[2020 MLB Season Poll]

MLB will force the start of the season despite infections, but Covid-19 will run rampant through the players at some point, and they'll have to shut down. I think MLB will be surprised by the lack of interest in baseball, their moment is gone, and the ratings will be in free fall for the next couple of seasons. I don't think any sport should start up, but money is money.

[MLB Season 2020]

34 minutes ago, Brad said:

I think the concept has been floated for several years.

See Play Ball: MLB announces 2020 regular season, which says that “The batter who made the final out in the previous inning (or a pinch-runner for that batter) would be that runner.”

Herb Washington, your time has finally come!

His most famous moment:

 

[Best track you heard all week]

 

[Return Of The Film Corner Thread]

Support Your Local Sheriff. Just a fun movie. 

[What rock music are you listening to? Non-Jazz, Non-Classical.]

Bob Dylan: Rough and Rowdy Ways

 

Edit: Off my first listen, I have to admit that I'm underwhelmed by the album. 

[What rock music are you listening to? Non-Jazz, Non-Classical.]

Tommy Keene: You Hear Me - A Retrospective 1983 - 2009. A very good introduction to a vastly underrated artist.

 

[MLB Season 2020]

1 hour ago, ghost of miles said:

Yes, and in other countries what should be a straight-up public health issue hasn’t been turned into another front for the culture wars. Btw isn’t the NBA planning to resume its season and play all of its games in Orlando, Florida?! Welcome to one of the hottest Covid-19 states in the country! Just read about 23 Clemson football players/personnel testing positive as well. Yeah, this is gonna go great. 

I have a feeling nothing is going to stop the SEC from playing football...

[MLB Season 2020]

2 hours ago, ghost of miles said:

All MLB training camps to temporarily close after positive coronavirus tests

I believe most if not all of those camps are in Florida and Arizona, two of the worst states in the country right now when it comes to coronavirus. And apparently teams were planning to do pre-season workouts in their home stadiums anyway. Still, this doesn’t bode well for any kind of 2020 season.

MLB, NFL, NBA, tennis, college football, all feel there is some kind of magical location where they are impervious to the virus, with youth winning out -- good luck with that! Can you imagine the fall-out if someone dies? I realize there's a ton of money involved, but honestly, and I love sports, shut it down for 2020, so you can actually plan a season. I think I read that MLB has a 110 page protocol on what teams have to do... good luck with that..

[COVID-19 III: No Politics For Thee]

I'm volunteering to be tested tomorrow. I drove from the Napa Valley to Salt Lake City, so I went through, and interacted, with people from two different states. Better to safe than sorry, I have an eighty-two year old mother, and I'd hate to give it to her. Weird times!

[Return Of The Film Corner Thread]

41 minutes ago, medjuck said:

This movie is wild in so many ways.  Can't believe I've never seen it or even heard much about  it before. If you get a chance, watch it, or at least the Shanghai Lil number at the end. 

Ruby Keeler is all of a sudden Chinese! It is a crazy film! where Cagney and Blondel are running wild! Dick Powell is playing himself again! All the musical numbers are at the end of the movie! I'm using too many exclamation points!!!! 

[Return Of The Film Corner Thread]

The Blues Brothers

[Now reading...]

Essentials: 52 Must-See Movies and Why They Matter by Jeremy Arnold. Nice book just to pick up and read at your leisure.

[COVID-19 III: No Politics For Thee]

20 minutes ago, Dan Gould said:

Reminds me of the million dollar idea I once had: License sports team insignias for urinal cakes. Imagine if Red Sox fans could piss on the Yankee logo.  Seminoles pissing on Gators. It works everywhere, for every team sport. Million dollar idea, easy. Might even increase consumption of beverages.

All it would have taken is an acceptance of your team getting pissed on in exchange for the knowledge that your opponent gets it too. Fair trade.

Also, now that I think of it, the imprint would have to be urine-proof for maximum enjoyment.

And speaking of the trough system in use at many older stadiums (FSU had them when I attended, and Fenway too at least before they spent the money on renovations): You can only have so many urinal cakes in there, leading to the inevitable cross-streams and drunken competition.

Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego had those troughs in the bathrooms. I still shudder when I think of walking into one of those when the Padres had a "Beer On Sale" promotion for a game.. THE HORROR!!!!!

[Return Of The Film Corner Thread]

46 minutes ago, duaneiac said:

I don't think I've ever seen a Helen Gahagan movie.  Later as Helen Gahagan Douglas, SHE was elected to the US House of Representatives and SHE might have spared us all a lot of trouble had SHE defeated Richard Nixon in their 1950 Senate battle.

Movie's not too bad, Randolph Scott has all the acting range of A to B, incredibly wooden, it says something where Nigel Bruce is the most vibrant presence of the film!

The HGD election was a byword, and a ubiquitous example in California politics even when I was growing up. It set the tone for a long time.

[What Are You Watching]

1 hour ago, duaneiac said:

I absolutely LOVE the Jack Benny Show!  It was such a well written show and had a talented ensemble cast that could easily rival that of Friends or Seinfeld.   The show did not focus much on topical humor (unlike, say the shows of Bob Hope or Fred Allen), so a lot of the comedy still works and has not overly suffered with age.  What delights me is how much of the program's humor came at Jack Benny's expense -- making fun of his age, his vanity, his stinginess, his movie career (and really, The Horn Blows At Midnight is not that bad a movie).  Jack Benny was not even a comedian in the traditional sense.  He did not come on and tell jokes on his show like Hope or Berle did.  I mean, the funniest thing Jack Benny ever said on air was, "I'm thinking it over!" and that was only funny because of the years and years the writers spent building up the miserliness aspect of his character, so that when in response to a mugger's demand for "Your money or your life!", JB takes a loooooong pause and then says those 4 not funny at all words, he got the biggest laugh from the live audience the show ever had.  That is expertly crafted comedy!

I remember watching that CBS tribute program when it first aired.  Jack Benny's was only the second celebrity death that genuinely saddened me.  Louis Armstrong's was the first.

I've gotten to where I love radio and movies, the whole entertainment forms from the 1930s & 1940s (basically, the whole inter-war era), a very interesting era, and it is an entertainment world long gone and not too remembered. Recently, I was trying to explain to someone in their early thirties about how HUGE Bob Hope and Bing Crosby were, how, when either one was introduced on one of these old radio shows, the crowd went absolutely nuts because they were so popular. The guy had barely heard on them. Same thing with a lot of my friends, they refuse to even think of watching any black and white movie -- that's too old timey for them. I feel that I'm in a whole other land when I tell people people I'm into old films, old time radio, books, and love jazz. Whenever I say things like that, I get that uncomprehending look, along with the whole "OK Boomer" vibe.

[Return Of The Film Corner Thread]

She.

[What Are You Watching]

Hard to believe that Benny died almost 46 years ago. I have insomnia, and I need to listen to the Jack Benny Show or Fibber McGee and Molly radio shows to fall asleep, so it's like he's still alive for me. JBS is fantastic, as well as FMAM, so happy there's all those recordings still available.

 

[MLB Season 2020]

24 minutes ago, Brad said:

The latest. The long and short of it is that negotiations have broken down and since MLB has the right to impose a 48 game season unilaterally, the Players Association has requested they do that and advise them where and when the players should report.

MLBPA rejects latest proposal, tells MLB to schedule the season

No matter how bad it gets, MLB always finds a way to make things worse!

[The COVID 19 Restaurant Poll]

I've been going to restaurants in Napa and St. Helena for the past three weeks, bars open, no spacing there! Servers with masks, but you take your mask off when you get to the table. Good sized crowd the times I've gone, so it seems to be working here.

[Return Of The Film Corner Thread]

Three On A Match

[What rock music are you listening to? Non-Jazz, Non-Classical.]

El Michels Affair: Adult Themes

[Sonny Rollins on the Pandemic, Protests, and Music]

Thanks for posting, it's a great interview.

[Return Of The Film Corner Thread]

The Doorway to Hell. Very good

[Cool Story: They Found A Roman City]

Here's The Roman City Amazing.

[Return Of The Film Corner Thread]

Sgt. Bilko. To show you how slow on the up take I am, it was only this afternoon, watching this movie for about the 20th time, that I got the name Bilk-o, that he bilks people out of their money. I don't know I missed that one all these years. It's a dumb movie, but I really enjoy it.