Tonight I turned on my TV and the DVR was recording a repeat of Scrubs, and it reminds me after a long hot summer of especially crappy crappy crappy TV, that the fall season is just around the corner. However, the programming morons at NBC are once again postponing the beginning of Scrubs until January. But after watching tonights episode, which was loosely based on the Wizard of Oz, reminds me that this show is the best written, directed and acted across the dial. I wish more quality shows were able to make it onto the schedule, rather than having to wait for the same old crap recycled formula sitcom, with same recycled stars. Very unfortunate.
Many times when I consider this situation, I realize the profound respect for my parents since they don't ever watch TV. They have always had little or no use for the boob tube and are able to find much more productive things to do with their times rather than just veg out and shut down their brain's. I know I should read a book, blog, take a walk, or virtually anything else other than watch TV.
Here are the shows that I am waiting to return this fall:
The Simpsons
Scrubs
My Name is Earl
The Office
Gilmore Girls (I know, it is a bit girly but it is really well written)
ER (I think I am the only one still watching)
Grey Anatomy (another chyck show)
PS. I love the Sprint Security commercial with the two gusy in the locker room, comparing phones and the one guy says his has theft control. Then he throws his phone. That is funny stuff.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Congratulations Yankees and Baseball HOF rant
Congratulations to the New York Yankees for sweeping 5 games from the Boston Red Sox this past weekend, in a redeux of the 1978 Boston Massacre. Before the first game on Friday, I said to a friend that I would be happy with either team winning the series 3-2, since that would have the Yankees leaving Boston with either a 1/2 game or a 2.5 game lead. So on Saturday after the Bombers won the third game, my opinion was "Mission Accomplished". The Yankees then went on to win in dramatic fashion on Sunday, and a pitchers duel on Monday completing the task. Leaving Boston with a 6.5 game lead was probably not on anyone's radar as being anything but a distant pipe dream, but that is where we stand today.
I am not one of this silly die hard fans, who believes that the Red Sox are only a shell of their former selves, and left for dead in Boston. Although a 6.5 game lead with 6 weeks to plays seems insurmountable, this is the same Boston franchise that came back from a 3-0 deficit in the ALCS in 2004, so nothing is impossible. These are both playoff caliber teams, who have been in the hunt in the past and won't just roll over and go away. Jason Variteck is scheduled to come off the DL next week, and as he goes, so goes the Bosox.
I won't be celebrating until the division is completely won, then and only then will I breathe a sign of relief knowing the Boston beast has been slayed for another year, considering the AL Wildcard won't be coming from the East this year. So for both the Yankees and the Red Sox this year is win or go home, a daunting task for both teams. As long as the Yankees continue to control their own fate and win 4-5 games per week, they should be fine.
On espn.com today, there was a story by Enrique Rojas (who writes for ESPNdeportes, the spanish version of ESPN), claiming that Felipe Alou should be considered for the hall of fame because of his 50 years in baseball. He starts off by praising the current crop of Latin Players who should be going to the hall when their careers are over (Pedro, Mariano, Pudge), but then goes on to say:
This is the biggest load of bull I have seen in quite some time. By Rojas' own admission, Alou was a mediocre ball player (.286/206/852) and is only 14 games above .500 as a manager (1,015-1,001), not exactly mind blowing numbers. He was Manager of the Year in 1994 with the Expos, but I am not sure they were a 1st place team because of the manager, but because of the talent on the field (Floyd, Walker, Grissom, M.Alou, Pedro, Fassero, Wettland, etc.) that year. I don't remember any baseball talking head ever telling me that a team was better because Alou was managing them.
If I were to put together a list of great current managers, Alou would be pretty far down the list. Torre, LaRussa, Cox, Pinella, Leyland are without a doubt the best managers in baseball today. The next tier would include Showalter (his legacy of building teams that win the WS after he leaves), Francona, Robinson, and Baker. (I am honestly not sure if Scioscia fits on this list or not.) Aftert these skippers I would place Alou. This should not be seen as a personal slight against Alou, no one can do anything for 50 years without a strong knowledge of the sport, but that does not qualify him for the Hall of Fame.
Cooperstown should be reserved for the best of the best, not the best of the mediocre who held on a long time and deserve honorable mention (Sutter, Winfield). Alou does not qualify as a player or as a manager. So I am not even sure why this is an issue. There are many deserving Latin ball players who will be enshrined when the time comes, but unfortunately Alou does not cut it in my book.
I am not one of this silly die hard fans, who believes that the Red Sox are only a shell of their former selves, and left for dead in Boston. Although a 6.5 game lead with 6 weeks to plays seems insurmountable, this is the same Boston franchise that came back from a 3-0 deficit in the ALCS in 2004, so nothing is impossible. These are both playoff caliber teams, who have been in the hunt in the past and won't just roll over and go away. Jason Variteck is scheduled to come off the DL next week, and as he goes, so goes the Bosox.
I won't be celebrating until the division is completely won, then and only then will I breathe a sign of relief knowing the Boston beast has been slayed for another year, considering the AL Wildcard won't be coming from the East this year. So for both the Yankees and the Red Sox this year is win or go home, a daunting task for both teams. As long as the Yankees continue to control their own fate and win 4-5 games per week, they should be fine.
On espn.com today, there was a story by Enrique Rojas (who writes for ESPNdeportes, the spanish version of ESPN), claiming that Felipe Alou should be considered for the hall of fame because of his 50 years in baseball. He starts off by praising the current crop of Latin Players who should be going to the hall when their careers are over (Pedro, Mariano, Pudge), but then goes on to say:
"But it's possible that none of the above have more genuine credentials than San Francisco Giants manager Felipe Alou, who is largely ignored when it comes to talking about Cooperstown. "
This is the biggest load of bull I have seen in quite some time. By Rojas' own admission, Alou was a mediocre ball player (.286/206/852) and is only 14 games above .500 as a manager (1,015-1,001), not exactly mind blowing numbers. He was Manager of the Year in 1994 with the Expos, but I am not sure they were a 1st place team because of the manager, but because of the talent on the field (Floyd, Walker, Grissom, M.Alou, Pedro, Fassero, Wettland, etc.) that year. I don't remember any baseball talking head ever telling me that a team was better because Alou was managing them.
If I were to put together a list of great current managers, Alou would be pretty far down the list. Torre, LaRussa, Cox, Pinella, Leyland are without a doubt the best managers in baseball today. The next tier would include Showalter (his legacy of building teams that win the WS after he leaves), Francona, Robinson, and Baker. (I am honestly not sure if Scioscia fits on this list or not.) Aftert these skippers I would place Alou. This should not be seen as a personal slight against Alou, no one can do anything for 50 years without a strong knowledge of the sport, but that does not qualify him for the Hall of Fame.
Cooperstown should be reserved for the best of the best, not the best of the mediocre who held on a long time and deserve honorable mention (Sutter, Winfield). Alou does not qualify as a player or as a manager. So I am not even sure why this is an issue. There are many deserving Latin ball players who will be enshrined when the time comes, but unfortunately Alou does not cut it in my book.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
LIEBERMAN MUST STEP ASIDE!!!
I read first thing this morning, KL time being 12 hours earlier than NY that Senator Joseph I Lieberman had lost the democratic party primary in Connecticut to challenger Ned Lamont and that he is planning on continuing to run for Senators as an independent party candidate. This scares me enormously.
I am concerned that the Republicans might pull Alan Schlesinger from the race (which he would need to withdraw from under CT law), and replace him with a more formidable candidate. Or even worse that Joe cyphons votes away from Lamont and allows Schlesinger and the republicans to win a seat in the closely divided US Senate. Joe should respect the people of his party, the democratic party, who have told him they don't agree with his Iraq policy and how closely he works with President Bush. He should accept defeat and throw his support behind Mr. Lamont, which would ensure the party's seat in the Senate.
I realize that a few years ago he was the democratic VP candidate in 2000 and spent some time in 2004 actually running for president, but for better or worse he lost and now he needs to step aside and not tear Connecticut into pieces and jeopordize what he claims to have worked for in order to appease his ego.
So I will say for anyone and everyone to see, Joe drop out of this race. Don't embarrass yourself, your party, or your state. I am not sure who can influence him do the right thing, but the time is now before he inflicts more damage. The people have spoken, now please kindly exit and don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.
I am concerned that the Republicans might pull Alan Schlesinger from the race (which he would need to withdraw from under CT law), and replace him with a more formidable candidate. Or even worse that Joe cyphons votes away from Lamont and allows Schlesinger and the republicans to win a seat in the closely divided US Senate. Joe should respect the people of his party, the democratic party, who have told him they don't agree with his Iraq policy and how closely he works with President Bush. He should accept defeat and throw his support behind Mr. Lamont, which would ensure the party's seat in the Senate.
I realize that a few years ago he was the democratic VP candidate in 2000 and spent some time in 2004 actually running for president, but for better or worse he lost and now he needs to step aside and not tear Connecticut into pieces and jeopordize what he claims to have worked for in order to appease his ego.
So I will say for anyone and everyone to see, Joe drop out of this race. Don't embarrass yourself, your party, or your state. I am not sure who can influence him do the right thing, but the time is now before he inflicts more damage. The people have spoken, now please kindly exit and don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
2 Movie Reviews (A Libertarian's Perspective)
I am off to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia this week for business, and I have decided it is very far away from NYC. All told it will be about 18 hours total flight time. 6 hours from NY to London, then an additional 12 ½ to KL, that is not including the check-in at JFK and layover time at Heathrow, nor the kid in London who chickened off the flight in London, since he did not want to see his father and cost us another hour. I am now writing this at 38000 feet, somewhere above India, south east of New Delhi at 1:45 am (Eastern) 1:45 pm KL, according to the onboard navigation system.
I saw two movies on my way here that has struck a cord with me. The first was V for Vendetta, starring Natalie Portman (she looked great as usual) and Hugo Weaving. The story, based upon a DC Comic, takes place in a futuristic London society where the British government has become a totalitarian state, run by a conservative dictator, who has expertly gained power claiming that only his government can effectively protect its citizens. The government has obtained this power through a vast conspiracy where a number of government officials have set off three separate domestic terrorist attacks. They then find suitable seditionists and traitors, whom the government says are unpatriotic and they can be tried for treason. Then they are summarily found guilty executed and the government claims the country safer now that these internal threats have been eliminated.
What resonated with me, is how reasonable it was to see how a modern nation could snowball so quickly from its present state to this new fictional state. It was not hard to see the dominoes fall into place, and how easily the citizens were willing to sacrifice their personal liberties in order to become perceivably more safe and sound in the government’s bosom. It takes a disfigured and disenfranchised human guinea pig from the putsch who escaped, to take the form of Guy Fawkes, a 17th century terrorist who attempted to blow up parliament, and make the citizens question the government and the actions of its leaders when he suggests the same action now that the doomed Fawkes tried centuries before.
V: ...A building is a symbol, as is the act of destroying it. Symbols are given power by people. A symbol, in and of itself is powerless, but with enough people behind it, blowing up a building can change the world.
The second point that stayed with me was near the end, the action or rather inaction of the military when citizens dressed as Guy Fawkes start to march on Parliament. The military are awaiting orders from the civilian government, which has alreayd been destroyed by V, on how to proceeed. Luckily, for the citizens, the generals decide to stand down and allow the marchers to pass unscathed. This was interesting to me, since in most cases of actual insurrection the military will not fire upon its own citizens, those that they have been sworn to protect. I would have enjoyed seeing the generals given an order to stop the marches and having the citizen soldier disobey, with the underlying idea that his brother, mother, aunt, neighbor etc. might have been in the crowd. Either way, it was good to see the military not lash out at its own citizens, a refreshing change from reality.
The second movie was All The Presidents Men. I thought it was odd that a Malaysia Airlines flight would carry this old conspiracy story, which ultimately brought down President Richard Nixon, but it did. This film is still an amazing story about how two resourceful reporters were able to uncover a vast cover-up that obviously went all the way to the top of our government. It just begs the question, where is today’s Woodward and Bernstein, that is uncovering every rock on the (or any) current administration to ensure that what the government is doing is legal. In spite of my libertarian leanings or past postings, I am not currently implying that President Bush has done anything illegal, but rather it is the responsibility of the press to uncover the truth and report factually and without prejudice or bias, providing the citizens the facts allowing the people to decide public opinion. This is not the job of spin-meisters, talking heads or pollsters. Just think where we would be without Watergate? Scary huh?
I saw two movies on my way here that has struck a cord with me. The first was V for Vendetta, starring Natalie Portman (she looked great as usual) and Hugo Weaving. The story, based upon a DC Comic, takes place in a futuristic London society where the British government has become a totalitarian state, run by a conservative dictator, who has expertly gained power claiming that only his government can effectively protect its citizens. The government has obtained this power through a vast conspiracy where a number of government officials have set off three separate domestic terrorist attacks. They then find suitable seditionists and traitors, whom the government says are unpatriotic and they can be tried for treason. Then they are summarily found guilty executed and the government claims the country safer now that these internal threats have been eliminated.
What resonated with me, is how reasonable it was to see how a modern nation could snowball so quickly from its present state to this new fictional state. It was not hard to see the dominoes fall into place, and how easily the citizens were willing to sacrifice their personal liberties in order to become perceivably more safe and sound in the government’s bosom. It takes a disfigured and disenfranchised human guinea pig from the putsch who escaped, to take the form of Guy Fawkes, a 17th century terrorist who attempted to blow up parliament, and make the citizens question the government and the actions of its leaders when he suggests the same action now that the doomed Fawkes tried centuries before.
V: ...A building is a symbol, as is the act of destroying it. Symbols are given power by people. A symbol, in and of itself is powerless, but with enough people behind it, blowing up a building can change the world.
The second point that stayed with me was near the end, the action or rather inaction of the military when citizens dressed as Guy Fawkes start to march on Parliament. The military are awaiting orders from the civilian government, which has alreayd been destroyed by V, on how to proceeed. Luckily, for the citizens, the generals decide to stand down and allow the marchers to pass unscathed. This was interesting to me, since in most cases of actual insurrection the military will not fire upon its own citizens, those that they have been sworn to protect. I would have enjoyed seeing the generals given an order to stop the marches and having the citizen soldier disobey, with the underlying idea that his brother, mother, aunt, neighbor etc. might have been in the crowd. Either way, it was good to see the military not lash out at its own citizens, a refreshing change from reality.
The second movie was All The Presidents Men. I thought it was odd that a Malaysia Airlines flight would carry this old conspiracy story, which ultimately brought down President Richard Nixon, but it did. This film is still an amazing story about how two resourceful reporters were able to uncover a vast cover-up that obviously went all the way to the top of our government. It just begs the question, where is today’s Woodward and Bernstein, that is uncovering every rock on the (or any) current administration to ensure that what the government is doing is legal. In spite of my libertarian leanings or past postings, I am not currently implying that President Bush has done anything illegal, but rather it is the responsibility of the press to uncover the truth and report factually and without prejudice or bias, providing the citizens the facts allowing the people to decide public opinion. This is not the job of spin-meisters, talking heads or pollsters. Just think where we would be without Watergate? Scary huh?
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