(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.

Okay, I lied. I've done an f-list cut of about 20 journals. Given that I fell tremendously behind with my f-list when I went away for three days, it made more sense to do this now than to be away for a week or more and then do it. I'll probably be testing the patience of some of you for a while longer still, because if your journal is public, I've set up tracking notifications on certain tags so I may still pop in to comment occasionally. Among the journals I've cut are a few I only added in recent weeks/months; sorry about the thing where I'm cutting your journal about five minutes after I've added it. If anyone needs an outlet to emo at me, please use email. It got embarrassing once in comments, and I'd just rather not do that whole thing. At any rate, I should still see more than a few of you around, since we have communities in common.

Over the past few months, I was increasingly putting baseball-centric posts under a filter. (No, really.) I won't be doing that anymore. As ever, keep me friended, or don't, it's up to you. I plan to get back to that place where 99% of my posts, whenever I feel like making them, are public.

...Still around? okay. While I'm here... >.>

-- I saw finally The Constant Gardener a few weeks ago. It was pretty ...wow. A much hyped movie that really delivered, I thought. It was hard to watch but worth it. And I went and got the score, because the music was just beautiful. With the African influence, it's a change of pace from my usual scores. My favorite track: Kothbiro - a lovely piece with African vocals that is something like the saddest lullaby you've ever heard.

-- I also recently saw The Departed, which I thought was a great film. I'm not a Scorsese fan, so I hadn't paid the movie much mind, despite the positive press. But [Bad username or site: sensefille / @ livejournal.com] expressed an interest in seeing it, and being an offday, I figured why not. A couple of times I had to look away from the screen, which was hard, because it was all pretty compelling and the performances were great - everyone really demanded your attention. I think the performances are really what makes the film because you've seen variations of this story so many times before. Nicholson, Damon and DiCaprio are all choice. I'd definitely recommend it. I was telling [Bad username or site: sensefille / @ livejournal.com] that I feel bad that I never really think of DiCaprio as being A Good Actor, but I've seen him in more than a few things now and I'm usually pretty impressed with his work.

-- [Bad username or site: johnnybvo / @ livejournal.com], GET CAUGHT UP ON GALACTICA. Last night's ep was for you. The ep made me a little sad, and not at all for the reasons I thought I would be.

-- It's amusing to me when my fandoms quite randomly collide. A very short, unnecessary piece involving the A's and The Office. But it made me smile.

-- If you're someone who's actually been looking forward to The Prestige, you might want to poke around [Bad username or site: trailer_spot / @ livejournal.com]'s most recent posts. He linked to a sitdown between Bale and Jackman, as well as a couple of individual interviews, I think.

-- World Series starts tonight!

In the continuing theme of me being old as hell, I actually fell asleep during the 8th inning of the All Star Game. Or whenever it was they were trying to get everybody to vote David Wright for MVP by shoving his father down our throats. And then I woke up as the AL was welcoming Michael Young back into the dugout. Whoops. Better luck next year, Senior Circuit. It would also be great if the game actually started at 8, and FOX did their pregame crap at 7:30. Thanks.

Am I the only one who thinks Soriano could have come into a home a little harder earlier in the game? I know he's skinny as hell, but he practically tried to stroll in there. Are you guys trying to break a 9 year bad streak or aren't you?

Brad Penny striking out the side to open the game was cool and all, but it's not as cool as Moose striking out McGwire and Sosa on six fastballs, with runners on second and third, in the '99 All Star Game. For the record.

I dislike in-game ceremonies, and I'm not sure why Major League Baseball thinks they're so swell. I thought the ceremony itself was pretty short and sweet, but breaking up the flow of the game like that?

I used to get upset when guys were invited to the All Star Game and didn't get to play, but with the whole home field advantage on the line now, I understand guys being preserved in case the game goes extras or a situation arises where they'd be needed late. I believe the guys when they say that even if they don't play, being named and getting to be in that environment for 2 days is still pretty satisfying. I can't remember what year it was when Bordy was named to the All Star team and only got to pitch hit, in an at bat that wasn't even televised because Fox was late coming back from the commercial break. I was totally pissed off on his behalf, but he seemed genuinely just happy to have gotten a chance to go.

On the sunny side:
+ We finally get one of those human interest backstory pieces on Josh Johnson.
+ Office-UK stars to guest on Office-US. How awesome is that gonna be? Pretty freakin' awesome.
+ New York's Leading Men - another of those great stories on the left side of the Mets infield. [Bad username or site: phantom_hpuff / @ livejournal.com] linked me to this, and a couple other all star break pieces on the guys, but this is the best one.

On the not sure how I feel about this side:
+ TBS joins MLB TV lineup - TBS is gonna be cutting back on its national Braves coverage over the next few years (shock! horror!) and apparently will get some early postseason games, and a few Sunday Night Baseball games. I think FOX absolutely has to carry BOTH the NLCS and the ALCS; now that I've spent over a month with a woman who doesn't believe in it, it is inconceivable to me that people without cable should not get to see baseball's semi-finals. Especially when, if you ask me, the LCS in recent years have been tremendously more entertaining than the actual World Series.

The Oakland A's can feel free to announce their post-break rotation ANY minute now. I can only take off for one of next week's games, damn it. Also, I coulda sworn I saw something in the paper a couple of days ago about Chavvy maybe going on the DL? Maybe I should just hold out to see them in Kansas City :/

Deep breaths, you guys. It's the second half ^_~

eta: Manny may have torn cartilage in knee. Well, that's unfortunate.

+ **laughs** [Bad username or site: rickenbacker / @ livejournal.com], you were right. I tried to do that long ass Here's A Bunch Of Stuff About Me meme that's going around, because I have a bunch of new friends all at once, and because you said I wouldn't. And I got as far as that "what do you want in a relationship (besides real Love)" question and I had bored myself to tears. So yeah. You were right.

But just about this.

+ Tagged by [Bad username or site: hollinsprincess / @ livejournal.com]: List 7 songs you're into right now. No matter what the genre is, whether they have words or not, even if they're any good - they must be songs that you're really enjoying right now.

( seven songs )

+ LJ let me back into my mood theme and it is fixed and I can be 'okay' again, omg yay.

+ These are completely random. And honestly, not all that funny. Jim's "The Fugitive" is my favorite. His "Foul", Ryan's "Beer" and Pam's "The Invite" were kind of amusing, as well. But I'm surprised at how not funny these are. Considering the people involved.

+ Joe McEwing got picked up by the Astros! This makes me happy for some reason.

**laughs** Leo Mazzone is rocking. I'm hearing vaguely positive things about MelMo and an extension before Monday. Here's to hoping.

Confession: I was flipping stations just now and heard Joe Buck announcing on one of the football games and I've left it on since. Because it's nice hearing his voice even though it's all greek to me.

Anyhoo - a favor to ask of those of you in/around cities with MLB teams. You know the little fold-up pocket schedules the teams put out, you pick 'em up at gas stations or the customer service counter at your local grocery store? Every year I ask a handful of friends to send me one for their respective team, with varied success, since it never occurs to me to ask until like June. I figured this year I'd ask early and open it up to everyone. I'd love if you could send me an '06 pocket schedule for your team, AL or NL. I'm more than happy to cover the cost of shipping, and if you need my addy, drop me an email. Please and thanks?

Couldn't sleep last night so I got caught up on The Office - US. I'm pretty impressed. I didn't think they'd be able to keep it going this long, but it's been good, consistently, and it's very true to the spirit of the UK original. Not terribly fond of the US version of Finch (Packer?), but I hated the UK character too; he's meant to be disgusting and dislikable. And while he's a laugh, I do think Rainn Wilson's Dwight is too over the top. The thing I've always loved about the show is how the characters are such regular, everyday people. As obnoxious as Gareth was, he still felt like someone you could run into on the street. Dwight's much more sitcom loser-ish than real life loser-ish, I think. But other things of the yay: Jim and Pam! Their chemistry has gotten better since the first couple eps of S1. When I tried to figure out what worked about Tim/Dawn, I always gave much more credit to Martin and Lucy than I did to the way that storyline was written. But Jim/Pam strikes all the same chords in me, and I realize it's not just the performances; Gervais and Merchant really did a tremendous job in how they let that relationship develop so that you really got drawn into it and found yourself rooting for them. Anyhoo. Way to be, The Office - US. Probably the most successful translation of an English show since Sanford & Son ^_~

Also, I suck and watched The Machinist instead of Bull Durham yesterday - I KNOW - but I'll probably take care of that today. I promise :-P

(oh and Alex - I defriended [Bad username or site: diedbyyourhand / @ livejournal.com], since I figure you're posting your own recs to SSN, along with those from other people.)