Observations on Sports 9.28

With the frightening 8 game losing streak behind them the Phillies regular season comes to a close tonight. Hopefully it will end with a win and a series sweep of the Atlanta Braves. With a win the Phillies will finish the 2011 season with 102 wins and break the record for most wins in a season currently held by the 1976 and 1977 Phillies. A win will also move Charlie Manuel ahead of Gene Mauch as the winningest manager in club history with 646 wins. If they win I can get back to arguing with my dad about which Phils team truly is the best ever.


link
September is almost over.

9.29 update - The Phillies won in 14 innings last night and with the win became the winningest Phils team in history and Charlie Manuel has now won more games than any other Phillies manager. "This has been exciting, this has been good," Charlie said after the game. "It has been a good trip, but at the same time we haven't finished the journey. We have a little ways to go yet. That's the way I look at it." As a bonus the Boston Red Sox lost to finish the greatest September swoon in MLB history wiping away the 1961 Phils collapse in the process.

Today I learned something that I honestly didn't believe at first, since 1969 no NL team has been in more World Series than the Phillies. How is that possible?

The Phillies win over the Braves, combined with a St. Louis win over Houston, eleminated Atlanta from the playoffs and clinched a spot for St' Louis. The Phillies will face the St. Louis Cardinals in the Divisional Round beginning Saturday at 5PM.

Observations on Sports 9.24

The Phillies lost to the Mets tonight in the second game of a doubleheader, they lost the first game too, and the six before that. Eight losses in a row. The Phillies haven't lost 8 in a row since September of 2000. according to Elias Sports the losing streak is the longest in major-league history by a team that had already won 98 games. It is also the longest losing streak by a team that has clinched a playoff spot.

After his awesome game was wasted earlier today Cole Hamels said “I know the pitchers and we're ready to go. We're gonna go out there and t try to throw nine-inning shutouts. I know it's not possible, but that's our plan, so everybody just needs to get on board."

Today the Phillies played 18 innings and scored only three earned runs. They have scored three or less runs in 14 of their last 16 games.

If they lose to the Mets Sunday with Roy Halladay on the mound all bets are off. Than again the Mets have already beaten Cole Hamels this weekend so in all honesty I won't be surprised if they lose again. They now need to win all their remaining games to set a new Phillies record for wins, something they could have done a week ago.

The baseball gods do indeed taunt me now.

Observations from the Window 9.23

For my own reasons I did something rather extraordinary yesterday. To clear my head and do some thinking I completely shutdown the 'empire' for the day. For the most part I stayed away from flickr, tumblr, twitter, and everything else. I left my comp at home, ignored most of my email, and let the lights flash on my Droid until they gave up and stopped. A very introspective day that probably cleared up nothing at all but solidified a description. An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in mystery. As of now it seems the world has done just fine without me.

I woke up to this horoscope today and realized I may have just possibly picked the wrong day for reflection.

“The melodramatic Leo Moon joins feisty Mars in your 1st House of Personality, encouraging you to let others know exactly how you feel. But you could come on too strong if you forget to consider their opinions, too. Slow down and think about what you're going to do instead of just doing it. Adding a short time delay to your responses will improve your chances of making the best decision the first time around.”

Damnit.

A Phillies update from the dubious record at best category. The Phillies became the first team to lose six in a row after winning their 98th game since the 1904 Giants. My dad will be laughing like hell when he hears that one.

The gods of baseball taunt me now.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie
(tune!)

Observations from the Window 9.20

I always carry a real paper tablet in my backpack because I like to scribble, doodle, and sometimes just plain scratch. I also have a terrible short term memory so I write myself notes telling what I should but won't do. Somebody actually asked me today why I always have one, well it's to save these momentous thoughts. I did do a little editing and added some explanation so they make some sort of sense.

I love waking up and seeing Mika Brzezinski on my TV but lately Joe Scarborough has been pissing me off so I tend to turn the sound off until somebody is on I want to hear. She used to have competition over at CNN but I forget her name but there still is Stephanie Abrams on The Weather Channel.

Best tumblr titles I saw today, "Love Ends Hope Dies" and "Shit You Need To Know." In saying 'today' I'm saying I look at too damn many tumblrs. I wonder what happens when somebody reblogs a photo I already deleted? I wonder because that happened today. And why do so many tumblr blogs disappear the day after I find them? I'm getting a complex.

Sanity is relative but insanity, well, the jury is out on that.

Blog ideas.

List of food I should buy tonight but won't. I never seem to have food in the apartment, coffee and alcohol but no food. What's up with that? I drink way too much coffee, DP, and beer and nowhere near enough of that watery thing.

I sketch my own tat designs that I want to get and know I never will because I have a thing for needles, which also means I can't sew or knit worth a damn. Not that I ever really wanted to do either. I have absolutely no fingernails left, where have you gone my long black shiny nails? I miss you.

Mary is just hot, straight as the proverbial arrow but so effing hot.*scribbles this line out quick before anybody sees it.

Notes to call my sis, dad, Ash, and the paint free sample salesman guy sometime today. New paints are sweet but the dark shades seem a bit dull. I have to so get around to finishing a couple of art posts I was doing for somebody. Call Karson and see if she had enough shots, she would prob call me but it doesn't hurt to follow up. Talk to Ash at dinner about her internet art idea.

The whole Troy Davis thing make s me want to hurl. Seriously a former FBI Director, and President Reagan's no less, pleads for his release and the good ole boys of Georgia shrug and get out the needle. Pathetic.

Why do the Phillies just suck all of a sudden? Yeah I know the games don't matter at all but still. Wouldn't it be awesome to have Charlie Manuel as a granddad?

Chinese, Mexican, or burgers?

And this goes on every day.

Moby - New York New York

The End

Text of the memo ending "Don't Ask Don't Tell" in the U.S. Army. DADT ends throughout the military at one minute after midnight tonight, or 00:01 AM, 9.20.2011.

"Today marks the end of "Don't Ask Don't Tell." The law is repealed. From this day forward, gay and lesbian Soldiers may serve in our Army with the dignity and respect they deserve. Our rules, regulations, and policies reflect the repeal guidance issued by the Department of Defense and will apply uniformly without regard to sexual orientation, which is a personal and private matter.

For over 236 years, the U.S. Army has been an extraordinary force for good in the world. Our Soldiers are the most agile, adaptable, and capable in history and we are ready for this change.

Over the last several months our Leaders, Soldiers, and Department of the Army Civilians have discussed, trained, and prepared for this day. The President, Secretary of Defense, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs have certified that the repeal is consistent with military readiness, effectiveness, unit cohesion, and recruiting and retention. Your professionalism, leaderships, and respect for your fellow Soldiers will ensure that this effort is successful.

At the heart of our success is adherence to the Army Values. The standards not only infuse every facet of our culture and operations, but also guide us as we adapt to change. Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage are not mere words - they are the very principles by which we live, train, and fight.

Accordingly, we expect all personnel to follow our Values by implementing the repeal fully, fairly, and in accordance with policy guidance. It is the duty of all personnel to treat each other with dignity and respect while maintaining good order and discipline throughout our ranks. Doing so will help the U.S. Army remain the Strength of the Nation."

It was signed by Sergeant Major of the Army Raymond F. Chandler III, United States Army Chief of Staff General Raymond T. Odierno, and Secretary of the Army John M. McHugh.

Observations 9.19

Circumstance is a movie I first read about when it won the Audience Award at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. I had never actually seen any of it until I ran into this trailer today.

Four years ago during a speech at Columbia University Iranian President President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated that there were no gays in Iran. Seems he was wrong. Circumstance is the story of a forbidden lesbian romance in Iran and was made by a bi-sexual Iranian director Maryam Keshavarz. The leading roles are played by Iranian actresses Sarah Kazemy and Nikohl Boosheri. For safety reasons Circumstance was filmed in Lebanon but even there the local authorities weren't told the film's subject matter.

In Iran homosexuality is punishable by death.

YouTube Link

Observations on Sports 9.18

I've been wanting to write a stand alone post about my Phillies but never seem to get around to it so I'm sitting at the bar and I'm going to do it right now. I just started watching them play St. Louis and with a win they will lock up their 5th straight National League Eastern Division title.* One more win after that and they can clinch home field throughout the playoffs and with currently 97 wins the Phillies team record of 101 wins should easily fall before the end of the season.

A look at current stats shows an offensive monster. Ryan Howard leads all of baseball with 113 RBIs while in the National League Hunter Pence is in the top 10 in hits, doubles, and batting average, Shane Victorino is 2nd in triples, Ryan Howard is 3rd in home-runs, and Jimmy Rollins is in the top 10 in stolen bases.

But it is the starting pitching, which leads baseball with a 3.00 team era, that fuels the Phillies machine. The Phils' five headed monster starting rotation is made up of Roy Halladay (18-5), Cliff Lee (16-7 including 6 complete game shutouts), Cole Hamels (14-8), rookie Vance Worley (11-2), and Roy Oswalt (7-9). Halladay and Lee are both front runners for the National League Cy Young award with each one having pitched over 200 innings and each having over 200 strikeouts.

So why all the stats? Because I have been having a running argument with my dad for weeks now. If it wins the World Series, a big if, is this the best Phillies team ever?

I don't think my dad will ever yield in his belief that the team of the late '70s is still a better team. That team won the Phillies only other World Series Championship in 1980 and included two future Hall of Fame members in Mike Schmidt and Steve Carlton and one should be member of the hall in Pete Rose. The team also included Greg Luzinski, Larry Bowa, and pitcher Tug McGraw, a man I know better as the father of country music singer Tim McGraw. The 1980 team led the league in almost every offensive category and had the league MVP in Schmidt and Cy Young winner in Carlton.

My argument is that if they should win the World Series in the last five years this Phillies team will have won 5 division titles, 3 National League pennants, and 2 World Series Championships. How can I not be right?

I guess I won't go looking for a job as a sports writer any time soon.

*The Phillies won the game 9-2 and with it their 5th consecutive division title. The game included a 6 run 8th inning highlighted by a 2 out grand slam by Raul Ibanez. Hunter Pence makes his first trip to the post season after being drowned in champagne. Total awesomeness.

Observations from the Window 9.16

After that last post I figured this blog needed a little comedy releif. Stephen Colbert asks Al Gore if he will endorse former Democrat Rick Perry for President as Perry endorsed Gore in 1988. He also challenges him to choose between Galileo or Global Warming. I'm a big fan of both Colbert and Gore so I totally enjoyed this.

Link

Phillies update - After beating the Florida Marlins twice yesterday the Phillies record stands at 97 wins and 51 losses. Their magic number to clinch the National League East is to and they can lock it up later today with a win over St. Louis and an Atlanta loss to the hated Mets. I guess I actually have to cheer for a New York team tonight. Also the Phils magic number for home field throughout the playoffs is 3.

Observations on Politics 9.15

A quick look inside the Tea Party's America.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said “When you look at people in the bottom 5th of the economic ladder — those at the bottom — only 5 percent are there after 16 years. People move up, the American dream does exist…The rich are getting richer, but the poor are getting richer even faster.” Maybe only 5 percent are still there because the other 95 percent died off.

At Republican Presidential debate Monday night people actually cheered the idea of letting people die because they don't have health insurance. This after executions in Texas got a standing ovation at the first GOP debate. In 2007, the last year I could find the data for, 52 people were executed in the United States. That's enough to put us 5th in the world behind only China, Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. Good company all.

After Hurricane Irene House Majority Leader Eric Cantor announced “The House has passed $1 billion in disaster relief funds that is fully offset, which we will look to move as quickly as possible.” Where do the offsetting cuts come from? It slashes founding to train and equip first responders by 40 percent. The Homeland Security Appropriations bill now contains just $2 billion for first responders in the US while the House defense appropriations bill provides $12.8 billion to train and equip troops and police in Afghanistan.

ThinkProgress used data from the CIA to chart how income income inequality in the United States is greater than in the Ivory Coast, Pakistan, or Ethiopia. We seem to be on the level of Uganda. In education the United States ranks 33rd in reading, 27th in math, and 22nd in science worldwide.

“We humans have the brains and the means to reach real planetary sustainability. The problem is with us and our focus on short-term growth and profits, which is likely to cause suffering on a vast scale. With foresight and thoughtful planning, this suffering is completely avoidable.” Jeremy Grantham, the so called Wall Street environmentalist, in the August 14th issue of The New York Times Magazine.

In Republican controlled Pennsylvania a GOP plan would change the way electoral votes are allocated in presidential elections and there is no legal way to stop it. Instead of winner take all it would give each congressional district its own vote and due to redistricting guess which party controls the most districts. A candidate could easily win the state's popular vote yet lose the electoral vote. Seems your vote counts less every day.

'Legally' speaking more and more the Republican party operates less like the party that gave us Abraham Lincoln and more like the one that gave us Adolf Hitler.

What the hell is going on in this country ?

update - I really hate that Hitler analogy but all the voting rule crap just reminds me of the NSDAP (ok, Nazi) rise to power in Germany. All perfectly legal and all perfectly immoral.

Memories

On the morning of September 11, 2001 I was on my way to a class at Penn State when I first heard news of the attack. I heard a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center and I just naturally thought it has to have been a small prop plane. When I heard the first tower had fallen I didn't believe it, it wasn't possible. I had been there so many times, stood on the top, looked out over the world, and I just couldn't believe bringing it down was humanly possible. I never got to class but sat in the HUB for hours watching the news with hundreds of other students and teachers, for the most part all silent, stunned. Finally I just wandered off to the hockey complex.

I never played field hockey in college but this was my sophomore year and I still helped out with the team because it was a way to keep a stick in my hand and get a good workout. All the days activities had been canceled but the team still seemed to gravitate to Bigler Field as if we we had no where else to go or just belonged there. We sat on the field talking some but mostly thinking and here is where I noticed something that, other than the news itself, is my main memory of the day. It was just a stunningly beautiful day in the mountains. Cool early fall air, a cloudless blue sky, and not a sound to be heard because of the grounding of any aircraft. It was just gorgeous and didn't seem fair, there is no way it should have been such a beautiful day.

A month later in October a friend and I drove up to New York because I wanted to see it myself. As I have a habit of doing I snuck around some barricades and wandered around the area taking photos until I was caught by the National Guard and escorted out. I will never, ever, forget the things I saw that day. I've tried writing about it a few times but words just can't describe what I saw, smelled, or how I felt. I took hundreds of photos while I was there but pretty much have kept them to myself ever since. I decided I wanted to show some as my little memorial to that day and those that died. I picked out some of my favorites, maybe not the best of the lot and far from the best work I have ever done but still my favorites. I think taken together they give the best idea of what I saw.

Ten years later one thing does trouble me. The idea that even though most of the masterminds of the attack are dead the terrorists may have won in the end. I'm 29 and I still remember this country before 9/11, before it was bled by ten years of war, before police carried sub-machine guns, before we began to resemble Orwell's Oceania. Somebody my sister's age has no memory of the time before and and to them it is a completely natural way of living. That may be the saddest thing of all.

the photos - (flickr set) (Picassa album)

Obervations from the Mountains 9.10

What a god awful crazy year it has been in so far. The snowpocalypse, heatpocalypse, an earthquake, a hurricane, and than the rains came. I was beginning to think this is what Bombay feels like during the monsoon season which is not something I need to do with my life. More than 4”of rain fell in the Village over the past few days and that is added to the over 18” we (Central Park) officially received in August. The summer of 2011 is now the wettest in New York City history.

Back home in central Pennsylvania some places received well over a foot of rain. While all that rain fell around him my Earth science geek brother sent a constant stream of giddy texts talking about a fifty year storm whatever that is. Near Harrisburg the Susquehanna River reached levels never seen before and closed the main highway north to State College just as I was planning to head into the mountains for my first Penn State game of the year. This forced a drive up the two lane road on the left side of the river and a four hour drive from New York became six but I'm here. I'm in my mountains, a place I've been away from for too long.

Alabama traveled 900 miles to reach Happy Valley and play Penn State later today, #3 vs. #23, in one of the biggest early season games Beaver Stadium has seen in years. For now it's time to tailgate, have some of Sean's 'world famous' chili, and than maybe a few beverages. But first I have to find myself a white sweatshirt to wear because it's White House day and like a dumb ass I didn't bring anything white to so I'll have to wander downtown on my way to the stadium and pick something up.

A little trivia, Penn State has played Alabama 15 times and ten of those times both teams were nationally ranked. Only twice was neither team ranked.

Skylar Grey - Invisible

Observations on Art 9.9

With the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks just days away it's becoming a little depressing to turn on the news and see it over and over again. To me it's one thing to remember but another to glory in it like a badge of honor as some people seem to be doing. It was the murder of nearly 3,000 people including over 400 emergency personal who lost their lives while trying to save others.

Court sent me this video a bit ago but today it came to me that this would be an awesome way to honor that day ten years ago. Wrap Battery Park in paper and let everybody remember in their own way.


COPENHAGEN PAINT PARTY 2011 // from Yabba Yabba on Vimeo.

Observations

"I will remind the people I love how much they mean to me."
Posted by Brittany Lott

I Will - 9/11 Tribute by Pam Thomas from Steam Films on Vimeo.

911Day.org

Observations from the Bar 9.5

I just wanted to take a moment to wish everybody a Happy Labor Day, I hope it is or was a good one. If you don't live in the US or have no idea what I am talking about feel free to crack your favorite beverage and skip ahead to watch the vid. Keep in mind it's not arrogant, it's German.

Tropical monsoons permitting tonight the Phillies finally get to play Atlanta again and hopefully start to lock up the division. One of the amazing things of this totally amazing season is the fact that as good as the Phillies are the Braves have been right with them all season long. Maybe that starts to change tonight.

I want to add a small postscript to my writings on Hurricane Irene. The GOP's wingnut choirboy Eric Kantor says the Federal Government can pay for hurricane damage but only if we make cuts elsewhere in the budget. The total estimated damage from Hurricane Irene now stands at 40 to 60 billion dollars. Coincidentally the congressionally appointed Commission on Wartime Contracting has found that over the last three years we have wasted, you got it, $60 billion through fraud, waste, and payments to warlords in Iraq and Afghanistan. That breaks down to $12 million a day.

Rammstein - Amerika

Observations from the Bar 9.3

The 125th season of Penn State football began Saturday with a 41-7 win over Indiana State. A game in which Penn State ran the opening kickoff back 95 yards for a touchdown. Sadly for the first time in years the season began I wasn't there. I could have gone but I would have had to drive back right after the game as I have to be in the Village Sunday morning to try and finish a small art project of mine. My brother is going to the 'bama game next week so maybe I'll try to get to that one.

Still I was a little bummed at missing the game so I did what works best at times like that and I went to the Museum of Modern Art to walk around. Coincidentally the museum just redid the painting and sculpture galleries on the fourth and fifth floors so that just gave me another reason to go.

Ann Temkin has been the museum's chief curator of painting and sculpture since 2008. The redone galleries are principally her work with the help of five other curators and is supposedly the most far reaching since the 1940s. The opportunity to reinstall the galleries came about because of the closing of the “Abstract Expressionist New York” show after a seven month run. I'm not going to get into it but if you know MoMA it's just fascinating to see. In its look at the new galleries the New York Times said it seems to “soften its historic focus on linearity, male genius and art movements while excavating exciting, little seen treasure from deep storage.” One gallery I especially liked is devoted exclusively to the feminist work of American born artist Hannah Wilke. As I said, if you are a fan of the museum it really is worth a look.

No hurricanes, earthquakes, or other pocalypses this weekend but there seems to have been one world changing event. On my way to the bar for the, as it turned out, yet again tropical storm delayed Phillies game I wandered into Urban Outfitters to pick up a jacket I had tried on last time I was there. Not a leather jacket or even a black jacket but a brown corduroy sherpa lined jacket. I can't wait to see the VQs' faces when they see this.

Finally don't feel bad for Indiana State. In exchange for their trip to Happy Valley their cut of the days' revenue was $450,000.

Observations on Art 9.1

A friend of mine posted something on Google+ in which she asked the question “do you think Black and White photography specifically has gained more than it has lost in the digital age and why?”

I had to think about the answer to that because it really is a hard question for me. The first affordable digital cameras emerged in the late '90s and the first Adobe program in 2003 so by the time I began to take photography seriously the world had already begun to change. I never had much formal training and only ever toyed in a darkroom but I did take a lot of analog photos with a pair of OM10s I own. It's something I would like to get back into someday but who knows if I'll ever have the time. I'm torn because my photos are almost exclusively monochrome but a large percentage are color shots I changed with software. The different methods of doing that is something I have in the back of my mind to write about and something that came up in the seminar I just took.

I first fell in love with
black & white when I discovered the portraits of Robert Mapplethorpe and the landscapes of Ansel Adams almost twenty years ago. To me color records the scene in front of you while black & white interprets that scene and there aren't any better at it than those two. Maybe this is a little arrogant of me to say but the way I feel is that a color photo is a photo but a black & white one is a work of art. I try to limit using software myself but to me software is just another tool to use in creating that work of art. I'm sure photography has lost something in the digital age but I also think it has gained just as much or more than it has lost. One thing I'm not quite sure of is if the ability to take hundreds of shots in search of that one great one is a good thing or if it takes away from the original composition of the photo. Than again I'm as guilty of that as anybody

Software isn't used in just digital photography today but all kinds and even without software a purely analog photographer has any number of ways to change a photo including film speed, exposure, and soaking time. So I guess my total cop out answer is you can't take the digital out of photography anymore than you can take the acrylic paints out of contemporary painting. One thing we both miss are the scents and smells of the old styles.

I don't know if I answered the question or asked more but thanks for making me think.