While working on a project, I started writing about some of my many trips to Yankee Stadium. I ended up writing a lot and it’s attached to this post. You may want to skip it, especially if you’re not a Yankees fan.
Author: King Tom
Print is dead
I was disappointed earlier this week to find out that next month, the Weekly World News would cease publishing its print edition.
While never a subscriber (or regular purchaser), I have bought my share of issues, mostly using them as bathroom-area wall decorations in college. They say the Web version will still be published, but the Web version of the world’s only reliable newspaper isn’t that great.
Now I’ll have to get my all my news from people at the bus stop.
You know my name
Because my legal name ends in Jr., I’ve never been the only Tom in my family.
Now that I’m married, it’s even more complicated.
Both The Civee’s father and eldest brother share my first and middle names.
I was driving to a wedding this weekend with The Civee and her parents, when the topic of what to call me amidst all these other Toms came up.
Thomas?
No, I don’t like it.
Tommy?
I haven’t been called that one in a long time, and I don’t mind it, but it’s also what The Civee’s brother was called when he was younger.
But then, I said, “Well, some of my friends call me King Tom.”
After getting past the whole “why do they call you King Tom” bit, The Civee’s mother started to call me “King Tom” several times throughout the night.
Of course, each time she did so, the cutest little scowl would appear on The Civee’s face.
If this continues, much fun will be had at my wife’s expense.
In his mind, he's already there.
Michael Richards, who played Kramer on Seinfeld and famously made an ass of himself last year, is going to Cambodia to find himself.
From the link:
the comedian is visiting remote temples in Cambodia, following the teachings of a Hindu monk. In a recent Los Angeles Times interview, the comic admitted he has lost his sense of humor, adding, “I’m taking time off to feel myself out, get to know myself and appreciate other people.”
Sometimes, you know, life does imitate art:
In real life:
-Michael Richards played Cosmo Kramer on Seinfeld.
-Cosmo Kramer was based off of Kenny Kramer, real life friend of Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld.
-After the fictional character based on him became one of the most popular television characters ever, Kenny Kramer started (a hilarious) reality tour.
-Michael Richards goes insane during a live performance.
-Michael Richards goes to Cambodia in Southeast Asia to find himself.
In “art:”
-The biography of Elaine’s boss, J. Peterman, is based off of stories bought from Cosmo Kramer.
-After the book becomes a bestseller, Cosmo Kramer starts (a pathetic) reality tour.
-J. Peterman goes insane while at work.
-J. Peterman runs off to Myanmar (not the discount pharmacy), in Southeast Asia to find himself.
All I have to say is the world works in strange ways.
Correcting a 20-Year-Old Mistake
Last week, the Civee and I went to see Transformers. (She tagged along because I’ve watched a bit of General Hospital in the past few weeks).
While I was looking forward to the movie for a while, I was prepared for the possibility of disappointment. Ugly robots, only one of the original voice actors and the director of Pearl Harbor trying to make a movie about transforming robots meant this could have been a very bad movie.
But it wasn’t. I really enjoyed it. Some of the action scenes were hard to follow, the Tranformer “deaths” happened too easily and I had questions about some of the plot points, but those were minor issues.
The action was great- and it was neat seeing things from a “human scale” (even if that made it hard to follow). John Tuturro and his character were a nice surprise. The idea of transforming robots didn’t seem that ridiculous (even if the scene outside Sam’s house was a bit of comedic relief). And Optimus was the same Optimus Prime character (“Freedom is the right of all sentinent beings,” “One shall stand, one shall fall) that he was back in the days of Generation 1.
Best of all, he didn’t die this time.
Happy Birthday!
and:
Sorry I didn’t get around to sending you a card this year, Big Stein.
Blizzard of Oz
Six years ago, I went to Detroit with djl to see my second weezer concert. Among the opening acts was a young (or at least around my age) band called Ozma. The Oz played energetic, melodic rock and was a perfect appetizer for the main course of weez.
Last night. accompanied by the Civee, I went to the Basement, here in Columbus, to see Ozma headline. The Basement is a small venue (not more than 100 people), but nevertheless a loud one. We missed most of the first opening act, and the second act, Eastern Conference Champions, had some interesting sounding tunes, even if their lead singer sounded like he had nasal issues.
As for Ozma, well, they’re all grown up. Mostly.
In the time since I last saw them, they released an album, broke up, re-formed, got a new drummer and released another album. They looked comfortable in their headlining role and played more of their old stuff, with only a handful of songs from their new album in the setlist. It sounded like they were having technical difficulties (the keyboards were barely audible for most of the songs), but they did a great job of rocking out. And, as a surprise to me, I wasn’t the only person in the crowd who knew the lyrics to most of their songs.
So it was a good show. Check ’em out sometime.
Disappointment
I kind of said yesterday that I didn’t want to know the details. And now that I do, I just find myself very disappointed.
And now, I’m moving on.
In addition for his family, I do feel sorry for the federation- they have to find a way to bounce back from all of this, and they’re going to be getting a ton of bad press in the near future.
So Long, Crippler
Iron Mike called me about three hours ago to tell me Chris Benoit died. At the time, the idea was incomprehensible, and it doesn’t make much sense now, either.
For the last year or so, Benoit was the main reason I still watched wrestling. Sure, the Rock, Jericho and Austin moved on from active competition, but Benoit was still wrestling and carrying people with one-tenth his talent to great matches nightly.
And now, in some event, from some causes that I’m not sure I want to know, he and his family are gone.
At least I still have all those old matches on tape or DVD somewhere.
And this is still my greatest moment as a fan:
Fun in the sun
With temperatures in the last few days reaching the mid-90s, I think it’s safe to say that summer’s here.
I’m almost tempted to watch my local news to see if they run my favorite story- the reporter who locks him/herself in a car to see how long one (in the place of a child or pet) can stand being in a car in the hot weather.
It’s an amusing story, but not enough to get me to watch.