A Gunslinger Goes West

Curt Schilling
Philadelphia Phillies (1992 - 2000)
One of the best Phillies pitchers of my lifetime has been traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks for first baseman Travis Lee and three pitchers: Omar Daal, Nelson Figueroa and Vicente Padilla.

Curt was acquired in one of the best trades in franchise history in the spring of 1992 when we acquired him from the Houston Astros for Jason Grimsley.  Grimsley never appeared in a major league game for Houston and was out of the organization by 1993.  Meanwhile, Shilling developed into one of the most dominant starters in baseball.  He helped lead the '93 Phillies to the World Series and broke Steve Carlton's franchise record for strikeouts in a single season four years later.

He requested a trade to a contender, and I can't really say that I blame him too much.  Hopefully the package that the Phillies got in return will help to rebuild the team into contention.  Daal went 16-9 last season, Lee finished third in the NL Rookie Of The Year voting two years ago, and Padilla is only 22 years old and has potential.  I didn't want to see him go, but I suppose time will tell if this trade will be as beneficial to the Phillies as the one that brought Schilling to Philadelphia eight years ago.

Watch Me Pull A Rabbit Out Of My Hat

Collectors' Showcase Magazine
Volume 20 Number 3  (May/June 2000)
My favorite cartoon is getting a lot of attention these days in anticipation of the Rocky & Bullwinkle movie that's scheduled to be released before the end of the month  The cover story in the current issue of Collectors' Showcase Magazine is focused on the merchandise that has been collected by fans over the years.  Click on the caption of each image to enlarge.

pages 14-15

pages 16-17

pages 18-19

page 20

It's Not What You Think

If you live in South Florida and you spot a hundred dollar bill on the ground, don't get too excited.  It might just be an advertisement for an air conditioner.

An American Classic

American Beauty cleaned up at the Academy Awards last night.  It won for Best Picture, Best Screenplay, and Best Cinematography.  Also, Sam Mendes won for Best Director, and Kevin Spacey won for Best Actor.

On a side note, this screenshot answered something that I was wondering.  Thora Birch is playing the puzzle game Kirby's Star Stacker on Game Boy in this scene.

Mmmmm Beefy

Mankind
Chef Boyardee ad (1999)
Tonight on Raw, Linda McMahon named Mick Foley as the "special ingredient" to the main event at Wrestlemania XVI.  It will now be a Fatal Four Way Elimination Match for the WWF Heavyweight Championship between Triple H, The Rock, The Big Show and Mick Foley.

This print ad was published last year at around the same time that Foley began appearing in commercials for Chef Boyardee canned ravioli.

Butterfly Girl

Happy 25th birthday to my crush, Drew Barrymore.

Photo by Mark Seliger - Us Magazine (March 1997)

Everything's More Than It Seems

Alien

Bush (1994)

The satellite comes and goes
We give each other all we know
In silence we still talk
By the light of the stereo we waltz

And will you rain down
In your cinematic love truck
I'm gonna hold you like
Nothing's gonna stop us

And she comes to take me away
She's all that I needed
I don't breathe another lover

Flicker on a tv screen
Everything's more than it seems
The mighty backward fall
We stare at the light on the wall

And I swear to this
She felt like velvet
Second blonde child
Like velvet

And she comes to take me away
She's all that I needed
I don't breathe another lover

I'm an alien
You're an alien
It's a beautiful rain

A beautiful rain

You Are From Hazleton If...

This list started out as a chain email that pretty much everyone I knew in my hometown had in their inbox at some point or another.  Even my grandmother, who would be the first to tell you that she doesn't even know how to turn a computer on, had a paper copy of the list that one of my grandfather's co-workers at Tunnessen's gave to him.

I have no idea who started the list, but it has grown over the years as folks added their own entries to the bottom of the list before forwarding the email on to their friends and family.  One version was published on a Tripod webpage called There's Something About Hazleton, and I can definitely relate to more than a few of the things on this list.  If you're from the Hazleton area, chances are that you will too.... henna or no?

Postage Due

The US Post Office have released a series of stamps called Celebrate The Century to commemorate the events of the 20th century.  The 1980's sub-series was released yesterday, which includes this one featuring two children playing Defender.  This stamp was designed by Carl Herrman, illustrated by Robert Rodriguez, and printed by Ashton-Potter.

My Nerdy Corner Of The World

This is my little nerdy corner of the world.  The Mac Tonight sign hanging on the wall is a translite that once hung on the menu board at a McDonald's in the 80's.  I found it on eBay, and my grandfather and I bought wood, lighting and some wiring and built a backlit box for it so that it has the same 3-D effect that it had when it was hanging in the restaurant.

The Dawn Of A New Century

The Great Century
René Magritte

We've all survived the dreaded Y2K bug.  Happy new millennium.