Charles Seife - Zero, The Biography of a Dangerous Idea

Basic book nothing too exciting but an interesting book with lots of useless knowledge. Like the following:

"Dionysius, a monk in charge of determining the dates for Easter, got the date of Christ's birth wrong. The sources agree that Mary and Joseph feld the wrath of king Herod, since Herod had heard a prophecy about a newborn Messiah. But Herod died in 3 BC, and most scholars believe the birth was in 4 BC."

Nice to know that our calendar is all messed up because of math (and of course the dislike of 0...there was never a zero year) Fascinating how a concept especially in the west just never was well liked. Just because of a number. Other interesting quote:

"What is man in nature?...a mean between nothing and everything" - Blaise Pascal

and finally

"Leibniz thought that i was a bizarre mix between existence and nonexistence, something like a cross between 1 and 0."

There is Leibniz again...where is newton? ; - )

Mojo Risin

Just a quick riff of Morrison's LA Woman. Since I am hanging out in the City of Angels I thought it would be apropo

Well, I just got into town about an hour ago
Took a look around, see which way the wind blow
Where the little girls in their Hollywood bungalows
Are you a lucky little lady in the city of light
Or just another lost angel...city of night
City of night, city of night, city of night, woo, cmon
L.A. woman, L.A. woman
L.A. woman Sunday afternoon
Drive through your suburbs
Into your blues, into your blues, yeah
Into your blue-blue blues
Into your blues, ohh, yeah
I see your hair is burnin
Hills are filled with fire
If they say I never loved you
You know they are a liar
Drivin down your freeways
Midnight alleys roam
Cops in cars, the topless bars
Never saw a woman...So alone, so alone
Motel money murder madness
Lets change the mood from glad to sadness
Mr. mojo risin, mr. mojo risin

Crazy city. Just so different for a large city. East Coast cities just seem to be stacked up while LA just seems to sprawl over the coast. Hills seem to be swallowed up, houses placed anywhere, highways as arteries giving the life blood to the city. Highways are highways but LA highways are in a class by themselves. Huge mammoth concrete structures, always busy. Swooping into the Wilshire, Sunset, Hollywood, and Westwood area is just a mass of what the entertainment capital is all about. Cars everywhere, tourist gawking at it all, locals trying to be hip (are there any real locals? Aren't they all looking to be that star?), and overlooking it all is the famous sign signifying you've made it, or there's hope, or magic in that hill. The myth, the underlying energy, the glam and glitter is what one would expect from Southern California.

Fantasy Baseball 2007 Team

Draft Day! Well have to admit I made a mistake...sort of. ESPN this year decided to offer Fantasy Baseball for free, I'm all for that but once I signed up, found a league, joined and didn't look into any further until draft day and that is when I discovered that for free leagues they don't offer the standard that I have been playing for the last 7 years. So no 5 outfielders and in actuality a more truer game. Well that kind of threw me off as I've so nicely kept records to determine how to win that type of league...oh well...I was getting stagnant anyway so maybe something fresh will work. So here is my team:

C - Brian McCann, Atl (go with a hot hitting catcher)
1B - Adam LaRoche, Pit (another Atl product but lot's of 1B with big numbers...hoping to get Helton)
2B - Brian Roberts, Bal (one stat - stolen bases)
3B - Morgan Ensberg, Hou (not real pleased with this selection)
SS - Jose Reyes, NYM (stolen bases and runs)
OF - Jermaine Dye, CWS (still playing?)
OF - Adam Dunn, Cin (big bat)
OF - Xavier Nady, Pit (who knows?)
Util - Adrian Beltre, Sea (sleeper team for the year?0

I'm awful at picking offensive...put too much weight on position scarity but end up with not enough big boppers

P - Roy Hallady, Tor (local product year 2 with him)
P - B.J. Ryan, Tor (need lots of saves)
P - Jose Valverde, Ari
P - Brian Fuentes, Col (hometown)
P - Ryan Dempster, ChC (errrr)
P - Joe Borowski, Cle (another errr)
P - Daisuke Matsuzaka, Bos (give it up to the Japan phenom)
P - Barry Zito, SF (slow starter)
P - Daniel Cabrera, Bal (hmmmm)
P - Chad Paronto, Atl (Atl's hot hand?)
P - Ian Snell, Pit (we shall see)

This Week in Comics

Witchblade Manga 2 was okay...the Japanese version is bit too slow and ackward. Big panes, little dialogue, seems they are having trouble putting together an americanized version. Might be moving on without this one. Tired story, silly art, and painful plotting.















Finally a good Bendis Spidey. Last few issues lost the fun that was essential to this books success. When Spidey has it going with his dialogue the book just works. When Spidey is down in the dumps for like 8 issues it just doesn't work as well. I realize the character needs more then just web-slinging and catchy phrases but the whole clone thing was a downer. Again I don't think it really did much to the overall ultimate spidey mythos.

Classic line:

"Put the moon toys away, Casper. I'm just here for the chicken wings."







Will the real Grant Morrison stand up? Having started on Morrison's thread I keep waiting for a decent Morrison story. This one finally has it all. Good plot, good lines, and great art. A complete package. I was going to give up but this issue might keep me hanging on a bit longer. The spread on page 12 and 13 is a classic batman montage. Finally who is the big bad bat dude in the end? I have my thoughts...

300 - The Movie

Okay, I'm on the road, so nothing better to do but go the movies especially when in Hollywood! Saw the movie on an IMAX and wow that was impressive...don't know how I can go back to the small screen ;-)

Two Points about the movie:
1) The movie itself...good. Visually stunning, excellent translation from the comic book. Enjoyed the film...fight scenes were good...overall I thought it had a good plot. Good all around Saturday adventure movie!

2) Realize I am probably giving the movie too much credit but I really saw parallels with today's news lines. Try not to read too much into it but Sparta throwing out the duty honor country thing versus the persians slavery and backwards (East vs West). Definite stereotypes that were tough not to see.

Just my 2 cents.

Somedays Are Just Girrrrrrrr!

Fantasy Baseball 2007

My goal is to improve...I hope! My record lately has been dismal...10, 8, 9, 6, and 3 since I last won a league. I start out strong, pitching always seems to be good but I get killed in offensive. Have some new tools this year hopefully the draft will go smoother than last year. Again the numbers to shoot for are (in a 5 x 5 scoring):

Wins 98
Saves 136
Ks 1248
ERA 3.770
WHIP 1.266
Runs 1194
HRs 315
RBIs 1155
SB 174
Ave 0.2877

Play Ball

Douglas Coupland - Eleanor Rigby

Not for sure which book this is in Coupland's run but I've read most of his works. Microserfs is still my all time favorite but each book he has put together as had something decent. I have never felt like I wasted time giving his books a read. In fact when I think about it...his books are so uncanny at times that they often just stick with you. Just when I started to write and I was thinking of titles the odd stories all came back, girlfriend in a coma, all families are psychotic, miss wyoming...yikes. The thing about Coupland is his wacky characterizations and how they react with one another. I have noticed lately he also has been dealing with a lot of death...hmmmm. Any Eleanor Rigby is a good little story. Some good lines or concepts...see below:

"I also have another program that tell me my one thousandth birthday..."

"Where is the correct path?"

"What is God exists but he doesn't really like people very much?"

Two good characters and a wacky plot. The girl in the story is supposed to be really fat and plain but I never pictured her like that. Love the meteorite subplot. Enjoy how the son and the end all kind of wrapped up. Overall good read and I have to admit major marketing potential that wasn't used. In his book he had a character google "rome disco liz 1976 high school canada" Well I googled it and nothing Coupland related. I would have thought for sure there would be some link!

This Week in Comics

Not much this week in volume but huge in the way of number ones! Have to admit I am looking forward to Buffy's return. I miss the show or maybe I just miss Sarah (girrr!). Does Sarah think it is funny to see her profile done in comics, not just a redo of the TV show, but actual new material that uses here likeness (does she get royalties?). Anyway great first issue. Loved the first page...loved the slayers. Loved the Nick Fury reference with Xander. Great first issue hope the rest of it lives up to it...

3rd Base Coaches

Interesting article at baseball analyst on the effect of 3rd base coaches

http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2007/03/quantifying_coa.php