news feeds november 10

Wow... Another week gone by with absolutely no news coming out of Toronto. Especially on the political front. Weird, wild stuff. I will try to throw something despite no news to speak of.

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Total drag. Toronto's most famous discount/department store, Honest Ed's is soon to be no more. David Mirvish, son of founder 'Honest' Ed Mirvish, confirmed last week that the site has been sold to Vancouver based condo developers Westbank Properties in a deal that will close later this year. The site, which includes the Honest Ed's store and converted towns houses that line the East side of Markham Avenue, is one of the largest re-development sites in downtown Toronto. The store opened in 1941 and is known far and wide for its crazy circus like signage (often used to gauge where you are whilst 'inebriated' on the Bloor night bus) and it's free turkey giveaway every Thanksgiving. The store hasn't changed much since the 1940s it seems. And the deterioration of the makeup of what was once the worlds leading discount store can be caught with the naked eye. Wires from the ceiling, dusty inventory and a few seemingly abandoned hallways where a robbery or two may have taken place. Shortcomings aside, Honest Ed's is one of my favourite places in the city. Ya, the stock is questionable, the jeans might very well be made of burlap and I've seen low end neon signs for 2.99 with spelling errors (my favourite is a man swinging a 7 iron and in big letter the neon exclaims 'GOIF') but it harkens back to a time of Torontos origins as a theatre hot spot. The walls are plastered with playbills, photos of actors, signed and personalized to 'Ed and Anne', posters of past productions and my favourite, by the main till by the Bloor St entrance, the giant signed Frank Sinatra photo.  I get it, the stock is tacky, the staff is in the same smocks as their grand opening but it really is one of the funnest places to walk around. Preservation wise, it would be awesome if they could just leave it as is right now, dusty stock and all. The discount store was always Ed's baby and after his passing (and in turn the passing of the store to his son) the focus was shifted to the theatre side of the business, despite Ed's uncanny ability to run the store, the Broadway shows and Ed's Warehouse restaurant, one of my dad's favourites (always raved about the prime rib). David Mirvish noted "families and businesses evolve. My family moved his business from Dundas Street to Bloor Street; I’m moving our business from Bloor Street to King Street" (location of Mirvish Production offices and Mirvish Walkway aka Canada's Walk of Fame). Hopefully, the beautifully tacky signage can be preserved somewhere; the developers mentioned including a museum of everything Mirvish somewhere on/in the new site. Let's hope this Toronto landmark, that helped shape the Annex neighbourhood since 1941, gets remembered for what it was; the Worlds Greatest (and maybe the original) Discount store. Give Honest Ed's autobiography,"How To Build An Empire On An Orange Crate", a look. A great read and the last thing I bought at his great store.

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This isn't really news, but I love me some good irony. William Shatner dropped some knowledge on us in Airplane II, and it went like this: "Irony can be pretty ironic," delivered with the kind of sombre urgency that only he can deliver. I'm missing the point but that is a great line. What a terrible film though. Watch the original Airplane film for can't miss hilarity. Anyways, the is an exhibit at Atlanta's Premier Exibition Center showing off Titanic artefacts and re-create rooms and scenes from the 'unsinkable ship' and spared no expense on the historical integrity as it closed in the middle of operating hours due to an unspecified water source. The Daily Mail did note that the similarities have "an unerring degree of accuracy." Too soon? Fortunately, the attraction reopened for business on Thursday morning with an employee saying they were 'closed for less than a day' and that the irony wasn't lost on the staff and many jokes will be had. It's nice to joke around at work.

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On October 29, 1969 the internet was invented. No joke. It involved two computers; one at UCLA's School of Engineering and Applied Science and Douglas Engelbart's system (he also created the mouse - computer not rodent - and developed hypertext ) in Menlo Park, California. Shortly after UC Santa Barbara joined, then some folks at the University of Utah, gaining fifteen networks by 1971. Commercial internet began popping up in the late 1980's and early 1990's (remember when a phone call would knock you offline?). I remember thinking my 28.8k modem was a significant upgrade to my 14.4 on my P1 75MHz processor hog. I could play Wolfenstein, later Civilization (Civ 2 to be more accurate) and Doom. Shareware version of course. How about theglobe.com.. I wish I could remember what handle I used back in the day but, naturally, the site has long been shutdown. Maybe there is a mirror of it? The founder of the Globe.com is one of the best dot.com millionaire stories ever. Cornell undergrads Stephan Peternot and Todd Krizelman launched the site April 1, 1995 garnering 44,000 visitors to the site in the first month. The company secured a $20 billion dollar investment from Dancing Bear Investments making the kids six figure salaries by the time they were 23 years of age. The company went public in 1998 making the two guys being worth 100 million each. CNN interview Paternot in 1999, donning leather pants with his model girlfriend at some Manhattan nightclub made the dubious statement, "Got the girl. Got the money. Now I'm ready to live a disgusting, frivolous life" dubbing him the 'CEO in plastic pants.' The stock, obvs, plummets and the two wonder kids are forced out by 2000. They both currently live together and play canasta while reminiscing of the olden times when they were embarrassing, obnoxious arseholes. Then social media grabbed the net by the balls. First with Myspace.com which now I don't even think is a real thing. I think people still use it for music or something. Then the Facebook, tweeters and instagrams came out and now we know everything about everyone at all times. Not only is your friend going to the show tonight here is a link to buy tickets to the same event. But the internet has basically changed the way we do everything from shop to get our news to watch our favourite TV shows. It has come a long way since downloading Simpsons episodes in ten parts from News Groups, waiting 45 minutes to download a three minute Fugazi song in wav format or get an album in 3 seconds in Real Player format - remember that piece of junk? Anyways, we love you internet. Please don't go away or we'll all be screwed. Also, there's this great book called "Tubes" written by Andrew Blum who traces those crazy wires that hook up to get on the internet, where the go and who takes care of them. He visits data centres the world over from Palo Alto to Virginia to Amsterdam and really is a fascinating read if you like that sort of thing. 

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The Boston Red Sox are your 2013 World Series Champions. The Sox completed their worst to first run with a six game series sin over the St. Louis Cardinals. This year's edition of the Red Sox reminded me of the historic 2004 team, not just because they beat the same opponent and had similar clutch performances but because every member of that team genuinely liked each other on and off the field. Staff ace Jon Lester alluded to this fact, noting after the victory that he spent more time with his teammates off the field than on. The teams dismal 2012 Bobby Valentine season has been well documented and no one gave the Sox much of a chance this year. Why would anyone expect the Red Sox to do much? The Blue Jays were dubbed World Series favourites after picking up R.A. Dickey, Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle and Josh Johnson while the Tampa Bay Rays pitching staff, led by David Price, have been a tough team since their World Series appearance not to mention the great strides the Orioles franchise have taken, with slugger Chris Davis, centre fielder Adam Jones and third basemen Manny Machado all having career years this year. The Red Sox came off a crazy off season last year where they lured slugger Adrian Gonzalez from the Padres and Carl Crawford from the divisional rival Rays... Both players proved to be a bust in Boston, especially Crawford who was hurt for most of his tenure and we shipped to the Dodgers together along with Josh Beckett and Nick Punto. This move, what was essentially a salary dump, was the first building block of this years championship (the foundation; David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jon Lester; was already in place). In this past off season, GM Ben Cherington avoid the big name free agents available and went for character players, guys who have won in the past. Hoping to create a new culture in Boston, a return to the winning tradition Red Sox fans had become accustomed to since their 2004 championship, Cherington went out and picked up former Phillies centre fielder Shane Victorino, Rangers 1B/DH Mike Napoli (whose deal was almost axed during the preseason due to a failed physical) and the versatile outfielder/pinch hitter extraordinaire Jonny Gomes. The biggest off season move for the club had to be the re-acquisition of John Farrell, who left his Red Sox post as pitching coach to manage the Toronto Blue Jays for two seasons. With Valentine fired almost immediately after the 2012 season, it didn't take too long for the Sox to start talking to the Jays regarding Farrell's return to Beantown. Next thing you know Mike Aviles is shipped to the Jays as compensation and the Red Sox had their manager. Farrell had an instantly calming influence on a club whose club house culture was, essentially, a nightmare (see eating fried chicken, drinking beer etc). He was especially good at handling his staff and bullpen, something that shouldn't be a surprise given his previous assignment as a pitching coach, and the team's ERA was 3.79, compared to 2012's 4.70 with essentially the same staff. Throw in a trade deadline deal for former Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy from the White Sox and you had a team that could beat you so many ways. A resurgent John Lackey, who came back from Tommy John surgery, was lights out most of the season and all playoffs, even coming in to throw an inning of relief in the World Series. Baltimore Orioles/Texas Rangers castoff Koji Uehara was lights out as the closer, taking over the job from an injured Andrew Bailey and Jack Hannerhan. He was virtually unhittable throughout the playoffs and won the ALCS MVP going 1-0 with 3 saves and 0.00 ERA. David Ortiz, World Series MVP, finished with a .688 batting average in the World Series not to mention a staggering on-base percentage of .760. Video game numbers right there. The scary part is most of the team will be intact next year; Napoli and shortstop Stephen Drew have already been offered new deals leaving lead off man and MLB stolen base leader Jacoby Ellsbury as the teams main focus. Whatever he asks for, pay it. Great season and congrats to the Red Sox!

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The NHL is in full swing now, most teams a game or two away from the quarter way point of the season. This is the first full length season in a couple years and it's nice to see the West play the East again.. and it'll be nice to get a full season to gauge this Toronto Maple Leafs team that sat in the fifth seed in the East then took the eventual Eastern conference champion Boston Bruins to overtime of game 7 of their series (other than the finals their series ranked up amongst the best all playoff long). Offseason goalie acquisition Jonathan Bernier has played extremely well (despite letting in a few comically hilarious goals - taking cues from his former teammate Jonathan Quick's doozy of a goal earlier this season) and is providing not only competition but motivation for James Reimer, who has also played great this year, possibly setting up a late season deal to a goalie hungry team for a decent return (centreman please). We haven't really had a chance to see our new forwards, at least not at the same time, for anytime tangible length of time. Agitator, Toronto native, former New Jersey Devil and all around good guy David Clarkson was suspended for the first 10 games of the season after leaving the bench in the infamous line brawl between the Leafs and Sabres in the pre-season while another Toronto native (Mimico to be precise) and the man who scored the Cup clinching goal for the Blackhawks this past spring, Dave Bolland, will be out until at least December with a punctured tendon in his leg, four games after Clarkson's return from suspension. Leafs also picked up Mason Raymond, one of the fastest skaters in the league, who made the club out of camp on a try-out contract and has been a great surprise and a nice addition to the teams second-third line. The Leafs defence has been quite suspect and have been bailed out by stellar goaltending all season long. Captain Dion Phaneuf has been better this season, while Cody Franson much like last season has been our steadiest d-man. Nineteen year old Morgan Reilly has made an impression as well and deserves to be with the team. The biggest surprise has been the unsteady play of former blue chip prospect Jake Gardiner, who played unbelievably well the stretch and last years playoffs seems to have take a step back and hopefully will show us more as the season goes on. Paul Ranger, playing in the NHL for the first time since the 2009-10 season, really looks out of place sometimes.. Not the fleetest of foot to begin with, I catch him standing around watching more than anyone on the team. Mark Fraser, who is as steady (and tough) as they come will be a welcome addition, returned Friday against the Devils after missing thirteen games to injury. But despite the fact the Leafs are getting outshot basically every game (sometimes by over 20 shots!) they still sit third place in the Eastern Confrence with a 11-6-0 record. Let's keep it up boys!

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Very weird, messed up dude. Lost a true OG. Lou Reed 1942-2014.

don't call it a comeback

Alright, alright, alright. Summer time is over and by proxy so is my sabbatical from doing the blog. Not that it was official, but I just had a busy summer.Between baseball games, patio beers, cottaging, amusement parks and capping it all off with five days in the desert (Vegas) it's been a hell of a, if not bumpy, ride. I did go to work there as well. But school is back in and since everyone has to learn I might as well help everyone regress with news stories that no one cares about. Anyways, I'm back, so hopefully you're as excited or at least as indifferent about that as I am.

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The city of Detroit has no cashola. The city filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy on July 18 with a hearing date set for October 23. It is the largest city in the United States to file for bankruptcy. The story of Detroit's decline has been no secret for years. Initially, the White flight sent scads of folk to the suburbs leaving a ridiculous amount of abandoned structures around the city which gave more power to the street gangs who overran the streets, then by proxy even more folk took off from Detroit. Detroit was recently described by the New York Times as "home to 700,000 people, as well as to tens of thousands of abandoned buildings, vacant lots and unlit streets." It also suffers from one of the highest crime rates in the United States. Then as competition grew in the auto industry, they had a monopoly at one point on automobiles built in the United States, the city tried to deindustrialize itself as much as it could with more car dealers taking their remaining production to other locations. The population had decreased to 701,000 in 2013 down from a high population in 1950 of 1,850,000. Pretty tragic stuff, just across the way from Windsor, Ontario is a virtual ghost town these days, some areas in the city centre are described as so abandoned they look like farmland. 

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Don't you hate it when you leave you keys at work and you have to trek all the way back to get them, or pull that embarrassing move when you ring your landlord at 3 am trying to get them to unlock you door for you? (That happened to me by the way).. Anyways, stand by, I am going somewhere with this. Frank Laviguer a 57 year old Oregonian bank robber forgot his keys at the bank he had just robbed, then tried to elude the cops by hiding behind a fountain where a four year old pointed him out to the cops who were in pursuit and promptly arrested him. Laviguer had robbed three banks and two motels in a three week crime spree must have had a nice hangover when he went into a Wells Fargo branch on September 8 when he screwed up, which led him to forgetting his means of escape. One website mentioned that maybe during Mr. Laviguer's criminal career he should have learned to hot wire a vehicle. Point taken. Study up all aspiring criminals. 

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Batfleeeeeck! Ben Affleck has been chosen to star as Batman along side Henry Cavill, who will be reprising his role as Superman from this summer's "Man Of Steel" in a new buddy cop flick. It not a buddy cop flick? Crap, well, the hash tag #batfleck went gangbusters upon the announcement, and I mean whatever. People hated the idea of Michael Keaton, a predominately comedic actor at the time of casting, as the Caped Crusader as well, and quite frankly he's still my favourite one. Christian Bale was bad-ass as Bruce Wayne no doubt, but holy crap was his voice grating when he donned the costume. That why he's a close second to Keaton. But for every decent Batman there is a brutal one. See Val Kilmer and George Clooney. And the crazy part is neither one of them were the worst part in their respective Batman flops. So much care is taken in every frame of this franchise these days, that I'm sure the production team, who ever the hell it is (I haven't googled it yet) know what they are doing and maybe we should just relax and let them do their thing. There plenty of room over on the Disney website to complain about the new Star Wars films and maybe we should put our focus on that for now. If Mickey Mouse shows up as an older Han Solo in episode VII, I'm gonna be so miffed.

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It's Elvira aka Cassandra Peterson's birthday. She was pretty awesome in her day. Totally just dated myself. As non Elvira roles she showed up in Pee-Wee's Big Adventure as a biker girl ("Why do you let me have him first?") and showed up as a showgirl in the Bond flick "Diamonds Are Forever," and showed up on the album cover of Tom Waits' 1976 gem "Small Change." She was part of the legendary improv troupe "The Groundlings" in 1979 (Groundlings alumni include Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig, Phil Hartman, Lisa Kudrow, Edie McClurg, Maya Rudolph, Laraine Newman and Paul Reubens) before her signature character Elvira made her debut in 1981. She hosted a late night show that aired B horror films, with comments from the hostess in the middle of the picture only to be called by "The Breather" who tells her… strange jokes and lame puns. She released a feature film in 1988 which she co-wrote which, well, wasn't without its charms. Definitely a dated 80's movie, but good campy fun nonetheless. Happy B-Day!

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Hockey is back! It's been just four short months since the Chicago Blackhawks won their second cup in four seasons after dispatching the previous two champions, the 2012 winning Los Angeles Kings in the Western Conference Final and the 2011  champion Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup Final. The Hawks eliminated the Bruins in six games and enter the 2013-14 season with much of their Cup winning team intact (unlike their 2010 team that lost at least 10 players very shortly after their win), and look every bit as dangerous as they did last year. The only major loss for the Hawks was that of Cup winning goal scorer Dave Bolland who took off to the Toronto Maple Leafs. (How's that for a segue).. 

The Leafs welcome the addition of Bolland as well as free agents David Clarkson and Mason Raymond (who looks like he belongs on the opening night roster) not to mention acquiring probable #1 goalie Jonathan Bernier via trade from the LA Kings. After the Leafs dropped a heartbreaker to the eventual East champion Bruins in game 7 last year, the Leafs hopefully learned from the experience and are ready to make some noise in the realigned east. Cautiously optimistic is all I can say at this point. I like our team, and I think theyvare a better team this year so lets just see how it plays out. But for reals, how nice is it to play Detroit again on a regular basis? AND added bonus with Detroit; we still get to boo and hate Daniel Alfredsson, longtime Senators captain who took off to Motown for a chance to win as his career winds down. And Detroit moving to the East makes them automatic contenders. The Bruins and Penguins, as always, will ice great teams, but be wary of the Red Wings. Puck drops on October 1 with three games; the Washington Capitals visit the champion Blackhawks, the Winnipeg Jets are in Edmonton to face the Dallas Eakins-Craig MacTavish led Oilers and the Leafs start off their season against the Canadiens in Montreal.

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Great time of year to be a sports fan. With the NHL and NFL seasons starting up that can only mean one thing; Baseball playoff races are heating up! Before I go on about the good teams lets talk about a bad one.. The 2013 World Series favourite Toronto Blue Jays. Before  the  season began GM Alex Anthopolous went out and got every player he could to make the Jays a contender overnight. Apart from the Marlins deal which netted them Mark Buerhle, Jose Reyes and Josh Johnson the Jays also picked up defending National League Cy Young winner RA Dickey to bolster their rotation. While Reyes and Buerhle came as advertised, Johnson has been abysmal compiling an 2-8 record with an ERA north of 6. Dickey started off rough and despite being among the league leaders in home runs allowed has been much more consistent of late, and looks much more like the pitcher the Jays counted on to the their ace. J.P. Arencebia has had a historically bad season from a defensive and offensive stand point and I'd be shocked if he was the Jays starting catcher next year. The Jays currently sit dead last in the American League East, 23 games back of first.

As for the teams with non-made up post-season aspirations, most of the divisions are locked down with about 10 games left for most teams; the Boston Red Sox lead the AL East by 9 games after having finished dead last last season, the defending American League champion Detroit Tigers have a 6 game lead in the AL Central over the surging Cleveland Indians and 8 games over the young KC Royals. There was a dog fight in the AL West for most of the season between the Oakland A's and Texas Rangers, but with the Rangers slumping hard the A's have built up a 6.5 game lead over Texas. Texas is still clinging to the second Wild Card spot while the Tampa Bay Rays are holding down the top one with the Indians, Orioles, Yankees and Royals breathing down both their necks. In the American League the World Series favourites would have to be the Detroit Tigers so long as last years Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera is 100% and the Boston Red Sox who have played unbelievable baseball lately with a balanced offence, outstanding rotation and a never say die attitude that has permeated the entire bearded clubhouse in Beantown. Look for the Sox to do some damage in the American League playoffs.

The National League East and West are all over but the crime. The Atlanta Braves have a 10 game lead over the Washington Nationals and could be the first team in the majors to clinch a playoff spot if they can sweep a double header in Washington today. In the West, the Los Angeles Dodgers righted the train wreck that was the start to their 2013 season to go on an unbelievable tear, building a 9.5 game lead over the Diamondbacks after being 10 games back as late as June. Although they have cooled down recently (3-7 in last 10 games while losing 4 in a row) they are going to be big trouble for whoever faces them in the post season, especially now that perennial All Star Matt Kemp is off the disabled list.  The National League Central is where things get really interesting. Total dog fight between three teams, two of which, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the St. Louis Cardinals are tied atop the division as of this morning.  It's not so much a battle for the playoffs but a battle for home field since the Cincinnati Reds hold the second Wild Card spot and the non-divisional winner will get the top Wild Card spot, either way, anyone of these three teams could get scorching and can do some damage in the playoffs so don't count any of the three out.  The favourites in the National League is the Los Angeles Dodgers would have to be the front runners but don't count out any of the team in the National League since every team in the running has great pitching and offence. 

Not gonna lie, would love to see a Dodgers-Red Sox World Series. When the Red Sox were spiralling out of control last season, drinking in the clubhouse and putting up with Bobby Valentine, they sent Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett, Nick Punto and Adrian Gonzalez to LA in a blockbuster trade. Gonzalez has been the Dodgers most consistent hitter all season and Punto has been the surprise of the trade. A utility man at best in Boston, Punto has appeared in over 100 games for the Dodgers, playing stellar defence for the team and hitting at a .260 clip. The Red Sox, instead of banking on expensive free agents went for character guys and career winners such as Mike Napoli, Shane Victorino and Johnny Gomes, not mention picking up former Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy from the White Sox at the trade deadline, filling out a team that could be called 'the Idiots II', in reference to the 2004 World Series team (the 2013 edition resembles the 2004 team on the field and in total beard/hair length). 

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Norma Jean uses up a lot of milk in a video from a track off their new album "Wrongdoers"

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news feeds april 6

The Evil Dead remake. The thought of anyone touching any of the films from Sam Raimi's classic horror-slapstick trilogy makes me want to cringe. The first film was made on a shoe string budget that had bad acting, a terrible script and worse special effects but this added to the films charm. It was played as a straight horror film for the most part, leaving the slapstick to "Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn" and "Army Of Darkness." "Evil Dead II" was basically a remake of the first film, at least for the first act, before the uni-handed Bruce Campbell greets visitors of the demon and human persuasion. Our hero Ash, played by B film legend Bruce Campbell not only kicked ass but took names from the aforementioned demons before opening some kind of time portal that sends him back in time, with his car or course. Ash's exploits in the past is explored in "Army Of Darkness," which is chalk full of Three Stooges-style slapstick bits (see the scene army of little Ash's), multiple zombie deaths by chainsaw, an army of skeletons ala Jason & the Argonauts and some of the best (or worst) one liners ever put on film. Anyways, easily my favourite horror film series and not something that I want to be screwed with. The remake follows the script fairly closely and is produced by Raimi and Bruce themselves, making me a lot less scared of the potential butchering of a brilliant franchise. 

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Messy Snipes is out of jail! We can expect a "Blade 4" (maybe that already exists) on DVD in bargain stores within the next few weeks. The star of not just crap movies (see Major League, White Men Can't Jump, Demolition Man to name a couple) has been released from a Pennsylvania jail after serving three years for felony tax fraud and conspiracy charges. A jury convicted him of willfully failing to file tax returns from 1999-2001 and even had an unsuccessful appeal to his sentence in 2011. The first thing I ever saw Wesley Snipes in was "Major League," and I thought he was hysterical as Willie 'Mays' Hayes, the smartass base stealing centre fielder from the fictitious version of the 1989 Cleveland Indians. Things got real in 1991's "New Jack City" where we saw a no nonsense Messy as a drug lord during New York City's crack epidemic. Despite his horrendous blonde hair and overalls with no shirt wardrobe, my favourite character he played was Simon Phoenix in 1993's "Demolition Man." The film was the story of two cryogenically frozen 90s style action junkies, one maverick officer John Spartan, wrongfully accused prisoner and Snipes as supercriminal Phoenix. The two get unthawed in the year 2032 and find the world significantly different than the one they had known. After an earthquake in 2010, the world rebuilt itself into a society that didn't do anything wrong. For reals… you couldn't even kiss. Phoenix and Spartan battle it out in the future amongst the new age yuppies, bringing Lenina Huxley (Sandra Bullock) and Edgar Friendly (Denis Leary) along for the ride. Anyways, point being, if they had cryogenically frozen Wesley he could have starred in a Demolition Man reality show in 2032. Welcome home, Messy!

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New Kids On the Block won't die. But thankfully, they may be closer to breaking up. The group, which is still apparently together, hit a bump in the road when one of them (does it matter which? Ok, it was Jonathan) ran off the stage mid-performance during the horrifyingly bad ballad "Survive You" and… oh who gives a rip. Break up already, no one cares, k-thanks.

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Thomas Guiry who played nerd Scotty Smalls in "The Sandlot" recently gave an interview to promote the 20th anniversary of the film. Since it is one of the best baseball movies of all time (after "Major League," the "Slap Shot" of baseball) and its opening week why not reflect a bit on the film. I actually haven't watched it this year, which is pretty week, since it a go-to anytime during baseball season in past years. It involves friends, summer, baseball, first kiss, first time getting in trouble, and coming of age. Scotty Smalls was in awe of the kids at the sandlot, a run down old field, who play baseball all day, every day. He noted they had 8 players and figured he could be the 9th even though he doesn't know how to actually play. All the kids, except Benny, think Scotty is hopeless, which is fairly accurate. Over the course of the summer the kids get into trouble at the pool, get mockingly challenged by a local minor league team, losing a signed Babe Ruth ball that belonged to Scotty's dad and just being young. Dennis Leary and Karen Allen play Scott's stepdad and mother, with James Earl Jones as the owner of "the beast," the giant dog who ate the signed Babe Ruth ball. Check out the interview HERE.

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It has been 19 years since Kurt Cobain shot himself at his home in Seattle. Not that I like writing about things that are depressing and such, it should be touched upon since the guy was awesome. I listened to him since I was a younging, broke it off for a while because.. you know, grade 11, punk rock politics etc.. and got back on board a good ten years ago, and they are truly one of my favourite bands. Nirvana formed in 1985 and went into the studio in December of 1988 to record their debut album "Bleach." The album was their angriest offering, which is often the case with hard rock bands but showed the poppy hooks that were littered all over their subsequent releases. "About a Girl" is about as a Beatles of a song as you will find in their catalog, Cobain always being a colossal fan of John Lennon. After demo session in April 1990 with producer Butch Vig, the band became disenchanted with original drummer Chad Channing's drumming and were introduced to Dave Grohl of Washington punk band Scream. Within minutes of auditioning, bassist Krist Novoselic said "We knew in two minutes that he was the right drummer." The band signed with Geffen Records in 1990 and begun recording their sophomore album "Nevermind," the album that changed everything. It actually is probably my least favourite of their three proper studio full lengths (possibly because of listening to them too much) but I can't deny how good most of the songs are on the record. "On a Plain," "Lithium," "Lounge Act," "Territorial Pissings," "Drain You" all rank up with their best work, and if you add in "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "In Bloom," and "Come As You Are" you do have a near perfect record so long as you haven't heard the singles ten million times. The band cranked it up a notch in what would be their swan song, 1993's "In Utero," enlisting indie elitist producer Steve Albini to do the album. The drums sounded like thunder, and Kurt never sounded more angry or melancholic. Definitely my favourite Nirvana record and why not? "Serve the Servants," "Scentless Apprentice," "Frances Farmer…," "Milk It," "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter," it is hard to pick a favourite song from the album. 

In a strange twist, also on April 5 but just eleven years ago another Seattle star died in a drug related death. Layne Staley formed Alice In Chains with Jerry Cantrell in 1987, the band had much more heavy metal roots than Nirvana despite eventually being lumped into the grunge category with them. Their first album came out in August 1990 but the band didn't really take off until the release of the "Singles" soundtrack in 1992, which showcased many Seattle area bands, and included Alice's song "Would?" which would appear as the closing track on their second album "Dirt." The album is the bands best record and I would recommend it to anyone, despite the fact is definitely feels more dated than Nirvana's material. I think its because sometimes they sound too much like a vowel vocal band ala Pearl Jam. The album contained "Them Bones," "Down In a Hole," "Junkhead," "Angry Chair," "Rooster" and "Dam the River" and showcases the band are their sharpest, despite their potentially cloudy state of mind. Layne died in 2002 after years of battling cocaine and heroin addiction. 

While I'm in obituary mode, here's to Roger Ebert, one of the only critics who consistently got it right. He and his writing will be missed.

Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert

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Current Red Sox and former Blue Jay manager John Farrell is back in Toronto for the first time since leaving the club during the offseason. He was welcomed by players who were excited to see his former skip but that more than you can say for the fans who serenaded him with boos right from the get-go at the lineup exchange overshadowing Josh Johnson's first start for the Blue Jays. It was a back and for match with the Red Sox rushing out to a 4-1 lead before the Blue Jays tied it up only to see the Sox tag on two more runs and their closer Jack Hanarhan sealing the 6-4 victory as Farrell got the last laugh. Game two, just finished, and since I was doing this blog during the game and was only looking up periodically I noticed that other than Jacoby Ellsbury's lead off double the Red Sox had absolute zip going on at the plate. Boston starter John Lackey left the game after a brutal looking pitching motion, where the hurler grabbed his bicep in obvious discomfort. Lackey missed all of 2012 because of Tommy John surgery and looked sharp other than the 2-run jack surrendered to J.P. Arencebia and it looks like he may miss some time (strained right bicep), which hurts the Red Sox since the have a tough April schedule with just 2 days off before the end of the month. The Jays shut out the Red Sox with a 5-0 one hitter. The teams play the rubber match tomorrow at the Rogers Centre with staff aces John Lester (1-0) and R.A. Dickey (0-1) locking horns. 

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Norma Jean are funny. Here's a lyrics video to "their 6 second opus, 'Shark Bite'" Funny guys…

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american league east 2013

Who became contenders overnight in the AL East? The Toronto Blue Jays. The team added $160 million to their payroll in a monster deal with the Miami Marlins before spending another $16 million on a two year deal for Melky Cabrera. He was suspended for 50 games for testing positive for a banned substance in August after leading the National League batting race and winning the All Star Game MVP. A good player and above average fielder should be a good fit, especially since he will be hitting lower in the order. In the Marlins trade, the Jays picked up 2011 National League batting champion Jose Reyes, starting pitchers Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle, both former all stars, catcher John Buck (two years removed from his career season with the Jays) and solid utility infielder Emilio Bonifacio. The trade is on of the biggest in recent memory.. well, this deal and the Dodgers-Red Sox deal when the Sox shed $250 million in salary shipping Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez and Nick Punto to the 'cash poor' Dodgers for Troy Loney and a couple minor leaguers. Either way the Blue Jays have positioned themselves to compete in the AL East, with the Yankees aging/looking to shed payroll and the Red Sox in shambles after a disastrous season in 2012. There has also been rumours floating around that there is some interest in former Jay Shaun Marcum, and apparently the feeling is mutual. If the Jays can manage to get Marcum back then their rotation in 2013 would look something like this 1-5: Josh Johnson, Shaun Marcum, Ricky Romero, Brendan Morrow, Mark Buehrle. That is really, really good, and would be among the best rotations in all of baseball. The only other big rumor floating around the AL East is that the Orioles are front runners in the Josh Hamilton sweepstakes, and if that deal goes down then the Yankees and Red Sox might very well be battling to stay out of the basement, while the Rays, Jays and Orioles will be fighting for a trip to the postseason. At the very least, the Toronto Blue Jays have put pressure on the rest of the division to make a move since there is no way Toronto won't be significantly better, despite the ongoing search for a manager (which is down to a few candidates: Former Rockies skip Jim Tracy, Dodgers third base coach Tim Wallach, Jim Riggleman who last managed with the Washington Nationals in 2011 and current Jay coach and former Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu). And, as good as their rotation is, their starting nine ain't too bad either: 

LF: Melky Cabrera

CF: Colby Rasmus

RF: Jose Bautista

1B: Adam Lind/David Cooper

2B: Emilio Bonifacio/Maicer Izturis

SS: Jose Reyes

3B: Brett Lawrie

C: John Buck/J.P. Arencebia

DH: Edwin Encarnacion

news feeds july 10

No global warming, huh? The US has experienced the hottest year its ever had since 1895 when weather stats were first recorded. Crazily enough, that didn't include the heatwave that has engulfed most of the mainland during the month of July. Communities have been smashing heat records since the first 2012 heatwave in March (warmest March ever recorded), causing severe droughts in Colorado, Arizona, Indiana and Georgia which created an outbreak of large, almost uncontainable, wildfires. St. Louis residents breathed a sigh of relief on Monday when the thermometer only hit 91 degrees  (32.7 celsius) after ten straight days of +100 degree (37.7 celsius) temperatures. And there has been many casualties all over the country due to the extreme heat, with Maryland (13) and Virginia (10) leading the league in that category. Moral of the story? Air conditioners (I know.. that's bad, but so good sometimes - now being one of those times) Oh, and Yuma, Arizona (home of Nick Papageorgio) had a forecast of 115 yesterday. Dry heat. Ouch. Anyways, don't cut down trees, waste water, and all other stuff that destroys this planet that is rapidly becoming a frog on a hotplate.

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There is a lot of 'activities' that pass as sports these days. Poker requires skill, no doubt, but it isn't a sport. Yet it's on all afternoon on the sports channels. And what about that ridiculous Coney Island Hot Dog eating contest. Dude crammed like 50 hotdogs in his mouth in ten minutes. Apparently the trick is to soak the buns in water. Sick. Winner gets ten thousand however, so, if you are good at eating hot dogs, well, run - do not walk and I wish you well. This just shouldn't be a thing though: the International Cherry Pit Spitting Championship (it's EXACTLY what it sounds like), which started over FOUR decades ago, has contestants from all over the US/world, and has six divisions. Two families, the Krauses' and the Lessards', have dominated the event with a member of one of the families taking home the trophy (or whatever the hell the prize is) every year since 1992. In comes a 46 year old Chicago native Ronn Matt, who was probably was on his way to get some of those delicious Michigan cherries, decided to enter the contest at the urging of his wife. He walked in and won the championship on his initial try, hurtling the cherry pit a whopping 69 feet. First time. He, like most other normal people, didn't realize he had this skill, unlike the Krause and Lessard families who no doubt have a cherry pit shooting range in their backyard.

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Not sure if this is a really nice story or a scary one. Guinness Book of World Records Largest woman, Pauline Potter (643 pounds last year) has dropped almost 100 pounds due to her new workout routine. She's been having sex and lots of it. Her and her ex-husband, a 140 pound tomcat named Alex have been getting hot and heavy for a while now. She says she can't move much in bed, no surprise, but says she burns about 500 calories each time; "It's great exercise just jiggling around." It isn't without it dangers though, Alex noted. "It's really dangerous for us to have sex because at any moment the bed could collapse and one or both of us could be seriously injured or even killed from the impact." The physics of it all is pretty crazy to wrap your head around. But using sex as a weight loss tool is more common than you think. "Shagging can make you slimmer, if you do it enough. It can also help the two of you fall for each other all over again. Requiring no monthly fee - dress code optional - you can 'sexercise' yourself into shape. This is one gym membership you'll never want to drop," says Dr. Yvonne Kristin Fulbright. Fun times!

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A man in Albuquerque, New Mexico was busted breaking into the Central New Mexico Community College after the police received a call about a break in. Thomas Molina, 38, tried to make a quick getaway though a window but found himself caught up in the blinds, which was where the police found him. If they were the horizontal venetian blinds I could see it happening, those can be tricky. But if they are the vertical kind, found in most community colleges, there is no excuses! Molina told police he was looking for computer hardware and has been charged with burglary and breaking and entering. He didn't post his 10,000 bail.

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I watched Sleepaway Camp last night. I remember seeing it in the video store when I was a kid and thought it looked pretty bad-ass just based on the cover. But I never watched it (even though it's possible I claimed otherwise) but after having it on my computer for about five years I went for it at about midnight. I usually don't like slasher-type movies that were popular in the 1980s (one or two of the tons of movies in each the Friday the 13th and Nightmare On Elm St series, not to mention the low-budget cult imitations they inspired). Well, Sleepaway Camp is held at a…. camp, so immediately you think of Friday the 13th. All the cliches at the camp were present; the slut, the bitch, the geek, the jock councillors, surly camp owner, and I thought for the most part it was a pretty decent 80s movie about goings-on (and bullying) at a summer camp. The violence is actually pretty minimal, or at least is until the last 15 minutes, with only a few casualties. But my God, the ending was super-sick. The girl is creepy, but you start to like her once she starts talking (and she's actually married to Deron Miller, member of cKy 1998-2011 in real life - nice!) and the aunt is super creepy. Acting was pretty bad, and the special effects were terrible. Exactly what I was looking for in a slasher film from 1983. It was followed by a couple sequels with Bruce Springsteen's sister in the lead role, then they were disregarded for a sequel picking up where the first film left off, with Felissa Rose reprising her role as Angela.

Judy (being a jerk) and Angela

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Baseball's first half (or unofficial first half since most team are a couple games beyond the halfway point) is over. It's been a great season so far… very entertaining. 

American League Notes:

Alexei Ramirez shows some love for Humber's perfect game

Craziest thing about how the AL started off the year was when perennial contenders New York, Boston, Los Angeles and the newly stacked Detroit Tigers got off to terrible starts, some due to injuries, some due to incompetence. The Yankees have righted their ship, finding themselves with a 7 game lead in the AL East. Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano have been putting together great seasons and Curtis Granderson has been hitting home runs at the same clip he has last year where he finished second in the AL. The Boston Red Sox (along with Toronto Blue Jays) find themselves sitting in the cellar of the AL East with an even 43-43 record, with Big Papi David Ortiz being the only consistent hitter on the team. It also appears that Adrian Gonzalez has forgotten how to hit the long ball, even though he is crushing the doubles and his average is decent at .283. The Blue Jays looked great in spring training, but too often follow up a great game with a terrible one and have found no consistency in their bullpen, and now they have a serious starting pitching problem, especially the way ace Ricky Romero has been pitching this season. Just down the road from Toronto in Detroit, things have been looking up lately, after finally catching fire, but are still only keeping pace with the surprising Chicago White Sox who are crippling every team in the league with their clutch hitting and effective (not over powering) pitching staff. In the first month of the season White Sox pitcher Philip Humber threw a perfect game as the Sox beat the Seattle Mariners 4-0. The White Sox currently lead the Cleveland Indians by 3 games and the Tigers by 3.5 games. The Angels took a long time to get going due to Albert Pujols' learning how to hit American League pitching that he hasn't seen other than in the video room. He has been crushing the ball of late and has his Angels, and along with ace starters Jared Weaver (who had a no hitter of his own on May 2 vs the Minnesota Twins), Dan Haren and CJ Wilson, not to mention the emergence of young all-stars Mark Trumbo and Mike Trout make the Angels a team to watch in the second half. L.A. finds themselves 4 games behind the Texas Rangers in the AL West. Seattle Mariners starter Kevin Millwood pitched a no-no for a few innings before he had to leave with an injury, but his bullpen picked him up and the Mariners used five other pitchers to pick up the no hitter.

L.A. Angels' Mike Trout

National League Notes:

The Nats' Bryce Harper

Clown question, bro. Two years ago, if you said the leaders of the NL East and Central were who are leading now you'd be laughed out of the room. That's right folks, the Washington Nationals lead the NL East. They have been the doormat of the National League (them and the Cubs) for years now, ever since the team moved from Montreal. But it shows you if you get enough high picks, don't trade them away and develop them you can field a great team. We all know Bryce Harper, rookie all-star centre/left fielder, and Steven Strasburg, the fire balling ace starter, and the teams first first round pick in Washington, third baseman Ryan Zimmerman but lost in the shuffle sometimes are some great young players like Danny Espinosa, a young guy with some power (knocked out 21 HR in his first full season last year), Steve Lombardozzi, versatile player starting in left field now but can play any infield position and catcher Jesus Flores doing a great job of calling the young staff, which includes Gio Gonzalez, picked up from Oakland over the offseason and currently is tied with the Mets R.A. Dickey for the league lead in wins with 12. Speaking of the Mets, they find themselves in third place (Atlanta is in second) only 4.5 games back of the first place Nationals, surprising many who thought the Mets could be basement dwellers. The first no-hitter in Mets history was thrown by Johan Santana, who mowed down the defending World Series champion St Louis Cardinals all game long, as the Mets won easily 9-0. And he has been the Mets second best starter. R.A. Dickey has been baffling National League hitters with his knuckleball all season long..  he really is a great story (article HERE) and it's a shame he didn't start the All-Star game. The newly-branded (and a new park!) Miami Marlins have failed to live up to the hype of their new signings and new digs, but even more shocking is that the Phillies, the powerhouse Phillies are in last place in the division.. Are they finally too old? Great team for years. In the NL Central, the Pittsburgh Pirates are leading the division, vying for their first divisional title since the were in the Eastern Division in 1992. Leading the charge is centre fielder Andrew McCutchen who has knocked out 18 homers at the break to go along with his .362 average. Hot on the Pirates heels though are the Cincinnati Reds, led by Etobicoke's own Joey Votto, who is making a strong case to win the NL MVP again, hitting .348 with 14 homers and 48 RBIs. The defending champion Cardinals find themselves in third place, just 2.5 games back. The top of the NL West looks fairly familiar to anyone who follows said division with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants battling it out for top spot. San Francisco's Matt Cain was the second pitcher to reach perfection against the dismal Houston Astros on June 13, the first perfect game in Giants history. Lurking quietly behind the California powerhouses are the Arizona Diamonbancks,  lurking at 4 games off the pace. The Diamondbacks have been playing decent, not great ball, but good enough to still be in the mix in the West. Their season highlight so far has to be Aaron Hill hitting the cycle not once but twice 11 days apart. The former Blue Jay becomes the fourth player to hit for the cycle twice in the same season, and the second player to do so in the same month since John Reilly (Not John C. Reilly unfortunately) did it in 1883.

Cain & Buster Posey after Cain's perfect game

Second half starts back up on Friday!

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