Sunday, August 31, 2003

I’ve been thinking about this for about a week. I love sports movies, but my favorites are the baseball movies. Mostly because I think baseball is my favorite sport and also because the speed of the game lends itself to the movie format well. So here’s the list of my top ten favorite baseball movies (in no particular order):

1.  Bad News Bears
2.  The Sandlot
3.  The Natural
4.  Field of Dreams
5.  A League of Their Own
6.  Eight Men Out
7.  Angels in the Outfield
8.  Major League
9.  *61
10.  For Love of the Game

Let me remind you, these are my favorites - they’re not necessarily what everyone considers the best. For instance, you’ll have noticed that Bull Durham isn’t on the list. That’s because it doesn’t rank up there for me. Sue me…

Michele is a gifted writer - she’s posted a photo essay of her visit to lower Manhattan yesterday.

It’s hard to believe it’s been just two years. That day seems like it was 10 years ago at times. At others, the memories are as fresh as if it happened yesterday.

We must never, ever forget what happened on That Day.

[via dean]

I’m taking full credit for this.

While at Sgt Hook’s I found his recommendation of Call Me Al. I clicked over, then to his 100 Things... where I read:

8. I believe that when God said, “It is good”, He cried a tear that fell to earth. It was bottled and we now call it Dr Pepper.

This one gets Al on my blogroll:

19. I can quote, without a prompter, every line from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Top Gun and The Princess Bride.

We’re going to have to find a new night-before-Thanksgiving dinner tradition, folks. The Ho Ho is closed and will reopen at some date in the future as a Korean BBQ place.

It’s a sad, sad day for my family.

Saturday, August 30, 2003

I made no real plans for the holiday weekend since I went to New Jersey to see the Cooties last weekend. I’m really a homebody and like being home. And I’m lazy too. And a little anti-social on the weekends after being around too many people during the week - I’m the classic introvert as described by the Myers-Briggs Personality Type thingy. So while I was happy to be home last night and today, I’m so thankful that I’m going to dinner at The Marshal’s tonight and have church activities tomorrow because by Monday I’ll be going out of my mind with boredom.

I can’t say I so much enjoyed watching Black Hawk Down last night - that’s a tough movie to watch. But I’m glad I did because I found it to be pretty faithful to the book - at least to what I’ve read so far. Did you know that Orlando Bloom was in that movie? It came out in the same month as Fellowship of the Ring in 2001, but I don’t think people realized that he had a small role in BHD. He’s not bad although his American accent needs a little work.

I think my new favorite Discovery Channel/TLC show is What Not to Wear (I’m too lazy to look for links today, you’re on your own). Today’s sucka was a woman who co-owns a beauty shop in NYC. She’s 39 and is a very attractive woman who seems to think that she needs to dress like Christina or Brittney (read: young and whore-y). Her wardrobe is ATROCIOUS! And the hosts were pretty brutal about her trampy look. But the transformation was amazing. They taught her that she can still show some skin and not cross the line to trampy. One outfit she bought was a classic slim black skirt with a hem just below the knees and a turquoise silk shirt with french cuffed sleeves. She looked incredible in that - like the successful business owner that she is and still with the little bit of flamboyance of her personality coming through with the bold color of the shirt and her hair. What I like about the show is that they really do seem to teach the victims how to make the change at home as well. They teach them how to buy key classic pieces for their wardrobe, what will look good on their body shape, and the hair and make-up people also teach them how to repeat their look at home. I don’t think most makeover shows do that.

And now I have to go cook the appetizer I’m taking to dinner and decide what I’m going to wear. It’s a large group of people including our new pastor’s family, my parents, L & JHP, and my mother’s best friend’s family. I think that’s it - counting those heads I get 17 people, including the 6 children. Wow.

Annie and I were about halfway down the steps when I noticed a pair of walking legs at the sidewalk level through the landing barrier railing. Annie must have caught sight or sound because she started whining and running. Once we were at the sidewalk and out of the breezeway, I saw an adorable little Yorkie just to the left, looking at us, he was not leashed. Annie was excited and wanted to go to the other dog, but I had her on a short leash. Further down the walk was her owner, a very large black man (like a fit football player).

“Come on, Cody,” he called to the pooch.

“He’s so cute.” I said to him. “Annie, he’s just a little guy, be nice.”

At that point, Cody got brave and ran right up to Annie. They touched noses, then Annie made a move closer to Cody, which scared Cody to death - he took off running to his dad. Annie immediately lost interest and took off in the other direction for the nearest patch of grass.

He was super cute - short, spiky hair; perky ears. Adorable. And he was about a fifth the size of Annie…

Which leads to part two this morning, from last weekend. At one point, CootieGirl‘s dog (Cooper) was trying to lounge in my lap, but he’s a large dog although very slender for his size. He’s easily two and half feet high and about that long if not longer. So Mrs. Cootie was watching and asked, “How much does Annie weigh?” (It’s a long-standing joke that my dog is a tank. She’s pretty solid, but I don’t consider her to be fat. Much.)

“She’s about 35 pounds,” I said.

“Yeah, that’s what Cooper weighs.”

Annie is maybe a foot tall and about 18 inches long. She’s a tank.

Friday, August 29, 2003

I think I agree with the consensus (is that spelled right? it doesn’t look right) of my commenters that books are preferred over movies. I love a good book. But I love a good movie too. The comments got me thinking a little bit - there are times I prefer a movie to the book. Rather, it’s that I appreciate having the movie to help in the reading of the book.

For instance, I’m reading Black Hawk Down right now. I’ve seen the movie already, several times (I saw it in the theater when it came out). While I know that the movie doesn’t tell the whole story and that some of it is fictionalized for the screen, I have found that watching a movie while reading the book can help me to visualize some of what’s being described. For me, war is hard to visualize, no matter how well it’s written. So while I have a good imagination, I can’t fully appreciate battle scenes by just reading them. And I’m finding that to be the case with this book. So I’ve been resisting rewatching the movie until I finish the book, but I decided to go ahead and watch it tonight. I’m at a point in the book where the people and places are getting confused and I’m thinking that watching the movie might help.

Another example of where this worked was with Band of Brothers. I watched the mini-series before I read the book. I came to love those guys (the real men as portrayed by actors), especially the ones who were featured in the snippets of video before and after each episode. Hearing them tell parts of their stories in their own voices, to see their tears, their accents gave me a real sense of who they are. So when I started reading the book, I felt that I already knew who a lot of them were. And having seen the battles they experienced in that movie version helped me keep track of the action in the book too.

So I’m logging off now to go watch Black Hawk Down. It’s a very good movie that should have won Oscar’s Best Picture, imho. But Hollowood didn’t want to reward that kind of movie then. If you haven’t seen it, rent it. And I can recommend the book as well - it’s well written, the research is thorough, and you get a good history of the troubles in Somalia as well as the moment-by-moment action our troops experienced on that terrible day.

I don’t often agree with Dean, but his take on the Alabama 10 Commandments thingy is well said.

In exploring the realms of the Google news sites, I stumbled across this goodie:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The CIA says actress Jennifer Garner, star of ABC’s espionage thriller “Alias,” has what it takes to be a real-life spy, and will soon be helping to lure new recruits to the intelligence agency.

The 31-year-old actress has agreed to appear in a recruitment video that the CIA plans to produce and screen for prospective applicants at job fairs and college campuses, said Chase Brandon, the CIA’s liaison with the film industry and a consultant for “Alias.”

[...]

Brandon said Garner possesses the ideal mix of traits that the CIA is seeking in its new recruits, including the young demographic she represents.

“Her basic qualities of intelligence and integrity and creativity, as a person she has what we look for,” Brandon said. “If Jennifer ever decides she doesn’t want to wear dark glasses of the celebrity status, she can put on dark glasses and be a spy. She’s got what it takes.”

**I’m not saying actors don’t necessarily have what it takes to be spies. My thought is that she may be a little too high profile to be effective in the field. My understanding is that they really want people who are able to blend. She will never blend.

An 18-year-old man suspected of creating a version of the “Blaster” computer infection is in custody in Minnesota, U.S. government sources said Friday. I’m very happy this guy is 18 years old, he will be tried as an adult.

We’ve had some auditors here this week, checking the criminal desk files. They’ve been tying up our conference lunch room, which has been a bit of a pain. Today was the worst because lunch came at about 12:15 and they were still in there.

So we went into the training room, using the weight benches as tables. I walked in to hear loud yelling and see some of the fellas staring up at the wall-mounted TV. They were watching a videotape of the Ultimate Fighting Championship or whatever it was called. For those who have no idea what this is, it’s a combination of wrestling, boxing, and martial arts and it’s fought by very buff idiots men. The deputies watching were completely mesmerized.

I was disgusted and fascinated all at the same time. What I found amazing was that the guys were talking about it like it was the NFL or some other sport rather than some pay-per-view-only violent freak show.

I was shoveling food into my mouth, trying not to drip on my clothes, when they let loose with a loud combination grunt-whoop yell. Apparently, whatever happened was so good they had to rewind it several times to watch. Two guys were circling each other when all of a sudden Baldie #1’s left arm came flying across to hit Baldie #2’s chin. Knocked unconscious, B2 face-planted the mat and lay there for several minutes unconscious with medics of some sort hovering over him while B1 danced in victory.

< sarcasm > Yeah, that’s good lunchtime viewing. < /sarcasm >

I work with hoodlums.

Does it bother anyone else that news readers (really, it’s the copy writers) form their headline style reports in the present tense regardless of whether the event they’re talking about happened yesterday or is planned for tomorrow?

Case in point from this morning - I was watching FNC as per my usual morning ritual when at the top of the hour, the readerette read the snippet about the 9/11 Port Authority Transcripts being released yesterday. And yet it was in the present tense, something like, “The Port Authority releasing the 9/11 transcripts...” when it was clearly done yesterday. So it should have been, “The Port Authority released the 9/11 transcripts...” right?

Man, that really bugs me.

Thanks to Tony, I now have more smilies from which to choose. I will replace a few and add a couple too.

UPDATE (3:25pm): Here are the new smilies added/modified today…

blush (modified): 
boohoo: 
clap: 
d’oh! (modified): 
rofl: 
wall: 

I may add more from the new source. They have some really cute ones.

Use at will.

Bryan asked me a critical question (post called a quick question for Jen).

My answer is…

Sure. But don’t even think that that show is going to resemble anything near reality.

We were just talking about it at lunch the other day - some of us will watch the pilot to see just how ridiculous it is.