1958: Willie O’Ree’s first NHL game

Posted on January 18, 2008 by Steve

The NHL’s first Black player, Willie O’Ree, made his debut for the Boston Bruins this evening fifty years ago. Obviously he’s Canadian, like the overwhelming majority of players were in the Fifties, and he participated when his team was in Quebec because the Southies would’ve lynched him between periods at the Garden. Afterwards, he went on to have a long career in various leagues with a couple scoring titles. It’s a shame he didn’t get a spot on one of the expansion teams in 1967. He had talent, he was playing with the LA Blades then and he could’ve made the California Golden Seals or LA Kings stink less.

These days Mr. O’Ree is head of some diversity program or other nonsense with the NHL because Black Americans don’t find hockey interesting. I don’t want to diminish the man’s career but the problem with hockey is that it’s considered a Canadian past time. Black Americans are Americans first like their White counterparts which means their fandom revolves around sports invented here (baseball, basketball) or ones the world doesn’t challenge us at (football). Besides, which sports people are into isn’t based upon ethnicity (what is mislabeled as “race,” including the stodgy Economist). It’s based upon geography and economics. Case in point, golf. This is a sport (really a hobby) for the affluent who live in areas with country clubs that have wide-open spaces. People residing in urban sprawls don’t have the opportunity to find a local driving range to practice hitting the green. Geography is the other factor. I live in Texas, football is the state religion and all the best athletes are funneled into it. The local high schools have hockey teams yet I doubt much talent is ever tapped by a university with an NCAA Division I program such as Wisconsin or Boston College. Houston is the fourth largest city in the US yet it only has an AHL-level franchise which can put five thousand butts in the seats on a good day. I seriously doubt having more talented players such as Mike Grier, Anson Carter or Jarome Iginla in the NHL will get more Blacks to play hockey if Mike Modano, Jeremy Roenick and Joe Mullen did little for Americans overall.

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1999: When Steve met Somara

Posted on January 18, 2008 by Steve

Can’t believe I’ve never posted over this little annual ritual-celebration! I know we always go out to dinner to mark this milestone and before we were married, I think it was mandatory. Sadly, the Chili’s off US 183 is gone, they moved to a more desirable spot off I-35 once the Owen’s failed, so we can’t return to the scene of the crime! This may also be a sign of progress in the eyes of others but to them I say, it could have been worse, Applebee’s, blech!

I’m wearing my Babs Bunny sweatshirt for the occasion because I wore it then. Why? How else would Somara know who I was in a crowded, after-hours casual dining restaurant? It was probably some kind of litmus test too. I don’t like anyone telling me how to dress. I will accept pointers (Ethan and Jose have good instincts) or advice (Sonia and Helen understand the color thing) but that’s it.

Obviously, we hit it off pretty well. I thought Somara was pretty cool despite one of her first questions being rather awkward; you will have to ask her what it was, I still find it rather weird and puzzling but I fielded it successfully thanks to Dr. Judy! Somara was also recovering from the previous jerk boyfriend of the previous year so she must have been rolling the dice big time to meet me. I on the other hand was back on the trial period with Match.com since I had paid off my car repairs; I planned on subscribing anyway. Before her, there were a couple women I actually met in person yet nothing panned out for one of us, it wasn’t always them deciding I was a frog.

What’s the plan tonight? TGIFriday’s, my nephew Nick’s favorite place. We have a coupon for an appetizer. Hopefully a side trek to Rogue’s Gallery to take in their first anniversary celebrations, they’ve got Guitar Hero happening! We need to pick up our books we like too. I think we’ll shoot for a movie over the weekend at Alamo as well. On to a decade after we hit five years of marriage in July. No more staying until the place closes with another hour in the parking lot yapping. We have a warm house and three cats to continuing getting to know each other conversing.

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Happy 38th Birthday Jeremy Roenick

Posted on January 17, 2008 by Steve

My favorite US-born player, okay, favorite player, is having a great year. The Sharks were a great move. They’re in first for the Pacific with the Ducks and Stars nipping behind them but the key thing is, this franchise will be in the playoffs with an adequate shot for the Cup unlike the Coyotes; Gretzky must be grateful that Marc “Big Boy” Crawford is having a worse time coaching the Kings. JR used to be the second-leading scorer on the team (hard to beat Joe Thornton) yet he remains respectably in the top six with over 10 minutes of ice time per game. The better milestone is his 504 goals, promoting him to being the number two American player in goals; Modano’s 519 will be harder to top. Anyway, he’s feeling really energized this season, his game is back despite the reduced role and he may shoot for one more year. Why not? Mark Recchi turns 40 February 1, he shows no signs of slowing down as the Thrashers have taken the lead in the Southeast. Heck, Chris Chelios is 45! Look at the season the Red Wings are having, they’re clearly ahead of everybody, finally experiencing their 10th loss several days ago. JR can take some encouragement to press on to close the gap with Modano and/or walk away with his name on the Stanley Cup.

We’re now past the half-way point in the NHL. This month will either make or break the Flyers’ current roster. They’ve weathered the injuries pretty well, especially when Scott Hartnell stepped up his game while Lupul recovered. It’s going to be tough too. All five teams in the Atlantic are within several points of each other so the Rangers could easily jump from last to first in a week. I’m glad GM Holmgren took a stance against Steve Downie’s cheap shot on Jason Blake of the Leafs. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the Flyers need to deal this guy away, he was trouble in juniors, he’s trouble now and he’ll be nothing but trouble in the future. I don’t mind the Flyers being tough. I will not stand for poor sportsmanship, especially when much of it is exaggerated by the whiners on ESPN.

This week was a bummer though. I was all excited about seeing my first UT hockey game of the year because UW-M (Wisconsin at Milwaukee) was coming all the way to Austin to play. After fighting through an hour of traffic (normally 25 minutes) thanks to an accident on I-35 and Parmer, I arrive only to be told UW-M cancelled a while back. This will make my attendance at this weekend’s Icebats game to break-in our new digital camera even more special. No new rumors about the team folding and/or an AHL franchise taking their place in Cedar Park.

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The future of portables and my iPod

Posted on January 16, 2008 by Steve

MacWorld’s announcements yesterday were interesting as always. Nothing earth-shattering like the iPhone but still some pretty cool stuff. The new MacBook Air may be expensive yet it’s the first step of what the future will probably be like on the storage. My guess is that type of “drive” will be the standard in a few years.

The cooler part was the upgrade to the iPod Touch. I received an iTunes gift card for Christmas from a friend so I think I’ll use it to get the modification. It will be sweet to now see the weather, traffic and my e-mail on it more easily. I think I’ll gain better proficiency typing with my thumbs through the Notes application too.

I’m seriously considering the Apple TV in the near future. We are nearing the one-year mark on turning off our Dish (May I think) to save money since cable-satellite subscriptions keep rising every year. No progress on the a la carte plan being considered by the government; the only good thing FCC Chairman Martin has ever backed. I think this will work better for rentals in our household. About every other movie we’ve borrowed from Blockbuster and Hollywood was horribly scuffed, giving our DVD player fits. I know it’s not the machine’s age because the discs we own operate without a hitch.

So 2008 looks pretty good for Apple. It doesn’t matter what the pundits or Wall Street think. They’ve been wrong for at least a decade while Apple’s market share is now getting closer to the ten percent mark.

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Happy (belated) 60th Birthday T-Bone Burnett

Posted on January 15, 2008 by Steve

I know it was his birthday yesterday but he’s finally getting his well-deserved recognition thanks to that Robert Plant-Allison Krauss CD and I wanted write something last night; I just fell asleep early thanks to Somara’s awesome pancakes.

T-Bone came to my attention in college 20 years ago when his solo album The Talking Animals appeared. Most of the student DJs liked playing “Dance, Dance, Dance” because it was a short song—they preferred those since it gave them more time to play the same crap most would play every week on WMUR (long story for another day). The music director let me borrow the whole record since I read about his past production work in magazines or I recognized his name on the liner notes of other albums; what fun research was before the Internet became pervasive. Anyway, Animals was pretty clever yet he’s an acquired taste which is the same way to describe his last two releases The Criminal Under my Own Hat and The True False Identity. His real talent is producing others: Los Lobos, the Bodeans, Elvis Costello, Brandi Carlile, Counting Crows, Marshall Crenshaw, Natalie Merchant, Emmylou Harris, Roy Orbison and his ex-wife (they were married when she started), Sam Phillips. The more unusual acts on his resume are Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Spinal Tap. Finally, T-Bone has the distinct honor of appearing on The Larry Sanders Show, literally rushing in at the last minute to perform when Janet Jackson was a bust.

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The Lives of Others

Posted on January 14, 2008 by Steve

thelivesofothers

Thanks to the backlog created by getting sick, the holidays and my general apathy, I have made a promise to myself that I can’t rent any new movies until I finish posting the last three I saw. I also felt I should complete them before I get past the two-month mark, as my memory will fade. However, if you find these reviews worthless, you can say so in the Comments, otherwise silence ends up being “compliance.”

The previous paragraph now dovetails excellently into the movie’s subject matter, life in a police state and the people who do the dirty work to make it possible. Sadly, the key actor Ulrich Muhe died from stomach cancer last year, depriving him of all fame he could’ve gained in the English-speaking world for his performance. Muhe grew up in the oppressive nation and was spied upon more than the average German due to his profession. I think it made him quite attuned to the Staatssicherheit’s behavior. NPR’s Fresh Air got me interested in seeing this rather emotional, touching story when Gross interviewed the director Henckel von Donnersmarck. During the height of East Germany’s existence, the secret police employed almost 300,000 operatives to cover a population of 17 million, giving it the highest ratio of secret police-to-citizen in the Soviet Bloc. Doesn’t sound like much but to give you a better illustration, New York City has half the population and there are only 100,000 police officers to enforce the law. Thus, the legends of the Staatssicherheit being “everywhere” were pretty close to true.

Lives begins in the mid-Eighties with Captain Wiesler (Muhe) teaching an interrogation class. He’s a no-nonsense, by-the-book, inflexible hard-ass. Then his old classmate and Commander Grubitz invites him to see a play by Georg Dreyman (Koch from Black Book), a very pro-regime writer with friends in high places; this protects him for associating with other artists on the subversives list. Turns out Grubitz needs someone he implicitly trusts to monitor Dreyman and find just enough dirt on the intellectual to remove the protection of the powerful friends. Wiesler agrees to the assignment and cases Dreyman. At the first opportunity, Wiesler’s team enters Dreyman’s apartment and plants listening devices throughout with another demonstration of thoroughness, intimidation and efficiency after a neighbor is caught witnessing the handiwork. The spying then begins in earnest through a special room on the top floor giving total access to Dreyman’s phone, doorbell and entrance. What Grubitz didn’t count on was Wiesler’s detective skills: Dreyman is a high-priority surveillance case because his girlfriend, popular actress Christa-Maria Sieland, is in a love triangle with Minister Hempf (the equivalent of a cabinet member in the US government). Using State operatives and equipment to remove a romantic rival is against the ideals of the Party according to Wiesler. Confronted on this point, Grubitz tells him to see the silver lining: a grateful minister will promote both of them to better positions. Otherwise, obey these orders or else. Disillusioned, Wiesler faithfully carries out his duties for the next few weeks, while growing sympathetic to Dreyman until he can no longer be impartial and it alters his perspective on the regime.

Any further descriptions would spoil it. I will write this though. The bulk of the movie stays anchored in the mid-Eighties and when you think it’s over with the news of Gorbachev’s ascendency, it continues. First you see the characters reacting to the events of 1989 and then it concludes with their lives in the Nineties under a unified Germany.

Lives is pretty heavy. Definitely not a date flick, a diversion or a popcorn movie (what educated people call “terrible”). Yet it is the kind of movie I do like. Something thought provoking. Something to drum up a conversation, debate or argument about afterwards. I remembered the heated discussion at TGIFridays after seeing The Matrix or arguing on how Hollywood Shuffle really ended. I readily admit that Lives has formulaic elements but it triumphs in the execution of the acting; or I just can’t tell if someone is terrible in German.

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I’m ready for my closeup Mr. DeMeow

Posted on January 12, 2008 by Steve

Somara tested out the video-recording element of our new camera on Nemo. Just like a child, the cat decided to hold still and do nothing amusing while “filming.”

But it’s Caturday, so click on the picture to see him doing what he’s very skilled at, doing nothing.

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1908: Grand Canyon made a national monument by TR

Posted on January 11, 2008 by Steve

I’ve been to the Grand Canyon too, well the southern end of it. It’s magnificent. Even better looking than it appeared on the two-part story of The Brady Bunch but the camera does add 10 square miles.

Recently, a glass bridge, that allows you to get a better, frightening view, has opened. Pass. Especially after this story about a near miss with Air Canada yesterday. Oddly this story didn’t make the news thanks to the circus we call the American election system.

Thanks Teddy (Roosevelt)! If it weren’t for him, I think the place would’ve been exploited as a national landfill.

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Our new digital camera

Posted on January 11, 2008 by Steve

Put it down and eat your dinner Steve!

The Duran Duran concert was the final straw for me with my Olympus digital camera, a discontinued model. Since Tim Finn is coming in February to play at the Cactus Cafe, I decided that it was time to replace it because I’ll only get one chance before he retires (he’s 58 this year). Somara’s more impressive model is starting to give out too so after a quick budget review, we went shopping inspired by the sale at Fry’s. We went with Best Buy instead. It’s closer to our house and a very helpful guy named Dirk did a great job fielding Somara’s questions (she’s the brains on photography). Sorry Fry’s, your prices are great but your staff is elusive, the cameras are unusable for testing and the store in Austin feels super cluttered.

Oh, I guess it's payback with a mouth full of pastrami.

With some initial research on Somara’s part, Dirk’s assitance and my willingness, we now share a Canon PowerShot SD750 Digital Elph, phew! I wanted something idiot-proof. Dirk said this is idiot-resistant which is equally effective. Somara and I tried out a few shots with the trickle charge in the battery and the puny 32 MB SD card. I think these came out pretty well. My old camera would’ve made them look rather cloudy and don’t get me started on the digital zoom.

Be ready for much better photos and short movies on Picayue this year!

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Happy Ninth Anniversary to the Rheas

Posted on January 10, 2008 by Steve

According to Wikipedia (which is decent for opinion and trivial facts), the modern gift for them is leather. Last time I checked, they don’t ride motorcycles and in my many conversations with Lee when he lived in Austin, he isn’t keen on them; I wanted to buy one instead of a car, he had a list reasons of why I shouldn’t. He won on the groceries argument.

The “original” gift was pottery. Not very practical in the age of Tuperware so I propose a surrogate…a gift card or certificate for Pottery Barn! It’s cheaper than Wilson’s which is where I bought my biker jacket. It will also keep them from being attacked by militant animal rights operatives.

Congratulations to them! May 2008 be prosperous, upbeat and favorable. I know Somara and I hope to see Masami and Lee in person very soon, possibly Las Vegas. If you know them, drop them an e-mail or phone call. I’m confident they’d love to hear from you.

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Dr. Phil Plait

Posted on January 9, 2008 by Steve

Phil (he doesn't like being called Dr. Plait) was here in Austin for an astronomy convention. He liked my Bowie shirt which I wore for the rock star's birthday and musical space themes.

Most of you may think this entry is a stretch for my Brushes with Greatness category, but Dr. Phil Plait is famous to me: he has a popular web site, he wrote an impressive book (another due later this year), he is a guest on podcasts and he is part of my intellectual arsenal against all the Flat Earthers, Global-Warming Deniers and Creationists living in Texas.

This week, there’s an Astronomy convention with experts from all over the world converging on Austin. I read how he’d be here on his site and with that asteroid coming dangerously close to Earth, I’d better hurry. He invited everyone to come to the Iron Cactus Downtown to meet him, Pamela & Fraser of Astronomy Cast and other visiting scientists. The restaurant’s hostess was confused when we arrived but when the party’s coordinator appeared, we were allowed upstairs to join the festivities. The view from the roof of the Iron Cactus over Sixth Street was sweet. Only part of the deck was covered without a cloud last night giving everybody a decent view of the sky. Good thing we were surrounded by people who instantly knew which star (or planet) was which up there.

Phil was great to talk to. He was very engaging and laughs about his “celebrity” status. He gladly signed my book, it’s personalized to me! Somara told him she found it at a Discovery Store which made Phil pretty happy because the only place to normally find Bad Astronomy is through Amazon. Thanks to him, I’m now getting started on catching up on the Astronomy Cast podcast run by his friends Pamela & Fraser, both very friendly scientists. I highly recommend both and emphasize the book if you can get it. Sorry, mine’s autographed so I won’t loan it out anymore.

Jan. 10, 2008: D’oh! When I was showing off my autographed book I realized that I’ve been spelling Phil’s last name with an additional ‘t’ at the end. I’m sure it’s because my mind was stuck in all those silent letters in French since it is pronounced like ‘lait’ (milk), what harm could an additional silent ‘t’ do?

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Happy Birthday Mary

Posted on January 8, 2008 by Steve

In the past I have rudely forgotten that Mary’s birthday is the same as Elvis (73) and David Bowie (61). I remembered this year because it was staring me in the face on my Now Up2Date program. It also helps we’ve been in communication again due to the upcoming Tim Finn show in February and I helped get her iPod working with the Barbie iMac I sold her long ago.

Mary is a Midwesterner herself from Iowa. She moved down here with her family before the population explosion of the Nineties. I ran into Mary and her daughter Jessica at the Neil Finn show in 1998, shortly after I returned to Austin. We all yakked and then met up again when Neil returned later that year; Austin was one of the 12 lucky cities he revisited for a special acoustic tour. Mary is dedicated fan of the whole Split Enz-Crowded House-Finn Brothers. My fandom is more academic I guess since I’m also nuts over a dozen other acts, yet I agree with how Neil’s lyrics have a place in my life, probably a form of apophenia.

If you know Mary, drop her a line. If you see her in public, buy her a drink or some iTunes to go with that impressive iPod Nano.

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A theme some of my friends will hate me for

Posted on January 7, 2008 by Steve

Finally! My original plan to do something involving Converse had to be shelved. Heck, even they didn’t have anything new on their own site until a couple days ago. Nice to see a Fortune 500 company (division of Nike since 2003) struggle to be on time.

Then I caught some of the NFL wild-card games this weekend and decided to throw my support behind Green Bay. Da Packers? Yes, the team the Sports Media hates the most and at the risk of probably being arrested in Texas for not swearing my oath of fealty to the Cowboys, aka “America’s Team.” Normally, I’m pretty neutral with the NFL unless there’s a team from an egregious part of the country involved *cough!* Indianapolis, or it has a player who’s a big idiotic jerk (take your pick). I do admit to being impressed with New England’s perfect season, the first since Miami in the Seventies. I only take issue with it being Boston, there’s no city called New England. The Boston fans are a mean-spirited, unsportsmanlike bunch on par with Philly, New York and Chicago. They’re more famous for having a distinct, obnoxious accent. It’s no wonder why their neighbors call them Massholes.

Meanwhile, I am showing my support of the Packers for several reasons. They’re the best chance the NFC (Midwest) North has at winning a title: Minnesota always blows it (tied with Buffalo for most Super Bowl appearances without winning), Chicago lost badly last year and I’ll have my friend Brian explain Detroit’s issues. Then there’s Brett Favre. He beat Dan Marino and John Elway’s records this year. It would be nice to see him retire on a high note. Plus any athlete willing to show up at the end of There’s Something About Mary to help an ongoing joke is cool. Finally, anything to turn the screws on the National Sports Media because I stated earlier how they dislike Green Bay. When I worked at the Milwaukee Sentinel, the Packer beat reporter explained this attitude to me. Admittedly, Green Bay, WI is out of the way, the weather stinks and it’s not a very cosmopolitan place. It’s the smallest professional sports market in the US. There’s very little to do compared to the major cities and it doesn’t have the amenities TV celebrities like to make their time in Flyover Country bearable. The final insult to them is that the team is owned by its fans with a rule stating nobody can own more than 200,000 shares (out of 4.7 million outstanding shares). Thus, no multimillionaire looking for a tax shelter can acquire the team and move it to a larger market the National Media would prefer.

Who knows though. Maybe I’ll end up changing the colors to match Dallas, a theme I’ve never tried, because the Packers could get knocked out by Seattle this weekend. I just know I won’t root for the AFC teams.

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Sheriff Roscoe fails to make a timely right turn again

Posted on January 6, 2008 by Steve

Well…seems the same idiot who did this last year has struck again. Somara has no recollection if she saw it yesterday when she came home. It was dark when I completed my errands so I couldn’t have. I also discussed it with my neighbor Cristina and she doesn’t recall any particular noise across the street.

My immediate theory is that some drunken moron went barreling along on Ora Lane, didn’t turn in time and went straight into these people’s house. Gives me great confidence in living on the end of a T-shaped intersection. The upside is the potential yahoos couldn’t pick up enough speed via the street in front of my driveway thanks to one rude jerk having six cars parked near his pad.

It’s nastier looking than the picture makes it appear. Not a great way to start 2008 yet it beats the first homicide of the year happening close by. I don’t think they ever did solve that murder of a homeless dude under the bridge.

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Atonement

Posted on January 6, 2008 by Steve

Based upon a book I’ve never heard of, this is Keira Knightley’s turn at doing something dramatic for America after being in Disney’s Pirates franchise, Domino and King Arthur. Men and WNBA stars hoping to see her naked will be disappointed, the R rating is for the subject matter.

In the Summer of 1935, life is pretty good for the wealthy, aristocratic Tallis family. Despite the heat, the looming Hitler menace and an aunt’s ugly, public divorce (she ran off with a radio personality), it’s good to be in the English countryside, away from it all. The youngest daughter Briony spends her time writing plays, logging in her journal and being a rather high-strung, staid child (pain in the ass). Even when she walks around the manor, Briony makes 90-degree turns around corners with something under her arm like she were delivering top-secret plans to MI5. This creative writing talent coupled with being only 13 gives her an air of being melodramatic and prone to misunderstanding the context of what she sees.

So when Briony witnesses a rather awkward exchange between her older sister Cecilia (Knightley) and the groundskeeper Robbie (McAvoy) by the fountain, her immature mind fills in the gaps. Robbie’s “first draft” of a written apology to Cecilia only heightens Briony’s paranoia because Robbie makes the error of asking Briony to deliver it. Instead, she reads it before turning it over to Cecilia. This leads to Robbie being in an uncomfortable situation: he’s counting on Mr. Tallis loaning him the money to attend medical school; his mother is also a servant for the Tallis family (she could be dismissed) and he was invited to the dinner party the Tallises are having to celebrate the return of the oldest son Leon and his friend Paul. Fortunately, Cecilia confronts Robbie first. Words fly, the incident is forgiven as they confess their love for each other, only to have Briony inopportunely walk in on their reciprocation.

I won’t go on about the story there any further since it would be a spoiler but the movie jumps forward a few years to WWII. Robbie is trapped in France with thousands of other soldiers during the disastrous evacuation at Dunkirk. Cecilia is a nurse working in London. Briony is a nurse in-training. The themes of Atonement then shift to regret, forgiveness, determination and the truth being subjective.

Atonement is a difficult story to tell in any medium. The audience witnesses events first as Briony followed by a sudden “rewind” in time to watch the same things repeat with Cecilia and Robbie. The first instance was puzzling but subsequent usage could be anticipated. Director Joe Wright then switches to showing the WWII part of the movie in a non-linear manner which I guess is supposed to emphasize how much the lovers want to be reunited. I found it jarring. However, the ending was more insulting. It wasn’t awful or cheesy but I felt disappointed over being on the receiving end of a rope-a-dope maneuver M Night Shyamalan hasn’t pulled off since The Sixth Sense.

Worth Seeing? Despite the ending, yes. It’s a drama with one sequence TV will reduce that the theater captured, this immense scene of what a mess Dunkirk was. It reminded me of the famous scene from Gone with the Wind when the camera pans back to show the rows upon rows of wounded soldiers. Atonement does it as a long, continuous shot following Robbie around while he’s seeking someone in command. Maybe it’ll look as good on one of those new big-screen TVs.

Posted in In Theaters, Movies | Leave a comment