South County

I covered the Oscar Night Gala at the Beacon Theater in Pittsfield on Sunday. Guy asked me my favorite movie. Most of 'em are oldies, although I thought that, among movies released recently, the documentary "This Could Get Loud" with Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White was good as was "Up In The Air" with George Clooney.

"The Blind Side" made me wince, as I already knew the very tragic story of Michael Oher, the young black man who is eventually adopted by a white family and eventually goes to college and is now in the NFL. My only point is that he survived circumstances that were beyond comprehension and making a light comedy of it seems really disrespectful. I'm certainly glad the guy has survived.

Anyway, my all-time favorite movies.

Casablanca. Beautiful writing, amazing acting on the part of just about everyone in the flick.

Wizard of Oz. I still get choked up when Dorothy has to leave Oz.

Snatch. Brad Pitt as an English gypsy is outstanding. Also, the charcater of Bricktop is the one of best villians ever.

The Magnificent Seven. More testosterone in one movie than in 10 NFL locker rooms.

A Hard Days Night. Great music, funny as hell.

When We Were Kings. The Ali-Foreman fight in Zaire. Even knowing the outcome, you can't believe Ali wins.

Posted by Bob Suave at 2:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Olympics are over, for the most part, and I have to admit, I didn't tune in every night. My main interest was hockey and a few of the speedskaing and ski jumping events. I don't have any major objections to the Winter Olympics, as long as we can all agree that the countries that spend the most money on them are the most successful.

That isn't necessarily true in the summer games. True, the U.S., China and several European nations do dominate the medals table, but other countries, like Kenya, or Jamaica, also have strong teams in certain areas. (The Kenyans dominate the long distance track events, the Jamaicans and other small Carribbean nations like Trinidad and Tobago dominate the speed events in track.) You don't have to spend lots of money in the Summer Olympics to do well. For the most part, that is not true in the Winter Games. You have to have state-of-the-art stuff, whether it is skis, or bobsleds, or hockey equipment. As a rule, the best teams in the Winter Olympics spend the most money. In the Summer Olympics, that's not necessarily true. Will the Kenyans ever win the most medals in the summer games? Nope. But they are a force to be reckoned with.

On another note, the controversy about whether viewers are watching live or taped events is kind of odd. Vancouver is a couple time zones away. Prime time for them is 4 p.m. I don't get out of work that early. I'm more than happy to watch taped events. I don't feel cheated.

Posted by Bob Suave at 2:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A couple of month ago, I replaced my old, tiny crappy cell phone with a snazzier model that has stuff like links to ESPN and video games and such.

This is a big step up for me. My primary problem, however, is that playing video games like Ms. Pac-Man on a cell phone is tough for a guy with large hands (which is what I have). So I keep hitting the "reset" button. So far, my top score at Ms. Pac-Man is 860. Not great.

But an advantage I'm learning about is how one can look busy and important while one is sitting alone in a cafe or restaurant. I used to see people like that and assumed they were texting their boss or employee. Now I assume they're playing Donkey Kong or looking up the NBA scores from the night before. Still, it seems as though you are doing something that's a big deal.

Posted by Derek Gentile at 1:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm a huge Johnny Cash fan. A couple of weeks ago, I picked up a DVD featuring highlights from the old "Johnny Cash Show." Frankly, it was just to see "The Man in Black" perform some of my favorite tunes live. But better than that, were Johnny's guests. Everyone from Stevie Wonder to bluegrass great Bill Monroe. On one show, Cash and Carl Perkins played with Eric Clapton in sort of a guitar duel. (It must be said that Clapton was in awe of Perkins, the guy who wrote "Blue Suede Shoes" and a few other seminal rock tunes.)

The point I want to make is that Cash clearly had enormous control over who played on his show. Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, the Statler Brothers, Glen Campbell, Ray Charles, all were on the show. Charles did an absolutely incredible version of "Ring of Fire". I don't know if that would happen on network t.v. in 2010.

So if you get a chance, it's called "The Best of the Johnny Cash Show."

Posted by Derek Gentile at 1:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So I get this anonymous comment (they're always anonymous when they're mean) who decides this blog is "terrible" and "not even a blog." Fair enough. Hopefully, he or she won't read this again.
I think (although I could be wrong) that the anonymous complaint is directed at the lack of regularity of this blog. That's a reasonable point. As I said in a previous entry, one would think that having a regular column in the Eagle news section, a (now) regular column in the Eagle sports section and my regular dose of news and feature stories, that the public would be a little fed up with the musings of one D. Gentile. One would apparently be wrong.
Anyway, when I wrote that I would be a more regular writer on this website, that was before my dad became ill. That sort of trumped some of my activities. (I know, I know. What I should have done was brood in print about the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and how I feel about the realization of my father's mortality. Well, hell, he's been mortal since I was born, dude.)
But with that mostly behind me, I do plan to write more here. And aren't you all in the blogosphere amped? I hope so.

Posted by Derek Gentile at 6:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I don't do Daylight Savings Time. That is, I never change my clocks back and forth. At least my personal clocks. I do reset the office clocks so my co-workers don't think they've come in an hour late or early, as the case may be. I do keep the right time in my head. In the winter, this means subtracting an hour from the clocks in my apartment and in my car. In the spring, summer and fall, it's no biggie. My clocks are correct. I do this, I think, not out of any animosity toward the concept of Daylight Savings Time, but because I'm lazy.

Posted by Derek Gentile at 5:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

One would think that having a weekly column on the news side and a bi-monthly column on the sports side, not to mention actually writing news and sports stories from time to time would be enough exposure of me for the folks in Berkshire County. One would be wrong, apparently.I get comments from time to time on this blog, and most of them say, "write more." (One or two say, admittedly, "write less"). So here we are.
Today's subject is, in fact, comments. I understand that some folks just want to tell me to flip off, which is their inalienable right. And so, they don't have to sign their comment. But I will also feel no obligation to think about said comment. I'll just delete it. But if you, dear reader, would like me to return fire, so to speak, or at least comment on the comment, then you have to sign it. Certainly, if you just want to say "Good job" or "Bad job", that's okay and I won't fel obligated to speak to it. I'm just trying to push this particular blog above the usual level of discourse. If I can't, I can't. So we'll see what happens. I'm going to try to get in three of these a week. we'll see how it goes.

Posted by Derek Gentile at 6:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)