Haiku Wednesday

Moms

A big hug and kiss
Not enough words to thank you
Love you, You're the best!

Nike+ Sportsband

My latest gadget.  When Nike first came out with the iPod attachment I thought it was a neat gimmick.  I of course bought it because I am a Nike homer.  Anyway my problem with the whole iPod was it just became too complicated.  I mean you have to get the iPod to pick up the signal, then start it, then find some place to store it, and then finally trying to run with earphones.  It became a real chore and this was new toy is just what a runner needs.  Something simple stupid.  Throw on your gear, head out the door, and you are monitoring.  I am surprised they haven't integrated this with a simple heart monitor.  I think that should be the next step.  A complete integration of heartbeats, mileage, pace, and time.

Rox Talk

A 1-6 week against Philly, Chicago, and LA. Whew, brutal week on the diamond. There was nothing good to report this week except maybe Cook's performance. Corpas lost his job, Jimenez got notice that he his on a short string, and Nix got sent back to C. Springs. When is Hurdle going to be put on the hot seat? The Roxs currently stand at 10-15. Eight games back from division leading D-backs. Currently 4-6 at home and 6-9 on the road, the Roxs have been outscored by its opponents 109-135 (expected wins is 10 versus historical wins at 12). On pace for 65 wins with 706 runs scored and 875 runs against. Roxs graphical wins (home in Purple, away in grey).

Weekly WPA leaders (overall as well):

Well actually the offensive was pretty effective last week, but of course the pitching woes accounted for pretty much all the losses last week. Posednik putting some pressure on Taveras at center. One issue that WPA has is Barmes low number. He has obviously provided a spark to the overall offensive but he hasn't hit in key situations so it really doesn't show here.

Great story in Yesterday's post written by Troy Renck (by the way, the best team writer, I think) about Tulo pressing and Todd saying "Trust me, he's going to figure it out. We all do it, go looking for answers like there's some kind of secret to hitting. He will look a lot of places, and hope somebody says that magic word. In the end, he will find the answers in himself." You know that is just a plain good quote on life in general. We all are looking for that magic word and it is basically within us (but I digress). Another great Rench line "spinning like so many ice particles in a Slushee machine" describing Corpas slider right now.

Anyway tough week much like Week 1. April seems to be playing out as a microcosm of last season. Remember Fuentes blow out in June/July? The Roxs only won 10 games last April so let's not mail it in but some pitching consistency would go a long way in smoothing the ups and downs we are seeing this April. I think I read that the Roxs bullpen has the highest number of innings pitched so far. That spells trouble to me especially in July/August.

This Week in Comics

Batman #675

Okay so this is a filler issue.  Guess the big storyline is coming up next month.  Great art, guess his son is back in the mix or at least a plotline that won't be going away too soon.

X-Force #3

Nice continuation of a pretty good lead off storyline.  All the past X-villians (non-mutants that is) are being brought back from various stages of death.  Guess they are all back for a mega showdown of epic kick butting proportions.  I don't think the team is big enough...they need to add a few more mutants to the team!

Ultimate Spider-Man #121

Filler issue.  Pretty good Jameson story.  Nice spidey action but do like complete storylines.  I am sure Bendis is busy so these filler issues help him to keep sane.  Art is still great.  Do wish Bendis would get back to the core...ever since the Clone Saga the stories just haven't been all that gripping.  No reall good spidey villians...just kind of filler.

Uncanny X-men #497

Dum dee dum...can issue #500 come so we can get through this goofy lead in story?  I mean I've got nothing very exciting to say.

In the Shadow of the Moon

In the Shadow of the Moon is one of the better films about the journey to the moon.  I have to admit the remaining Apollo astronauts have to be pretty sick of talking about this or they still are milking their journey.  I believe all of them have written a book, been in a movie or two, and even after all these years they are still incredibly unemotionable about the whole fact that of the billions of people on Earth these are still the only the only men who can gaze up to that full moon and say "Yup, been there done that" 

Actually this film does capture some emotion. They are actually a bit more dynamic then the test pilots that they are.  Perhaps they are getting in touch with themselves at the ripe old age of 70 something!  Some nice footage and a worthy film.  It will be a sad day when all the men pass on especially if we haven't been back.

Haiku Wednesday

April Showers

Springtime in Denver

Wacky weather, freaky storms

April snow showers!

Larry Niven Stephen Barnes - Achilles' Choice

Okay so the cover sort of grabbed me.  This was an old school book.  Love Niven so decided to give this a read.  Okay but not great...would have fit better in a book of short stories.  The ideals were never fully delved into and I thought the ending was kind of forced.  I mean the whole Olympic thing was just kind of thrown aside.  Very disappointing.  As an aside, I have read three books in the last 6 days and two of them had references to toast (Variable Star about putting toast on the back of cat...and Gum Thief...lots of toast stories and then variable star made reference to angels on a pin head and then Achilles Choice did the same...weird)

Rox Talk

A 4-2 week against San Diego (can that 22 inning victory count as an extra win?) and Houston. Good week, the bullpen was huge this week (see below). The Roxs are in second place (4.0 behind). The Roxs currently stand at 9-9. Currently 3-3 at home and 6-6 on the road, the Roxs have been outscored by its opponents 87-76 (expected wins is 8 versus historical wins at 8). On pace for 81 wins with 684 runs scored and 783 runs against. Roxs graphical wins (home in Purple, away in grey). Weekly WPA leaders (overall as well):

The offensive is still not getting timely hits but the Roxs are starting to score. Starting pitching has been weak except for Cook who has really given some good outings At this rate the bullpen will be dead by July. Starters are only averaging about 5 innings and pitching about 93 pitches! Fortunately the bullpen (22 inning bail out) was outstanding. Looks like Barmes has slotted himself into the 2B. Wonder why he isn't moved to the 2 hole and back Tulo into the 7th slot?

No comment on the D-bags start. Look closely at their schedule and they haven't really faced a great team yet (the Roxs played horribly and there is 5 of their wins!) . Giants and Dodgers both haven't played well and the Reds aren't the team to beat in the Central. I think the Roxs are doing just fine.

Douglas Coupland - The Gum Thief

Yup another Coupland book.  This one was okay.  Not quite as good as his past works.  I did love the "book" within the book.  The characters were quite hilarious.  They were so cookie cutter they almost had too much life to them.  Anyway the quotes of interest are below:

"Wouldn't it be great if stars turned black during the day-the sky covered with dots like pepper?"

"She thought of how rare it is that we catch glimpses of ourselves in mirrors-usually in public spaces-and see ourselves first as strangers see us"

This Week in Comics

Captain America #37

Kind of a filler issue but a bit more fill to see where the plot is off to. I am sure the Steve Rogers clone will all make sense. Interesting to see Hawkeye and Falcon take affront of the new Cap. Guess to me, taking on the mantle wasn't a big deal but boy I guess it is pretty huge. I mean the original Capt A was pretty big in the Marvel U and especially the Avengers.

The Mighty Avengers #12
Love Nick Fury. Love that Maleev and Bendis are back together. Love the call out to the old Handspring. I had one back in the day. What is the deal with the last page? Red versus Blue? When does Secret Invasion #2 come out?























Amazing Spider-Man #557

Guess this makes it the end of this run...not for sure why it went weekly. Loved the art work...story was a bit off for spidey but oh well. Big question will I keep reading that?

Robert Heinlein Spider Robinson - Variable Star

I came across this book a couple of weeks ago. Huge Heinlein fan but this one wasn't all that. Taking a 7-8 page outline and trying to write a full novel just didn't work for me. Overall the story ideal and some of the issues that came up were really good but I wish they had kept Heinlein's name off the title because frankly it is a Robinson book. I thought the whole little September 11th dialogue was a bit preachy and the religious bit just wasn't Heinlein. Anyway if your are a big Heinlein fan don't read this and touch it if you like SciFi!

Quote of the book, "Time has always struck me as one of the Allegedly Intelligent Designer's ideas that was never properly beta-tested before its implementation."

'

Haiku Wednesday

Recycling

Cans, paper, plastic
Pitch in, go green, save a tree
Good for Mother Earth

Laika - First Biological Entity in Space

Well at least the first mammal.  I guess the US at lunched some fruit fly in an old V2 back in the day.  Somewhere along the way I read some good things about this story so finally found it buried at an old favorite comic bookstore in Boulder.  Fantastic story.  The author/artist did a tremendous job coming up with a touching back story and integrating that into the real world stuff.  

50 - 100 years from now they will look back at the Cold War and be amazed by the stunts two countries would pull to try and stay ahead.  I mean the escalation of stunts over the years was amazing.  In this case a dog was sacrificed so that USSR could gloat to the world that it was technically superior.  With the fall of the wall more details come out that show how things were done.  Again the artist does an amazing job of not only drawing a cute puppy but characterizing the people.  This is an incredibly touching book.  It was very emotional and probably makes my Top 10 books of all time.

Rox Talk

A 4-2 week against Atlanta and our division rival, D-Backs. Good bounce back with the offensive starting to get on track. The Roxs are sharing third place with the Dodgers (4.0 behind). The Roxs currently stand at 5-7. Currently 3-3 at home and 2-4 on the road, the Roxs have been outscored by its opponents 65-46 (expected wins is 4 versus historical wins at 6). On pace for 68 wins with 621 runs scored and 878 runs against. Roxs graphical wins (home in Purple, away in grey).
Weekly WPA leaders:

A much better week than last week. Holliday had another monster week and leads the NL with a 1.17 WPA. Cook pitched really well this week with both Fuentes and Buckholz holding down the pen.

This Week in Comics

Fantastic Four #556

Millar's kick off story has been okay but Hitch's art has been terrible. I've always liked this team but for some reason the work lately just isn't working. To make a great team the writer and artist really need to be on the same page and unfortunately this book isn't starting on the right foot. Plus what is up with the team being scattered...this is Marvel's first family...why aren't they together! This book is on life support for me.

Amazing Spider-Man #556

Well basically bought this because I bought #555. Guess throwing Wolverine into the mix helped to get me on board. Loved the beginning line "I'm starting to wish I'd been bitten by a radioactive polar bear." Anyway Bachalo does a wonderful job. Loved his work on X-men and appreciate how he brings the story to life. I will forgive the blatant Wolverine last issue...this is worth it.

Magazine Wrap Up

New Yorker - April 14, 2008

Royall Tyler's 1797 novel "The Algerine Captive" The underlying article was to discuss religion and the founding fathers but it had an interesting lead in concerning this novel. The novel basically has a christian and muslim squaring off with the Christian trying to win his freedom. One of the muslim thoughts was you (the Christian) had inherited your beliefs but had never
examined them. Wonder if this is on gutenberg?

New Yorker - March 31, 2008

The Toven Specimen - an aluminum penny from 1974.

Another book review on David Hajdu's book "The Ten Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare and How it Changed America" Obviously being a comic book reader it is of interest how comic books have declined based on a 1954 congressional hearing. The hearing was investigating the causes of juvenile delinquency. According to a Gallup poll taken in November 1954, 70% of
Americans believed comic books were a cause of juvenile crime! Throw in TV and that was the death kneel for comics.

Wired

On moments of inspiration, Quantum Electrodynamics 1946 Richard Feynman, " I was in the cafeteria and some guy, fooling around, throws a plate in the air As the plate went up in the air I saw it wobble, and I noticed the red medallion of Cornell on the plate going around. I went to work out equations of wobbles...Then I thought about how electron orbits start to move in
relativity.." Inspiration can come from anywhere!

Haiku Wednesday

Taxes

Confusion, headaches
Sharpening pencils, deadline
Test time or tax time?

Masusume Shirow - Appleseed Book 1

Came across the reissue that Dark Horse did recently which they combined the series and printed them in Japanese format (i.e right to left read).  The original series was released back in the late eighties.  I was in high school and loved the detailed art.  Shirow was my first taste of good manga and I anxiously awaited each release.  Back in the day I really just enjoyed the art and characters.  The story just never made sense or I choose not to really care.  I vaguely remembered it.  Since the reissues it has been easier to sit down and read a series (in this case Book 1) from cover to cover and actually "get" it.  Almost 20 years later I can actually sit down and enjoy what he wrote and get a feel for the direction Shirow was taking the book.  It was quite enjoyable the second time around!  It really hasn't aged and reads very well.  It was a fantastic series, too bad Shirow probably will never get around to finishing it!  The detailed work and mechanics of it all is just fascinating.  His machines are so detailed...it is really a beautiful book.

Rox Talk

A 1-5 week against St Louis and our division rival, D-Backs. Not a real positive way to start the season. The Roxs had 51 strikeouts to go along with 47 runners left on base with .100 hitting percentage with runners in scoring position. Starting pitching wasn't that much better going an average of 5 2/3 innings and only pitching with the lead an average of 2 innings. The Roxs are sharing the cellar with the Giants in 5th place (3.0 behind). The Roxs currently stand at 1-5. Currently 0-3 at home and 1-2 on the road, the Roxs have been outscored by its opponents 32-10 (expected wins is 1 versus historical wins at 3). On pace for 27 wins with 270 runs scored and 864 runs against. Roxs graphical wins (home in Purple, away in grey).

Weekly WPA leaders:

Obviously only having 8 players in the positive is not a good thing! Holliday only leads the team because of his game tying homerun on Sunday (what about his 4 K game on Opening Day!). Morales leads the pitchers with both Fuentes and Buckholz are holding downt the pen. Nix is a surprise and the Rox Star that is Todd Helton continues to be the anchor of the team. Let's hope things fair better this week when the Braves come into town for four (can the NL Champion festivities please go away...when the team is 1-5 it gets old hearing about "our 2007 NL Champions"). And next weekend we close out the week in Phoenix...maybe we can return the favor!

Home Opener - Rockies

The home opener at Coors Field was today. Nothing like a fresh new baseball season to make your day a little brighter. It is like Christmas morning for the Spring or for guys like me. The outfield grass was as green as a crayon fresh out of the box. It snowed and rained all yesterday but today the sun was bright and hot. It was like Mother Nature wanted to get the last bit of winter out of her system to prepare the day. Fantastic day to be alive...

...And then of course the game started. As I told my friend a bad day at the ballpark is better than a good day at the office!

This Week in Comics

Secret Invasion #1

Well this is what we've been waiting for...who is a skrull, who comes back from the dead, what happens to the Marvel universe. Why 8 issues of the New Avengers have been useless (I mean really that is when Elektra was declared a skrull!) Anyway I am holding Bendis responsible for all this so it had better be good. First impressions? Good lead off can't believe Jarvis is a skrull! 7 more issues to go!

Amazing Spider-Man #555

Okay I got suckered into buying this because Wolverine and Spidey are the best team up in the business. This issue didn't disappoint...some great bickering by the two greatest Marvel heroes in the business. Don't get the Spidey every week but perhaps I will pick it up (isn't what this issue was for to get people like me interested...classic Marvel trick...put Wolverine in something and sells go up).

Buffy Season 8 #13

Good issue but the Willow question was just not Willow. Last time I checked Willow and Buffy had some mutual respect. Having Willow ask about Buffy in bed was just not right. Wish I saw the episode when Xander and Dracula hooked up. Anyway stories up to this point have been good, this author's take just isn't right.

Haiku Wednesday

Bears

Ever seen a bear?
Majestic, giant creature
Glad I'm at the zoo

Philip K. Dick - The Man in the High Castle

A disclaimer - I have owned this book since June 16, 1994. It has been on my shelf for almost 14 years! Yikes, so it was like a fine wine just sitting on my shelf ready to be enjoyed. Granted I believe I tried to start this some time ago but couldn't get into it. So I gave it another try. Was it worth the wait?To be honest, no...I have read alot of PKD short stories and have always enjoyed the wackiness of it all. So having heard that this was his masterpiece I expected a good story with a heck of mindf@%k type ending. The story was good but the ending just kind flopped for me. I finished and it was a bit anti-climatic. I mean the characterization was good and the premise was good but overall it was just kind of blah. In the end I guess he held true with his favorite theme and that is just how you don't always know what universe you are truly in. The I Ching bit was neat too and I wonder if he truly used it to help him write this book.