Imagine my Claude Rains Voice...

[Oops - meant to put this at my place - I'll leave it here, no harm done...]

Mark McGwire admits to using steroids. This is shocking news, huh? I have never been a Mark McGwire fan - nothing to do with steroids, really, it's just that - without steroids, he would have been a one dimensional slugger, a new Dave Kingman - with them, he set records and was mistaken for one of the all time greats. A problem in part because it overshadowed people who probably were among the all time greats - and I remain fairly convinced, drove those players to the same expedients that made McGwire seem like more than he really was. And so people act as though Clemens and Bonds, to name names, were just chemical byproducts, instead of two of the best who ever played. And McGwire's part in this goes deep - we shouldn't forget that he and Canseco (and probably a few others, but mostly the bash brothers) were instrumental in moving steroids from a dirty little secret of the game to front and center, the engine of the game in the late 90s and early 00s. I didn't like that style - I like pitching and defense and line drives and walks - I may only be able to play slow pitch softball, but I don't want to watch it.... But that is how the game was built, and it was very popular, and restored the game to new heights after the labor problems that almost ruined it.

But all that aside - this confession would be enough to get me to vote for McGwire to the hall of fame. I don't care if it's cynical and fake-sentimental and years too late for something - the fact is, he's the first major star of the era to state the obvious without being forced to. (Unless you count Canseco, though his was even more cynical and self-serving; and a bit pathetic.) McGwire is catching hell for it - sanctimonious shits like Brian Williams pontificate away, mewling about the "magical stuff" of the summer of 1998 (not magic - science!) - ugh.... Look - it was possible to look at Bonds, know what kind of player he had been all his career, and sort of imagine that maybe, if he gave up trying to run and just bulked up, he could hit those home runs - wishful thinking maybe, but still... But not McGwire, and not Sosa - they were steroids players, playing a steroids game - with the tacit (at least) approval (even encouragement) of the owners and league officials - not to mention the people who played the business up on TV. The only other explanation for all those homers that ever had any validity was that the sport was juicing the balls - it was the baseballs or the players or both, but something was getting juiced...

And people enjoyed it. Why not? they enjoyed it then, and are enjoying it now, cause they get to play the victim - oh, we were fooled! - and huff and puff and bask in their own righteousness and the convenient amnesia about what kind of dope the old timers were using. And McGwire - going first - will get the worst of it. Just like A Rod got it worse than Manny and Manny got it worse than David Ortiz last summer.... every player who admits this will get just a little less crap about it, and by the time Bonds or Clemens gets around to it, they'll be able to brag about it. And - I'd wager - by summer, McGwire will be getting more cheers than boos - and maybe - who knows, in time this will look like what it is - a misguided era in baseball history, creating some odd offensive stats that require some on the fly translation to understand (at least until everyone 'fesses up and the statisticians can start trying to parse out what, exactly, steroids changed) - it will be something like the dead ball era that you just have to count around. No one will ever win 42 games again; probably no one will hit 73 home runs; both are products of how the game was played at the time....

New Year's Resolutions, Only Two Weeks in

Back at the beginning of the year, Adam Ross at DVD Panache made up a meme - nine movie related resolutions for 2009. Ah yes. Our very own Moviezzz got tagged, and actually did it - which is certainly more than I can say about the last couple times I've been tagged for things. Meanwhile, Evan did his own resolution post - last week now... we're two weeks into the freaking year... I have stopped writing 2008 EVERY time I write the year...

Anyway: I am a resolution maker, of sorts - though most years it amounts to, spend less money, eat more greens, see more movies and post more often... no exceptions this year I guess. But - in the spirit of film, discussion, Making a Clean Start to the Year, and the End of the Decade (ooh! lists!), I shall now undertake this very meme for your reading and perhaps discussing pleasure!

Nine film (and blogging) resolutions:

1. As every year - aim to watch at least 250 movies. That's a good number.
2. Turn over a Netflix film every week. MOre if possible. This is a bad habit - letting them sit there for a month at a time... this would not be so bad except for the next resolution -
3. Watch the DVDs I buy. Just found a used copy of Centre Stage! Maggie Cheung! at her youthful finest! Will I ever watch it? will I at least attach a screen cap to this post?
4. Take a film class - I miss writing about films where there's something at stake - I need the discipline now and then. With luck, the discipline translates to more general writing - and more posting - with luck...
5. Speaking of which - post 3 times a week - make at least one of them substantive. This should be such an easy target - yet I go ages without posting anything worth the trouble. Alas! The brain is a muscle - if you do not use it, it becomes flabby and weak! etc.
6. Comment 3 times a week - or something like that. Enter conversations! post, comment, whatnot, here! and elsewhere! [I have not, contrary to appearances, resolved to use more exclamation points. There may be spiritual influences at work, however.]
7. Make things - films or videos maybe - whether this means vlogs or animations or home videos or swedes, make them, post them. Before the the Lawyers arrive en masse especially if there's sweding involved.
8. do Piper's dinner with X meme he tagged me with sometime back in the 90s, I think it was. In an ideal world, this would combine with #7. More likely, this will be part of my 46 resolutions for 2046 post....
9. Rather than another blogging resolution (which might get me to 46, before I'm done) - try this: go to an out of town film festival. NY - Toronto - something. Takes some planning, and some money, but - something like that. This or leave the country. For a while anyway. On principal.

I guess that's it. If anyone want to feel tagged - go for it! For Maggie's sake...

Electricity

Happy April Fool's day! It is a Happy Day indeed - Fafblog has returned, if only for the day. If that means nothing to you, I'm not sure I can explain.

Another marker of the seasons might be the return of that very hardy perennial, the Argument about Auteurism: here hosted by Girish, which may help ensure a higher light to heat ratio than usual. Though I'm soon to join in, which is bound to dissipate much of the energy.

I don't know if I should add this or not - but I helped play an excellent April Fool's day prank on myself today. A co-worker came complaining, "My mouse does not work!" I supplied her with a new mouse - it still did not work. "Hey," I said, observant as they come, "your keyboard isn't working either!" It was not. So we plugged things into various USB ports, but no changes. So we took the laptop out of the dock and lugged in the keyboard and mouse - Worked like a charm! So I said, "This is a problem with your docking station - you have to call the Help Desk!" She grew petulant. But she called the help desk. The support fellow went through all the basics, having her try things in different ports, coming in remotely to check the drivers. She scowled. She put the man on mute - thus saving some small trace of dignity in this saga - and says to me, "he's having me check all the plugs! We already did that!" I said, " they have to go through the kabuki; when he's done he'll send you a replacement." She said, "I know, but it's a waste of time - I told him - I work for IT!"... Anyway - he finished the kabuki - he said he'd send her a replacement. I went away.... Some time later, another coworker went by and heard all the complaining, and kindly offered to track down an extra dock while the sufferer was waiting for the replacement. She then leaned over the desk and said - I am told: "Where's the power cord?"