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Stuff + nonsense. Updated daily. So far. Pretty much. Overwrought by Scott Knaster.
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Saturday, September 27, 2003
Playmakers
I've been watching the drama series Playmakers on ESPN and I'm hooked by its writing, acting, and verisimilitude. It's an over-the-top portrayal of an NFL team and some of the shenanigans that go on in its orbit, including drugs, sex, and violence. Some NFL players think this is unfair, because the show exaggerates the bad stuff. Dear NFL players: this is FICTION. That means it's MADE UP, like ER and NYPD Blue. I like the theme song, which you can download here. Another catchy tune used in the show is Get Busy by Sean Paul (thanks to my son for identifying that one).
Friday, September 26, 2003
Bye, music
I decided to check out BuyMusic.com, the music-for-sale site that makes fun of Apple's iTunes Music Store ads and only works with Windows. There is stuff that Apple doesn't have, such as Radiohead's "Kid A", although it does cost an absurd $16.69. I decided to buy a track for .79, "I Want Candy" by Bow Wow Wow. Searching wasn't bad, and signing up for an account was only a little annoying. Unlike Apple's store, there's no one-click to buy, so you have to "check out". When I did, I was informed that BuyMusic would have to do further checking on my credit card before allowing me to download my song -- "for my protection", of course. This process would probably take about one day, it said! I would be notified by e-mail when it was done. Three and a half days later, I got the e-mail saying my purchase was ready. I went back to BuyMusic and downloaded the track, which came in Windows Media Audio protected format. When I tried to play the track, Windows Media Player informed me that I needed to download a license for the track first. So I went through another step -- does this happen every time you buy a song? Finally, I played the track. All in all, it was a lousy customer experience. I have always appreciated Apple's ability to making things easy, but I have a new appreciation for the way the iTunes Music Store hides the details, including one-click purchase, credit card authorization, and digital rights management. Bow wow! Lots of other folks seem to have issues with BuyMusic.com.
Rare feat
Carlos Delgado of Toronto hit four home runs in one game yesterday. That's one of baseball's classic records. How rare is it? Delgado is only the 15th player in the 128-year history of Major League Baseball to do it.
Thursday, September 25, 2003
Wrong number
The RIAA sued a 65-year-old woman for sharing music via KaZaA. But she has a Mac, which doesn't run KaZaA. What happened? Bad IP snitching by Comcast? Did dynamic IP addressing screw up the identification?
People are gonna come from all over
Major League Baseball players, organized by state or country of birth here. 1698 from California, 8 from Alaska. 5 from Italy, but none since 1962.
Tracking baseball online
You can watch baseball play-by-play on ESPN, Fox, MLB, and Yahoo (others too?). They're all OK. ESPN's is unreliable with Safari, and Yahoo's seems to switch among games most quickly. It would be cool to be able to set up audio alerts when something happens, like a run scoring (in games you really care about) or the lead changing hands. Much work remains to be done on game trackers.
Giants fan diary
Another day, another slightly important game. This one was a 2-1 loss to Houston. The most important fact about this game is that Sidney Ponson pitched very well, but just well enough to lose, unfortunately. The regulars had the day off, although Barry Bonds pinch hit and struck out against Billy Wagner. Off day today, then four more of these bleh games against the Dodgers until the PLAYOFFS.
New administration
The West Wing started up again last night, with a whole new creative team. It's still good, but different, more dramatic, more melodramatic, less nerdy. I myself, being a nerd, don't like it as much so far.
Wednesday, September 24, 2003
Good day!
You can listen to Paul Harvey whenever you want!
Ten-Run Field
The Giants kicked Astros 10-3 last night, scoring all 10 runs in the second inning thanks to some timely hitting, lousy pitching, shaky defense, and those wacky Crawford Boxes. Jason Schmidt and the bullpen pitched well for the G's. Over in Oakland, the A's did exactly what the Giants did last Wednesday: won their game, then waited for good news from Southern California before clinching the division title. Eerily similar, except, why were there only 23,000 people in Oakland for this game?
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Neil, Neil, Neal
Three of my favorites, Neil Young, Neil Gaiman, Neal Stephenson, all releasing new work at about the same time. Coincidence?
Something's up with Barry
...Bonds, that is. He looked mortal last night in taking an 0-fer, grounding into a double play with the bases loaded and breaking a 58-game on-base streak. In the past, a visit from his dad would fix him right up. Now, I dunno. In other Giants news, Pedro Feliz and Ray Durham unloaded 9th-inning homers on practically untouchable Houston closer Billy Wagner as the G's topped the Astros 6-3. Playoffs, please start soon!
A cooler day around the bay
I'm sitting here enjoying a lovely cool breeze wafting the scent of Gilroy garlic in through my window. Nice!
Monday, September 22, 2003
Last week of the regular season
The Giants took two of three from the Dodgies at their place over the weekend, dropping Sunday's game in which they had a 5-2 lead and started only one regular. Kevin Correia gave up 3 straight home runs in the game's notable meltdown. We listened to much of this game on the Dodgers station. The Dodgers broadcast, led by Vin Scully, is unique and highly stylized. All Dodgers broadcasters must say the team nickname the same way, the Vin way, roughly "Dodyers" (very light on the "g"), and with a lilt in the first syllable. Vin tells little anecdotes about each player, and his ad libs are precious and sometimes brilliant. Here's what we learned:And when Todd Linden homered with two men on, Vin ad-libbed: "If I remember my German, 'Linden' means 'tree', and Todd Linden just hit a 'tree-run homer'". Fun.
- Andres Galarraga was once known as "El Gordito".
- Nobody calls Eric "E.Y." Young by his given name, except his mother, when she's mad.
- Pedro Feliz went to spring training two years ago and got his wisdom teeth pulled, "so he wasn't eating any steak".
- Neifi Perez's brothers and sisters are physicians, but of course, "you think any of them is making $4 million a year, like Neifi?"
