Mr. Perfect

After throwing a perfect game last week against the Rays, Buehrle went 5 perfect innings in his next start against Minnesota. All together, 44 straight outs without a walk, hit, hbp, error- anything. Surfed the net for a bit to see if that was a record, 44 straight outs, or 14 consecutive perfect innings, but couldn't find anything. I'm betting it's a record for a starting pitcher. I know Vander Meer threw back-to-back no-hitters in the '30s. Considering Buehrle isn't a strikeout or power pitcher, it's an especially incredible feat.
Looked up some info on Johnny Vander Meer. In 1952, washed out of the majors and fourteen years removed from his no-no's, he threw a no-hitter in Tulsa in the Texas league.

More importantly, Breanne and I planned our trip to Cooperstown and the baseball Hall of Fame. We're going in August after the Olympics and staying at Glimmerglass Park, in Oprhp, New York.


*Again, I beat the beat reporters to the punch, by about 3 minutes. I was a little off on my numbers (43 straight outs) but who cares, here is the link.

En Fuego de Lugo

Millions of Red Sox fans got their wish when Lugo was shipped off to the St. Louis Cardinals last week. As you might expect, Lugo has suddenly remembered how to play baseball.
Here's his stat line after three games with the red birds:

14 AB, 8 Hits, 2 Doubles, 2 Triples, 1 Home Run, 2 RBIs and a Stolen Base.

Granted, it's only three games into his Cardinals career, but it's a striking introduction when you look at his numbers with Boston. Though a career .272 hitter (and a .276 hitter before joining Boston) he batted only .251 in a Sox uniform, a 21 point difference. In 266 games with the Sox he managed three triples, or just one more than he's recorded in his first two games with St. Louis.
The homer isn't that surprising either. Before coming to Boston, Lugo had some power. While not wearing a Boston uniform, Lugo averages a HR every 49 AB. With Boston written across his chest, he hit a HR every 94 at bats, on average.
But what really made Lugo a hated man in Beantown was his defense. In 2008 and 2009, his fielding percentage was 20 and 40 points below his career average, respectively.

Fortunately, he made his first error for the Cardinals today, so at least that hasn't changed.

Doubleheader puts 5 Star Auto at 3-3 overall

Just got back from Rotary Park in Biddeford where we had a doubleheader against Champions and Weave's team, Doc's Tavern. Lost both the games. I had a feeling we'd lose to Champions - we always do- but Weave's team looked very beatable. Corey and Heath, perhaps our two best hitters, were both absent. We never had the breakout innings we usually have at some point in the game. Usually said innings revolve around a big hit by either Heath or Corey, and our lineup was abnormally short today which resulted in more at bats for some of our weaker hitters.
I had an OK game, both at the plate and in the field. I made a lot of putouts in left but I also missed two balls I should have caught. I probably had 10 putouts combined in the two games. One ball I missed wasn't my fault. It was a hanging line drive that was knuckling like crazy. I ran in on it and tried to make a stabbing catch but it glanced off my glove. Not only did I not catch the ball but I sprained my finger on the play. I still can't bend the pinky finger of my right hand. The other missed play I had was on a pop near center. I sprinted, sort of in front of Megan in CF, but overran it and ended up having to lunge back to try and catch it. I still could have gotten a glove on it but I just flat out missed it. All in all I did make several good catches, one that I dove in on, so it wasn't too bad of a day in the field.
I was 4-5 at the plate with one FC. I thought Joe was going to beat the play to second because the SS had to dive to make the play on the hit but the throw beat the runner. I had one lucky hit in the second game when the ranging left fielder dropped a pop but my other hits were nice clean ones. I really like the blue Cyclone bat.
Breanne should probably get MVP for both games because she got up out of bed, after working back-to-back nights and being on the schedule for 4 or 5 hours tonight, and played both games of the doubleheader so we wouldn't be a player short. We would have had to take an automatic out for playing with three girls and been a player short in the OF. She also did pretty well at the plate. She struck out once on a high pitch, but had two hard ground outs to the right side, a BB, and a infield single. Most of her outs were in the 2nd game when it was clearly evident that she was running on fumes.
So now I'm hitting .750, which is surprising, but I can't bend my pinky finger. Hopefully it's just a sprain and I didn't break anything. It's as fat as a sausage but I don't care as long as it's healed in time for the Olympics.

Olymic meeting with Ethan

Slacked off for a bit on the blogging. Not a whole lot to relate.
Went home on Saturday to train a bit with Ethan and work on Olympic related stuff. We met at the Hall-Dale track at 9 am and did a mile together. We both did better than we expected, but were too bushed to record good times in the 100m dash. We each did it twice but the times were slow. Individual heats and both lumbering from the 1600m.
Back at the house we worked out quite a few nagging details of the Olympics and developed a fair scoring system. We also figured out the teams, though I'm not going to announce them here in case anyone is reading this. The official teams won't be announced until the opening ceremonies, but we do know for sure that there will be only two teams rather than three or four this year. It makes it easier to make the brackets. And due to the handful of people who decided to cancel with less than two weeks before the events, it was becoming more and more difficult to divvy up fair teams. I'm still expecting about 15 for the Games, but I was hoping for closer to 20. I'm particularly bummed that Fed can't make it, but he double-booked the weekend and his other plans were made in advance.

I'm going to the track on Monday to work on either the mile or the 100m dash. Jesse and Breanne are both considering attending the practice session. Even though there are less than two weeks till the events, and it won't make that much difference in our overall times, a couple practices can't hurt.

Wiscasset Trip

Breanne and I finally made the trip to Wiscasset and Red's Eats. We'd been wanting to go there for a few years. Last summer we actually drove up to eat there but after waiting in line for about 30 minutes and hardly moving, we opted to eat at Sara's, across the street. Sara's is a nice place, I've eaten there several times, but it was usually a fallback.
The wait at Red's wasn't too long, probably about half an hour. There was an annoying old guy in a floral hat that was breathing over my shoulder and standing right next to me instead of behind me the whole time but it was uneventful for the most part. We each got a lobster roll and we split some fries and iced tea. The rolls were $15 bucks a piece, but they advertise that you get more the a pound of lobster in each one. Didn't feel like a pound to me, but it was tremendously good. Probably the best lobster roll I've ever had, and I've had lots. They gave us two cups of butter and we were dipping the rolls into the cups. I dropped a few pieces of lobster in and let them saturate over the course of the meal, much like my brother does on lobster day every August when my family gets together and eats lobster.
Breanne got some chocolate ice cream at the shop next door and then we headed back. We were going to stop at the Family Dollar store but then we saw Big Al's in Wiscasset. I recalled seeing commercials for the store as a kid, something about a guy in glasses and a gorilla suit, maybe standing on the roof, but whatever, we stopped in. It was a fortuitous change in plans as we found some great stuff for the Olympics. Globes in glass squares, bats that actually say Home Run Derby on them, some shuttle cocks, and several other cool things, all for really cheap.
We also stopped at a music store in Brunswick and got Breanne some strings for her guitar. She's learning "Redemption Song" and "Running Down a Dream" along with some Dylan songs. She had trouble playing bar chords but she picks up on all things musical quickly.

16-9, Five Star Auto over Champs

Had a softball game at 8am this morning. I didn't get much sleep last night but I didn't feel too tired this morning, and my sore throat felt a bit better. We won, 16-9, against a good team. I had a good game, at least at the plate. While in the field, there was a long fly ball that I may have been able to catch had I taken off in the correct direction immediately but it went well over center fielder's head and I was playing left. I should have dove for it but I can't seem to dive backwards, or away from home plate. I need to work on it. I did stab one looping line drive in the 5th or 6th inning.
I went 3-3 at the plate with three doubles. I didn't hit the ball particularly hard, I just tried to hit it where they ain't, or weren't. I also used a new bat for the first time today. I ditched the green Easton and tried the blue Cyclone. I only did it because Joe always bats before or after me and we both liked having the bat in hand while we were on deck. The Cyclone weighs the same and it's the same length, so it's pretty much the same bat. It felt lighter though.
I only remember recording that one put out in the field, which was odd considering we were playing one girl short, thus three outfielders instead of four. As an outfield battery we didn't play too well today, but the infield was great. Gannon made several great plays at shortstop.

Track Training

Went to the track today to do some much needed Olympic training. I brought a stop watch and did a few 100 metre dashes and ran one timed mile. My mile was 6:12, which isn't too bad if you consider how little running I've done since moving back to Maine. I was around 1:30 after one lap so I didn't stray too far from my initial pace.

My first 100m dash was 11.98 and my second was 12.66, and my third one was 0.00 because I forgot to push the start button. Though the times weren't official, I was happy with them. Considering I wasn't running against anyone and I had to carry the stop watch myself I think those are good times. I looked up the Maine High School track and field records and my first 100m time would be good enough for a state record- for girls.

I don't feel like I'm any slower than I was 10 years ago but I'm certain I am. I watched several instructional videos online today about proper motion, conditioning, and speed exercises. I also copied and pasted a lot of info that I'm going to use to train over the next 20 days. I need to improve my starting speed- breaking out of the blocks. I should have started months ago but oh well, it will just give me a head start on next year.

Here's another cool Olympic emblem:

Olympic Emblems

The 2009 Maine Summer Olympics are only 23 days away. It's hard to believe. There is a lot that needs to be done but at the moment I'm working on the official emblem. It's not as if we need an official emblem, but Jake had the idea of ironing Olympic pictures on t-shirts, so I figured I'd come up with a few people could choose from.
I've come up with more than a few. At the moment I've designed 15 emblems, though I only really like a few of them. Here is a sneak preview of a few of the emblems that will make an appearance at the shirt ironing exhibition of the 2009 games.

Glowing All-Stars

Watched the All-star game at JMR's. He wasn't there but in Washington D.C. He made me a floor plan of the apartment with all the emergency escape routes in case of a fire. Fortunately, there was no fire, the American League won, and I was able to leave through the front door.

I read an article on The Onion the other day, a piece titled, "Report: 90% of Waking Hours Spent Staring at Glowing Rectangles." Very funny, here it is. And though this is an exaggeration for most people (I think) the premise is still shockingly true.
So, while I stared, dazed, at the glowing rectangle tonight watching AL and NL hitters swing impatiently at first pitch after first pitch, and listened to Joe Buck flatulate out of his mouth into Tim McCarver's hair, I decided it's time to curb my wasted computer time. I still intend to write in my blog- daily if I can keep at it- but I'm going to limit my internet time to either 45 min or 30 min a day.
I purposely used the word internet and not computer. Since I write a lot, I almost have to use the computer more than 30-45 minutes daily. I often prefer typing to writing with a pencil. I once only wrote in notebooks but that started bothering my wrist so now I try to divide it up evenly between tapping the old keys and scrawling away with a pencil or pen.
I don't know how I'll do with this. I like to keep up with fantasy baseball news and Ricky Gervais's blog, so I guess I'll just have to read fast and pass on aimlessly signing into Gmail and Facebook so often. Since I have so few followers, I'm going to wish myself luck.

By the way, Carl Crawford was All-Star game MVP, deservedly so. He robbed a HR, with Papelbon on the mound, to preserve a 3-3 ball game. He also went 1-3 at the plate, but it was nice to see the Ted Williams award (All-Star MVP) go to a player for his defense. If you'll recall, before the season began I predicted Carl Crawford for AL MVP. Well, that's pretty close.

The Hibbing Excelsiors!

Tonight Joe and Jesse came over to do the baseball packs draft. This is the second one that Jesse and I have done, but it feels more official this time with a third party involved. We had Donruss '88 and Score '90 to choose from. Each participant was given one pack of Donruss and one of Score, and was able to decide whether they wanted Score or Donruss for their third and final pack. Joe and I both did two Donruss packs and Jesse opted for two of the 1990 Score.

Just like last time, a few doubles popped up, and when that happens, both managers have to exclude the card involved. Most of the time it's crap players but we had some big names knocked out. I drew Clemens in my first pack. 1987 being one of his better early seasons, he had a 2.97 ERA, struck out 256 batters in 282 innings, went 20-9, had 7 shutouts and an unbelievable 18 complete games. Unfortunately, Joe drew him later on and I had to drop him.

Later, I pulled a Tim Raines Diamond King after Joe had gotten one, and I took what was easily his best player. In 1987 Tim Raines hit .330, stole 50 bases and cracked 18 homers. He'd be a fantasy stud today.

I'm real happy with my team overall. I named them The Hibbing Excelsiors, in honor of the former Brooklyn Excelsiors and Hibbing, Minnesota, the town where Robert Zimmerman grew up. The Excelsiors are strong considering the roster was produced entirely from only three packs.

I've got 1987 Mike Stanley behind the plate, '87 Jack Clark and Alvin Dark will split time between DH and 1B, and a great outfield with 1987 Willie Wilson, 1987 Kal Daniels and a platoon of 1989 Jose Canseco and 1987 Mike Young.

My pitching is arguably better than my offense. With Clemens out of the picture, my ace is 1987 Mark Langston (19 wins, 262 K, 14 complete games). 1989 Chris Bosio is a very solid no.2 starter (15 W, 2.95 ERA in 234 IP, and 8 complete games) and my third starter is a young 1989 Rob Dibble and his 12.8 K/9. 1987 Dave Stieb and fresh faced 1987 Jamie Moyer (still in the big leagues 22 years later!) round out my rotation. 1989 Eric King is my long relief man or spot starter, and I suppose 1987 Bruce Ruffin is too. Seeing as how I had so few good options in the IF and for bench spots on offense, I decided to load up on pitchers. My closer, Mike Schooler, has surprisingly good numbers for a guy I don't remember: 2.81 ERA, 33 Saves, and a 69/19 strike out to walk ratio. 33 saves in 1989 was a lot. A young relief '89 David Wells, slim and mustached, 1987 John Smiley, and '87 Jeff Russell are my final relievers. I was excited when I pulled Wells, but it was before he became the big time, perfect game pitcher he was in the '90s.

Now we're going to pop in our teams at whatifsports.com, set up in a pre-existing league (probably the 1988 American League) and see how are teams fare.

Softball and Penises

An eventful day, for my life.

This morning I woke up around 8 and walked around looking for Breanne. She showed up about 30 minutes later, having gone for a walk to the beach with her dad, Tim. Popped online and discovered that the softball game at 10:30 had been cancelled and so I called Jesse for the scoop. He told me in so many words that the league commissioner made his decision to cancel the morning games at 6am, when it was pouring. Well, by 10:30, game time, the weather was beautiful and we definitely could have played, but cest la vie, the game was off so we went out the breakfast at Becky's diner in Portland.

We met Breanne's sister Andrea and ate on the porch upstairs. I didn't even realize there was an upstairs before this morning. When the waiter came to take our order, I changed my mind at the less second and ordered french toast. Usually when I change my mind extemporaneously at restaurants it results in a terrible meal, as I order something I absolutely hate. Well this time I lucked out as the french toast was great. It was one of the best breakfasts I've ever had in a restaurant. They make great f-toast.

We drove back to OOB, I watched the rest of "The Man Who Knew Too Little," which was surprisingly funny after the poor review Jesse gave it, and sat out in the sun. Around 2:40 I took off for Biddeford on my bike to go to the ball field. What was supposed to be the second game of our double header was at 3:30 at Rotary Park. Breanne wasn't feeling good so she opted out of the bike ride and met me there a little before game time.

The game was an interesting one. Neither team scored until the 4th inning when Ball Busters scored two runs on a botched play in the field. We answered with three runs of our own in the bottom of the fourth. After grounding into a force out in my first at bat, I hit a hard grounder to third that the third baseman bobbled. It should have been another force out but every one was safe so in our generous scoring system it went as a single. With the bases loaded and two outs, Heath hit a high fly ball to right field. I was running on contact as there were two outs and the right field ended up bobbling the ball. I scored from first, and Heath stopped at third or second with a bases clearing hit.

In the sixth I came up again with two runners on. I hit a shallow pop over the second baseman's head, a real cheap hit, the ended up finding grass between him and the outfielders. I noticed nobody was covering second base so I took off for second. The pitcher and second baseman noticed, hurried a play, but I eluded the tag and slid face first and hugged the bag. While I was doing this, Melissa took off for home and the pitcher rushed a bad throw to the catcher that ended up getting by her. Joe sprinted home from 3rd and I took third base. So, again, generous scoring gives me a triple on the play (though with a good fielding team I would have gone 0-3 rather than 2-3). I was just lucky.

Going into the top of the 7th (which is the equivalent of the ninth in rec. softball) we were leading 10-5, so we had to hold them. We gave up a soft single, then Dan struck out a girl, then I made a running catch in the outfield. I got a good jump on the ball and ran back and to my left to catch it, which is the easiest way to catch a fly ball if you're a lefty. Dan got another girl to go down swinging, inexplicably, and we won the game. So that's back to back 10-5 wins. It was too bad we didn't get both games in, but Ball Busters was the better of the two teams so it was an important victory. Here's a picture of the catch. I'm the one running with my arm up in the air.

I rode my bike home and Jesse came over for burritos. Breanne made a delicious meal. The burritos had corn, sweet potato, tomatoes, rice, and lots of herbs and spices and a pepper from our garden.

Jesse and I played a game of scrabble later on. It was a standard game until near the end I spotted the word PENISES on my tray. Probably the coolest bingo I've ever had. Here's a picture of it.

Tomorrow we're doing the Donruss/Score fantasy baseball draft. That should be fun. I'll blog about it.

Jason Bay votes for Philly

The other night at Jimmy The Greeks, taking a drubbing in trivia while the Sox took one from the A's and rookie pitcher Brett Anderson, Jason Bay made a catch in left field that we all agreed would be a play of the week. Not the case, on MLB.com at least. I looked for it today, and though I agree Carlos Gomez's over-the-fence rob of A-Rod's would be grand slam deserved the top spot, Bay's play was a close second. See for yourself.

Not only was it a great catch, but he doubled up the runner on second.

Additionally, trivia was a bust. We were rolling until we got a question we'd had at trivia a few months ago. "What was the first capital of the United States?" In February or March, when we'd had the same question, I guessed Philadelphia. I'd picked it up somewhere and was fairly confident it was correct. Nope, it was New York City. So naturally this time I said New York City. The same frigging guy is still running trivia and he asks the same frigging question but this time the answer was Philadelphia! Nobody said anything either. I wish Jesse had been there because he would have been 2 beers deep, drunk, and likely would have raised one finger into the air and shouted, "I demand an explanation!" After that we missed a big bonus question and didn't have a shot.

Hornets

While organizing the recyclables this morning, I was stung by a hornet. I may have been bitten as well. I didn't realize this until conducting a little online research, but a hornet can sting and bite multiple times. It got me real good on the inside of the elbow and then I smashed it with a wine bottle while I yelled "eye for an eye you bitch!" I was worked up because the stung still stung.

It was the first time I'd been stung by a hornet in years. I had a skylight window in my room as a kid and there was a hornet's nest under the frame. I'd get stung occasionally while opening/closing the window or adjusting the screen. I also once had my bed under the window and a hornet fell onto my bed and died from the fall. I think it must have been sick, or maybe another hornet pushed it. Murder.

Wiffle Ball Card Movie

I made my first movie using the Windows Movie Maker program tonight. I think it turned out OK for my first try. I didn't put too much time into it as I took a giant swig of Nyquil before starting in. The song is a theme I wrote for a video game a friend is making, and the pictures are all cards from the first wiffle ball party. The colors on the cards aren't nearly as bright as they're supposed to be but I don't think it makes much difference.

Charles Barkley sized reptile once stalked Brazilian forests

Found this article online today about an Armadillo-like crocodile that once roamed the area now known as Sao Paulo, Brazil. 6 1/2-feet-long and roughly 265-lbs, this Charles Barkley sized reptile lived during the Cretaceous period. The article states that the animal was "armadillo-like" but doesn't say whether it could role itself up into a ball and hide in it's carapace. Imagine a crocodile that could roll itself into a ball!

Ken Burns to release 10th inning of BASEBALL

Ken Burns was Joe Castiglione's guest on the radio tonight during the 4th inning. The big news is he's coming out with a new documentary. It's actually a sequel of sorts to his grand Baseball series. He felt he had to do a follow up with all the stuff that's happened in Major league baseball since his original documentary was released ( before the 1994 season). The strike of 1994, the home run race of 1998, the Subway Series of 2000, the steroids scandal, Bonds hitting 73 and eventually breaking Aaron's all-time record, the Sox ending their 86 year drought, the creation of the World Baseball Classic- an incredible collection of events for a period of just 15 years. Due to the myriad subjects to cover, Burns has decided to make it a 4 hour special comprised of two parts- a top of the 10th and a bottom. It's due to come out in September of 2010.

The original Ken Burns' Baseball was 9 parts, each part referred to as an inning, and I've seen it a few times all the way through, though I'm not sure I've ever watched the whole thing with sound. What I once often did was put it on at the video store and plug my Ipod into the stereo system and watch the early color footage from the 60s and 70s and listen to Van Morrison and Paul Simon, specifically The Rhythm of the Saints. It would often hypnotize both myself and customers.

On a side note, Wakefield has 8 Ks through 6 innings against the A's, and the score is 1-1. Drew led of the bottom inning with a bomb into the Oakland bullpen and Pedroia just got on base with no outs. The wind is blowing straight in from center, which seems to be helping Wakefield, though it's said that the exact opposite conditions help him most.

Ken Griffey honors MJ

Ken Griffey Jr. sported only one batting glove yesterday in honor of Michael Jackson. I attached a clip from MLB tv. (0:39 mark). I recommend watching it without the audio as the commentator is speaking with more affectation than Will Ferrell doing Harry Caray.

Recent Olympic Newsletter

Sent out the final big Olympic email today. The 2009 Games are exactly a month away. Unfortunately, I've yet to finish the theme song, plan the opening and closing ceremonies, pick teams, design the emblem, find a second location, or write up the rules for all the events. Other than that everything is ready to roll.

I sent the email out to about 25 people, and though I'm hoping they all come, I'm guessing it will be closer to 15. Not what I was hoping for, but people are getting older and are less inclined to play games. One of the main reasons I started the Olympics (and Ethan said it was my idea but I seem to remember it being Manda's) was to stay active and in shape. The Olymps are a great way to improve yourself year to year, both physically and mentally.

The email touched on several subjects. I finally released the weekend schedule, with everything beginning on Friday, from 7 to 11 pm, for the Meet and Greet, which is optional. Most people will recognize each other from wiffle ball games, but there will be a handful of people that have never met. I'm hoping most people show up on Friday to watch the Sox game and hang out. It would be a shame to have someone drive all the way up to Gardiner on Saturday morning just to discover they've missed the first event or two.

On Saturday, the opening ceremony is scheduled for 9 AM and events start, at an unknown location, at 10. We'll be finished events by 8 PM on Saturday, perhaps earlier, and the first event on Sunday will be the 1 mile run, at 10 AM. We'll be missing a few people on Sunday due to softball and other engagements, but I hope we'll have a good turnout for the medal ceremony.

The email also introduced the Mystery Event idea, the absence of Beer Pong and Pictionary, and what countries, territories, and administrative regions Olympians are expected to know. Chances are most people won't even read the email so I'll probably have to message everyone a couple times again before 8/08.

It would have been so cool if we'd had the Olympics on the 8th last year: 08/08/08. Oh well.

I've also drawn up some core teams, which are are not to be known by anyone outside of the committee until Opening Ceremonies, but there's got to be some reward for reading my blog. Right now, the core teams are as follows:

Team A: Ethan, Jake, Mary

Team B: Greg, Amanda, Jane

Team C: Breanne, Luke, Federico

I tried to make the teams as even as possible without putting Manda, Ethan, and myself on the same team. Some year, I'd like us all to be on the same team, but not this year. Clearly Team B has the advantage in running events, while Team A has my brother, who is my pick to win the individual gold. I like Team C, my team, so far. I'm hoping Federico is the dark horse of the Olympics. If he's half the athlete he was in high school we should be fine.

1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

It's the 1 year anniversary of my blog!
Officially, it was yesterday, but due to a debilitating case of the flu, all I was able to do yesterday was sleep, watch The Fugitive, Chasing Amy, and The Manchurian Candidate (1962 version), eat a little soup, and cancel dinner plans with Breanne, Federico, and Jen. I was very excited about going to Pastas. That's the name of new restaurant in Gardiner owned by Fed's parents, Roxanne and Tony. Seeing as how both Fed and Jen have kids under two years old, I figured I shouldn't risk passing on a virus to one of them, so I cancelled (even though it's a pet peeve of mine).
As for the movies, it was a fairly successful batch.
The Fugitive I'd seen before, and it's one of my favorite action movies. I love the part when Tommy Lee Jones says, "Our fugitive has been on the run for ninety minutes. Average foot speed over uneven ground barring injuries is 4 miles-per-hour. That gives us a radius of six miles." Nothing that cool will ever escape my mouth. I watched it for the first time a couple years ago when I went on a Harrison Ford binge while working at the Videostop.
I didn't like Chasing Amy much. I've tried hard to enjoy Kevin Smith movies but they're just not my thing. I don't understand the fixation on sex. Maybe I should have seen it when it came out but the conversations and overall premise just seems trite to me. I really like the Jay character in this movie, and I liked the conversation Ben Affleck has with Jay and Bob in the coffee shop, but all in all the movie had no emotional affect on me.
The Manchurian Candidate was super. One thing that's always bothered me in movies and television shows is how people act when they're being hypnotized. It never seems believable, and only works in a purely comical way. Not the case with Manchurian. The protagonist, Laurence Harvey, truly looked hypnotized, or my brain tells me it's supposed to look like. When Frank Sinatra was having him play solitaire with the stacked deck, Harvey really showed his acting chops. Good movie, great idea for a story, and I'm excited to see the remake. Also, Angela Landsbury is amazing in this movie. I'd never seen her in anything but Murder She Wrote. She played the most evil villain.
I feel like I'm on the rebound right now. I've still got achy joints and a hacking cough, and my head is still soupy and heavy, but my snot isn't quite as green and I had the energy to send out an Olympic email today. That will be the next blog.
In case any one is curious, this is my 149th published post. Sometimes I don't finish an entry then forget to publish it, but even so that's the equivalent of writing one, roughly, every 2.5 days. Not bad considering all the internet-less traveling I did in the last year. I intend to do better in the coming year. Maybe I'll try to average one a day.

the Fourth

Going to Gray to visit Manda and Greg today- the 4th of July. I'm bringing my notes for the Olympics and hoping we can figure out the most important details for 08/08, the day of the first ever Maine Summer Olympics. I'm also bringing fireworks and some beer pong equipment.
Also, I went to the Sea Dog's game yesterday. We had shit seats but it was a good game. They won 8-5, I think. Went to Margarita's and had some shit burrito for way too much money. I hate their food.