It's Ass Hammering Time

The calendar doesn't do it justice.  That Matt Stairs blast wasn't just any game-winning home run.  It was the Moon Shot from Game 4 of the 2008 NLCS.

It was the top of the 8th inning.  Shane Victorino hit a two run homer off of Cory Wade to tie the game.  The Dodgers brought in their closer, Jonathan Broxton to keep the damage to a minimum.  The Phillies brought in 40 year old Matt Stairs to pinch hit.  Stairs was just acquired in a trade with the Blue Jays just 44 days earlier, and his Moon Shot from the NLCS was etched into Philadelphia baseball history as it led to the Phillies second World Series Championship.  The bizarre quote only added to the legend.

Steer With Your Left, Shoot With Your Right

Night Stocker
Bally Sente (1986)
This picture popped up in my Tumblr feed.  I don't remember ever seeing an arcade cabinet that had a gun and a steering wheel.  It had me wondering if a game like this existed or if this is just a cool piece of art.

As it happens, it was a real game, but it's not one that I've seen or heard of before now.  Night Stocker was released in 1986 by Bally Sente.  It's a hybrid of a driving game and a first-person shooter where you have to avoid land mines, collect crystals, and blast away alien attackers on your way to a tower at the end of each level that you have to destroy.  It's a fun concept, and from this video shared on YouTube by Mame Video Snaps, it had pretty cool music and sound effects.

 

Looks like it was a pretty fun game.  I wish they had it in our local arcades back in the day.

Blockbuster Video Tape Case

Blockbuster Video Template
Created by Brutal Beta
I'd like to remodel my garage and use part of it to store my VHS collection in a video rental store mock-up.  If that ever happens, I'm going to use this template to make case covers for my movies that don't have the original box.

A Huge Step In The Right Direction

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Pennsylvania’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge John Jones’ decision in Whitewood v. Wolf, the suit filed last year on behalf of several same-sex couples, strikes down Pennsylvania’s Defense of Marriage Act. His ruling comes one day after a federal judge ruled against Oregon’s gay marriage ban, and marks the 14th legal victory in a row for marriage equality.

[image source: American Atheists / article: Huffington Post]

Eskimo Pie

Eskimo Pie closed plant
Hanover Industrial Park - Wilkes-Barre, PA
I don't know anything about the history of this facility or when it closed, but the Eskimo Pie logo art is still visible on the side of the building above the shipping and receiving doors.  The building appears to have been abandoned since it closed.

The Lefty Slam

Wednesday, May 16, 1984
Philadelphia Phillies @ Los Angeles Dodgers
Dodgers Stadium - Los Angeles, CA

Thirty years ago today, a battle between Phillies legend Steve Carlton and Dodgers 24 year old phenom Fernando Valenzuela took place at Dodgers Stadium.  The Dodgers were leading by the top of the fourth when the Phillies began to mount their comeback.  With the bases loaded and two outs, Steve Carlton hit a grand slam off of Fernando Valenzuela to take the lead.  The Phillies went on to win 7-2.

Pink Warrior

Photography by Marie Killen

Source: NovaThunder

I don't know the name of the model that Ms. Killen took these photos of, but her pictures have inspired me to write about something that I haven't shared with very many people in my life.  For as far back as I can remember, I've wished that I was born as a girl instead of a boy.  The intensity of these feelings goes in and out like the tide; sometimes it's strong and other times it gets pushed to the back of my mind, but it's never gone.  The feeling is always there.

This isn't something that I feel comfortable pursing as a lifestyle for many reasons that I'm not going to discuss at this time.  Things might have been different if I was born 20 years later or grew up in a more open-minded and supportive environment, but coming out of the transgender closet or attempting to express this side of myself in any way that is very obvious to the general public would cause more problems for me than it would solve.  My wife knows and she is very loving and supportive, but I have a hard enough time with social situations when I'm wearing a t-shirt and jeans and I don't want to make things more complicated than they have to be.  Besides, it's not like these feelings are causing me intense depression or anything like that.  I look in the mirror and see a guy in a Phillies shirt and I think "eh, good enough".  If reincarnation is real, maybe I'll get a shot to live as a girl next time... or maybe I already did and that's where these feelings are coming from.  Who knows.

The style that I'd see myself adopting if I was born as a girl would be far closer to Joan Jett than Barbie, but this look absolutely speaks to my soul.  If I woke up tomorrow as this woman with this dress in my closet, I'd put it on and run to the highest mountaintop I could find and scream at the top of my lungs to let the world know I was here.

The King Comes To West Palm Beach

Friday, May 13, 1994
St. Petersburg Cardinals @ West Palm Beach Expos
Municipal Stadium - West Palm Beach, FL

Pitching: Brian Carpenter vs. Rick DeHart

Results: Expos defeat Cardinals, 12 - 3

Notes: Before going to this game, my dad told me all about The King and His Court.  They were a four man softball team (pitcher, catcher, first baseman and shortstop) led by pitcher Eddie Feigner.  Since the late 1940's, they toured around the country playing local opponents.  Like the Harlem Globetrotters, they used trick plays and humor to entertain crowds.  The main one my dad told me about was Feigner throwing the ball behind his back to pick off the runner on first base.

On this night, we watched Israel Alcántara hit a grand slam in the first inning off of Brian Carpenter.  The West Palm Beach Expos scored a dozen runs in their route of the St. Petersburg Cardinals.

The game also included second baseman José Vidro, who went 2-4 and scored three runs for West Palm Beach.  He was promoted to the major league Expos in 1997 and was their starting second basemen for the rest of their time in Montreal and for the first two seasons after the team moved to Washington DC and became the Nationals.  He was traded to the Mariners in December 2006 and played the next two years.  He was a three-time All Star in his major league career.

Curtis Pride was another West Palm Beach Expos player who appeared in this game and went on to have a notable major league career.  He played for Montreal the year before this game and was the first deaf player to appear in the major leagues since 1945.  He played in the majors from 1993 to 2006 for the Expos, Tigers, Red Sox, Braves, Yankees and Angels.

After the game, The King and His Court defeated the Abbey Road Grill All-Stars softball team in an awesome exhibition match.  At the time, it was advertised as the last appearance of Eddie Feigner at West Palm Beach Municipal Stadium.  I'm pretty sure he came back the very next year, but it was the only time I got to see him.  It's been twenty years and I can't remember the score of the softball game, but I'll never forget the fun I had with my pop at the ballpark on nights like this.

What's The Deal With The Subway?

Eleven subway cars on New York's No. 7 line have been transformed into Monk's Cafe to promote the fact that Seinfeld will be in syndication on WPIX at 11:00 pm.  [source: USA Today]

[source: USA Today]

The Laurel Lives On

Standard Speaker
May 10, 2014

Sometimes The Acorn Does Fall Far From The Tree

Tony Gwynn Jr
Philadelphia Phillies (2014)
It's going to be a long season.

You've Survived The Plague, Lieutenant Dan

Stephen King's The Stand
ABC Television mini-series
People who know me might tell you that Star Wars is my favorite work of fiction; however people who really know me will tell you that it's The Stand.  The mini-series that was inspired by the work that I consider to be the greatest novel of the century in which it was written premiered on ABC twenty years ago today.  It was my first exposure to the story of The Stand and it opened up a whole new world for me.  I was so blown away by the mini-series that I picked up the novel in paperback a few days after I saw it, and I loved the book even more.  Reading that opened the door for me to The Dark Tower and to the rest of the works of Stephen King.

I didn't see this when it first aired on television, but I brought the VHS tapes home to watch a few years later when I worked at Blowout Video as a teenager.  "Don't Fear The Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult sets the tone from the very beginning, and the score throughout the series, by W. G. Snuffy Walden, is haunting and beautiful.  "Don't Dream It's Over" by Crowded House beginning in Franny's living room (or was that her mother's parlor?) and continuing as a backdrop to the aftermath of the plague is unforgettable.  Larry Underwood's character (played brilliantly by Adam Storke) captures the moment of the journey across the country when he sits on a car in a traffic jam of the dead playing Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction".  Larry also puts music to "Baby, Can You Dig Your Man" sixteen years after it first appeared in print.  I still wonder who performed it for the mini-series, and if a full version of the song exists somewhere.

There are a lot of little Easter Eggs hiding in the mini-series.  Some are references to the novel that were cut from television, while others are just fun things to find.  For example: who on earth put a New York Mets bumper sticker on The Monster Shouter's sandwich boards?  The cast members themselves have such a diverse background that it's fun to connect the dots to their previous work.  Is that My Favorite Martian as Glen Bateman?  How about Agent Rosenfield from Twin Peaks as Lloyd Henreid?  Is that Max Headroom as The Trashcan Man, and is he bowing down and praying to Biff Tannen's Pleasure Paradise?  Did Jigsaw's female accomplice from the Saw franchise learn how to be a henchwoman by working for Randall Flagg?  Didn't I see Mother Abigail as a much younger woman in college when we watched A Raisin In The Sun?  Was that Officer Vinnie Schtulman picking up Nick and Tom on the road to Hemingford Home, and what the heck did Alf do to Willie Tanner to make him want to arrest Stu Redman in Arnette?  The series has dozens of actors and actresses that you will recognize, both in major and minor roles.

If you haven't seen this, I highly recommend it whether you've read the novel or not.  It can either open the same door for you as it did for me, or it will bring the world that you've imagined in the novel to life on the screen as well as the best film adaptation of a book that you'll ever find.

Inside You The Time Moves And She Don't Fade

Mirror Moves
The Psychedelic Furs (1984)
The fourth studio album from one of my favorite bands turns thirty years old today.

The Ghost In You
The Psychedelic Furs (1984)

A man in my shoes runs a light

And all the papers lied tonight

But falling over you

Is the news of the day

Angels fall like rain

And love... is all of heaven away

Inside you the time moves and she don't fade

The ghost in you, she don't fade

Inside you the time moves and she don't fade

A race is on, I'm on your side

And hearing you, my engines die

I'm in a mood for you

For running away

Stars come down in you

And love... you can't give it away

Inside you the time moves and she don't fade

The ghost in you, she don't fade

Inside you the time moves and she don't fade

Don't you go, it makes no sense

When all your talking supermen

Just take away the time

And get in the way

Ain't it just like rain?

And love... is only heaven away

Inside you the time moves and she don't fade

The ghost in you, she don't fade

Inside you the time moves and she don't fade

The ghost in you, she don't fade

Remember The Alamogordo

Atari 2600 Landfill
Alamogordo, NM
In April 2014, after decades of Atari denying its existence, a documentary film crew has found and is excavating the New Mexico desert to find tens of thousands of unsold Atari 2600 games, consoles and peripherals that were dumped and buried in September, 1983.

All This Talking Is Only Bravado

A Walk Across The Rooftops
The Blue Nile (1984)
The debut album from the Scottish band The Blue Nile was released 30 years ago today.  I originally discovered them after finding a beautiful song called Tinseltown In The Rain on a new wave mixtape.  You can listen to it here.

Three Villains And The Fonz

Actor Michael Rosenbaum tweeted this selfie from an airplane in which he was seated in front of Tom Felton, Robert Englund, and Henry Winkler.  Imagine boarding this plane and sitting next to Lex Luthor, Draco Malfoy, Freddy Krueger, and Fonzie.

Four Score And Two Cheeks Ago

Could this be the long-awaited National Treasure 3?  [source: Ellen]

Flying The Sky Pop

Super Mario Land and Tetris Strategy Guide
Nintendo of Japan (1989)
Mario's debut on the original Game Boy was released in Japan 25 years ago today.  Super Mario Land was a very early title for the handheld and it's probably the least polished of any Super Mario Bros platformer released on a Nintendo console, but it's still a hell of a lot of fun to play.

Who Has An Agenda

[source: Tumblr]

Picture It... London, 1970

Traffic in London
British Pathé (1970)
Shot from the front seat of a moving vehicle driving through the black taxi cabs, double decker buses, and other ordinary London traffic.

Zombies At The Wienerwald

Dawn Of The Dead
Embassy 1 on 7th Avenue - New York, NY

The George A. Romero zombie classic premiered in Italy on September 1, 1978, but it didn't make its way to the United States until the following April.  This photo was taken sometime in the second half of April, 1979 with it being screened at the Embassy 1 near Times Square.

The last time I wrote about this theater, I mentioned that the 1560 Broadway property to the right was once a Weinerwald Austrian Restaurant, but by the time that photo was taken, it had already been converted into a McDonald's.  In this photo, you can see the original Weinerwald when it was in its prime.

While researching Weinerwald, I found another photo of the restaurant that also includes the marquee from the Embassy 1 theater next door.  This one was taken by photographer Nick DeWolf at a time when the Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner disaster film Earthquake was being shown.

There's a lot more information about this Weinerwald location on the NY History Geschichte blog.

Freddy vs Jason Closes Out The 80's

Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter
Paramount Pictures (1984)
The fourth and not-quite final chapter in the Friday The 13th saga premiered in theaters 30 years ago today.  This WPIX advertisement is for an airing that took place on November 2nd, 1989.  The network followed this up the next night with A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors as the 8 O'Clock Movie.

Loving Brew Is The Right Thing To Do

Source: Imgur

April Fool

This person ran out of space to share their opinions and has resorted to printing paper signs that threaten gun violence to hang on their back windshield.  Yup... totally normal behavior right here.  😏

A Win Is A Win

Opening Day 2014
Philadelphia Phillies @ Texas Rangers

That was an interesting start to the season.  Ryan Howard and Carlos Ruiz walked in the top of the 2nd and Code Asche doubled with two outs to put the Phillies on the board.  Tony Gwynn Jr came up to bat next and drew a walk to load the bases, followed by a Ben Revere RBI single to put the Phillies up 2-0.  This brought Jimmy Rollins to the plate who hit a grand slam to give the Phillies what should have been a comfortable 6-0 lead for Cliff Lee to cruise to an easy victory.

Well, Cliff Lee did get the win, but it was anything but an easy cruise.  He got knocked around by his former team, giving up 8 earned runs on 11 hits and just one strikeout in five innings of work.  The slugfest continued for both teams, but the Phillies came out on top, scoring 14 runs on 17 hits to defeat the Rangers 14-10.

Unfortunately, one player that I had been rooting for this Spring did not make the flight to Arlington with the team.

Philadelphia Daily News  (March 27, 2014)

Philadelphia Daily News  (March 28, 2014)

Bobby Abreu didn't make the Phillies 40 man roster out of Spring Training.  He was pretty solid at the plate, batting .244 with a .404 OBP, but he was pretty terrible in the field and the team was looking for more defensive versatility off of the bench.  He signed a minor league deal with the New York Mets today, so my dream of seeing him close out his career in Philadelphia is officially dead in the water.  

 

Oh well... at least he was in a Phillies uniform long enough to be included in this year's postcard team set, and we got the win on Opening Day.  It was bowling shoe ugly, but hey, a win is a win.

A Door Is A Jar

When I was a teenager, I drove a black 1986 Chrysler LeBaron.  It had pretty much every option that was available in the late 80's: leather seats, digital dash, AM/FM Cassette, etc…  The damn thing even talked!  If you opened the door while the car was still running, a very robotic female voice would exclaim “A door is ajar”, to which I would always respond “No it’s not.  It’s a door” (yes, I had a running joke with an inanimate object).

The car was over ten years old when I got it, but it was only $1,000 and it ran beautifully.  Unfortunately, I only had it for a few years.  Someone broke into it while I was at a concert and ripped it apart and the cost to repair it was more than the car was worth.  I don't think that I have any pictures of the interior of the car, but this image that I saw on Tumblr is pretty close to how I remember it.

Paradise By The Deli Case Lights

Homestyle Meatloaf
Wegmans - Wilkes-Barre, PA

Don't sleep on the Homestyle Meatloaf from the Meals To Go counter at Wegmans.  It's outstanding!