FlaSoxxJim

Could not agree more. If stadium management doesn't want UD freeloaders in 100 level seats the solution is to either have the ushers on duty DO THEIR JOBS or get more ushers. I kkep hearing this is an MLB policy, but it sounds like they had a say in whether they would adopt it outright or just for sellout games. As far as offering some value for casual fans, watching the Baltimore broadcast of yesterday's game (WCIU blackout for Extra Innings people :fyou ) I saw a commercial wiith an insanely good deal at Camden. $44 on Wednesdays gets you 4 UD seats, 4 Orioles caps, and a program! There's a similar family package deal they do here for Rays games where the kids tix come with hats and you get a cupon for a free pizza. I think the Sox are doing a GREAT job with half price Mondays, Pepsi Tuesdays, and Wonka Kids Days, btw. Exactly the way to do it. But if they are going to keep the UD policy in place, they should consider some of the family packs like other parks, or random seat tradeup contests, or something like that.

Yeah, the Red Line ride up from 99th Street always brings back memories - of the old park as well as the new one. I like the halfway decent beer stand on the left field side. I like the chimichangas and churros in center firld. I like all the improvements of the last 2 years and fully expect to love this year's rennovations. Hall of Fame shop and the cap shop are great. he marker indicating the Comiskey I home plate location was a nice touch. Getting a couple dogs and an RC Cola from the guy and/or his wife by Armour Park on the walk between Jimbo's and the game. I don't like opening day men's room lines.

I agree. Although, at least he can be pretty sure his 'date' won't take offense if he tells her 'it smells like tuna.'

Not that I know from first-hand experience, mind you. But if the fluke fits...

Jong.

I don't believe the claim is that he "faked" an injury, merely that he made a condition known that may have hindered his tradability. If it's true (I don't know that it is), I have yet to fully decide whether I'd call Kelly "bush" or not. I'd rather have both clubs dealing honestly instead of hiding something they knew about and have it turn into another Sirotka incident. Sure, the clubs are supposed to have their own doctors examine the players and declare them healthy, but I don't like the idea of a club trying to knowingly move damaged goods. Do that a couple of times and you'll burn bridges with the other GMs.

See how many of those cute little airline booze bottles you can consume?

In no way, shape or form am I suggesting that Dolphin Boy here is a well person. But some of his characterization of the sex life of dolphins is dead on. Some of the things he didn't describe are some of the more interesting tidbits. Dolphins do regularly engage in sex for fun and not strictly procreative purposes. But they also regularly engage in homosexual sex, group sex, rape, gang rape (males effectively hold an unwilling female down doing the event), etc. They are very human in their sexual proclivities. The Navy has actually taught captive male dolphins to ejaculate on command. (The old dog-training command 'come' gone horribly awry, or just our tax dollars at work... you make the call). A lot of ethologists (animal behavior ecologists) take all this as an indication of the generally high intelligence of dolphins. Whodathunk those friendly old dolphins were so freaky deaky?

I love Loaiza, but his 4-0 record doesn't mean he's pitching at the Cy Young level he was at last year. He's gotten run support when he needed it and he's gotten away with not being all that sharp and still getting us the win in two, maybe even three outings. That said, I'm predicting Mr. April keeps sharp and has a solid May and beyond.

Gotta side with the small crew that values Jose's contributions and realizes he needs regular playing time and we need his left-handed bat in the lineup. I don't think Jose and Uribe had a problem sharing time at SS depending on who had the best matchup before Jose went on DL, and I think that's the reasonable situatioj to return to. That's not in any way to belittle what Uribe has done for us - I'm loving it. But Jose is a proven and consistent comodity(sp?). in the field and at the plate.

• Mrs. Flaxx and the little Flaxxlings • Getting back to some serious homebrewing once the wife is done teaching for the year. • Getting back to seriously drinking said homebrew once the wife gives up on this South Beach diet nonesense... • Todd Rundgren show in 2 weeks • Me at Marlins/Sox down here next month • Me at Sox/Tribe and Sox/Cubs up there next month • A good April (for a change) from our Sox • US regime change slated for November

I work at a not-for-profit oceanographic institution in Fort Pierce FL, but we have institutional teaching colaborations with Florida Atlantic University and Florida Institute of Technology. I and a few others here have adjunct faculty status with one or both institutions. We have a 'Semester by the Sea' every January term through the FAU affiliation and that is the sequence I'm most involved with. The students come up and live on our campus for the semester, and pretty much immerse themselves in things oceanic.

I'm on the other end of the podium but it is good that the semester is at an end nonetheless. I gave my last exam on Thursday, and the students were smart enough to give me a 6-pack of Guinness ( Good For You) to get me through one last evening of grading. I'm done teaching until September.

OK, I've bowed to the pressure as well. But between al the people who quoted the image, we'll be seeing the very enjoyable 'meatloaf rain' for a while I bet. MMmmmmm... meatloaf...

Then I don't feel so seedy in thinking she was georgeous. So what was it about Murnau's Sunrise that I missed?

The only "head blown off" image I've seen in the last 2 days is the very Scanners-esque meatloaf-out-of-the-head Avatar suggestion from Playa Hatin to WShuf: PC edit: click for the chewy-gooey center Less unsettling than it is hypnotic, really - you can kind of see when the latex balloon passing for a head gives way and makes a revolution around the chewy-gooey meatloaf center before flying off. And Tex, I hope it was my pointing out the acronym SLAP for this volotile corner of Sostalk that has led you to adopt it. If not, I will claim responsibility anyway...

I waited for a couple of seasons for the Ted Head to make a guest appearance on Futurama. maybe tthis will clear the way?

Thanks for the story. Global air pollution is a scary thought. At the same time, some good may come of increased public awarness of the Asian brown cloud story because it turns the tables on the States. Usually it's us telling the rest of the world to choke on our pollution and we care little for the consequences. Maybe enough of the general population here will realize pollution doesn't recognize man-made boarders and will start to press our lawmakers into thinking more globally and acting appropriately on the homefront.

North by Northwest is indeed a classic, one of my favorite Hitch flicks. But give some of the other stuff a chance. If you haven't seen Casablanca, or haven't seen it lately, rent it and give it a shake. It still stands up as some of the tightest stoytelling ever out of Hollywood. Later films like Raiders of the Lost Ark simply would not exist if not for Casablanca. The film becomes that much more momentous when you realise how contemporary it was - it came out in late 1942 and its subject matter is the still very real threat of Nazi Germany overrunning Europe. Max Steiner score, a hundred quotable lines. Give it a shot. And that 18 year old Ingrid Bergman.... wow, what a tall drink of water (he says in his best Jimmy Stewart impression). I think in that film she was the most beautiful human being ever put on celluloid.

Yeah, that's a "Trip to the Moon" aka From Earth to the Moon, by Director Georges Méliès I had sent props out to earlier. It's based on Jules Verne's novel From Earth to the Moon and I've lost count of the number of times I have ssen that image of the moon face co-opted in pop culture, in videos, ads, etc. I think the film was 1914 but I could be wrong. That 1970s Nosferatu remake with Klaus Kinski as the Vampyr was very good. My wife got me an import DVD of the Murneau original (with an added selectable organ track of the score originally written for the theatrical release) last Christmas. As much as I love Nosferatu and should love Murneau's masterpiece the American-made "Sunrise," I really do not like that as much as a lot of other early cinema. Brando can probably tell me what I missed in that one but it never quite did it for me.

My favorite horror/gothic silent films are: Nosferatu (and DeFoe absolutely nailed max Shreck in Mark of the Vampire) The Cabinat of Dr. Caligari (German Expressionism atg its best) The Lon Chaney Hunchback (1923) The Lon Chaney Phantom (1925 - good avatar FanOf!) Der Golem Metropolis - OK it's sci-fi not horror, but it still rocks. "M" (Metropolis' Director Fritz Lang and Peter Lorrie as a deranged child-killer - what could be more fun?) Non-horror Chaney Sr. favorite: The Unholy Three. If you ever get a chance, see this one. Chaney plays a dual role as a circus sideshow ventriloquist and a little old lady pickpocket/scam artist. It's great to see Chaney's outstanding performance without the tons of makeup that mark many of his other films. Directed by Todd Browning fo Dracula and Freaks fame to boot. Favorite non-horror silent films: Battleship Potempkin The Gold Rush (Chaplin) The General (Keaton) Birth of a Nation (Sure it's off the charts racist, what with the Klan coming to save the day cavelry style, but it's of lasting artistic and historical significance). I appreciate the earliest silent efforts of Lumiere and perticularly Georges Méliès et al., even though in the case of Lumiere's stuff there was not much to the shorts he made other than the fact that, hey! they move! Fave classic sound films: Kane, Dracula, Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale's masterpiece), Casablanca.

I also am really anxious to know what's going on with Kelly, but keeping Cotts in the bullpen and giving Diaz a shot suite me fine.

And don't forget Mr. Congeniality himself, Nicolo Machiavelli. Happy B-Day all in the 05/03 club.