Matthew

I'm so freakin' pathetic in my belief that this week the Cowboys will finally put it together, I sucker pick them all the time.

A. A. Milne: The Man Behind Winnie-the-Pooh by Ann Thwaite. Picked this up on a whim at Half-Price Book, and it is fascinating, I'm discovering a Milne I never new before -- a Milne who wrote interesting adult books, lead a different life than I imagined. It's completely changed my very weak image of him. Great book, and a long one too.

I just realized last night that in 48 years of going to baseball games, not once have I ever seen a tarp rolled-out. Only in California.

A Mysterious Something in the Light: The Life of Raymond Chandler by Tom Williams. While waiting for another Chandler bio to arrive, I reread this one, and it is a very good look into Raymond Chandler's life. A sad life of a man who was by turns, overly sensitive, overly standoffish, overly prideful, and overly drunk. It is a picture of a person looking for something that's lost in his life, and that "something" was never found. He had an amazing love for Cissy, his wife, who was eighteen years older. Once she died, he took an alcohol bath for his final years.

Actually, I would be for this year, no travel in my future, so I'm good to go to finish last again....

Saint Genet: Actor and Martyr by John Paul Sartre. Finally reading this one, after hearing so much about the book. About half-way through, and it is a strange one, with a very real sense of hopelessness about it. That whole post-WWII era in Europe, or America, for that matter, strikes me as bleak.

Run To The Mountain: The Journals of Thomas Merton, volume one 1939-1941. Rereading this, I have a deeper appreciation of the pre-monastic Merton, as he struggles with the implications of the coming war and trying to discover what to do with his life.

This biography of Chandler was a great read: I bought this one recently, and it's a good one also: But I looked on Amazon this morning and was able to order the Hiney book for one cent, so thanks for the recommendation -- Chandler has become one of my all-time favorites.

I went on the Warner Bros. studio tour a few months ago, they have the entire coffee shop set from this series preserved. They take people in and let them snap photos while seated on the couch. Trashy Matthew would love that!

Paperback Confidential: Crime Writers of the Paperback Era by Brian Ritt. Nice, short biographies of the great "pulp" writers. Good book to have lying around and just pick a random author to read about.

Friends: Season 3. It has, what I think is the quintessential Friends episode The One Where No One's Ready, which is one of my favorites. I never liked the Ross & Rachael combination, for me, they were just lame. I think that the Joey / Chandler team is one the funniest comedy combinations ever, they play off each other in a unique manner -- very underrated.

Murder On The Orient Express by Agatha Christie: Nice, enjoyable book. Been on a Christie binge lately.

Grant Green is on the disabled list after suffering an injury in the weight room

What BFrank said. The Criterion box is great, I loved every hippie minute of it, it gives you a much better sense of the "vibe" than just the cds.

Friends: Season 2. "You partied with Hootie and the Blowfish?!?!?!?!?" Has there ever been a more white, middle-class show than Friends?

Yeah, I'm thinking Gilbert didn't do crap for LBJ when he had him, team stunk to high heaven, now he lucks in the first draft pick a couple of times, gets LBJ, stock value soar, season tickets out the wazoo. Speaking on the basketball side, the big question mark will be how David Blatt turns out, he must feel like the luckiest man on earth! Still, the pressure will be on him to put the pieces together.

Maybe not a corporate script, but certainly corporate input. We're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars, with endorsements, stock value, etc. I think that Nike, at the very least, showed LBJ studies on how the public was likely to respond to the decision to go to the Cavs. With the whole "Cramps Game" and the reaction to that, staying in Miami must have seemed like a losing game, that there was no way for LBJ's image to take an upswing, but to go to Cleveland. Now, the narrative for LBJ has been completely changed -- he's "mature" now, and he'll do his darnedest to get plucky Cleveland its championship. The corporate interests behind LeBron have a heavy investment in him, and probably did have a bigger say in the matter than we realize. Hey, I don't begrudge LaBron going back to his home, but I also realize a lot of other interests were involved, and this move does not hurt the "brand" in anyway, not the NBA or LBJ "brand."

I get the feeling LBJ's whole life is being scripted by the various corporate interests backing him -- no proof, just a feeling.

Like everyone else, I'm deeply saddened by the passing of Haden's passing. There's still the music, but it seems with each passing of a musician that I've followed over the years, it gets tougher to take and not easier.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVhjBmcOP30&feature=share https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0VOiNxC2Ao

It's unbelievable to me that now all the original Ramones are gone. Thanks for all the great music guys, you gave me great joy through the years with those first three albums.

Very groovy-issimo!

Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon: Laurel Canyon, Covert Ops & The Dark Heart of the Hippie Dream by David McGowan. Very definitely a What The Heck??? book, but interesting none-the-less. Trying to make the case that whole Laurel Canyon/Los Angeles/Hippie thing was a CIA diversion to take away any real power from the anti-war movement, among other things.

Friends: Season 1. ... and yes, I love this show

Morte D'Urban by J. F. Powers. A great, comic novel about a hustler of a priest, a retreat house, a golf course, every now and then God, and coming to terms with your life. This book is also, without a doubt, the most realistic novel about the Catholic priesthood that I've read. Powers' short stories are very interesting also.