Carlos Silva’s performance against Pittsburgh today (3.1 IP, 11 hits, nine earned runs) should make Ron Gardenhire’s decision a whole lot easier. The Twins love Silva, and he’s a first-rate clubhouse character, but given the way he’s pitched this spring, and the way he pitched in what was clearly a make-or-break game for him this … Read more
My recent post on KSTP-TV’s news “package”, which included covering a one-man protest against the City of St. Louis Park’s showing of, “An Inconvenient Truth” followed by Al Gore’s appearance before House and Senate Committees discussing global climate change, brought out the usual suspects making the usual claims. There is this … “You are a … Read more
Easy world, you gave it once– please quietly welcome it back, that hand. –William Stafford, from “Going On” …what is it we are all doing, what is it we are about, pray tell? And why are we gathered here? –Raymond Carver, “All My Relations” What the hell do we want? What is our heart’s desire? … Read more
Once again, it’s a children’s holiday, film-wise, here in our lovely city. Saturday at 10:15, the library‘s showing the lovely Horton Hears A Who (1966) and Sneetches and Zax (1972). Both films are light years better than the horrible, hateful Jim Carrey and Mike Myers vehicles of the past few years. The two cartoons are … Read more
Well, tomorrow evening I’m going to see Lost in the Stars, a Kurt Weill opera put on by the company formerly known as North Star Opera, but is now called Skylark. If I wasn’t going there (isn’t this usually the case…) I would, honest to God, hit the Junior Brown show, for old time’s sake. … Read more
I won’t bore you with another of my tales of woe, but I can relate to this one. The Philadelphia Inquirer, formerly owned by Knight-Ridder, is whacking the media column written by Gail Shister and directing her toward more “pop culture television features”. This can’t be seen as anything other than, A. Some kind of … Read more
OK, it was funny that Par Ridder’s staff memo about graphics guru Monica Moses leaving the Star Tribune appeared on Jim Romenesko’s site before it was sent out to the paper’s employees. But hey, maybe we should see that as a concession to harsh reality. In a prolonged information vacuum, Ridder must know that his … Read more
Although it goes against the organization’s general philosophy, it sure seems like Alexi Casilla, the kid the Twins nabbed from the Angels in exchange for J.C. Romero, deserves a spot on the roster when the team breaks camp at the end of the month. As much as Terry Ryan and company might want Casilla to … Read more
Have you read the “manifesto”? Last December, some of the most influential men in food wrote what they called “an international agenda for great cooking”. The Fab Four were Ferran Adria of El Bulli, Heston Blumenthal of The Fat Duck, Thomas Keller of The French Laundry and Per Se, and food scientist/author Harold McGee. The … Read more
So I’m watching “Lost” last night, the only network series I make an “appointment” to catch every week, what with all the time I’ve committed to blowing spit wads at Bill O’Reilly. Last night was a big episode. The back story to John Locke, who was crippled and wheel-chair bound until crashing on the island. … Read more