Ever wonder what would happen if life were a musical?
Some innocent people found out when they visited a food court.
The group's Web site is improveverywhere.com. I bet they watch reruns of "Who's Line Is It Anyway?" whenever they can.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
A man of influence
Baseball writer and administrator Bill James taught me to look at the sport (and hopefully at the rest of my life) from different perspectives. It's no coincidence that my hockey blog, "The Hockey Abstract," is named what it is as a tribute to him.
Morley Safer of "60 Minutes" aired a profile of James on tonight's program. I set the VCR for hours to make sure I wouldn't miss it (you never know how long a basketball game will last). I need not have worried; it was posted on the CBS News Web site. And now it's available here.
Morley Safer of "60 Minutes" aired a profile of James on tonight's program. I set the VCR for hours to make sure I wouldn't miss it (you never know how long a basketball game will last). I need not have worried; it was posted on the CBS News Web site. And now it's available here.
Forever young
It costs less than $10 each for my wife and I to be turned into kids for a while on Saturday.
We went to the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester.
Forget the slightly ponderous title. It's a fabulous place.
The museum is ranked as a "gem" by AAA, and it takes about three minutes after walking through the front door to see why. The facility expanded to its current size in 2006 and takes up a good amount of space in downtown Rochester (fairly near the Blue Cross Arena).
The first floor has all sorts of interactive ventures that had tons of kids running around, gleefully yelling and laughing. There are sections devoted to such places as "Sesame Street" and "Field of Play." A local supermarket chain has a fake grocery store in which children can go shopping in kid-sized carts, learning about nutrition along the way, and then have their items scanned at registers. I paricular liked an area designed to encourage reading, even if there were no copies of "Rayzor's Edge" available for the children to study.
Upstairs has more for adults. There's a National Toy Hall of Fame up there, with such items as the Slinky, Viewmaster, Play-Doh, Scrabble and Silly Putty. There are bunches of glassed-in displays of old toys, including dolls and games. For adults, it's like reliving a childhood ("I had that one..."). An area has been set up as something of a radio station, in which kids can practice their announcing skills.
If the adults get bored playing, they can always go into the adjoining butterfly museum (we didn't have time for that). And there are other play areas outside that certainly figured to get plenty of use when the weather is warmer.
I can't imagine a better place to take kids under 10; an afternoon there ought to wear them out for days. For adults who still have a bit of child in them, it's definitely worth a look.
We went to the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester.
Forget the slightly ponderous title. It's a fabulous place.
The museum is ranked as a "gem" by AAA, and it takes about three minutes after walking through the front door to see why. The facility expanded to its current size in 2006 and takes up a good amount of space in downtown Rochester (fairly near the Blue Cross Arena).
The first floor has all sorts of interactive ventures that had tons of kids running around, gleefully yelling and laughing. There are sections devoted to such places as "Sesame Street" and "Field of Play." A local supermarket chain has a fake grocery store in which children can go shopping in kid-sized carts, learning about nutrition along the way, and then have their items scanned at registers. I paricular liked an area designed to encourage reading, even if there were no copies of "Rayzor's Edge" available for the children to study.
Upstairs has more for adults. There's a National Toy Hall of Fame up there, with such items as the Slinky, Viewmaster, Play-Doh, Scrabble and Silly Putty. There are bunches of glassed-in displays of old toys, including dolls and games. For adults, it's like reliving a childhood ("I had that one..."). An area has been set up as something of a radio station, in which kids can practice their announcing skills.
If the adults get bored playing, they can always go into the adjoining butterfly museum (we didn't have time for that). And there are other play areas outside that certainly figured to get plenty of use when the weather is warmer.
I can't imagine a better place to take kids under 10; an afternoon there ought to wear them out for days. For adults who still have a bit of child in them, it's definitely worth a look.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
A bit of the excitement...
Brucespringsteen.net was nice enough to post a clip of the opening part of the Detroit Medley from the Buffalo show. Here it is for your viewing pleasure ... and turn it up:
Monday, March 24, 2008
Lost in space
The Buffalo Niagara Film Festival is going on this week around town. The festival is in its second year, and it's a nice idea -- show a variety of films on all sorts of subject, and bring in some special guests. The event is still in its infancy, but has shown some growth since last year.
One problem has been advertising; I haven't noticed any. However, there was a story in the newspaper on the festival, and I excitedly noticed that a documentary on Bill Lee, former major league pitcher, was scheduled for today. Even better -- Lee himself was said to be speaking. I immediately ordered my ticket on line for the showing.
Lee -- nicknamed "The Spaceman" -- is one of the great characters in baseball history. He's naturally funny, and came up with the Red Sox in the late 1960's -- when he was virtually adopted by the counter-culture of Boston and eventually the nation. Lee was a man who questioned authority whenever possible, putting him at odds with the baseball power structure. In other words, he and manager Don Zimmer were like watching re-runs of "All in the Family."
As a Red Sox fan, this was a must-attend, if that's a word. When I arrived for the showing 15 minutes early, I already had questions ready -- "How did you know that you and Zimmer weren't going to be best friends?" and "How did Boston's win in the 2004 World Series change your life?" Heck, I brought a camera. "Hey, Bill, can you pose for a picture with me?"
The documentary, "High and Outside," was shown as planned, and it was well done. Basically, you could simply turn on the camera and let Lee talk in order to have a funny movie, and there were plenty of funny quotes. My favorite was along the lines of "Educated people have a sense of regionalism and take pride in their area. Uneducated people don't have that, so they just follow the money ... and become Yankee fans." Some of the footage was quite good, including shots of Lee's first major league game. Interviews with Peter Gammons and Marvin Miller were particularly insightful.
Director Peter Vogt was on hand. He seemed to have a lot of friends there, based on the reception. But Lee wasn't there. Vogt said that Lee was in Vermont for a showing of the film there (Lee lives in that state), and didn't know why Lee was advertised to appear here. That disappointed me as well as the middle-aged guy in the Red Sox jersey whose wife had a copy of Lee's book, "The Wrong Stuff," in her purse for autographing purposes.
"High and Outside" is scheduled for a brief theatrical release soon, then it is on to DVD and television. As one critic put it, it's worthwhile if you know who Bill Lee is.
Still, it wasn't a fulfilling afternoon -- at least compared to what it could/should have been.
One problem has been advertising; I haven't noticed any. However, there was a story in the newspaper on the festival, and I excitedly noticed that a documentary on Bill Lee, former major league pitcher, was scheduled for today. Even better -- Lee himself was said to be speaking. I immediately ordered my ticket on line for the showing.
Lee -- nicknamed "The Spaceman" -- is one of the great characters in baseball history. He's naturally funny, and came up with the Red Sox in the late 1960's -- when he was virtually adopted by the counter-culture of Boston and eventually the nation. Lee was a man who questioned authority whenever possible, putting him at odds with the baseball power structure. In other words, he and manager Don Zimmer were like watching re-runs of "All in the Family."
As a Red Sox fan, this was a must-attend, if that's a word. When I arrived for the showing 15 minutes early, I already had questions ready -- "How did you know that you and Zimmer weren't going to be best friends?" and "How did Boston's win in the 2004 World Series change your life?" Heck, I brought a camera. "Hey, Bill, can you pose for a picture with me?"
The documentary, "High and Outside," was shown as planned, and it was well done. Basically, you could simply turn on the camera and let Lee talk in order to have a funny movie, and there were plenty of funny quotes. My favorite was along the lines of "Educated people have a sense of regionalism and take pride in their area. Uneducated people don't have that, so they just follow the money ... and become Yankee fans." Some of the footage was quite good, including shots of Lee's first major league game. Interviews with Peter Gammons and Marvin Miller were particularly insightful.
Director Peter Vogt was on hand. He seemed to have a lot of friends there, based on the reception. But Lee wasn't there. Vogt said that Lee was in Vermont for a showing of the film there (Lee lives in that state), and didn't know why Lee was advertised to appear here. That disappointed me as well as the middle-aged guy in the Red Sox jersey whose wife had a copy of Lee's book, "The Wrong Stuff," in her purse for autographing purposes.
"High and Outside" is scheduled for a brief theatrical release soon, then it is on to DVD and television. As one critic put it, it's worthwhile if you know who Bill Lee is.
Still, it wasn't a fulfilling afternoon -- at least compared to what it could/should have been.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Oprah Winfrey's Day Off
Scene from a life ... in this case, mine:
I was waiting for my car to be inspected at my friendly dealer the other day. There is a waiting area with chairs and a television. After a soap opera ended, I boldly changed the channel to the NCAA basketball tournament, waking up the men sitting in the area. Then I sat down next to a woman.
A few minutes later, her cell phone rang. One of the problems with cell phones is that it's impossible to not overhear the conversations of strangers.
After a minute of chit-chat, the woman said over the phone, "When does this basketball crap finally end?"
I didn't have the heart to blurt out the answer: early April.
After a moment, she said, "I guess I'm going to miss Oprah again today."
I laughed silently to myself and then went back to watching the game and, during the commercials, reading my book on basketball legends Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain.
One man's madness is another person's sadness, apparently.
I was waiting for my car to be inspected at my friendly dealer the other day. There is a waiting area with chairs and a television. After a soap opera ended, I boldly changed the channel to the NCAA basketball tournament, waking up the men sitting in the area. Then I sat down next to a woman.
A few minutes later, her cell phone rang. One of the problems with cell phones is that it's impossible to not overhear the conversations of strangers.
After a minute of chit-chat, the woman said over the phone, "When does this basketball crap finally end?"
I didn't have the heart to blurt out the answer: early April.
After a moment, she said, "I guess I'm going to miss Oprah again today."
I laughed silently to myself and then went back to watching the game and, during the commercials, reading my book on basketball legends Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain.
One man's madness is another person's sadness, apparently.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Video village
Silly things can happen when a newspaper has a contest ... such as someone working for the competition winning it.
Check out this video from the Newspaper Wars of Chicago:
Check out this video from the Newspaper Wars of Chicago:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)