Month: October 2015

Fall Classic 2015

LET’S GO METS!

I still can’t believe that they swept the Chicago Cubs and are going to play the World Series.  Unfortunately, I’m not the most optimistic of fans (I believe I heard today that Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts on WFAN describe themselves as “realistic” Mets fans, which I’d agree to being).  I’m getting a little nervous that the Mets have such a long stretch of rest.  There is an argument to be made that they’d use this to get the pitching rotation ready.  The NY Times has this handy analysis about how teams that sweep in their league championship series don’t win World Series (which Kansas City Royals already experienced last year).  Don’t lose the momentum; stay focused.  Got to keep believing in the meantime, I guess.

Cool looking item in the NY Times, reporting the NY Mets’ win over the Chicago Cubs in the style of a 1908 article, 1908 being the last time the Cubs won the World Series.  Actually, I do feel sorry for Cubs fans.  The Cubs have to win it all someday.

The reality is that it’s nice that Mets baseball is fun again, and winning is a nice feeling.  Enjoy it while we can!

But, because the Cubs didn’t win, the prophecy of “Back to the Future II” regarding 2015 did not get fulfilled.  Well, at the end of “Back to the Future III,” Doc Brown did tell Marty and Jennifer that the future isn’t written.  All we can do is, as Doc Brown said, make it a good one!  (check out the little item below h/t to a friend of mine who shared it on Facebook):

Doc Brown’s messageToday is the day Doc Brown sent Marty McFly Back to the Future. So here is a message for you from the Doc himself.

Posted by news.com.au on Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Meanwhile… Toronto Blue Jays vs. Kansas City Royals – still going on.  We’ll see who the Mets will be playing.

I have to say, I enjoyed the celebration of “Back to the Future” Day.  It got a little commercialized – like with the Toyota example. But, damn. That Toyota money made for a sweet looking video (ok, extended Toyota Mirage commercial).

It’s nice to think that the Back to the Future trilogy inspired a generation of scientists and engineers, and even if we don’t have flying cars or hoverboards, maybe we can convert trash into energy for our cars and whatever else. (and still make Toyota money while making energy efficient and nice looking cars).

Ultimately, it’s nice this movie from the 1980s, and its sequels, would still entertain us all so much.

Lots of fall movies to look forward to seeing… like the return of James Bond, and the reaction to the Star Wars trailer – well, I’m not sure what to make of the trailer, but it’s not like I’m not going to watch the movie when it comes out; I do want to see what director JJ Abrams did with it.   (I’m probably delusional, but what the hey; I’m even looking forward to the return of X-Files in January).

I’m behind on a lot of things, as usual. But, hope springs eternal. Maybe it won’t be too long before the next blog post…I

OMG October 2015!

It’s October.  Time’s flying by; good grief.

As least that Hurricane Joaquin didn’t hit us.  (I kept calling it Hurricane “Joaquin Phoenix” to amuse myself, I have to say).  Thank goodness.   People in the northeast tried not to panic.   Instead, we had a cold, wet, and windy nor’easter. Not convenient or pretty, but not a hurricane.  And, it was nice to see the sun on Sunday.  Oh, and MTA subways were running, because they cancelled the weekend construction because of storm fears. Uh… yeah…

NY Mets won today.  NY Giants won.  NY Jets won.  NY Yankees got home field advantage for their one-day wild card playoff.   That’s what you’ll get from me as the casual sports fan.

As a follow up to the previous post on Fall TV, I share the following link: Linda Holmes’ article on “Television 2015: Is There Really Too Much TV?”  I share it because it asked the question that I’ve been wondering about, and I remembered seeing it when it came out, but I didn’t get a chance to share it at the time of the prior post.  Check it out; Holmes pondered it and while she acknowledged that there is a lot out there, is it really that bad to have a lot that we like?  I don’t know; but, I am frustrated that I’m behind on everything and I feel like I can’t keep up.

Plus, I’ve been getting back to fiction writing and it’s October.  National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is right around the corner.  Gasp.

More Fall TV follow up: I’ve been watching “Dancing With the Stars.”  I can never quite say if “the stars” are really stars (not to me, and especially not if they were on, say, a Real Housewives show).  But, the professional dancers are starting to feel like the stars, to me, and they’re fun to watch as far as their skills and artistry are concerned.

I generally watched the first week of “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” on Comedy Central.  I thought that it was pretty entertaining so far; Trevor Noah is new, yes; he has big shoes to fill; but he felt like was a little naughty (there were some jokes that I don’t think Jon Stewart would have done) and newsy (still on that current events thing), with that different perspective (whether you want to call that different perspective that of the “Person of Color” or “non-American” or whatever).  I’ll be hopeful.

Because I’ve been watching a lot of Colbert on CBS, I’ve ended up watching some of James Corden on “The Late Late Show” right after it.  He’s quite talented. I think that I’ve moved past the “wait, he did two episodes or so on Doctor Who” as Craig, the Doctor’s roommate (the 11th Doctor, as played by Matt Smith), and I liked him as the Baker on “Into the Woods.”  He’s quite talented, I have to say.  His recent thing with Matt Damon on “The Late Late Show” was hilarious for covering the various roles of Matt Damon.  I liked “The Late Late Show” with Craig Ferguson, but James Corden is okay (even though he makes it so that there are too many people named “James” or “Jimmy” on late night tv).

Speaking of Stephen Colbert, seeing John Oliver on Colbert was fun – if only to hear Oliver be all candid and funny (well, certainly candid about how he doesn’t care about Donald Trump).

Doctor Who continued its entertaining momentum.  I’m not sure whether I quite like how this season has a “Parts 1 and 2” thing over last season’s series of one story episodes. I recall that BBC did paired episodes way back in the first season of “nuWho,” for the 9th Doctor and Rose, and maybe it works for the 12th Doctor and Clara, giving them some room to breathe and smooth over the plot holes moments.  But, the one story episodes were crackling with tension and absurdity (which was their way of covering for plot holes); the paired stuff so far really does make one wonder how Part 2 will work to make Part 1 look workable.

But, hey, the Doctor and Clara are back in the Tardis.  All good.  So far, anyway (because one never knows what can happen to the companion!).

On to Monday and another work week… and the Major League Baseball playoffs!  I still cannot believe that the NY Mets are in it, and I wonder how far they’ll go.  Let’s enjoy this while we can, Mets fans!