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Monthly Archives: April 2013

Are the Sox Setting Us Up for August?

30 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

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Tags

Boston Red Sox, Magic Number, Washington Nationals

If you’ve been a Red Sox fan as long as I have, 62 years, you no doubt understand the headline above.

At dinner last night, my wife of almost 45 years (and a ‘fair weather’ baseball fan — she only goes to games when the weather is fair) asked how the Sox were doing. When I told her they were 18-7, leading not only the AL East but also all of the majors, she said, “I guess they’re setting you up for their August fade.”

Could be.

If they continued at their present W-L rate (.720), they’d win 116 games.

Won’t happen, of course. Tho if they simply played at a .500 rate for the remainder of the season, they’d end up winning between 86-87 games, almost exactly what I predicted on March 18, 2013: Don’t Bother Reading This Post.

Still, Continue reading »

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Looking for a Good Movie?

28 Sunday Apr 2013

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

"Mud", "Still Mine", "Twenty Feet From Stardom", Jeff Nichols, Mathew McConaughey

I’ve got one for you.

99424_gal

Mud ****1/2

I don’t want to ‘oversell’ this film, but if you’re looking for something a bit different and at the same time a bit familiar, something with terrific acting, a good adventure story, and a glimpse into another part of America, put Mud on your ‘to see’ list.

It is written and directed by Jeff Nichols and stars Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Tye Sheridan, and Jacob Lofland. McConaughey (Mud) and Witherspoon (Juniper) may be what draw audiences to this film, but it is the story and performances of Sheridan (Ellis) and Lofland (Neckbone) that make this movie a winner.

Continue reading »

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Caption Contest

26 Friday Apr 2013

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

Bush Presidential Library Inauguration, Caption Contest, Papa Bush, Socks

obama-bush-library

Papa Bush is ‘known’ for wearing colorful socks, and yesterday, at the inaugural of his son’s Presidential library, was no exception.

Since I love to run contests, here’s one that doesn’t involve knowing baseball, reading books, knowing history, etc.

Just come up with the best caption for the picture above, and I’ll try to get you a pair of similar socks for your very own wearing (or giving to your father).

Leave your entries in Comment section of this post or send them to me: Samesty84@gmail.com.

Deadline: May 3, one week.

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“There Are All Sorts of Truths”

25 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

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"42", Jackie Robinson, Joe Posnanski, Read This & You'll Never Watch Baseball the Same Way, The Three Toughest Outs in Baseball, Tom Boswell

Readers of MillersTimes, or perhaps more specifically the GoSox portion of the the site, probably know by now that two of my favorite living, active sports’ writers are Tom Boswell and Joe Posnanski.

In fact, I think two of the best postings on GoSox, ones that I believe will change the way you look at baseball, were because of articles written be each one of these guys:

  • Read This and You’ll Never Watch Baseball the Same Way
  • The Three Toughest Outs in Baseball?

If you haven’t had a chance to read one or both of these, head there now.

If I am overstating the importance of the insights these two articles bring, feel free to let me know.

And as for this post and the title above, “There Are All Sorts of Truths”, I refer you to Joe Posnanski’s review of the new film 42 about Jackie Robinson.

I reviewed it earlier, “42” – A Home Run, and I stick by my review. But Posnanski fleshes out the film even further and explains, in more detail than did I, the strengths and weaknesses of the film.

Bottom line: he likes the film as an emotional, introduction to Jackie Robinson, but, he writes, “If you are looking for shades of gray storytelling about the most consequential sports story in American history, this isn’t your movie.”

Check out the review. It’s a good one.

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“4000 Miles” – A Play to See

24 Wednesday Apr 2013

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

"4000 Miles", Amy Herzog, Grant Harrison, Joy Zinoman, Russell Metheny, Tanya Hicken, The Studio Theatre

Photo by Scott Suchman

Photo by Scott Suchman

Thanx to a good friend, I just saw 4000 Miles last night. Otherwise, I might have missed it entirely.

That would have been a shame.

Set in a Greenwich Village apartment in 2007, the play centers around two characters, widely separated by age. Vera (Tana Hicken) is in her 80s, lives alone,  and is struggling with the various losses that come with the final years of one’s life.

Leo (Grant Harrison) is 21, has just completed a cross-country bike trip, and is also struggling with a number of issues, many of which become more clear as the play progresses. Vera is Leo’s grandmother (step grandmother?).

As the play opens, Leo appears in the middle of the night with his bicycle and packs and needs a place to stay. What follows is largely what happens between these two characters as their stories unfold in some wonderful dialogue and exchanges.  Vera is lonely and seems a bit lost. And so too is Leo, tho in different ways.

Continue reading »

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Do You Reread?

22 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

How to Read a Book, Michael Dirda, Reading and Rereading, Vladimir Nabokov

April 22, 2013.

Several months ago a movie critic described to some of us who were spending an evening together how she approaches reviewing movies.  She said she tries to think about films using three points: what was the artist trying to do, how well did he/she do it, and was it worth doing?

That was eye opening (mind opening?) for me as I usually just react to what I’ve seen by thinking about what I liked or didn’t like. While I can’t say I’ve totally changed how I approach thinking about the many movies I see, I have been using her categories to expand my response to what I am seeing.

I also began to wonder about my reading and my reactions to what I read, as I spend a good deal of time with books (in one form or another). In fact, I signed up for a two hour talk and discussion at our wonderful, local bookstore, Politics & Prose with Pulitzer Prize winning critic Michael Dirda on “How to Read a Book” (I’ll write about what I learn after the ‘course’).

And I began to think about reading vs rereading, Continue reading »

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The Morning After

20 Saturday Apr 2013

Posted by Richard in The Outer Loop

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Boston Bombings, Boston Globe, Internet, Newspapers, Radio, TV, WBUR, West Texas explosions

Saturday morning, April 20, 2013

After spending much of the last 36 hours following the various coverages of what occurred in Boston (and West, Texas), a few observations:

I remember why I rarely turn on our TV.

There was a time when TV was the ‘go to’ medium when a national event, tragedy, news story happened. For me, that’s no longer the case. While TV can still provide some things no other medium can, it’s flaws are simply too big to ignore.

Continue reading »

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Tigers Will Beat the Nats in the World Series

18 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

2013 MillersTime Baseball Contests, All Star Game, Nats, Sox, Tigers, World Series, Yankees

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According to those who participated in the 2013 MillersTime Baseball Contests, the Tigers will win it all this year.

logo_det_79x76It’ll probably be the Nats they defeat in the World Series, tho some of you think the Nats will lose out in the NLCS to either the Giants or Dodgers, who then in turn will lose to the Tigers.

Got all that?

Tigers win World Series (Contest #6).

(Note: Last year you thought the Angels would beat the Phillies in the WS, and we know how far off that prediction turned out to be. For those whose memories are a bit challenged, neither the Angels nor the Phillies made the playoffs, and the Giants beat the Tigers in four games to win the WS.)

Continue reading »

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Pigs Fly as Hell Freezes Over

17 Wednesday Apr 2013

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest, Go Sox, The Outer Loop

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from The New Yorker

from The New Yorker

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And as some of you may know, the Neil Diamond song Sweet Caroline is the Boston Red Sox theme song. Yesterday, it was played at stadiums around the country, including at Yankee Stadium. Take a couple of moments to see it.

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A Modest Proposal

17 Wednesday Apr 2013

Posted by Richard in The Outer Loop

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Boston Bombings, Bureau of Firearms Tobacco & Alcohol, NRA, Patriots' Day Blasts, Taggants

Articles in the news this morning talk about the abilities and difficulties of using bomb forensics to trace the origin of the materials in the two explosive devices detonated in Boston.

There is technology that has been available for at least 30 years (I know because my wife worked on this issue for the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee many years ago) that would make the tracing of the material much easier.

It’s called “taggants”, and, as I understand it, it is simple. Materials that ‘tag’ the source of explosives (where the explosives were made, sold?) can easily be added to materials that are used in bomb making. Our Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms has wanted to require this at least since the late 70s early 80s.

Repeatedly, the NRA has fought this legislation and defeated it. Something about ‘the camels nose in the tent’. Our Congress has caved every time.

Let’s try again.

Two ways to do this.

We could add taggant requirements to the current discussion and legislation about gun control, using the latest tragedy to highlight the issue. Perhaps our legislators would understand it is a reasonable and useful way to help our law enforcement experts trace and find the perpetrators of such horrors.

Or, if the NRA is too strong and our legislators too intimated, perhaps we could take a page from the lobbyists’ handbook and have a congressional staff or an ‘anonymous’ congressperson slip it (at the last moment) into whatever form of legislation does pass.

How can we not do this?

(Update 4/18/13: See an article I just saw posted – How the Gun Lobby Has Already Blocked Boston’s Bombing Investigations – speaks to this very issue.)

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“42” – A Home Run

15 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures, Go Sox

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

"42", Branch Rickey, Brooklyn Dodgers, Chadwick Boseman, Harrison Ford, Jackie Robinson

JR.IMG_0433

April 15, 2013

42 ****

Not a grand slam, but a a solid homer.

As even those who don’t follow baseball know, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball (April 15, 1947).

He wouldn’t have done it without Brooklyn Dodger General Manager Branch Rickey, who chose Robinson because he believed Robinson could handle what would be thrown at the first negro to play in the Majors.

In Brian Helgeland’s new film 42, both those who know little and those who know a lot about baseball will walk away knowing more than when they entered the theater and with admiration for both Robinson and Rickey.

I suspect the far larger part of the audiences seeing the film don’t know many of the details of what happened between 1945-47. They will after seeing 42.

Continue reading »

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Two Films & a Play

10 Wednesday Apr 2013

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

"56 Up", "A Hijacking", "Happy People: a Year in Taiga", "Mold, "NO", "Still Mine", "Stolen Seas", "The Gatekeepers", Studio Theatre

Thanks to the D.C. Cinema Club, I continue to see films that I might otherwise miss.

Here are a few more to consider, along with a play I hope will be reproduced around the country.

 

Continue reading »

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Join Me for a Nats’ Game (.2)

09 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures, Go Sox

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Tags

Baseball Tickets, Washington Nationals

Here are a few more games that I have available for fans to join me at a Nats’ game. Actually, you don’t have to be a big baseball or a Nats’ fan, just interested in a pleasant evening at the park.

Let me know (Samesty84@gmail.com) if you’re interested.

  • Thursday, April 25, 7:05 vs Reds
  • Friday, May 24, 7:05 vs Phillies
  • Tuesday, June 4, 7:05 vs Mets (two tickets for sale)
  • Wednesday, June 5, 7:05 vs Mets
  • Thursday, June 6, 7:05 vs Mets
  • Tuesday, June 25, 7:05 vs Diamondbacks

On a different note, I’m still working on a spread sheet of the predictions all 47 of you made in the 2013 MillersTime Baseball Contests. But it may take me another week before I can complete that and send it out.

Finally, thanks to alert reader Harry S, see this morning’s NYTimes article For 2 Unheralded Players, a 3-Point Shootout by Ben Shpigel. Terrific sports’ writing.

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Ellen’s Slice of Sicily

07 Sunday Apr 2013

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures, Family and Friends

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Ellen's Photographs, Sicily, Taormina

The pictures below and the ‘slides’ you can see by clicking on the link at the end of the pictures on this page come from our recent, return trip to Sicily to complete a previously interrupted visit. We ‘encamped’ in Taormina and ventured out each day.

As usual, Ellen’s eye and photography skills capture it.

Continue reading »

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Sox Atop AL East. Magic Number Down to 162.

02 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

baseball, Magic Number, Nats, Sox, Yunkees

Yes.

162 is correct and not a misprint.

According to a young friend who studies these things (who ever knew there were such people?), apparently even though the Sox play 162 regular season games, they start the year with a magic number of 163.

Something about a need to put a cookie jar out of reach.

Once I return from this week’s trip to New Orleans, I’ll explain all of that in a future post for the few of you out there who may be interested in the metrics of such ‘foolishness’.

And the White Sox, Detroit, Houston, LAA, Seattle, Atlanta, Mets, Nats, Dodgers, Arizona, Cubs, Brewers also have magic numbers of 162, if I fully understand what this sabermatrician is trying to teach me.

Also, thanx to all of you who succumbed to my constant nagging (redundancy?) to participate in the 2013 MillersTime Baseball Contests.

I haven’t had time to put all the answers on a spread sheet yet; that will have to wait a week or so. But suffice it to say that not many of you picked either the Sox or the Yunkees to go all the way. In fact, many of you seem to believe neither will make it to the playoffs, but they will fight each other — for last place in the AL East.

Harrumph.

Better predictions for the Nats, however.

Cheers.

 

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