Just some random thoughts on various topics since I haven’t written much lately.

Television

Was glad to see that “Designated Survivor” has been revived and Season 3 is now available on Netflix.   Was sad when ABC decided to cancel it after 2 seasons, as I really enjoyed it.  I have to admit, its a bit strange watching it on Netflix.   I am still a bit old school and actually enjoy waiting a week between episodes (The network and premium channel standard).  Give me some time to reflect and think about the episode.  It’s weird to me when once an episode ends, the next one is immediately ready to go.  Also was taken aback when some of the characters used words and language that would not be allowed in network TV.   Not that I was offended, it just took me out of character the first few times.  Would be like watching an R rated episode of “The Big Bang Theory”, and hearing Sheldon say something like “What the Fuck happened to my Star Trek DVD collection” to  Leonard.   Totally out of your perception of the character.

Also, we are getting to the end of “The Amazing Race” as there are only 5 teams left.   This season has been very entertaining, despite my early reservation of having all returning Reality TV contestants.    Of the remaining teams, I’m rooting for Team Fun to at least make it to the Final 3 and getting a chance to race to the end.

Not much else with TV as were basically dealing with re-runs and there are none of the summer mini-series like in the past (or if they do, have not caught my attention).

Movies

Got to see “Rocket Man” and really enjoyed it.   I went in thinking it would be similar to the Queen biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody”, and was pleasantly surprised that it was not at all.  To me it reminded me of “La La Land” as it was more of a musical fantasy than a documentary.   Go see it if you get the chance.

Been watching a bunch of 80s movies lately as my daughter is discovering them and wanting to watch and experience them.   I actually just completed the book “You Couldn’t Ignore Me If You Could” by Susana Gore which the story of John Hughes and how his movies of the 80’s shaped a generation.   Was interesting to read the behind the scenes storied of movies like “Sixteen Candles”, “The Breakfast Club” and “St Elmo’s Fire”.    A must read for anybody to grew up during the 80’s and was influenced by these classics

Had a good discussion the other day regarding how a lot of movies in the 80’s have scenes that were acceptable at the time, but would be considered unacceptable now.  Think of the beginning of “Fast Times at Ridgemount High” where a 24 year old is in a pizza parlor picking up a 15 year old Stacy Hamilton (Jennifer Jason Leigh), or in “Heathers”, when J.D. (Christian Slater) pulls out a gun in his high school cafeteria to scare of some students.   These scenes would never be allowed today as they would be considered way to offensive and insensitive to a number of groups

Music

On the Flip side, think about how music has changed since the 1980’s regarding lyrics and vulgarity.    Most of the early 1980s music simply fun pop-songs, but then groups started to push the envelope with their lyrics to the point where groups fought to have labels placed on records and CDs as lyrics were determined to be too explicit for younger listeners.   But fast forward to today, and it seems every other song has some sort of obscene or cure word in it.   Some music companies have gotten away from the labels saying they no longer are needed or serve a purpose.

Does the Parental Advisory Label still matter?

So while we are more and more concerned about movies these days, making sure everything is politically correct, we are less and less concerned about music, where anything seems to go as far as lyrics.

Few other music notes:

Want to wish a happy belated birthday to Boy George, lead singer of Culture Club.   If you get a chance, take a listen to his solo albums, as well as the latest Culture Club Album (Yes – They had a new album in 2018) – Culture Club Discography

I have heard rumblings that the next big musical biopic (after Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocket Man) is going to be about Boy George.   Good for him.

I have been listening to the new Bruce Springsteen Album Western Stars and am really enjoying it.   I have never been a crazy Bruce Springsteen Fan (even as a true New Jersey’n) but have  always enjoyed his music and think he deserves all the accolades he has received over the years as one of the greatest songwriters and performers of our generation.  And just like boy George – Good for him.

Sports

First, I want to take the time to remember one of the greats, Bill Buckner, who passes away few weeks back.    While he will always be remembers as a key player in the 10th inning of the 1986 Mets / Red Sox World Series, it should not be his only legacy.  He was a great MLB player and should be remembered for that as well.   RIP Bill Buckner, you will be missed.

As far as the current New York Mets, it is starting to look like another lost season and the bullpen has been unable to get anybody out the past few weeks.  This includes closer Edwin Diaz, who the Mets picket up during the off-season from the Seattle Mariners of a fantastic last year.   His struggles got me thinking about the life span of a closer.   Most closers seem to only have 1 or 2 great years during their career.  The all-time greats (Mariano Rivera, Dennis Eckersly, Bruce Sutter) seem more like exceptions than the norm.

Here are the closers with the most team saves from the last 10 years from the World Series Winners

2009  Yankees      Mariano Rivera
2010  Giants         Brian Wilson
2011  Cardinals   Fernando Salas
2012  Giants         Santiago Casilla
2013  Red Sox      Koji Uehara
2014  Giants         Sergio Romo
2015  Royals         Greg Holland
2016 Cubs             Héctor Rondón
2017 Astos             Ken Giles
2018 Red Sox        Craig Kimbrel

While some of these have some name recognition, and some are still playing (bouncing around from club to club), it seems that closers are basically a crap shoot year after year,  If I were a General Manager of a club, I would not rely on any closer to replicated his statistics year after year.   I would start the season with a bunch of low payed closers and just keep swapping out the guys who are not good and hope to find somebody who clicks and has a career year.  Any other way is simply wishful thinking and proven to not work

That’s all for now.

Will try to write more soon

Average Andy