I heart minor league baseball
Minor league baseball teams really, really want your business. They cater to you. They try hard. This is the exact opposite approach than you see at MLB teams like the Chicago Cub.

Here's a great story about the Peoria Chiefs, the Cub class A minor league team... they're leasing out their skyboxes to fantasy baseball leagues for their draft meetings. For $35 a guy, you get the luxury (cough) suite, all-you-can-eat buffet, beers, and a ticket to a future Chief game. Sweet!


I heart minor league baseball.


I heart my crock pot
RIP Mable Hoffman... author of “Crockery Cookery”, an early and popular crock pot recipe book.


I heart my crock pot... and Mable too, I reckon.


I heart Ronald Reagan
Book: “Tear Down This Wall” by Romesh Ratnesar
Review: 2 bill-stars (out of 5)... meh

This book is very dry and kinda boring. This is hard to fathom, given how interesting the subject matter is. The other irritating thing is the guy sprinkles in his politics into the thing here and there. The big two that bugged me:

1. Reagan's optimism was naivete
   
2. Gorbachev ended the cold war, not Reagan
   

OK, poindexter.
Reagan's optimism and belief in the human spirit defined him.
The author's incredulity likely defines him, and maybe this is a defining trait of your average leftie.

One of the best anecdotes from the book was by a girl attending a talk Reagan gave in Moscow. Russian security officials picked which students would sit where for Reagan's speech. They were told, "Don't make any movements with your body. If you get up, you will be shot." Well, that'll discourage those distracting potty breaks during an event, eh.

QOTD

“General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
- Ronald Reagan, Jun 12 1987, speech at Brandenburg Gate in (then) West Berlin

I believe the difference between Reagan and other presidents was an actual set of values which drove his decision-making. His values: small government, personal freedom, optimism. If you know what President Obama's values are, please chime in and enlighten me.

Reagan was stricken with Alzheimer's a few years after leaving office. He penned a final correspondence, a sort of goodbye, before losing his faculties.

QOTD2

“In closing, let me that you, the American people for giving me the great honor of allowing me to serve as your President. When the Lord calls me home whenever that may be, I will leave with the greatest love for this country of ours and eternal optimism for its future. I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead.”
-Ronald Wilson Reagan, Nov 5 1994 letter

I heart Ronald Reagan


I heart our great sunny weekend!
run faster... yow, bill

PS - A couple photos of Reagan in front of the Berlin Wall on Jun 12, 1987.

...

Labels: 2stars, books, fun, politics, qotd, sports

Disclaimer: I went to the 2D version of Avatar, not the 3D or the Imax.
Sorry, I'm not a 3D fan.

Movie: "Avatar"
Review: 2 bill-stars (out of 5)... not good, not worth it


I sat through 2 1/2 hours of Avatar wondering whether I was missing something because it's so popular. I guess it's a bad sign that you're wondering during a movie, rather than getting into it.
Anyway, the movie ended... flat as a pancake... and the (nearly full) audience sighed, yawned, and headed for the exits.
So, I wasn't alone.

Avatar characters were caricatures. The plot was slow, boring and silly. For fans of director James Cameron, which I am, there's a lot of redo here from his "Aliens 2" and "Titanic". Indeed, I really liked those two movies:

1. "Aliens 2" - silly characters and plot, but an incredible action movie
2. "Titanic" - silly again, but girlie romantic story was OK, great effects, and good performances throughout with Leo and Winslet and Billy Zane
   

QOTD

"What the hell was he doing?"
- Moz after the movie... on reports that James Cameron made "Avatar" edits right up to its release

Mozy's quote is from mini-burgers after the movie, and it's a good question. "Avatar" is bloated and would have benefited from some tightening up.

To those who saw the 3D version and liked it, I say "Huzzah!"
To those of us who yawned through the 2D version, I say "Meh."
"Avatar" isn't really bad... just kind-a mediocre.
peace out... yow, bill

PS - And into the abyss we go... Jan, Feb, Mar... 3 months without fantasy baseball or football. Sigh. He he.
PPS - BTW, "The Abyss" is another good James Cameron movie.

Labels: 2stars, movies

1. Economy Stupid or Stupid Economy
You may have read that I heart business.
Here's a government thing I like: www.recovery.gov
This is a website that tries to detail the spending from President Obama's $787B stimulus bill.

The most interesting stat is how little money has been spent so far. Of the $787B total, only about $170B has been spent or roughly 20%. Bet your ass that most of the remaining 80% will be spent during the election year with mucho fanfare about government largess.

It's also interesting that Congress refuses to provide a similar facility for the health care bill. Even a 72 hour peek has been voted down.

QOTD

"We are moving in the right direction"
- President Obama, Oct 14 2009 (source)

The stock market agrees with President Obama, clearly. I think recovery is the most likely outcome, at least some form of recovery. The investing answer, IMHO, is to ride the wave with tight stops if things turn bad.

The interesting question comes, however, if we are not heading in the right direction. Dial ahead 12 months to Oct 2010... if unemployment is still around 10% in a year and the Dow is lingering at or below 10,000... will America hold President Obama and/or the dem Congress accountable for the situation?

You would think so, but who knows these days.

2. Book Review
Book: "Await Your Reply" by Dan Chaon
Review: 2 bill-stars (out of 5)... meh.

It was close, but I can't recommend it.
It's a plot book with the snarky plot twists and the 2-D characters.
If you like the snarkiness, it's OK. It wasn't worth it for me.

Onward and upward.
yow, bill

Labels: 2stars, books, investing, politics, qotd

The Jew-el is covered with little signs proclaiming reduced prices. Indeed!
The two most promising, significant (and odd) price decreases that I saw were in the beer aisle and my $1.75 boxes of Tony Flakes. A buck 75! Shit, at that price... beer and Frost Flakes is my new diet.

God bless google... Jennifer Aniston over there in some tiger getup, all hot and bothered, riding a big tiger stuffed animal. Probable a stupid Photoshop fake... but a dang funny one. He he.

Movie: Valkyrie
Review: 2 bill-stars (out of 5)... not worth it
Wow, slow slow slow... and the payoff? Well, Hitler lives and all the good guys get shot. Roll credits. Jeez.

And I know it's a relic of my adolescent Hogan's Heroes viewing, but why not have the Nazis at least use German accents, rather than just talking all American.
Oh well. I heard that the movie got a bad rap. Nope. Just stinks.

Oh, well... great Sunday morning. My cheap Tony Flakes are calling.
grrrreat... yow,bill

Labels: 2stars, fun, movies

1. Get off the phone
No, I didn't watch hours and hours of the NFL draft. Thank you.
Ty and I did watch a few picks in the first round.
This same scene was repeated for nearly every player; let's call him Joe Football:

• ESPN had cameras following Joe, wherever he was, home or whatever.
• Joe was watching the draft on TV (ESPN) and was surrounded by friends and family.
• Upon receiving notice that he had been drafted, soon to be anointed with millions of dollars, fame, success, etc... Joe's family would jump up and down and yell and scream and try to hug and kiss Joe.
• And Joe's reaction? Joe's on his dang cell phone. I presume Joe's talking to his agent.

The uniformity was eerie. It seemed a pretty joyless moment for each Joe. I can't understand it. After a couple of these, Ty joined me in yelling at the tube, “Get off the phone!” It got sadder and weirder as each Joe ignored the shiny reality of his situation to talk on his stupid phone.

2. The book
Book: “The Informers” by Bret Easton Ellis
Review: 2 bill-stars (out of 5)... not worth it.

I've read a couple Ellis books, most notably “American Psycho”. He's got a very readable style, very light. He's very into a surreal, ultra-violent, urban-apathetic setting for his books.

Well, this book was surreal, but not very interesting. Ellis tried something a little weird; each chapter has a different first-person narrative, and you're supposed to try and figure out who is “talking” at each point. It doesn't work well at all because all the characters are so similar. And there is this weird vampire plot pasted on the end. Vampires. Yawn.

3. The movie
Movie: “The Informers”
Review: 1 bill-star (out of 5)... gawd awful.

The highlight of this movie was my sighting of a 1978 (I think) Honda Accord in the first 10-15 minutes of the film. My second car was Mozy's 1978 Accord that he let me borrow for a year in North Carolina. What a great car!

Otherwise, the movie is pretty much without redemption, excepting all the hot chicks. Ellis did the screenplay adaptation of his own novel. So, it seems weird that he gutted most/all of the surreal stuff, and it's flat as a pancake. The book was kind of different, but didn't really work. The movie is neither different nor good... and boring and bad acting and direction and ending. Phew, what a stinker!

I really enjoy the book/movie double-shot... even with a buster like "Informers". It's fun.

4. An honest pol
Repub senator Arlen Specter switched over to the dem party. This wouldn't be notable other than the honesty of his reason for the switch.

QOTD

“[I] have found that the prospects for winning a Republican primary are bleak. I am not prepared to have my 29-year record in the United States Senate decided by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate.”
- A Specter, on why he's switch to the dem party

I think Specter is pushing 80 years-old and is a recent cancer survivor. He is hanging on to this senate gig as if it were life itself. That's the point... these senate jobs are so lucrative and intoxicating that it's worth anything to keep it. Power.
unlimited pow-ah... yow, bill

PS - 1978 Honda Accord... excellent!

Labels: 1star, 2stars, books, movies, politics, qotd, sports

QOTD

"I can't believe
What God has done
Through us
He's given life to one
But isn't she lovely
Made from love"
- Stevie Wonder

Book: "Cold Rock River" by Jackie Lee Miles
Review: 2 bill-stars (out of five)... not very good

This plot is just too over-wrought to enjoy; it's a soap opera. The characters were pretty much 2-D as well. I enjoyed the writing style and got through the whole thing, but I can't recommend it.

Of course, Stevie Wonder is 5 bill-stars. He he.
lovely... yow, bill

PS - A chicken in every pot and two cars in every garage!

QOTD2

“As our interest payments rise, our obligations come due, confidence in our economy erodes and our children and our grandchildren are unable to pursue their dreams because they’re saddled with our debts. That’s why today, I’m pledging to cut the deficit we inherited by half by the end of my first term in office.”
- President Obama, Feb 23 2009 (source)

Labels: 2stars, books, politics, qotd

QOTD

"[Geitner's] service should not be tarnished by honest mistakes, which, upon learning of them, he quickly addressed."
- Pres-elect Obama statement on his Treasury Sec nominee not paying taxes

Good one: Geithner failed to pay personal taxes

Do you know what happens when you don't pay your taxes?
And, ya think the head of the NY Fed doesn't know how to pay his flippin' taxes?

Politicians not paying their taxes... the guy is Bernanke Jr. anyway... change, huh?
Whatever.

Movie: Wanted
Review: 2 bill-stars (out of 5) not worth watching
Website: who cares... I'll find a picture for you.

I'll contribute 1 star for the picture (boring, not enough action) and 1 more for Angelina Jolie... though she looks too extra-bony in this movie. See?



Yuk.
peace out... yow, bill

PS - How does natural gas (UNG) go down 6% today? Hopefully, I'll have the answer tomorrow. He he.

Labels: 2stars, movies, politics, qotd

Book: "Cop in the Hood" by Peter Moskos
Review: 2 bill-stars (out of 5)
Website: www.copinthehood.com ... it looks like the author (or someone) has a blog there

This book is a great idea... some pointy-headed academic asks to study the cops, and they tell him, "OK, but you have to become a cop to do it."

The book is a collection of anecdotes and the author's remedies for improving "the hood", his beat in the worst part of Baltimore.
Alas, the book is very dry and not that interesting.

My very favorite story/stat from the whole thing... the guy was on the job for more than a year and he "never locked up anyone for the first time."
Everyone he encountered on the job already had a police record. Everyone was somehow involved in the drug/gang racket. It seems impossible, but his beat in a Baltimore ghetto was that fucked up.

He ends with a comparison of the "war on drugs" with 1920's prohibition. I agree with you buddy, but good luck. We're going in the other direction. You can't even smoke a cigarette in a bar any more: Smoke-Free Naperville. BTW, I faux-eagerly await the "Drink-free Naperville" campaign to stamp out the pariah of drinking in bars... a far more dangerous and deleterious activity.

What about the children!
yow, bill

Labels: 2stars, books

Book: "Petropolis"
Review: 2 bill-stars
Web site: www.anyaulinich.com

Pardon my sentence fragments: Yawn. Flat plot. 2-D characters (caricatures). Not worth reading.

I don't care if you're in Naperville or Siberia... some teenager complaining for 300 pages is a deal-breaker. I'm surprised I finished it. That was worth a star right there.

"Petropolis" googles to a lot of things... this book, a city in Brazil, a shop at the mall, a pet grooming place in St. Louis ("pet"-ropolis, get it... www.petropolis.com), and so on. This is a photo of the "Crystal Palace" in Petropolis in Brazil. Pretty cool.


And finally, QOTD:

"Sasha Goldberg is like Borat, but with a big heart!"
- Gary Shteyngart, from the back cover of "Petropolis"

Well, Sasha Goldberg is the main character from "Petropolis". That quote is on the back cover pimping the book. Do you have to read the book for that to sound really bizarre? Borat with a big heart? What the F?
borat schmorat... yow, bill

Labels: 2stars, books, qotd

QOTD:

"He was as tough and romantic as the city he loved. Beneath his black-rimmed glasses was the coiled sexual power of a jungle cat. I love this. New York was his town, and it always would be..."
- Woody Allen, "Manhattan"

Anyway, 2 easy movie reviews:

• Iron Man, 4 bill-stars (out of 5) - great guy fun and action. No more, no less. Oh wait, Gwyneth in red hair and chest freckles ablaze... that was better than your standard fare. I stand corrected. Also, the ending could have been better.
  
• Cloverfield, 2 bill-stars - little fun and little action. This is a 1-star movie that doubled its review when the monster ate the hand-held camera guy. That said, I have to also disclaim my review. No 40-something can stomach that hand-held camera shit, and if I were an angry guy, then I would have started counting the number of times I heard 20-somethings scream "Oh my god!". But I'm a nice, happy (old) guy, so I just fast-forwarded through most of it.
  

I yearn for some real cranky Hollywood bugs after Cloverfield. So I think I'll pop in some Starship Troopers. Yeah, that's it.
oh my god... yow, bill

PS - Oh my god again!

Labels: 2stars, 4stars, movies, qotd

I'm struggling with my 4-star concept because of Yelp. I like yelp's 5 stars, so I'm considering a switch. A couple nice side effects:

1. Then 3/5 starts is the "worth it" barrier.
2. It's an easy translation to x/10, or percent, ala IMDB.

The only down side is my history of base 4 review computing. Nerd sigh. I'll give these 5 stars a go. Starting... now!

Anyway, "The Bank Job"... I think I was jobbed. 2 bill-stars (out of 5).
It was supposed to be a mindless, fun guy flick. Instead, it was was gender-neutral and boring. Boring plot. Boring characters. Little/no action. Who is that hot chick? Hold on... Saffron Burrows (???)... whatever. Skip it.

I should've gone to see 10,000 BC. Maybe.
later... yow, bill

PS - Two good previews: "Shutter" about pictures of ghosts and "The Ruins" which featured worms crawling int girls' bodies... so gross, Ty surely would have hurled. Blech.

PPS - Paxson's winner over Phoenix... was almost 15 years ago. Jeez. I think I'm going to hurl.

Labels: 2stars, movies