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Showing posts from April, 2010

Great Fourths

Note: This is the fourth in a monthly series reviewing my list of the greatest symphonies in western classical music. Johannes Brahms’ brilliant life as a composer yielded only four symphonies among a host of other great orchestral and chamber works. All of his symphonies are noteworthy but, for me, the Brahms Symphony No. 4 ranks as his personal best and the greatest of a competitive field of Great Fourths. The Brahms Fourth was one of the first pieces of classical music I bought on vinyl back when I started my classical music collection around 1980. When I hear it my mind drifts back to earlier times that somehow resonate in memory, vague recollections of listening satisfaction in various life situations. The first movement is my favorite. It is an impassioned effort, beautifully orchestrated. The strings slightly dominate, but there are several moments when the horns and, particularly, the winds are prominent. The overall experience is a sense of easy confidence. It is optimistic

Down on the Farm

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Kyle Rose is one of the few highlights so far this season for the Rome Braves. He is about to connect with that blur of a ball for a base hit in this pic. I like the old-fashioned way he wears his socks. I'm very conservative about all things baseball. Each year there are a handful of things I try to do in order to fully validate my life. One of them is to have a couple of hot dogs and a couple of beers at a baseball game. Got my ticket punched on that one last night when my family had the pleasure of watching the Rome Braves (Atlanta's Class A farm club) get pummeled by the Kannapolis Intimidators (White Sox team) 9 – 3. In many ways I enjoy minor league ball more than major league ball, especially since the 1994 player’s strike and the beginning of the Steroid Era of baseball. The guys down here play with a lot of hope and sheer joy for the game. They are hungry because they haven’t made it yet. The financial aspect of the game hasn’t ruined everything yet. They all look

For Earth Day...the Sun

Happy Earth Day . Judging from the behavior of some of my neocon colleagues, today is a great day to poke fun at the global environmental movement, make crude jokes, and (once again) tell me how global warming is all fiction . Sometimes it is all I can do just to smile and hold my tongue. But, we non-neocons have our environmental humor too . And Earth Day is not without its element of consumerism as well (a sure sign that it is starting to become part of mainstream consciousness). Wal-Mart is suddenly big on Earth Day . The release of the Blu-Ray/DVD of Avatar was purposely scheduled for today. (I'm not going to purchase it, however, because even though I think the film is visually stunning this release has no bonus features - which means a "collector's edition" might be out by Christmas.) The idea of celebrating the natural world and our efforts to preserve it in spite of humanity's long history of exploitation and disruption of the air we breathe and the wat

OOTP: The Art of Believable Possibility

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Last Tuesday I downloaded the latest version of Out of the Park Baseball and started playing it. I posted last summer (see July 13, 2009) about how I buy the new version of OOTP every baseball season. Then I can simulate managing any baseball club from any season in baseball history…or play out the current season complete with actual minor league rosters and accurate players on the disabled list on opening day of 2010. OOTP allows you to control a baseball team at any level. You can be the General Manager and make trades, work the financials, sign players - or you can be the Head Coach and manage each player position, manage games, set the batting orders, arrange your pitching rotation and bullpen. You can also be both GM and Coach. You can even manage a team in the minor leagues if you want. Once into a season, OOTP spits out literally hundreds of unique news stories covering the action throughout the league. This helps create the feeling that you are part of a "real" base

Jason Heyward and All Our Hopes

Jason Heyward had a big time hit for the Atlanta Braves today and turned a loss into a win. It is little things like this that add up over the course of 162 games. I hope Heyward can keep it up. Big things are certainly expected of him . The Braves have a really good pitching rotation and decent team-wide hitting. Can Billy Wagner be the closer he used to be? Can Chipper Jones stay healthy and play great hot corner? Can Yunel Escobar become a leading NL short stop? Can Martin Prado be a leader? Can Brian McCann remain consistent? Can Lowe and Hudson carry the load? Can Jurrjens and Hanson live up to their potential? So many questions in April. Nothing's happened yet and yet it is all unfolding in front of our eyes. What will be the story of 2010? Will the Braves be part of it? Game by game. Take it game by game. This is Bobby Cox's last season. I like Bobby Cox . He's a fighter . And he's smart. I think he is one of baseball's great managers . But, other

Our Lady Banks Rose

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We planeted this rose bush about ten years ago. It has become very invasive in a beautiful luscious kind of way. It crowns a couple of our hollies and the privet where they meet. An explosion of thousands of tiny creamy yellow rose pedals stretching several yards across and up to about 20 feet high.

Venus and Mercury are Alright Tonight

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Venus and Mercury off my front porch tonight about 9 p.m. Mercury is the dimmer object located about 4 o'clock from the much brighter (though more distant) Venus. Last night Jennifer and I spent a long time after the sunset watching the stars slowly come out as the orange glow dissipated into the dark, clear night. I knew Venus was the brightest object in our view to the west. I also knew the constellations Taurus and Perseus were out there too. I noticed a star that didn't seem to belong. Perhaps it was from a constellation I didn't know about. So, I checked the internet. To my surprise, the star I was looking at near Venus was, in fact, the planet Mercury , which I have only consciously seen a few times my whole life. Mercury is usually low to the horizon and only visible for a few moments around sunset. You rarely get a good chance to see it. But, three days ago Mercury reached its greatest point of elongation in the night sky . It is now partnered with Venus for the

The Theft of Southern Symbolism

Well, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell stepped in it with both feet . Another in a recent string of GOP miscues . Plenty of people around to blast him for having the audacity to proclaim Confederate History Month without mentioning slavery . "Confederate" and "slavery" are synonymous, you know. But, I've posted on this misguided contention before. Blacks are hurt by the attempt to commemorate southern honor, thus the present debate . The democrat's politics of inclusion is often as misguided and distorted as the republican's politics of fear. I voted for President Obama. I do not consider myself racist. Last weekend, in anticipation of the " Fort Sumter Day ", I placed my Confederate flag on display from my front porch. This would be my freedom of speech, if nothing else. It will remain there until July 4th to be replaced then by the Stars & Stripes. Among the many articles and blogs assaulting Gov. McDonnell (of whom I am no great fan, he'

Out of Horus and Eostre

He was born of a virgin, begotten by the supreme God. His mother was Meri-Mariam-Mary. His earthy "father" was Seph or Joseph, who was of royal descent. He was born in a lowly place after having been announced to his mother by an angel. His birth was heralded by a bright star and more angels, near the winter solstice, witnessed by shepards and visited by three wise or profound beings. The ruler of the land tried to have him murdered in his infancy. He received a rite of passage at age 12. He only lived about 30 years. He was baptized by a holy man who was later beheaded. He was tempted by the devil upon a mountain top, but he resisted the temptation. He later assembled a small band of disciples and preformed such miracles as walking on water, casting out demons, healing the sick and making blind men see. His key sermon was held upon a mountain top. Later, he was crucified along with two thieves and laid to rest in a tomb. After three days, he was resurrected from the dead, th

Touring the River of Death

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The Second Minnesota Monument on Snodgrass Hill. Yesterday, I took Jennifer’s dad to the Chickamauga Battlefield National Park . Over the years, I have visited there several times and I have read extensively about the battle. But, in the last decade I had not been there and had given it little thought.  It was nice to delve into the battle again. Located less than an hour from my home, Chickamauga was the second bloodiest battle of the War Between the States – after Gettysburg . Out of roughly a total of 125,000 troops engaged in the vicious fighting about 35,000 were killed, wounded, or ended up missing. Far more casualties than Americans suffered on D-Day.  Popular history has it that Chickamauga means "river of death" in Cherokee. Jennifer’s dad had never been to the battlefield so I thought it would be a nice treat for him as part of his birthday. We have a shared interest in military history.  He seemed to genuinely enjoy the trip. We spent about two and a half hours