Tiananmen Square's 20th Anniversary: Whither Hollywood?

Why has there never been a movie made about the Tiananmen Square massacres?

I have no good answer to this question. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the catastrophic, seminal event in the history of China and Chinese-US relations. One would think that such a huge event would have produced several movies by now. The story is incredible enough: a group of several thousand unhappy college students put together a beautiful, emotional protest against their oppressive government, using the United States as the role model.

This uprising may have been crushed by the ruthless Chinese government forces, but history will not turn its back on those brave young men and women who risked, and lost, their lives. Why has Hollywood?

My fav all time post: The Death of Red Auerbach

When Red passed away a few years back (on 10/28/06), there was a bunch of bullshit talk about what a great guy he was, how he had a big heart, yadda yadda yadda.

From everything I read about the man, Red would not have wanted tears or sad stories to be passed around after he had passed away. So I wrote a post (See here) that contained some of my favorite quotes about him.

I came across it the other day and I don't think I've stopped laughing since. He was a one of a kind American rags to riches story and a New England original.

Random Thoughts on a Tuesday Night

I had a dream last night that Notre Dame would win the National Championship in football this season, for whatever that's worth. Though I am not impartial, as my grandfather got his PHD from the school way back when.

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The Cavs are going to beat the Magic. No doubt about it. As I write these sentences, Orlando is up 3 points late in Game Four. No matter: LeBron won't let them lose. Book it. (Edit: Mike Brown got outcoached tonight by not having a timeout with 3.2 seconds left in overtime to advance the ball and the Cavs lose.)

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How is it that chores like doing laundry and brushing my teeth change from sheer drudgery when I am in a bad mood to enjoyable activities once I am in a better place? Guess life would be boring if every day was the same.

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Every baseball fan should read two books that came out in the last couple of weeks: "Odd Man Out" by Matt McCarthy and "Heart of the Game" by S.L. Price. Both are sure to be considered classics for many years to come.

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I am turning 43 on Friday, and it's really not that big a deal to me. I do remember my father and how ancient I thought he was at this age. But times have changed, and a man being in his mid 40's is not the death sentence that it used to be now that folks have discovered the health benefits of exercise, diet, and giving up smoking. Along with a lot of botox.

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Movies I plan on watching the next boring, rainy day that comes my way: "Bottle Rocket", "Citizen Kane", "Office Space", "Clifford" (WHAT?? you've never seen this one? a classic!), and "Diner." Just some random great movies. Quentin Tarantino has said that watching his favorite movies repeatedly is liking "spending time with some good friends", and I feel the same way about my DVD collection.

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Right now, we here in Portland, Maine have the best weather in the world. Anywhere from mid-50s to low 70s, with a slight breeze off the ocean. Great sleeping weather. Just perfect, if you ask me. Enjoy it!

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Just wait: the Red Sox, despite inconsistent starting pitching, are going to put together enough winning streaks where the starters pitch the way they can and the hitters hit the way they can to get into the playoffs, as either the division winners or the wildcard. And that is all we should ask for as baseball fans in the Boston area: a chance for another World Series win.

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I got a cat, which I named Rudy, about three weeks ago from the animal shelter in Westbrook. And in that short time span I cannot now imagine living in my tiny apartment without having her around. She is a joy.

Apt404's Greatest Hits: Wordsmith.com/Anagram

I had some fun with this on 4/15/06: Found an anagram for my name (joe sweeney): Seen Wee Joy.

Ain't that cool?

Next year's National Champions in NCAA Basketball will be, in all likelihood...

...the University of Kentucky...

....because of this

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John Wall is the next Derrick Rose and Kentucky is the clearcut favorite for next season over Kansas and a slew of others. Goodness gracious does John Calipari know how to recruit!

The President shows great courage and compassion at Notre Dame today

See here in todays' NYT online article

President Obama gave a speech at the Notre Dame commencement today in South Bend, and it seems to have gone as well as possible. Once again, the man did not shy away from important and controversial issues, addressing the anti-abortion protestors head on.

Today's Frank Rich: As Usual, Required Reading

See here from this morning's New York Times

Should the administration cave to pressure and try to hold hearings on torture to assess whether the Bush folks should be held criminally liable? I have given this a lot of thought, for several weeks now, and at first I agreed with a lot of people in thinking that no good can come of that. But today, as I write this, I feel that for the good of our nation and its integrity, we need to hold those responsible for torturing prisoners accountable.

The problem being that people like Nancy Pelosi are equally culpable. They knew what was going on, clearly. Are they criminally liable? How can the same elected officials who allowed torture to happen hold others in judgement?

I don't know how it would work. I just believe that we need a way to find out the truth and hold folks accountable for the damage they have done to our legal system and national integrity. Winston Churchill once said something along the lines of, "Americans can be counted on to do the right thing once they've tried everything else." Here's hoping that he's right.

"Easy Cheese" - Welcome to the Show, Daniel Bard

The newest member of the Red Sox bullpen pitched last night in the loss to the Angels. I was in bed when he came in, but this article in the Globe describes Bard's impressive velocity. The man can bring it and was blowing away AAA hitters down in Pawtucket before his callup following the release of LOOGY Lopez.

Good for Bard. He is extremely talented and a welcome addition to what is already one of the best pens in the league. Might be a watershed moment years from now, if the young fella becomes the star many expect him to be.

WTF is the world coming to: Boy Scouts on the Warpath!

See here on NYT's site

Wow. These kids are being taught to hate A-rabs unconditionally. I guess when you have no other career options, arresting folks with no other career options (immigrants, low level thieves, etc) makes a lot of sense.

I thought the mention of sexual abuse kinda jarring and maybe, since there were no links or facts backing up this claim, a bit disingenuous. But the article struck a chord and made me angry at the damn Boy Scouts and these idiotic parents who bring their children up to fear and hate the world.

Sunday Night: A great evening for Boston sports fans

Last night was one of the most memorable nights in recent Boston sports history, as the Red Sox beat their new prime rivals, the Tampa Bay Rays, 4-3, in a well played game, the Celtics beat the Orlando Magic on a buzzer beater by forward Glen Davis, tying their series at two games apiece with the fifth game scheduled for the Garden this week, and finally the Bruins dominated the Carolina Hurricanes in game five of their series, 4-0, though they still trail three games to two.

The Bruins game ended first, at around 9:30pm. It was obvious that the B's were dominating so I did not watch much of the third period, though I did see enough of it to see the team's most valuable player, defenseman Zdeno Chara get slashed by a Hurricane and wobble off the ice midperiod. Chara would return, but there is always the danger of swelling in his ankle, where the stick made contact with his leg.

The Celtics game ended next. The C's were ahead for most of the night but Orlando took a lead with eleven seconds left on free throws by forward Rashard Lewis. Coach of the C's Doc Rivers called timeout to set up a play for Paul Pierce, but point guard Rajon Rondo couldn't get him the ball and swung it to Davis, who nailed a fifteen footer as time expired. The celebration was wonderful to watch, as it is always sweet to see a big road win for Boston, with the home team in shock and the fans filing out.

Great stuff and hopefully more to come this week.

The Red Sox are on the west coast all week. First in Anaheim to play the Angels, then on to Seattle to play Junior and the much improved Mariners.

The Celtics and Bruins each have a great chance to advance in their playoff series. The Celts are tied with the favored Magic at two games apiece but have two of the final three games schedule for the Garden. And the Bruins still trail Carolina 3-2, though I have a sneaky feeling that they may be the first Bruins team to ever come back from a 3-1 deficit in a seven game series.

This should be a great week for Boston sports: Go get 'em, guys!

New Word for the Day: "Plork"

"Plork" is a combination of the words "pleasure" and "work" -- Do you have anything in your life that combines both a pleasurable experience and something that you have to work at?

For me, right now, it is my exercise routine. I find going to the gym to be both fun AND hard. For example, this morning I was feeling a bit tired, as I only got three hours sleep (which is actually about average for me...), but made it to my local "World Gym" here in Portland. Today was legs day for my weightlifting program, thus I made sure to warm up properly and stretch. No need to re-injure my often injured back muscles. Once I did my first lift, things fell into place, and I enjoyed the weight training tremendously. Next came an hour on the treadmill. Now, I am not much of a runner. OK, not a runner at all. But I find I can burn a large number of calories by walking uphill at about a 12 or 13 degree incline at a decent speed. Sixty minutes of walking burned about 1400 calories according to my treadmill (the best thing about weighing 300 pounds is that I can burn off so many calories so quickly). Nice work Joe!

So, despite having some tired eyes and unwilling feet, I made it to the gym anyways and got in a nice, relaxing workout.

And hope to do the same tomorrow: I'll try to keep up the plork! Hope you do the same.

Dom DiMaggio, one of the greatest of all Red Sox, passes away at age 92

See Boston Globe article here.

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Dom DiMaggio, for those not knowledgeable about Sox history, was the second best centerfielder in the history of the great franchise, behind only Hall of Famer Tris Speaker. Dominic was known as a bright, engaging and witty man whose fielding prowess during his career earned him the respect of teammates and opponents alike. Though not a power hitter, Dominic was a solid offensive player who hit for average and could run the bases.

After his playing days ended, DiMaggio became one of the most successful of all former major leaguers in the business world through the formation of a manufacturing company that made him a wealthy man. He was good friends with former Red Sox teammates Teddy Ballgame, Bobby Doerr, and Johnny Pesky, ("The Teammates" is a wonderful David Halberstam book about their ongoing friendship.) and a beloved father, grandfather, and husband to a large family.

A life well lived should be celebrated. The passing of the great centerfielder and businessman hopefully will be noted by the Sox tonight before the game versus the Rays.

Thanks Dom...

The Boston Herald's columnist Howie Carr embarrasses himself

See here

With the best and most widely circulated paper in all New England, the Boston Globe, in serious trouble due to advertising revenue deficits, the rival Herald's Howie Carr goes off on a jealous rant. The Herald has always been second place in the hearts and minds of any literate New Englander, and a scary and weird column like this one shows just how far that jealousy goes.

One would think that fellow newspapermen would feel bad that such an institution as the Globe is in trouble. Not Carr and not the Herald.

Too bad for them. They just embarrass themselves and their readers.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately...

...but I have been spending some of my computer time lately on SonsofSamHorn.com, a Boston sports website. Great knowledge and passion there and I'm enjoying posting an occasional comment about the Sox, Pats, Celtics, and Bruins. The best fan website I know of, largely because you are a "lurker" until you are invited to become a "member."

My profile as "JuniorWells" on SOSH