Restore Sanity?

I'll try and write about the three movies I recently saw in the coming days. But first, a political rant, with Election Day almost here -- and, by the way, make sure you all vote. There's no excuse whatsoever not to vote.

I was amused by the flurry of Twitter activity today revolving around the "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" held in Washington. Co-hosted by Comedy Central stars Jon Stewart (pushing sanity) and Stephen Colbert (in character, representing fear), it seemed to be a response to the rally of right-wing nuts back in August, and a plea for kinder, gentler political discourse.

I didn't watch it. Perhaps it was entertaining. (Yes, there were entertainers there, from Sheryl Crow to Mavis Staples to Ozzy Osbourne and the former Cat Stevens, Yusuf Islam.) Perhaps it was more than an unusual vehicle to promote "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report." But for my money, it was a waste. It's the same old "let's find common ground" message that has failed for the last 30 years, since Ronald Reagan took office and began his reign of terror. Democrats, liberals, progressives, whatever you want to call yourselves, you need to get this into your heads once and for all: THERE IS NO COMMON GROUND WITH THESE PEOPLE. They are out to defeat you and destroy you. They will never play nice. They'll pretend to do it, and then stab you in the back the first chance they get.

This is why the Republicans are likely to regain control of the House and, at the least, gain a number of seats in the Senate.

IHOP Screwed Me!

When I was walking around Outfest earlier this month I happened upon the IHOP table. There's been an IHOP in the Gayborhood for...I dunno, a year or two now? Well, they were asking people to sign up for their mailing list, to get emails with coupons and promotions and the like. The first deal would be a free Rooty Tooty Fresh 'N Fruity. I like free stuff, and if it's food, so much the better. So I signed up. A few days later I got an email with the deal. I didn't print it out at the time. I was going to do it the next day and again decided to wait for some reason. A couple of days after that, I decided to print it, only to find I can't. The email suddenly has an addition. Note the area I've circled:

Can you believe this? I assume this is to try and prevent people from forwarding it around or printing it multiple times or something, but there has to be a better way than this. I wonder if there's a cookie on my computer that caused this? I want my free food, dammit!

More Naked Pat Burrell

Remember the item I posted on Monday about the YouTube video that featured someone strongly believed to be former Phil Pat Burrell walking by briefly, his face covered (by a mask) but almost everything else uncovered, while Giants teammate Brian Wilson was doing a TV interview from his home? I don't understand the costume's name, but according to TheFightins.com it's called a gimp outfit. And today they revealed -- with photgraphic proof -- that Burrell's worn it before:

I don’t really want to go into detail about how I acquired this picture, but it was taken at Pat Burrell’s house in Arizona during a Christmas party in (I believe) December of ’04 (possibly ’05). According to my picture-taking accomplice, every year during his Christmas party — which is attended by a veritable who’s who of baseballers who spend their winters out in AZ — Pat wanders upstairs and slips into his assless-chapped gimp outfit to entertain his party guests while making them feel extremely uncomfortable all at the same time.

I took this at the Phils' Photo Day in '04. Pat was more fully dressed

It's not of very high quality, but there's some buttcheek there. I'd be drooling if it was a clearer shot. Seriously. Drooling. And I need to get invited to this year's party.

The (possibly NSFW) picture from TheFightins.com follows the jump:

My Week In Comics 10-20-10

A little overloaded just about all month, thanks to various one-shots and specials These 7, plus 5 more I bought today that I'll talk about in a future post.

Supergirl 57: The conclusion of Supergirl's trip to end the alien attack on Bizarro World. Supergirl continues to grow and evolve as a character, and some of that growth shows here when she has to inspire her Bizarro counterpart.

Superman/Batman 77: Supergirl's in this one, too. No Superman or Batman, though. A mass grave's been discovered in Metropolis and Supergirl needs help from the world's greatest detective to find the killer. But there's no Batman around, and she settles for Robin. Kara and Damien clash in a humorous way, and it's a Halloween issue as well. Speaking of which...

DC Universe Halloween Special 2010 1 (of 1): ...just like the Simpsons' annual Treehouse of Horror, the DC yearly set of "scary" tales arrives. There are six stories. The first and best one is actually a sequel to a tale from last year's collection.

My 2010 World Series Thoughts

Okay, so I didn't think either team would get to this point. That doesn't mean anything except that postseason experience isn't always so important. That won't come into play here, because the Texas Rangers have never been to the World Series and the San Francisco Giants haven't been here since 2002, almost a lifetime ago in baseball years. If my guess is true I won't be too happy because while they're the Texas Rangers, it's basically a Dallas team, and we all know Dallas sucks. Plus, the Rangers are the team that used to be owned by George W. Bush, and who wants him to celebrate anything? Unfortunately, Texas will win. Unlike the Phillies, the Rangers have hit well all year and continued to do so in the playoffs. The Giants can't match the Rangers' hitting prowess, and while they have a strong pitching staff, they don't have Cliff Lee. Rangers in 5.

Eye Yi Yi!

I was up much too early this morning because I had an appointment with my ophthamologist. Before we get into that, though, let's discuss our favorite public transit system.

My appointment was for 8:40 am. I got down to Frankford Terminal to catch the El around 8:10, giving me plenty of time to get to Allegheny station and either walk or take another bus to the office. However, when I got up the stairs to the El platform, there was chaos. It was filled with people waiting for a train, and some were getting quite disturbed. I got my phone and logged onto the mobile version of SEPTA's website to see if there were any advisories, and found...nothing. They have a Twitter account as well. I went on Twitter and found...nothing. (Later I checked and saw that their Twitter account hadn't been updated in 3 days until this afternoon, when there was an announcement about a book drive.) Thanks for nothing, SEPTA.

I thought about waiting to see if a train was coming from somewhere, but I saw that one of my fine Twitter peeps, PhilthyBlog (the actual blog is here) posted that he was sitting on a train that was stuck at a station for 15 minutes. So I left the El platform and caught a bus instead, and ended up only a few minutes late.

So, about my eyes...

I've been to the eye doctor's often over the last two-plus years.

Is That REALLY Pat Burrell?

Via AfterElton's link to this blog I discovered the video below. It's from a Fox Sports interview with San Francisco Giants' closer Brian Wilson. At about the 43-second mark, the provocatively (and barely) dressed man who walks into the picture is allegedly none other than Pat Burrell.



Obviously what we need is a look at the original video on a 50-inch HDTV.

Brings back memories of this, doesn't it?

Phillies: The U Word Resurfaces

The end of the Phillies' season played out very much like most of the season itself: with a lack of offense. So often the team's bats went south this year that it shouldn't have been a surprise when it happened in the playoffs, especially against the solid pitching of the San Francisco Giants. And yet, somehow, it was. Because they told us all year long that when it really mattered, they'd be fine. After the three consecutive shutout losses against the Mets at Taxpayer Bailout Field. After losing three of four to the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates (the worst franchise despite the best ballpark). After losing 6 of 7 coming out of the All-Star break. After falling 7 games behind Atlanta in the NL East. After the four-game sweep at home against the also-ran Houston Astros. They always told us they'd turn it around.

And they did, for a while. The Phils roared to their 4th straight NL East title and the best record in the major leagues. And you couldn't ask for a better beginning to the postseason than Roy Halladay pitching a no-hitter in his first-ever playoff start. But during the entire postseason the team struggled to score, often needing subpar fielding from the Reds and Giants in order to get some runs. Their lack of hitting with runners in scoring position was excruciating, especially in NLCS Game 6, in which the Phils scored twice in the first, and Giants' starter Jonathan Sanchez was so shaky that he was removed before getting an out in the third inning. But they never scored again. They were 2-for-11 with RISP and both of those hits came in the first. Making things worse, the Phils' own fielding let them down at times.

And so I feel the need to use a word to describe this team that hasn't applied in a few years now:

More Helpful Twitter Hints

Here are a couple more of my Twitter pet peeves. If you use Twitter, and especially if I am one of your followers, please begin following these instructions immediately. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.

First, if you have a story to tell, do NOT use six or eight or ten consecutive tweets to tell it. With the number of accounts I read, and since the timeline starts with most recent posts, your story is being told backwards and with large gaps between tweets. Those gaps are filled with other, and often more interesting, tweets. If you want to write a story, start a blog already and post a link to it.

Also, regarding "Follow Fridays," don't make posts recommending EVERY ONE of your 483 followers. I don't need to see posts like "#ff @lugioretur @oasdgiogf @apfuweiou @poidugio @aseuggirgvv @potgysdgrgr @qweiggrho"* over and over and over and over and over. And if you're going to give reasons to recommend someone, such as "#ff @JoeInPhilly 'cuz he's really smart and cool and funny and great in bed"** do it just a few times and not a few DOZEN. Make "Follow Fridays" something special and worthwhile. If you just throw up a bunch of names I'm not going to pay attention.

*not actual Twitter accounts

**actual Twitter account, and a 100 percent accurate description as well. Especially the part about being great in bed. Don't believe me? Prove me wrong, boys, prove me wrong.

Why There Shouldn't Be Hockey In Phoenix

Check out this "crowd" last night. The second home game of the Phoenix Coyotes' season, coming off a season in which they finally made the playoffs, drew an announced attendance of 6,706. Yet the NHL insists on having a team in Phoenix. They've lost tons of money over the years, they still don't have a new owner (I can't even begin to sum up that debacle, but here's a Wikipedia link), taxpayers in Glendale (where their arena is located) are on the hook for $25 million to be paid to the NHL to pay for the team's losses this year...and according to left winger (and former Flyer) Scottie Upshall, they can't even make ice properly, as evidenced by this tweet after the team's home opener:

He later issued a clarification...

There are too many NHL teams in markets that simply can not or will not support hockey. The Coyotes should have been allowed to move back to Winnipeg (where they used to be the Winnipeg Jets) or to Hamilton, Ontario or some other location.

And now, for the non-hardcore sports people, here's a picture Upshall tweeted earlier this summer...

Phillies, Yankees Still Alive

The hopes of those people who wanted to see a rematch of the 2009 World Series (not to mention my predictions for the League Championship Series) took a pair of deep hits this week, but both the Phillies and Yankees are still alive. I'll deal with the Phillies in a moment.

I didn't really expect, after their hideous collapse late in Game 1, blowing a 5-0 lead after 6 and losing 6-5, that the Texas Rangers would bounce back so well. They scored early in Game 2, rolling to a 7-2 win. Then the series shifted to Yankee Stadium, and the Rangers took Games 3 (8-0) and 4 (10-3), with Cliff Lee again displaying his mastery of the Yankee hitters in Game 3. The Yankees rebounded in Game 5 with a 7-2 win despite the Rangers picking up 13 hits -- 11 off CC Sabathia in 6 innings. What disturbed me was a quote I read in today's paper, from Rangers manager Ron Washington after Game 4: "We are not thinking about how we are going to close anyone out. If it happens, it happens. And if it don't, it doesn't happen."

That just sounds a little too casual for my tastes. The experience of the Yankees over the years means that they weren't just going to roll over and die. If you have a team like that down, you have to keep them down. Sure enough, now the series goes back to Texas. The advantage the Rangers have, on paper, is that even if they lose Game 6, they'll have Yankee-killer and postseason stud Lee pitching Game 7. Then again, too often in sports such advantages aren't worth

Random Bullying/Purple/Gay Thoughts

I can't quite bring myself to blog about the current plight of the Phillies just yet. So let me instead address a couple of things related to the continuing response to the LGBT teens that committed suicide recently after being bullied, and one item that's more about being gay in general.

First, a tweet that I've kept as a "favorite" on my Twitter page for a while now waiting to use it somewhere. (Just for the record, I use the "favorite" button in Twitter as a bookmark; for example, when I'm out and checking Twitter from my phone, if there's a post that includes a link to a pic or article, I'll "favorite" it and then check out the link later at home.) Now seems as good a time as any for this. It's from Cole Escola of Logo's "Jeffery & Cole Casserole."

Of course, I agree with the sentiment. But I also think that if a bully is constantly taking lunch money, that "kid with glasses" might also feel that he or she is being tortured. Any kid that gets bullied on a daily basis for whatever reason is being tortured. But there's something especially evil when kids are being bullied because of their sexual orientation, perceived or actual. Just about all parents would tell their kids it's wrong to pick on someone because they wear glasses. Or because they're overweight (of course, our society is getting more and more overweight so at some point, unless radical steps are taken to get kids to eat healthy and exercise, maybe it'll just be skinny kids who are bullied). Or a lot of other reasons. But you don't have scumbag politicians and preachers telling people they're immoral and they're going to hell because they're fat or nearsighted, and the parents don't pass on those beliefs to their kids.

So, as I wrote yesterday,

My Week In Comics 10-13-10

Recently DC Comics announced that they were dropping the prices of many of their books from $3.99 to $2.99. Seeing as how some of these are books that I buy, it pleases me. On the other hand, a lot of these books are also losing their backup story or "second feature," and the main story will include two fewer pages of story (in favor of more ads). The lower price is good, but I wonder if having two fewer pages will lead to better or worse books. Will plots be rushed or compressed to fit everything into one issue or will they get stretched into a two- or three-issue arc where not much happens in each book? We shall see.

Superman 703: It's been a while since this book came out, but Superman is still walking across the USA. He's gone from Philadelphia to Detroit to Cincinnati, where he's greeted by Batman, who thinks that Superman is having an emotional breakdown and needs to stop his walk, on the grounds that innocent people will get hurt. But it's not all walking and talking. In the town of Danville, Ohio, a chunk of debris from New Krypton has landed, and it somehow (seeds for future plots being sown) leads to a big fight scene and lots of destruction.


Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne 5 (of 6): Another book that saw a delay, and this story is finally nearing an end. What's good here is we finally get an explanation of why Bruce Wayne's fighting through time to get back to the present will be so cataclysmic if he's not intercepted first. The bad is, once again, this leg of his journey. From caveman to pirate and a few other stops, now he's a noir detective and he's asked to help expose the killer of Martha Wayne, his mother. This whole thing apparently ties into other Batman plotlines, so it made little sense to me. I just keep telling myself, "It's almost over..."


Bruce Wayne: The Road Home: Batman and Robin 1 (of 1)
Bruce Wayne: The Road Home: Red Robin 1 (of 1): ...except, it's already over! Well, in these books, at least.

Wear Purple Wednesday - Phantoms Or Otherwise

I think this idea just developed organically -- I saw a number of different Facebook "events" posted for it, and I have one friend who is "attending" every single one. Tomorrow, as a way to remember the kids who were bullied to death by their "peers," their "adult" authority figures and dirtbag politicians of every stripe, and especially to show a visible sign of support for those kids who are still alive but going through bullying of their own, you're encouraged to wear purple. Purple in the Rainbow Flag symbolizes "spirit." So tomorrow is now "Spirit Day." GLAAD -- the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation -- has links on their website for you to make your Twitter and Facebook profile pictures purple.

I have one piece of purple clothing. I didn't think I had any, but I remembered that I went to Game 4 of the American Hockey League's Calder Cup finals in 2005, when the Philadelphia Phantoms won the Cup in a four-game sweep (which helped make up for the NHL's year-long absence due to their infamous lockout), and all fans were given t-shirts going into the arena. I feel like maybe I should wear it inside out because the hockey stuff on the front might dilute the message of the purple, but I probably won't. I hate that look. The tag belongs on the inside, not the outside, people.

So I'll be going for my comic books tomorrow and, beyond that, just walking around a lot, making sure my t-shirt is visible. Hopefully it's not too chilly. I'll have a long-sleeved tee-shirt under the Phantoms shirt. Maybe I'll take a jacket or zip-up hooded sweatshirt as well, but I'll keep it open -- after all, what good is the purple t-shirt if the purple isn't visible?

Phillies: Same Old, Same Old, Sort Of

I sensed a bit of panic after the Phillies lost the first game of the NL Championship Series on Saturday night. I didn't actually see any online comments that were pessimistic and I didn't hear anything on WIP. Well, I actually didn't listen to the station at all. I just had a feeling that there was a little bit of worry setting in.

That's almost understandable considering our city's pro sports history. But anyone who's watched this Phillies team the last four seasons has to realize that they aren't beaten until they're actually beaten, and to panic prematurely is just silly. And after Sunday's 6-1 win, the series is tied at 1-1. Just like last year's NLCS. So they lost the first one instead of the second. Big deal.

Saturday night was actually hyped somewhere as the greatest pitching matchup in postseason history, with the Phils' Roy Halladay and the Giants' Tim Lincecum. But the final score was 4-3, not 1-0 with a no-hitter. Halladay gave up a pair of solo homers to Cody Ross, and those would've been the only runs he allowed, except that with two outs and a runner on first in the 6th, Raul Ibanez misplayed a deep fly by Pat Burrell into a double that made the score 3-1, with another hit right after making it 4-1. And while Lincecum was good enough to get the win, the Phils had some opportunities to score but didn't take advantage. So when Halladay pitches again, I'm sure he'll be fine.

Game 2 was dominated by Roy Oswalt, who (despite also giving up a home run to Ross) outdid both of the Game 1 starters on the mound and, with the Phils holding on to a 2-1 lead in the 7th, on the bases. He led off the 7th with a single, moved to second on a Shane Victorino bunt and scored on a Placido Polanco single, running right through the stop sign of third-base coach Sam Perlozzo. Unlike the first game, where the Phils' 3 runs all scored on homers, their 6 runs Sunday came without the benefit of the home run. That is a good sign for the next 3 games in San Francisco's AT&T Park.

The Phils need to stop giving up home runs to Cody Ross. If they do that, they'll be fine.

Bad Day To Miss The Eagles

If you follow me on Twitter you already know that I went to play softball this morning (after a couple of skip weeks, one due to bad weather). This was the only week so far that the schedule threatened to cause me to miss part of the Eagles game. The other weeks either my games were scheduled earlier or the Eagles didn't play until 4 pm or later. Today, however, the softball games were set for 11 am and noon, and the Eagles started at 1. So I figured I'd miss a little of the game but go to a bar and watch it. If I went directly home I'd miss the first half, at least.

I got to the FDR Park entrance at 10:30 (these fields are actually convenient for me despite being all the way down near the stadium complex, since the Broad Street Subway is right there) and took this picture of the WIP pre-game show hosts, as this is their broadcast location for home games. It wasn't very crowded around their stage at all at this point, 2 1/2 hours before kickoff.

There were two problems today: the softball teams were scrambling to have enough people to field teams (apparently a fair number of players either quit or just didn't show up), and the games either didn't start on time or ran beyond their alloted time. Thus, my first game didn't start until almost 11:20, and the second one was similarly delayed. I didn't get out of the park and back to the subway stop until 1:30, then had to wait 10 more minutes for the next train to arrive (thanks, SEPTA).

Two things amazed me at this point. One:

Suggestions

Okay, so let's do this while I'm waiting for the Phillies-Giants NLCS to begin. But first, perhaps some fabylla eye candy...hmmm...how about a classic Paul Rudd? Yes, I think so.

There. So, I've done this now and then. When I do, it pretty much gets roundly ignored or heckled (hi, Robbie), but since I wanted to put up a post instead of skipping a day, and I'm not ready to write about this week's comic books, and I just can't get into paying close attention to the Flyers (or even the Eagles to some extent) while the Phillies are in the playoffs, and since (I hope) I might have a new reader or two, I thought I'd do it again. If you have a question you'd like me to answer, or if you'd like me to write about a particular topic, make your wishes known. I guarantee I'll write something. I can't guarantee you'll like it. I can't guarantee completely explicit answers to certain very, ummmm, personal questions. But I will write something. So, surprise me with some responses, why dontcha?

2010 League Championship Series Picks

Since it's about a half-hour until the first pitch of the American League Championship Series, I figured I shouldn't wait any longer to go on record with my predictions. In the first round I had Giants in 4 (perfect), Phillies in 4 (they won in 3), Yankees in 5 (they also won in 3) and Rays in 4 (womp womp).

Texas Rangers vs. New York Yankees: The Rangers won the first two in Tampa, then lost two at home, then went back to Tampa and won. This means a couple of things: they aren't entirely fazed by playoff pressure, but they're also not quite up to the task here, as much as I'd like them to be. Losing those games at home meant Cliff Lee had to start Game 5 against the Rays, meaning he can't pitch until Game 3 in this series and can only start twice against the Yankees. I really want to be wrong here, but...Yankees in 6.


Philadelphia Phillies vs. San Francisco Giants: Will the much-hyped Roy Halladay-Tim Lincecum matchup in Game 1 live up to its billing? Speaking of which, some stat nut decided that Lincecum's complete-game shutout against Atlanta was a better performance than Halladay's no-hitter against the Reds based on some idiotic numerical crap. These Moneyball freaks just live to ruin everything. I think "The Simpsons" summed it up best in Sunday's "MoneyBART" episode, in which Lisa took over as Bart's Little League coach and then had to learn the game. (I thought it was one of their better episodes in recent years, actually.) She came upon Springfield's sabermetricians (at Moe's), and leader of the stat nuts Bill James has a cameo -- he's shown on an online video in which he says, "I made baseball as much fun as doing your taxes!" Truer words were never spoken, Bill, even if you think you were making fun of yourself. But I digress. Both teams have strong pitching, so it'll come down to which offense can generate enough production on a given night, making it probably a tough series. But the Phils' offense has more potential to explode, and if they do, it'll end more quickly. Phillies in 6.

Quick Review: Life As We Know It

Here's the unusual premise of "Life As We Know It." The movie's about this couple, see, and when they first meet they just don't get along at all, but they're kind of forced to spend more time together and eventually fall in love, but not until after nearly breaking up...okay, this isn't an unusual premise at all. Plus it stars Katherine Heigl, who does this same movie every couple of months, and Josh Duhamel, who reportedly wasn't happy that this image was turned into a key marketing device for the movie. Oh, Josh, you're still more of a pretty boy than an actor, as evidenced by the fact that I want to run the picture shown at left again, so don't fight it.

The thing is, though, their initial meeting was a blind date set up by their friends, who go on to marry and have a baby daughter, and the two oft-bickering leads become the girl's godparents. Then the parents are killed in a car accident, and the godparents learn they've been named in the will as legal guardians. What a gruesome plot point for a romantic comedy! The movie's not that funny to begin with, and not very long after it gets rolling there's this tragedy that derails it for a while. Eventually, though, the formula snaps back into place and the mismatched couple get back to falling in love while trying to figure out how to raise a baby and maintain their careers. There is an amusing sidelight: after they move into the dead parents' home so that the baby can stay in the environment she's lived in for all of her twelve or so months on earth, the women (and the gay couple) of the neighborhood all swoon over Duhamel's character. See, Josh? Told you, you're still more of a pretty boy than an actor. My grade: C-minus.

My New Problem With Glee

You may remember that I didn't take to "Glee" at first. I watched for a couple of weeks and then stopped. After the first 13 episodes the show took a break for a few months, then came back in April. Since the second episode upon their return was their much-ballyhooed Madonna episode, I started watching again. I loved "The Power of Madonna," and watched every episode thereafter. Slowly it won me over. This summer Fox ran two repeats on Tuesday nights and I caught up on what I missed.

I'm still watching, but I have a new issue. And it's not the Britney Spears episode, which was annoying in the way it forced Britney and her music into the show so blatantly. It's not that Artie, the kid in the wheelchair, is now on the school's football team -- something even more impossible than the offense lining up with time running out, stopping a play and doing Beyonce's "Single Ladies" dance to distract the opposing defense and score a game-winning TD without getting called for some sort of penalty. (Delay of game, illegal formation, maybe illegal use of the hands?) It's not any of the other implausibilities or improbabilities. I've been able to overlook just about every bit of weirdness. (And I adore Chris Colfer. Love the picture from Rolling Stone...)

But last night it dawned on me that, in light of all the recent events regarding bullying and suicides, I am very uncomfortable seeing the goon football players dousing Glee kids with slushies, yelling menacingly, and worse -- remember, they were about to beat up Kurt in the so-called "Lady Gaga" episode (which only featured two Gaga songs) until Finn and the others arrived -- and no one in authority even tries to do something to stop it. Ever. Maybe it seemed funny in those early episodes when they were throwing kids into Dumpsters. It doesn't seem all that funny now. It's strange that, for all the surreality on the show, bullying is what seems to be the most grounded in reality.

Am I overreacting here or does anyone else feel the same about this?

Outfest: Pride And Prejudice

Before I discuss Outfest itself, here are a couple of pictures I took on Wednesday when the Rainbow Flag was raised at City Hall in honor of LGBT History Month. I hadn't realized that the flagpoles in question were sitting at ground level and didn't go extremely far up. Still, it's a nice honor. I did read that the flag was only raised temporarily, and then taken down until the 15th because they had to put back up the Puerto Rican flag that was raised in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month (mid-September to mid-October). That seems to be a slight to both, in a way. Perhaps they'll work things out differently next year.

The Rainbow Flag after being raised

Mayor Michael Nutter speaking

As for Sunday, when I got downtown and walked down 13th Street towards the festival, the first thing I saw was the protesters. There's a small group of religious nuts that shows up every year at the Pride festival in June, as well as at Outfest. The reactions to these protesters ranges from trying to reason with them (complete waste of time) to heckling to making jokes to angry yelling. There's always a police presence to keep the peace, which is a good thing because if there weren't, I know there'd be trouble.

This year, in addition to the small group standing near the barricade with the loudspeaker blaring their message of hate, there were a few people walking around the festival with t-shirts saying "God hates you" and "God hates sinners" -- sort of like what the Westboro Baptist creeps wear, but none of them actually said "God hates fags," as the Phelps nuts wear. Also, their sayings were either written in pen or painted. They were quite crudely written. I guess those people were too poor to afford anything better.

Meanwhile, I almost literally walked into a film crew walking backwards. I had no idea who they were filming until I looked at one of their credentials.

Dan Savage To White House: F.U.

The White House has a blog. It's not written by the President or First Lady or one of the kids, so it's not something I'm going to check out on even an occasional basis. However, there's a post there titled "It Gets Better." The post contains the transcript of a speech made by Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett at a dinner in Washington for the Human Rights Campaign. Even though she spoke about all of the recent suicides, it's pretty much the same self-congratulatory and self-serving pablum that comes from the administration. And Dan Savage called them on it. (As you can guess from the title of my post, he drops the F bomb on them.)

What would amaze me, if I were able to be amazed by the doings of politicians and their flunkies any more, is that they take "It Gets Better" as the title for the post, but don't bother to post a link to the It Gets Better website.

My Week In Comics 10-6-10

About a week ago in this space I teased about picking up just one comic book for the week, "unless I get the second printing of something recent that I somehow missed." As it turned out, it wasn't in the comic book store I frequented (although perhaps I just missed it somehow on the shelves). However, I went into the Borders in Center City after that and, lo and behold, they have one of those spinning magazine racks full of comics. Double lo and behold, they had the issue I was looking for. Triple lo and behold, it wasn't from the second printing but from the first run that sold out. Then I had a really stupid dilemma. But first...

Who is this guy, and why was he such a problem for me?

Superman: The Last Family of Krypton 3 (of 3): I think I mentioned before -- sorry, but I don't feel like going back through my prior posts and confirming this -- that although the Elseworlds books DC has put out may take characters and put them in wildly different circumstances, eventually the status quo often wins out. Superman is still a hero. Villains are still villains. So it is with this series, which started with Jor-El and Lara coming to Earth along with baby Kal-El. This issue starts with the premise that the others destined to become Earth's greatest heroes never did so because of the Kryptonians' influence, and there are consequences for the El family as a result. But by the end of the series, a familiar character who started out good shows his true colors (and as a result, a prediction I made at the start turns out to be partially true), and his evil plans are thwarted by...well, you know...

That brings us to my strange problem...

Quick Review: The Social Network

For a film that has no chase scenes or buildings blowing up, "The Social Network" is surprisingly energetic. If you're looking for it to be the completely true story of the creation of Facebook, you're out of luck. It's structured around depositions in two different lawsuits against co-creator and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg). In one, Harvard rowers and identical twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss claim that Zuckerberg stole their idea for a website to allow Harvard students to connect with each other. (One twin is played by Armie Hammer, and the other by Josh Pence's body with Hammer's face and voice digitally added -- weird! And impossible to notice, at least for me.) The other suit was filed by his best friend, Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), whose algorithm was used by Zuckerberg in the creation of "The Facebook," which started with Harvard and then moved to other schools (and eventually to all of us, of course, losing the "The" in the process). His shares in the company were reduced from one-third ownership to less than one percent after Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), creator of Napster, was brought into the company by Zuckerberg. None of the principals were involved with the movie, whose screenplay (by Aaron Sorkin of "West Wing" fame) was based on the book "The Accidental Billionaires" by Ben Mezrich. It tries not to take sides so it's up to the viewer to decide, for example, if Zuckerberg is an insensitive jerk and a lying thief or merely a misunderstood genius. (Although it pretty much paints "the Winklevi," as Zuckerberg refers to the twins, as entitled snobs, and Parker as a party animal whose new friendship with Zuckerberg ends up destroying Zuckerberg's friendship with Saverin.) In a movie that's well-acted throughout, Eisenberg is the biggest revelation here. He is extremely successful in breaking out of that sensitive-soft-voiced Michael Cera mold. Cera himself made a start, but only a start, in breaking his own mold in playing Scott Pilgrim. He should take on a more challenging role, as Eisenberg has done here. My grade: A-minus.

Quick Review: You Again

When I first saw the trailer for "You Again," I decided I really wanted to see it. Looking back, I think I got caught up in all the Betty White frenzy during the spring (leading up to her hosting "Saturday Night Live"), since she was featured in the trailer. The actual film left a lot to be desired, though. Not because of Betty White. The whole premise was obnoxious. The film starts in 2002, where a teenaged girl named Marni is being harassed and bullied by the more popular, prettier girls -- one in particular, JJ (Odette Yustman) is the leader of the pack. Forward to the present, where Marni (Kristen Bell) is now a successful PR exec. She goes home for the wedding of her brother and learns that he's marrying the very same girl, who tortured her in high school -- except now she's Joanna, not JJ, and she's sweet and nice and does lots of volunteer work and doesn't seem to remember Marni at all. Marni's mom Gail (Jamie Lee Curtis) counsels her to let go of the past and make nice with Joanna, but then they meet Ramona (Sigourney Weaver), the bride's aunt -- and Gail's rival in high school. Eventually things get ridiculous. There are some good things about the movie, though. Besides the aforementioned Betty White (as Marni's grandmother), I always enjoy Sigourney Weaver in a comedy. Kristin Chenoweth is loads of fun as a wedding planner. At the end Marni's grandma meets Joanna's grandma -- of course, they were also rivals in their younger days -- and there's a great cameo. And, finally, there's the groom, played by James Wolk (billed as "Jimmy" Wolk in the credits). Wolk was the star of the new Fox series "Lone Star" until it was canceled after two weeks due to dismal ratings. This is important because, well, just look at him below...we've got to keep this man working, and shirtless. My grade: C-plus.

My iTunes Shuffle Baker's Dozen 10-9-10

It's been quite a while since I've done one of these, hasn't it? I should note that this is actually from the "iTunes DJ" feature, which is somehow different than using the regular shuffle feature. It's just easier to copy and paste the song titles when I use the DJ thingy.

I Love You Like A Ball And Chain - Eurythmics
Spaceman - The Killers
I Think It's Better - Jill Scott
7 AM - Dirty Vegas
We Can Funk - George Clinton & Prince
Grey Gardens - Rufus Wainwright
Razzamatazz - Quincy Jones
I Must Have Lost It On The Wind - Elton John
Duty (Eric Kupper Big Room Mix) - Ayumi Hamasaki
I'll Do It For You (Featuring Vikter Duplaix) - King Brit presents Sylk 130
The Book Lovers - Broadcast
Rhinestone - ? (This is a mashup of Glen Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy" and something else. I have no idea what the other record is, though.)
Never Can Say Goodbye - The Jackson 5

A Few Non-Phillies Baseball Thoughts

While we wait to see if Roy II (Oswalt) can live up to the performance of Roy I (Halladay) in Game 2 of the NL Division Series tomorrow, here are some comments on some of the other series...

Both Tampa Bay and Minnesota are on the brink of elimination already, both losing twice at home to fall behind 2-0 in the best-of-five series. And today, both teams' managers were ejected under similar circumstances.

At Tampa Bay, the Texas Rangers' Michael Young tried to check his swing on a 2-2 pitch in the 5th inning. The umpires ruled he did. On the next pitch he hit a 3-run homer to give the Rangers a 5-0 lead. Rays manager Joe Maddon (who was just shown in a vitamin commercial saying it's important he keep his focus, or something) went out to talk to his pitcher, yelled at the first-base ump who made the checked-swing ruling, and was thrown out of the game.

At Minnesota, Twins pitcher Carl Pavano thought he had the Yankees' Lance Berkman struck out looking in the 7th, but the pitch was called a ball, and Berkman then doubled in the go-ahead run. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire came out to talk to Pavano, and stayed until the home plate umpire came out to break up the gathering at the mound, and Gardenhire then said something that led to his ejection.

Just a strange coincidence, but both the Rays and Twins are struggling and the loss of composure needs to be solved if either team wants to make a miraculous comeback and prevent a Yankees-Rangers AL championship series.

Phillies: Ode To Roy

It's times like these that make a boy want to sing! (And if you don't know the tune this boy is singing, shame on you. And turn in your gay card if you own one.)


Halladay, celebrate
Halladay, celebrate


Yeah, we've got Roy Halladay
It's our time to dominate
Dream of one more parade
As the Phils, the Phils got it made
Everybody spread the word
We'll have another celebration
All across the town
In Phillies Nation
It's time for Doc-tober
The Reds will soon be over, oh yeah
Braves or Giants, say adieu
And those AL losers too
'Cause we've got Halladay...

Just about everyone expected Roy Halladay would thrive under playoff pressure, though some thought that it might be more difficult for him since he hasn't been in the postseason before, and others worried about his workload (leading the majors in innings pitched).

No one could have expected him to pitch just the second no-hitter in postseason history, beating the Cincinnati Reds 4-0 in Game 1 of the NL Division Series.

2010 Division Series Predictions

I figured I'd better document these before tomorrow, when the baseball playoffs begin.


American League

Texas vs. Tampa Bay: Texas has Cliff Lee now but Tampa has playoff experience from 2008 and had a much tougher road to get into the postseason than did the Rangers. Rays in 4.

NY Yankees vs. Minnesota: Boy, would I love love love to see the Twins finally break through and beat the Yankees. Unfortunately, Yankees in 5.

National League

Atlanta vs. San Francisco: Braves staggered in September. Giants not only caught up to San Diego but held off Colorado as well. Low-scoring series. Giants in 4.

And, as always, saving the best for last...

Cincinnati vs. Philadelphia: The Reds are the Phillies...of 2007: an upstart division winner that goes out in the first round. The Phillies are the Reds...of 1976, the Big Red Machine that easily pushed aside another upstart division winner, the Phils. Phillies in 4.

The One Where I Threaten To Cancel My Subscription

Thought I'd share a letter I wrote today to the new CEO of the Phila. Daily News about this article that was in Saturday's paper...

Philadelphia Daily News
ATTN: Gregory J. Osberg
CEO, Philadelphia Media Network Inc.
400 N. Broad St
Philadelphia PA 19130


Dear Mr. Osberg:


I have been a subscriber to the Philadelphia Daily News for a few years now, after buying the paper every day on the newsstand since the Bulletin ceased publication in 1982. I have been a loyal customer and still believe in the importance of newspapers in our society. I realize that you are just now taking charge of the Daily News and Inquirer; this requires attention nonetheless.


On Saturday, October 2, 2010 your paper ran, on a page devoted to “Faith,” an article by John Freeman, President of Harvest USA. Harvest USA is an organization that seeks, under the pretense of “ministering,” to convert gay people to heterosexuality. They consider homosexuality to be a sin, something they can “cure.” They do not believe that some people are born gay, as has become clearly obvious by now to most people based on anecdotal as well as scientific evidence.

Phils Playoff Tickets Are Mine! Or Not...

Here's the text of the email I just sent to the Phillies, who have offered me the "opportunity" to buy tickets to Game 1 of the NL Division Series tomorrow...

You sent me an email saying I have the opportunity to purchase NLDS tickets. The email instructs me to:

1. Click the "Buy Tickets" button below.
2. Underneath "Postseason Ticket Opportunity," click the "Activate Your Account Online" button.
3. Enter your Account Number and your PIN (located above) in the appropriate fields.
4. Click the "Activate" button to proceed through the purchase process.

I did all that and got a message saying my email address is already in use and to try another. I tried my other email address and got the same message. If I log in as a returning customer I get "no events/items available."

Clearly your system is flawed since I can't purchase tickets using the account number/PIN you sent me or the ones I already have, so thanks for nothing.

UPDATE: The email response from the Phillies' ticket office:

Thank you for your email. All you have to do is enter an email address that is not associated with any other offers you have received from the Phillies or your Phillies account. You may need to create an email account or use a family member's email address.

So, since I'm not a season ticket holder and doubt that I'll be able to afford to be one any time soon, I'm supposed to create another email account? And then another one next year? And yet another the year after that? Or use someone else's email address, assuming that they don't have their own Phillies account? And by the time I create a new email account, or get someone's permission to use theirs, and assuming I can access their email somehow to get my email to confirm my purchase/print out the tickets, do you think there will actually be any tickets left to buy? The sale started at 3 pm today. I logged on at 3:05 pm. Tickets for eight Eagles home games sell out in 15 minutes or less. How fast do you think the small number of tickets for this one Phillies playoff game would go? Hell, I'm sure they're gone already anyway.

Unreal. Remind me next year to not register for the lottery to buy playoff tickets.

My Week In Comics 9-30-10

Three books here, and only one this coming week...unless I get the second printing of something recent that I somehow missed. (I'm being cryptic on purpose. Guess if you want, though.)

Action Comics 893: So I know, just from years of reading DC Comics, that there's a powerful, super-intelligent gorilla called Grodd. (Here, Grodd is the latest to encounter Lex Luthor, his Lois Lane android and his team of employees on their quest for a black power ring.) I don't recall buying many books that actually featured Grodd, so forgive me when I ask: why does Grodd use a combat spoon and when did he start eating brains? Anyway, even without Superman in his own book this is an entertaining ride. The book now also a second feature that stars Jimmy Olsen, with the goal of reinventing him a bit -- still getting into lots of adventures, but a lot more current than young and nerdy. It also introduces the character of Chloe Sullivan, created for TV's "Smallville," into the DC universe.

Gotham City Sirens 16: I complained about this series recently, but this issue is an improvement from recent ones, so I won't be dropping it just yet. This story arc guest-stars Zatanna (in Gotham because, believe it or not, Batman has technology that can detect magical activity) and Talia al Ghul (there because she learns of a threat against Catwoman).

Futurama Comics 51: They've already run all the new episodes on Comedy Central, at least for now, so once again the only new stories are in this book. As usual, wacky circumstances lead to something even more wacky -- in this case, Fry becoming the new royal chef of Omicron-Persei 8.

No Time To Read!

What's a boy to do? While downtown yesterday I stopped in Giovanni's Room, the oldest LGBT bookstore in the country. Sure, my financial situation requires I save as much as I can when shopping, so I'm often buying from Amazon or other discount sites, but I still think it's important to spend locally and support local businesses, particularly those that are gay-owned or gay-friendly. So those of you with more disposable income, please pick up the slack for me! Anyway, today I picked up the paperback edition of Gregory Maguire's "A Lion Among Men," the third volume in the "Wicked" series -- the original, of course, having been turned into the spectacular Broadway musical.

Problem: I now have a backlog of four books to read! In addition to the book I bought today, I have the Harry Kalas biography "Harry the K" by Randy Miller, Simon Doonan's memoir "Beautiful People" (turned into the delightful BBC series that aired on Logo in the USA) and the novel "Boomsday" by Christopher Buckley (the hardcover, picked up for $1.80 at a Borders Express that was having a store-closing sale). I've read the first chapter of the Doonan book, and that's it. Four books -- no, wait! I also have the five Scott Pilgrim books I got at more than half-off through Amazon. Even though they're graphic novels, they're like little paperbacks, ranging from 184 to 248 pages. So that's nine books to read! Plus I get Entertainment Weekly and Sports Illustrated every week, the Phila. Daily News six days a week, the websites and blogs I read online, Facebook and Twitter...and then there are the TV shows I watch regularly, and sports...Eagles and NFL, Phillies in the baseball playoffs, and now this coming week the Flyers begin the new season? Helllllllp! I'm drowning!

NL Playoff Scenarios Could Be Amazing

The Phillies are still waiting to find out who they'll play in the National League Division Series starting Wednesday. Only the Phils (NL East) and Cincinnati Reds (NL Central) have clinched. The San Francisco Giants lead the San Diego Padres by 1 game in the NL West and the Padres and Atlanta Braves are tied for the NL Wild Card. Tomorrow, in their final regular season games, the Phils play Atlanta and the Padres and Giants play. So what happens tomorrow?

Here are the possibilities, from the Philly.com Phillies' blog, High Cheese:

1) If the Phillies lose and the Padres lose, it's Phillies-Reds and Giants-Braves in the playoffs.

2) If the Phillies win and the Padres win, it's Phils-Giants and Padres-Reds.
3) If the Phillies win and the Padres lose, the Padres and Braves play a one-game playoff in Atlanta Monday for the Wild Card. If the Padres win, it's Phils-Padres and Reds-Giants. If the Braves win, see 1 above.
4) If the Phillies lose and the Padres win, it gets really good. The Padres and Giants play a one-game playoff on Monday for the NL West. The loser of that game flies across the country to play the Braves on Tuesday for the Wild Card. If the Braves win, the Phils play the Reds. If the Braves lose, the Phils play the NL Wild Card, either Giants or Padres.

It's this complicated in part because a Wild Card team can't play the division winner from their own division in the NLDS so the Phillies can't play the Braves in the first round, even though the Phils (because they clinched the best NL record) would normally play the Wild Card team.

Random Stuff: B-52's, MLB on Fox, McNabb

Just covering a few things at once...

• My ears are still ringing some from last night's B-52's concert. Between their show and the opening act, a Philly band named Gang, the music was really loud. When I blogged about my trip to the box office to pick up the ticket, I had a comment saying the B-52's were now "a tired act." I can understand that a little, since the commenter had seen them perform here in 1979 and 1980. They do look a little older, a little heavier (well, not Keith Strickland -- he looks yummy), but I thought it was a great show and the crowd seemed to agree. I took some video but the sound quality is pretty bad because it was so loud and the camcorder in my cell phone isn't that special, so I don't think I'll bother posting it. (Plus a couple of them are sideways because I held the phone sideways. I have to remember to slide out the keyboard first if I want a wider view.)

• On the final weekend of the baseball regular season, Fox is again showing the less meaningful Yankees-Red Sox game instead of the crucial Giants-Padres matchup. The Padres need to win to stay alive for both the NL West and NL Wild Card. The Giants are trying to clinch the NL West, and at the same time hurt San Diego's chances of catching the Braves for the Wild Card. (If current results -- Padres leading, Braves losing to the Phillies -- hold, tomorrow will be a heck of a day for clinchers and there could even be a one-game playoff on Monday.)
  
  Oddly enough, though the Phillies are also playing at the same time, they're showing the Phils on Comcast Sportsnet. I think they're on Fox as well in parts of the country. Usually if the Phils are one of the Fox games, Fox shows the game locally. It's hard to believe that Fox isn't blacking out a local Phils telecast, and that they're showing us the stupid New York-Boston crap instead of the game that directly affects the Phillies -- the Giants-Padres will help determine the Phils' first playoff opponent. They'd get more people here switching back and forth between Fox and Comcast if Fox were showing the Giants-Padres here.

• I've avoided all of the national sports outlets this week because, not unexpectedly, they're too busy taking potshots at Philadelphia and at Eagles fans. After all, Donovan McNabb returns to the Linc tomorrow for the first time as a Washington Redskin. Between McNabb, drama queen/martyr that he is, and his suck-ups in the national media, there's really no reason to watch ESPN or NFL Network or visit any of the national sports websites. There's no actual journalism there this week as it relates to the Eagles, only misinformation, outright bias and lazy (blah blah blah Santa Claus 40 years ago blah blah blah) writing. Of course, it's not exactly fun listening to WIP either, with the callers and hosts pushing their own agendas re: McNabb. So, many heartfelt thanks to the Phillies for giving me another playoff run to keep my mind off the Eagles/McNabb melodrama.