Matthew

The Producers

Phil Spector has died

Theo Epstein to MLB was not on my card. It seems like a placeholder job to me. This way, he can get a good look at all the teams, and maybe invest in a group to take over a franchise. If before that, he can help speed up games and add some common sense to things, good for him.

The Wayward Bus by John Steinbeck

PS: Definitely NSFW! His restaurant had terrible food. Hate to say, but even if that Jackson play was changed, Dodgers still get steamrolled.

Tommy Lasorda died today. Dang, this guy was involved in so many of my memories of Dodger baseball. A unique personality. I remember how highly he was touted when he replaced Walter Alston (The Dugout Statue), and these young players coming up at the same time. Garvey, Lopes, Cey, Russell, Ferguson, Valentine (sadly injured). It was an amazing time to be a Dodger fan.

The 6MWE t-shirt was despicable

Carl Jung's Red Book Liber Novus for some reason kept calling out to me: "Buy me! Buy me!" Who am I to say no to a book? it's gorgeous!

Nickel & Nickel Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 Quarry Vineyard

Last month a close friend died from covid that he contracted at his assisted living facility. He was the contact person who I met that introduced me into the organization that I'm still in now, knew him for forty years. Maybe because I'm in California, but I see 2021 as a year that will be in a continual stay-at-home mode, off and on, throughout the year. It's impossible to plan anything. I'm responsible for planning a big, five hundred person hotel conference event; had to cancel 2020 and forget 2021. I've postponed it to 2025, but even then, who knows if that kind of event is possible even then given the new reality. I'm trying my best to be responsible and attentive to others. I always wear a mask outside or in a public area. When I have to go to in-person large group meetings with others from out of state, I always test afterward (there's a good, accessible program in Napa). My big fear is what the present situation is doing to our society, it seems as if a generation of students are being lost with the shut downs. Even when schools open, who knows what the quality of their eduction will be, and I don't mean this as a criticism of teachers or school administrations, it's a difficult situation and there's no easy way out. The elderly have it bad, a lot of people out of work, despair is getting more prevalent, who knows where it all lead. Still, I'm hopeful that things will work out for the good, and eventually, some kind of normalcy will return, hopefully by the summer of 2022.

Singing in the Rain. It's the movie I return to time and time again. It's my all time favorite.

Here's to a better 2021 for everyone. I almost want to say: "It can't get any worse!" but I don't want to tempt the gods.

Good News. The oldest looking cast of students this side of Beverly Hills 90210, very enjoyable movie though.

How is this one? I've play his 70's music a lot, but never listened to this one.

Dean Jones & Suzanne Pleshette. I wonder how many movies like this they appeared in? Disney did have its stable of solid, dependable comic actors back in the day.

I get what you saying, in a way, but Thoreau (and the Thoreau family as a whole) was very committed to the Abolition Movement, as well as a participant in the Underground Railroad, so that outreach to others was there. One of the things that Dassow brings out is Thoreau's closeness to his family and the wide circle of people he knew. It was a complex life, and there are various ways of looking at it. Hope you enjoy it!

I'm still in denial that Darvish ever pitched in game seven in the 2017 World Series.. never freakin' happened!

Like a lot of others, the pandemic gave me a chance to do more reading. Here are my three favorites of the year. Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristian Kobes Du Mez. A well written and important book to see just how Evangelical Christianity reached its present state. Great insights and highly recommended if anyone is interested in this topic. The First Fall Classic: The Red Sox, the Giants and the Cast of Players, Pugs and Politicos Who Re-Invented the World Series in 1912 by Mike Vaccaro. A fun and interesting read on the 1912 World Series. There's a great cast of characters involved, great games to read about, and it all adds up to a fun read. Henry David Thoreau: A Life by Laura Dassow. For some reason, I found this a deeply moving book. Thoreau comes across as a person who never felt at home in this world, and his commitment to a honest life cost him dearly. At the end of reading this book, I had so many conflicting emotions, it took awhile to sort them out. Thoreau is endless in his inspiration and impact.

Read somewhere that he has three years and 38 million left on his contract.

Think they keep Bryant for the start of the season, and wait until the trade deadline for the best deal. The rebuild starts again. The Padres are kicking butt in the trade market right now, though is it enough to catch the Dodgers? I have my doubts. The Dodgers have a great team and will be nearly impossible to beat. The biggest plus for the Padres is Tatis Jr., the guy wants to win now! so I expect a huge MVP year from him. Not sold on the Darvis deal, just something about Darvis makes me uneasy, you never know what you're getting from start to start.

Soul. I'm in the minority, I didn't think it was all that great and I did not like the animation for the film. I'll have to watch it again, but I was underwhelmed at my first viewing.

Far Niente Cabernet Sauvignon 2017

Laura. Such a wonderfully acted movie, the minute the characters appear on the screen, you know what kind of person they are. Always liked Vincent Price in this one.

En Route Pinot Noir 2018

This pandemic is going to be the cause of a ton of Ph.D's. The amount of studies to come out from all of this will be a never ending stream of dissertations, studies, workshops and legislation for decades to come.