Happy New Year from Huggy Bear & T-Bone

The Pontifical Lateran University, where my brother is studying.


Sayonara, suckaz.

Merry Christmas, Part 2

Nothing gets me into Christmas quite as well as sacred space. Welcome to my spiritual home.


Gonna post pics from my parents' trip to Italy, later.

Merry Christmas

Caravaggio, "Nativity with San Lorenzo and San Francesco," 1609

Kong

...which takes me back to lovely memories of former schoolmate Eddie Hong. I miss you, King. And your enormous pythons.

Excellent flick; the only real problem is it's 3. Hours. Long. I've already sat through the dinosaurs, the bugs, Skull Island natives who look like orcs, and the near-shipwreck when I realize that crap: We haven't even made it to New York yet.

As far as I remember, this is the best combo of live-action and digital effects that I've seen. There weren't as many obviously patched scenes, and I didn't notice "green screen stare" too often. (Star Wars is an atrocity on this front). There weren't as many signature Peter Jackson annoyances, either (unnecessarily pervasive slow-mo, actors with mouths half-open staring into space, hobbits about to make out, etc.).

I liked that the last third of the movie had extremely little dialogue. Props to the Best Blond in the Business for making TLC with a giant fake gorilla believable.

snow pants on a thursday

And I could take another hit for you
And I could take away the trips from you
And I could take away the salt from your eyes
Take away skin and salt in you
And I could give you my apologies
By handing over my neologies
And I could take away your shaky knees
And I could give you all the olive trees
And look at the trees and look at my face and look at a place far away from here

-- Wolf Parade, "I'll Believe in Anything"


Looky what Max got arrested at. Good for him. It's good to strike back at the darkness, let 'em know you're still there.

my name is Javy, and I have a problem

Hello Javier. Welcome to the White Sox. We've acquired you and some cash for a playoff hero, a bloated sack of potatoes, and a shiny new metallic object that will bring hours of enjoyment for its new owners. Mind AJ's wrestling gear as you step in. You might want to avoid the lanky, acne-riddled righthander over in that corner because I think you just took his starting job. No worries, though, he should have his job back once we get rid of some excess baggage we picked up on Arbitration Highway via the path to Eternal Playoff Glory. Sorry about the dust, we're still under construction after last October.

Now Javy, we do have a few concerns. For example, the last time you were in the American League (2004 with the Yankees), you had the worst year of your career. The last time we checked, we still don't have the pitchers batting here, so that hasn't changed. Thought we should let you know. Another thing is that you, considerate advocate of the common fan that you are, have become a veritable horn o' plenty when it comes to bleacher souvenirs, giving up 33 and 35 in the past two seasons. You may be happy to know that the cozy confines of the Cell will enable you to continue your charitable efforts with little interruption.

Not all of the news is good, however. Your current contract runs through 2007, paying you 11.5 and 12.5 mill/per, after which you'll be up for arbitration. It seems the White Sox will really want to keep you, however, since the $5 mill + El Duque ($4.25 mill) + Vizcaino ($2 mill) pays for you this year, and the money that they don't spend on Garland now can go to you, and for less total years and salary, since Garland is looking for AJ Burnett money. Also, since you're only turning 30 this coming season, you'll most likely still be productive through 2007 while the Sox still maintain a 5 deep rotation. Being productive means more of that robust 7.8 K/9, 1.27 WHIP, and 200+ IP (basically, being Freddy Garcia). So get comfortable, because you may not be leaving Chicago anytime soon. Sure is a shorter flight from here to Puerto Rico than from Arizona, right? Hope you like cold Aprils and beating the Twins and Indians.

Love, Kenny Williams.

caravaggio

Beautiful paintings. Quite prolific too. I'm a tad jealous that the Ps get to hang with Ed in Rome and check out beautiful stuff like this.

Caravaggio, "The Taking of Christ" 1598.

Schools are putting out their openings for next fall. Happy thoughts?!

"It is idle to talk always of the alternative of reason and faith. Reason itself is a matter of faith. It is an act of faith to assert that our thoughts have any relation to reality at all."
-- GK Chesterton, from Orthodoxy

recuperating

...after a long weekend in Seattle (Mercer Island, specifically. Beautiful place), either from short sleep, giving a presentation to the parish youth group out there, or indulging in the legal drug of choice, Starbucks. There were 4 coffee places within a half mile of one another, and all doing booming business. These people are serious about their coffee. Roy drank hot chocolate the whole time.

I like making lists, to the point that making lists of something, anything, calms me down sufficiently when I get panicky. Anyway, I think there are a bunch of lists that people carry around with them, including:

-possible purchases you're mulling: books to read, music to hear, movies to watch, gifts, clothes, etc.
-people you can date
-people you *want* to date
-people you can *take* on a date: can differ from the above, depending on the situation. For instance, the person you'd take to a wedding could be different than the one you'd take out to dinner.
-people you'd like to harm or see harmed in some way

same great taste, much more filling (baseball post)

White Sox re-sign Konerko for 5 years, $60 million. I think most of us are aware that we don't live in a perfect world, so Konerko getting about $12 mill/per is about right, although the chances are good that he's not worth that in the last two years of the contract. The brighter side of it is that Thome and Konerko will hopefully spend their remaining productive years together. One note, however; I'm getting irritated at media (local and national) sticking Thome in the 5th spot behind Konerko. Nuh uh. I want the on-base machine as high up in the order as possible. I think it'll look more like this:

1. Podsednik (L)
2. Iguchi (R)
3. Thome (L)
4. Konerko (R)
5. Dye (R)
6. Pierzynski (L)
7. Crede (R)
8. Anderson (R)
9. Uribe (R)

Other baseball-related rumination:

- For once and flipping all, I don't want Frenchy on the South side. I do want another bullpen arm and some bench depth, considering the championship run didn't heal Crede's two herniated discs, and last year's roster didn't particularly weather Podsednik's absence very well. (Bringing back Tony Graffanino or Kenny Lofton would be delicious irony).

-I'm sad that Brian Giles re-signed with Saaan Dieaaaaahgo. In the cavern the Padres play in, Giles will have no shot at all at making the Hall of Fame.

-The new hotness, other than Frenchy, is batting Brian Anderson or Uribe second to drop Iguchi down in the order. Let me wipe the blood from my eyes first. Batting hacktastic maniacs second ahead of the big bats will pretty much negate whatever Thome adds to the mix offensively. I don't think anyone wants to revert to the Cubs' "solo shot by DLee" approach to scoring.

-The best rumor so far of the offseason is that Manny Ramirez might not go to the Angels (which is scary enough), nor the Mets (the most money) but actually to the Phillies (for Lord knows what). I'm sad at the thought of Big Papi breaking Bonds' walk record when Manny leaves.