It's a Beautiful Day For a Ball Game...

It's been a fairly good week compared to most. Why? Well, going backwards, the week ends with the fourth season premiere of Battlestar Galactica. That alone is enough to put a smirk on my face, and I'll write a separate blog on that terrific show. But, there was also a new album release by R.E.M. that puts them squarely back to a place when they were relevant and rockin'. And again, I'll write a separate blog on Accelerate later. But the week started with one of the holiest of holy days, Opening Day.

Baseball has been a life long love for me. My parents took me and my siblings on regular trips to Dodger Stadium when I was very small. Those excursions to the ballpark are the most vivid memories I have of my childhood. Back then, and even now, there is something magical about the ballpark, and especially Dodger Stadium. You'd think that with the sport being as storied as it is, that a stadium built in 1962 would still be considered relatively new, but it is now the 4th oldest park in the Major Leagues, and will possibly move up if and when the Yankees and Red Sox build new parks. (I just can't see the Cubs doing it, Wrigley will probably be around forever, or until they win a World Series, whichever comes first). That perfectly tended grass, that beveled roof in the outfield, those yummy Dodger Dogs, they're all parts of why I love Dodger Stadium, and were great contributors into why I love the game.

There's no way I could do justice to the game of baseball as a whole in the way that has already been done by writer / director Phil Alden Robinson in Field of Dreams. So, take a little side excursion and watch here why baseball is the best sport in America.

I grew up watching one of the greatest infields ever to play the game. Steve Garvey at first base, Davey Lopes at second, Bill Russell at short and Ron Cey (The Penguin) at third. It's one of the last times I can remember that an entire infield was feared both on the field and in the batter's box. Sure, A-Rod and Jeter aren't slouches, and Cano is turning out to be a great second baseman, but there's usually one out of the four positions that struggles. There have been a couple of World Series titles since then, in '81 and '88, but true blue Dodger fans have been waiting ever since. Remember, as opposed to the pre-2004 Red Sox and the Cubbies, the Dodgers are actually one of the more successful ball clubs in the league. They are second only to the Yankees in terms of World Series appearances with 18!

As the saying goes, "Wait Until Next Year," and hopefully, that year has begun. Player acquisition is always a tricky business. The balance of farm-raised talent, supposed star trades, and veterans with a penchant for injury is never easy. They've tried the superstar thing with a number of aging pitchers (Kevin Brown, anyone?) and they've also tried the Sabermetrics plan with Paul DePodesta at the helm. That failed, too. And now, the Dodgers have seemingly gone back to the idea that I've loved and embraced about them, the idea of creating homegrown talent in their farm system. James Loney, Andy LaRoche, Jonathan Broxton, Matt Kemp, Russell Martin, Blake DeWitt, Jason Repko and Delwyn Young are all 'promotion from the inside' talent that has shone or will shine in the upcoming days, weeks and months. The problem is, they have to mix with the veterans, such as Jeff Kent, Nomar Garciaparra, Derek Lowe, Brad Penny and now Andruw Jones. In fact, Kent had words with Loney and Kemp about just such a problem.

So, how's this going to work out? Well, the Dodgers made what I think is the best move in all of baseball this year, and it didn't involve a player. Frank McCourt went out and got one of the most proven managers in the game in Joe Torre. Although, like most, I generally hate the Yankees, I've always respected Torre. He had a head for the game, with both a fire and drive to win, but also an even temperament to withstand pressure with ease (who else could last that long with Steinbrenner in charge, having to live on pins and needles for your job every year?). If there's one guy who could make the biggest impact on the Dodgers' success this year, it's Torre. Many of the pundits have the Dodgers placing third at best by the end of the year, but I'm hoping for a surprise. After all, wouldn't it be great to see the Dodgers play the Yanks in the series, yet again? But this time, Torre will have this revenge against his old team.

Movies: My Top 10 of the Year

There's just about one week to go until the big Oscar broadcast! As such, I have decided to go over the best movies I've seen this year. There are very few years in which I see every film that is nominated for an Academy Award. Actually, there's usually an inverse proportion of how disappointed I am versus how many of the films I've seen. Yes, I've been let down by the Oscars before.

Many fanboys will tell you that the beginning of the end was when Star Wars lost to Annie Hall in 1977. I'm not one of those people. I've never thought Lucas deserved an Oscar. The first time I was ever really invested in the awards was in 1991 when Silence of the Lambs swept most of the major Oscars. Since then, however, I've been consistently disappointed. Aside from a few that I agree with (Schindler's List, The English Patient), I've disagreed with most of the Best Picture recipients. The most egregious transgression was in 1997 when Titanic took home the prize. I try to avoid clichés, but, after seeing that horrible film, I definitely wanted those three torturous hours of my life back. Since then, Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind and Chicago have been films I've really disagreed with.

This year, however, I've seen four of the five nominated films and I would be happy with any of the four winning. I plan to see the fifth, hopefully, this week. But, here are my favorite films of the year, at least the ones I've seen. There are more I need to see, but these were superb:

10. Superbad- One of the funniest films I've seen. Period.
9. Charlie Wilson's War- Aaron Sorkin does it again! Being a film about the arming of the Afghan Mujahideen, many liberals like myself were worried that it would glorify a political mistake, but Sorkin, a liberal himself, covers that nicely by highlighting the idea that Wilson and his CIA partner, Gust Avrakatos, tried to warn Congress that unless Afghanistan were stabilized and given money and support, it could have severe repercussions for the U.S. Hmmmmm....sound familiar?
8. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford- Besides winning the prize for the longest title of the year, James is a fantastic film. It's gloriously shot by Roger Deakins, who has been collaborating with the Coens for years now. Also, Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck and Sam Rockwell give outstanding performances.
7. Once- This is the little film that could. At one time, it was supposed to star Cillian Murphy, but thankfully, the filmmaker thought better of it and placed his soundtrack composer, the Frames' Glen Hansard, in the lead role. It's a brilliantly spare and realistic love story with wonderful music.
6. Juno- Juno and Once tie for the shortest titles, I suppose. Juno is another one of those little films that could. Ellen Page is magnificent and deserves every accolade, but it is the trio of Michael Cera, Jason Bateman and J.K. Simmons who practically steal the show. A few things bother me, however. Why was Rainn Wilson so prominently featured in the trailer when he's only in the film for thirty seconds? And I'm worried that Michael Cera will continue to be typecast as the nervous, bumbling teenager until he doesn't get parts anymore.
5. The Simpsons Movie- Come on. How could you not love this? The skateboarding scene at the opening is worth it alone. And Professor Frink singing, "for the big screen!" And Albert Brooks guiding an idiotic President Schwarzenegger. I could go on...
4. Control- Renowned photographer Anton Corbijn makes his feature film debut with Control, a biopic of Ian Curtis, the frontman for Joy Division who tragically took his own life at the age of 23. Corbijn, who got his break in photography taking pictures of the band, captures all the requisite personalities, historical accuracies (except for intentionally choosing a different song for the band to play on Tony Wilson's music show) and atmospheres (pun intended).
3. Atonement- I wasn't expecting much from this film. I loved Ian McEwan's book and, though I thought it perfect for adaptation, but Joe Wright's Pride & Prejudice disappointed me. Not so with Atonement. There are three things I was most impressed with. 1) The music. Dario Marianelli incorporates sounds from the film into segues that lead into music beautifully. It was magical. 2) The three actresses who play Briony Tallis. They were all simply amazing. 3) What everyone seems to be talking about, the near five minute tracking shot of Dunkirk. Wow.
2. There Will Be Blood- I'm not quite sure what to say about this film. It stays with you for a long time. Daniel Day Lewis, Paul Dano and Paul Thomas Anderson are genius.
1. No Country for Old Men- I probably gave this away with the picture above, but what are you gonna do? This was most definitely the best film all year. I can't believe how many people are saying they didn't like the ending. They've obviously never seen that many Coen Brothers films, or they just didn't get it. It's not about closure of a plot. It's not even about the plot at all. It's not really even about Llewelyn Moss or Anton Chigurh. It's about Sheriff Ed Tom Bell and the changing landscape of crime, law and violence, which is then displayed on screen. It's the Coens' best film yet by far with some of the best performances. I say that knowing that Miller's Crossing is one of my favorite films of all time.

Honorable Mentions: Gone Baby Gone, Heima, Talk to Me, Hot Fuzz

Raucous at the Caucus, Part Deux

There were two nearly simultaneous experiences at the caucus that I forgot to mention. Both experiences seemed perfect analogies for this political season, so I thought I'd share them. At the head of the line, when you are finally at a point to be directed to your district location, there are a few volunteers. As my apartment building was on the borderline of two separate districts, there was some initial confusion as to where I should be. The volunteer, a man in his forties, held a crudely divided and hard to read map of the local precinct areas in his hand. The map was no help. The volunteer was about to disappear to get some extra help when an older gentleman, probably in his late sixties, early seventies, asked loudly, "Where's the Republican Caucus?" The volunteer was flummoxed. "I have no idea, sir," he responded. He offered to get someone in a more senior position to give him directions and walked away. Meanwhile, a young man who I can only guess was the volunteer's son, took his place. The boy was no more than twelve years old, wearing an Obama t-shirt.

At first glance, this doesn't seem like much. But to me, the older gentleman seemed a perfect analogy for the Republican party. He was confused, disoriented, brash, uninformed and invaded the wrong place. And by the time he actually did get an answer as to where he was supposed to be, it was too late. Isn't that just like a Republican, I thought, lost and in trouble and needing a bunch of Democrats to bail him out.

The boy, on the other hand, was directing voters more quickly and efficiently than his father. He didn't need a map or a guide. "Do you know your precinct?" he asked every voter as they reached the top of the stairs. If they did, he gave them easy to follow directions. If they did not, he asked them where they lived and then told them their precinct number, without the use of a map, and then guided them. Again, he was no more than twelve years old. I know that Obama was energizing the youth vote, but this was more than I expected. To me, this boy was an analogy for the 'new' Democrats. He was smart, informed, decisive, unafraid, and knew exactly what he was supposed to be doing, when, and in the best interests of the people in front of him. On top of all that, he listened and stepped in when needed. He took over for his father, who was being helpful in his own way, and this boy knew that he needed to step in for the betterment of the party and his community. The line moved faster and more efficiently under his direction. I was incredibly impressed. The boy was a born leader. If there are more young people out there like this boy, I feel better about the future of this country.

Raucous at the Caucus

This is a picture from my corner vantage point of my Eastlake precint's Presidential Caucus. This is the first caucus I've ever attended and it was an experience not to be forgotten.

I tried to gather information on the caucus before I arrived, only to find very spotty information. There was, however, a short video about the process showing some kindly citizens, maybe ten total, sitting in a library and having a nice informal chat.

When I arrived at the caucus location, there was a lineup of about 150 people. Of course, those were just the people outside the building waiting to get in. Inside, you could have easily multiplied that number by five. At least. The room pictured above is where I was guided. This picture was taken a few minutes before three entire precincts were moved out of the room because there just wasn't enough space for this kind of turnout!

Just before we were ushered outside in to the forty degree weather, we all signed in and chose a preferred candidate. A tally was taken and read to the group. In my precinct of 58 people, the original tally turned out to be 48 for Barack Obama, 7 for Hillary Clinton, and 3 undecideds. They then allowed time for two short speeches, one from each side of the candidates, in an attempt to sway not only the undecideds, but also anybody committed who wanted to change their opinion. After the speeches, which were disjointed and haphazard, but personal and from the heart, the three undecideds changed their preference and the final tally was taken. It ended up to be 49 for Obama and 9 for Clinton. This translated into 4 delegates for Obama and one for Clinton. Then, quite a bit of time was taken for choosing members of our precinct to become the delegates that would then go on to the next level.

All in all, the whole thing was an hour and a half's worth of time in which about five minutes of action took place. In that way, I think that the caucus was a perfect example of the democratic process. It was disorganized and messy, but the voices of the people were heard. How this information gets passed up and turned into results is still unclear to me, but it seems primitive and with huge possibilities of miscalculation. However, I'd prefer this method than the alternative, easily manipulated voting machines. What the caucus does is show people's true opinions in front of their neighbors who also act as witnesses to the process.

Oddly, Washington also has a primary scheduled for February 19th, which has been declared 'meaningless' (at least as far as the Presidential delegation assignment goes) as all delegates are assigned through the caucus. I don't know how the results from the other precincts went, but I know that the Eastlake neighborhoods were heavily favoring Obama. Because of what I saw, I would imagine that Obama should easily take the majority of delegates in Washington state. He spoke at Key Arena and they had to turn people away. This venue holds approximately 17,000 people, and over 3000 people had to wait outside. Luckily, Obama actually went to them, giving them a second impassioned speech. This is opposed to the 5000 people who saw Hillary speak earlier in the week.

As I stated earlier, this was my first caucus, and although it had its faults, it was an incredible experience, and a humbling display of patriotism, civic duty and responsibility. Walking to the school in which the caucus took place, it looked as if the entire neighborhood had emptied out, all trickling their way to demonstrate their determination to make this country, their community, and their government a better place and entity, and it was an awe-inspiring site to behold. I've never seen this many people at a polling place (granted, that is open all day) and I think that has a lot to do with both a disgust with the current administration and a belief that one of the two leading Democratic candidates could make a change.