(in the dark) the shine of small things

SI listed the best games of 2006 and a handful of baseball games made the cut. NOT the terrifically fun OAK-LAD 17 inning matchup, incredibly, but that 12 hour marathon game between the Sox and Yanks, as well as a couple of last season's 18 inning NL games are on the list. And of course NYY's crazy comeback against the Rangers. NLCS Game 7 was the only postseason game to rank. The baby fish were also featured, courtesy of Anibal's no hitter :) Still, Huston did not blow a single one of those games, so that list is hella lacking and fundamentally flawed. (There was one Brad Lidge blown save, though. ♥)

EW ranked BSG the third best drama on television this past year, behind only The Wire and Friday Night Lights. And, damn, I've known for a couple years now that I should be watching The Wire, but I guess [Bad username or site: acroarcs / @ livejournal.com] really is onto something with FNL. TV Guide ranked BSG #1 and FNL #2, and The Wire didn't even make their top 10 or honorable mentions. But Deadwood did. ♥. 24 and The Office made both lists - validation, yay. BSG, The Office, The Wire, Heroes, FNL, and 24 also all made AFI's list of ten best '06 shows.

Of course, the AFI voted Happy Feet and Little Miss Sunshine onto their list of the ten best films of '06, so. You can't win 'em all.

God, I love baseball - I dreamt last night that the A's traded Bobby to the Brewers (what?) and that the Mets announced they were pulling out of the Zito clusterfuck. Woke up to the news that the Rangers have given Barry Zito an ultimatum. They want a response on their contract offer by this weekend. That seems like a bad move on the Rangers' part, considering that the Yankees allegedly want to jump into the mix, provided they can unload Randy Johnson soon. It's one thing for the Mets to say this is our offer and we're not gonna change it. It's another for the RANGERS to be trying to get all mafioso and shit. I mean, I understand their not wanting to be used...but they are the TEXAS FUCKING RANGERS. What did they think they were being pulled into this thing for? They are like the Orioles, but with an owner who writes blank checks. Supposedly if Zito doesn't accept the ~$102M/six year offer, they're pulling it off the table. Hee. Good. Because it was just gonna be embarrassing when he signed with the Mets for a shitload less. And I love how the GM said their offer will change considerably if Zito doesn't sign now. Because obviously, if he wasn't going to sign with you for $100M, he could always realize the error of his ways in a couple weeks and sign with you for WAY LESS. Morons. It took them this long to figure out Boras was using them to try and drive up the asking price? Sure, over$$$$ worked with A-Rod, but I guess they think everyone missed how that has played out for him in the long run.

I read elsewhere that Mark's decision is down to the Rangers and the Cards (ahahaha! THANK YOU FOR FUCKING OFF, ARIZONA) which I hope against hope is a nobrainer for him, no matter how much the Rangers offered him. Come on, Markus. You've got a lovely wife, with a good name. Impossibly long legs and the tiniest hips in all of sports. Great hair. A World Series ring. Memories of a sun-drenched honeymoon to last you til the divorce a lifetime, and probably a pair of twin little Markuses on the way. Playing for the Texas Rangers does not complete this picture. Well, unless they guaranteed you two years at 20 million or something.

eta: Interesting. Bet at least half of those names leak in the next year. So that should be fun times.

Off to VA for a time, not sure how the updating thing will work for the next few days/weeks, so some things that have been rattling around in my head, before I go: (btw, [Bad username or site: yagathai / @ livejournal.com], I would have recommended [Bad username or site: offspeed / @ livejournal.com] for your daily dose of baseball-related incomprehensible gobbledeygook, but she just went friends only. Perhaps [Bad username or site: angisageek / @ livejournal.com]? ^_~)

+ Finished Forever Odd, started Saving Fish From Drowning. I liked Forever Odd quite a bit, and I think the best thing about it is that Koontz focused Odd on one extended mission/task in this one. In the book that first introduced us to him, Odd was a little all over the place, in an effort to showcase all aspects of his gift, which I didn't think really worked. I was left with the impression that I enjoyed the character, but I felt a little robbed in the storytelling department. I like Odd so much better than the Christopher Snow character who got a few Koontz books devoted to him, so if Koontz wants to write any more about Mr. Thomas, I'm pretty much there. As for Saving Fish From Drowning, a few pages into Amy's introduction, I realized it was gonna be a really weird read. It's partly based on/inspired by the real life disappearance of some American tourists in Burma, as recounted to a medium by the spirit of a Chinese socialite from San Francisco via automatic writing. **laughs** Yeah. I know. But Amy really hasn't let me down yet, even when I haven't loved one of her books, I've never regretted having taken the time to read it. So I have faith, even though I'm honestly a little weirded out. Instead of trying to get through JS&MN before work, I decided to finish up the books I already had out, and tackle JS&MN next.

+ Deadwood in t minutes seven days. Every time I catch this promo for the new season, I want to run through my house doing this.

+ Everyone's got jokes about Rich Harden. The A's announcers, from the game the other night, as the camera holds on a shot of Harden in the dugout tossing little seed shells:

"..to be four games back in the West, still right there, very much, and a whole summer of baseball left. People like Rich Harden ready to return. I think the A's are in a good spot."
"As long as he doesn't hurt his elbow throwing those sunflower seeds."

**snickers**

But laughs at Rich's expense aside, welcome back, man. I'm pleased to see you yet living.

+ Speaking of guys returning to the mound, Greinke gets win in return to mound. Way to be.

+ Interesting piece in USA Today a couple days ago on a topic of concern near to my heart, and what some players are doing to try to turn things around:

Minnesota Twins center fielder Torii Hunter scans the stands during the national anthem. He's not looking for a particular face. Just a black face.

He stops after a few minutes. It's no different at home than in Detroit, St. Louis, Atlanta, Los Angeles or Chicago. He can count the number of African-American fans usually on one hand, almost never more than two. -- Baseball's 'blackout'.

+ And I'm so freakin' proud, it's ridiculous - the Fish are no longer the last place team in the NL, nor are they the second worst team in major league baseball. HUZZAH.



+ It's been a while now since the last episode of Sophomore Year with Nick Swisher. What gives, ESPN?

I was in a bit of a mood earlier, and the Marlins were losing (guess who wasn't in the starting line-up? ;_;), and the A's were losing, but the Disney Channel saved me. I looooooooooove A Goofy Movie. I don't care who knows it. That movie makes me happy in my soul.

Andrea, G: thank you for the postcards ^_^

C_B: thanks for the bonus schedules!

++ Carlos Delgado chuckled at any suggestion the Marlins approached the Mets about sending Dontrelle Willis to Flushing for David Wright. "D-Wright!" the ex-Marlin called out to Wright in the clubhouse, after seeing ESPN mention a trade rumor that has no chance of happening. "I'm selling my place in Miami!"

( Prison Break - 1x19 - The Key )

Deadwood is scheduled to return to the HBO lineup on June 11. Birthday present to me!

I'm tempted to hang around and watch the Astros game until someone wins this thing, but I think last time I did that, they played for approximately A MILLION YEARS.

Saw Final Destination 3 last night with my friend Ambrose. Fun times. ( non-spoilery, general reaction )

At any rate, I don't own any of the Final Destination films, but I imagine a trilogy ("thrillogy"?) set will be released when this one hits stores, so if that's reasonably priced, I may pick that up.

All the trailers were lame (Running Scared, Stay Alive, Take The Lead, The Hills Have Eyes - oh Emilie. What the fuck?) except MI: III but I'd seen that one before.

While I was waiting for Ambrose, a bunch of people got tickets for Curious George. Um, I kinda want to see that. Don't tell anyone.

Sox fans, any thoughts on this Game Six movie? **laughs** Movies about how cursed the Sox are? So two years ago :-P But you know I'm there, right? This looks like sort of a For Love of the Game deal where the movie's not so much about baseball as other stuff, but I actually liked For Love of the Game and I'll probably enjoy this, too.

Talked to my dad yesterday. Says they're expecting six to twelve inches of snow in Maryland later today. Don't look now, but that same storm system is supposed to drop at least an inch on us! I haven't seen fresh snow in ages. (Good luck to those of you in New England - this is supposed to be a bitch of a late winter storm, I hear.)

I also ran into this guy I used to work with at the NLRB. That was great. I kept meaning to send the office a card or something, and I never did, because I suck like that. But it was nice to see him, and he filled me in on recent developments in the office and how he hates like, everyone. **laughs** Fun times.

( running list of stuff I need to catch up on At Some Point )

I was thinking the other day: I really miss Deadwood. And Tv.com has a splash page advertising that Justice League: Unlimited is back - with an episode about Flash ^_^ That warms my fangirly heart. I'm glad they know what brings all the boys to the yard :-P

+ Just back from seeing The Cave with [Bad username or site: johnnybvo / @ livejournal.com]. I can usually think of at least one nice thing to say about a movie but that flick had no redeemable qualities whatsoever. I only went for the Cole, and my boy was largely ACCENTLESS. Wtf is the point of putting Cole Hauser in your movie and toning down his accent, people? [Bad username or site: johnnybvo / @ livejournal.com] and I laughed a lot, and not in that this movie is so bad it's fun way. In the dear god, why did we spend money on this? way. So yeah, if you're looking for your annual Cole Hauser hit, pull Pitch Black off the shelf. You get the same basic scary, flying killing things after a small group in the dark plotline, sans all the...you know, shitty movie.

+ Killing time before the game, my bro and I watched Lost and Invasion. Eddie Cibrian and I are not getting on this weekend. I thought Invasion was mindnumbling boring. And I think Lost and I might be over, because seriously, wtf. (I'm strangely comfortable with that though. I really loved the first 80% of the first season. It was fun while it had me.) Hell, the hour-long drama and I might be done until Deadwood comes back next year. Nothing's grabbing me right now. I feel oddly fandomless. I mean, there's BSG and to a lesser extent SG-1, but they're not fandoms for me like I'm used to doing fandom.

+ Watching baseball this weekend from home has been weird -- my brother and my dad, still virulently anti-Mussina and anti-any NYY success, are both actively rooting for a Sox sweep this weekend. So yet more wtf. During yesterday's game, they showed footage from earlier in the day of B-Rob in civvies catching up with Ortizzle behind the batting cage. No great big bear hug this time, sadly for me, though I'm sure Brian and his sling appreciated that. It amuses me to think that Ortizzle has sort of adopted B-Rob since he comes attached to Miggy ^_~

+ So, so, so glad I decided to come home this weekend. Williamsburg gets so claustrophobic. I always find it funny when I come home and my mother makes happy note of how I've lost weight and reminds me that this is the age to keep it off, meanwhile my dad always feels the need to remark that I look sickly and need to eat.

+ Read in the paper this morning that Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman begin filming in Baltimore for 45 days starting Monday (A project formerly titled Invasion, now going by The Visiting). Yay team us! This makes me feel all tingly. I don't know why, since usually Baltimore is standing in for somewhere else. But the piece said this time we get to stay Baltimore, so that's cool. I'm of half a mind to try and stalk Mr. Craig on Monday; I'd love to have him autograph my copy of Enduring Love. And I'd like to see just what shade of blue his eyes are IRL. I won't with the stalking though, because stalking is bad, kids. And I don't have the patience for it.

+ I caught up with my flist while I had access to a comp and did another friends cut, even though it's only been 20 days since my last cut. Still trying to find that optimum balance given how hellish this semester has been.

+ (Justice League is on right now. Glad they moved it back to 10pm. Glad they're back to showing 2 eps back to back. Still annoyed that they're sticking with the Unlimited business.)