wildyams

I have a lot to blog about because I have been very busy lately, mainly because my sister, Johnetta, is in town, and so I've been out every night for a week, and was out all day Saturday, and most of Sunday as well, so it's really been quite a departure lately from my norm of sitting around and doing as little as possible. But since that all continues for at least the next two nights, and probably beyond that as well, I'll get to that some other time. In this entry I want to talk about how excited I am about a few movies lately.

A little while ago I was beginning to worry that this was going to be a bad year for movies, even though there have been some good ones, and even a great one or two; but suffice it to say that I am no longer worried about any of that, and it is due mainly to two movies I have seen in the past week, and a few more that are soon to come out. The first movie I saw lately was Shaun of the Dead, which was absolutely awesome. It's so good that after seeing it on Thursday with Jen, I went again on Sunday with Johnetta to see it, and she loved it as well. It's extremely funny, and it actually does have a few scares here and there in it (the "make you jump" kinda scares, not the nightmare-inducing kind of scares). It's a very well-done movie, and I would reccomend it to anyone, even to people who are not traditionally fans of zombie movies (although since it is rather referential to zombie movies, it is probably more enjoyable if you're familiar with the genre; but it's great either way).

The second movie I saw which I absolutely loved was I Heart Huckabees, which I just saw last night with Jen. David O'Russell directed Huckabees, and considering that his previous two movies were Flirting with Disaster and Three Kings that was enough to convice me to go see whatever his new movie would be, because both of those movies are really fantastic, and both are such different kinds of movies. Huckabees definitely did not disappoint. It was arguably the funniest movie I've seen all year, maybe even funnier than Napoleon Dynamite (although that's a tough one, because they're both so distinctive in their kind of humor). Anyway, if you wanna see a really smart, fast-paced, crazy comedy, go see Huckabees.

Before Huckabees last night, they ran a trailer for the new movie by Alexander Payne, and I couldn't have been more excited. As you may recall, after seeing About Schmidt (which I absolutely loved) I said that Payne was a filmmaker I would be sure to remember; so seeing the preview for his next movie was really fantastic. Plus, Paul Giamatti is in it, and looks to be playing one of his classic roles, and that alone should be worth it.

Finally the last movie that I'm really excited to see is a horror/thriller movie coming out later this month called Saw. It is really getting a lot of good word-of-mouth right now, and being called a very scary, thought-provoking, original movie. If you haven't heard of it, here are a couple trailers for it you should check out: Theatrical trailer, some other disturbing trailer, additional disturbing trailer. About a week ago I got my weekly email from The Arclight about upcoming movie events there, and one of them was a sneak-preview of Saw a week before it comes out, followed by a Q&A session with the writer and director, so I got tickets for myself and J. Krue for that just as it was selling out.

So anyway, it's a good time for film fans, and I'm happy to be around to see all these great movies :grin

Didn't we do this a year ago?

Here we go again. Tuesday the Yankees and Red Sox will play ANOTHER 7 game series to determine who gets to go to the World Series representing the American League. It has now been about 85 years since the Red Sox won the world championship, and they are once again facing their nemesis, the hated Yankees, and I am once again hoping beyond hope that they can pull it off. They are pretty red hot right now though, having swept the Angels in the first round, and they have a better team this year than they did last year (with VASTLY improved pitching now that Curt Shilling is the #1 pitcher and with Keith Foulke as their closer). The Yankees pitching is worse this year than it was a year ago, but they have arguably the best hitting lineup that any team in history has ever had (just rivalling other former Yankee teams, naturally :roll).

Anyway, once again, for those who don't know, the Yankees-Red Sox thing is a rather weird thing in sports. It is probably the most intense rivalry in sports, but it is also almost unquestionably the most one-sided rivalry in sports with the Yankees winning every major battle between these two teams for the better part of 80 years. On top of that, both teams represent the opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to luck and glory in sports over that time period, with the Yankees winning virtually everything, holding almost every record, and most of the best players having played for them; while the Red Sox have almost cornered the market on ways to blow it when it counts. Last year before this same series I wrote about how I remebered the Red Sox blowing a two-run lead, while only being one out away from the 1986 championship. This year I can write about how I remember the Red Sox blowing a 3 run lead while being 5 outs away from finally defeating the hated Yankees and moving on to the World Series. That's right, last year in the deciding Game 7, the Sox were up 5-2 in the 8th inning before allowing the Yankees to tie it, and then win it on a home run off the first pitch of the 11th innning.

Just as last year, I'm going to assume that once again the Red Sox will either get creamed by the Yankees or will suffer some legendary collapse and lose in the most painful way possible. While logically I can say that the Red Sox may actually have the better team, and have a great shot at winning this time, I just know that it is probably not in the cards for them. Sooner or later they have to get past the Yankees, but considering how long and storied the tradition of failure has been for the Red Sox, in particular against the Yankees, you just can't assume as a fan of the team that they'll succeed. You expect the worst, but hope for the best. Go Sox.

I just wanted to give a quick Happy Birthday wish to my Mom, who had her birthday today. Even though I talked to her on the phone, she does read this from time to time, and has even left a comment, so Happy Birthday Mom! I hope you like your present :grin

I went out to get something to eat earlier today and I saw a dead body on the sidewalk. I wanted to convice myself he wasn't dead, but the cops were there with the yellow caution tape up and they had a white sheet over him with his feet sticking out. I saw this as I was driving past, and since it was quick, I still tried to convince myself that it wasn't really a dead guy, but when I drove back on my way home about 15 minutes later he was still there with the cops sitting around talking or filling out paperwork or whatever they were doing, so I accepted it for what it was. I realized that as far as I know that was the first time in my life I'd ever seen a dead person before. I was even a pallbearer at my friend Craig's funeral, but it was closed casket so I never saw him. Anyway, I wasn't really sure how to feel about seeing that today, but I thought maybe if I wrote something about it I would feel better.

The Red Sox are down 3-1 right now to the Yankees, so even though they're still alive, you have to assume it's not for long. The Red Sox came into this series actually favored possibly, expecting to get some good pitching from Curt Shilling and Pedro Martinez, but they lost Games 1 & 2 with those guys pitching, with Curt Shilling actually being rather badly injured in Game 1 against the Angels in the last round. Shilling, who is the Red Sox's ace and who had the most wins of any pitcher in the American League this year, has a partially torn tendon in his ankle, which prevented him from pushing off enough to get behind his pitches, and as a result got shelled early on, giving up 6 runs in the first 3 innings before being pulled. The Sox rallied before eventually losing Game 1 10-7, and then went on and lost a very close Game 2 3-1, against some phenomenal pitching by the Yankees. Game 3 was a record-setting game, with the Yankees winning 19-8 and putting the Sox in an 0-3 hole. In the history of baseball, basketball and hockey, only 2 teams have ever come back from being down 0-3, and both of those times were in hockey; so basically the Sox were (are) finished.

But then came Game 4 today, which was really a game for the ages. It was a back and forth game with the game going to 12 innings before David Ortiz won it with a 2-run home run to force a Game 5. I've got some hope for the Red Sox now, with Pedro Martinez pitching tomorrow, and with Shilling possibly being much improved and maybe able to come in for Game 6 or 7 if the Sox can get that far. The Red Sox are an even longer shot than usual because they're one game away from being eliminated, but it inspired a little hope today seeing the Red Sox win the kind of game that they almost always lose to the Yankees.

The Lakers also played tonight, and I'm watching it right now (I taped it), and evidently they won by 14, but it's only preseason. After I finish watching that I'm going to bed, and it's back to the grind tomorrow.

Man, if this was any team but the Red Sox, I would almost think the Red Sox were beginning to look like a "team of destiny" after the last two games. After falling behind 3 games to none in this series (with Game 3 being a game in which the Yankees put up a franchise-record 19 runs), the Red Sox came from behind last night to win it in 12 innings, and now tonight came from behind to win it in 14 innings. The Red Sox, who have a very suspect bullpen, have now had their bullpen pitch something like 14 consecutive scoreless innings, so believe me that is extremely unusual. David Ortiz won the game again tonight, this time on a single to centerfield with men on 1st and 2nd, after winning it last night with a 2-run, walk-off home run.

Well, now the Red Sox have a little bit of life, because their ace Curt Shilling is gonna give it a go tomorrow night. Shilling led the American League in wins this year, and was the main nemesis of the Yankees in 2001 when his Diamondbacks beat the Yanks in the World Series (which is why the Red Sox acquired him); but going into Game 1 of this series he was playing with an injury which severely limited his effectiveness, and he was shelled for 6 runs in 3 innings. Supposedly he is ready to go, however, and if he is on, then the Red Sox may realize the impossible dream and make it to a Game 7 after being down 0-3. Like I said, if this was anyone but the Red Sox, it would seem almost like a Cinderella story. However, considering this is the Red Sox, you can't help but feel that this is just a set up for another huge disappointment like last year's Game 7. Even though Steven at work kept asking me today "you can't actually have any hope, can you?" I do have hope. As a Sox fan, you have to have hope, even though you know that it's almost surely going to end in disaster. I don't think the Red Sox will win, because they never do, but I still have hope.

Since I've been following the Smart car for almost two years now (original entry, follow-up), I found this piece from Wired (via Boing Boing) a little repetitive from what I already know, namely this particular annoying bit that I wrote about last time:

Now Smart is making a play for the US market. Even as Smart cars surged across Europe and spread to 31 countries, conventional wisdom in the States dismissed the diminutive city car as the Speedo of the automotive world - fashionable abroad but way too small. Smart's solution: Make the micro a mini SUV. Based on the Fortwo design, the Smart SUV will debut in January at the Detroit Auto Show and arrive for sale in 2006 for about $20,000.

In case you missed it last time, here's my reaction: great, another fucking SUV, and another tiny car going for over $20,000. The whole point of these cars in Europe and elsewhere is that they are cheap methods of transportation! I happen to think putting that much money into something that immediately begins dropping in value is just silly, which is the main reason I wanted to get a cheap, small car. However, there was one encouraging part in the article:

All the while, a funny thing is happening. With a gallon of gas approaching latte prices, hybrids like the Prius stealing "it" car status from mammoth 4x4s, and the Mini making piles of money for BMW, Americans appear far readier for Smart than Smart executives anticipated. Not just for a special supersized version, but for the quirky two-seaters as well.

God I hope so, cause not every American is obsessed with buying the biggest, most expensive, gas guzzling-est car on the road. Please hurry up and provide us with a car market for those of us who hate cars already! :grin

Tonight the Red Sox became the first team in baseball history to rally from being down 0-3 in a series and force a Game 7, so naturally if they win it tomorrow they'll be the first team in baseball history to come back from being down 0-3 to win it (no team has ever done it in NBA history either, and it's only happened twice in the history of the NHL). The game tonight was not without some controversy, as the fans in Yankee Stadium did not like two calls which went against their team. I know I'm biased cause I'm pulling for the Red Sox, but it was clear on both calls that the right call was made. I can understand someone not believing me on this, however, because of my bias, so I have provided pictures and movie clips below of each of the two controversial calls:

Controversial Call #1: In the 4th inning, the inning in which the Sox scored all 4 of their runs, 3 of them came on a home run by Mark Bellhorn that was initially called a double. With two on and two out in the top of the 4th inning, Bellhorn hit a ball just barely over the left field wall, scoring the two players on. However, with the umpire calling it off the wall and not over it, Bellhorn stopped at 2nd base. Terry Francona, the Red Sox manager, argued that the ball had gone over the wall and thus Bellhorn should go home and score as well. The umps got together and determined that the ball had in fact been a home run, which of course upset the Yankee fans in attendance. Replays clearly showed it did go over the wall and just bounced off a fan back into play, thus giving it the appearance of bouncing off the wall. Below is a picture of the incident in question. If you look at the middle of the picture you can see a man in a yellow raincoat who is pointing at the ball with his right arm. The person the ball hit is wearing a black jacket and you can see the ball in relief against that. Click on the picture to see a video of the play:

Bellhorn's home run (5.7 megs)

Controversial Call #2: In the bottom of the 8th inning with Derek Jeter on 1st base and Alex Rodriguez at the plate, Rodriguez hit a ball back to Red Sox pitcher Bronson Arroyo. Arroyo, seeing he didn't have a play on Jeter going to 2nd base, ran over to tag Rodriguez out. Rodriguez, however, instead of allowing himself to be tagged out, swiped at the mitt of Arroyo, knocking the ball out of the mitt, and the mitt almost the entire way off Arroyo's hand. The ball rolled away and Rodriguez took 2nd base while Jeter scored. Once again Francona came out to argue, because the rules state that a base runner can not intentionally knock the ball out of a player's hand or mitt. Once again the umps conferred and made the right call, calling Rodriguez out and removing the run scored by Jeter. This time the Yankee fans went nuts, throwing items onto the field, to the point where the players and umps had to leave the field and cops in riot gear had to be called in to make sure everything was ok. Once again, however, the call was correct, and the Yankee fans either didn't want to accept that, or were not shown a replay. You can see in the picture below that Rodriguez is swiping at the mitt of Arroyo who is just trying to tag him out. If you click on the picture you can see a video clip of the incident:

A-Rod's out at first (6.1 megs)

Ok, having done away with the controversy, and knowing the Red Sox do actually deserve to be in a Game 7 tomorrow (today, actually), I will once again say that it is my opinion that this is just a big setup for the Red Sox nation to get all of our hopes up before pulling the rug out from under us with another Yankee win. If I'm wrong about that I will be absolutely shocked, and extremely happy. Last year I tempted fate and got burned, so this year I know better. I don't expect the Red Sox to win tomorrow. I'm hoping they do, but anyone who even does a cursory glance into the history between the Yankees and Red Sox could tell you that it always goes the Yankees way, and the Red Sox go home crushed. The Yankees may not win it all, but I'm almost positive that they'll win Game 7.

But I'd love to be wrong :grin

PS - I know it's only pre-season, but the Lakers beat the Queens 105-80 tonight :grin

Since the Red Sox were in a similar situation last year, I'd like to take this chance between innings to jot down a few notes about what I (and no doubt most Red Sox fans as well) am feeling right now. To let you know what is happening in the game, right now it is about to be the bottom of the 6th inning with the Yankees coming up to bat. The Red Sox starting pitcher, Derek Lowe, is still in the game pitching for the Sox (despite the fact that he hadn't really started a game prior to Game 4 in a long time and had been basically demoted from a starter to a relief guy because of his poor showing this year), and Boston has an 8-1 lead, and are 12 outs away from going to the World Series and becoming the first team in baseball history to overcome a 0-3 defecit to do it. I should be ecstatic, right?

Well I'm not.

Last year with Pedro Martinez (the Sox ace) pitching in Game 7, the Red Sox were up 4-0 at one point, and then were up 5-2 in the bottom of the 8th inning with one out. What happened was the inevitable collapse and the Yankees won it in 12 innings. So what do I feel now? When the Red Sox are at bat I feel ok, although I'm still nervous as hell, but at least the Yankees can't score when Boston is up. However, when the Yankees are up, it's a different story. I full well expect every single pitch to be a home run. The 7 run lead does not comfort me at all, and instead makes me just feel like when the collapse comes, it will be all the more upsetting because of the lead the Boston will have to squander to lose the game. It's not fun. If the Red Sox win, then it will be fun, but for now it's just nervousness and a feeling of inevitability. I felt it last year as well, and I feel it again now. Like I've said, however, I hope I'm wrong.

In case I had any doubts about the MT blacklist working or not, I just noticed when removing a spam comment from my blog that in the last 2 days the blacklist turned away 231 attempts at spamming my blog. Not bad, huh? :grin

By the way, in a bizarre move the Red Sox are bringing in Pedro Martinez to pitch in the bottom of the 7th inning, which is odd considering they have a 7 run lead and would really like to have him as fresh as possible if they do advance beyond this game (which in and of itself says a LOT about how the Red Sox are not taking anything for granted here). However, this is also a little too reminiscent of last year's Game 7 when Pedro was in there when he shouldn't have been and gave up 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning to allow the Yankees to tie it up. Pedro just pitched on Monday, so this is really a peculiar move. And now Pedro just gave up the 2nd hit of the night, a double to lead off the 7th inning. Here we go :nono

So Pedro Martinez came in, oddly, for Derek Lowe who had given up one hit through 6 innings on only 69 pitches, and who was cruising, and right off the bat Pedro gave up back to back doubles, and allowed 2 runs to score in the bottom of the 7th before seeming to finally get fully warmed up and finishing the inning. He threw a number of 94-97 mph fastballs to get strikes, and as the announcers said, it was really reminiscent of the Pedro of a few years ago when he was just head and shoulders above the rest of the league. There was a big hit that was caught at the warning track with one man on to end the inning that really gave me a scare there, but the Red Sox escaped with a 5-run lead and 6 outs remaining.

And Mark Bellhorn just hit an upper-deck home run to start the 8th inning, so it's now 9-3 Red Sox! Go Sox!!

I just got off the phone with my Dad, and I am so happy for him. I am most definitely not a hardcore Red Sox fan, mainly because I'm not a big baseball fan, although I've always had the Red Sox as the team I rooted for. I grew up watching Red Sox games with my Dad and my grandfather who both spent many many years (and my Dad's whole childhood) spending their summers in Massassachusetts listening to Red Sox games on the radio and then later watching them on TV. Both my Dad and my grandfather were huge, diehard Red Sox fans, with my Dad always seeing every game he can (getting the MLB package on DirectTV once it was available), and I remember my grandfather always standing during the games while watching them on TV, showing his support. Unfortunately my grandfather never got to see the Red Sox conquer the Yankees when it counted, but I am so happy my Dad got to see it.

The curse is not broken, as it will never truly be broken until the Red Sox win a World Championship, which they can do with 4 more wins. The Red Sox have been to the World Series 4 times since they sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees after winning their last title in 1918, and all 4 times they have lost in 7 games, so just getting to the Series does not break the curse. But let's just say that the curse has been two-fold: the Sox being unable to win a championship (the ultimate goal) and being unable to beat the Yankees when it counted. Well they've now finally at least reversed the latter part of that, but they still have a mountain to climb in this next series. Nonetheless, winning this series really feels great, even for a guy who has not lived and died with this team as many others have. Congratulations to my Dad and to Red Sox fans everywhere for the win tonight. I have no doubts that they will all enjoy it.

"All empires fall sooner or later." - Larry Lucchino (President and CEO of the Red Sox)

Click for Clip (7.9 megs)

I just got back from my screening of Saw that I went to with my good friend J. Krue, and I have to say I was most definitely disappointed in it. To say the least. I don't know if it will be a huge hit or not (I'm sure it will probably be #1 at the box office for a week or so, considering it looks creepy and is coming out Halloween weekend), but it's a very average serial killer/thriller-type movie. The screening we saw it at had Q&A afterwards from the writer and director, and the crowd seemed to really enjoy the movie, so maybe it was just Josh and myself who were underwhelmed and everyone will love it. It's just too bad that a movie which looked to have such promise ended up being filled with a bunch of horror-movie cliches, and scenes that don't make sense but are in the movie because they're supposed to scare you. Josh and I had no trouble at all pointing out a large number of problems with the movie, both plot-wise and style-wise, so I'm sure it's the kind of movie that would get worse with multiple viewings. Oh well, maybe The Grudge or The Machinist will be decent and I'll get to see a genuinely creepy new film for Halloween.

I know it's been a lot of Red Sox related entries lately, but bear with me cause it will all be over one way or the other in a week or so. Anyway, one of the best columnists over at ESPN to read if you like a lot of weird humor and movie references thrown in with your sports stuff is Bill Simmons, a native Bostonian who is a die-hard Boston sports fan (which is great when you also like the Red Sox, but which can be bad if you also like the Celtics' big rival, the Lakers). His movie and entertainment references are great though, so even if he's bashing the Lakers, it's still hilarious. Anyway, needless to say that once the Sox put away the hated Yankees, I realized I had to go see what Simmons had to say about it, and the article is absolutely great (although probably less great if you root for the Yankees). Check it out:

BOSTON -- Honestly, I don't know what to do.

I just watched my beloved Red Sox win the American League pennant. That's only happened twice in my lifetime. I watched them rally back from three games down in a playoff series. That's never happened before, not in the history of baseball. I also just watched the Sox beat the Yankees in a deciding playoff game. Not only has that never happened before, it's a possible sign of the apocalypse.

Now get this ... all three things happened at the same time.

So what happens now? Where do I go from here? Should I throw myself into politics? Backpack across Europe? Take up gourmet cooking? Learn how to fly airplanes? Should I take the bus to Fort Hancock, cross the border and wander the beaches of Zihuatanejo looking for Andy and Red? You tell me. What should I do? continue reading article

By the way, I'd like to thank the boneheads at ESPN.com who want to charge you to have to read old articles (the "archives"), but who aren't smart enough to realize all you have to do when they present the first paragraph of the story and the ensuing "if you want to read the whole article give us your damn money" crap is to click on the printer-friendly version of the story (which I do anyway so I don't have to see all the crappy ads and whatnot). "Never under estimate the predictability of stupidity" - Bullet Tooth Tony

Man, I am so glad to have tomorrow off. I've worked a lot of hours recently, going in a 7:20 one morning, staying till 1 am one night, and working on a Saturday. We're super busy at work, and I don't know if there's an end in sight anytime in the near future. Hopefully it will slow down as we get closer to xmas, as we are assuming that the rush now is all the studios trying to get as much out in time for the holidays as possible. It seems like we're getting a lot more titles at work though, so who knows. We need it to slow down a bit though, cause this is about as busy as I've ever seen it, rivalling July-September of last year. I just hope I can work fairly normal hours this week and not have to work next weekend at all, cause I need a couple more days where I can sleep in.

Last night I went to the Lakers-Clippers pre-season game with Dave, Jen and Cookie, and we saw the Lakers kick the hell out of LA's "other team". I think the Lakers are gonna be fun to watch this year, even if they don't make a serious run at a title like they did last year. The game last night was fun, getting together with my friends. After the game we were all pretty tired, but Dave, Jen and myself went to BJ's in Burbank for pizookies after dropping Cookie off. During the dessert feast I was starting to almost nod off, so that was the end of the evening.

Well, the Red Sox have won the first two games of the World Series, meaning they are two wins away from "reversing the curse", and since I will never allow myself to think they're gonna win until they actually do, I'd like to point a couple things out: First, the Red Sox were 2-0 in the World Series the last time they were in it, back in 1986, and that was after winning the first two games on the road in New York. Second, the Red Sox have been in the World Series 4 times since they sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees (this year is the 5th time), and every single time they have lost in 7 games. Third, and most ominous, if there is a Game 7 in this series, it would be a week from today.

On Halloween. :uhoh

Tomorrow there's no game and then they get back to it on Tuesday for Game 3 in St. Louis. Luckily the Red Sox have Pedro Martinez pitching, and then have Derek Lowe (who was the starting pitcher in games 4 and 7 of the last series against the Yankees, and who obviously did great in both games) going in Game 4. Game 5 will be interesting (unless the incredible happens and the Red Sox sweep, but I'm not holding my breath for that one), since the Red Sox will once again have to decide between Bronson Arroyo and Tim Wakefield for the starting pitching job. Anyway, i don't want to get too far ahead of myself, I just hope the Red Sox can win Game 3 and put the Cards in a 0-3 hole that only the Red Sox have ever climbed out of :grin

Something Awful has a Photoshop contest up right now where people take movie posters and replace the title of the movie with text describing what is going on in the poster. It's pretty funny, check it out:

This is a historic time for Red Sox fans, or superstitious people, or people who believe in curses. We're going to find out once and for all if there really is a curse on the Red Sox at some point in the next couple of days. The Red Sox won tonight, so they're now up 3-0, and no one in the history of baseball (which extends over 100 years) has ever come back from being down three games to none except for this current Red Sox team which did it a week ago. Consider this: the Red Sox could be the World Champions in less than 24 hours. They haven't been in that position since 1986 when they went on to suffer arguably the most storied chapter in their cursed history, when they lost Game 6 of the World Series after being up two runs with two outs and nobody on in extra innings. In fact, tomorrow it will be exactly 18 years to the day since the Red Sox were eliminated in Game 7 of that series. So there you have on one hand the Sox having a chance to finally get out from under the curse (or prove once and for all that there never was a curse) and win their first championship since 1918, and since they sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees; and if they win tomorrow they will not only win the championship, they will also set the all-time baseball record for consecutive postseason wins (they tied it tonight).

On the other hand...

If the Red Sox come back against their most bitter rival (the Yankees), and accomplish what no one in baseball history has ever done before by winning after being down 0-3 to get to the World Series, only to then go up 3-0 themselves and lose in a Game 7 played on Halloween of all days... I mean, would there really be any doubt by anyone that the Red Sox are indeed cursed? Would there actually be any way at all to top that?

It boils down to whether you believe in curses (in particular The Curse of the Bambino), or do you not think there's any extra forces at play in any of this? Whatever you believe, some people out there are about to be proven wrong one way or another. Don't you think?

The curse, if ever there was such a thing, is gone. It's over and done for. One of the mainstays of sports history is over. No more references to 1918 or Babe Ruth. For once Red Sox fans everywhere have their hearts bursting with pride instead of heartache. What an amazing turnaround from where the Red Sox were just 10 days ago, when they were down 3 games to none, 3 outs away from being swept and facing the greatest closer in baseball history, to then run off a baseball record 8 straight postseason wins over the two teams that had the league's best records (101 wins for the Yankees, 105 wins for the Cardinals) and wind up World Champions for the first time in 86 years! The Red Sox started this incredible run a little slowly, needing to go to 12 innings in Game 4 against the Yankees, and 14 innings in Game 5; but from the bottom of the 8th inning in that Game 5 and on for the rest of the way through the end of the game tonight, the Red Sox never trailed at any point again. For a team that has been labelled as being "cursed" for almost nine decades, how unlikely is it that they won in a sweep in the World Series, never trailing at any point, and in the final game had the winning run come from the very first batter?! That's right, Johnny Damon led off the game with a home run in the first inning on the fourth pitch of the game, and since the Cardinals never scored (finally losing 3-0), that was the winning run. I think it's safe to say that the curse is most definitely reversed!

I can honestly say that even though I'm a much much bigger Lakers fan than I am a Red Sox fan (and always have been), this championship means more to me than any of the Lakers ones did, and it is mainly because of my grandfather who passed away a couple years ago, never getting to see his beloved Red Sox win a championship after he was about 10 years old; and most of all for my Dad who has suffered for over 50 years with this team, listening to games with my grandfather on the radio as a kid. I talked to my Dad again on the phone tonight as soon as the game ended and he was ecstatic, telling me for his life as a sportsfan it was the number one highlight. I couldn't be happier for him. He invited me to dinner Sunday to go celebrate, and I can't wait.

I came across this incredibly touching message board thread from a Red Sox fan site that was started the day of Game 7 against the Yankees, and it is just a really, really long list of who the fans wanted the Red Sox to win it for. Reading through the more than 50 pages of messages, and seeing all the people who were saying they wanted the Red Sox to win it for family members who either died without seeing this, or who had lived for so long waiting for this to happen, it was really moving. I'm so happy for Red Sox fans everywhere. The Red Sox are finally the World Champions!! :grin

You ever realize you've had a really kick-ass record in your collection forever that you've never really listened to? Probably not, but that seems to have happened to me today. While watching the end of the baseball coverage as the credits were rolling (which they always do whenever one of the major sports seasons comes to an end), they played this really incredible song which I kinda only half paid attention to because I was busy being happy, talking to my Dad, blogging the whole thing, etc... But then today as I was at work it suddenly popped back into my head, and I couldn't quite place where I'd heard it. I guessed I had heard it during the Sox broadcast the night prior, but I could only really remember about 3 or 4 notes of the song, so I wasn't sure. After thinking about it some more, I began to doubt I'd heard it last night because I realized it was the song that plays during the end of the trailer for Friday Night Lights (which I haven't seen, but which I kinda do want to see, in part because of that song). So I did a quick search online and discovered that the song was The Golden Age by Beck; and upon seeing that I realized I most likely had that song in my collection. I checked and sure enough, it is the first song on his album Sea Change. Now because I have been a fan of Beck's since the mid-90s or so, and because I loved Mellow Gold and Odelay, and really liked Midnight Vultures, I had put Sea Change on my wish list when it came out two years ago, and as a result I got it for xmas that year. But for whatever reason, I never listened to it. I didn't even open the CD until I started ripping everything to mp3 so I could have my whole collection on my Mac and be done with physical CDs for when I wanted to listen to music, but even when I ripped it, I never played it, and just let it sit there, until today. Today I started listening to it, and oh man, it's a really incredible album. I feel like a moron for not listening to it right away, but I guess better late than never. Granted, it's not an album for everyone, being that it's all very depressing songs and it's mainly acoustic guitar, but it's just really great songs. I was curious if I had actually heard it during the credits of the Sox game last night or not, or if it just popped into my head from that trailer, but since I recorded the game last night I checked, and sure enough they played about a minute of the song. I guess it's kinda like an added bonus to the Sox winning the Series that I end up discovering a great album as a result :grin

In the spirit of Halloween, which is Sunday, and because a bunch of people here at work are wearing costumes, I thought I'd link to a truly sweet costume I saw on the web, even though the person wearing it is not wearing it for Halloween:

"Is this your homework, Larry?"

Happy Halloween everyone :grin

I saw this on BoingBoing the other day, and got totally nostalgic over it. This album "Sounds to Make You Shiver" is something that my family had when I was a kid and which I loved to listen to over and over, especially on Halloween. My parents would always play it on our record player with the volume turned up for trick-or-treaters to freak them out, and it was great. It's totally cheesy, and is completely awesome, so if you remember it like I do, then check it out, cause the site has mp3s of all the songs available for download: