jimmy

Aomame stared at the two moons with narrowed eyes. Then she closed her eyes, let a moment pass, took a deep breath, and opened her eyes again, expecting to find that everything had returned to normal and there was only one moon. But nothing had changed. The light was not playing tricks on her, nor had her eyesight gone strange. There could be no doubt that two moons were clearly floating in the sky side by side — a yellow one and a green one. (196)

Early in the novel, a cab driver tells Aomame that remember that things are not what they seem, that there is only one reality. One of the first things I try and focus on when reading a book is what are the rules for this particular world? I’m over 200 pages into this one, and I’m not quite sure what they are.

I’ve read some of the bad reviews of this book on GoodReads, and it sounds like most people like the general plot but hate that it took over 900 pages to unfold. I can see how most people are impatient and wants things to go go go. But I’m loving the subtlely Haruki Murakami uses, how deliberate things are.

One thing that is bothering me is how difficult it is to read Aomame. I don’t know whether she likes having a new girl friend or whether she finds her completely annoying.

I don’t know. Just some thoughts as I’m getting through this.

I have to apologize for yesterday’s little bit about Dead Man. That one was a bit longer than I anticipated. But most of yall know my rambling ways.

The first I heard of this movie was earlier this year. On the website They Shoot Pictures Don’t They, they have a list of the 21st century’s most acclaimed films so far as culled from year-end lists by film critics. Yi Yi (literally translated as One One) came just behind In the Mood for Love and Mulholland Drive. Much to my surprise I found that the San Pedro branch of the LA Public Library had the DVD. Sweet!

I had no idea what to expect from this movie. Unlike most films where I read about the plot, read reviews and what not, I didn’t do that for this one. All I knew what that it was supposed to be very long (almost 3 hours!!!) and very good.

And it didn’t disappoint.

At three hours it is an epic, but not in a Gone with the Wind or Godfather way. Yi Yi is an intricate tapestry of everything that tugs at us in our battles with the modern world. Director Edward Yang takes a portrait of an upper class Taipei family over the course of several months. It begins with a wedding and ends with a funeral. In between there’s a midlife crisis that sends the mother to the mountains to meditate with the Buddhists, the father exploring what would have happened if he didn’t dump the love of his life, the teenage daughter caught in a love triangle that ends in murder and the little son who is trying to figure out what the fuck life is about all the while being terrorized by an army of girls and the headmaster of his school.

There’s a lot of empathy in this movie which is really touching. By the end, I was amazed at how great it was all done. Not once did anything feel too hokey or too sentimental. Everything was balanced.

This is one of the best movies I’ve ever watched, and I do put it up there since 2000 with In the Mood for Love and Mulholland Drive both of which I love.

As an aside, I think I should keep better track of what I’m reading and watching. I have Flixter/Rotten Tomatoes and Goodreads accounts, and I do use the star ratings which automatically get posted to my Facebook timeline. But I think I should do something a little more, especially since I fancy myself as a writer of some sort.

When I first met Tyler in 1997, we just moved into the dorms at UCSB. When I moved I had no idea who would also be going. I knew Jess was going to be there, but I had no idea where she was going to be living. Somehow I saw her on move in day and we connected. Like fate! We met up with her friend Robby whom I had never met before but she had mentioned many times, and he talked about this mythical Tyler person he met during orientation weekend a few weeks before.

A day or so later we finally met him, and he was a strange cookie. Aside from talk of his acid and other drug experiences, he also raved about this movie — an accountant named William Blake being mistaken for the actual William Blake by an Indian. As our friendship progressed and our base of friends and acquaintances expanded it seemed everyone around us had watched this movie before, and they all raved about how great it was. I was still in the dark.

This is not the only film or book which its greatness have been told to me over and over through the years that I have yet failed to watch or read. And each time I finish reading or watching these works, I always kicked myself in the ass wondering why I haven’t exposed myself to them sooner. Perhaps it’s the way I grew up, taught to just do the work ahead of you and never mind the frivolities (such as they may seem) in movies and sports. I’ve already lost myself in music, so that was bad enough in the eyes of my family.

It wasn’t until late high school that I became peripherally interested in movies. Like serious ones beyond the blockbusters and what we are told are good movies. I would see the articles and film reviews in the LA Weekly, but rarely would I go see these movies. All I remember is renting Lost Highway once, but there was nothing beyond that.

Once in Santa Barbara, I started being a bit more diligent about it. I went and saw Pi, Happiness and a really really awful The Loss of Sexual Innocence. And I started to catch up on old movies I missed like Princess Bride and Dr. Strangelove. I guess it’s easier now with Netflix and the wonders of the World Wide Web, but it still doesn’t lessen the irritation of having been in the dark for so long.

It only took 17 years, but I finally got around to watching Dead Man last night. I’ve recently watched director Jim Jarmusch’s other films Only Lovers Left Alive and Coffee and Cigarettes, and I really love how he breaks up his dialogue with long periods of silence as if he’s trying to force us to process whatever the fuck a character just said.

“The eagle never lost so much time as when he submitted to learn from the crow.” Huh?

More than that, though, is a lyrical quality of the dialogue and how its delivered by the actors. It might not be a bunch of verbal diarrhea, but it sure does sound pretty.

Dead Man is a very Jarmusch take on the Western, a chase that drawn out over a long period of time, a buddy film that bonds two from different backgrounds, a bit of subversion with Iggy Pop in a crossdressing/transgendered role (I can’t really determine which one it is though I’m leaning towards the latter).

Of all the comedy that it contains, none is perhaps as big as Cleveland being a better city than where William Blake (played by Johnny Depp) ended up.

So I get it now, why Tyler raved about it in 1997. I guess I will have to continue to catch up on things, what seems to be a recurring theme in my life.

Yesterday was a mostly uneventful day in college football that ended with a wallop of a game. The only game of note was West Virginia’s upset of Baylor at home in the first set of games. Seeing Alabama shutout Texas A&M 59-0 raised my eyebrow, and the continued struggles of Florida elicited a giggle.

But the evening ended with Notre Dame at Florida State. Given the odious nature of FSU’s quarterback Jameis Winston, it was odd seeing a lot of people passionately rooting for Notre Dame to win. I’m no stranger to this. I do believe that Winston did rape that student, and thanks to an FSU machinery that rules Tallahassee (and also society’s hatred towards women) he was allowed to escape any charges.

I get that most people are pounding on Famous Jameis because of the pay-for-autographs investigation which I have been rolling my eyes at. I don’t care if players get paid for their autographs. In fact I encourage it because it takes money away from the schools and the NCAA cartel. So if this is the sole reason people hate Winston, get a fucking life.

In the first half, Notre Dame asserted themselves while Florida State was trying their best to respond. The Irish led 17-10 at the half, and Winston looked flummoxed by the pressure the Notre Dame defense was throwing at him.

Then the second half happened. Winston went 10-for-10 in the third quarter. In the entire second half he went 15-for-16 for 181 yards and a touchdown. He was only sacked once. Florida State didn’t take the lead until 7:39 remained in regulation. Then the defense showed up.

Notre Dame had to punt on the next drive, and the Seminoles went conservative going three-and-out pinned against their end zone. Down 31-27 Notre Dame had another chance to win the game, and it looked doomed from the start. Incomplete, completion for a loss, a sack. In a blink of an eye, Notre Dame faced a fourth-and-18. Florida State brought pressure, and Everett Golson looked like he was getting sacked. But he squirmed away and made a desperation throw to the sideline.

Somehow, some way, Corey Robinson caught the ball and lunged forward and out of bounds for the first down. Yes, Spurs legend David Robinson’s kid helped keep the drive alive right after he was being interviewed on the broadcast by Heather Cox.

Then Notre Dame marched their way down the field. As old time announcers would say, they “matriculated” down the field. A 17-yard pass, a 12-yard run, a 6-yard slant. Next thing you know they had first-and-goal at the FSU 8-yard line with 45 seconds remaining.

Fourth down at the 2 yard line. Robinson caught the touchdown that gave the Irish the 33-31 lead pending the extra point. Notre Dame had won! I actually cheered. Some girls outside my apartment laughed when they heard this. But then the flag and the offensive pass interference on receiver CJ Prosise. It was as clear as day and the right call. After the 15-yard penalty, Golson’s throw came nowhere near a Notre Dame player, and the game was over. Florida State won 31-27.

A funny thing happened, though. Instead of filling with rage and disappointment, I was very happy after watching a remarkable college football game. It was filled with drama, it had some great plays, it had some miraculous moments. I still hate Jameis and think he’s a rapist. But that Florida State team is pretty darn good despite looking mortal at times this season.

Looking at the new Napkin Rankings, I am questioning them a little more this week. I don’t think Georgia is that good, and I’m amazed UCLA is still up there. I’m really questioning this process, but I’ll see how it plays out the rest of the way. But here they are.

1. Florida State (13.5. points)
2. Georgia (13 points)
3. Notre Dame (12.5 points)
3. Ole Miss
5. Baylor (12 points)
5. Mississippi State
7. Alabama (11.5 points)
7. UCLA
9. Louisville (11 points)
9. Nebraska
9. USC

Lately we’ve been hearing about MLB’s half-hearted lip service to try and speed up games. Meanwhile in the NBA they’re actually going to try and cut a minute out of each quarter resulting in 44-minute games beginning with a preseason game.

I have sat through many baseball games, and I have some ideas of what I would do.

1. 24 second pitch-clock. A pitcher will have only 24 seconds in between pitches. It doesn’t matter if there are runners on base or the bases or empty. Pitch. 24 seconds. Pitch. In a perfect world, the pitching mound would sit atop a trap door which would open to a pit of hungry lions. But I could imagine some people might object to this. So the penalty will be a two balls.

2. Batter must stay in batter’s box. Of course a big exception would be if the batter hits himself with a foul ball, and that would be at the discretion of the plate umpire. But no more Nomar Garciaparra-like fidgeting and adjusting of bullshit. No more Derek Jeter waving his hand in the face of the plate umpire until he deemed himself ready to see a pitch. Stay in the motherfucking box and be ready to do you bloody job. Again, in a perfect world there would be trap doors and lions involved, but the penalty will be two strikes.

3. No more “Star Spangled Banner” and “God Bless America”. Baseball survived without hearing someone botch the National Anthem before games until World War II. Since then it has become an obligation. Of course, originally, organists and marching bands played the song. Now? Singers of all types sing the damn thing. With a melody that was originally an Irish drinking song, I’ve heard it sang as a proper battle song. More often than not, however, I’ve also heard it as a fucking funeral dirge which is always pretty unbearable.

So let’s get rid of it and keep the dignity of the song. I’ve sat through way too many awful awful renditions of the song to the point where I began to hate it. There were times I wanted the singer to stand atop the aforementioned trap door/lion pit. The first hint of a baroque embellishment between notes or a slow tempo, I would press a button to open the trap doors. People around me in the press box knew what I was doing.

In this year away from games, I’ve found the love for the song again.

As for “God Bless America”? Fuck it. I’m a motherfucking atheist.

4. Game of the Week Saturdays. I know Fox wanted to establish Fox Sports 1, but those exclusive Saturday games were pretty elusive. Sometimes they were on at 1 pm PT. Sometimes at 7 pm PT. Sometimes 4. Sometimes on Fox. More often on FS1. We need to get back to an exclusive 4 pm ET/1 pm PT window on Saturdays on Fox. Also, to help supplement this, every team must be featured at least once. Sure, Red Sox-Yankees might get the ratings, but I want the game to grow. I don’t want this past week to be the time we’re just learning who the fuck Lorenzo Cain is.

5. More Nerdcast. It didn’t get strong ratings in Game 1 of the NLCS on FS1, but it satisfied the baseball nerds. I would probably cut the panel down to three people: the host, an analyst and an active manager. If I needed a split screen, I would make the screen that showed the analysts a lot smaller so the game would be more pronounced. But once this got going into the later innings, it was fantastic to watch and listen to.

6. Fire Harold Reynolds. I actually prefer Tim McCarver to Harold. If you looked up all the stupid things these two said, they would probably come up even. But man, Harold loves to smother a broadcast or he loves the sound of his own whiny voice through his headset. I’m really hoping FS1 does the Nerd Cast during the World Series, because I don’t know if I can take Harold any more. Either than or pray for his voice box to jump out of his throat and go on strike.

Sure, I heard the rumors for the last week or so, but I refused to listen to them for fear of being disappointed when they inevitably didn’t happen. I was pretty confident, however, that Ned Colletti would not be the Dodgers’ General Manager for much longer. But I didn’t think of anything past that.

I was getting ready to drag my sorry sack of blood and bones to the acupuncturist when I saw the tweet heard ’round the world:

I farted a little as I couldn’t contain my excitement.

Okay, I realize the last several years I insisted I wasn’t a Dodger fan. But those days are over. I noticed this first during the NLDS when I actively rooted for the Dodgers and subsequently felt the pangs of sudden defeat in the pit of my stomach.

So it’s back, and with it a concrete hope of the Dodgers to win their first World Series since 1988 when I was 9 years old.

My problem with the Ned Colletti teams was that they were never complete. Of course Ned was hamstrung by Frank McCourt during much of his early tenure. But now with the sky-as-the-ceiling payroll? It was a bullpen filled with a bunch of failed closers who might have shown a month or two of promise. This caused other guys to be overused — Paco Rodriguez last year, JP Howell this year.

Now with Dodger ownership being vocal about bringing down the payroll, they needed to go in a new direction. With the farm system hanging on by a thread, who better to bring in who did more with much much less than Friedman?

The Tampa Bay Rays climb from the basement of the AL East to perennial playoff contenders started once Stuart Sternberg bought the team in 2004 and promoted Friedman as the General Manager after the 2005 season.

Now Friedman will be coming to the Dodgers as the newly created position of President of Baseball Operations. So he will presumably hire a new General Manager. But for the first time since the Paul DiPodesta era, I feel the Dodgers front office has an overarching philosophy.

I don’t think New Order or the Bangles ever did a song about strange Mondays, but it’s been a strange one so far. My mom went camping over the weekend and was going to come back tonight. She called me this morning to say the car she and her friends were using needed a new water pump. Because the mechanic needed the pump brought in from LA, the car would not be fixed until tomorrow. So that was strange.

Then I was editing the podcast Brendan and I recorded last night. No matter what I did, the best way to describe it was “poor”. For one, there was some audio issues since we recorded via Skype, but it wasn’t all that terrible. It was just badly produced, a mish-mash of nonsense that was so bad that even I wouldn’t release it to the public. Maybe I’ll release snippets of it or something.

And then there was word that Mark Bell died. Known for being one half of the British dance duo LFO (not to be confused with the American boy band LFO), Bell had surgery last week and died? I put this as a form of a question because I’m not clear what happened. The only thing I know concretely is that he is no longer living.

Of course, I know of Bell more from his collaborations with Bjork from remixes to full on producing starting with Homogenic.

I think I will spend the evening watching the Weather Channel’s coverage of severe weather through the Ohio Valley and Gulf Coast. Or Logo’s marathon of Don’t Trust the B…. in Apt. 23.

Yesterday was nothing like last Saturday. There was so much upheaval and chaos last week, we are just now emerging to see the aftermath and its truths. Was last week a mere hiccup where the graph lines of different programs just happened to converge on one autumn weekend?

Yesterday was about answers and finding the truth. Here is what we learned.

Mississippi ain’t fucking around. Both Ole Miss and Mississippi State proved they were no fluke. Ole Miss completely manhandled Texas A&M on the road and Mississippi State took advantage of Auburn’s mistakes at home. Both teams emerged with 15-point victories and will probably bump off Florida State from the top of the AP poll. The final regular season game for both teams is the Egg Bowl which pits the two teams against one another. And there’s still an outside possibility that both teams will be undefeated for the Battle of the Golden Egg. But that’s still quite a bit away.

Alabama has problems. Watching the sidelines during the Alabama-Arkansas game was like watching a team implode into itself. Of course, ESPN seemed like they had a camera trained on offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin and another on head coach Nick Saban. The broadcast went like this: failed offensive play; cut to Lane talking into his headset walking in one direction; cut to Nicky looking irritated walking in the same direction as Lane. With a new quarterback, I expected Alabama to go down a notch. We saw that last week against Ole Miss. But man, against a still-up-and-coming Arkansas team, they looked pretty bad despite the 14-13 win.

Thank you for showing up UCLA In a match of the upset in the Rose Bowl, UCLA just got their asses handed to them by Oregon. Of all of the Noon PT games, this was the one I was most interested in. Then watching UCLA’s futility on both sides of the ball, I switched over to Auburn-Mississippi State. That 42-30 loss was a pretty sorry exhibition by the Bruins. But at least we can move on with our lives. In 1998, UCLA was one game away from playing in the first BCS Championship Game until they laid an egg against the Hurricanes. At least this time, they let their fans off the hook in Week 7. But for those who know, no one really expected them to be a championship-caliber team did they? Nah. And how about defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich getting into head coach Jim Mora’s face? HA!

There are a lot of other things, but for the sake of brevity I’ll end it here. The Napkin Rankings really loves Notre Dame, but I suspect that has more to do with Notre Dame playing shitty Power-5 conference teams. They beat Michigan, Purdue, Syracuse and North Carolina which gave them an extra ranking point. Similarly Baylor is still ranked high, but they still have to play Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Kansas State. If they get through those three, then they justify their high ranking. Also Florida State is still hanging on, and they benefit from being in a shit conference.

So here are the rankings.

1. Notre Dame (12.5 points)
2. Baylor (12 points)
2. Mississippi State
4. Florida State (11.5 points)
5. Ole Miss (10.5 points)
6. Auburn (10 points)
6. Georgia
8. Oklahoma (9.5 points)
9. East Carolina (9 points)
9. Louisville
9. USC

There it was. In a Matt Adam home run in the seventh inning, the game was sealed.

Yet again Don Mattingly didn’t trust his bullpen to come save Clayton Kershaw at the first hint of trouble. I don’t blame Donnie. Despite what happened in Game 1 I would rather use my ace until his arms lands half way between the mound and the batter’s box.

But a left-handed hitter getting another home run off of Kershaw’s curveball? It proves that in the playoffs logic is laid waste to the forces of sorcery. At least, that’s how I’m justifying it because there are no other explanations that can answer this in my mind. Matt Carpenter, Kolten Wong and Matt Adams should not be able to beat the Dodgers, but that’s what happened in a nutshell.

With the Giants beating the Nationals in the late game, the NLCS is set between the Giants and the Cardinals. It’s going to take a lot of fortitude I can summon from the depths of my being to watch this series, but I’m going to try.

I can see the I-70 World Series happening again, a replay of the 1985 sans Don Denkinger. Of course this means it will be an orange-and-black Halloween special between the Orioles and Giants.

But for people who can’t bear to watch, the Kings drop the puck tonight.

Oddly enough it’s coming from the Dodger bullpen at Busch Stadium. Actually, it’s a traveling dumpster fire that has migrated from Los Angeles to St. Louis.

Last night the Dodger bullpen reared its ugly head yet again when Scott Elbert came in relief of Hyun-Jin Ryu in the seventh inning. And it’s not like they’re giving up the daggers to the likes of Matt Holliday or Yadier Molina. On Friday in Game 1 it was Matt Carpenter who was slumping this season batting .272/.375/.375. Last night in Game 3, it was Kolten Wong. Wong batted .153/.194/.169 in 32 games last season and improved to a .249/.292/.388 slash line this season.

The Dodgers are getting beat by Matt Carpenter and Kolten Wong. If that doesn’t signal the fire alarms, I don’t know what will.

That’s what made those two defeats seem a lot more hopeless that it actually was. In both games the Dodgers had the tying runs on base when they made the final out.

For better or for worse the two teams are back at it today. The Dodgers will send Clayton Kershaw to the mound which doesn’t leave me flushed with panic as much as some other Dodger fans out there. After all, Kershaw did pitch six innings in St. Louis in Game 2 of the NLCS last year giving up only an unearned run on two hits. Yeah, the Dodgers lost that game, but you couldn’t pin the blame on Kershaw.