Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Book Him

Not too long ago I wrote about A.J. Jacobs' new book, The Year of Living Biblically, and how much I was enjoying reading it. Well, A.J. will be at the Barnes & Noble in Kenmore Square tomorrow night, November 1, at 7 p.m. I'll be there. If you live in the Boston area, you should come on down and meet me, have a book signed, get to know the man himself. I'm sure it'll be a fun event. If you don't live in Boston, head over to your favorite local bookseller and pick up a copy for yourself. Year of Living Biblically is a very good, thought-provoking, and also very funny book. (And that's my friendly plug for the day.)

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Boo!

Happy Halloween, y'all! Do you know why this day is important? Because starting tomorrow, I am in full-on compilation mode for this year's edition of A Very Marty Christmas. That's right, kids: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around the offices of Martin's Musings. I can't believe it's less than two months away. Talk about scary! But for now, go out and eat all the candy you want and enjoy your Halloween.

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Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Good Times Never Seemed So Good

What a great day for a parade! Perfect fall weather, with blue skies and mild temperatures, plus my boss gave us her blessing to go ... it all worked out perfectly. And the parade itself was awesome. I headed down to Copley Square around 11 to meet up with Nina, staked out my place in front of 545 Boylston St. (not too far from where I was in 2004), and was ready for when the Sox came rolling through. I thought the parade would lose something without the water component, but I have to say, the second the duckboats got to Copley Square — coincidentally, the same time as when the sun moved to be right in the way of some picture-taking — and the crowds went crazy, I forgot there was anything lacking.

It was so cool, so exciting, so loud, so great out there. I had a blast. I even cheered for Dice-K. And when the boats passed us by, I didn't want the experience to end, so Nina and I separated and I darted up along the route, down Boylston, along the Four Seasons hotel, and up through the Common to right in front of the movie theater. There were a ton of people out there, but somehow I was able to be quite nimble and weave through the crowds.

Anyway, I got plenty of pictures of the day, though none, really, of Mike Lowell or Youk, and in all my photos of Beckett you can't see his face. But I got a ton of Jacoby Ellsbury and Bobby Kielty, and enough of Tina Cervasio to last me all through the winter. About two and a half hours after I left, I returned to the office a very happy guy. It was certainly difficult to concentrate the rest of the afternoon. Some folks I work with were bummed that they couldn't get out of the office to check it all out, but I told them not to worry — they'll just go next year.

I suppose the real bummer of it all is how quickly the whole thing went. The Sox just won the World Series on Sunday night at midnight, and by 2:30 Tuesday afternoon, the parade was over. There was hardly any time to let it all sink in, or for long distance members of the Nation (like my friend Rebecca) to get to town. Personally, I wish the parade had been on Thursday, not just because I have the day off from work, but because then the celebration could last a little longer. But these last couple weeks sure were fun while they lasted. There were ups and downs, but mostly ups. And frankly, I can't wait to do it all again a year from now. Go Sox! (And if you're interested, here's a link to my other parade photos.)

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Monday, October 29, 2007

Raise That Flag High Again

RED SOX ARE WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS for the SECOND TIME IN FOUR YEARS!!! YEEAAAAHHH!!!!!! This is AWESOME!!!!!!! Mike Lowell is Series MVP!!!!! WOO HOO!!!!!! Bring on the parade!!!!



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Sunday, October 28, 2007

WOW!

52-7? Holy frickin' cow! That's amazing! It's just a shame that's going to be totally overlooked in tomorrow's papers due to the Sox winning the Series (if they can do it tonight).

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One More Reason to Be Nice to Your Neighbors

Yes, I know. Sometimes I can be a real jerk.

Case in point: I saw this sign hanging in the lobby of my building this afternoon. Now, I don't know who this person is, but I know it's been about two months and she still hasn't taken the old resident's name off the mailbox and replaced it with her own. I also know that I don't like any of the new folks who live in my building. If I liked this person, I wouldn't mock her poor spelling or bad grammar. I mean, how do you misspell lost?? And if you do, wouldn't you just start over on a new piece of paper? Also, who (mis)spells "thanx" with the k? I mean, really. Use a computer, where you have the luxury of spell check. Maybe then your sign will get attention for the right reasons. I don't have this woman's "pavcel," and this sign — not to mention all the other crap I've had to deal with — doesn't make me want to help her find it.

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Falling All Over

Some days just scream out to be photographed. Today is a great example. Perfect blue sky, colorful leaves in trees ... awesome. Thank God I had my camera handy. This pic has desktop written all over it (if you have a Mac, that is).

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Welcome to Boston, Dice-K

Well, that was close. Or at least it was for a little while. The Rockies realized their season didn't actually end after the ALCS, played a couple good innings of baseball, but then went back to their winter break. Meanwhile, Dice-K ... what can I say? I haven't been his biggest fan — or any fan, really — this year, but the guy was great in Game Three. It only took six months, but he finally showed up, just in time for the World Series. Great pitching, great fielding, and some great hitting too. Jebus, it's about time. And Ellsbury (Series MVP!) and Pedroia, well, it's just exciting watching those guys play. I love when they hog the spotlight and take all the attention away from Papi and Manny. Not that I dislike Papi and Manny, but everyone's favorite rookies make these games more fun. We're now one game away from winning it all for the second time in four years, and while Sox fans know not to be too confident, things sure are looking good.

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Saturday, October 27, 2007

Where Art Thou

Amy and I were supposed to go with John to WaterFire down in Providence today, but the rain sure did put a crimp in our plan. So, we decided to make our way over to the ICA finally. And I've gotta say, I wasn't impressed. Generally I prefer contemporary art to the stuff that's typically at the MFA, and I'm a guy who practically sprinted through the Louvre, so I thought it'd be cool to visit a place that featured an exhibit where advertising and Nike sneakers were looked at as art. And some of it was cool, but the museum itself was lackluster. It's smaller than it looks in pictures (all the exhibits — and by all, I mean all two — are on one of the ICA's four floors), and the industrial design of the place is so cold and unwelcoming that I didn't enjoy looking at the exhibits as much as I wanted to. I just can't say I found the ICA to be a must-go destination with out-of-towners or a place to go when I'm looking for something to do. Oh well. But on the good side, because we didn't go to Providence, we were both home in time to watch Game Three. So it wasn't all bad.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Yawn

One big difference between ’04 and ’07 is the fact that I just haven't been able to stay up to watch the baseball games this week like I could three years ago. I was falling asleep during game one, and because it was a blowout, I almost called it a night somewhere around the fifth or sixth inning — until I forced myself to stay awake and I got a second wind. No such luck last night. Despite a close game, I nodded off on the couch late in the game and totally missed most of the eight inning and the top of the ninth. I woke up to the sound of Maria Stephanos’ voice and just went right to bed, without even knowing if we’d won or lost. And I’d be totally embarrassed to admit that, except that as I walked into the kitchen here at work this morning, it seemed to be a common type of story. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still wicked excited about the World Series, and I still want the Sox to win (although I’ve changed my prediction from six games to five), but there’s something about this series that just makes me so ... tired. (Yeah, I'm totally getting old too soon.)

In related news, it’s worth noting that — WOO HOO!!!! — we’re up two games to none! I mean, hey, Sox fans know as well as anyone that that means squat. But given how the series has been going so far, it’s all good. And kudos to the Boston Herald headline writers for their cover line today: Old Faithful, with a picture of Curt Schilling. Nice job. And muchas gracias to Jacoby Ellsbury for the free taco. Bueno! I've never once eaten at Taco Bell, but in your honor, I may have to make an exception. But I still want to know who that guy Royce Clayton is. I know he's an actual player, but of all people, why was he miked up by Fox? The way he was going on with Coco about the tacos on Wednesday, and then again last night with Jacoby after the big steal, it was like the guy was a total plant. Who is this guy??

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Thursday, October 25, 2007

Well That Was Easy

One game down, three more to go! Nice work, Josh. And what offense! Whoa! I think the boys are still hitting and scoring as you're reading this. I guess the Rockies are still enjoying their days off. Maybe they won't come back to play again until April. That'd be good. Boring, perhaps, but hey, I'm not complaining. Bring on game two!

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Tuesday, October 23, 2007

The Good Ole Days

There's been a lot of talk this week about how 2004 compares to 2007 as far as the Red Sox are concerned. If you ask me, no one's captured the greatness, the emotion, the good vibes, the happy memories, or the excitement of the Idiot Year like Bob Hohler did in today's Globe. Check out his article and tell me you don't feel the same. By name dropping folks like Curtis Leskanic or Byung-Hyun Kim (two guys I haven't thought about in three years), or listing the ubiquitous t-shirt slogans from that year, or giving many examples of why and how the entire city came together, Hohler paints a great portrait of that time. I highly recommend giving it a read. Nice job, Bob.

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Holy Giant Turkey, Batman!

Can't stop laughing at this picture from today's Boston Globe (here's a link to the story). It was taken on Beacon Street in Brookline, not too far from where I live. People, that thing weighs 20 pounds and stands four feet tall! Can you believe it?? Look at it walking down the street! And I thought living with the B.U. kids was tough. I'm not going to mess with this thing if I ever see it on my street. (Want more about the turkeys? Click here.)

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Yeah, Right

So I was chatting with my friend Todd on Monday about (no surprise) the Red Sox and the World Series. (Seriously, is there anything else to talk about right now?) And I told him I was predicting — for purely selfish reasons — that the Sox would win it in six games, because then they'd do it at home, on Halloween, and the parade would likely take place on Friday, November 2, a day I'm already scheduled to have off from work. And Todd countered with his own prediction, which was so specific and absurd that I asked if I could share it here. He said yes. Keep in mind, this was all off the top of his head, stream of consciousness style, as we chatted on Instant Messenger, and I've just cleaned it up for the blog. Aside from that, this is exactly as Todd wrote it, word-for-word:

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Game One
Josh Beckett throws a perfect game for nine innings, but this is one of those nights that it just doesn't happen for Red Sox offense. We go to the tenth in a scoreless tie. Beckett gives up a solo shot to Matt Holliday. Papelbon comes in and shuts it down the rest of the way. In the bottom of the 10th, Ellsbury reaches on an error by Troy Tulowitzki. Lugo sacrifices him to second. Pedroia hits a long fly that bounces around the Fenway outfield, and when it's over he's standing on third. Youkilis gets him home on a sac fly. Sox win game one, 2-1.

Game Two
Schilling has nothing and fails to make it out of the first inning. His line: 2/3 of an inning, 6 hits, five runs (all earned), two walks, no Ks, one home run. The game devloves from there into an avalanche of bad pitching. Final score: Rockies 10, Red Sox 8. Series tied 1-1.

Game Three
Postponed due to snow. It finally starts three days later. Dice-K shows he was the perfect pitcher — for the thin air of Colorado: 8 innings, 1 earned run, 14 Ks. Sox win, 3-1 and lead the series, 2-1.

Game Four
After the three-day delay, both Game 1 starters are back. But this time, Beckett is mortal, giving up 3 runs in seven innings of work and again, the Sox give him just about nothing to work with. The final score is 4-2 Rockies. Series tied, 2-2.

Game Five
Schilling again makes some sort of crazy remark about how he has to do his job, blah blah blah, and again, The Best Postseason Pitcher of All Time has nothing. His line: 2 innings pitched, 12 hits, 7 runs all earned, 5 walks, 2 Ks, 2 HR. Final Score: a 13-3 pasting by the Rockies. Rockies lead 3-2, and back to Boston we go.

Game Six
Matsuzaka stares into his locker for 16 straight hours before the game, and this time fails: 5 innings, 5 runs, Sox down 5-3 going into the sixth. And then the top four in the Red Sox lineup take over. Pedroia hits a solo shot, Youk and Papi get on, and Manny hits a predictable 3-run shot over the Monster that everybody but Clint Hurdle saw coming. Sox lead 7-5, and it doesn't stop there. Sox return the favor with a pasting of their own. Final score, 22(!!)-13(!!!). The game takes five hours, 15 minutes to play, ending at 1:45 a.m. Eastern time. Series tied, 3-3.

Game Seven
On the evening of Game Seven, Boston gets its worst snowstorm in 15 years. Two feet of snow at Logan forces, for the first time ever, moving the game! It is rescheduled at ... Yankee Stadium! (Hey, it's my prediction. I can say what I like!) OK, so the Yankee faithful turn out IN FORCE to root for the Rockies, and they are treated to a terrible ball game. The first three innings feature 15 hits (total — both teams), but none makes it out of the infield, and five of those hits really should be ruled errors. Tim McCarver mumbles something incoherent about the two snow delays and moving the game being incredibly meaningful. During the mid-game interviews, Manny Ramirez is quoted as saying, "It's so fuckin' cold, I wish we'd lost to Cleveland!" At the end of nine innings, the score is tied 7-7. The temperature is 18 degrees ... and it starts to snow. Bud Selig meets with the umpires and calls the game. He says it is to resume in one week ... in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

OK, now it's Thanksgiving Day in San Juan, top of the 10th, 7-7 tie. Dominican fans have made the short trip to PR to root for Manny and Papi. Papelbon, of course, is available to pitch — since he pitched a scoreless 8th and 9th a week earlier — and now he is fresh as a daisy. Ks the side. That brings up Papi. Dominican fans in San Juan going nuts. Papi hits a long fly — off the top of the wall! Willy Taveras, in the process of fielding the ball, has a seizure. So Brad Hawpe comes over to get the ball out of Taveras' glove. Meanwhile Papi is chugging around the bases. Taveras' seizure has contracted the muscles in his hand — Hawpe can't get the ball out!! Papi is being waved around third — but oh no! Hawpe has fielded the ball and thrown a STRIKE home. There's going to be a play at the plate! Papi barrels into the catcher — and Fox loses the signal from San Juan due to Hurricane Zipporah!!! The Hurricane is miles off the coast and not interfering with the game, but still manages to fuck up the Fox signal. Everybody has to wait a day to find out what happened ......... SAFE! Sox win, 8-7. Red Sox win the World Series, four games to three, on a Big Papi inside-the-park home run. In San Juan. On Thanksgiving Day. And Red Sox Nation has much to be thankful for. The End.
- - - - - - -

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ...

Kerri, a mutual friend, says she'll pay Todd $500 if this comes true. I've told Todd I'll double that bet. I think our money's safe.

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Monday, October 22, 2007

Still a Wet Blanket

You may remember that on January 24, I posted something about a woman named Susie Davidson who had written the biggest wet blanket letter to the editor I'd ever seen. Well now she's at it again, starting a blog for Bostonians who are not Red Sox or baseball fans. Just reading her first post makes me want to throw my computer out the window:

<< We actually become Yankees fans by default, even though we never pay attention to their own games. We love being in New York and other states where there is not a Red Sox cap to be seen.
Shall I go on? Please post and join in! Send this blog to other sites like Boston.com!
>>

That's right, she's looking for attention. And sure, I've gone and given her some. But puh-leeze. Her whole site — or at least the entire first posting — is all about how she's had letters printed in the Globe and Herald. It's all well and good to dislike sports or sports fans — and you already know I'm fascinated by people who are oblivious to the sports going on all around them — but to do it just for attention? That's pretty lame.

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Face It

What's with, like, all my friends and lots of other folks all of a sudden joining Facebook and LinkedIn? Not a day goes by lately where I'm not getting an e-mail from one of these sites asking if I'm actually someone's friend or if I wish to be connected to someone. I don't mind being in the networks — it takes just two seconds to say yes — but really, does anyone actually use these sites for something worthwhile? The only time I ever do anything with them is when I get one of these e-mails that I've been poked or someone's posted something on my "wall" or taken a quiz or answered some random question that has been automatically selected for me or whatever. I joined LinkedIn, but I don't know that I've done anything on the site since that initial sign-in (other than hitting Accept). Facebook I don't do anything on unless someone does something to me. I've got much more interesting things to do than keep checking that site to see what everyone's up to. Some friends of mine swear by it and say they love it. Really? I mean, seriously. I guess I just don't see the big deal.

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Ha!

So according to Universal Hub, some woman called for emergency assistance last night during the seventh inning of the big game because she bit her tongue and it was bleeding. Of course, when the EMT got there, the bleeding had stopped. Now, the stupid woman aside, you may be asking yourself what else could have been keeping the EMTs busy last night? According to an anonymous commenter, "all ambulances were sent to Fenway after a mass choking was reported in the visitors' dugout." Ha!

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The Real Thing

It would be all too easy to dismiss Lars and the Real Girl as a quirky comedy. After all, it's a movie about a guy (Lars, played by Ryan Gosling) who buys a Real Doll and treats it like she is legitimately real and his girlfriend. But Lars is much better than that description. In fact, it's one of my favorite movies of the year.

In the film, Lars is an awkward, introverted loner who, despite living in the garage of his brother and sister-in-law's house, and despite their attempts to involve him in their life, chooses to stick to himself rather than spend time with others. One day, Lars announces he has a girlfriend, Bianca, and to his family's surprise, they learn she is a sex doll. Lars' interactions with Bianca are very real (minus the sex — apparently, they're both Christian and won't even sleep in the same bedroom), and he becomes much more comfortable and outgoing around her. When his brother and sister consult a doctor (Patricia Clarkson) about how to deal with the situation, she gives them the questionable advice to go along with the illusion. Soon the entire town is also pretending that Bianca is real.

But Lars isn't pretending. Instead, he's delusional because all his life, he's been abandoned: his mother died at childbirth, his father was emotionally absent, and his brother left home as early as he possibly could, returning only after their father passed away. Now Lars sees others' happiness all around (his brother and sister-in law are expecting a child, for example) and rather than taking emotional risks and letting people in, he's avoiding any potential hurt and sticking with the one "person" he knows will never leave him.

To the credit of director Craig Gillespie and writer Nancy Oliver, Lars isn't a movie filled with cheap laughs. Sure, you can't help but giggle when Bianca is invited to school board meetings or asked to volunteer at the local hospital, or when she's getting her hair done at the salon. And maybe it is a little too easy and unreal that the entire town seems to buy into the conceit that Bianca is real. But really, she becomes almost as real to the audience as she is to Lars, meaning we become as invested in the relationship as he is. So much credit for that is due to Gosling, who creates a beautiful portrait of a lonely man who finally finds happiness and can't see how abnormal it is. It's not a winking, knowing performance. In fact, the character engenders so much sympathy that as it goes on, the film actually becomes quite sad. Damn if it didn't bring a tear to my eye toward the end.

In a way, I hate movies like Lars because they tap into a part of me that can identify with loneliness and feelings of abandonment. But I also really love them, especially when they're as well made and "real" as this one is. Lars is going to fly under the radar in a sea of Gone Baby Gones and American Gangsters. But it's a truly sweet movie that deserves to be seen. I'm giving it an A–.

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Oh, What a Beautiful Morning

I was up till 1:30 a.m. watching post-game coverage, then couldn’t sleep cuz I had that Dropkick Murphys song on a repeat loop in my head all night long, so I’m like the rest of the city today, bleary-eyed and dead tired. How I would much rather be anywhere else but at my desk. But it’s gonna be 80 degrees out, the sun is shining, the Sox are ALCS champions, we’re going to the World Series, there's a palpable buzz in the air, and damn if it doesn’t feel great to be alive today.

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YEEEAAAAHHHHH !!!!!!

WE DID IT !!!!! GO RED SOX !!!! AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONS !!!!!! I love that the heroes of the game were folks like Ellsbury and Pedroia, and that Coco redeemed himself on that last play. And even Dice-K did well !!! (It's about time.) YEEEAAAAHHHH !!! Love that Dirty Water !!! WE WON !!!!! This is so awesome !!!! Bring on the Rockies !!! Game one on Wednesday night at Fenway !!! LET'S GO RED SOX !!! WOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOO !!!!

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Sunday, October 21, 2007

Have You Seen Him?

To paraphrase the ad ... there is only one Dane Cook. And thank God for that. But it seems there's also only one Dane Cook TV spot. Does Fox really have to show it so often? It's become more annoying than the repeated playing of "Cleveland Rocks." How far will he go? If you ask me, he's already gone far enough. I hope Cook didn't make any spots to be played during the World Series. (On the other hand, I love, love, love those Wes Anderson–directed AT&T ads.)

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At Least He Was Polite

Maybe I am getting old. As I was getting home this evening, one of my younger new neighbors was also coming in the front door. So being the nice guy that I am, I held the door open for him. He responded by saying, "Thank you, sir." Ouch.

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Local Boy Makes Good

In the opening scene of Gone Baby Gone, Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) talks about how the neighborhood you grow up in is what makes you who you are. And clearly, that pedigree is all over Ben Affleck's film. I'm a Brookline kind of guy, and I don't know Dorchester from anything, but this movie just feels, looks, and sounds authentic. (And for the record, yes, I know Ben's from Cambridge, not Dorchester. Close enough.) From the accents (though they're stronger at the beginning than at the end) to the shots of the streets and people of the neighborhood, there's no mistaking that this is a set-in-Boston movie. Hell, Ben even gives a special thanks to Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz in the closing credits.

Gone tells the story of the search for a missing four-year-old Dorchester girl. Early on in the search, the girl's frantic aunt hires Kenzie, an investigator who gets people to talk because he's a local boy and knows the neighborhood and, most importantly, works independently of the police. Kenzie works with his girlfriend, Angie (Michelle Monaghan), and the two initially feel like they are in over their heads because the cases they typically get involved with don't ever involve the possibility of a dead body. But they uncover some details the police weren't paying attention to, and soon they're also collaborating with two cops (including one played by Ed Harris) and their Chief (Morgan Freeman). And that's just part of it. Based on the novel by Dennis Lehane (who also wrote the book Mystic River), and adapted by Affleck and Lehane with Aaron Stockard, it's a layered plot with twists and turns that I didn't see coming.

Acting across the board is excellent, from Casey Affleck on down. Clearly, working with his brother suits Casey (though he was also good in The Assassination of Jesse James ...). But Ben's made a compelling movie that is a great compliment to Clint Eastwood's Mystic River, with its working-class neighborhood setting and missing person plotline. It's pretty exciting that the movie turned out so well, because I think deep down Affleck's a good, decent guy (and he certainly has great taste in women), and he was due for something to turn out so well. I mean, you could say the guy didn't really stretch himself, given that this is such a Boston-centric film. But Gone Baby Gone more than that, more than Good Will Hunting too, and it's a very impressive achievement. I'm giving Gone Baby Gone an A–.

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Saturday, October 20, 2007

Cleveland Rocked

What a difference a week makes. Gagne learned how to pitch, JD Drew came through, Schilling had stuff, and we won! Woo hoo! Go Sox! But the best part? No "Cleveland Rocks" between innings! Bring on game seven!

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Friday, October 19, 2007

Don't Count Your Chickens

Here's a good way to ensure you'll lose the ALCS: start selling championship t-shirts before you've actually won it. Go Sox!

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Thursday, October 18, 2007

It Is??!?

Did you know the Head of the Charles was this weekend? Yeah, neither did I. Didn't this event used to be a big deal around these parts? (I said the same thing two years ago.) Hmmmmm ...

Quiet Down, Kids

Over the past two months, I've been in touch with my building management company a couple times about the increase, not just in noise, but in the lack of respect for neighbors in my building. First there was the flute and violin playing next door, then there were the doors constantly being propped open, and then there were the parties two weekends in a row where college students would hang out right outside the front door of the building until early hours of the morning, talking loudly and smoking. And it's not that I have a problem with them smoking, per se, it's just that the weather was nice those nights and my windows were open, and the smell of the cigarettes wafted up to my apartment. And worse, on Columbus Day, I left the building and found all kinds of trash — cigarette butts, empty cigarette boxes, crushed cans of beer — in the flowerbeds outside the front door.

When the building managers told me that if I had a problem with the noise in the future, I should just call the Brookline police, I thought that was going a little too far. But now I see that I'm not alone and in fact, there have been problems with college students all over Brookline. My friend Berk forwarded me the latest e-newsletter from the Town of Brookline, which contained this item:

<< Over the last two weekends, the Brookline Police Department has initiated a concerted effort to deal with the quality of life issues that have been eroding from the neighborhoods adjacent to Boston University. As the student population has increased exponentially in the neighborhood over the last five or six years, neighbors have been subjected to a campuslike atmosphere that has greatly disturbed the tranquility of their lives. Loud parties and roving college students (some under the influence of alcohol) being loud and disruptive along the streets have been a frequent scene during Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. To try and bring this behavior under control the Brookline Police have assigned extra patrols over the last two weekends and plan to continue until the problem is brought under control.

During the last two weekends the Brookline Police Department has seen numbers of students arrested or summons into court for such violations as public drinking, disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, minors in possession of alcohol, drug offenses, driving under the influence of alcohol, and protective custody. The students have all been from Boston University.

The Brookline Police Department will continue its efforts to bring this aberrant behavior under control until the campus like behavior of the student residents of the neighborhoods ceases, and a more community style atmosphere, in which one another’s right to peaceful coexistence is restored.
>>

Blah blah blah, if you're going to live so close to B.U. you should know what you're getting into. Sure, whatever. I've made no secret of how much I enjoy it when the students aren't here, but as any Bostonian must, I've learned to live with them when they are. After all, I was in college once too (even if it was a bit more tranquil). And hell, I've even lived in Allston. But I've lived here in this building on a quiet street in Brookline for more than five and a half years and I've never seen or heard it as bad as it's been these past two months. It can't just be the increased number of college students, though that is a factor. There have always been college students here and there always will be. It must be an increase in the type of students: selfish ones who just don't care about their noise level and have no consideration for their neighbors and who feel that they're just as entitled to enjoy living here as the rest of us. And that last part is true, but those who are causing so much of a disturbance should be a little more respectful.

Anyway, even though I have yet to contact the police (and I don't think I will), I guess it's nice to know that I'm not the only one complaining. Let's see if there's strength in numbers and we can get things back the way they used to be.

(Jeeeeez, writing this post makes me feel so old!)

Update, 9:45 a.m.: According to Universal Hub (who got it from B.U.'s Daily Free Press), B.U. students are planning a protest of Brookline police where they'd congregate outside multiple residential buildings peacefully, just waiting for the police to arrive and arrest them. Oh, please. That's so typical, and pretty indicative of why we residents are annoyed in the first place.

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Wednesday, October 17, 2007

It's Torture

The tagline for the movie Rendition is "What if someone you love ... just disappeared?" Well, it seems apt to paraphrase it for this review: What if a movie starring Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Meryl Streep ... one that dealt with a topical subject like torturing suspected terrorists ... one where the two apparent leads apparently fell in love off-screen ... suddenly disappeared? I mean, did you know the movie was being released this Friday? I haven't seen a single ad, article, TV spot, or heard anything about it. It's almost as if the New Line doesn't even want you to know it exists.

Well, you should thank them. Rendition is actually a pretty awful movie. Reese's Egyptian husband is taken into protective custody and shipped off to North Africa after he's suspected of being involved in a terrorist bombing. Jake's on the team that does the torturing, but apparently he's conflicted about it (I say apparently because he doesn't show any emotion at all). Streep is the apparently Southern CIA agent who orders and then covers up these torture interrogations, known as extraordinary rendition. (Oh, and I say apparently in Streep's case because it took about half the movie for me to realize she was speaking with a twang in her voice. It's definitely the worst accent she's ever done.) Peter Sarsgaard plays an aide to a Senator (Alan Arkin); apparently, Sarsgaard's character went to school with Reese's. (Again, apparently because they don't look at all like they're the same age — in fact, Sarsgaard is five years older than Reese.) Oh, and did I mention that Reese's character is pregnant and at one point when she goes into labor after a tense confrontation (you knew that would happen, didn't you?), someone actually stops to ask her, "Are you alright?" And all this is without mentioning the film's chronology of events, which is totally confusing and jumbled up just to make it seem more "artsy." (And if you're interested, Reese and Jake never once act together here. It's like they're in two different movies.)

Reese's husband is the one being tortured, but really, it's the moviegoers who are enduring the worst of it. I've definitely seen worse movies, but this one surely ranks as one of the worst of this year. No wonder you're not hearing anything about it. I give Rendition a D.

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Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Enough Is Enough

It's bad enough we gave up seven runs in one inning, had our third straight pitcher unable to pitch five full innings, and we're now down 3 games to 1 in the ALCS. But did Joe Buck and Tim McCarver have to bring up — not once or twice but at least three times — that today, October 16, is the fourth anniversary of the fateful ALCS game seven against the Yankees? After winning the World Series in 2004, it's safe to say that wound has healed (maybe not completely, but it no longer stings). It's amazing that even when the Yankees aren't even playing, the guys on Fox still show their loyalty.

As for me, I'm already thinking back to the good old days of spring training. I'm hopeful that Beckett will pick us up on Thursday and shift the momentum back our way. But at this point, it's just not looking good. It's not that I'm giving up; I'm not. But this isn't 2004. I think the season may actually be coming to a close this time.

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Monday, October 15, 2007

It's Not Over

Sure, I could blast Dice-K for giving up four runs and six hits over just four-plus innings (again), but I'm feeling generous tonight for some reason. After all, his six strikeouts were impressive. Maybe it's Post-Gagne Syndrome, but to me, even Dice-K didn't look so bad tonight. (I'm not going to say he was good, because he wasn't. But he didn't suck.) And I could also lament the fact that we had plenty of scoring opportunities but couldn't get anything in. But I won't.

Yes, for a change I'm going to stay positive after a Sox and Dice-K loss. I'll say it looks like we're actually going to need six games to win this thing. We can do that. I hate that we lost the game tonight, but there's still a lot more baseball to play and we're not out of it yet. Go Sox!

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Sunday, October 14, 2007

A Real Bang Up Job

Jesse James was like the evil Brad Pitt of his day, and with no US Weekly or Perez Hilton around to immediately document his exploits, his legend only loomed larger because of how stories of his crimes were passed on. So it makes perfect sense that in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, James is played by the male half of Brangelina himself, Mr. Pitt. In this very Terrence Malick–esque film, Robert Ford (the very good Casey Affleck) works his way into his idol's gang and attempts to befriend James. But Ford learns that the legend and the man are two very different things, and soon he's plotting against James to bring him down.

Yes, that's a very long title. It's also a very long movie (2:40). But like a good Malick film (The Thin Red Line, for example, not The New World), this is slow and deliberately paced — with many shots of the sky and moving clouds — without being interminable. There's a folksy-sounding narrator that can slow down the proceedings (and every time his voice chimes in, the film goes to a fisheye-type lens that blurs the focus on the edges of the frame), but the story is compelling enough that it doesn't really drag. Pitt makes a good Jesse James; he plays him rough and edgy, letting James come off as the questionably worthy celebrity that he is, and just as Ford takes him off the pedestal, so do we as viewers.

The story of the assassination of Jesse James has been previously immortalized in the song "Jesse James," which Bruce Springsteen sang on his Seeger Sessions album. It's a great song and a great cover of the song. The movie version of the story is also quite good, and I'm going to give TAoJJbtCRF a B+.

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F'in Gagne!!!

Eric Gagne, I've said it before and I'll say it again: YOU SUCK!!!!!

Other than that ... uh, um, ah, what the hell happened in game two?

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Tuesday, October 09, 2007

A Tale of Two Cities


As a Red Sox fan, it should come as no surprise that I'm real psyched about the Yankees loss in the ALDS. Even though it would have been nice to play a beat-up team like the Yankees, it'll be even better to play the Indians in the ALCS for a change and to not have to hear the same ole same ole hyped up rivalry talk. And to not have to deal with A-Rod's weasly antics or any of that crap. I think we'll beat the Tribe in six. Either way, I'm really looking forward to the series. It's going to be a good one.

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Monday, October 08, 2007

Game Over

And that's three! The Yankees are done.


Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha...!

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