Top Five Friday: It's A Beautiful Day For A Ballgame

Top Five Friday will not be airing in it's normal time so we can bring you the Wonderful World Of Sleeping.  By the way, whoever created the 1-10 PM shift on a Friday is a cruel, evil, heartless son of a bitch who I wish a world of mysterious rashes and "that's never happened to be me before" on.

One day late, indeed, but I thought I'd bring you a taste of Thursday's Dodger game in photos.  Without further adieu...

My Top Five Favorite Photos From Thursday's Game

5.  The Manny Dreads
You've gotta love capitalism when it rears it's head.  So, not only do the Dodgers get Manny's offensive production for the rest of the season for the low, low price of free... not only do they get to soak up all the incredible publicity and marketing opportunities for the not so inexpensive cost of nothing... but they get to sell these wonderful bandana/dreadlock combos for $25 each - and yes, they were selling like crazy.  We had to resist buying them - I may not be so lucky the next time.  "For only $25, you too can spend a warm day roasting under a cheap bandana and fake hair!  SIGN ME UP!"

4.  Different Strokes To Rule The World
Okay, so I don't really know who or what this is.  We had difficulty decoding if he/she was a man/woman.  There were really no identifying signs that made us comfortable in making  a final decision.  But crazy blond hair?  Glove on your head?  Big ass sunglasses?  Oh, you're making the Top Five, sweetheart.  To top this story off, we saw him/her with a female friend after the game being "detained" by security - or at least that's how it appeared to me.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

 

 3.  Put Me In Coach - I'm Ready To Play... Todaaaay

The Dodgers have instituted this awesome new program where two hours before the game on game days, you can go onto the field in center field and shag batting practice flyballs.  The kids love it - and the "kids at heart" aren't far behind them.  We didn't get there in time for batting practice but we did get there in time to go the field and take a few photos.  This is a black and white [mostly] shot from centerfield that I thought turned out pretty groovy.  Highlight of this section of the day?  A big group of sorority girls from SC were at the game as a group.  During this period, they were screaming at all the people playing catch to toss a ball to them.  Someone finally did - and they scattered completely as the ball came smashing down in the middle of them.  Way to work it out, ladies.

 2.  A Deeper Shade Of Soul
So, our camera has this cool little feature that we get obsessed with from time to time.  You should see our San Francisco photos - lots of black and white with splashes of color.  Basically, the way it works is you can pull all the color out of your photos except for one color that you set.  So, I decided it would P-I-M-P to only feature Dodger Blue.  This is the result of that shot.  Oh, that guy in the foreground was part of a trio of fans that ended up being pretty cool that we chatted with on and off throughout the game - topics ranging from Vin Scully and throat-slitting, a discussion of my throwing arm versus Juan Pierre's, and life in Iraq and the taste of camel meat.  Yeah.  That really could be it's own post - should be, in fact.  Stay tuned for more on that!

1.  Check 'Em Out, Angel Fans
That's right, baby.  There's six of them there.  I thought I'd provide a quick count because we all know Angel fans can't count!  Ohhh!  Sick burn!  I figure if I insult the Angel fans enough here, I might get picked up by another Angel message board and send my traffic through the roof for a few days.  Angel fans suck!  Yeah!  Uhhh!  Take that!  So, I played with iPhoto to jazz this one up a bit this morning and I really liked the end result.

  Honorable Mention
We thought this guy was pretty rad considering Snoop was throwing out the opening pitch and the guy had a matching pimp hat and shirt.  He turned out to be even more rad than we ever could possibly imagine when during James Loney's homerun, the guy started doing some weird finger-pointing and fist-pumping dance that just made me wish I had video of it to share with the class.  Let's just say that some stereotypes were shattered on this day.

That's all, folks.  Hope it was worth the day delay!

I'm not a former POW but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night

I'm sure this will offend some people but I found it amusing.

Dodgers Win!

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He Steals!

Manny just "legged out" a groundball error and then stole second!

Be on the lookout for locusts and other signs of the apocalypse that I'd know if I went to Sunday School.
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Would you wear this?

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It's tiiiiiiiime for Dodger Baseball!

In a weird twist of fate, the Dodgers now play the same music to announce the starting lineup that the Missus and I used to be introduced at our wedding reception.
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Fo shizzle

Snoop Dogg just threw out the first pitch. Fo'reals tho'!

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Game on!

You've gotta love the midweek day game.

I was thinking this morning about this song they used to play before the games on the radio and I was wondering if they still do. I haven't listened to a full game on the radio in years.

With the game about a half hour away, sure enough the song started to play over the PA. If I could, I would post an mp3 but since I can't...

It's a beautiful day for a ballgame
For a ballgame today
The fans are out to get a kick in or twi
From Walla Walla Washington to Kalamazoo
It's a beautiful day for a homerun
But even a triple's okay
We're gonna cheer and boo and raise a hullabaloo
At the ballgame today

Play ball!
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The Creative Process: The Fork In The Road

As I get closer to narrowing down my choices for my next attempt at a screenplay, I've come across a quandry.  While there are still a few other contenders, I've basically narrow my choices down to two.

The first is something that came into my head in the past couple months and spent a lot of time there.  I've got a pretty good idea of what most of the major characters are like, I know the basic details of the plot, and I can play some parts of it on the "3-D IMAX of my mind."  This one would be considered "the safe choice."  I think it has quite a bit of potential and really could be a large step forward for me as a writer because it's very different than my first screenplay.

The second is something that I just had a glint of an idea for very recently.  I've spent practically no time working on it save for the past few days when it's been dominating my thoughts.  At this point, I've got a basic idea of the two characters, I have a very broad, overreaching idea of the plot without much in terms of detail, and while I can play out a few scenes in my mind, there are a lot of very large holes in the plot that I'm not sure what fills in those gaps.  This one is a genre that I have always loved and always wanted to do something in - but this one's risky.  I love the basic premise of it but I'm afraid I won't be able to flesh it out in time.  I can see a ton of potential in it and it would really challenge me as a writer because it won't be easy at all to pull it off.

So, there lies the fork in the road...

With a deadline approached, do I walk the road more traveled and knock out the one that's been dancing around my brain for a couple months?  Or do I take that more deserted path that has a lot of roadblocks on it but a more satisfying "end of the trail" moment?

Suggestions are welcome!

A little more on Kent

Just watching the Dodger pre-game show and as they were going off the air, they pointed out Kent's production increase hitting in front of Manny and then started mocking him for his "look at my career numbers" stuff. Beautiful. They also pointed out that his "career numbers" in the three hole also include his stint hitting in front of Bonds which I can't remember if I referenced but I know it was buzzing around my brain when I writing.

Kevin Kennedy also said, "Don't mess with Vinny" as Steve Lyons remarked "He's barking up the wrong tree with that one." That's what I like to hear.

I'm sure Vinny will take the high road and let it go but I'd sure love to hear him rip Kent a new one at some point. Maybe Vinny will write a book some day and all will be spilled.

Jeff Kent Is An Asshole

Once a fucking Giant...

The title pretty much says it all, no?

It's not like it's earthshattering news either. The guy has been a prick for the majority of his baseball career and got a free pass for a lot of it because it was aimed in a bigger prick's direction. I mean, how can you hate Jeff Kent compared to Barry Bonds? When Kent got into it with Milton Bradley, how could you not take his side when Bradley's a plastic bottle away from a meltdown at any moment?

But on a day when Dodger fans should be celebrating because the magnificent Greg Maddux is on his way back to town - a move I've supported for weeks, by the way - to hopefully steady a starting rotation that is hurting with Penny going back down to injury... we're having to deal with Jeff Kent running his mouth about Vin Scully.

I have little doubt that Jeff Kent greatly overestimates his value to Dodger fans but if he has any hope not to suffer the same fate as Andruw Jones, I think he might want to apologize... and in a hurry.

Vin Scully is not just a Dodger treasure - he's a baseball treasure.

Very few would say the same about Jeff Kent.

So, Mr. Kent, when Vin Scully says you're benefitting from hitting in front of Manny Ramirez, Dodger [and baseball] fans are going to believe no matter how much you throw your lifetime stats in our faces to try to prove him wrong.

I don't know if it's an ego thing or what but it's fairly obvious that you're hitting better in front of Manny than you were without him so just give him the nod of credit, suck it up, and play the game you're paid to play. And don't waste your time running down our legendary announcer trying to make yourself look better.

I've long held the belief that this team and franchise will find itself worlds better when Jeff Kent moves on - whether it's to retirement or another team. I've been hopeful it's been coming for a couple years but we haven't gotten lucky yet. Yes, it will be difficult to replace his production in another second baseman but I hold a firm belief that it will greatly improve team morale and chemistry to not have his grumpy ass polluting the air.

My stance on booing our own players is well-known so I will not be booing Jeff Kent when I [hopefully] go to the game on Thursday afternoon. I will cheer for Jeff Kent, the player, to help my team to victory.

But Jeff Kent the person?

Well... someone wise said earlier...

Jeff Kent Is An Asshole.

The Creative Process: It Begins Anew

I'm not sure if any of you would actually care about this or not but I thought it might be a fun thing to have down on "paper" to look back at after the fact. A few days ago, I did a post mentioning that I need to start writing a second screenplay here shortly. What I thought would be kinda cool is to take y'all through the step-by-step process of that - or as step-by-steppy as I can get without enlisting Patrick Duffy's aid.

"It all began with a mouse..."

That's a quote that a lot of Disney fans like to use over and over. It's a quote attributed to Walt as something he used to say to keep his employees humbled and centered - something to show them that despite the growing empire they were developing, it all started with a simple idea. One character that carried them to a level none of them ever could imagine.

In this case, it all begins with an idea.

It doesn't have to be something terribly complicated and quite frankly, it can come from pretty much anywhere. The first screenplay I wrote can credit it's "creative spark" from a song I heard, listened to the lyrics, and decided it'd make a hell of a story on the big screen. The first sitcom I ever tried to pen was based on an experience that my brother-in-law had at work.

It all begins with an idea.

So, that's the stage I find myself in right now. Over the years, I've start-stopped a lot of novels, teleplays, screenplay, comic book ideas in some sort of scribbled shorthand. I dug through an old notebook the other night and uncovered a lot of them. Some of them I just had filed away mentally, adding a few "notes" to the file from time to time. But all of them had some kind of development done to them - however minor.

From there, I took 16 ideas and put them down on paper - a working title if I had one along with a short description of the plot/theme. If I had originally conceived it as something other than a screenplay, I noted that as well. 16 ideas - all incredibly solid in my oh-so-humble opinion and all completely worthy of making print/press/publish/etc.

At this point, I turn to my partner-in-crime, Mrs. Blue. She was my sole editor for the first script so this time, I involved her a little earlier. She got all 16 ideas in their written form and I told her to narrow it down to eight that deserve stronger consideration.

We're down to the Elite Eight. It's a diverse list - ranging from sci-fi to fantasy to western to an almost 80's style action flick. All of them have some serious potential. Now comes the time to narrow the list down a little bit more.

We're making progress, people - one step at a time.

I recently helped a customer at the store a couple weeks ago who, in the course of smalltalk, revealed that he was a screenwriter. After probing a bit to try and find out more details (he clammed up,) I mentioned I had just finished my first screenplay. His words of wisdom?

"Congratulations. That's the tough part. Everyone in the world can start one."

Amen, brother. Amen.

And this "everyone" is one step closer to starting his second.

Stay tuned, folks, it only gets more interesting from here.