yankee Stadium. He reminds me of a rattled Kevin Elster when he subbed in at shortstop in game 6 of the 86’ World Series.

Carlos Quentin strikes out and we’re going into the 14th inning. While I don’t disagree with the format for MLB tiebreakers—extra innings—I think that maybe for the All-Star game they could do something creative. Maybe a bat-throwing contest. Or a 3-on-3 butts-up game. Which brings me to another idea. What do you think about replacing Soccer shoot-outs with a best-of-5 3-on-2 midfield attack? I think you’d see some more spectacular plays and the better team would end up on top more often. Any other sports that need tie-breaker improvements? Ping-Pong: check. Football: NFL should mimic the NCAA format. Tennis: maybe a one-on-one dodgeball contest.

Webb comes in for the 14th inning. Lineout, strikeout, strikeout. On to the 15th.

Brad Lidge comes on in the bottom of the 15th after Kazmir gets the job done in the top half of the inning. Leadoff hit for Morneau. I was about ready to give up on the game and go to bed but I just heard that Kazmir is the last available pitcher for the AL and he just threw on Sunday. That means that if the NL can extend it one more inning, we might be headed for a pitching matchup of Jason Varitek vs. Russell Martin. J.D. Drew up at the plate with 1 out and runners on 1st and 2nd. I’ve got a good feeling about this. Put me down for J.D. Drew as MVP. Drew walks. Bases loaded. Michael Young up to bat. I’m still voting for J.D. Drew cause Michael Young is going to do something undramatic for the win.

…Michael Young mid-length popfly to right and Morneau tags and scores. Game over. AL wins, again. 11 straight.

Summer Flicks

Hollywood has finally come through with some good movies after a seemingly quiet first half of the year. July in particular is showing a lot of promise.

Hellboy II (July 11) – I saw this movie on opening weekend with some Del Toro fans. I left the theater very happy and we all agreed that II was better than I. I guess that ringing endorsement might not be so compelling to some of you. Let me explain. Hellboy is not just some cheap-thrill horror film. Hellboy is the code name given to the red, horned infant who was rescued by an American research team from the clutches of a Nazi Rasputin experiment. He grows up and joins the Bureau of Paranormal Research & Defense in order to defend the human race in a behind-the-scenes, light-hearted kind of way. Hellboy is a man’s man with a sense of humor and cynicism. This latest movie does a good job of exploring internal dilemmas and it has a great plot with a complex conflict and only partial resolution.

Batman – The Dark Knight (July 18) – I’m still not convinced that this movie is going to deliver like I hope it will, and like the first one delivered. But I’m excited to see it anyways, and maybe it will be awesome. Heath Ledger’s role as the Joker is intriguing to say the least. Maggie Gylenhall doesn’t turn me on which is OK, I guess. As far as Batman paramours, I don’t think anyone will ever top Kim Basinger as Vicki Vale in the Tim Burton version. Maggie G. and Katie Holmes (Batman Begins) just lack that mysterious dark side which is so essential in the world of Bruce Wayne.

X-Files – I Want to Believe (July 25) – I have no idea what the plot or the inspiration for this movie is. But I saw a cool billboard with the iconic flashlight “X” and shadows of the two agents, Mulder and Scully. That was enough for me. In other words, I want to believe.

(Also Neil Young and friends are coming out with a politically charged movie, ‘CSNY: Déjà vu’, later this month. It’s sure to be a smash hit.)

i Year Anniversary

It was exactly one year ago when I sprang for the revolutionary mobile device that is the iPhone. Overall, the experience has been excellent. Having a calendar, a notepad, a picture viewer, instant email, web and map access, and other features that are both productive and enjoyable in their use make it a life-changing, life-improving technological advancement. And that’s saying nothing of the impressive iPod integration, the video capabilities, media streaming, and the actual phone itself. I have definitely been a satisfied customer, but there have been a few annoyances:

Obnoxiously soft speakerphone
Recessed headphone jack
Occasionally inaccurate “Current Location” on Google Maps
Problems crashing to the home screen when using iPod and Safari simultaneously.

But now that the iPhone 3G is out, I imagine all these items will be resolved. I may need to get one. I’m not certain on the crashing issue but I know the headphone jack issue has been resolved, the GPS will be a big plus on the new model, and the volume on the speakerphone I know has at least been addressed.

By my calculations the new iPhone will cost an extra $360 over the course of 24 months ($10 extra for data, and $5 extra to maintain 200 text messages). And with the 1st generation used iPhone fetching upwards of $300 on ebay (people are still willing to pay top dollar for last year’s model due to it’s ability to be unlocked), it’s hard to stand pat. My only question is whether or not it’s worth it to hold out for a 32GB model.

R.E.M. Accelerate Concert

No, that's not a command to the Georgia rock band to wrap things up, 'Accelerate' is the name of the most recent album that they're showcasing on tour right now. I just came back from their show in Merriweather, MD, still on a bit of an R.E.M. high, quite possibly partially due to the excessive amount of gonja that was passing hands in the back corner close to where I found myself situated. In my opinion, the concert was a big success and I'm glad I shelled out the $40 and endured the 1.5 hr drive. I don't consider myself a huge R.E.M. fan but I feel like they're doing things now that are on par with what they put out at the height of their fame, and just as relevant politically and socially. Anyways here's an abridged setlist with some commentary. (Buy/acquire the newest album when you get a chance.)

1. The Finest Hour - The band sounded OK but Stipe was a little out of tune. I was kind of surprised to see this from such a seasoned performer.
2. Living Well Is The Best Revenge (new) - starting to get into the groove
3. It's Been A Bad Day - I noticed that Stipe plays the harmonica just about as well as I do (make sure you've got the right key and blow then suck, occasionally moving your mouth from left to right to left). It's interesting, though, how no matter how good or bad you are, when you produce a harmonica from your pocket you're guaranteed to draw some cheers and excitement from the crowd.
4. What's The Frequency Kenneth - Who doesn't love this song?
5. Then they performed a 3-song miniset dedicated to the people of the Washington, D.C. area: a) Ignoreland - about the hostage crisis that brought in the Reagan administration apparently; b) Man-Sized Wreath (new); c) Little America
6. Houston (new) - It's never too late (2008) to take a stab at Bush for his mismanagement of the Katrina disaster
7. Electrolite - I wasn't aware that this song is essentially an ode to L.A. It made me like it more than I already did.
8. Firehouse - awesome
9. [Acoustic Set] - nice touch
10. Orange Crush - now we're getting nostalgic, baby. Instant crowd energy with this song. Complemented nicely by one of those loudspeaker things that P.E. teachers started using in the mid 90's... megaphone??
    
11. Mr. Richards (new) - apparently about how we allow ourselves to be governed by people we not only don't like, but altogether despise... whatever. I like this song a lot.
12. Fall On Me - I didn't recognize this song but probably should have. They played it with guest guitarist Johnny Marr (of The Smiths, now playing with Modest Mouse). It had a smooth, rhythmic beat to it.

Check out the new posts on 'Trifecta's Blog'
Also, the addition of 'Dorfman's Blog'

Musingszzzzah

Just got back from the traditional trip to Duck Beach, Outer Banks, that all the LDS hotshots who live on the east coast go to. It was tons of fun. I calculated that between the 600 or so of us that met up out there we accounted for about a $100k jolt to the local economy (roughly $150 all in per person). Some coworkers of mine were cracking up that you could get hundreds of people aged 21-29 together for a beach party weekend and keep booze out of the equation. One of my coworkers was telling me about something called a "No Shower Happy Hour". I skipped out on the big volleyball tournament but I did go sea kayaking with Valerie W. We decided to head out towards a water tower in the distance but I think we misjudged the total distance a bit. What I had expected would be about a half-hour excursion ended up being a 3.5 hour voyage with the wind against us on the way back. My sparsely sunscreened back did not appreciate the extra time in the sun. I ended up with an odd-looking sunburn; like a large-scale version of Gorbachev's birthmark.

Found some new albums to digest: Elvis Costello - Momofuku, and Mudcrutch (Tom Petty). I'm a sucker for buying records of people that have proven themselves in the past. I will buy any Neil Young album at this point, even if the hit single were, "Don't buy my record". The Costello album is really cool. I'm impressed that he was able to reach back and pull out a lot of the classic sound and the angular voice from days past. The Mudcrutch album is just OK, so far. Two or three songs warranted a skip but it was otherwise enjoyable. Sounds to me like Tom Petty is trying to get back to the Florida deep South sound he started with. I appreciate more and more an album that you can mindlessly listen to the whole way through without being either annoyed by some particular tracks or overly engaged in others. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. The newest R.E.M. installment is also very cool--I don't think I mentioned that in a previous post.

Desmond B. got me signed up on Netflix and I still haven't watched any of the movies that I've rented. I'm trying to decide if I should cancel the membership once the trial period is over. The intriguing bit is that you can also rent Blurays from their service for the same price as regular DVD's. I guess I should buy a Bluray player and then not watch rented DVD's on that either.

I'm preferring Amazon MP3 store to iTunes store lately. The quality is higher if I'm not mistaken, most albums seem to be cheaper, and they are all DRM-free.

Saw an outdoor production of Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship of The Ring last week. The video was shown on a theater-sized screen and they had a live symphony, and some soloists, and Tongan sit-ins performing the score. The audio enhancement was quite a treat. It wasn't the extended version so we didn't get to see anything like the Boromir Pert Plus commercial that shows up in #3.

Premium gas is north of $4.00/g around here. I'm thinking of either getting a hybrid or sleeping at the office Monday-Friday.