Guilt

We got hammered by Frankenstorm too—not like those unfortunates on the Seaboard, but we still got hit. That meant that I had some time on my hands while the wind was howling, and the rain was pounding.....Television Notes from the Rust Belt..... Youngstown, Ohio I watched the entire 13 episode run of Terra Nova on Netflix, streamed through my ROKU device into the wide screen high def TV. What a thrill, I tell you. This stinker had all the possibilities. It was a good set-up and good people were involved, but, like Lost, it suffered from lazy writing and not enough story to fill an hour a week. In other words, Fox screwed the pooch here and wasted a really good concept. Essentially, future Earth is polluted, so groups of Earthlings time travel back to prehistoric times for a fresh beginning, complete with futuristic gadgets, but with dinosaurs. How can this be anything but a blockbuster, I ask you? Seemed to have some elements of Mad Max, Lost, the X-Files, Seaqu...

So, being a fan of the San Francisco Giants, I turned on the MLB network this morning to see a little bit about the Giants winning the National League Pennant and going on to the World Series. Instead, here's what I saw and heard: Injured first baseman Lance Berkman of the St. Louis Cardinals crying that a broken bat single (by Hunter Pence of the Giants), that, incidentally, drove in 3 runs, should have been called a dead ball. And then having the normally reasonable Harold Reynolds of the show agreeing. I get it that San Francisco isn't very close to New York, and that according to the MLB network New York is the center of the known universe. I GET IT. So, here's my suggested solution: Take away the three runs that Pence drove in. That will leave the Giants with a paltry 6 runs. Then they will have won the deciding 7 th game of the League Championship Series over the Cardinals by 6 to nothing instead of 9 to nothing. Wait.....did he say “NOTHI...

Felix Baumgartner is a daredevil sort. Or so I have been told. He most recently made news by jumping out of a balloon that was 24 miles up in the air, parachuting to Earth from that lofty height. All on behalf of Red Bull. Be still my beating heart. Felix was born in 1969 in Austria. And, while it's true that at that time I was a Sergeant in the Military Police in West Germany, I deny paternity. If allegations are made, I'll demand the well-known Maury Povich DNA test which will clear my name, once and for all. I found out about Felix and his dare-devilshness by watching, of all things, The Weather Channel this morning. Seems that the Today show had interviewed Felix regarding his exploits, and The Weather Channel (TWC) re-played that interview in full. What it had to do with the weather is beyond me. In addition, TWC reported that on tomorrow's morning show, Al Roker will personally interview Felix for TWC. Someone..........Anyone..........

The San Francisco Giants (my team, in case you were wondering) are still in it. They play at home tonight against the Cards, a worthwhile opponent. The Giants are hanging on by their fingernails, needing two consecutive victories to advance to the World Series. I have to work tonight, so I'll try to not find out the outcome, and watch the game on MLB.TV when I get home. It's an amazing age we live in—I can watch the game as if it were live, complete with commercial breaks—after the fact. An amazing age, I tell you. So, what with Buster Posey winning the batting title, and being named the National League Comeback Player of the Year, I started wondering whatever became of Scott Cousins..........You remember him, Dontcha? Cheap shot last year at home plate that cost Posey (and, by extension, the Giants) their year. It's been pretty well documented by baseball pundits that the collision was within the rules, but not necessary. That's cute. Legal but unnece...

Youngstown, Ohio It's getting on towards winter here, and that means colder weather, and that means more indoor time, and that means.....Movie Notes from the Rust Belt. Today's feature, courtesy of Netflix streamed through my ROKU box into my wide screen high def TV is The Big Combo from 1955. Why did I watch The Big Combo you ask? Simple. I thought it might be about a really large order of fries with a double burger, or maybe a story about a four piece band that adds a saxophone player, making it, well, a really big combo. Nope, this is a film noir of the era. Not bad, either. Plenty of story here, what with good guys and bad guys, blond women and brunettes, plenty of gun play and witty repartee.   Hungarian native Cornel Wilde plays the hero, Police Lt. Diamond. Cornel came to the United States with his family when he was 8 years old, and was a champion fencer, gaining a spot on the U.S. Olympic team in 1936, but turned it down to be in a play—He w...

Movie Notes from the Rust Belt..... Youngstown, Ohio It's Friday, it's my day off, and it's REALLY cold. There's a fire in the fireplace, there's a dog sleeping by the fire, and I have time on my hands. This can only mean one thing. And I apologize in advance. Today's movie, courtesy of Netflix streamed through my ROKU box into my wide screen high definition Tee-Vee is 1998's Tactical Assault. A “made for video” thing. Also, a “made in Hungary” thing. No good can come from this. Absolutely no story to get in the way of the plot here. Crazy fighter pilot tries to shoot down civilian aircraft in, well, some war....maybe Gulf I, maybe, Bosnia, hell, maybe Vietnam. It's impossible to tell by the stock fighter aircraft video they used, that's fer-sure. His not crazy wing man shoots him down, but doesn't kill him in the process. Later, the insane one is rehabilitated and returned to duty and seeks revenge on the not crazy on...

Movie Notes from the Rust Belt..... Youngstown, Ohio In my normal fashion, I was cruising through the Netflix catalog of movies, and found, to my delight, that 1984 hit, Tank. No, not Tank Girl (a story for another day), but Tank. Not Tanks For The Memories, but Tank. Plenty of story here—Georgia cracker corrupt bully deputy sheriff shoves around war hero family man Army Master Sergeant. Cracker pays the price, mostly because the heroic MSG also happens to own a restored Sherman tank. Note to self—prior to shoving ANYONE around, make certain they don't own a tank. There are plot lines about saving a young prostitute, and about a dead son, and about the Army MSG's wife confronting the governor of Tennessee, and where a batch of Georgia bikers come to the MSG's rescue—See what I mean? Way too much story here. Good guys win. Cracker (and his Uber cracker boss) end up in a mud pit. Turns out that the prostitute has a heart of gold. We got, a...

Movie Notes from the Rust Belt..... Youngstown, Ohio It's baseball playoff time, and I'm a Giants fan. The Giants are in the process of making a cameo appearance in the National League Division Series, and I'm dedicated to watching the disaster, but, well, today's a day off for them. So after work tonight, I fired up the Netflix account streamed more than adequately through my ROKU box and found that 1983 Christmas-time blockbuster, D.C. Cab. More story than you usually get in one of these movies. Youngster from Georgia arrives in the national capital to fulfill his lifetime dream—becoming a Hack in the District of Columbia working for his dead dad's Vietnam buddy who owns the worst cab company in D.C.--D.C. Cab. Youngster makes the miscreants who work at the cab company get pride in their work by getting kidnapped. Kidnappers get foiled, youngster gets his girl, cab company gets resurrected, good guys win, credits roll. We get all of the ...