South County

Oscar Night

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:41:56 -0500

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.

The Olympics

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:38:58 -0500

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.

New cell phone

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:42:42 -0500

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.

Johnny Cash

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:35:41 -0500

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."

Am I A Blogger?

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 18:01:15 -0500

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.

Daylight Savings Time

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:40:16 -0500

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.

I'm B-a-a-a-a-ck

Sun, 08 Feb 2009 18:28:45 -0500

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.

Celtics-Lakers

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:31:20 -0500

I'm a very big basketball fan. And since the 1970s, I've been following the Boston Celtics. Now, since about 1990, that hasn't been a very rewarding task, because the Celtics have not been very good. But, unless you've been living in a hole the past two months, you know that Boston defeated the Lakers in the 2008 NBA Finals. I watched some of the games, but because of work conflicts (and the fact that the games start very late) I didn't see them all.
So, through the magic of DVDs, I recorded the games for future viewing.
It was a good idea. I just finished watching Game Six, and I'll probably watch the DVDs again, it was so much fun.
This wouldn't be a very good blog without some insight, so I'll give you some.
1. The Celtics won this series by playing the most active defense I've seen in years. What that means is that the players didn't give up when they were caught in a defensive switch; they found an opponent and made sure they blocked him away from the backboards and they contested every pass, even perimeter passes.
What this does, of course, is make it difficult to run an offense in 24 seconds. With this kind of physical defense, teams take 8-10 seconds just setting up their offense. That gives them 15 seconds or so to shoot. It's often not enough time. I realize there were a lot of people criticizing Laker star Kobe Bryant for shooting too much, but his team was struggling to get something going. Their bailout option was Kobe.
2. Boston's substitutes played with a lot of confidence. this isn't always easy to instill. Second-string players sometimes have difficulty absorbing the mentality that they need to be aggressive on defense and offense, not just one or the other. I attribute this to Boston coach Glenn "Doc" Rivers' coaching.
3. Paul Pierce is The Truth. Several years ago, Shaquille O'Neal gave Pierce that nickname, and this season, he lived up to it. Pierce played solid defense throughout the playoffs and hit a host of huge shots, particularly in the last three rounds. I myself have had doubts about this guy from time to time, but this playoff performance cemented his status as an elite player.
Okay, no more basketball for a while. Next time, a local column.

okay, okay, I've been away

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:19:42 -0500

But I'll be better. I have had a busy summer. I've been working on a bunch of book projects, which will see the light of day by the end of the year, and I had to move, admittedly, only from one floor to another in my building, but it was difficult to do with a broken foot (about 75 percent healed).
Regarding the move, I was abashed to realize how many books I have. And even more abashed to realize how many books I have but have never read. Why? Because I buy a lot of them at 3 for $1 at tag sales, and I usually only wanted one. But I didn't wanted to get gypped (!?) so I grabbed two more. I was stuffing books into a box when i discovered that I actually have a Harlequin romance. I have nothing against Harlequin romances, but I can't believe I bought one. I don't know when I did it, but I suspect I bought it as part of one of those three for a buck deal. Anyway, it was an interesting find.

Graduation

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:17:52 -0500

I enjoy covering graduations, mostly because the ones I cover are usually held atTanglewood, and sitting in the Shed on a sunny Sunday afternoon is as plesant a way as any to spend time.
I've been out of high school for more than 30 years, though, and I confess that when i hear the relentless optimism of some of the Salutatorian and Valedictorian speeches, I tend to feel somewhat uncomfortable. Not because the speeches themselves are relentlessly optimistic. My goodness, these young people are just babies. The real world hasn't clubbed them over the head yet.
No, I just usually want to tell them that if they don't get the exact, perfect life they wanted, that it's okay. Almost no one does. The main thing is to find a job you love, because if you do, you'll never work a day in your life. I have friends working their tails off to retire at 55. That's fine, but I don't think I could ever retire from writing. Maybe from journalism someday, but not writing. I'd like to go out with a keyboard on my lap, still trying to turn that perfect phrase.

comic books

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:06:10 -0500

I still read comic books. They are, to me, still very enjoyable escapist literature. My favorite comic book now, is a book called "Astro City" about the adventures of super hero types in a fictional place called Astro City.
These days, comics are a bit more cerebral than they were in the late 1960s and 1970s when I grew up. In those days, supposedly adult super heroes would fight at the drop of a hat. I remember an early adventure of my favorite group, the Avengers. The Incredible Hulk, a former Avenger, and the Sub-Mariner, decided to team up to fight the Avengers, because, well, I never figured out why. So they called the Avengers and said they'd meet them at the island of Gibralter and have it out. I never questioned this in 1964, or whenever. But now, I wonder. How did they call the Avengers? I mean, they weren't in the book or anything. Can you imagine the Hulk dealing with an operator? My suspicion is that the more reasoned Sub-Mariner had to do that.
Sub-Mariner: Okay, operator, it's a business number, I guess. The Avengers, New York City
Operator: Do you have an address, sir?
SM: Ah, no. Upper East Side, maybe?
OP: I'm sorry sir, there is no Mr. Avenger listed anywhere in New York.
SM: It's not a person. it's a group, sort of. The Avengers T-H-E Avengers.
OP: I'm sorry sir, there is no business listing for The Avengers.
SM: Great Neptune! (To The Hulk, standing nearby): You were in the damn group. Don't you have a business card or something?
Hulk: You see any pockets in these purple trunks, fish-face?
SM: Okay, I got it. Simmer down. I'm gonna call the Fantastic Four and have them get a message to the Avengers.
H: Great idea. Why do I think we'll be sitting on Gibralter, scratching our butts for three days?
SM: I don't see you coming up with anything better, green-face.
H: Fine, fine. Call Reed Richards. Call the X-Men. We'll fight 'em all. What the hell.
SM: I'm calling Western Union.
H: That's terrific. I hope they take gamma-radiated dollar bills.

I guess I'm not surprised the Avengers won the fight.

broken foot

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:53:50 -0500

I broke my foot playing volleyball last week at a Memorial Day party. I thought it was sprained, but when my toes started turning black, I realized I needed to get to a doctor. The verdict: broken in two places. Son of a birch tree, as my grandmother used to say.
I hate this. I hate wearing this horrible-looking "shoe" and limping around town. It feels embarrassing. But that is the price one pays for trying to do anything athletic when one is getting older. If I thought about it, I would have stretched before I did it.

Housatonic kids

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 13:08:19 -0500

The big buzz around town is the problems in Housatonic with a handful of rowdy kids. I was at the big community meeting last week, and several people made the same point: As much as it was important to have such a meeting, the meeting would not be very productive if the parents of some or all of these kids were not in attendance. (They weren't).
We forget sometimes that good parenting paves the way for kids growing into good adults. These kids need help, not jail time. I know this sounds a little touchy-feely, but as someone who has lived on Main Street for more than a decade, I get to see the kids who are growing up with some kind of moral compass and the kids who haven't had enough training to make a life for themselves.
I don't know if there is any wiggle room left for these kids, though, because it's hard to arrest that kind of behavior in teen-agers.

Opening Day _ Billy Buck

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:17:36 -0500

Like most Red Sox fans, I never held Bill Buckner responsible for the Sox World Series collapse in 1986 (Calvin Schiraldi? Bob Stanley? John McNamera? Those guys had a lot more to do with it.) Buckner played hurt, and produced (100 RBI or more in two of his three years). One play didn't lose the Series. Dropping two of three home games after taking a 2-0 lead on the Mets didn't help, either.
Anyway, I was delighted to see Bill Buckner back at Fenway on Opening Day. And I was happy to see him get such an ovation. He really deserved it. Opening Day today finally put to rest those demons of 1986. That year is over, and Bill Buckner has returned. I couldn't wish for anything better.

UMass in the NIT

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:10:50 -0500

Don't know if the UMass basketball team can win the NIT tomorrow (Thursday) night, but it would be a nice end to a season that, overall, has been very much up and down. It's been an interesting year for mens' basketball teams in Amherst. The Amherst College mens' team went to the National Division III finals for the third year in a row. Last year, they won it. This year, they were beaten. But it speaks well of the overall program.
As for UMass, it's nice to see the program on an upswing. Certainly, we aren't near the heady days of the mid-1990s, when the Minutemen were a ranked powerhouse, and finished 1996 as the Number One team in the nation. But to see the team competitive in a mid-major conference is always good for the western Massachusetts region. I still like to watch basketball games live, and while the Celtics, too, are playing well, it's good to be able to see a competitive team that's only a little more than an hour away.
I remember the first time I saw the Minutemen, or the Redmen, as they were called then. A junior forward, Julius Erving, was the star of the team. I went to the game with my father. As we were waiting for the team to come out for warmups, I asked dad, "Hey, do you think we'll be able to tell which guy is Erving?" We were. It was the guy who palmed two basketballs and laid them in one after the other in warmups. Whoa. The game was meorable, because Erving had 25 points and 25 rebounds. That number has stuck with me all this time because it was so symmetrical, I guess. And the guy was double-teamed all night!