Calling for Your Most Favorite Reads in 2015

18 Wednesday Nov 2015

Posted by in Escapes and Pleasures

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“A Best Friend Is Someone Who Gives Me a Book I’ve Never Read”- A. Lincoln

It’s that time of year again — when I request you share with other readers of MillersTime your most favorite books read over the past 12 months.

Here are a few guidelines that may help in drawing your list and in making my compilation easier:

*When I ask for your Most Favorite Reads of 2015, I’m seeking fiction and/or nonfiction books that stood out for you above all you’ve read in the past year. What have been the most enjoyable, the most important, the most thought provoking, the best written, the ones you may go back and read again, the ones you reread this year, and/or the ones you have suggested others read?

* You are welcome to send just one title or up to a half dozen or so. (Please limit your contributions to six as it takes me many hours to compile the list. For some of you this request may be difficult, but remember the request — MOST Favorite Reads of 2015.)

* List the title, the author, and indicate whether it is fiction (F) or nonfiction (NF).

* If you are willing, please write a sentence or two about why each particular book made it to your list for this year. If you prefer not to add this, no problem, but I’ve found readers enjoy the comments and use them in choosing books to read for the coming year.

* Don’t be concerned about whether others will have the same book(s) on their lists. If we get a number of similar titles, that’s just an indication of the power of a particular book/author.

* Your books do not have to be ones that were written and/or published in 2015, just ones that you read over the past year.

* Send me your list in an email (Samesty84@gmail.com) before Dec. 20 so I will be able to post the entire list at the end of the year. (If you send me your list soon, you may be able to avoid my constant email reminders to do so.)

To see previous years’ lists, click on any of these links: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014.

A Winning Trade

17 Tuesday Nov 2015

Posted by in Articles & Books of Interest, Go Sox

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aac394a2ea3548f992caf4798605cda5-aac394a2ea3548f992caf4798605cda5-0The best trade, baseball and otherwise, is one that benefits both sides of a trade, imho.

If that is so, then I think the recent Sox-Padres trade meets that definition of a ‘best trade’.

While it really isn’t possible yet to evaluate either the short or long term outcome of what Drombrowski has done for/to the Sox, it seems to me that in one trade he’s drastically changed the Sox bullpen for the better – Tazawa in the 7th, Uehara in the 8th, and Kimbrel in the 9th.

The best evaluation of this trade is the one yesterday by Alex Speier. If you haven’t seen it, take a look: 108 Stitches.

Feel free to add to what he has to say in the Comments’ section of this MillersTime/GoSox post.

I don’t know how many of you follow Alex Speier’s 108 Stitches, but if you’re not getting his daily blog post sent to your email, consider doing so. Sometimes there’s more than even the most obsessed of you might want to know, but he’s always informative.

Five Good Films, Two Not So Good

15 Sunday Nov 2015

Posted by in Escapes and Pleasures

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Four of the five good films mini-reviewed below are in theaters now, and one of the two not so good ones is also widely available around the country.

Labyrinth of Lies ****1/2

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The time is 1958 and a low level young public prosecutor stumbles onto and pursues a story most of post WWII Germans want left alone — the participation and guilt of many Germans who were part of the Auschwitz holocaust.

Labyrinth of Lies is based on true events, but here it is a fictionalized account of what occurred. As Johann Radman (Alexander Feeling) proceeds on a lonely effort to expose war criminals, he meets stiff resistance from virtually everyone in Germany. They just want all of these issue left behind. Yet he perseveres.

Germany’s official entry into the foreign film category of the Oscars, Labyrinth of Lies tells the story of what one person can do, did do, and at what costs and with what results.

(More than 97 per cent of our Sunday Cinema Club rated this film either excellent or good.)

Bridge of Spies ****1/2

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Help Choose the Winner(s)

11 Wednesday Nov 2015

Posted by in Go Sox

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Grind: Extra Fine (Small Circles & Effect: High Contrast), Brew: Color Gels (1/2 Pic & Full Blended Circles), Serve: Stirred (Flash Burn Tone & Brown Bag Texture)

Enough information is now in the record books that a winner can be chosen for the 2015 MillersTime Baseball Contest #2: Make a prediction about something that will happen during the 2015 MLB season.

Below you will see the 46 contestants’ predictions and whether they missed by a mile (20), had some truth in their prediction (16), or basically nailed something that happened (10).

The winners will be chosen by MillersTime readers (see below).

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Winners – 2015 MillersTime Baseball Contests

04 Wednesday Nov 2015

Posted by in Go Sox

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Spring-Training.th_

That was a pretty good World Series, especially if you’re not a Metropolitans’ fan. But even they did surprisingly well this season. The Royals clearly were not to be denied and deserved the win. There’s something different about watching baseball when you don’t have a ‘dog in the fight.’

On to the winners of the 2015 MillersTime Baseball Contests.

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Twelve Films in Three Days – Philadelphia Film Festival

31 Saturday Oct 2015

Posted by in Escapes and Pleasures, Family and Friends

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PFF.1 Thanks to the encouragement and planning of long time friends, Ellen and I returned last weekend to Philly for its annual Film Festival. This time, between Thursday evening and late Sunday evening, we saw 12 films.

Many of these films are just now being shown in theaters across the country or will appear over the next six months. Many are subtitled, foreign films, some are documentary or documentary-like, and most are about women, families, or relationships that provided sobering assessments of the world, even though they were captivating films.

Here are brief notes on the 12, along with ratings by both Ellen and myself (five stars generally means an outstanding film, and anything rated below three stars, we clearly did not enjoy). We did not see each others’ ratings until I completed this post, but we did talk about the films with each other and with our friends throughout the weekend.

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Yes. You Can Go Home Again.

25 Sunday Oct 2015

Posted by in Escapes and Pleasures

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Careful readers of MillersTime.net, assuming there are one or two, may remember three earlier posts (Thomas Wolfe Was Wrong, Home Is Only Two Blocks Away, and A Sad Apology) about our long time favorite Chinese ‘dive’ (Sam Wo’s) in San Francisco, it’s closing, and the hope that it would reopen or would resurrect itself in some way.

Also, one or two of you might remember that MillersTime ‘won’ the ‘prestigious’ Thommie Award for “outstanding literary work” on my blog” with articles on the topic of whether one could in fact go home again.

Well, I’m delighted to tell you that you can go home again (tho it might be a few blocks away from your previous home). Sam Wo’s has reopened in San Francisco under the same Ho family ownership and chef. Alas, its “world’s rudest waiter” (Edsel Ford Fung) has long since passed away, tho they are still looking for some night time help…

It’s new address is 713 Clay Street (a three minute walk or a 52 second drive from the former location at 813 Washington St.).

SamWo5While it’s actually been open since Oct. 2 for a preview and a ‘soft’ opening, it had a formal, ribbon cutting re-opening Wednesday, Oct. 21. For all the details about its opening, its new location, its hours, and other such details, see this article:

Sam Wo Restaurant Reopens Among Throngs Of Well-Wishers, Dignitaries

There is also a second article you might want to see if you want more details about the new/old Sam Wo’s:

13 Things to Know About the New Sam Wo

Since I unfortunately do not have any immediate plans to be in SF (tho I would consider a quick round trip flight there if the price was right), I would appreciate any on the spot reports from those of you who are lucky/smart enough to be in the neighborhood or close enough to check it out, (Hint: Sal, G., Tom P., Leslie K., Lance B., Land/Ping W., Larry M., Robin R., etc.)

PS – Maybe there’s hope. When I just told Ellen about this post, she said, “It’s time to go back to San Francisco.”

Now that’s the right attitude for a spouse to have.

Anyone want to join us at the new/old Sam Wo’s?

Maine: Thru Ellen’s Lens

23 Friday Oct 2015

Posted by in Escapes and Pleasures, Family and Friends

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Six photos and a link to a slide show by Ellen Miller from a very recent four day trip to Maine.

Most of the photos were taken from the midcoast area, including Damariscotta Lake, Nobleboro, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, Marshall Point & Penquid Light House, the state parks of Camden and Portland, Round Pound and Rockport.

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Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner

21 Wednesday Oct 2015

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Lobster1

Yes.

It is possible to have lobster three times a day.

At every meal.

Plus, a snack in between in case you can’t wait for the next meal.

On a very recent trip to Maine — ostensibly to see some friends, to enjoy the colors of autumn, and to give Ellen another opportunity to take photos — I tested my theory about how much lobster one could eat over a four day period.

Let’s just say our kids’ inheritance has been somewhat diminished as a result.

IMG_0987(5)We had lobster for breakfast (eggs benedictine with lobster), for numerable lunches (not only lobster rolls but also in soups and in salads), and for dinners (most notably a four course lobster tasting menu in Camden at Natalie’s Restaurant that may, by itself, be worth a trip to Maine).

Of course, we had lobster simply boiled, with and without melted butter, and also sauteed, fried, in soups, on toasted rolls, in salads, and with risotto and with pasta.  And we had both hard and soft shell lobsters.

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It’s been a good year for all who believe lobster is one of the good things in life. The lobstermen have done well for the third year in a row (see The Price of Lobster in Maine), and the price has been reasonable, unless you indulge for three meals a day for four days.*

Sorry kids.

(*There is a story I’ve heard at least twice but haven’t sought to verify — why mess up a good story? — that there was once a time when lobster was so cheap and plentiful that it was served to prisoners every day at every meal, until a law was passed preventing prisons from serving lobster more than three times a week. Oh, to be a prisoner in those days.)

PS – If you missed my earlier post Consider the Lobster, please check it out. Not only will you find a link to one of the best articles I’ve read on lobsters in a long time, I also recount a lobster tradition the Millers share with long time friends.

PPS – For photos from our recent trip to Maine, look for a post, probably tomorrow, Maine Thru Ellen’s Lens.

“The Middle-Class Squeeze”

26 Saturday Sep 2015

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

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middleclasssqueeze                                                                      Illustration: Robert Neubecke

Thanks to an email from CT, I read an article this morning that seems to put some clarity and understanding into what may be an important (and less often discussed) factor behind many issues affecting our country.

Why is Trump hitting a note with some people in the country (beyond his theatrics)?

Why isn’t Obama getting adequate recognition for what in many ways has been a successful presidency (beyond the racism)?

Why is Bernie Sanders also hitting a note with some people in this country (beyond his progressive rhetoric and beliefs)?

Why is Hilary Clinton not walking away with the Democratic nomination (beyond her email issues, her gender, and her sometimes grating personality)?

Why are two to four dozen Republican House members (and some Republican Senators) able to have such a (negative and powerful) impact on the business of the House and the country (despite their safe, gerrymandered seats)?

Why is distrust of government at its highest level in many years (beyond the media’s inadequacy in presenting a clear picture of what is underway in this country)?

While there are differing and numerous explanations for each of these questions, I think one factor that perhaps underlies all of them and has not received sufficient discussion and understanding is contained in a recent Wall Street Journal‘s article, The Middle-Class Squeeze, by Charles Moore.

Check it out and feel free to add your opinion in the Comment section of this post.

Our Carceral State

22 Tuesday Sep 2015

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

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I had to look up the word in the title above, but it is quite appropriate.

It is a word that Ta-Nehisi Coates uses frequently in his most recent and lengthy article, The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration in the October 2015 issue of The Atlantic.

This article has certainly expanded my thinking and my understanding about something that is happening in our country but that rarely makes the news.

I am reprinting first the Atlantic’s Editor’s Note that introduces the article and will give you a sense of what will follow if you invest time in reading the Coates’ piece.

(Also, at the end of this Editor’s Note, there is information about two free tickets to see and hear Ta-Nehisi Coates in Washington, DC  Oct. 14th.)

Editor’s Note

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