1 The REAL heroes of yesterday's NLCS Giants' victory were Steve Perry and a dish towel.
2 I showed my class the first 25 mins of Field of Dreams yesterday.
3 Not a lot of baseball fans at my school. It's fun teaching about baseball.
4 Field of Dreams is not one of my favorite baseball movies. I always thought it a little overrated.
5 First, the book on which it is based was written by W.S. Kinsella, a not-so-good writer of low-rent potboilers. He wrote fifty short stories before he was published, and his similes, metaphors and images often dangle like rusty Christmas ornaments that would smile back and make you fear God.
6 Yes. He wrote stuff THAT wretched.
7 Anybody lookin'?
8 Many more analogies like that and they sure won't be.
9 I'm beginning to wonder about the film though.
10 It has some moments. The fact that a reasonably young couple from the sixties suddenly decides to buy a farm seems a bit unrealistic, but I've seen many people take huge risks with their lives and manage to experience things that I would never have dared.
11 They establish Kinsella and his wife as a couple who can give in to whims. Yes, W.S. Kinsella named the fictitous protagonist Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) after himself.
12 Once he grows a cornfield and starts hearing voices in his head, it's believable. The fact that he KNOWS they are real voices adds a bit to it.
13 The people around him don't believe him, even act like a Greek chorus when they see him rolling over cornstalks and plowing them under.
14 During this scene Kinsella mumbles something about Ty Cobb. I liked the mention of Cobb right there. It slipped past me but a student caught it. Cornstalks. Cobb. It subtle, I imagine. Okay, I'm reaching.
15 Sidebar: One of the best references to Cobb, however is when Ray and Shoeless Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta) talk with Doc Archie Graham (Burt Lancaster) about players wanting to come back from the dead to play ball again. Here is the excerpt:
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Ray Kinsella: Where'd they come from?
Shoeless Joe Jackson: Where did WE come from? You wouldn't believe how many guys wanted to play here. We had to beat 'em off with a stick.
Archie Graham: Hey, that's Smokey Joe Wood. And Mel Ott. And Gil Hodges!
Shoeless Joe Jackson: Ty Cobb wanted to play, but none of us could stand the son-of-a bitch when we were alive, so we told him to stick it!
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16 Ya gotta love it.
17 Moving On Early, Part One: I just went outside and picked up the morning Merc.
18 Kudos for the Giants rained down like bad apples in a rainstorm. At a nunnery.
19 Sorry.
20 I've been reading a little too much W.S. Kinsella lately.
21 It is a joy to read.
22 Mark Purdy and Tim Kawakami wrote amazing pieces this morning. They both ranted about the Giants' chances. They both were beside themselves. Like bathroom mirrors.
23 And those are two tough hombres.
24 My thoughts?
25 The St. Louis Cardinals are reading that stuff too.
26 Both teams ride a rattling train going over rusty tracks that schoolboys put rocks on.
27
28 Anybody lookin'?
29
30 I'll tune in at 5:07 to see wassup.
31 I just hope we haven't awakened a sleeping St. Louis Cardinal.
32
33 I have to re-read Stephen King's On Writing. King is very specific about what NOT to do.
34 Capitalizing "NOT" would be one move.
35 He also despises adverbs. I gotta tip my hat to that one.
36 I gottago early today. PSAT during school. That should be a paid thing on a Saturday. IMHO.
37
38 In my humble opinion.
39 I have to be at the school a half-hour earlier AND stay five minutes later than most days.
40 I know. Poor baby.
41 The entire decision turned the week upside down, like a laundry basket full of socks.
42
43 I'll go now. It has been fun writing bad analogies. I'll stop now. I re-read this and even I cringed. Don't take any of this with you through the day. It was a lark.
44 See you again.
45 GO GIANTS!!!
46 Peace.
~H~
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