Her comes May - Sox in First!

So the good guys from Boston have now won 2 in a row, a 1-0 game in which Jon Lester went 8 innings of shut-out baseball against Toronto, dueling Roy Halladay for the Blue Jays, who threw a complete game loss! (worse yet for Halladay, his third straight cg without a win) and Papelbon came in to nail it down. Then tonight Dice-K goes 7 shut out innings and the Red Sox pull ahead in the 9th to win again in dramatic fashion. They sit atop the A.L. East leading Baltimore and Tampa Bay by a game. As Hank would say " the order has been restored to the universe" - oh, and the Yankees young guns went 0- for the month of April, and the best 200 million dollar team money can buy sits under .500 going into May. Sweetness

Man my fucking legs aches. I worked out for the second time this week, walking to the gym, lifting, doing a mile on the elliptical machine, and then walked home. Sore, sore, sore. Good to be pushing my body, though, especially with my unappreciated (by me) gut! It's not going anywhere on it's own, he's gonna have to be kicked off the premises. And as any landlored will tell you, eviction of a tenant is a bitch.

Oh, how happy would the evil empire be if one of their young guns performed the way Lester and bucholz have!



Iron Man opens this weekend. - It looks f'ing awesome!

Saturday Afternoon, Feeling Fine

Ah, Saturday afternoon and all is well. Easily my favorite day of the week since I've been lucky enough to work one normal m-f 5 day a week job. Never underestimate the importance of that schedule. Many people are unable to have such a set patter, and appreciating it is a must for it continuing.

I recently watched a couple of great movies. The most recent is Maxed Out, a documentary about the terrifying level of debt existent in this country, both from individuals and from our government. The govt. has to borrow against money earmarked for future payouts (pensions, medicaid, SSA, SSI, SSDI, and many other funds earmarked for the future. They use this borrowed money as payment on debt the government itself owes - but only the interest. Because that is all they can afford. This is the equivalent of using cash advance off one credit card to pay another cc bill off. It can not continue indefinitely!

Here's this little tidbit from Alan Greenspan,

The worst-case scenario is a sudden crisis — perhaps a major terrorist attack or a shutoff of oil from the Middle East — that triggers a loss of confidence by investors in the U.S. economy. Foreign investors refuse to lend more money to the government to finance its deficits; drastic tax increases and benefit cuts occur suddenly; the dollar's value plummets, which raises the cost of imported goods; and a severe recession or depression results from falling incomes.

Happy, Happy Joy, Joy!!!

Dazed and Confused with TOYS IN THE ATTIC!!!

April 20 (and a cranky one at that)

A response to the comments on yesterdays blog:

hey old man,

I'm not wrong at all. I agree with both of your points, and of course I was being somewhat facetious, but my point remains valid. I like Woody's point about "stupidly" overpaying for the next level down. Fair enough. However, the truth is the truth; the Yankees have such an incredible safety net provided to via the extra cash. It's an unfair advantage that they can poach stellar talent from other franchises who can not afford to retain their own talented young players. In addition , the Yankees do not have to ever worry about losing someone to another club. If the Yanks want someone, they get him.

It pisses off Yankee fans that the Red Sox (who I have always acknowledged spent much more than most other teams) continue to spend far less than the evil empire yet win. Manny and Papi are two examples of players the Sox signed for expensive yet relatively reasonable contracts and their ROI has been tremendous. It is true the yanks payroll will come down a bit next year, with Pettite, Giambi, and Pavano off the payroll, and the Sox will have to resign Varitek (Thanks, Yanks, for giving Posada that absurd deal with the Sox will have to match now!!), resign Beckett, and hope Manny is happy with the team option.

I would love to see a decade in which the league implemented a cap and basement for teams, ranging from 60 mil to 130 mil. The Sox would be fine, but the Yanks wouldn't. If they can't win while overspending, could they win on a more level field.

Oh, and the Sox win again today, second come from behind victory in a row. Lead AL east at 13-7. The order of goodness remains, despite Blustering idiot Hank Steinbrenner!!!

Beast

$73,888, 377

Once again I have to point out the absurdity of the Evil Empire's competitive advantage over everyone else in baseball, which amuses me since the obscene amount of money spent hasn't yielded significant wins (i.e. World Series championships) this century. Yes, I know, the Yankee lovers will say I am unreasonable, much the same way the filthy rich in America (top 1 pct.) cry "class warfare" when anyone points out maybe they shouldn't control %99 of the country's wealth.

The truth is that both the Yankee fan and the obscenely wealthy are wrong, and all they can do is is try to turn it around, because there is no legit position to stand on. Seriously, almost 74 million dollars more than the Sox? People say to me that I can't complain, the Sox spend plenty, but I can't help but wonder what the Sox could buy with another 74 million bucks. How about Johan Santannas (17 mil), Roy Oswalt, (13 mil), and Roy Halladay (10 million) ? Hmm, that's only 40 million, so the Sox would still be 34 million behind the Yanks, and they would have a rotation of Beckett, Dice-K, Santanna, Oswalt, and Halladay. - OK, the Sox are weak at SS - how about Jose Reyes, at about 4.5 million? Still got 29 million left. Let's add Joe Maur from Minn. to split time with Varitek, Mauer only costs about 6.5 mil. Still have over 22 million left. Since you can always use more relief pitching, let's add B.J. Ryan, figure he comes back healthy, can pitch middle relief for us. At 12 million, that still leaves the Sox behind the Yanks by 10 million bucks. Do you get the picture now, people? Remember, all those salaries would be in addition to the existing players salaries, not as replacements. I really can't understand how anyone can be a fan of a team with every advantage like that. If the team wins it should basically be expected, and not winning is simply abysmal.

Comic Day!.. Celebrity life... and Today's hot chick

Wednesday is new comic day, a nice mid day break from the stress of the week. Other important days include Monday, first day of the traditional workweek, Tuesday is new release day for movies, music, and video games. Friday is new theatrical releases (Tuesday is DVDS, in case that wasn't clear). When I was young I bought my comics from a flea market I used to go to, in the town near where i grew up, Newton, NJ. The flea market was held in the unused areas of a drive in theater, with people driving cars, trucks, and vans loaded with their shit for sale, would drag their shit to this drive in theater and display it for other people to buy. Welcome to America, Baby!

I used to buy my comics wherever I could find them, but when I started to go to the flea market I met Walter Sigg, an odd (but harmless) guy who sold comics. He was at the flea market every sat., and by the end of the summer my friend Dougie and I were regular customers. I wanted to continue to have the comics i liked on a weekly basis, without having to worry about getting into town and finding them on some rack, wrinkled up.
But I digress....

How amazing is that shot of Pauly fucking Shore? Classic example why being a celebrity has far reaching benefits, for how else to explain a D list celebrity, past his prime (on the D-list, no less) who's packed on a beer belly, hanging on the beach with a hottie half his age - but I got nothing for props on that... here's to you, Pauly.

Todays hot chick - the bimbo who brought down a governor, Spitzers chickie - don't know her name, (can't remember) and really, it's unimportant. She is hot, though.

Movie Review - On Dangerous Ground! & today's sexy babe

Nicholas Ray directs. Ida Lupino, Ward Bond, and the always great Robert Ryan act. Bernard Hermann scores the whole thing. Classic Fucking Noir, (except for the saccharine ending, clearly not fitting in tone with the film and according to a recent book on Film Noir, not the ending the screenwriter or Ray wanted. (Lupino directed a few days when Ray was ill, and it's rumored she directed the last scene with her and Ryan) Despite this ending, the film is absolutely terrific, and the film zips along, at a tight and never wasted 82 minutes. A must own for the DVD collector of film noir, and availabe in the Film Noir Vol. 3 availabe on Amazon. Ida Lupino is one of those chicks who shouldn't be so enticing yet I just can't help but find her damned seductive!

Dude

The first in the "Dude" series, and in what should not come as a shock to anyone, one of my favorites. In College, Dude was nearly half my vocabulary

Checking In & Some Movie Reviews

So I haven't checked in for a few days; I guess the work weeks just blow by so fast sometimes. So I will give everyone the update:

A friend came to town on Tuesday, so I ended up using a personal day on Wed. to hang. My allergies were kicking my ass anyway, so it was good to take a one day vacation. I needed it, because the workload has been nuts. Oh, I want to the eye dr. on Mon. and will be getting some new contacts, a "next generation" silicon blend that retains mosture better than previous lenses. These were the doc's words. I have to admit, they are nice, especially as the day wears on and other lenses begin to dry up.

I was going to write a review of the Killing, until realizing I wrote one not too long ago. but WTF, the pic is still cool and the movie never gets old.

The wife and I are finding it increasingly difficult to like Weeds. - We're 3 episodes into Season 2 and we're hating everyone, from hot MILF Mary Louise Parker to her bratty kids, their snotty housekeeper (think a mexican contemporary version of George And Weezies housekeeper on the Jeffersons. (Was her name Florence?) - Wasn't it weird that the Jeffersons, an example of a black couple that was moving forward and upward socially, would then hire a black woman as a servant? Was that perhaps repressed rage by George, to have a slave type for him to dominate. Hmmm, clearly he wasn't racist, since the hiring of a white woman would have contained a juicier subtext, especially if she were attractive. Perhaps the Jeffersons is part of the secret plot that utilizes pop culture to reenforce official opinions for the powers that be.

Yanks are struggling quite a bit these days, dropping two straight to Tampa Bay, but the Red Sox haven't done any better, losing their last two games. Not enough guys are really hitting yet for the BoSox, but as long as the pitching is healthy, this team is in great shape.