Japan

I was on Twitter and dreading a barrage of Charlie Sheen news (apparently police were raiding his house last night) when the first mention of an earthquake in Japan hit my news feed. It turned out to be so devastating that, at least for now, just about everyone seems to be ignoring Mr. Sheen. I wish it had been something less terrible than this, however, knocking him off the airwaves and Twitter/Facebook pages.

I started switching between CNN and MSNBC, fascinated and horrified. Fascinated because it's not often you see a disaster movie come to life. Horrified because of the destruction, of course, and also because of the quality of television news. Granted, it was the middle of the night in the United States and the anchors pressed into service aren't the most famous names. But I heard some inane commentary.

One woman on MSNBC kept interrupting her interview subject, an NBC producer stationed in Tokyo, to ask if he could see the video that was being shown. At another point, she and a Weather Channel meteorologist were discussing the tsunami warning issued for Hawaii and the two of them couldn't figure out the time difference between Hawaii and the U.S. East Coast. Sample: "If it hits the East Coast at 5 a.m then it's 3 a.m. there..." The two went back and forth until finally someone informed the weather guy that there was a five-hour difference. Of course, it wouldn't be easy for the tsunami in the Pacific to hit the East Coast.

Perhaps the worst came when there was video of the water surging over some farmland. There was a comment -- and I"m not sure which network I saw it on -- to the effect that "it's good that the tsunami hit a sparsely-populated area." There were a number of buildings and vehicles in the area they were showing. Just because it's not a big city doesn't mean it's not populated. Besides, the tsunami didn't just hit one area of the coast. Look at the video below. Those houses came from somewhere.



So often the interviews (of experts and eyewitnesses) make me NOT want to watch the news, even when it's something like this, the interviews are that bad. Just let the cameras show the event. If you have a reporter on the scene, let the reporter talk.

Philly Fans Pushing Panic Buttons?

Surprise: sports content on my blog! It's been a while. However, there are a few things that need to be discussed.

First, let's not go overboard on the Flyers just yet. Sure, they had a four-game losing streak before last night, losing to teams ranging from middle-of-the-pack to the bottom of the standings (including a 7-0 embarrassment against the New York Rangers). And the win that broke that string wasn't exactly impressive (after a dominating first period, they allowed the poor Edmonton Oilers to stay in the game right to the end). But they're still in first place in the Eastern Conference and it's best to get the bad games out of their system before the playoffs start. Also, apparently a combination of a flu bug and -- believe it or not -- too much practice took a lot of energy out of them last week.

On the other hand, it might be time to worry about the Phillies just a little. I repeat: just a little. For now.

Chase Utley hasn't played in a game all spring due to a right knee problem. While it doesn't seem to be getting worse (it's not getting better, either, which is the problem), the pronouncements from the Phillies seem to get a little less optimistic each time. It's gone from "just sore and needs a day or two of extra rest" to "MRI shows tendinitis, needs more rest" to "getting a cortisone shot in the knee" to "doing another MRI, mild patellar tendinitis and chondromalacia." Some (and by "some" I mean rabid talk-show callers) have decided it's time to make a major trade because Utley's out for the season. This is soooooooo way off in the future. They're going to give the knee rest and treatment and worry about possible surgery if that doesn't work.

But it does seem likely that Utley won't be in the lineup at the start of the regular season. The Phils already have the Jayson Werth hole to fill. That right field job seems to be Ben Francisco's to lose, since Domonic Brown went 1-for-16 to start the exhibition season before breaking a bone in his hand and undergoing surgery that will have him out for up to 6 weeks. After that, I'm sure Brown will go to the minors until either Francisco (and other possibile fill-ins such as Ross Gload and John Mayberry Jr.) fails or Brown is crushing triple-A pitching so much that the Phils bring him back. If Utley misses significant time, it'll add a little more pressure on Ryan Howard and the rest of the lineup. Even the Phils' mighty starting pitchers can't win games if the offense struggles.

Although there's no panic button being pushed here, I have to mention the 76ers. They've been on quite the run. They lost tonight in overtime, letting a 5-point lead get away in the last minute, but they've still got a winning record (33-31, 30-18 since their 3-13 stumble from the gates). Everyone who follows basketball says that right now they're a fun team to watch, but that fun isn't selling tickets as their attendance is still terrible. I have a dream, though: that the Sixers knock off that ridiculous Miami Heat team in the first round of the playoffs. It's likely a pipe dream, but wouldn't it be awesome?

Which TV Legend Invaded My Dream?

(Note: This picture of deep-fried Oreos is a placeholder. When the Networked Blogs Facebook app posts this it displays the first picture as a preview, and I don't want it to spoil the surprise.)




Normally I don't remember my dreams after I wake up. Sometimes they linger in my mind a little, and then fade. Now and then I have a dream that is so off-the-wall that it can't help but embed itself into my brain. The best example of this is the one where I was dreaming that I was in bed and someone I used to work with...wait, I'm not ready to discuss that one.

I had two dreams a while back in which guys I've played softball with were actors, or supposed to be actors. In the first, I was walking down the street and saw George sitting in a car. He was dead...or so I thought until someone said, "Don't worry, we're just filming a scene."  I will say that George was a very convincing corpse.

In the other, I was walking around the fields at a city recreational center and in the middle of the baseball diamond there was a big-screen TV there tuned to a show. People in the dream were all talking about waiting to see Freddy on the show. Then, the scene ended and a voiceover said, "Stay tuned for scenes from our next episode." No Freddy! Sorry, dude. I'm sure you were great, though.

This morning's dream, however, may top them all. (Except that first one I mentioned that I'm not discussing, but that's for a different reason.) I was watching a baseball game. I think it was on TV at first. Then, suddenly, up to the plate stepped...

NOT Street Art

One of the local blogs I check out (and follow via Twitter) is Streets Dept., which features photos (and sometimes video) taken around the city, focusing on things like fashion, art, things happening on the streets, or just some nice scenes. (See what I did there? Photos, video...focusing...there's no "off" position on my genius switch, I tell you.) Often you will see on the blog examples of street art -- stickers, graffiti, wheat pastings, even that yarn bombing stuff that seems to be so popular that it still brings some hits to my blog.

I bring this up because (1) I wanted to give a shout out to Streets Dept. and (2) to point out that the picture you see here is NOT street art.

I found a number of these stenciled onto the sidewalks around center city the other day. The Philadelphia Soul is our Arena Football team (in other words, not real football since they play it indoors on the floor of the hockey rink with artificial turf laid on top). They used to be part-owned by Jon Bon Jovi, and they won the league's championship in July 2008. A Philadelphia team winning a title (remember, this was before the Phillies broke through in October of that year) so freaked out the powers that be that the league went out of business, denying the Soul an opportunity to defend their crown. That, and they mentioned something about the economy tanking.

The league came back in 2010, but without the Soul. However, this year...well, you can see from the picture when they return to action. Before they were shut down, they did get some good crowds to the CoreStates First Union Wachovia Wells Fargo Center. We'll have to see if the buzz picks back up after two lost years and one departed rock star/owner.

As for those stenciled ads? I'm assuming this weekend's rain will have washed that stuff away.

People Are Strange

A couple of odd things to discuss -- one in real life and one online. To be precise, the subject of this first story isn't so much as strange as he is sneaky.

I was walking to the corner of Frankford and Morrell Avenues this afternoon to catch a bus. I noticed a young guy -- I'd say in his 20's -- standing there and, as cars pulled up at the red light, went over to the cars to say something. As I arrived at the corner I could hear him, and then he saw me and asked me the same thing he was asking the people in their cars: "Can you spare some change so I can get on the bus?"

"No, sorry," I replied. My judgment was that he seemed a little drunk or high. It was odd because it was mid-afternoon, he didn't look like a typical homeless person asking for money, and my part of the city isn't an area where homeless people congregate. I also noticed earbuds in his ears -- either attached to a cell phone or mp3 player. For a couple of minutes he continued to ask drivers (incluiding a couple who pulled into the gas station on the same corner) for change. Then, finally, success. A driver handed him at least one dollar. Since it was folded I couldn't tell if there was more than one. He then pulled out his phone and began to make a call.  Clearly he wasn't homeless.

Right after that the bus arrived. He got on before I did, and put his fare into the fare box: a single coin. In other words, a bus token! He didn't need any money for the bus after all. What a scam. I was tempted to ask him about it, but I figured I'd like to live a little longer.

Quick Review: Hall Pass

So, is "Hall Pass" based on any sort of reality? Do married couples do this in real life? Rick (Owen Wilson) and Maggie (Jenna Fischer) have been happily married for years, as have Rick's best friend Fred (Jason Sudeikis) and Grace (Christina Applegate), but the boys are a little bored and are constantly looking at hot women. On the advice of Dr. Lucy (Joy Behar), the wives give their husbands a "hall pass" from marriage. For one week they're allowed to live the single life and get everything out of their system. Two middle-aged men trying to hook up with young babes? You wouldn't expect that to go so well, but things get more complicated as the week goes on. Raunchy -- it's from the Farrelly brothers, and one scene is much more disgusting than the hair-gel scene in "There's Something About Mary" -- but sort of predictable, but it's got some laughs (and in one scene, the two extremes of male frontal nudity). I liked it more than I thought I would going into the theater. My grade: B-minus.

Quick Review: Gnomeo & Juliet

You already know that "Gnomeo & Juliet" is basically "Romeo & Juliet" but with garden gnomes. Gnomeo (voice of James McAvoy) is one of the Blue Gnomes, who are feuding with the Red Gnomes from the yard next door. He meets Juliet (Emily Blunt), who is a Red, they fall in love, etc. Since this is an animated movie for kids (which tries hard to be as funny for adults as the better of the "Shrek" films, but falls short) the story isn't quite the same. You may also already know that Elton John executive-produced this and some of his songs are used in the film -- sometimes his original recording and sometimes orchestral versions. You might even know there are a couple of new Elton John songs in the film. But what you didn't know is that one of the new songs is a duet with Lady Gaga. Now, every time you see "you" in the previous sentences, replace it with "I" and you'll understand why I was perplexed just now when I read that Gaga was singing in the movie (although on the soundtrack album only Elton's solo version appears). Either it didn't register in my brain or I didn't recognize her voice at all or something. Next time I'm at the theater, I'll have to try and sneak in at the point it's used in the movie to hear it again. My grade: C-minus.

Quick Review: I Am Number Four

The premise of "I Am Number Four" is this: the planet Lorien was destroyed by alien invaders called the Mogadorians, but nine children (along with guardians) were able to escape to Earth. These kids have special powers and at some point in the future will be able to defeat their enemy, so the Mogadorians are hunting them down. For reasons that aren't clear they have to be killed in order, and at the beginning of the film we see Number Three meet his maker. Hence the title, and the teenager in question (Alex Pettyfer) is in hiding with his guardian (Timothy Olyphant) in Ohio. They had to leave Florida because his powers began kicking in. With faked ID, etc. he enrolls in high school and falls for a girl (Dianna Agron from "Glee"), deals with a bully -- her ex-boyfriend -- and befriends a fellow student whose father disappeared years earlier, and things happen that draw the attention of the Mogadorians. So it's sort of like "Twilight" with a Superman-like twist (alien kid's home planet destroyed, he survives by being sent to Earth, develops super-powers) and a girl from "Glee" who isn't much of an actress. Not horrible but not in any way special. My grade: C-minus.

SI Conspiracy Confirmed!

Remember when Sports Illustrated kept sending me issues of their magazine even after my subscription expired? Then they sent me the Swimsuit Issue? THIS Swimsuit Issue...

...which they clearly sent me because they wanted to convert me to heterosexuality? Remember how I wrote that they couldn't just send me the issue because it would be too obvious, that they had to keep sending me issues weekly before the week of the Swimsuit Issue to make it look like they mistakenly forgot to stop sending me the magazine?

Well, I now have absolute proof that my theory is correct: since the Swimsuit Issue there have been three more issues of Sports Illustrated, including the newest one (cover date: March 7) and I haven't received any of them.

The verdict: guilty! Sports Illustrated, only the fact that the print industry is in such terrible -- possibly terminal -- condition keeps this court from handing down a harsh sentence. As this is a merciful court, I'm letting you off with a warning. THIS time.

My iTunes Shuffle Baker's Dozen 3-1-11

Welcome to March! In exactly one month the Phillies open the 2011 regular season. And about three weeks after that I begin the Final Countdown to Five-Oh. But let's not think about that depressing concept, shall we? Instead, while you wait for me to get to work writing about the movies I've seen in the last week, let's see what iTunes shuffled into my ears today...

Who Makes You Feel - Dido
That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore - The Smiths
Let's Stay Together - Al Green
Why Don't We Live Together - Pet Shop Boys
I Want You - Cee Lo Green
Left Outside Alone - Anastacia
Brian Wilson - Barenaked Ladies
King Without A Crown - ABC
Where Life Begins - Madonna
Lovin' You - Tony Toni Tone
Confusion - New Order
He's A Dream - Shandi
Slave Song - Sade