"A New York Treasure" --Village Voice
Category: 1: Featured

National Attention

redbags

After a lousy week, the Yanks have a tough couple of games down in D.C.

I’ll settle for a split.

Jacoby Ellsbury CF

Brett Gardner LF

Chris Young RF

Mark Teixeira 1B

Brian McCann C

Chase Headley 3B

Jose Pirela 2B

Stephen Drew SS

It’s Eovaldi vs. Gio Gonzalez.

Never mind the monuments:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

Picture by Bags

Million Dollar Movie

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The Road Warrior is one of my favorite action movies. Mad Max is creepy as hell, too. The thing about the first two Mad Max movies is that for all the unrelenting action, and despite the fantastic premise, it’s all rooted in credibility. I always felt that part of Miller’s achievement was to make you believe you are there–with these guys coming after you. They are a comic book–and the third movie went someplace that didn’t really appeal to me)–but realistic in a strange way; that’s what made them so frightening and effective. (The second movie also has some nice comedic touches).

Plus, I liked Max’s dog.

The new one looks pumped up with the action and pyrotechnics. I hope that same sense of urgency and credibility exist.

Mad Mad: Fury Road is supposed to be dope. Think I’ll have to cart my ass to the theater for this one.

Over at Esquire, our pal Scott Raab profiles Charlize Theron:

Her career is pure stardust.

She was a teenage model in Italy, came to New York City at eighteen, and left for Los Angeles when her knees gave out for good; there she was discovered by her first manager, who was in line at the bank where she was trying—loudly and without success—to cash her last New York modeling-job check to keep her room at the Farmer’s Daughter, formerly an L. A. fleabag. But Theron came up hard in a hard country, on a hard continent.

“On the street where I was raised—75 percent of the people who lived on that street are not alive anymore. For no reason. For nothing. Life means nothing. In my formative years, I was in an environment that was filled with turmoil—political turmoil—in a world that was incredibly unsafe. And still is. In the early nineties, we were number one in homicide in the world. In HIV/AIDS, we’re still number one. We were number one in carjacking; I think we’re now number three. It became a place where the value of life—there was no value of life.

“You can’t oversimplify it; it comes from a very real place. It’s sad, because the people are good. They’re good people, and they’re resilient people, more than anywhere else in the world that I’ve ever come across. There’s something about South African flesh—we get up and we move forward, and we sometimes don’t take a moment for a little bit of self-awareness or self-pity. We’re such beasts at having to survive—I have the utmost respect for that, but it’s not the healthiest way to go through life. We’ve become a generation in South Africa that is driven by very valid anger, but the cost is coming at such a high level—and that’s a painful thing to watch. A lot of my emotional drive comes purely from the fact that I was born on that continent, and that I was raised there, and that it was different. I have a very strong relationship with Africa, one that’s built on lots of love and massive pain.”

The Great Outdoors

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Dig this piece my friend Ben wrote for the Daily Beast:

Many of Orwell’s books and his uniformly excellent essays feature, to one degree or another, passages extolling the quiet glories of nature: conscious respites from the grimmer landscapes of the author’s political explorations. For every bleak London slum or vile kitchen of a French restaurant, a prim, beloved garden. For every deadening trip into the suffocating dark of a coal mine, a journal entry hailing the beauty and the bounty of fruit trees Orwell planted with his own hands.

But his loveliest, longest, and, for those unfamiliar with this side of Orwell, his most unexpected hymn to nature’s wonders is a 1946 essay published under the misleadingly humdrum title “Some Thoughts on the Common Toad.” Here, in 1,600 words, all of the very best characteristics of Orwell’s essays are in evidence: his talent for launching, deftly and without preamble, into his theme; his matter-of-fact eloquence; his avoidance of cant; his empathy for the underdog; his wry humor; his reporter’s eye for the telling detail; his delight in elementary beauty.

Above all, however, the essay’s great strength and abiding charm reside in the evident pleasure Orwell takes not only in nature, but in sharing that appreciation with the reader. More so than in most of the man’s writings, one senses Orwell genuinely enjoying himself while crafting this particular piece.

[Photo Credit: Derek Hudson via MPD]

Get Well Soon

chasechase

Drag.

[Photo Credit: Jim McIsaac]

Picture This

zknee

Time flies. I started my tumblr site four years ago today. Man, I love Tumblr. I’ve found so many great sites there, been hipped to so many wonderful pictures.

Check it out if you’re into that sort of thing. Be aware, though, there are some images that are not suitable for the workplace.

[Photo Credit: Mariana Garcia via MPD]

Tough Week

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Well, crud. The Yanks got their asses handed to them today in Kansas City and end a long week (3-5) on a tough note.

They’ve got a couple off-days this week. Two-game series vs. the Nats starting Tuesday.

Clear your heads, boys. Time to turn this back around.

Sunday Gravy

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It’s a hot Sunday afternoon here in the Bronx. I can only imagine it’ll be hot out in Kansas City, too.

Chris Capuano, just called up from the minors, makes the start.

Never mind those ribs:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

Picture by Bags

Dr. Feelgood

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Chase Headley got a 3-2 change up and slapped at it like it was a whiffle ball. He hit the ball over the fence in left field, good for a 3-run home run. That broke up a 1-1 tie. Alex Rodriguez re-directed a Joe Blanton fastball on the inside part of the plate over the fence in right for a solo homer in the 9th and the rest was left to C.C. Sabathia who was terrific. The Twin Towers polished off the Royals in the 8th and 9th innings respectively and the Yanks had a tidy 5-1 win to end their modest losing streak.

 

[Photo Credit: Charlie Riedel/AP]

Live at the Barbeque

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Yanks look to the Big Fella tonight in K.C.

Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Chris Young LF
Alex Rodriguez DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
Carlos Beltran RF
Chase Headley 3B
Jose Pirela 2B
Stephen Drew SS
John Ryan Murphy C

Never mind the last four games:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

[Photo Credit: Lauren Condoluci/Slate]

Things That Go Thump in the Night

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Last night’s game was straight up wack. 

Let’s hope, somehow, the Yanks can end this losing streak tonight. But I’m not feeling too confident. You?

 

All Growed Up

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The Yanks turn to their ace Michael Pineda to put an end to this three-game losing streak tonight in Kansas City. The Royals are playing well. They scrubs no more.

Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Brett Gardner LF
Alex Rodriguez DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
Brian McCann C
Carlos Beltran RF
Chase Headley 3B
Stephen Drew 2B
Didi Gregorius SS

Never mind the bbq:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

[Photo Credit: phdonohue]

What Becomes a Legend Most?

lucille

Rest in Peace, Mr. King.

[Photo Credit: Danny Clinch]

Move Along

Qué Chiquito es el Mundo

Well, damn. The Rays beat the Yanks handily last night, 6-1. A three-game losing streak. Humble pie for the Yanks who now head to K.C.

Glad they’ve got Pineda going tonight because the sooner we forget another unhappy series down in Tampa the better.

[Photo Credit: Manuel Álvarez Bravo]

Getting Even

phoebe

Maybe Joe Pierla will play the hero tonight.

Jacoby Ellsbury CF

Brett Gardner LF

Alex Rodriguez DH

Mark Teixeira 1B

Brian McCann C

Chris Young RF

Chase Headley 3B

Didi Gregorius SS

Jose Pirela 2B

It’s Chase Whitley. C’mon, Hoss.

Never mind a losing streak:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

[Photo Credit: Phoebe Nakry via untrustyou]

This is The End

ned

Fin.

Nertz

antiq

Okay, nothing is fucked here. No need to be un-Dude. Still, after scoring a couple of runs again in the first inning, the Yankee offense didn’t do dick (despite getting 10 hits), spoiling a fine outing from Adam Warren as the Rays beat the Yanks, 3-2.

Picture by Bags

Let’s Try This Again

orangechair

C’mon Adam Warren. Let’s see what you got, dude.

Jacoby Ellsbury CF

Brett Gardner LF

Alex Rodriguez DH

Mark Teixeira 1B

Brian McCann C

Carlos Beltran RF

Stephen Drew 3B

Jose Pirela 2B

Didi Gregorius SS

Never mind yesterday:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

Picture by Bags

On Writing Well

zinsser-satow

Farewell, Mr. Zinsser. 

Just Short

zzzzzzzzzz

Nathan Eovaldi pitched his best game of the year but a rocky finish earned him his first loss of the season as the Rays beat the Yanks, 4-2.

Hang this one of the Yankees’ offense who scored two runs in the first and had the bases loaded with nobody out. They didn’t score again for the rest of the game.

These things happen, don’t they?

Picture by Bags

What Goes Up

zzbags

The big question mark, Nathan Eovaldi goes tonight.

My Spidey Sense is tingling–I think he’s due to get walloped.

Let’s hope I’m wrong.

Jacoby Ellsbury CF

Brett Gardner LF

Alex Rodriguez DH

Brian McCann C

Carlos Beltran RF

Chase Headley 3B

Stephen Drew 2B

Garrett Jones 1B

Didi Gregorius SS

Never mind the indoors:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

Picture by Bags

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"This ain't football. We do this every day."
--Earl Weaver