My Adventure with the Boston Red Sox

7.01.2007

Plugs.
There is a new piece of fiction from Ben Byrd, entitled Evanescent. It has nothing to do with the band, thank God. Also you need to read Malach special expose' on Pro Wrestling over at the WoW. Me and my buddy Otis Serunigs uncovered a 50 year conspiracy . .. Oh yeah, speaking of Pro Wrestling:

Don't make me GO BENOIT on your ass.
by
Malach

Get this custom shirt at Zazzle

Yeah, I am a bit of a internet whore

Some Clarification.
OK, Blogger was acting up a couple of days ago, but I managed to fix everthing and 6/29's blog is now up, and dated and timed correctly. That has several updates, info on this Beatles song, and a funny Sarah Silverman video as highlights.

I did a little digging to see what the issue was. Evidently, Blogger has been having issues like with FTP loaded blogs since the complete switch to Google. It will affect a number of these blogs for a few days then correct itself. The FTP Blogger community is pretty pissed about it because it is an obvious issue with Blogger, and should be a known issue, but Google keeps reffering people to talk to their host providers. Someone like me who has been using the FTP platform since 2004, it seemed weird that my FTP protocols would suddenly be screwed up. Well it fixed itself in about 42 hours, but like many FTP blogger, I seriously thought of switching services, we will see.

Also, in terms of yesterday's blog, well there is a story behind that . . .

My Adventure.
So, Malach has been playing on a Unified Special Olympics Softball team for about 10 years. I have told you stories about this before, but those of you new to the blog, I will explain.

Unified Softball consists of a team of half Special Olympians (who are disabled adults with cognititve functioning issues: MR, Borderline Intellect, Autism etc.) and half "normal" partners. The team is 15 with 8 Olympians and 7 partners. On the field you have 5 partners (at most) and 5 Olympians. Same with batting, but you can bat 11 with a Olympian batting in the extra spot. They then try to match physical skills of partners with the physical skills of Olympians, and division the team based on that. The lower level divisions have more severely disabled Olympians and partners with worse skills. Malach's team, Rick's Rangers, is in the top division, a step or two below a regular men's softball team (in fact we have beaten a few regular softball teams in scrimmages), and in the past 5 years we have won the Gold three times, the Silver once, and the Bronze once. MA Special Olympics (SOMA) uses us as a model team, while competitive, we display some awesome sportmanship, and have fun partners and athletes.

So, a couple of weeks ago SOMA asked us to represent them at last nights Red Sox game, they did not give us much info beyond that we would see the game, get on the field for batting practice (BP), be involved in opening ceremonies, and maybe toss out the first pitch. The Sox were putting on a Disability Awareness Night and honoring persons with disabilities.

OK, cool, Malach has always wanted to toss a ball out at a pro game, and perhaps, I could finally blow out elbow and get John Henry to pay for it. So we get to Fenway, we are lead into a waiting area, and we get to go out on the field for BP. They has this roped off section from dugout to dugout; got to watch the Rangers do BP (Yeah kind of Ironic we are Rick's Rangers), walk around the warning track, edge of the grass, see Sammy Sosa up close and blast some balls.

Ok, some impression, I have been to Fenway tons of times, never on the field. So, being right behind homeplate, and playing a lot of Baseball, I never really realized how close the Green Monster is, and the right field corner with Pesky Pole. I think with a Aluminum bat, I could probably reach the wall, ff I can could catch up to a fastball. The second thing I realized in the grass is so spongy, it really slows the ball down on grounders, and by the time they get to the fielder, they aren't going any faster than in my Men's Softball League. Interesting. So we are hanging out there, taking pictures, meeting Tina Cervasio, getting occasional glimpse of Francona, Ortiz, Beckett and such. Cool. There are also a couple of other disability organization out there, Miss America Wheelchair, and such too. We find out we are not throwing out the first pitch; a deaf girl a monkey are (the monkey was a capuchin monkey, trained to help quadripeligics). Kind of dissappoiting but what the Hell, still cool to be on the field.

So then a Red Sox official comes down, and tells us there has been a change of plans. They are going to annouce our names and positions and we need to head out onto the field in those postions, and then wait for the respective Red Sox player to join us out there (WHAT?); and then quickly meet them, stay out for the National Anthem, and then run back in. So needless to say we were a bit dumbfounded. Oh, and by the way, the whole thing was going to be carried live on NESN in front of maybe 10 million people.

So, Malach, who is the only pitcher on the team has to run out onto the pitcher's mound, and wait for Josh Beckett. Cool, you know Malach, he loves the spotlight, no problem. So, we run out onto the field, they announce all our names, Malach poses in his best stretch on the mound in front of 40,000 people. Some quick thoughts . .. yeah, I can do this for a living (pitching), and yes, the Green Monster is very short. Suddenly the Red Sox burst out of the Dugout, and after a quick hello, I show Beckett my elbow destroyed from years of pitching, asked for some advice, he tells me I am screwed. A few impressions. Besides Beckett, baseball players aren't too big. Manny was about my size, Dustin Pedroia is about 5'8", and Youkillis is the exact same size as Otis Serungis. So we get off the mound for the National Anthem, which is being sung by a kid who is deaf. He gets about halfway through it, and start giggling uncontrollably (remember this is live), Beckett and I start to half laugh, I quickly state, "if we can get the crowd to help" . .. suddenly as this kid is stumbling, the crowd burst into the remainder of the anthem. Great crowd it was awesome. Shook Beckett's hand, wished him good luck, we were wisked off the field to our Bleacher seats where we were stars for the rest of the evening. I looked on YouTube for a video of this, none up yet. I have a recording, so do a few others, so one should be up soon. Malach also has several pics of him on the mound (there is a cool one with my back to camera in a convincing stretch), but they are in Otis Serungis's camera, he has e-mail them to me. . . I will post them as soon as I get them.

I apologize for shaking Beckett's hand, I think I gave him a blister.

The Mood of Red Sox Nation.
So let me get this straight, the lose 2 in a row to the worst team in baseball, but the rest of the Division hasn't gained ground? Mood: I the AL East the worst division in baseball?

Look at me.
I'm CNN, I have a new website . . . BLAHBLAHBLAH.

OK, look.
If you are going to try to kill a vampire, stomping on it won't kill him.

Malach's Quote/Video of the Day

I am Malach, oh man, Bas Rutten rocks.

Octopus's Garden

6.19.2007

Not really a plug, but kind of.
No site updates tonight, I had a night game, and just got back. We won against the team we were tied for second for. Also, the Sandlot Softball site is back up, so you can follow along.

Also read about Ratzy's big plan over at the WoW. Look like most of us are going to Hell.

Malach's Silver Hammer.
I just realized I forgot to tell about Malach's Silver Hammer. First, Geek Alert. Malach is a RPG character I have been using for about 20 years. Know jokingly as Malach the Merciless, full name Malach diMedici. I always revive Malach when I roll really well in character creation, the latest version of Malach was in D20 Dungeons and Dragons and had an 18, a 17, 2 16's, and everything else was above 12. He is always a Mage. His one quirk he always had was his weapon of choice, a warhammer. In one of his most powerful incarnations was in MERP. In that he was some ungodly level, developed spells whose effect included liquefying an groups of enemies skeletons, and had a ultra power warhammer of disintegration and returing.

You are Listening too . . .
Octopus's Garden from Abbey Road. The song was mostly written by Ringo, with a small amount of assitance from Harrison. It was only the second song Starr had ever written, and the second to appear on a Beatles album, and perhaps his best know song.

Starr's inspiration was a boat trip in Sardinia, he was offered Octopus for lunch, which he turned down. The Captain began to relate a story to him how Octopi spend their day on the bottom of the ocean collecting shiny things for their nests. The song is thought to be part of the small collection of Children's songs The Beatles wrote (the other being Yellow Submarine, The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill, All Together Now). The song has been performed by the Muppets, The Wiggles, and Raffi, which futher propogates the notion. The song and many of the other mentioned can also easily be associated with psychoative drugs.

There are a couple of interesting sounds, included McCartney and Lennon's vocals compressed to create a gurgling sound, and Starr adding the sound of bubbles being blow into a glass. The charm of the song lies in it's simplicity and limted over production. It is about a retreat from the hectic life, and one into beauty, happiness, and safety.

The Mood of Red Sox Nation.
Look, they are on a roll, and then a 48 minute rain delay. They are back on though, and Beckett's pitching a gem. Hopefully Schill just has a tired arm, he will go on the 15 day DL, and we bring Lester up. Mood: Let's close it out Beckett.

This is weird.
Of course I think we know where this will all end up.

Yeah, this ain't shocking.
Bloomberg was about as Republican as I am.

Hillary Soprano.
What makes in funny is how bad the acting is. Make sure you watch the video. Perhaps, just perhaps Malach will make an I Got a Crush On Hilary video.

HMMMM.
Will the next Tiennamen Square be the Internet. Oh man, I just got banned by the Great Firewall of China.

Need Help Hiding Your Pot?
Just ask this nice officer for help.

John Travolta dissapproves of Anti-Depressants.
But he very much approves of secret homosexuals romps with random runaways . . that the way Scientology.

Malach's Quote of the Day
If God has made us in his image, we have returned him the favor. - Voltaire

I am Malach and Paul is Dead?

Something about Pattie Boyd

6.15.2007

Plugs.
There is a new Fetus-X. More anti-war undead stuff. Check out Malach's latest WoW article and make fun of his taste in music.

You are listening too . . .
Something off of Abbey Road. Something was the only George Harrison composition to appear on as an A-side single and the only one to top the American Charts. Both Lennon and McCartney praised the song and the best ever written by Harrison. It also is the second most covered Beatles song of all time.

Something was developed during the recording of The White Album, and based in part of the James Taylor song, Something in the Way She Moves. Most of the White Album was done by the time Harrison had completed the melody of the song, and during a break of editing, began to write the lyrics.

There is some confusion as to what the song is about, most assuming it is about Harrison's the wife Pattie Boyd, and Harrison had told people the song was actually about Ray Charles (Harrison's dry humor). This is interesting as Pattie Boyd might be the woman who has had the most hit songs written about her. Something, Layla, Bell Bottom Blues, Wonderful Tonight are a just a few. As for Pattie herself, pretty hot no?

The original idea was not for the Beatles to record the song, and the song was given to Joe Cocker who released a version of the song 2 months before the Beatles version who had begun to seriously work on it from Abbey Road. The orignal recording was more than 8 minutes long eventually to cut the point it was released at.

Harrison himself has been pretty dismissive of the song, but Lennon called it the best song on the album. By the time they shot the video (I will post it below), they had broken so far apart, they shot the video of the 4 of them in seperate locales and edited it together.

Some of the diverse covers of the song come from Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Shirley Bassey, Elvis, The O'Jays, James Brown, Tony Bennet, Perry Cuomo, and Smokey Robinson. Sinatra was especially impressed with the song and called it "the greatest love song ever written" and his "all time favorite Lennon-McCartney song" (he even introduced it that way for years).

The Mood of Red Sox Nation
Welcome to Boston Barry Bonds.

There are people you don't mess with . .
and the HOFF is one of them.

Ahh the War.
It will be see where this one heads.

Hey the NBA finals are over.
Anyone actually watch any of this?

They are so weird in Oklahoma.
Of course, they would have buried a horse in Texas.

Malach's Quote/Video of the Day

I am Malach and there is something in the way I move.

Revolution!

6.05.2007

Plugs.

There is another new 8 1/2 by Eleven strip 540. Also, there are some new requested products in the Zazzle store. One is a t-shirt for this blog, which I have gotten a few requests for. It is customizable so you can add any of my quotes, the on their now is "MMMMM 12 Varieties of Dung Beetles". Also there is a new Tinman and Margaret Sunshine sweatshirt.



I am going to be making a Buckos and a podcast shirt in the next few days.



You are listening too . .
Revolution 1 off The White Album. Perhaps not the version that is most famous which was a beside to the Hey Jude single. There are basically three versions of Revolution, the raucous electric version most everyone had heard, this more acoustic orchestric version, and a strange 8 minute avant garde sound collage from The White Album called Revolution 9 (which I will play for you later). I will treat Revolution and Revolution 1 as the same songs in this blog entry.

Revolution was first to be released and was a product session of The White Album. It features distorted guitars, and a electric piano solo. It is one of The Beatles hardest and agressive tracks beginning with and overdrawn guitar wail, a compressed drum beat and that signature wail (which was recorded by Lennon, but live, McCartney always did it as Lennon could never recover after the scream to start the vocals on time.



Revolution 1 is basically the same song, only done in a different style, with much less distortion and a more acoustic sound. Lennon recorded the entire vocal scheme while lying down in experiment in vocal scheming. This is actually the original version of the song, but the rest of the band wanted a faster heavier version for the single to back up Hey Jude. Lennon irritated decided to amp up the loud. Lennon claims the song was inspired by 1968 French uprisings.



The Mood of Red Sox Nation.
So they are on their first bad series, losing 5 of 6. Last night, I am surprised they even competed with Papelbon, and Okajima unavailable, Lowell, Crisp, Varitek out of the lineup. Lost 5 - 4 in 11 I think. Tonight should be different. Mood: Were still 10 games up.



Ok.
There something a little strange about this, I mean your relationship developing over deaths of your kids . . . Well, You can always listen to JonBenet's ghost on the podcast.



The Mass Factor.
Yeah, most of us Massholes call Uncle Mitt, Satan.



The Vatican, that Nazi Fighting Machine.
Yeah, I can see it . . ."Hey Jews, come hide in here" *Pope Holding door on large over, thinking "Take that for killing Jesus".


Ahh some more embarassing Britney Pics.

Serously, what did we do before the internet? At least this time she is wearing something down there.

Uhh once again.
Ask.com sucks.

Malach's quote/video of the day.
Ladies and gentlemen, DMDSS is proud to present to you, Atlanta Brave Minor League Coach, Phillip Wellman

And you gotta love Al Green's Let's Stay Together playing in the background.

I am Malach and you complete me.

You May Be A Lover But You Ain't No Dancer.

6.04.2007

Plugs.
There is a new Fetus-X, some type of strange undead survey, I really don't get it, even with the pie chart. Also number 539 of 8 1/2 by Eleven is also up, and really shows you how much of a wuss Nillian is.

More Beatles History.
Basically one month after the realease of The White Album, the Beatles began filming Let It Be, and recording what became known as the Get Back sessions including there famous rooftop concert on January 30th of 1969. Allen Klein is named their manager in a 3 - 1 descision, McCartney being the dissenter. In March, Harrison and Patty Boyd are charged with Marijuana possession, Paul and Linda marry, and then John and Yoko marry. John and Yoko immediately go a honeymoon which includes first of their famous 7 day Bed-Ins. As the Get Back sessions go on, more things occur, but that is a later blog.

Another one Bites the Dust.
Gotta give Roger Goddell some credit to sticking by his guns or perhaps Tanks Johnsons guns. It will be interesting to see what happens with Micheal Vick.

Hey.
check out the new CNN . . . looking pretty, pretty much like MSNBC.

Darn.
And all I ever find is stuff like a vinyl porch kit, a weird outboard motor part, and stuff like that in hidden places.

FOOD FIGHT.
Man, we never had one of these in high school . . .

Hey Buddy.
You want a joke? I got a joke for you, this one will extend your life for about 20 minutes.

MMMMMM
12 kinds of dung beetles.

Heelys
I hate these friggin' things, especially the pre-pubescent brats that wheel around Wal-Mart like it's a skate park, and their parents don't seem to care, until they get an "accidental" hip check from Malach the Merciless.

Malach's Quote/Video of the Day

I am Malach and I wonder what Manson thinks of this version of Helter Skelter.

OK, I am Convinced; The Boston Celtics are cursed!

5.22.2007

No Plugs.
Been busy again!

The Celtics.
Malach has not been a huge fan of the Celtics since their 80's glory days. I lost interest as the direction of the NBA changed dramatically and as the Celtics once great franchise started to wallow in misery. I have recently got a bit more interested in the NBA, and the Celtics as the league has started to shift back to Basketball as opposed to some of the reasons why I left. After tonight, I am now convinced the Celtics are cursed, a yet unamed curse, but I will figure this one out.

Len Bias, perhaps he cursed the Celtics . . . after his death, what happened? Reggie Lewis, the whole Tim Duncan fiasco (that year the Celts had somthing like a 65% chance to get the first pick in that lottery and the Spurs who had one of the worst chances got it), screwed up drafts, Rick Pitino, not waiting for players to mature, and now this draft. With the second worse record in the NBA, they had a 40% chance for the number one or number 2 pick, and they ended up with 5. . . .

What now? Well they will probably package someone like Gerald Green and their pick, maybe for Kevin Garnet, but Oden or Durant would have looked good in green. Of course, Memphis had a better chance than the Celts and they ended up 4th.

You are listening too . ..
Blackbird, from The White Album. Another favorite McCartney ballad and truly beautiful song. The song overall is very simple . . . McCartney playing accoustic guitar, a sample of a blackbird singing, and the sound of a electric metronome in the background. Suprisingly, this was a Manson favorite off the album and he based some his thoughts of an upcoming racewar based on messages he got from the song (yeah I don't really see it in this one).

McCartney's inspiration for the song comes from their stay in India, when he was awoken in the early morning by a blackbird singing. The guitar piece of the song is inspired by Bach's Bouree. Notice the playing of multiple notes at similar times.

Lyrically it is a simple song, but very powerful, and in my opinion very symbolic of where McCartney was in his life, ending a long relationship with Jane Asher, and meeting Linda Eastman.

The Mood of Red Sox Nation.
Well Tavarez and Mussina did not match up well for the Sox, but Tavarez no-hit the Yankees for 4 innings, and then they got into the bullpens, the Sox strength and a Yankees weakness . . . 7 - 2 right now top of the 8th. Tomorrow should be interesting Schilling vs. Petite, with Schill coming off a so-so last start. The Mood: Pretty Confident.

Gangs, EBay, and the Ivory Trade.
I am surprised EBay hasn't stopped this . . . of course this gives me tons of ideas for my Jr. Meth Lab . . .

I find it very shocking that . .
The Spirit amd Opportunity Rovers are still functioning 2 years+ after they were supposed to stop. There is a special on this, I think on the Discovery Channel, they play it everyso often.

Ok, here comes a deep joke.
So scientist are releasing a birthcontrol pill that will stop your period . . . didn't they already release it for text messaging and chatroom? Thank you, I will be here all week.

MMMMMM
Coelacanth

Paula Abdul.
Sorry Paula, Brian Greise already used that excuse.

Malach's Quote Video of the Day.

I am Malach and I faked the moonlanding.