Tuesday, October 26
John Peel, RIP
Saturday, October 16
If you have cable in the United States, get rid of it. Get a satellite--either DirecTV or Dish. They're better, for one thing: more channels, more options, and you'll never have a moment where the satellite is out. The real reason to get satellite, however, is LinkTV. I've written about this channel in the past, but let me reemphasize: LinkTV is just about the only way most Americans can find out what is happening in the rest of the world--and, really, in our own country. Don't believe me? Just visit their web site and judge for yourself. End of hype.
Thursday, October 14
In my review of William Basinski's epic, four-CD masterwork, The Disintegration Loops, I noted that the Brooklyn-based artist was completing the work (which was culled from disintegrating metallic tape that disappeared as he played it) on or around September 11, 2001. When the towers fell, he and some friends went up to the roof of his building and played this music while watching the clouds of smoke shroud the city. This story, while true, seemed implausible. But here's proof: a brand new DVD recorded at Basinski's place on 9/11. It's one full hour of a stationary camera watching the clouds billow over lower Manhattan on the evening of that day, accompanied by part 1.1 of Loops (the most elegiac of the pieces, in my opinion). The sun has already set, and the clouds of smoke (which cover half the screen) are slowly merging with the darkness. In the foreground, random people can be seen shuffling about, and a few buildings are visible. That's it. But those clouds and that sky! The colors shift and fluctuate with every passing moment. At one point, the remaining natural light gets sucked into the smoke, turning the edges red, like the fireballs that were, no doubt, still consuming the buildings. As the sky grows dark and the city lights begin to burn, the clouds take on an even more sinister form, like shadows ready to envelop the last embers of life. And, yes, I’m getting lyrical and sentimental, but I think this work deserves such words. This is, at once, an historical record of the most significant day in recent memory, a beautiful elegy to the people who died in those attacks and in all the wars that followed, and a perfectly realized visualization of some of the most beautiful music created in this century.Friday, October 8
Well, the Angels are out of it, so this'll be my final post on baseball for a while. I'll get back to music or politics or porn later. But let me say two things before I leave my favorite sport:
1. The Angels showed a lot of heart coming back from that 6-1 deficit in Boston today. I thought the game was over, but they didn't--Vlad didn't. That was a truly amazing grand slam by MVP. It'll go a loooooooong way towards pumping him (and the team as a whole) up after a miserable series. It tied the game, sure, but its after effects will be felt into next year. It was Vlad saying, "We might lose, but we'll go down swinging. And next year, we'll be healthy again and we'll do better--I guarantee it." That's what Vlad's GS told his team and all Angels fans everywhere.
2. Bill Simmons (ESPN's "Sports Guy") wrote a column about game 2 in the series (the one I went to). In his column, he made the following statements:
"See, here's the thing: Good teams take care of business in unruly settings -- in this case, a sold-out stadium in Orange County where Kool-Aid drinkers dutifully bang plastic bats together to make noise whenever they're prompted by the scoreboard.
It's like the sports version of a cult. David Eckstein is coming up ... you will bang the Thunder Stix for him until his at-bat is over ... at the end of the inning, you will give $20 to the usher that comes around, and you will not ask any questions. Geez, what's going on with them? This is like the Tomahawk Chop crossed with "Night of the Living Dead." If the Anaheim scoreboard ever flashed, "If there's a Red Sox fan in your section, kill them immediately," we would have all been dead."
Simmons: this is so wrong on so many levels that it's hard to know where to start. First, Angels fans only cheered when the scoreboard tells them to? I don't remember any scoreboard telling everyone to stand up and cheer when Colon had the bases loaded in the 1st, with two outs and two strikes. The fans cheered because they were watching the game. Were you?
"The sports version of a cult." You mean, like the cult that exists around a team that hasn't won a World Series since the original Armistice day? A cult that creates movies and books and commiserates aloud to anyone who will listen about the tragedy of this sad fate? Or how about a guy who moves to California to escape the bitter Boston winters yet still has to devote every second to living by Boston time and obsessing over Boston teams? That kind of cult?
If the Angels are a cult, then you're claiming that the Angels fans are as obsessive and as dedicated to their team as you and your ilk are to yours. Is that a compliment? I can't say, as I'm pretty certain most Red Sox fans have been driven mentally ill over the past 80 or so years.
Having said that, let me mention one thing: there were a bunch of Sox fans in my section during that game. Most were incredibly polite. They cheered their team on and that was that. That's fine. I've been to other stadiums in the league and have cheered on my Angels in enemy territory, too. No one bugged me then, and I didn't want to bug these people, either. And, by extension, you deserve to cheer your team on--they played incredibly well. And you won both that game and the series. And, let me add, I will be cheering you guys on when you face the Yankees (or, less likely, the Twins) in the ALCS.
What I don't get is why you would make fun of Angels fans cheering on their team in their stadium--after your team beat ours. That's just petty and stupid and rude and bitter of you. It sounds like something another group of fans might do: Yankee fans.
Ah! So that's it. You don't hate Angels fans as much as you envy us, just like you envy Yankee fans. We've not only won a World Series, but we beat the Yankees to do it. I guess that means you'll never forgive us for that until you get your own trophy. Will it be this year or 2018? Who can say? For now, though, just quit bitching about Angels fans. It's pathetic.
1. The Angels showed a lot of heart coming back from that 6-1 deficit in Boston today. I thought the game was over, but they didn't--Vlad didn't. That was a truly amazing grand slam by MVP. It'll go a loooooooong way towards pumping him (and the team as a whole) up after a miserable series. It tied the game, sure, but its after effects will be felt into next year. It was Vlad saying, "We might lose, but we'll go down swinging. And next year, we'll be healthy again and we'll do better--I guarantee it." That's what Vlad's GS told his team and all Angels fans everywhere.
2. Bill Simmons (ESPN's "Sports Guy") wrote a column about game 2 in the series (the one I went to). In his column, he made the following statements:
"See, here's the thing: Good teams take care of business in unruly settings -- in this case, a sold-out stadium in Orange County where Kool-Aid drinkers dutifully bang plastic bats together to make noise whenever they're prompted by the scoreboard.
It's like the sports version of a cult. David Eckstein is coming up ... you will bang the Thunder Stix for him until his at-bat is over ... at the end of the inning, you will give $20 to the usher that comes around, and you will not ask any questions. Geez, what's going on with them? This is like the Tomahawk Chop crossed with "Night of the Living Dead." If the Anaheim scoreboard ever flashed, "If there's a Red Sox fan in your section, kill them immediately," we would have all been dead."
Simmons: this is so wrong on so many levels that it's hard to know where to start. First, Angels fans only cheered when the scoreboard tells them to? I don't remember any scoreboard telling everyone to stand up and cheer when Colon had the bases loaded in the 1st, with two outs and two strikes. The fans cheered because they were watching the game. Were you?
"The sports version of a cult." You mean, like the cult that exists around a team that hasn't won a World Series since the original Armistice day? A cult that creates movies and books and commiserates aloud to anyone who will listen about the tragedy of this sad fate? Or how about a guy who moves to California to escape the bitter Boston winters yet still has to devote every second to living by Boston time and obsessing over Boston teams? That kind of cult?
If the Angels are a cult, then you're claiming that the Angels fans are as obsessive and as dedicated to their team as you and your ilk are to yours. Is that a compliment? I can't say, as I'm pretty certain most Red Sox fans have been driven mentally ill over the past 80 or so years.
Having said that, let me mention one thing: there were a bunch of Sox fans in my section during that game. Most were incredibly polite. They cheered their team on and that was that. That's fine. I've been to other stadiums in the league and have cheered on my Angels in enemy territory, too. No one bugged me then, and I didn't want to bug these people, either. And, by extension, you deserve to cheer your team on--they played incredibly well. And you won both that game and the series. And, let me add, I will be cheering you guys on when you face the Yankees (or, less likely, the Twins) in the ALCS.
What I don't get is why you would make fun of Angels fans cheering on their team in their stadium--after your team beat ours. That's just petty and stupid and rude and bitter of you. It sounds like something another group of fans might do: Yankee fans.
Ah! So that's it. You don't hate Angels fans as much as you envy us, just like you envy Yankee fans. We've not only won a World Series, but we beat the Yankees to do it. I guess that means you'll never forgive us for that until you get your own trophy. Will it be this year or 2018? Who can say? For now, though, just quit bitching about Angels fans. It's pathetic.
Wednesday, October 6
Well, I'm back from the Angels-Red Sox game. Disappointing ending, to be sure--the Angels lost 8-3. But I'm not too upset. I can't be upset about losing to a great team, especially when my team won the World Series two years ago and the other team hasn't won since 1918. Perhaps it's their year; if so, then good for them.
But going to a playoff game--long a dream of mine--was truly amazing. The crowd was insane, cheering at everything, standing and cheering for every strikeout by our pitchers and every rally from our hitters. It was noisy and a lot of fun. Plus, it was an incredibly tight ballgame until the 9th inning when the Sox blew it open. I had a premonition of that 9th. My wife and I left our seats in the 8th inning and headed towards the outfield (our usual route out of the stadium, since it takes us towards our car). When the Sox scored their first run in the 9th (making it 5-3), I told my wife, "That's it! We have to leave now." So we walked for 5 minutes to our car; I turned on the radio, and the score was 8-3. Not only did I beat the rush, but I missed the worst part. All things considered, it wasn't a bad way to leave.
In the end, I'm really happy that I went, even though the outcome wasn't what I or the other 45,000 fans wanted. Still, when I came home, I can look at my Angels 2002 World Series Championship plaque, mounted above my computer.
But going to a playoff game--long a dream of mine--was truly amazing. The crowd was insane, cheering at everything, standing and cheering for every strikeout by our pitchers and every rally from our hitters. It was noisy and a lot of fun. Plus, it was an incredibly tight ballgame until the 9th inning when the Sox blew it open. I had a premonition of that 9th. My wife and I left our seats in the 8th inning and headed towards the outfield (our usual route out of the stadium, since it takes us towards our car). When the Sox scored their first run in the 9th (making it 5-3), I told my wife, "That's it! We have to leave now." So we walked for 5 minutes to our car; I turned on the radio, and the score was 8-3. Not only did I beat the rush, but I missed the worst part. All things considered, it wasn't a bad way to leave.
In the end, I'm really happy that I went, even though the outcome wasn't what I or the other 45,000 fans wanted. Still, when I came home, I can look at my Angels 2002 World Series Championship plaque, mounted above my computer.
Monday, October 4
As we say in Southern California, dude! I'm going to the Angels-Red Sox game this Wednesday. Look for me in the stands--I'll be the one wearing red! [ha!]
Saturday, October 2
Well, I waited until today to add this post because I didn't want to jinx it. Was it something I said in my previous post--how the Angels were losers and I'd given up on them--that turned the team around? I doubt it, but I'll claim the motivational victory anyways. Yes, since I last posted, the Angels have won seven of eight games and are now the American League West Division champions. The last time the Angels won the division, I was in my first year of college, living in Stockton, California with my sister. My celebrations were muted that year, however, as the Angels, one strike away from going to their first World Series, blew the game and the series to the Red Sox (who went on to blow their own monumental chance to win a series to the NY Mets). I won't be worried about potential collapses this year, however. My team won the World Series in 2002 (as a wild card, not division winner), so this is all just gravy to me. Still, I'll be cheering along for as long as they are in it. Oh, and now I have Tivo, so can rewatch the good moments and skip the bad ones as often as I desire!
Go Angels!
Go Angels!
