Things I Like This Summer # 2: Vin Scully

Yuppers. It is summer and baseball and I adore Vin Scully.


He is so full of wonderful tidbits; I'm always wondering where he gets them and how he compiles the things he does. Does he just have a giant binder that tells him where each player went to high school, how they batted last against this pitcher when the stars were last aligned just so, and what their favorite food is? I really think he does. And he knows when to be quiet, and he always give the score and the count.





He was even a tad harsh today with regards to Jeff Kent, I think it was, not being able to make the plays he used to be able to make (he mentioned it about 15 times in a batter) , but whimsical too. With regards to Giants' pitcher Brian Wilson's soul patch, while he threw three pitches in a row over 100 mph, Vin said something to the effect of : "throwing so fast he's gonna lose his soul patch. Shakespeare had a soul patch, yes he did, I've been told. Many jazz musicians too, very cool."


New Dodger 3rd Baseman Casey Blake got thrown out rather unfairly by Greg Gibson, 1st base ump, for saying, as Scully put it, "Fertilizer!" (you could see his lips form the word"bullshit!") when he was in the dugout after striking out, Vin kept on hammering about the "fertilizer." I think he was really amused. Joe Torre went out to argue against Blake being ejected, and Vin said "and now Torre is saying fertilizer." Then Torre got ejected, and he rarely does. Then Vin went on to say, if I heard even remotely correctly, "And Gibson, he specializes in making fertilizer."



Oh Vin Scully. :)



I adore my Dodgers and I adore my Angels (esp when they whup the Red Sox and Yankees), but I admit, when we aren't getting beat too bad to a bloody pulp by everyone else in the National League, I often prefer to watch the Dodgers, bc, I mean, they've got my darlin Vin Scully. Don't have to listen to Rex Hudler and Steve Physioc or whatever his name is not give you the score. What did they say today? It was something awful. Even if Garrett Anderson is GA and Troy Percival was Percy and Chone Figgins is Figgy.





And plus: there is always Russell Martin for the Dodgers. A few weeks back he pulled off his catcher's mask to get something and he had a little mohawk. But he still looks like a Teddy Bear. He's a darling. <3>

remote blogging L A M F

Hey guys! Saw what you will about globalization but let's face it- it's nice to have McDonald's for a) reliable food and b) WIFI! So now I can get to directions to where I'm supposed to go tomorrow.

I'm in Galway for one more day. I was here for a month, then was in Cong the last two days hiking and geeking out at the Quiet Man sights. Then back to Galway, today, where I pretty much killed time buying donuts at the farmer's market, walking up to the cemetery, then watching THE DARK KNIGHT OMF and Wall-E which conveniently started right after the Dark Knight ended. I might go see Wanted next. Because I have nothing to do for the next 5 hours, when the midnight bus for Dublin leaves, and it is raining.

Anyway, the Dark Knight was amazing, and since I hadn't been paying too much attention to actual movie news (ok, who thinks Christian Bale DIDN'T do it?) I didn't know where it was going, so everything was a nice surprise. Check it out if you haven't gotten a chance!

I should probably buy something so they'll let me stay, but I don't wanna leave my stuff alone. Traveling by oneself is hard. Especially if you are carrying around as much junk as I am. And mind you, my suitcase proper is in storage with the cab co. right now. I have 3 other bags.

WOMEN.

And now for your benefit: READ The Long Halloween if ya haven't and want more Harvey Dent goodness.

Watchmen Trailer!

*check it out: totally & awesomely badass*

Things I Like This Summer #1

So since I've realized I've been a very very poor and lazy blog-sitter (SORRY!!!), I've decided that it would be a good idea for me to actually do an occasional post....

So... Things I Like This Summer:


#1. "Divorce Me C.O.D." by Merle Travis. here



I just really like it. On some compilation I have, mysteriously and vaguely called "Capitol Classics 1940's" with a bunch of other country/western, folky, cowboy swing type songs.

I've been pretty much only listening to that comp, Gene Autry, and the Riders in the Sky recently, so...... And watching a ton of John Ford. Been looking for some Sons of the Pioneers, hopefully with Ken Curtis doing lead vocals, but haven't been able to determine what would be a good buy, so haven't yet (Any suggestions?).... And listening to this lecture series on Rome and the Barbarians. Perhaps more on that later, as another thing I like this summer.

Roamin'

Irish television has been a bit different than the television back home. I'm not talking about the shows- four to five hours of Friends everyday- I'm talking about the wacky, wacky commercials. (There's one with cavemen and yogurt?)

I can't get over this one. Check it out. The happiest Jamaican dude ever, the sourest Subcontinent (?) dude ever, and a creepy Teutonic biker. The world is such a happy place under Vodafone.

Knights of Cydonia vid

I'm getting back into Muse on this trip, mostly because I finally saw this video, which I didn't even know existed. Whoever didn't tell me about it is a criminal. The album came out 2 years ago, so you probably all saw this way back when, but for those of you who haven't seen it, how's this: spaghetti western meets sci-fi meets kung-fu film. So what does that mean? Cowboys laser guns unicorns robots and so much more.

Somebody needs to get Matt Bellamy and the boys to score an epic movie or else they might explode. Muse makes great uber-dramatic stuff, and this vid fits that style perfectly. My only criticism is that they should have limited the band's appearance to the holos The cuts to their set breaks up the atmosphere, though on the other hand they could be considered the chorus.

Aand, 2 things.
1- Check out some sweet Joe & Shane photos from Rebel Rebelle.
2- Who wants to join me in a mission for the greater good: killing the Ting Tings?

Louis MacNeice's "Meeting Point"

I'm in Galway for a creative writing and Irish lit program, so I thought I'd share some of the stuff we're learning about, perhaps in an effort to assure you that I don't think the standout achievement of the Celtic Tiger is the St Bernard brand cookies. (Even though I'd say they're kinda a big deal.)

As someone who barely reads poetry, who is in fact scared of it, I need people to take me by the hand and introduce me to this stuff, so I'm quite lucky to have found my way into a course that is exposing us to both literature and poetry.

"Glamorously unself-pitying melancholy"

You can learn more about Louis MacNeice here. Read more about MacNeice and the following poem at Reading for Life. For more poems and a brief article and bio of MacNeice, visit Will and Testament for an article written on last year's anniversary of MacNeice's passing.

Meeting Point by Louis MacNeice

Time was away and somewhere else,
There were two glasses and two chairs
And two people with the one pulse
(Somebody stopped the moving stairs)
Time was away and somewhere else.

And they were neither up nor down;
The stream's music did not stop
Flowing through heather, limpid brown,
Although they sat in a coffee shop
And they were neither up nor down.

The bell was silent in the air
Holding its inverted poise -
Between the clang and clang a flower,
A brazen calyx of no noise:
The bell was silent in the air.

The camels crossed the miles of sand
That stretched around the cups and plates;
The desert was their own, they planned
To portion out the stars and dates:
The camels crossed the miles of sand.

Time was away and somewhere else.
The waiter did not come, the clock
Forgot them and the radio waltz
Came out like water from a rock:
Time was away and somewhere else.

Her fingers flicked away the ash
That bloomed again in tropic trees:
Not caring if the markets crash
When they had forests such as these,
Her fingers flicked away the ash.

God or whatever means the Good
Be praised that time can stop like this,
That what the heart has understood
Can verify in the body's peace
God or whatever means the Good.

Time was away and she was here
And life no longer what it was,
The bell was silent in the air
And all the room one glow because
Time was away and she was here.

Art Roundup!

I meant to post this back when the perpetually fab Ken sent me the link (Thanks Ken!), but I'm kinda glad I waited because I went to go find the art again and found a whole buncha other stuff, so here we go!

Ken alerted me to Eric Tan's work, specifically his amazing posters for what is planned to be the three Indy movies. Eric Tan has also done work for the new film Wall-E, which was on display at last year's ComicCon.

• Eric Tan: Temple of Doom poster
• Eric Tan: really really awesome Raiders poster
• Eric Tan's blog

Above: Patrick Shoenmaker from HERE.

These posters are available at the new Indiana Jones shop, where you can find a shitton of rocking original Indy fine art prints. Even if you're not looking to buy any, they offer watermark-free previews of the pieces.

Another artist featured there is Patrick Shoenmaker. whose work I've loved on theRaider.net and who also did stuff for the TOPPS card series. If you like Eric Tan's stuff you'll most probably like Shoenmaker's work, which uses the same illustrated, colorful style. He also has a cool sculpture of Hellboy with that dead Russian dude from the movie.

• Patrick Shoenmaker's blog
  
• More Indy art at the theRaider.net

Also, check out a sweet Ben Templesmith piece via Filthy McNasty and hit up the Best of Wondermark, an online comic that marries 19th century pictures with naughty humor, for some laughs. My favorite is the first one. If you like Anomaly by Kennedy Rose you'll enjoy David Malki !'s work on Wondermark.

A few things

Hiya kids! I'm in Ireland right now for a school program. As if this is new information: the weather blows. But it really is gorgeous country and a rich cultural tradition and history but most of all: 1. The St Nicholas street market in Galway has the most fabulous donuts you've ever had, and 2. The sheer amount and yumminess of cookies (biscuits?) is perhaps one of Ireland's greatest achievements omg. Especially the St Bernard brand (think Kirkland signature and whatever the Vons brand is.)

I had hoped I'd be able to do posts with limited file uploads- single tracks, etc- but the bad news is my internet connection here at student housing sucks so bad it can't load Youtube vids and tends to give out randomly. The closest thing short of heading out Californie-way to fixing it that I've figured is pulling the cable out and sticking it back in. (So I'm not actually sure if this will post.) So thanks to Caitlin for holding things down on the home front where the good internet and the external HD are, and stay tuned for more!

Oh yeah, and people here are addicted to Big Brother UK. Coooookiees! (Yeah. . . we've started watching it to.)