Holy Jet Lag, Batman!

We made it home safely yesterday after taking a red-eye flight to New York and then to Boston. I've never been so jet lagged in my life. Between the heat and humidity (and a hotel without air conditioning) and not getting any sleep overnight yesterday my body doesn't know which way is up. Hopefully by Friday or Saturday I will have recovered.

Comic-Con was fun; we can say we did it and we survived. Just as I suspected, I definitely rank pretty low on the geek scale at Comic-Con. I saw more costumes that I didn't recognize than ones I actually did.



*** Possible "Lost" Season 3 spoilers below. Read at your own risk. Skip to the next set of asteriks to avoid. ***





The "Lost" Q&A session was my highlight of the event. Some quick tidbits:

• Damon Lindleof said that Desmond returns in Season 3 and implied that Locke is alive and well.
• Lindleof also said that Season 3 has a twist in the middle that will blow your mind. By implication from earlier questions I gathered that the twist involves the perceived passage of time on the island.
• Kate will choose her man in the first pod of new episodes, which the producers call a sort of mini-series to start the season.
• The outside world (Penny et al.) will continue to play in a role going forward.
• The show seems planned for about 4 seasons. I had read that J.J. Abrams planned for 7, so this was news to me. The producers hope that ABC doesn't make them drag the show on indefinitely because they don't want to tap dance; they have a planned overall story arc.

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*** END OF SPOILERS ***

The second best part of the show for me was a tie between the Lionsgate films presentation and a demonstration by Lucasarts.

Lucasarts has been working on a new Indiana Jones game and a new Star Wars game. Both utilize two amazing new technologies. The first involves the artificial intelligence of the enemy. The AI is no longer scripted, but programmed to follow behaviors. As a result, the game is never the same twice. During a demo of the Indy game the bad guys never fell or reacted the same way twice. They tried to approach Indy and were staggered or thrown realistically and uniquely when hit or tossed.

The second technology that Lucasarts demonstrated involved the behavior of materials. If memory serves me correct, the name was "Digital Molecular Modeling". DMM allows materials to bend or break realistically. The demo showed thin wood, thick wood, soft metal, stone, glass, ice, crystal, graphite, and rubber objects all behave appropriately in a Star Wars themed location. The way that wood and glass break is unique depending on where and how the materials are struck. Soft metal gradually deforms while rubber is reflexive and returns to form.

One cool part of the demo had Storm Troopers spawn while being thrown at a wooden ceiling beam. Some, but not many, were able to grab onto the wood with one or both hands to prevent from falling. At one point a Storm Trooper holding the beam with one hand grabbed a fellow Storm Trooper with his free hand. The extra weight caused him to slip from the beam as the beam itself splintered and broke under their combined weight. Even the Lucasarts guys had never seen that happen before.

A brief video of gameplay from the new Star Wars game showed the DMM coupled with the AI. It was amazing. The Storm Troopers would react uniquely to the Jedi shown in the video. When the Jedi used the Force to push the Storm Troopers off the ledge several loose items on the ledge were also pushed over and one Storm Trooper lost his helmet. Then a different Jedi character was shown Force lifting three Storm Troopers and slamming them into the ground. Several small items were also lifted and slammed with the STs. One ST even lost hold of his weapon and tried to reach for it while both he and the gun were suspended in the air. The last part of the video showed a male Jedi lift a single ST and throw him against a large outcropped structure on a wall. The ST grabbed onto the structure to prevent from falling. The Jedi than Force pulled the ST sideways, eventually ripping the entire outcropping and ST from the wall.

Sadly both games are only in development for "Next Generation" consoles at the moment. Looks like you'll need an X-Box 360 or PS3 to play.

Lionsgate previewed several horror movies and a movie called "Crank". "Crank" stars Jason Statham as a hitman who has been injected with a poison. He has only 90 minutes to find out who injected him. Somehow his adrenaline level is involved, but it was not discussed during the panel. I believe he needs to maintain a high level to prevent the poison from taking effect. It was shot in HD and looks very cool.

The other Lionsgate film I'm excited about is "Saw III". A clip was shown at the end of the presentation that was most likely too graphic to receive an "R" rating. In the clip a man who was born into a privileged life yet has spent most of his life in chains in prison is forced to remove about a dozen bull ring style piercings from his body in 90 seconds. The three-to-four inch rings are pierced through his arms, legs, back, Achilles heels, and lower lip/jaw. It was brutal watching and listening to him struggle to save his life. It was more reminiscent of the first "Saw" than the sequel.

Tobin Bell, the actor who plays Jigsaw in the "Saw" movies, sounds just like the character he plays. I had previously assumed he used a deep, throaty, scary voice for the character in the films. It turns out that is his normal voice. If you had his cell phone number, he would scare the crap out of you.

Vacation

Here's my last post before leaving for San Diego tomorrow. We're going to the annual Comic-Con for the first time. It should be a blast. I'm most excited about "Family Guy" on Friday and "Lost" and "Spiderman 3" on Saturday. It should be fun going to a place where my level of geekiness only ranks about a 2 on a 10 scale.

I'm thinking of trying to start some shi* between the Star Wars and Star Trek fans.

The Sox eked out a win against the lowly Royals last night. Mirabelli should have walked on a 3-1 pitch, but a lousy call by plate ump Jim Joyce allowed him the opportunity to hit a game-tying 3-run homer. Thanks Jim!

I saw an interesting short article on Josh Beckett today. The author of "Feeding the Monster" reiterates what we all know about Beckett by now.

I saw Rotoworld questioned Jason Varitek's ability to call a decent game this year. I found the timing sort of interesting seeing that I just praised Varitek's defensive and leadership abilities in my "Mid-Season Musings" post. It made me realize that I'm not really in a position to evaluate Varitek's overall worth and that maybe he can't call a good game. I've always read and heard good things about him and would be a little surprised if he had suddenly become significantly worse than the last few years. I personally still have to think that the health of the starting pitching (and subsequently the quality of pitching) has had a big impact on the result this year as opposed to Varitek's abilities. The article on Beckett above would certainly seem to explain his troubles.



Now for something completely different. I had the chance to play Southers Marsh Golf Club last week. The course was easily one of the best manicured courses I've ever had the chance to play. It has been voted the best golf course in Plymouth four years in-a-row. It also has been voted the best burger in Plymouth. I certainly cannot disagree on either count. I wouldn't mind playing the course again this year, hopefully closer to the cranberry harvest to see the full color of the course.


Lastly, be sure to check out "What If" on NESN at 6PM on Thursday night. NESN has used computer statistical analysis to determine the outcome of Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS if Grady Little had removed Pedro. It should be a very interesting program. I've got the DVR set to record it.

Ch-ch-ch-change

I enabled email posting to my blog today.  This is my first attempt to send an email to Blogger as a post.  Keep your cyber-fingers crossed.  There's really no reason for me to do this, but in theory I could post from remote locations with only email access and not internet access.  I could also use other devices, like cellphones or PDAs, to post.

 

I also enabled the ability for readers to email posts to other people.  The link is at the bottom of each post, near the "comments" link.

 

Finally, I decided to write about life in general.  Yes, I want to write about the Sox and the Pats, but as I've said before, I don't want to rehash games.  Anyone can watch Sports Center or Sports Desk or read the Globe or the Herald.  If I can't say anything unique, or at least present it differently, I'd rather not say it.

 

On that note, I ate lunch at Ruby Tuesday's today.  As of today they have pared down their menu.  I was somewhat disappointed to discover that they only offered about a dozen types of burgers now.  Gone were many of the combinations containing bison meat.  They still offer bison, but it's a simple bacon and American cheese offering.

 

I didn't ask, but I'm hoping that Ruby T's would still make some of the old combinations.  I almost asked to have a bison burger with bacon, cheddar, and some blue cheese on top.  I settled for the smokehouse burger (beef, onion strings, BBQ sauce, cheddar, and bacon). 

 

I also think that Ruby T's needs to pay a royalty to the Rolling Stones so that motion sensors can be installed at the doors.  They would be the one-way directional sensors that detected when customers left the building.  As the customer leaves, the outdoor speaks would play the line, "Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday...".

Mid-Season Musings

Some thoughts from the last few days in sports and the Sox at the unofficial midpoint of the season...

The Sox need pitching help, both a starter and a reliever in my opinion, but given the lack of quality arms available I hope they don't mortgage the future by trading any solid prospects this year. I think the Sox pitching is good enough to make the playoffs and even win the World Series this year, but I think they would be able to bury the Yanks and Jays with some help.

I think a healthy Matt "Meltdown" Clement with his head screwed on straight could be the necessary addition to the rotation. He doesn't have to be amazing, just eat up some innings at the back of the rotation and keep games close, giving the Sox a chance to win.

Julian Tavarez has been hit or miss all year. He could be an asset down the stretch if he strings together some good outings.

Rudy Seanez is worthless. Throw him out with the garbage.

While we're talking about worthless garbage, dump Willie Harris A.S.A.P. He's the worst pinch runner I've ever seen; he's costing the Sox valuable outs and potential runs.

I think that Timlin, Delcarmen, and Papelbon are very solid. I think that Hansen is getting there, but he's still not quite a completely reliable set-up man. Part of the problem may be that Francona pushes him past 3-outs at a time, to which he's seemingly getting more comfortable with. It's the multiple inning appearances that are hurting his numbers.

Varitek should bat in the 8th spot until (hopefully) he heats up. Since Lowell has shown he can't bat 5th either, Nixon and Pena should platoon in the number five spot.

It will be nice to have Pena back (no more Willie!).

Maybe Gonzalez should bat 8th and Tek 9th for while. There's no shame in that. Tek brings a lot to the table as team captain and catcher of the staff even if he's not bringing a lot to the plate this year.


Other topics:

I hate the ESPN baseball power rankings. Whoever does them is a total suck-up and Yankee kiss-ass. I've felt this way for years and it's going to take a lot to change my mind.

How does Michelle Wie suffer from heatstroke? Didn't she grow up in hot and humid (and reportedly beautiful) Hawaii?

Barry Bonds is going to prison, Barry Bonds is going to prison! Ring the bells! Sing it with me, "Barry's going to prison!". It's only a matter of time now. It will be funny for that @$$hole to worry about his @$$hole, if you catch my drift.

I heard one of the guys on ESPN News pronounce Hanley Ramirez's first name "AHN-lay".

I heard the song "The Adventure" by Angels and Airwaves on the radio. I thought it was Blink-182. Turns out the band is fronted by Tom Delonge of Blink fame. Sounds like it could be a great CD.

We'll be heading to the Comic-Con International in San Diego on Wednesday. It should be fun. I can't wait for the presentation by the producers of the show "Lost".

Red Is Better Than White

The Red Sox handled the White Sox on the road this weekend but they couldn't finish the job yesterday. The good guys won the first two games of the series relatively easily before failing to put away the defending champs on Sunday.

Jermaine "Why Won't You" Dye hit a game-tying homerun in the bottom of the 9th off Jonathan Papelbon with two outs. The Sox then managed to score twice in the 11th inning but missed two key opportunities in the bottom of the inning. First, "Why Won't You" Dye failed to touch third base when returning to second base on a flyout. The Red Sox didn't notice and failed to appeal. The miscue gave the White Sox another opportunity to tie the game. The next batter hit a potential double-play ball but A.J. "the Punk" Pierzynski slid well outside the baseline with both arms raised. His actions helped the runner beat the throw. Had the Red Sox completed the second half of the double-play, the game would have been over. Rudy "How Am I Still Pitching In the Major Leagues This Year" Seanez didn't have enough gas in the tank to get through the 19th inning.

Winning the series against the White Sox was a nice pickup after tanking against the Devils Rays earlier in the week. I still don't understand how the D-Rays can play the Sox so well, but fold against the Yanks. The D-Rays at least came back from a 5-0 deficit to win Sunday.

Red Hot Sox

The title says "Sox", you pervert.

The Sox are absolutely smoking, having won 14 of their last 15 games. They won 12 in row before conceding defeat to the Marlins on Friday night. They threw Jason Johnson on the mound against Dontrelle Willis, the Marlins' ace, in what could only be viewed as a blatant waving of the white surrender flag. I assume that management was hoping Willis would have an off night and the Sox offense would overcome any deficit that Johnson would create. Well, Johnson was as bad as advertised early, allowing five runs in the first two innings. The Sox didn't recover and lost for the first time in two weeks. They did go on to win the last two games of the series. In doing so they managed to tie the all time best mark in interleague play for a season at 16-2.

The NESN broadcast tonight is stuttering as if the frame rate is not what it should be. In the past I had assumed that my Motorola 6412 had simply become too warm. Turns out it's only NESN that's the problem. I just checked my incoming signal strength and found that NESN was only "Fair". ESPN HD, on the other hand, was "Good" and had twice the signal-to-noise ratio. Come on, NESN, don't play me like that. Boost your signal strength. I haven't yet attempted to correlate the problem with the location of the team or the weather conditions. It's perfectly clear and warm here, though.

Yes, I think Schilling was snubbed by Ozzie Guillen in not being elected to the All-Star game. However, I think Francisco Liriano was a bigger Guillen snub. I'm also shocked that Nomar was not chosen for the NL team. Both Liriano and Nomar are eligible to voted in by the fans in the MLB Final Vote.

I would like to propose that in the future the managers of the All-Star game are only allowed to add a single player from their own team. That would ensure that fan and player balloting accounted for the primary selections and the managers would be mostly responsible for electing the representatives from crummy teams. It would also remove much of the nepotism that Guillen and Joe Torre are so found of. I would also hope that baseball either drops the stupid rule calling for each team to be represented, or better yet, finds a way to increase the parity among the big and small market teams.