My Morning in Exile

Before we get to the posts, take a look at some amazing pictures of that Utah salt flat NASA tried to sucker us into believing was the moon forty years ago.

  • If you look beyond the Yankees” there is no competitive balance problem in baseball. And if you leave out the killings, Washington has a very low crime rate!
  • There’s a construction law case I worked on at my old firm that has been active since 2000 with no end in sight. The 2003 steroids testing raid is gaining.
  • There aren’t many rallying cries less inspiring than “Bring back Riggleman!” but in this case it’s probably the right call.
  • Right now I wouldn’t bet against John Lackey winding up in the Bronx.
  • Varitek exercises his option. Sadly, he pulled it while exercising it and will be on the 15 day DL.
  • Mark Cuban says he’d buy the Dodgers if they were up for sale. If the McCourt battle gets as ugly as I suspect it will, he may actually look like a palatable option to Major League Baseball for the first time ever.
  • I wish the photo at the link would have focused more on the West Crater so we could see the Monolith. Wait — It’s buried 40 feet below the lunar surface near the crater Tycho. Forget I said anything.

    UPDATE: The 2001 reference got me surfing, and I made it over to the “memorable quotes” section of the IMDB page for the sequel, “2010.” This passage stood out:

    Heywood Floyd: I’d love a hot dog.

    Walter Curnow: Astrodome. Good hot dogs there.

    Heywood Floyd: Astrodome? You can’t grow a good hot dog indoors. Yankee Stadium. September. The hot dogs have been boiling since opening day in April. Now that’s a hot dog.

    Walter Curnow: The yellow mustard or the darker kind?

    Heywood Floyd: The darker kind.

    Walter Curnow: Very important.

    It’s not quite 2010, and neither of those stadiums exist anymore. I can’t help but think the writers of the flick, back in 1984, thought “well, the Astrodome is totally futuristic, so it’ll still be around 25 years from now. And Yankee Stadium is freakin’ Yankee Stadium. Let’s go with those references.!”

    And while I’m rambling, allow me to go on record as absolutely loving “2010.” No, 2001 didn’t call out for a sequel — quite the opposite actually — and it’s not as good as 2001, not does it even attempt to be. But it works on its own merits, and has a bunch of nifty performances by actors I really like. Lithgow and Scheider mostly, but the always welcome Bob Balaban as well. I probably watched that flick on HBO 100 times when I was a kid, and if it’s ever on now — usually SciFi or some other low rent channel — I’ll watch it all the way through again.


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    Chipmaker
    14 years ago

    The Astrodome is vacant, but still standing.

    I’ve had 2010 in my player for the last few months—yes, it is a good film—and it gets played, at least partially, about once a fortnight. The cast is terrific.

    And, obviously, the actual year 2010 is almost upon us, so there’s probably a special edition coming soon.

    RoyceTheBaseballHack
    14 years ago

    1) “2010” is an amazing film, but it suffers from a significant problem vs. 2001, in that Stanley Kubrick didn’t make it.

    2) If you’ve never read either book, I suggest you do so. Neither of them are long, but they helped me enjoy both films a lot more.

    Will
    14 years ago

    You chide 2010 for thinking that the Astrodome and Yankee Stadium would still be in business, but let the whole Soviet Union thing slide?
    I love that movie, too, though. It’s a whole different breed from 2001, but that’s OK. I like that 2010 had a sense of humor: like using Kubrick’s picture as the Soviet Premier on the Time magazine the nurse was reading, and the cameo of Arthur C. Clarke sitting by the White House feeding birds.

    Craig Calcaterra
    14 years ago

    Good point on the USSR, Will.  Details, schmetails.

    Re: Kukrick: I think his fastball was gone by the mid 80s. First half of Full Metal Jacket was interesting, second half sucked, and the less said about Eyes Wide Shut the better.  If he had taken a run at 2010, I’m not sure what we would have gotten. Not that he would have ever wanted to take a run.

    Will
    14 years ago

    Royce is right, read the books. Start with the original short story “The Sentinel.” That inspired the movie, which led to the book.
    But read the later books with caution: 2061 was fair, 3001 stank. They demolished some of my considerable respect for Clarke.

    Pete Toms
    14 years ago

    I read somewhere today (Olney IIRC?) that Cuban isn’t that interested at all in owning the Dodgers, that his comments were misconstrued a bit to make for an eye catching headline.  (or somethin like that)

    Bottom line seemed to be that he has thrown cold water on the speculation.

    DXMachina
    14 years ago

    Haven’t seen it in awhile, but I like 2010 very much, too, not least of all for the presence of Helen Mirren.

    bjones
    14 years ago

    I like 2010 in general as well, but come on… Bob Balaban as “Dr. Chandra”???  They couldn’t hire an Indian actor?

    Greg Simons
    14 years ago

    Sadly, the “SciFi” Network has gone the way of so much of pop culture and decided to intentionally mispell its name, so now it’s “SyFy.”  Monumentally lame.

    Simon DelMonte
    14 years ago

    Count me and my wife among the fans of 2010.  Though I am that loneliest of heretics, the man who thinks 2010 is better than the long, ponderous 2001.  We traded in Kubrick for Hyams, true, but also traded a movie all about “look at what we can do with special effects” for “look, a story!”

    Will add that I am a huge Sir Arthur C. Clarke fan.

    And yes, the darker mustard.  If I ran MLB, I’d ban the yellow kind.

    Richard Dansky
    14 years ago

    Greg – They apparently couldn’t copyright “SciFi”. With “SyFy”, they can.

    Though really, if they’re going to be honest they should call it “Cheap-Ass Giant Monster Movie Network”.

    Greg Simons
    14 years ago

    Yeah, I know it’s all about copyrighting, which leads to stupid names like Xzibit and Ludacris.  I’m sure I’m being old-fashioned and stodgy and that this has been going on for more than just the time since I got out of school – y’know, back when things were cool – but it still seems lame to me.

    Tony A
    14 years ago

    Anyone remember where the title “2001” came from?
    Yes, that’s right, 2001 is the 1st year of the third millenia, NOT 2000…damn that aggravates me…
    Actually, what I thought was amusing was the thought of Mark C as a baseball owner in Lakertown, donchaknow there’s gonna be some conflicted people if that happens.

    Joe L
    14 years ago

    No love for Helen Mirren as the Soviet commander whose heart is warmed by Schneider’s Yankee can-do spirit and enthusiasm?  Come on!

    fordprefect
    14 years ago

    With bjones about the Chandra casting, Yates dropped the ball on that big time. ACC was way ahead of his time regarding racial/ cultural diversity in the tech field. Did love the sense of humor in 2010—most SF treatments seem to lack a sense of humor by design and consequently take themselves waaayyyy too seriously.

    fordprefect
    14 years ago

    oops, Hyams, not Yates, my mistake.

    and yes, the darker kind of mustard.