Hideo Nomo

I caught this from MLB.com about Hideo Nomo trying to earn a spot on the Royals:

...

Nomo pitched two innings and retired all six batters, three on strikeouts, in an 11-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.

"Three strikeouts in two innings -- that's pretty good," manager Trey Hillman said. "He's still missing bats."

Nomo, attempting a comeback after not being in the Majors since 2005, was dropped from rotation consideration after giving up five runs in three innings to the Brewers last Saturday.

"He was very effective," Hillman said. "He continues to locate his fastball. He got it up to 88 [mph] today. He's elevating when he needs to elevate it to change eye levels, and it's very effective, because of what the split does. Sometimes, they're looking for the split and he doesn't throw it."

Nomo was famous for his split-finger pitch in his glory years with the Los Angeles Dodgers and other clubs.

"He did a good job. It's still intriguing to us and he's still very much in the mix for a bullpen position," Hillman said.

...

I've always been a fan of Nomo. I liked his dance and delivery. I liked his reliance on the split (a hell of a pitch). I liked the 8.74 K/9 average (there abouts.) A good deal of baseball is bullpen, and with the bullpen it is usually great to have a change of pace kind of thrower. Nomo could be great, even with the ever-shrinking (called, at least--on paper, not supposed to be) strike zone that I think contributed to his downfall over the years. I look forward to seeing him on the club sometime this year.

The video is a Nike commercial from the way back. I didn't know that he had a shoe made for him to pimp, but there it is.

Just a couple more days.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4E7uY_Tl7g

One Last Rejection

My Alma Mater, Longwood University, is cheap. They send a hundred mailers a year that beg me for money, that invite me to art shows so they can beg me for money, that invite me to other functions so they can beg me for money, or (as the most recent LU delivery suggests) let me know they've sold my name and address to certain third parties (sweet, I too can be the proud owner of 0.0% APR through 2009!); yet, they can't even cut a sheet to tell me I'm not welcome for even an interview for a job an orange could do. Fifteen months apart and they send the same form-letter e-mail (e-mail? yes, an e-mail) with the same typo.


Compare:

December 11, 2006

Dear Jason:

We would like to thank you for applying for Registrar, position #R0004, in the Department of Registration, at Longwood University . This is to inform you that the position has been filled.

I wish you much success in your continued job search. I would also like to encourage you to continue to apply for positions for which you are qualified. Once again, thank you for your interest in Longwood University .[sic.]

Sincerely

Sherri G. Crawford, PHR
Longwood University
Recruiting Manager

Contrast:

March 21, 2008

Dear Jason Huskey,

We would like to thank you for applying for the Administrative and Office Specialist II position #R0006, in the Admissions Department, at Longwood University. This is to inform you that the position has been filled.

I wish you much success in your continued job search. I would also like to encourage you to continue to apply for positions for which you are qualified. Once again, thank you for your interest in Longwood University .[sic.]

Sincerely

Lisa Mooney
Longwood University
Recruiting Manager

15 months apart and they still haven't fixed the typo.
See, this is the type of quality you can expect from Longwood University.

Certum pete finem

In the end, it's all about your end.

I've completely wiped my associations with them from this website and any future--->some pubs are settled in stone and such--->dealings I make.

I take away the few friends and experiences I can still remember, otherwise. . .yeah...

Sweeney And Loyalty Oaths

A nice story about Mike Sweeney came across the wire tonight:

...

The ties are still strong. When Sweeney came onto the field, the first guy he hugged was Billy Butler, the kid who took over Sweeney's designated hitter job. With that, the Sweeney hug-fest with his ex-teammates was on.

He wore No. 5 instead of his old 29, which already was assigned to pitcher Keith Foulke. So he chose 5 for his boyhood idol, the Angels' Brian Downing, and his manhood idol, George Brett.

"I always loved Brian Downing growing up, and then obviously becoming close with George the last decade or two in Kansas City," he said. "It's an honor to wear the number."

Sweeney went through pregame stretching with the A's, happily gabbing with No. 4, ex-Royals teammate Emil Brown, and No. 3, Eric Chavez.

He spotted Brett and two of his sons near the Royals dugout -- more hugs and handshakes. Justin Huber, who was hitting .400 with slim prospects of making the KC roster, got some encouraging words.

"I really miss the guys," Sweeney said. "I was talking to [Mark] Teahen today, and I said, 'How's it going over there?' He said, 'Oh, it's going great, but sometimes I'll look around and want to get some advice from you, and you're not around.'

"I looked him in the eye and I said, 'Well, you know what that means -- it's your time to lead.'"

The Royals kidded Sweeney about his A's white shoes.

"They make me faster," he said with a grin. "I've already got a bag [stolen base]."

...

If I had my way there would be a Major League team made up of 25 Mike Sweeneys. The dude's all about class and embodies what baseball should be about. Okay, so their pitching may suffer, but there wouldn't be (should I say, shouldn't be) an empty seat in the stadium.

It's too bad he's with Oakland, though. I'm a Royals fan first and foremost, a Padres fan second, and when they aren't pissing all over me (Cliff Floyd, Preston Wilson, Luis Castillo, Pudge (for the short time, especially since they weren't willing to pay him the same salary over four years that he was already making--thus leading him to the wretched Tigers) among others the hate is blocking) a Florida Marlins fan third.

I don't mind Oakland too much--other than the fact that they had a Braves-like pitching core that they let go like a child with her first helium balloon. Not to mention they helped Houston steal away Beltran. There's a little hope left from that trade, but it ain't Beltran, yet. Teahen is good, Buck, ehh..., Mike Wood?

Then again, I think the A's got the worst of that trade.

I don't know... I guess if he can make the roster, I can come around. He's still one of the good guys after all. Go, Mike.

Z Madness

.

If the NBA were on channel 5
and a bunch of frogs making love was on channel 4,
I'd watch the frogs
even if they were coming in fuzzy.

--Bobby Knight

.

Baseball's Upon Us

It's time to dust off the cleats, jab fingers into our gloves to kill any nesting spiders, and start swinging the lumber.

Or drafting fantasy teams and sucking...


yeah, sucking...


You know what doesn't suck?

This F-ing Curveball by Dodger prospect Clayton Kershaw.


Goodly God, The Devil Done Said:




That thing's freaking sweet!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2M0c6DxCMY

Random Lyrics Into Air: Come Down, Come Down

1.
I remember meeting you;
we were super low.
Surrounded by the sounds of saxophones.


2.
Leave your world and come to me.
I'm closer to you than I seem.

Oh, wish upon this melody
and come to me. Come to me.
Leave your world and join me soon.


3.
Sharks patrol these waters
Sharks patrol these waters
Don't let your fingers dangle in the water
And don't you worry about the day-glow orange life preserver
It won't save you


4.
Oh, the wind, the wind is blowing,
through the graves the wind is blowing,
freedom soon will come;
then we'll come from the shadows.


5.
So you ask me what I'm doing here holding up the lamp-post,
Flipping this quarter, trying to make up my mind
And if it's heads I go to Tennessee, and tails I buy a drink,
If it lands on the edge I keep talking to you


6.
And if you follow your feelings
And you follow your dreams
You might find the forest there in the trees


7.
And she was lying in the grass
And she could hear the highway breathing
And she could see a nearby factory
She's making sure she is not dreaming

See the lights of a neighbor's house, and
Now she's starting to rise


8.
The derelict dial phone clock pusher
Delved in reliving the future too
I'm sticking pins and needles in the stinging,
rotten flesh-like substitute pieces of half-cooked meat
that are walking on this earth
Abort desire


9.
When you give everything and the feeling is gone
All the giving is fake, did you fake enough?
When you take everything and you stay too long
When there's nothing left, did you take enough?



And what exactly does this mean?
I'm not completely sure.

Between the Tom Waits and the Skinny Puppy,
Between the Morphine and Megadeth,
I guess it means . . .
I guess it means . . .
I guess it . . .
LOOK QUICK!
Dogs Fighting!

Okay, so maybe it was all an excuse to post this pic...

1. Morphine - Souvenir
2. Morphine - Like a Mirror
3. Morphine - Sharks
4. Leonard Cohen - The Partisan
5. Tom Waits - Jitterbug Boy
6. Tom Petty - Wake Up Time
7. Talking Heads - And She Was
8. Skinny Puppy - Candle
9. Megadeth - When

All Lyrics Reserved By Their Respective Bands.
I'm just D-ing about.


G'night.

NP: Morphine - Buena

The movie is complete. I'm pretty pleased with it. I'll show it to my brother and get his reaction, then decide whether to put it out for public consumption on the tubes. It was fun to make--many mistakes abound, but I'm not down on any of that S. I'd say it was a good experience. It would have been a great experience, if Windows Movie Maker hadn't crashed 8,000 times.

The most fun was probably making the first teaser trailer for it. A super cereal one.

I'm thinking about the next one, which will probably be more of a critique of it than anything, filled with fake reviews and hints at things (spoken dialogue / sex) that aren't in the movie at all.

But anyway.

That was all right.



Now it's on to other creative dealies.
Got some more poems appearing soon.
Got a story rolling around these cobwebs.
And stuff.

You see I met a devil named Buena Buena
And since I met the devil I ain't been the same oh no
And I feel all right I have to tell ya
I think it's time for me to finally introduce you to the
Buena buena buena buena good good good

--Morphine

"We Danced Twice, Then She Left"

My poem, "We Danced Twice, Then She Left," appears in the current issue of Glassfire Magazine. Matt Randall and Kristina Brooks are the editors. Check them out!




*A pretty cool side note on this acceptance is the fact that for months I thought it had been rejected. In fact, I had received an e-mail stating such. Then, about two months ago I received a call from them and we exchanged e-mails about the fact that it had been put into a separate folder (pending, not rejected) and had just been misplaced. Pretty sweet, no?

They were very cool about everything, and I'm happy to see my little words in their journal.

NP: How Great Thou Art - Gomer Pyle, USMC

Dude has some vox.



Any who...

Thank God for Crea-dhd.

And pushing out from the sludge.

The "Western" idea I floated some time back is well into post.

Just need to rerecord one of the tunes and write another, but most of the transitions and cues are taking shape. It's rather cheesy but it's all heart. It's not as "silent" as I would like, but I guess that's because I try to get by with as little as I can, where I can. Basically I'm carving it out of a handful of short vid clips, pics, and one .gif. Done completely with plastic Cowboys and Indians I picked up at the $1 store. Woot!

A lot of continuity issues abound. I had to re-shoot a tad and it's a little buggy, but it adds a helluvalotta charm to it. It's all about heart.

On a more literary front, I'm about a twentieth the way through a new short story (first in about half-a-year (darn dead script) and it is feeling good. As the plotting still rolls out from A to B, this is starting to get me excited about maybe being a good long adventure into identity (again).

Then again, a lot of failure has come out of these "adventures into identity" before, but that's because they were too boring to stand (even when they shouldn't have had to've been *mouthful*) because the main characters were too close to me (resemblance chiefly). But now character and plot are getting the cogs and verses of their circular dance down to the last tremble of pulse before the amber wash of spot along the hardwood floor.

So, yeah.

When through the woods and forest glades I wander,
I hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees.
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur
And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze.

Then sings my soul,

Soon.

Sunday Morning Sabbatical

Kid Songs By Rock Stars


Pearl Jam and Guns N Roses are the best snippets in this awesome vid. Nicely done!

http://www.break.com/index/kids-songs-sung-by-rock-stars.html





Kids Songs Sung By Rock Stars - Watch more free videos