It's Halloween. Everyone's entitled to one good scare.

We're officially at the midway point of our mid-Movie sabbatical. We've been keeping busy in the interim. Doing what, you say?

- Attending reunions! We've attended formal events for both Regis and Syracuse - and, curiously, both involved significant amounts of bruschetta, beer, and conversations leading off with "I remember..."

- Eating dinner at the bar! OK, we've done this maybe 2-3 times, but in that line of business, you meet the most interesting monsters over a Sam Adams Oktoberfest and a Grilled Chicken sandwich. And they can talk.

- Watching the World Series! Or did I? I blinked. Is it over? Poor Rox. So caught up on the magic carpet ride, they didn't see the train rolling down the tracks. Well, the Sox'll be around for a while. And so will...

- A-Rod Opts Out!* Isn't it amazing how, deep down, nobody really wants a perennial 50 HR, 150 RBI infielder at the prime of his career? "Sign me up for a decade of also-rans and premature postseason exits, please!"

T-minus 10 days to go before Shopaholic commences. Bring on Van Halen, house sitting, and more of the free party mix.

*Ok, I didn't have anything to do with A-Rod opting out. Sue me. I point it out in utter fear of the Mets doing something rash like, say, signing him to a 10-year, $300 million dollar contract. The fact that it's anything but an unequivocal "NO!" frightens me. The Mets need a second baseman and pitching. Neither are A-Rod (nor Wright's suggestion to move to 2B to allow A-Rod to play 3B). A-Rod also doesn't make the Mets the team to beat because he clearly didn't make the Yankees that, either.

A-Rod will go to the highest bidder regardless of that team's standing as a contender. The Mets need that kind of character like they need a hole in the head.

Denver, the Last Dinosaur

I'll admit - I attempted to purchase Rockies' World Series tickets today, and had a plan in place to make it out to Denver for the games. Admittedly, the Rox prepared themselves for the plan as much as I did - and crashed all their servers so no one could buy tickets. We'll try again tomorrow.

This was a far cry from my visit to Coors Field two years ago. I bought the tickets at the Stadium Box Office day of game with no wait.

That's evolution for you.

I get a good vibe from the World Series, which is comforting because the Collapse of '07 left a sour taste for baseball. I'm excited about this week - So what the Rox only joined the league 14 years ago? So what the Sox lost some luster after winning in '04? This feels like baseball. Rox v. Sox for all the marbles? I'm on board.

There's no teams that "snuck in the back door," or seem unworthy. Colorado and Boston earned their keep. They both show a lot of pride, have something left to prove, and clearly aren't in a "We're Happy to be Here" mode. This Series could end up like the '91 World Series - no wins for the away teams.

In which case, that's Boston in 7.

Regardless, it's about the journey since the destination doesn't involve Flushing, NY. Some time very soon - the Mets will get their due. This week, though... just give me a damn good ball game and I'll call it even.

We're moving on, I swear.

I haven't gone on and on about the Mets' Great Collapse of '07 because nothing more needs to be said. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that my indifference about the matter worries me more than their collapse. They blew it, and I don't care. Next season will be about them winning my respect back as it will to get back to the promised land.

And then you get a few more reminders...

...like how you can purchase a $200 commemorative brick to sit in front of Citifield...

...which will be appropriate, considering you most likely won't be able to get INTO Citifield.

There are days where I legitimately hate the business of sports. This is one of them.

That's where we'll find it, the Rainbow Connection.

Radiohead released their new album, "In Rainbows," today. You, I, and everyone else can download it free (and legally) from their website. Or, really, for a "suggested donation" of whatever you feel like paying.

Oasis might follow suit.

I am OK with this development.

$1,011.05

Yep, that's how much I've saved by the Mets and Yankees being eliminated in the playoffs prematurely. Here's the breakdown:

4 Mets NLDS Game 1 Tickets: $228.00
*See, I would've made it to a game if they qualified. Would've cut work and everything.
4 Mets NLDS Game 5 Tickets: $328.00
*It wouldn't have gone 5, but you take what you can get...
2 Yankees ALCS Game 5 Tickets: $209.05
*Was supposed to take Erin to Yanks v. Sox; she shouts obscenities about it now like a true member of Red Sox Nation
3 Phillies NLCS Game 4 Tickets: $246.00
*Blatant attempt to make money reselling tickets after Mets go home early. If I have to put up with Phillies' fans crap until spring, then at least I could've made a few bucks off 'em. Or go eat cheesesteaks. One or the other.

And are we done? We'll see.

And now, we retire our late September sports blog and return you to your regularly scheduled blog.

An old friend of mine (we'll call him "Super Cool") turned me on to '80s hair metal while at Syracuse. I couldn't get into it before college - it just seemed so shallow.

Then, I learned the wonders of Poison, Bon Jovi, and the like. I learned to appreciate (not always enjoy) the reincarnation of Nikki Six, the requisite monster ballads of, well, all of them, and that Van Halen did indeed have a third front man (Gary Cherone, formerly of Extreme).

There's a fascinating duality in hair metal that I feel other music doesn't emote. On the one hand, you have visions of masculinity - a cowboy riding on his steel horse, with a woman at home he can't describe in mere words while recovering from a past love, his thorny rose. It's good, honest, simple music.

On the other hand - it's inexplicably awful. Leather pants. Long hair. Some of the corniest lyrics this side of a boy band. It's awful.

Still, it's their songs. It's not recycled, or canned in Hollywood. There's no pop irony such as Natasha Bedingfield's "There Words Are My Own" (writing credit to Stephen Allen Kipner & Andrew Marcus Frampton).

And so, I continue to hope to see Bon Jovi in concert next month - he's playing for 2 weeks at the new arena in Newark - and not rolling eyes at future attempts.

Who's with me?

And now those NLDS tickets are refunded.

"I cannot get rid of the hurt from losing, but after the last out of every loss, I must accept that there will be a tomorrow. In fact, it's more than there'll be a tomorrow, it's that I want there to be a tomorrow. That's the big difference, I want tomorrow to come."
-Sparky Anderson

That one's my stock quote whenever the Mets get eliminated. I read it shortly after the 2000 World Series. It resonates.

The Mets blowing a 7-game lead to the Phillies with two weeks to play? That'll resonate, too.

And not just because if you watch the TBS commercials for the MLB postseason, they still feature the Mets because who blows a 7 game lead with two weeks to play?

I get pipe dreams about winning the World Series everywhere. Usually misguided, but this year - it made some sense. It had some basis in reality. And yet, I get football and hockey season a little too early once again.

I wish I could say "Wait till next year."

"Think it was September, the year I went away,
For there were many things I didn't know.
And I still see him standing, tryin' to be a man;
I said, someday you'll understand.

"Well, I'm here to tell you now, each and ev'ry mother's son,
You better learn it fast; you better learn it young,
cause, someday never comes."
-John Fogerty, "Someday Never Comes"

I think they did it again.

"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone."
-A. Bartlett Giamatti

"It gets late early out there."
-Yogi Berra

They did it. They blew the division lead.

Goddamn it.

I've been scouring the internet for days looking for some insight, something to say "It can't be over, can it?" MLB.com and their Pythagorean Standings. Metsblog and it's pro-Willie banter. Faith and Fear to keep me grounded.

And I keep thinking of Game 7.

It rocked and rolled. We high-fived everyone after every routine ground ball. Then Yadier F'n Molina screwed it up...

He hit the home run - and no one booed or hissed. 55,000 in attendance (and no doubt millions at home) watched stunned, speechless, unable to utter a sound. I've experienced disbelief before - but never on such a large scale.

And that's where I'm at again - and hoping to endure that bottom of the ninth rally one more time... hoping the Mets rally the troops one more time... hoping they play with the fear of God in them and with more inspiration than a few scattered hits off the Craptacular St. Louis Cardinals...

...and that Beltran swings the goddamn bat this time. And the crowd goes wild this time. And that we don't blow our shot at redemption this time.

A Mets' fan's fatal flaw is that we're optimists. We caught a few breaks once upon a time (100-to-1 in '69, Buckner in '86) - and now we feel entitled not to an automatic birth to the playoffs (we'll never attain that kind of arrogance), but that somehow, someway - the boys'll come through. They won't break your heart. They will earn your respect.

I have endured years of "Mets suck"-"Who won more World Championships?"-"Shea's a hole"-"Anthony Young? Seriously?"-"Armando/Braden/John F'n Benitez/Looper/Franco"-"Worst Team Money Can Buy"-"You'll Never Catch the Braves" crap in hopes that just once - I'll witness one of those breaks. Just one, in a game I've studied and cherished more than anything on this planet.

3 games against the Marlins to earn my respect again. We're due.

Please, someone, tell me we're due.

Yes, those Mets NLDS tickets are still refundable.

Blowing 2 3-run leads makes me want to throw up. I can't remember the last time I felt like this...



Wait, yes I do.

Oh shit.

I pity the fool who lacks nougaticity.

So I'm "working" today.

And while working, I had a hunger. And then I found this:



How they're not using this ad in America... I have no idea.

We've gotta get out of this place if it's the last thing we ever do.

I think I just committed myself to like 6 more months of CT.

I just experienced a CT "summer." Now a CT "winter" as well? (The quotation marks are for "theoretical" - I never leave the office or hotel!)

Well, at least I still have the weekend house in Brooklyn. And those Mets NLDS tickets.

And refundable NLDS tickets at that.

Eagles Beat the Skins

I spent the weekend recovering from a cold.

I spent Monday meeting with our courier company, buying Mets NLDS tickets (don't worry - they're refundable), and taking care of a script revision.

I'm still in Connecticut. They won't let me leave.

Food blows here.

Blows.

Remember when I was opinionated? Those were the days...

We're freelance again.

Remember that last post where I mentioned writing for a fantasy football website?

It went under.

Damn.

It's... ALIVE!

Rather than hit you with the requisite "Where have we been? We'll start blogging again, promise!" post... how about just some quick hits instead:

- Transformers the movie? A celebration of mediocrity. Never have I seen such perfectly executed schlock that didn't have the words "Keanu Reeves" attached to it. And it felt fairly dated for a movie that came out in July. Movies that inspire you to root for the Army just need more oomph nowadays.

- I finally saw Dispatch in concert in July @ MSG. Great show. It left me thinking that if Live Earth had half the heart that Dispatch concert did (it was a charity concert raising money for Zimbabwe), it would've left a bigger footprint. Then again, Live Earth's big on the whole "reducing your footprint on the Earth" theme. So, uhh... mission accomplished.

- Admittedly, I enjoyed the Dispatch concert - but I'll always cherish the story of my failed attempt to see them previously. A friend, let's call him Obr Larcona, ran late and eventually never showed up - so Dispatch sold out the Wetlands before Joe, Alex, and I could get in. Instead, we went to a nearby diner where a waitress who couldn't speak English invited me to point to what I wanted on the menu, then proceeded to serve me a steak 'um w/ cheese and a Diet Sprite, which she passionately debated the proper pronunciation of with me. Spritz? Spritz my ass.

- I miss the Wetlands.

- Best story from this time? Not punishing the "enlightened" (by "enlightened," I mean "high on marijuana") fellow who kept running into me by hanging out right next to me (I had an aisle seat - he didn't seem to care and kept hanging over me). He disappeared in a conga line. I imagine he's still going.

- Work is rough. There are times where I completely lose track of time (I don't mean time of day - I mean, I've forgotten what month I'm in). Management didn't prep this one well - and I'm losing a great deal of sleep as a result. I've forgotten what most of my friends look like, and man, Stamford, CT... talk about mediocrity. I'm not miserable - but I am clearly and undeniably wasting my summer.

- I celebrated my 5-year anniversary last weekend with Erin. 5 years... Yep, still very much in love.

- Does anyone have any idea how the Mets are doing? I mean, seriously? Goddamn, this movie!

- I'm writing for a fantasy football website that presumably no one will ever read. Fantasy Football Star. I encourage you to read it, but the membership fee is fairly high. Well, maybe I can parlay this into something bigger. Or, I can lose more sleep.

- I cooked dinner tonight. Threw a steak on the grill, and made a caprese salad with tomatoes my neighbor gave us. I will do that more often. Always a good decision.

More to follow. Hopefully not in October.

These, Tom, are the Causeheads. They find a world-threatening issue and stick with it for about a week.

(Yes, I know I owe you a Transformers review. Don't worry - it's coming. Go read Pat's thoughts in the interim. They're not too far off.)

So I'm returned from Live Earth. I left home at 11am this morning. It's been a long day.

It started with a crazy line for a bus in Secaucus, then venturing into the stadium as KT Tunstall finished up her set. She may or may not have went second - I stopped paying attention to order rather quickly.

So, what did we learn today?

- Hipsters may have supplanted hippies. Yes, it's closed-minded and shallow - but I kinda hoped to see a line of tree-hugging hippies and militant lesbians types. Just something about a "Save the Earth" event invited that expectation, politically incorrect as it might be nowadays. Instead, I'm greeted by frat boy types and trustafarians who own green t-shirts and showed up for the party of the year and probably Dave Matthews band. If I wanted that, I would've gone to Williamsburg.

- You have to understand... this was 10 hours worth of alcohol. This was sloppy, going inexplicably crazy for Kelly Clarkson, please stop spilling your beer all over my breasts, "Yank-ees SUCK!" drunk. I haven't seen that kinda drunk since my last poker night.

- By the way, I'm changing all my light bulbs to compact florescent bulbs. Please stop reminding me.

- On Taking Back Sunday, AFI, and Fall Out Boy... they are who we thought they were. And we let 'em off the hook.

- On Melissa Etheridge and Alicia Keys... they've got a little crazy in their eyes. Entertaining, don't get me wrong. But they're a few trees short of a rain forest.

- On my inaugural Dave Matthews Band concert... oh wait, sorry. Was online for chicken tenders for that. And part of Kelly Clarkson, too. Note to self: Next time you want food at an epic concert at Giants Stadium, just buy beer instead. No wait.

- Concerts we're now further excited to attend: The Police.

- Concerts we're now looking into attending: Smashing Pumpkins, Bon Jovi.

- Nanatak. So Live Earth played all on all 7 continents, including a performance by a group of scientists stationed in Antarctica. Nanatak, as they called themselves, appeared onscreen between acts and played an original song as penguins literally walked by them. Next time you're in Antarctica, check them out.

- I had every intention of awarding Bon Jovi the "best performance of the night" tag. I'm confident enough in my masculinity to admit I'm a fan. So suck it.

Then Roger Waters hit me with this...



Yes, if that's not clear:


It's the Pink Floyd signature giant inflatable pig floating over the crowds as Roger Waters played "Another Brick in the Wall." On one side of the pig: "S.O.S. Save Our Sausages." The other side: "United We're Together, Divided We Fall."

The Pink Floyd pig has an origin. It's just a little airborne, it's still good. It's still good.

- You would think they would stock more than like 8 t-shirts that aren't XXL in the souvenir stands. I mean, I got one - but have a little consideration, people.

- The Meadowlands State Fair was going on at the same time. I thought about it. They had a slide.

- I'm all for this "Go Green" movement, encouraging conversation about global warming and the environment. That's fine by me. Surely, a plane flying overhead in the early afternoon advertising DemandDebate.com reminded me of that today.

It's just that there's something a little too "Big Brother"y about Al Gore's role in this conversation. I like him and appreciate his viewpoint - but it can get kinda creepy at times. Surely, a plane flying overhead in the late afternoon advertising "Draft Gore" reminded me of that today.

- Speaking of which, I left Live Earth asking myself what, at the end of the day, this intended to prove. Live Aid brought awareness and aid for African relief over 20 years ago. Live 8 revisited that. Now, Live Earth... yes, it's not even 24 hours since it's completion. And people know it happened... but did it/will it register? I'm not getting jaded or anything - I intend to "Answer the Call" and I have no plans to throw up my hands after completing this blog and enrolling for LSAT classes, but what's next? I remain cautiously optimistic regarding the pledge.

It's all behind me now. See you on the next one.


Aww screw it... here's 14 seconds of Bon Jovi for you...

Redefining German Efficiency

From the Daily Mail:

Oh, how it pains me to do this...

So tonight I will finally see Transformers in the movie theater.

Well, that's not entirely accurate. I've already seen Transformers the Movie in the theater. I could not cross the street nor write in cursive at the time, and my brother almost abandoned me because my parents forced him to bring me along. I saw it, though. Fortway Theater in Brooklyn, NY. August 1986.

I'm saving my "Which was better?" debate for later merely because I hold out hope that tonight will be more than a pretty, 2-hour Michael Bay blow-'em-up fest. My friend Nick (who works at Paramount and has had a sneak peak) as well as my brother who brought me that fateful afternoon (who can't stop mentioning that Spielberg's an executive producer) insist I reserve judgment. Fine.

So now, I sit and ponder why this movie's such a big deal to me. Transformers doesn't represent my penultimate uber-geek moment in my 26-year existence. I stopped reading the comic book, I don't collect the toys, I didn't even buy all of the TV show sets on DVD. This was never a "geeky" thing.

I did, however, watch it religiously with two brothers and one sister. We all collectively sat in front of the living room TV, my first experience with appointment television. Yes, Hasbro was selling toys - we didn't know that at the time. Instead, it became this thing - this bond of sorts. We watched our shows together, then wrote and acted out radio plays using just the theme song. It's this thing that doesn't happen anymore - but should. That bond remains in smaller forms - my brother brought me to Transformers the Movie in the theater, and later gave it to me on VHS so I'd have it to complete a bet at my senior prom. I gave it to my little brother when he received his first DVD player (also known as Playstation 2). We've all pledged to introduce my nephew to it when he's of age.

It was never about the nerdiness of it. It's the nostalgia. It's why tonight I'm hustling to be there to watch it with my two brothers and sister (and about 20 of our closest friends). To have that moment again...

It makes the risk of a Michael Bay crapfest that much more worthwhile.

Review and thoughts to follow.

To summarize the nonsense of earlier's post:

Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

It's still a long way to Tipperary.

Time for this blogger's requisite "Commentary on the final Sopranos episode" post.

TV owes you nothing. In consulting other friends, co-workers, bloggers, newspapers, critics, David Chase himself (in article form)... I come to the conclusion that TV owes you nothing. A lot of outrage comes from the now-infamous ending, where we may or may not have gone to blackout prematurely.

Then I realized: This wasn't a movie. This isn't a story that gets neatly wrapped up in 2 hours. TV chronicles the story, perhaps a bit too long for monetary gain, but is a serial by nature. The good ones do not stop and start at our convenience. The idea of a TV series having an ending, made popular by the Mary Tyler Moore show, well... sucks.

I asked myself about truly memorably TV series endings, episodes that give you goosebumps and make you say, "Wow." There's the Mary Tyler Moore show. Maybe MASH. And after that... I came up with nothing.

Should they survive long enough to get the opportunity to present a series finale, they all probably ended with everybody moving out (Mary Tyler Moore Show, Growing Pains, Friends, MASH, West Wing), a narrator informing you how everyone ends up (the Wonder Years, Mad About You), an episode that provides a last plot twist that neatly wraps up all outstanding issues (Cheers, the Fugitive, Malcolm in the Middle), or just a bunch of horseshit (Seinfeld, St. Elsewhere).

In the end, I liked this "open-ended or not" ending of the Sopranos because it was different, unique, new.

First, the finale was appointment television. This wasn't a show you could DVR and watch later. If you missed it, you were out of the conversation and could not avoid it. There are no shows on TV (with exception to maybe the American Idol finale) that have the ability to do that anymore. Do you think people will scramble to watch the finale of CSI? Doubtful. When an episode becomes appointment TV, it needs to raise its game.

Second, it's Thursday, and the Sopranos aired on Sunday. People still talk about it. And it's intelligent discussion. It's not "Man, that sucked" or "Man, that was awesome." It's interpretation, discussion, then airing of grievances. I'll take that any day.

Third, the open ending or not allowed for multiple interpretations, which is unique to TV. Here's the possible endings I've counted so far:

1) Tony's dead. This stems from two theories: The first comes from a flashback in the previous episode between Bobby and Tony, where they're discussing what it must be like to be whacked. Bobby described it by saying, "You never see it coming. Everything just goes black." This would evolve further if the hit were to involve Tony's family, either as viewers or victims. The hitmen would wait for the family to be there. Hence, why everything goes black as soon as Meadow walks in.

The second comes from the conspiracy theory that everyone in the restaurant is a ghost from Tony's past (the cowboy that Christopher whacked, the hitmen who botched a hit on Tony, the boy scouts from the train store where Bobby met his demise). It's a stretch, but not beyond the realm.

2) They whacked the audience. Roughly same explanation as #1, except we're the victim. The Sopranos, this theory states, live on - we just don't get to see it anymore.

3) Tony's arrested. Also the same rationale as #1, except add the conversations about Carlo flipping.

4) Tony sits down to eat dinner with his family. It seems like stating the obvious, but it makes sense. The Sopranos is a family drama, just in the setting of the modern day Italian Mafia. It dealt as much with Tony's relationship with his mother and his wife and kids as it did with politicking with Johnny Sack. It starts and ends with the family.

The cuts and characters in the diner? A red herring. Another David Chase signature.

And why the blackout? David Chase spent the second half of Season Six reminding you that Tony is a sociopath, a killer with ice water in his veins. Therefore, you can't get the happy ending here. You can't get the wide shot of the family laughing over dinner at a Jersey family restaurant institution as the camera pulls out to a wide shot of the diner under a starry night. Chase constantly debated whether crime pays (and if it does, what's the pay rate?) throughout the series. I think his answer, demonstrated under this theory, is "sometimes."

5) It was all a dream. Before the episode aired, everyone pointed back to the episode where Tony is Kevin Finnerty, a traveling salesman. They argued that Kevin's the real person and Tony's his dream. Chase wisely decided he knew his audience better than that. You could argue that the blackout ends the dream, but I don't buy it.

6) It's a microcosm of Tony's world. Why build up all the tension in the diner? To give you a taste of Tony's world. Constantly looking over his shoulder, looking for the gunmen before they find him. It's a sugar-coated ending, one last cheap thrill.

7) David Chase is fucking with you. Look, he's no dummy. He's proven himself a maestro with the music throughout the series. Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" seems unbelievable until you realize the B-side on the jukebox is "Any Way You Want It." Why building up the tension with the cut shots and looks to the man at the counter? Why not? Chase didn't know how to end it, so he figured he'd stick his dick in your ear and fuck with your mind.

Worked, didn't it? Remember your reaction 5 seconds after the credits started to roll and you realized your cable didn't go out?

------

So where does this leave us? Without the Sopranos, for one. I know there's talk about another season or a movie - but I'll pray we don't go down that road. In TV terms, it's better to walk away too soon than too late. You can't point to an instance where the Sopranos jumped the shark. Give it more opportunities and it will find one.

Also, it inspires hope for TV. The Sopranos changed things. For better or worse, we'll see. However, the networks will see the reaction from the Sopranos' finale and want the same for their shows.

Change is good. We hope.

This is my corn. You people are guests in my corn.

Man, it's been a busy week for baseball for me.

Let's see... there was...

...the two inning wait for a Dodger Dog in Chavez Ravine on Sunday...

...that very not so good free popcorn giveaway in Flushing on Thursday...

...and sweating my balls off for a Fenway frank in Beantown on Saturday.

Not bad for the unemployed. Way to start a new job next week, me.