I apologize for the delay in today’s post. And that Monday’s post seems to have disappeared entirely.
While this situation is addressed, let us focus on happier things, like basking in the glow of Redskin victories and five-hour nailbiting baseball games. Seriously, who was that last night, the Yankees and Red Sox?
Let’s hope for a few more games like last night’s, and that neither Fox nor I experience any more technical difficulties in their presentations.
Much has been made over Playboy’s recent decision to cease publishing nude photographs in its magazine. I’ve hardly seen any real commentary on this other than ha-ha statements noting the irony or gratuitous digs at “reading the articles.” As a fan of Playboy for several decades I really have nothing more to add other than… eh.
The magazine which more than any other brought sex and pornography to the mainstream outlived its necessity about 40 years ago and its relevance about 20 years ago. Sad but true, Playboy has basically become an imitator of all the magazines that grew as imitations of it: Maxim, FHM, Details, etc. Playboy had been the only one showing nudity, but now the transformation is complete.
At least we can’t say that the reason Playboy is covering up is the machinations of some tyrannically repressive government. Nope. It’s the exact opposite. Pornography is so widespread, commonplace, easily accessible… and free!… these days that paying for it hardly seems necessary anymore. Who wants to pay for classy porn when so much filth is out there for nothing? The “low-browification” of our culture is an endemic problem that goes far beyond porn, but this example shows it pretty well. Need another example? Read an article or short story published in Playboy in 1960 and then read one from today. Its photos, sadly, often get the same level of care.
Playboy moved from being a trendsetter to a trend-follower long ago, but this has been the sharpest example thus far. It’s disappointing, but I guess both financially and socially understandable. And is anyone out there still relying on Playboy as his only source of nude women? I think I’m too old and too married really to care about these kinds of things anymore. My reaction basically is… eh.
I’ll admit that baseball’s LCS has not exactly brought drama as far as the series themselves. A few good moments and a few good games, but last night I had one game end 14-2 and the other end with one team poised for a sweep.
Let me say thank god for Fargo.
You watching Fargo this season?
If you missed last season, don’t worry. Somehow Season Two really has nothing to do with Season One. No matter, the Coen brothers and co. have brought it yet again, even more so than last season. Does it feel as though they’ve stolen a few elements from Breaking Bad? Absolutely. But you know what show I really liked? Breaking Bad. (And one might say Breaking Bad took a few elements from Fargo in its day.)
Here’s hoping for another dramatic World Series this year…
Fargo is setting the bar high.
Someone alert the hippies… it is 1969. Was that Tom Seaver I saw on the mound yesterday for the New York Metropolitans? Was that Joe Namath quarterbacking the New York Jets?
There was a time in my life I used to root for New York sports teams. Somehow, yesterday, I found myself on the losing end of such contests all day, and I’m thinking those ways will continue. Stay tuned.
Baseball’s final four is set, and we’ve got the blue-and-white teams facing off to play the winner of the blue-and-orange teams. Experienced money has got to be with the K.C. Royals, while sabermetric money probably lies with the Jays. Sentimental money obviously goes with the Cubbies, but I think the smart money right now is with the New York Mets. When you let your closer bat for himself in the top of the ninth inning with only a one-run lead and the move works perfectly…
Get the champagne ready.
1. The Chicago Cubs win a playoff series.
2. Playboy stops running nude photographs.
3. Democratic presidential candidates make the occasional cogent argument at a debate.
Begin to worry, everyone.
Much as I love seeing my hometown Washington Redskins play reasonably well I can’t help feeling a bit a bit nostalgic for games of yesteryear, when I assumed they had no chance of winning. Games such as that played yesterday, which raise my hopes for not for a fleeting moment or two but for 97 percent of the game are no doubt more disappointing than the one-sided drubbings to which I’d become accustomed.
Just sayin’.
This past Wednesday I turned 33 and 1/3 years old. Not exactly a milestone, but noteworthy nonetheless. I’m happy to say that in conjunction with said “birthday,” my new album, Still Playing at 33 1/3, will be available for sale at iTunes/Amazon/Spotify, etc. in the next few days. Here’s a mock-up of the cover art and disc itself, and yes, that CD is meant to look like a vinyl record. Get it? Still playing at 33 1/3? A full review of my own album will soon follow on this very blog.
Well, at least I got to sit down and actually watch one full baseball game this season. Unfortunately it went pretty much as I expected.
I’ll admit I got to see only an embarrassingly-small number of baseball games this year. I get to see the Yankees play only when they’re on national TV or they’re playing the Orioles, and this past weekend was the first time, really, I concentrated on at least a few innings of a few games in a row. None of it made me feel too good. I barely recognized half the players and a lot of them were a decade younger than I was. Ouch.
Enter an even younger opponent I still have trouble remembering is in the American League and you’ve got those errors compounded by about a million. Guys I never heard of who graduated from high school in 2012 and are ruining my evening.
Bring on football or something.
How did I spend my weekend?
Watching sports, natch.
On Saturday I was treated to the most dominating pitching performance I’ve ever seen. On Sunday I had 14 hours of NFL games, capped by a Sunday night classic that rivaled, well, my most recent post about the NFL’s most recent primetime game. Sandwiched in there was a thrilling Redskins comeback that brought them to… wait for it… tied for first! in the NFC East.
As a bonus I got to see my beloved New York Yankees slide ass-backwards into the playoffs through a series of final-day-of-the-season confusion executives dream of in February.
Yeah, sports are good.