Josh Beckett: Welcome to Fenway

The Red Sox welcome Josh Beckett from the Marlins, as a much talent for our ailing pitching staff.

Okay, I've become somewhat of a bad blogger. Work has been busy lately, and that's all I can think of everytime I sit down in front of the computer screen. I hardly have time to check my favorite websites, or update this blog which I do like doing. Tomorrow sounds like a good day for a nice long entry.

Ignorance prevails

Congratulations to Alex Rodriguez on winning the AL MVP. That's the only nice thing I have to say about that.

So some of you may be asking, why the old Gay-Rod Handbag picture again?! Why? Because I'm not happy that A-Rod won the MVP over David "Big Papi" Ortiz. I've had a few days to think about this, and I my thoughts were shifting left and right. I told myself that the MVP award really isn't that important. I mean, who cares? In a few years we won't even remember who won what award from the years past. We might remember oh so and so player was MVP X number of times, or as great as so and so player is, he never won an award, et cetera. What really matters is whether the Red Sox win or lose.

I became upset after the actual news came out. When I found out that Papi didn't win, I just naturally became unhappy. Its pretty strange since I told myself that it didn't really matter. Who could care? The season was over, the White Sox lived their dream, that's it. Who cares who's the best player especially if that player's team didn't win? I was mad because I actually witnessed the greatness of David Ortiz, and naturally I was keeping track of the spectacular, yet mediocre performance of A-Rod. Why mediocre? Because none of his hits or home-runs really mattered. They didn't break ties, win games, or in any way save the Yankees. Ortiz on the other hand single-handedly won around 13 games for the Red Sox. Without Ortiz, the Sox would probably have lost 13 more games and not made the playoffs. Last season, Ortiz was that important, and that's what being the Most Valuable Player is all about.

Yeah, okay. Numbers mean a lot in baseball, but I hate it when guys just look at the numbers and don't take other factors into consideration. In the real world, being clutch actually means something. Just think about it: who would you want to take your game-winning shot? Would you choose Robert Horry or Tayshaun Prince? Would you choose Reggie Miller or Steve Smith or Rip Hamilton or Ray Allen? Do you want Tom Brady or Peyton Manning in the 4th quarter? There is no dilemma here. Of course you choose the proven clutch player over the not proven clutch player. Okay, so not everyone watches the Sox and the Yanks, but I still don't see how they could have overlooked this simple fact: Ortiz is clutch, and with similar stats, it should have put him over A-Rod.

Then there's the whole Designated Hitter issue. I was listening to MLB radio, and this self-rightious journalist was being interviewed. He went on and on about how he would never vote for a DH because playing defense was not involved. Then the host asked him what about a player who played defense, but was injured and was forced to DH for the latter part of his career. Guess what? The dimwit journalist said yes. I'd like to remind people that Ortiz played first base in the NL, and he has played first base in some games for the Sox. He's a pretty good first baseman too. Most definitely a better defensive player than Jose Canseco, who won the MVP award in '88.

So I'm not unhappy that A-Rod won and Papi lost, but unhappy that people can be so stubborn sometimes and overlook the details.

Quick note: ESPN did a poll on their website, and 86% of the nation voted for Ortiz. So even people who don't pay attention to the Sox know that Papi is better.

Z Gundam: A New Translation

Woo hoo! I just saw the new Z Gundam movie last night. I had a lot of fun watching it. Was it absolutley mind-blowing? Well... it was half the time.

Here's the thing: half of the animation was brand new. The new CG and character/background/mobile suit drawings were superb! The level was nothing short of modern day OVAs. Simply beautiful! Just look at the poster above and you can see how pretty much everything has been updated in terms of artwork. Unfortunately, only half the movie ultilized brand new animation. The other half is basically taken directly from 1985. That's right, they took it directly from the original Z Gundam TV series. They didn't even bother to touch it up.

Think Star Wars episodes four, five, and six, when George Lucas updated them in the late nineties. He added some CGI, added some new scenes and stuff. Z Gundam did this on a much bigger scale. Half the movie is brand new, but its still combining the new with the old.


Compare this to the poster up top

I'm sure you're thinking WTF. Well, so was I in the beginning. I was actually pretty disappointed. However, I was too mesmerized by the new animation to take any points away from this movie. I wish they just made the whole thing from scratch. If you see the new scenes, you'll know what I mean. They just look that much better. C'mon, we're talking about 20 years worth of innovation. Plus, I'm sure much more time and effort were spent on the new scenes as opposed to the 50 episode TV series that was made back in '85.

Animation
I already spent too much time talking about that.

Sound
The sound was awesome, but the theater sucked! I guess the theater guys thought, "oh, anime can't possible have good sound, so lets turn off all the speakers". Idiots. I could hear and feel the explosions and Gundams flying around, and ships, etc. It just seemed so distant. I'm positive that its because of the theater, and not the movie.

Story
In terms of storyline, most Gundam fans know the story already. I went with a friend who wasn't too familiar with his Gundam history, and he got confused. Like any movie that is derived from the TV series version, bits and pieces are cut out to fit everything into two hours. Initial D is an example of how this was poorly done. I thought Z Gundam did a good job, but if you're not familiar with the story you could get confused.

Character
You can't screw this up. You've got the legendary characters of Gundam: Amuro, Char, and Kamille. To be honest, I don't remember many of the newer Gundam characters of recent, but Amuro and Char are always fresh in my memory. The other characters are classic as well, but the main characters really make the movie. I must note that the new character artwork is awesome. Everyone looks so good in the new animation. Besides looking better, you see more in terms of body movement and facial expressions. A huge improvement.

Value
I don't know. If you like Gundam, you'll watch this shit over and over again. If you don't, you'll likely just see this movie once.

Enjoyment
Sweet. I enjoyed it. Again, this depends on how big a Gundam fan you are, how well you know the story. I got the jitters when I was Amuro and Char meet eye to eye for the first time in this movie. Oh, the drama.

The theater was pretty full, and its inhabitants were all people my age or older. Everyone was in their work attire, and they all seemed to be fans of the classic Gundam genre. I'm really glad they decided to remake Z Gundam into a movie. Its about time. It would be much nicer if they re-did the whole thing though, rather than just bits and pieces.

Episode II comes out soon.

Rich guys need to learn to drive

So I'm on my way to work as usual, and I come across this yellow Porsche GT2 that I see in the same spot occasionally. Today, I finally see the owner. He's opening the door for a girl to get in. I sure hope he knows how to drive. The GT2 is a 465hp rear engine, real wheel drive car. To enlighten the non-car nuts: the rear heavy, RWD setup makes it really easy to oversteer. This guy could end up in the Pacific real soon if he's not careful.

That makes me think of this evil site I once came across: http://www.wreckedexotics.com

I want to say I can't believe how many idiots out there managed to wreck their $100,000+ sports cars. Unfortunately, I can. There are so many idiots out there who have too much money, and too little driving experience/training. In order to buy a Ferrari, it should be mandatory to either a) pass a special driving test, or b) take special driving lessons. Why? Because most people aren't used to handling cars that are that fast, and that easy to lose control of.

If you check out that site, you'll see part of how many of these specimens of road speed were wrecked. Some even list the reasons why. They were stuff like, wrecked while trying to overtake a bus, or wrecked while trying to show off, or let wife drive it on the track (ha ha). Pure stupidity.

Hey, I'm no genius of the road myself. I have had no performance driving training, and I'm sure I couldn't have taken even my front engine, front wheel drive, 200hp Honda Prelude to the limit. I know about the basic concepts of driving, but I have no actual experience. So basically, I've read a lot of books and played some Gran Turismo on the Playstation. I'm sure some of these exotic car owners have done even less than that.

So if you're going to buy a Porsche or Ferrari or Lamborghini, please learn how to drive it properly.

Note to self: keep Enzo in one piece.

I need my own gym

The gym I am a member of is really nice. The latest machines, plenty of free weights, plenty of cardio equipment as well. Because its so nice and because it costs a pretty penny to join, there are naturally a whole bunch of rich, irresponsible, and lazy members I have to share it with. There are a few who I see all the time and have nicknames for:

Talkative Asian Duo: Two Hong Kong guys who are always there together. All they do is talk talk talk while they help each other out with the weights. Of course, all they work out are the "clubbing muscles". I don't know if they're showing off or what, but they always put on more weight than they can handle. I really couldn't give a shit whether they're exercising properly or talking too loud. What pisses me off is that they never ever re-rack their weights. Lazy bums. Some people think because they have money, there will always be someone who picks up after them.

Tall Mean Dude: There's this tall guy who is pretty fit with the meanest look on his face. I said hi to him once (I say hi to everyone... almost), but got no response and that's fine. What bothers me about this guy is that he sweats all over the place. Wherever he walks, he leaves a trail of sweat. Okay, no problem. Some guys just sweat more. But this guy sweats all over the equipment and doesn't bother to clean that shit up after he uses it. Plus, he does this plyometric exercise where he steps on the bench press bench with is shoes. Why can't he uses the plastic "steps" like everyone else? Lazy bum.... I mean asshole.

Dude who's going to one day hurt himself: This guy comes in and first thing he does is jump on the rowing machine. He then goes all out on the thing. Its painful to watch. His back is completely arched on the pull back. He does it for like 10mins. Trust me, one day one of his discs is going to fly out and hit me straight in the face. Idiot.

Women there to socialize: Some women just show up to walk the treadmill at 1mph and watch TV. Then when their friend shows up, they start talking and talking and talking. They'd use machines next to each other and talk. Then they'd finish exercising and keep talking. Then they'd move that conversation outside (thank god). Then I'd see them still talking after I'm done showering. I guess that's just another difference between men and women. My peeve about them is that they're not really exercising. They're talking while hogging the machines. Please take your conversation elsewhere.

I remember the good old days in college when my roommate and I went to the gym everyday. We had a group of weight room buddies who we'd only see in the weight room (weird). I'd see those guys every day, but never outside of the gym. Whenever one of us missed a day, we'd always get ridiculed the next day for our absence. That gym at Wheaton College was worn out and the equipment was old, but it was great. Those guys would never let anyone do an exercise wrong. They always cleaned up after themselves, and kept all the equipment in good order even though it wasn't ours. Everyone felt responsible for one another, and everyone felt responsible for the gym.

Now in my current gym, it just seems like people have a total lack of respect for the gym, the staff, and the other members. What a pity money can do to people.

Underdogs... yet again.

Well well well... whaddaya know.

Every season since 2001, the Indianapolis Colts have been favored over the Patriots. The fact that the Pats were and are Superbowl Champions 3 out of the last 4 years has made no difference. The Colts are always rated higher, and they are always favored to win. Guess what, they never have. The Patriot defense has always managed to smother the supposedly "best in the league" offense. Poor NFL poster QB Peyton Manning has always come short when it comes to playing against the Pats.

Tomorrow's game may change that. The undefeated Colts are making their annual trip to Foxborough. The Pats, plagued with injuries, departures, retirements, are a mediocre, but "not dead yet", 4-3. So yet again, the New England Patriots are underdogs agains the Colts, and this time, its finally for good reason.

Though the Colts have just about everything going for them right now leading up to this game. A pillow soft schedule, minimal injuries, finally a defense worth mentioning, and a bye week just before this week's game. The Pats are really really shorthanded, and that's pretty much all there is to say. I can't think of a better situation for the Colts to play their rivals. If they win this one, their confidence boost could really lead to a stellar season for Manning and his team.

That said, I would just love to see the Pats win. This win could boost them out of this injury funk, and somehow find a way to get in the playoffs. The Pats have played many many close games, and a lot of their wins were come from behind wins. They simply know how to win in all situations. The Colts have had an easy ride so far this season. They may not be up to the challenge. Despite the losses to injury, Bruschi is back, Brady is still here, Corey Dillion will hopefully play, and of course we have Coach Belichick.

Lets bury these Colts once and for all.

Alex: see, not baseball this time!

Goodbye, Theo. You will be missed.

Only a hyphen differentiates the word resign from re-sign. It was somewhat of a rollercoaster ride for fans when now ex-Red Sox general manager, Theo Epstein first made it clear he was to re-sign with the Sox; only to resign hours before his contract ended.

There are plenty of people out there asking, what the hell happened. I'm going with the answer that upper management toyed around with Theo, and he simply couldn't take it anymore. He valued pride and dignity over his dream job and walked away.

When Epstein first became the Red Sox GM, I was skeptical just like anyone else. He was young and inexperienced. He wasn't much older than me! Could someone like that run an organization like the Sox? All that money, all the pressure. Would he just crack and end up squandering our next five years of hopes? The answer came soon enough as a resounding NO, as 2004 came and went. The man made some gutsy moves, got a little lucky, and tagged World Series Championship to his resume.

Despite my skepticism at the time, I was also pretty excited. The guy was young, he was a fan, and he was from Boston. Because of his young age, I could sort of relate to him. It was a nice change too not having some old foggie making conservative run-of-the-mill decisions. Theo was cool. Of course he wasn't perfect, and I was pissed when he overhauled the 2005 team when he may have been better off leaving it as it is. No one would blame him for keeping the team in tact. Definitely not after the amazing 2004 season.

Either way, I'm going to keep this short and simple. Its no use arguing or nitpicking. The point is, I thought Theo would be with the Sox for a long long time. Now he's gone, and most are sad to see him leave.

Goodbye Theo, and good luck.