Ask Me a Question, Pt. 1:WS

You still have until 11:59 p.m. tomorrow to ask me questions about ANYTHING that I promise to answer. But given that baseball’s post-season (or “second season”, as FOX likes to put it) starts tonight, I feel compelled to answer one of the questions now:

Our first contestant is a scooting gentleman named Scott: Who do you think is going to win the World Series this year? I have no idea, except that it won’t be the San Diego Padres. Next question.

Actually, I’ve been working on a Goldilocks theory, in terms of peaking teams. Too early and the team has a chance of being flat in the post-season. Too late and the team will have used up all of its energy just to get to the post-season. Just right teams have been tested, but have a chance to put their pitching in order.

American League:

EAST: New York Yankees- used a lot of energy just to win the division in Game 161
CENTRAL: Chicago White Sox- limped to their division title, more as a result of Cleveland’s collapse than anything. They almost blew the 15-game lead they had on August 1.
WEST: Anaheim Angels (yeah, I know what they’re really called)- seems just right. A good competitive race with Oakland, but resolved before the last week of the season.
WILD CARD: Boston, clinches on the final day. At least they don’t have to do a playoff game against Cleveland.

NYY vs. the LAA: Yankee pitching too inconsistent. Pick: the Angels.
CWS vs. Bosox: as beat up as Boston is, I think Chicago is going down. Pick: the Red Sox.
LAA vs. BoSox: This is a rerun of the 1986 series that went VERY badly for the Angels, after being within a few outs of the World Series. Redemption, finally. Pick the Angels.

National League:

EAST: Atlanta Braves- had a terrible beginning of the season but surged into first place. Peaked a little early, but to their credit continued to play solid baseball.
CENTRAL: St. Louis Cardinals- WAY too big a lead early, cruised home.
WEST: San Diego Padres – they’re a .500 team, fer cryin’ out loud.
WILD CARD: Houston staves off Philadelphia.

ATL vs. Astros: Probably the best matchup of the four in the first round. I thought Houston would do better in the season because of their pitching, and in a short series, the pitching’s even more important. But the Braves have pitching, too, and they’re more rested. Pick the Braves.
Cards vs. Padres: St. Louis is flat, but not so flat that they can’t beat the Fathers. Pick: the Cards.
ATL vs. STL: As much as I would prefer St. Louis, I feel that it will be the superior depth of the other team. Pick: Atlanta.

World Series:
Atlanta beats the Angels in 6 or 7. Atlanta wins a WS in a year ending in 5 again.

Note that this isn’t what I WANT to happen, this is what I think WILL happen. I really don’t like the Braves. I think it’s that “America’s Team” schtick they have because they’re broadcast on TBS. That and the Tomahawk chop.

And while I’m talkin’ baseball: I have no pick for the AL MVP- A-Rod, Papi, they both have decent credentials. But for the NL MVP, my pick is the pride of Curacao, the favorite player of every Little Leaguer from the island this year, Andruw Jones of the aforementioned Atlanta. He carried the team when Chipper and others were hurt. I was watching the game many years ago when Bobby Cox pulled Andruw Jones IN THE MIDDLE OF AN INNING for his failure to hustle. The man has definitely grown up.

What are YOUR World Series picks?

(Aside to Fred, No, you can’t pick the Mets.)

ROG

August August


(There should be an emphasis on the second syllable for the first word, and an emphasis on the first syllable in the second word.)

Playwright August Wilson, author of a ten-play cycle outlining black life in America in the 20th Century has died at the age of 60 from liver cancer. This saddens me greatly, as I felt he had a lot more to offer.

I’ve seen two of his plays (Ma Rainey, Fences) on stage, and one (The Piano Lesson) on television. It was announced last month that Broadway’s Virginia Theatre will be renamed for Wilson two weeks from today. If you haven’t done so already, check out an August Wilson play.

ROG

Banned Books Meme

If Kelly Brown, 6th grade teacher extraordinaire, is doing her FIRST meme, and doing it in honor of the recently-ended Banned Book Week, how can I possibly refuse?

Books I’ve read I will italize; books I own I’ll put a * in front of. The list is not mutually exclusive, of course:

Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
*I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
*The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
*Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (saw the movie)
Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling (saw the first movie)
Forever by Judy Blume
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
*The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Giver by Lois Lowry
It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine parts
A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Sex by Madonna
Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
The Witches by Roald Dahl
The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
The Goats by Brock Cole
Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
Blubber by Judy Blume
Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
Final Exit by Derek Humphry
*The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
*To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
*Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
Deenie by Judy Blume
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
Cujo by Stephen King
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
Ordinary People by Judith Guest (saw the movie)
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
Fade by Robert Cormier
Guess What? by Mem Fox
*The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Native Son by Richard Wright
Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies by Nancy Friday
Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
Jack by A.M. Homes
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
Carrie by Stephen King
Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
Family Secrets by Norma Klein
Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
The Dead Zone by Stephen King
*The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
*Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
Private Parts by Howard Stern
Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford
Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
Sex Education by Jenny Davis
The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

Not a particularly large percentage, but to be fair to me, some are books targweted at kids, and it’s been a while since I was one. Perhaps I’ll get another shot with Lydia.

ROG

MOVIE REVIEW: 40-Year-Old Virgin

Here’s a confession, if you hadn’t already figured it out: I’m a bit of a movie snob. Usually, I go to films that are running at the more “artsy” cinema emporium in town, the Spectrum.. I DO tend to avoid the multiplex at the mall (and the mall in general). But it was movie date time, nothing was playing at the Spectrum that we wanted to see, and there is a local theater, the Madison, that plays more mainstream fare and really could use the community support.

So, that’s how Carol and I ended up at a movie called “The 40-Year Old Virgin.” I KNEW it was going to be a bit coarse and crude, of course. Yet it had several things going for it. Steve Carell, who I knew best from “The Daily Show”, was writing and producing, as well as starring. I found him painfully dead-on last season in the Americanized version of “The Office.” (Haven’t seen it yet this season.)
Catherine Keener, who I liked in “Lovely & Amazing” and loved in “Being John Malkovich” was featured as the potential love interest.
And most importantly, from my perspective, the piece was co-written by Judd Apatow, the creative force behind a couple of my favorite coming-of-age TV shows, “Freaks & Geeks” and the even more unfortunately short-lived “Undeclared.”

Andy Stitzer works in a Best Buy sort of place. Three of his co-workers (and friends?) discover his secret and decide to “fix” it, and him. In their own ways, they are nearly as inept dealing with women as the title character.

Yes, it was raunchy and even silly. Yet, Carrell held the center of the movie together. Also, anyone who has worked in a comic book store or similar shop will recognize the collector mentality that “Andy” possessed.

In many ways, it was dead-on on some of the ways of courting and relationships. “Shrewdly observant,” one review indicated, and I’ll buy that. Paul Rudd (probably best known from “Friends”), Romany Malco, and Seth Rogen (who appeared in both of Apatow’s TV shows) are quite sharp as the very different colleagues. Keener, who’s warm character-with-a-secret, was great, as expected. Jane Lynch, who’s been in “Best of Show” and “A Mighty Wind”, has quite possibly the best bit in the film.

Here’s the bottom line: it’s a comedy. I laughed. A lot. Even at thing I thought were tasteless, or goofy (“Jupiter aligns with Mars.”)

And in the midst of all of that, I thought the movie was…sweet, somehow. Everyone, from his upstairs neighbors on are pulling for Andy, as we did. So, for an intelligently crass good time, I recommend (much to my surprise) the movie.
***
NBC, which has less and less going for it, is loving the chance to exploit the success of the movie to promote Steve Carell’s appearance on SSNL last night (recorded, not watched), and especially the new season of The Office. I’ve seen the first two episodes. There’s a thin line between pain and pleasure, and this show REALLY stradles it.

ROG
Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial