My 2 Cents

A classic….

You Got The Silver, Rolling Stones (Jagger/Richards)

Hey, babe, what’s in your eyes?
I saw them flashing like airplane lights
You fill my cup, babe, that’s for sure
I must come back for a little more

You got my heart, you got my soul
You got the silver, you got the gold
You got the diamonds from the mines
Well, that’s allright, it’ll buy some time

Tell me, honey, what will I do?
When I’m hungry and thirsty too.
Feeling foolish and that’s for sure
Just waiting here at your kitchen door

Hey babe, what’s in your eyes?
Is that the diamonds from the mines?
What’s that laughing in your smile?
I don’t care, no, I don’t care

Hey babe, you got my soul
You got the silver, you got the gold
A flash of love has made me blind
I don’t care, no, that’s no big surprise

10 years ago today, my Mother died. I miss ya, Mom and I’m kind of jealous of those who still have their parents around.

Siigghhhh…perhaps one day, the Steinbrenners will sell the Yankees.
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Steinbrenner outspoken about Chamberlain’s future place with Yankees

ESPN.com

Yankees co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner, like his father George, has never been one to mince words. When it comes to where pitcher Joba Chamberlain should be — the bullpen or the starting rotation — the younger Steinbrenner’s expectations are crystal clear.

“I want him as a starter and so does everyone else, including him, and that is what we are working toward and we need him there now,” Steinbrenner told the New York Times. “There is no question about it, you don’t have a guy with a 100-mile-per-hour fastball and keep him as a setup guy. You just don’t do that. You have to be an idiot to do that.”

Through Sunday’s games, the Yankees stand at 10-10 and are closer to the bottom of the AL East than the top. New York is three games behind division-leading Boston and just 1½ games ahead of cellar dweller Tampa Bay.

Steinbrenner also took issue with how the Yankees handled Chamberlain’s situation last season, before he was in a position to make changes.

“The mistake was already made last year switching him to the bullpen out of panic or whatever,” Steinbrenner told the newspaper. “I had no say in it last year and I wouldn’t have allowed it. That was done last year, so now we have to catch up. It has to be done on a schedule so we don’t rush him.” Continue Reading »

This week I moved back to La Plata and decided not to get cable or satellite TV. For those of you who’ve known me for a long time this will be quite the experiment for me. But I just got tired of all the CRAP on cable - there were far too few gems in that ocean of garbage. So, I’m doing the rabbit ears thing again (I have a Hi Def TV) so I’ll at least be able to catch the lame network stuff and the LOCAL news. I will miss The History Channel and all the political news…oh well, we’ll see how long I can hold out!
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TV Talkin’ Song, Bob Dylan

One time in London I’d gone out for a walk,
Past a place called Hyde park where people talk
‘Bout all kinds of different gods, they have their point of view
To anyone passing by, that’s who they’re talking to.

There was someone on a platform talking to the folks
About the T.V. god and all the pain that it invokes.
“It’s too bright a light”, he said, “For anybody’s eyes,
If you’ve never seen one it’s a blessing in disguise.”

I moved in closer, got up on my toes,
Two men in front of me were coming to blows
The man was saying something ’bout children when they’re young
Being sacrificed to it while lullabies are being sung.

“The news of the day is on all the time,
All the latest gossip, all the latest rhyme,
Your mind is your temple, keep it beautiful and free,
Don’t let an egg get laid in it by something you can’t see.”

“Pray for peace!”. he said, you could feel it in the crowd.
My thoughts began to wander. His voice was ringing loud,
“It will destroy your family, your happy home is gone
No one can protect you fro it once you turn it on.”

“It will led you into some strange pursuits,
Lead you to the land of forbidden fruits.
It will scramble up your head and drag your brain about,
Sometimes you gotta do like Elvis did and shoot the damn thing out.”

“It’s all been designed”, he said, “To make you lose your mind,
And when you go back to find it, there’s nothing there to find.”
“Everytime you look at it, your situation’s worse,
If you feel it grabbing out for you, send for the nurse.”

The crowd began to riot and they grabbed hold of the man,
There was pushing, there was shoving and everybody ran.
The T.V. crew was there to film it, they jumped right over me,
Later on that evening, I watched it on T.V.

“Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.”

- Henry Thoreau
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Gimme Some Truth, John Lennon (Listen)

I’m sick and tired of hearing things
From uptight, short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocrites
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth

I’ve had enough of reading things
By neurotic, psychotic, pig-headed politicians
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth

No short-haired, yellow-bellied, son of Tricky Dicky
Is gonna mother hubbard soft soap me
With just a pocketful of hope
Money for dope
Money for rope

I’m sick to death of seeing things
From tight-lipped, condescending, mama’s little chauvinists
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth now

I’ve had enough of watching scenes
Of schizophrenic, ego-centric, paranoiac, prima-donnas
All I want is the truth now
Just gimme some truth

No short-haired, yellow-bellied, son of Tricky Dicky
Is gonna mother hubbard soft soap me
With just a pocketful of hope
It’s money for dope
Money for rope

Ah, I’m sick to death of hearing things
from uptight, short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocrites
All I want is the truth now
Just gimme some truth now

I’ve had enough of reading things
by neurotic, psychotic, pig-headed politicians
All I want is the truth now
Just gimme some truth now

All I want is the truth now
Just gimme some truth now
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth

Yankees’ First Victory in a Season of Lasts

Tyler Kepner | New York Times

It was the first day of the end of its life, the final opener at Yankee Stadium, where the countdown to demolition has begun. After five innings Tuesday night, George Steinbrenner, whose fortune is financing most of the construction across 161st Street, pulled a lever in his office, and the scoreboard digits flipped to 80.

That is how many regular-season games remain at the ballpark that has housed 26 championship teams. Joe Girardi wants to guide the next one, and the early returns are encouraging.

Thirty hours after the season was supposed to start, Chien-Ming Wang fired a called strike on a dry, 64-degree night. The promise of summer was there on a crisp spring evening, when the Yankees edged the Toronto Blue Jays, 3-2, before 55,112 fans. The Yankees have won their home opener 11 years in a row.

The game ball found Girardi at the end, when it felt like old times for the new skipper and former catcher. Mariano Rivera earned his 444th career save and his first for a manager other than Joe Torre. He gave Girardi the prize.

“Special,” Girardi said. “It kind of reminded me of when I actually used to catch Mo. What a great feeling it was when the door opened and he came in, and I had that same feeling tonight.”  MORE

Rocky Top, Osborne Brothers

Wish that I was on Ole Rocky Top,
Down in the Tennessee Hills.
Ain’t no smoggy smoke on Rocky Top,
Ain’t no telephone bills.

Once there was a girl on Rocky Top,
Half bear the other half cat.
Wild as a mink, sweet as soda pop,
I still dream about that.

Rocky Top, you’ll always be
Home sweet home to me.
Good ole Rocky Top,
Rocky Top Tennessee, Rocky Top Tennessee.

Once two strangers climbed on Rocky Top,
Lookin’ for a moonshine still.
Strangers ain’t come back from Rocky Top,
Guess they never will.

Corn won’t grow at all on Rocky Top,
Dirt’s too rocky by far.
That’s why all the folks on Rocky Top
Get their corn from a jar.

Rocky Top, you’ll always be
Home sweet home to me.
Good ole Rocky Top,
Rocky Top Tennessee, Rocky Top Tennessee.

Now I’ve had years of cramped up city life,
Trapped like a duck in a pen.
Now all I know is it’s a pity life,
Can’t be simple again.

Rocky Top, you’ll always be
Home sweet home to me.
Good ole Rocky Top,
Rocky Top Tennessee, Rocky Top Tennessee.

Rocky Top Tennessee, Rocky Top Tennessee.

Sweet…
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Fun Rumor: Eastwood’s ‘Gran Torino’ = Dirty Harry 6?

Scott Weinberg | Cinematical

Erik recently shared word that the mega-fantastic movie-maker Clint Eastwood now has TWO separate movies being prepared for release later this year: a kidnapping thriller called Changeling — and the recently-announced Gran Torino, which WB seems to be keeping a pretty tight lid on. But according to one source, Gran Torino may very well be the sixth entry in the Dirty Harry series, which began in 1971 with (of course) Dirty Harry, and continued on with Magnum Force (1973), The Enforcer (1976), Sudden Impact (1983), and The Dead Pool (1988).

So who spilled the potential beans on this project? Some guy who was looking to sell his old Gran Torino on Cragislist! According to IESB.net, someone from Village Roadshow came by to look at the car, but didn’t want it for one reason or another. And then apparently this guy from the production company added this: “He said [the project] was a thriller about a killer that drives a certain torino. His 1972 Ford Gran Torino is the only thing the police have on him. A retired police lieutenant, one Harry Callahan, makes it his mission to track down the culprit when two young police officers, one Callahan’s grandson, are shot and killed by the guy.”

So there. According to one amusing rumor, Gran Torino is actually the sixth (and inevitably final) chapter in the Dirty Harry saga. Hey, if Harrison Ford and Sylvester Stallone can do it, I have no problem with Mr. Eastwood picking up the revolver one more time. Plus, knowing Eastwood, this could become the Unforgiven of the Dirty Harry series — and that’d be all sorts of excellent.

“When television is good, nothing–not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers–nothing is better.
But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit and-loss sheet or rating book to distract you–and keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland.” - Newton Minow, May 9, 1961

“Sometimes you gotta do like Elvis did and shoot the damn thing out….” - Bob Dylan, TV Talkin’ Song, 1990

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I’m starting to realize how worthless most television programming has become but I’m not quite to the point of “throwing out my TV” as John Prine would say. I will soon be getting rid of pay TV which will leave me in the “desolate” world of broadcast television and my extensive DVD collection. But hey, little steps…
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Television Addiction Is No Mere Metaphor

Robert Kubey and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi | Scientifc American | SimpleToRemember.com

Perhaps the most ironic aspect of the struggle for survival is how easily organisms can be harmed by that which they desire. The trout is caught by the fisherman’s lure, the mouse by cheese. But at least those creatures have the excuse that bait and cheese look like sustenance. Humans seldom have that consolation. The temptations that can disrupt their lives are often pure indulgences. No one has to drink alcohol, for example. Realizing when a diversion has gotten out of control is one of the great challenges of life.

Excessive cravings do not necessarily involve physical substances. Gambling can become compulsive; sex can become obsessive. One activity, however, stands out for its prominence and ubiquity–the world’s most popular leisure pastime, television. Most people admit to having a love-hate relationship with it. They complain about the “boob tube” and “couch potatoes,” then they settle into their sofas and grab the remote control. Parents commonly fret about their children’s viewing (if not their own). Even researchers who study TV for a living marvel at the medium’s hold on them personally. Percy Tannenbaum of the University of California at Berkeley has written: “Among life’s more embarrassing moments have been countless occasions when I am engaged in conversation in a room while a TV set is on, and I cannot for the life of me stop from periodically glancing over to the screen. This occurs not only during dull conversations but during reasonably interesting ones just as well.”

Scientists have been studying the effects of television for decades, generally focusing on whether watching violence on TV correlates with being violent in real life [see “The Effects of Observing Violence,” by Leonard Berkowitz; Scientific American, February 1964; and “Communication and Social Environment,” by George Gerbner; September 1972]. Less attention has been paid to the basic allure of the small screen–the medium, as opposed to the message.

The term “TV addiction” is imprecise and laden with value judgments, but it captures the essence of a very real phenomenon. Psychologists and psychiatrists formally define substance dependence as a disorder characterized by criteria that include spending a great deal of time using the substance; using it more often than one intends; thinking about reducing use or making repeated unsuccessful efforts to reduce use; giving up important social, family or occupational activities to use it; and reporting withdrawal symptoms when one stops using it.

All these criteria can apply to people who watch a lot of television. That does not mean that watching television, per se, is problematic. Television can teach and amuse; it can reach aesthetic heights; it can provide much needed distraction and escape. The difficulty arises when people strongly sense that they ought not to watch as much as they do and yet find themselves strangely unable to reduce their viewing. Some knowledge of how the medium exerts its pull may help heavy viewers gain better control over their lives. MORE

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