some people think hiking in palos verdes is a breeze. and for the most part it’s true. but there are places where it can get to be a bit strenuous, especially in the middle of the summer.

while going up the ishibashi trail at the portuguese bend preserve, this girl in her early 20s and in shape had to stop. her friends, a boy and girl also in their 20s, looked like they didn’t know what to do. the boy had his shirt off, so i told him to drape her head with the shirt to give her some sort of shade. they had water, so i didn’t need to donate that. they found some candy so she could get some sugar in her system.

they also had a phone so if things got really dire they could call for help. so i moved along. apparently they were a part of a bigger group who decided to do some outdoor exploring.

and it made me feel a little better than my fat ass was in decent enough shape to do this hike.

Vin Scully is returning to the Dodgers broadcast booth next season, and hopefully more than 30% of Angelenos will be able to listen to him on SportsNetLA.

I have been fortunate to have been at Dodger Stadium for some special moments. When Nomar Garciaparra hit the walkoff home run in the 10th inning on Sept. 18, 2006 to give the Dodgers an 11-10 win over the San Diego Padres. When Jonathan Broxton closed a 3-1 win over the Chicago Cubs in the 2008 NL Divisional Series for the Dodgers first postseason series win since the 1988 World Series.

But none of those moments came close to what was heard in the middle of the second inning after Josh Beckett got BJ Upton to strike out swinging to end the top of the second.

The Dodgers aired a “breaking news” video where Hyun-Jin Ryu announced in Korean that the 86-year old Vin Scully is returning for 2015, his 66th season. Then Yasiel Puig announced the same in Spanish which got some in the crowd excited. Then Justin Turner translated for everyone else, and what happened was a couple minutes of a sustained standing ovation.

“It is very difficult to say goodbye,” said Scully in a statement. “God willing, I will be back next year. Over the years I have been blessed to have so many friends, including those that sit in the stands and listen, as well as those at home who listen and watch. It is just too hard to say goodbye to all these friends. Naturally there will come a time when I will have to say goodbye, but I’ve soul-searched and this is not the time.”

There are very few times when Dodger Stadium shakes because of the crowd, and it’s a near certainty that its structural integrity will be tested when Vin is honored. I wasn’t there tonight, but I can only imagine how it was on Vin Scully microphone giveaway night.

Now, as to whether anyone will be able to tune into Vin, that’s another question. Time Warner has recently agreed to binding arbitration after six local congressmen asked them and other local television providers to do so. Directv has refused. It’s unknown whether Time Warner’s olive branch is merely a PR move. But knowing the reputation of content providers and congressman, it’s safe to keep the bullshit meters up.

Of course, all of this serves to bury what a poorly pitched game this 8-4 Dodger victory over the Atlanta Braves was. Dodger fans tend to be spoiled with pitching. For the last two seasons now we see Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke and Hyun-Jin Ryu dismantling the opposition. See what they did in San Francisco to bring the Dodgers from 1 1/2 games behind the Giants to 1 1/2 games ahead of the Giants by Sunday.

So when Josh Beckett made 95 pitches through four innings, it was a shock to the senses. He made 37 pitches in the third inning alone, 26 of which came after he gave up a two-run homer to Freddie Freeman to give the Braves the 3-2 lead.

It’s clear Beckett is still adjusting with life after his dominant fireball-dealing days, no-hitter notwithstanding. His fastball has tons of movement hitting the gun as high as 92 mph which is hopeful. His problem is control which is leaving much to be desired. But as spoiled Dodger fans we should get over it. It could be a lot worse. Brett. Tomko. Mark. Hendrickson. Jason. Schmidt.

But if the offense can continue the pace they’re on, then that should ease the Beckett-Dan Haren blues. Matt Kemp golfed two home runs to the opposite field bringing back memories of his 2011 season. Meanwhile Yasiel Puig was a home run short of a natural cycle going 4-for-5 scoring two runs. And for the first time this season the Dodgers have a four-game win streak.

With the Giants losing to the Pirates 3-1, the Dodgers now have a three-game lead in the division. And to top it off, their 60-47 record leads the National League.

even when it gets over 90f.

yesterday was a busy day of me getting my car diagnosed and summarily fixed. after leaving my car to get a new water pump installed and walking back to the manse, i saw this music doll orphaned on the sidewalk. when i was little we had a couple of these dolls in our living room. after you wind up these dolls, the head rotates slowly as a music box plays “it’s a small world” or some other song of that ilk.

i never realized how spooky these things actually looked like, so i just left it right where it was. when i walked back to pick up my car about four hours later, it was gone. i wonder if it is possessed by some evil child. who knows?

fridays are acupuncture day, and today i asked him to take out blood higher up on my leg rather than just on the foot. he obliged and was surprised at how much of the coagulated blood came out. as gruesome and barbaric as it might seem, my foot and ankle are a lot better.

i got through jack womack’s first novel ambient the other day. it’s one of those dystopian cyberpunkish novels that i’d been meaning to read since the late 90s. there were some awfully great romantic lines.

I wished we could hug until we’d crushed each other’s bones.

“You look good enough to beat,” she said, winking.

Here is something religous, also:

The Q documents-discovered by a team of Israeli and American archaeologists-were the long-lost original gospels. They detailed how Jesus, a trusting sort, was hired by Pilate to spread confusion among warring Jewish factions; how Judas found out and so betrayed his betrayer; how Jesus, pulled from the cross in time’s nick by those wishing to use the affair for their own effect, recovered and was by accident seen by his horrified followers; how some of his followers were so horrified that they wished to kill him-again; how Jesus escaped with his wife, Mary Magdalene; how he died, at an advanced age, somewhere far from Gethsemane. You can infer the rest.

i do sometimes wonder what the world would be like if we fagolas grabbed it by the balls and took over. surely we can’t fuck things up any worse than the fucking breeders we have in charge right now.

i woke up this morning to the news that a malaysia airlines flight with 280 passengers and 15 crew member were shot down by russian separatists in eastern ukraine. maybe. regardless, all 295 were killed. there are reports that armed russian separatists won’t let anyone near the crash site. there are reports that the airspace was open. there are reports that the airspace is closed.

after my run, saw the news that israel was going to begin a ground invasion of gaza. so perhaps israel is after more than killing four kids on a beach in gaza? then again i could just be spreading hamas propaganda.

the problem i have with all of this is that i have no idea what information to believe. everything i wrote could be just mere bullshit used to anger one side of the issue to the point of violence.

i want to take all of the world leaders and lock them in a room and tell them to deal with their bullshit. don’t think about restitution, debt, money or anything like that. just deal with the bullshit we are seeing or just die in the room.

not helping my mood is hearing elaine stritch died. and sometimes i realize how futile everything i described above is when we’re just going to be a dead sack of bones and blood anyhow. so fuck it, right?

did the ocean trails/trump trails/whatever-the-fuck-its-name-is which i really enjoy. sometimes there are cute guys without their shirts. today no such luck though. i think there are tons of fishies just off the shore because the pelicans and the sea gulls were flying very low skimming the water. the dark stuff in the water you see above aren’t schools of fish. they’re kelp beds. mmmm! seaweed.

i didn’t watch nor care about the all star game yesterday, but i guess they said a couple of words about glenn burke, the former dodger and athletic from the 70s and 80s and supposed creator of the high-five. yes, he was gay and al campanis and that shitbag turned manager turned mascot tommy lasorda didn’t like that jettisoning him to oakland because of it. so after soccer, the nba and the nfl got an openly gay player, baseball is finally getting around to confronting their own homophobic past.

i also heard the broadcast didn’t mention tony gwynn. very fucking classy.

speaking of circle jerks, it looks like the espys are tonight. anyone who cares about this should be automatically sterilized.

i still go once a week for acupuncture on my left foot. as you can see, they bleed me which sounds barbaric but it helps. i’m back doing my little hikes as before which is good.

while out on the trails today, several drops of sky water hit me on the noggin. i’m told that the monsoonal moisture that usually hits arizona and new mexico has seeped its way to california. so there it was, the first bits of sky water seen since march 2.

just purchased the domain name for the podcast, thebandjpodcast.com. brendan and i will need to adjust its bits and dangles. i guess i should start by creating a twitter and facebook account for it?

This podcast marks the return of sound effects!!! I apologize that they tend to drown out some the words we say, but most of our words are rubbish anyway. I will make sure to fix that in the next podcast.

This episode showcases my love for Courtney Love and Hole. The opening song is “Asking for It” with Kurt Cobain doing duet duties. The closing song is “Turpentine”, one of the first songs Hole wrote and recorded.

We talk about:

* The Tata Tops – bikini tops that look like exposed breasts
* Israel v. Palestine
* The Emmys
* The problem with Aaron Sorkin
* LeBron James
* The 35th anniversary of Disco Demolition Night and House music.
* Brendan’s newsletter

You can subscribe to the podcast with the RSS feed or on iTunes.

I’m not saying this because I’m happy LeBron James is returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Hell, I could care less where the hell he was to take his talents to. But the way LeBron James has subverted the normal “means of production” makes him a folk hero in my eyes.

LeBron James is the most powerful man in the NBA. Not the commissioner, not the owners, not the broadcasters. An employee — the worker in the classic Marxist archetype — has the power to ground all business to a halt, which is what LeBron has done for the past several days: Chris Bosh had to wait for the decision which in turn halted any business the Houston Rockets could do; Carmelo Anthony had to see where LeBron wound up so he could fully weigh his options which affected what the Lakers and Knicks could do; and let’s not forget the Chicago Bulls.

Hell, the weight of this decision even had the power of what ESPN would air: naturally once he makes the decision no matter the hour, they would have to drop everything and air a 72-hour special all LeBron all the time.

Which singular athlete has this much power?

Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Lionel Messi, Christiano Ronaldo, Barry Bonds, Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin? None of them has the power LeBron does to paralyze a league to a halt while waiting for him to choose where he wants to play.

In the classic Marxist analysis of capitalism you have the the struggle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, the owners and the workers. Marx supposed that the exploitation of the workers would create a revolution leading to a socialist paradise. We have seen the results of these revolutions abroad and have not seen a similar uprising here in America.

But here is LeBron completely subverting this relationship of exploiter and exploited. He has garnered power by his superlative play on the court to exploit the exploiters. He ground their business to a standstill for days. He forced an apology and groveling from an NBA owner. He indirectly programed the most powerful sports media disseminator.

Now, the NBA isn’t a perfect capitalist enterprise, but the greed by the owners as exhibited by the lockout a couple of years ago certainly echo those of the hypercapitalists that have put our economy in the state that it is.

Even if you don’t buy this Marxist interpretation I’ve laid out, you’ve got to appreciate LeBron for getting an owner to see the error of his ways (Dan Gilbert, Quicken Loans) and send another owner into a depression (Micky Arison, Carnival Cruise Lines).

As a side note, I was amused by the lots of people who were mad at LeBron for the media circus that surrounded him the past few days. It should be noted that LeBron didn’t say anything — most of the noise was generated by the basketball media in a way to justify their own existence.