Untitled (;)

I used to write. Poetry; songs; what I thought were artistic thoughts. Now I refrain. Why have I forsaken myself? To say would be to reveal but not too revealing.

‘Tis different now than ‘twas in the late aughts. Empty space now spilling over with movement; action; direction. Helpful, yes, but hopeful? Pray not.

Do these thoughts still reside though they receive no time? Or is the act gone entirely? The ability to do now static. Frozen in time. In words; in song. A by-gone year but a gone-by talent? Shudder to think.

There! The issue arises! Thinking is the eye of the storm. To live days doing is a gift but to live through thought enriches life. It bears a whole new plane and widens expanses. Suddenly – music; verses – completely surround. ‘Twould be suffocating if not so pleasureful. Pride in a self-made Wonderland.

The key is to remember. The feeling; the blueprint. Keeping that is keeping sanity – is keeping life in all its graces. Keep. Peek. Take the time to look.

Assorted works on a singular topic

Joy Williams “Ill Nature”
There is a little tale about man's fate, and this is the way it is put. A man is being pursued by a raging elephant and takes refuge in a tree at the edge of a fearsome abyss. Two mice, one black and one white, are gnawing at the roots of the tree, and at the bottom of the abyss is a dragon with parted jaws. The man looks above and sees a little honey trickling down the tree, and he begins to lick it up and forgets his perilous situation. But the mice gnaw through the tree and the man falls down and the elephant seizes him and hurls him over to the dragon. Now, that elephant is the image of death, which pursues men, and the tree is this transitory existence, and the mice are the days and the nights, and the honey is the sweetness of the passing world, and the savor of the passing world diverts mankind. So the days and nights are accomplished and death seizes him and the dragon swallows him down into hell and this is the life of man.

William Shakespeare “Macbeth”
Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

Pascal “Pensées”
Let us imagine a number of men in chains and all condemned to death, where some are killed each day in the sight of others, and those who remain see their own fate in that of their fellows and wait their turn…. This is the picture of the condition of man.

Allison Barrows “Preteena”
There was an old man who beat his wife;
She stabbed him with a kitchen knife!
He gazed at the red
And woefully said,
“I’m dead! Oh well, that’s life!”


 Discuss...

Movie Review: The Dark Knight Rises

I promise not to include any spoilers because I was fortunate enough to make it a full month from its release without hearing any specifics about the plot.

This is a fantastic movie. It’s not big, bloated and ridiculous like Spider-Man 3 but it actually sends this franchise out on top. Epic is the first word I used to describe it as we left the theater. We saw it in IMAX and even 4 weeks after release the theater was almost completely full. The action is awesome, the characters are top notch and the plot is believable. That’s a win.

I’ve always looked kindly upon Anne Hathaway but I fell in love with her in this movie; Joseph Gordon-Levitt is still my main man; and Christian Bale even backed off the Dark Knight growl a bit. Speaking of The Dark Knight where does this movie rank in relation? Well, after only 1 viewing I have to say that Rises comes in a close second. Maybe after multiple viewings I will change my stance but The Dark Knight is perfection.

In no way was Rises a letdown and it even exceeded my expectations for it. I wasn’t sure where they could take the story after TDK but Christopher Nolan nailed it. Let’s reward him and everyone else involved in this movie with some Oscar love.

Justice League ≠ The Avengers

Rumor has it Warner Bros. has reached out to Ben Affleck to direct their Justice League movie. While I always have a place in my heart for our local boy, why would Affleck be their top choice? He has directed a total of 2 films (Gone Baby Gone, The Town) and although they were both awesome, he doesn’t come to mind as someone who can handle a big action movie spectacle like this with all the pressures of fanboys and summer blockbuster status on his shoulders. Needless to say, he’s no Joss Whedon. And he’s not even DC… Daredevil is a Marvel character.

That brings up another point: the Justice League is not the Avengers. Marvel and DC could not be more different in how they write their comics. The Marvel characters were actively intertwined in each other’s tales while the DC characters seemingly lived independently of each other. Hell, Marvel even set up all their movies from Iron Man on to lead into the Avengers film. What has DC done?

In addition to not having any overlap in their universe, DC also hasn’t carried over very well to film. Batman of course has been the tentpole but what after that? They’re rebooting Superman for a second time in 6 years. They tried to make Wonder Woman into a TV series with Adrianne Palicki (it didn’t air a single episode). Green Lantern ended Ryan Reynolds career. Aquaman and the Flash haven’t even seen the light of day. This isn’t exactly a group people care about. Plus, the fact that Christian Bale has hung up his Batsuit is the final nail in the coffin. I don’t see how this movie gets made and I certainly don’t see how it succeeds commercially.

A tale of two teams

Without Brig around to make this a fun weekend I ended up spending a lot of time immersed in baseball. I watched 3 Sox games in a row for the first time in probably 2 years and did a lot of tinkering to my 3 fantasy baseball squads. One of them had their trade deadline set for this weekend. Here is it's tale: 

It’s amazing what high expectations and a down year can do to a player’s reputation. With Albert Pujols joining the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (real name) this offseason, fantasy baseball players were salivating over the possibilities for second baseman Howie Kendrick. Batting ahead of Pujols meant he would get better pitches to hit and he’d have more opportunities to score runs. You know what they say about the best laid plans... Pujols struggled in his new locale and so did Kendrick. He was seeing more fastballs but not making contact. His average went down and then so did his spot in the lineup. 

I just traded for Kendrick in my dynasty league. He’s only 29 and normally a .285/10 HR/10 SB hitter. That plays in any league. But here’s the crazy part… how little I paid to get him: a reliever (Vicente Padilla) and an injury-risk starter (Zach Britton). 

That’s a testament to just how far Kendrick’s stock has fallen. At the beginning of the year he was ranked higher than Neil Walker, Dustin Ackley, Jose Altuve and Aaron Hill. Yet, I got him from a manager who has Hill and Ackley (and who previously had Altuve too before trading him) and I got him with the intention of being a backup on my team to Walker. So, clearly, his perceived value has never been lower while his actual value is likely just taking a temporary hit. Sometimes, players have down seasons for absolutely no reason. I’m taking a chance (albeit not much of one given how little I gave up in the trade) that he will rebound next year and continue putting up numbers close to his career averages. And even if he doesn’t, I’m not relying on him to be a starter or anything other than a replacement player if someone gets hurt or is slumping. It’s a no-lose situation. 

Earlier in the year, I turned Sergio Romo (another reliever who isn't his team's closer) into Ivan Nova (just win, baby!) as well as trading one year wonder(?) Fernando Rodney for much needed right-field help in the form of Corey Hart. The common denominator between all these trades? I moved relievers. 

This would be nearly impossible in any league that didn’t count Holds as a category. Rodney is a save-machine this year so he has value anywhere but Romo and Padilla? Not necessarily. Romo is actually a very good pitcher but he’s had arm issues so San Fran is treating him with kid gloves. Smart in real life maybe but under-utilizing a proven talent in fantasy is a waste. And Padilla has looked really good this year but he’s in the twilight of his career and will be a free agent after the season meaning who knows what his situation will be next year. The key point here is to not pay for relievers. There is too much turnover from year-to-year. There’s only 1 Mariano Rivera (and even this year he screwed over fantasy owners).

"One Art"

by: Elizabeth Bishop

The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother’s watch. And look ! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.

—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident
the art of losing’s not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

I have lost my dear Brigid until next week. She left yesterday and won't be returning until Monday night. I'll put on a brave face...