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LewaLew

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Blog Entries posted by LewaLew

  3. LewaLew
    First, last week's winner, Sumiki!
     
    Secondly, this week we will have two images. First is Ernie Banks wearing Harry Caray glasses during the rededication of the Harry Caray statue in Wrigley Field.
     

     
    And then the image of Tom Gorzelanny that is now part of my sig.
     

  4. LewaLew

    Comic Caption 12

    By LewaLew,

    First, the winner, Legolover-361.
     
    And then, pitcher Braden Looper is looking a little loopy:
     

     
    EDIT: As a result of the low number of entries, this Comic Caption Contest will last beyond this Thursday, and will stay open for entries two weeks. I will bump it Thursday, however.
  5. LewaLew
    Hey, hey, my donation has landed. Anyhow, for those of you who don't know (which would mean everyone but Aho-Chan and Sumiki) the BaseBlog is beyond a blog, this is beyond baseball it's a blog that focuses on the great American sport of baseball. The idea of a baseball themed blog has actually been in the works by me ever since the Super Bowl, when Aho-Chan posted a blog entry asking if anyone besides herself didn't care for the Super Bowl, to which I suddenly got the idea of a baseball-themed blog so I could talk about my favorite sport without waiting for someone else to post in the Official Baseball Topic in the Completely Off Topic forum.

    Anyhow, here it is. You can expect an entry later on concerning what happened yesterday in baseball later on. I'm a little busy right now.

    ~LL
  6. LewaLew

    Padres Push On

    By LewaLew,

    The Padres stay alive with a win over San Francisco last night, and from the look of today's score, will push it to the final game of the season. Meanwhile, the Braves are in danger of losing the Wild Card, because with a win today by the Padres and a loss by the Braves, courtesy of the Phillies, the two teams will be tied in the Wild Card race.
     
    Tampa Bay Loses the Lead
     
    With last night's loss to the Royals, the Rays fell back by half a game to the Yankees, whose game was rained out last night. The Yankees seek to make that lead longer today, by sweeping a doubleheader against Boston, and currently are leading game 1.
     
    In addition, with a sweep of the doubleheader today, the Yankees would clinch home field advantage for the AL East champs, and if they combine that with a Rays loss, New York would officially be AL East champions.
     
    Cinci vs. the Phils
     
    With yesterday's loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, the Cincinnati Reds have all but clinched something they would prefer not to have--a showdown with the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Division Series. The Reds have done notoriously poor against teams with a winning record, and unfortunately for the Reds, they'll be facing the team with the top record in the National League, unless the Padres or Giants take the Wild Card away from the Braves, since the Phillies will be allowed to play a Wild Card team from outside the NL East in the NLDS.
  8. LewaLew
    Or: In Which LewaLew Impersonates Kraagh
    VS.


     
    Of course, I already posted this in Kraagh's Blog, but it needs to be said louder.
     
    I. Relatability
     
    A. Inherited Powers
    Batman is the richest guy in the world. And he inherited all of his assets. The intensive training he underwent would be impossible without all that dough. Superman's abilities were inherited genetically. Both were born with great power. Batman's was just more indirect.
     
    B. Clark Kent v. Bruce Wayne
    Clark Kent has human problems. A romance, an actual job. A life. Bruce Wayne's life is a farce, to throw off suspicion. He would rather just be Batman all of the time. Kent is far more human than Wayne, even if he is from another planet. He was raised as a human, whereas Wayne has been little more than a empty shell since his parents died.
     
    II. Rogues Galleries
     
    A. Why Superman Sticks to Metropolis
    And then you can compare the kind of trouble Metropolis gets in comparison to Gotham. Gotham gets rampant street level crime, while Metropolis gets scattered attacks by intergalactic conquerers, and untouchable white-collar criminals like Luthor. And Superman could bring world peace, but it would end up being something like Justice Lord Superman rather than Boy Scout Superman, and that's not something Superman is going to do.
     
    B. Why Superman's Villains are Still a Challenge
    It does take skill for Superman to take on the threats he handles. How would you trick Mxysptlk into saying his name backwards? Even Superman is weaker than Darkseid, so his skill is what wins him the fights there. And speaking of overpowered,
     
    RABBIT TRAIL:
    BTW, Batman is a perfect physical specimen, a supergenious, a multi-billionaire, and knows everything. And he accumulated all this skill, knowledge, ability, and resources before he reached the prime of his life. How realistic is that?
     
    Vulnerability is one point I will give you.
     
    Except for the fact that Superman's top villains are evenly matched. Darkseid is stronger, and has Omega Beams, Brainiac is smarter, about as strong, and more invincible, and Luthor is not well known as a criminal, or his crimes can't be proven in most stories, which makes him untouchable, a la Al Capone. And Superman is also vulnerable to magic, which means he has to outsmart people like Mxysptlk and other magical beings.
     
    And let me throw in the Parasite for good measure, who can drain Superman's power, or General Zod, who has all of Superman's powers, or Amazo, who has Superman's powers, as well as those of the rest of the Justice League (which actually makes him more of a JL villain, but whatever). For what he goes up against, Superman is just as vulnerable as Batman.
     
    C. Coolness of Villains
    You can argue that Joker is an amazing villain, but you can't say that Darkseid, Luthor, or Zod aren't on his level. Zod is basically Hitler from Krypton, Luthor is a more realistic villain than anybody in Batman's bunch, and Darkseid is... Darkseid. He's what Zod and Hitler wish they were.
     
    III. Gotham v. Metropolis
     
    A. Realism
    Honestly, if there was actually a town like Gotham, who would stick around? It is portrayed as having a ridiculous crime level, and yet it remains a city comparable to Chicago or New York. No one in their right mind in the middle class would willingly live there, particularly when the far more realistic city (and higher standard of living) in Metropolis is so nearby.
     
    Metropolis is essentially NYC, except with a few more alien invasions, which is about the same of what Spider-Man gets in Marvel's version of NYC. As realism goes, Superman's hometown wins.
     
    B. Coolness
    Given the choice between NYC and one giant slum, which is the more interesting?
     
    C. Sports
    Apparently, Gotham's sports stadiums are so insecure, terrorists can sneak explosives underneath it. Which makes for a really cool movie scene, but probably also the least realistic movie of Nolan's trilogy.
     



  9. LewaLew

    Who I Want At 1st Base

    By LewaLew,

    As some of you know, the Cubs had a waiver trade with the Braves that sent our first baseman and biggest star Derrek Lee to Atlanta. At first, I was hoping the Cubs would pick up Adam Dunn, but now he's with the White Sox, while most of the other options have been taken away so that the top three available are Konerko, Pena, and LaRoche. Konerko is too expensive for the Cubs, and it's doubtful anyway that he'd want to sign with them after so many years on the South Side. That leaves Pena and LaRoche.
     
    LaRoche and Pena both have one big problem. Strikeouts. Pena was part of a Rays team that specialized in swinging and missing, and LaRoche was just thirty shy of having 200 Ks on the 2010 season. However, there's an important difference between them. On a Rays team that won the AL East Division title, Pena had a lower average and fewer RBI than LaRoche, although he had three more home runs. LaRoche also has a higher OPS, total of bases, and more doubles and triples than Pena. Pena would also cost more than LaRoche, as he has been playing for the AL East Champion Rays, while LaRoche played for the last place Arizona Diamondbacks.
     
    In other words, I hope to see LaRoche at first for the Cubbies in 2011.
  10. LewaLew

    PIXAR Movies

    By LewaLew,

    Since somebody can't seem to find time to finish their PIXAR movies rankings, here's mine, because I just watched Brave. I'm not going to give reasons though, because I don't want to right now.
     
    Great Movies
    1) The Incredibles
    2) Up
    3) Toy Story 3
    4) Ratatouille
    5) Monsters, Inc.
    6) Toy Story
    7) Toy Story 2
    8) Cars
    9) Finding Nemo
    10) WALL-E
     
    (There really should be five or six empty spots in between to show you that movies like WALL-E and Finding Nemo aren't bad IMO, just not as good as the rest.)
    --------------
    Average Movies
    11) A Bug's Life
    12) Cars 2 (Not as good a movie as Brave, but I enjoyed it more anyway)
    13) Brave
  11. LewaLew

    I Was So Naive

    By LewaLew,

    Back in 2006, I was ten years old and joined BZPower mainly to play text-based RPGs. The first one I joined was The Academy, and Dr. Bionicle accidentally overlooked my character's profile at first, so I reposted the character three months later with a new description:
     

     
    And I meant for it to be a legitimate profile as far as I remember.
  12. LewaLew

    Jimmy Bond

    By LewaLew,

    Ignoring my own opinions on the subject, this entry is about an article I read concerning the possibility of a gay James Bond. As in the character being gay, not the actor who plays him. It also mentions one actress discussing the possibility of a future female or black James Bond.
     
    I have never watched any Bond movies or read any Bond books, but from what I know about the series, though there are several actors portraying Bond, they are all performing the same man. I can live with that. I wish the Star Wars movies were going to do that, but it sound like Episode VII will still have the same old actors portraying the same characters.
     
    What I find annoying is that the people discussing this don't want to preserve the character. If its the same character through all the movies, how can he suddenly be gay? At the very least, he would have to be bisexual, otherwise one of the necessary ingredients of a Bond movie would have to be left out (Because from what I've heard, you can't have a Bond movie without a Bond girl). For that matter, how can he suddenly be female? Even if he became a transvestite, wouldn't he start going by "Jamie Bond" or something like that? And if he can't say 'Bond. James Bond', then you take away yet another fundamental element of Bond movies.
     
    Sort of like that new Sherlock Holmes show with a female Watson. Why? If you want a female sidekick for Holmes, then name her something other than Watson, because he's just as much an icon as Holmes is. People have a distinct idea of what Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote, and when you fiddle with it for what appears to be little more than a desire to diversify, it comes off as cheap pandering.
     
    I am no Bond fan, but I am in favor of preserving popular characters. Daniel Craig seems to agree. The reason there can't be a gay Bond is because Bond isn't gay. (And he proves it in every single movie) And for legacy's sake, if you're going to give Sherlock Holmes a sidekick, well, by golly, make it a British doctor character. Preferably with a mustache, and rather rotund. Because that's who Dr. Watson is.
     
    BTW, I don't watch either of these, (I seldom watch any new TV shows. Though I like NCIS and JAG before it.) this is just a thought I had.
     
     
    And for my sake, please don't start discussing anything controversial. This entry is about the preservation of popular literary (and I suppose cinematic) characters in their film and television adaptations, not sexuality, race, gender, or anything else. Start discussing it, and I'll boil you in oil or something. Maybe tar and feathers, but I think I would prefer keeping my pillows intact.
     
    I'll think of something.
  13. LewaLew
    Currently, after approximately 130 votes, about 75% have said that they are on the "Like" side of the spectrum, and only a little less than 15% were on the "dislike" side of the HF poll.
     
    29% of those who like it are big fans, 58% of the likers say they like it moderately, and 13% of them said they only liked it a little more than they disliked it. A total of 91 people voted on the "Like" part of the spectrum.
     
    Of the dislikers, 28% said they hated Hero Factory, 28% said they disliked it moderately, and a majority of 44% of the dislikers said they only disliked it a little more than they liked it. Only 18 voters out of the 129 were on the dislike side of the spectrum.
     
    Of the full 129, only 14 voters (11.38%) said they didn't care. 6 of the 129 nulled, a meager 5%.
  14. LewaLew
    Get ready, people, the Fall Classic is here.
     
    After upsetting the Phillies in the NLDS, largely due to the stellar pitching of Chris Carpenter, the St. Louis Cardinals have once more reached the World Series, and aim for championship number eleven. (I have the number memorized, thanks to the Cardinals fans living in Central/Southern Illinois.)
     
    The Rangers, meanwhile, have shown that they don't need Cliff Lee by repeating as American League champions after never before reaching the World Series in their existence in both Washington, D.C. and the Lone Star State.
     
    However, in spite of the offensive powerhouses playing on baseball's biggest stage, this World Series is predicted to draw fewer viewers than any World Series since 2006, the last time the Cardinals were in it. Why? It just so happens that no coastal teams are in it. Now, I know many of you are fans of the clubs on the coasts, but seriously, the Cardinals hold power over much of the Midwest, and Texas holds nearly all of the second-largest state in the nation. Yet the almighty Yankees were beaten in the ALDS by the Midwestern Detroit Tigers, the Philadelphia Phillies were shut down by the Midwestern Cardinals, and the preseason favorite Boston Red Sox crumbled and missed the playoffs entirely. In addition, all of the LCS teams were in the Central divisions except for Texas, although it is technically in the Central United States.
     
    So here's a new issue for you guys to discuss besides bronies: Why do teams not based on the coasts get so little respect, even when they make it to baseball's biggest stage?
  15. LewaLew

    Hot Stove Is Cold

    By LewaLew,

    The Hot Stove has been rather cool, and really, I don't have much to write about. Should the BaseBlog become the PuckBlog and be a hockey blog until the baseball season starts again?
  16. LewaLew

    Less Time Available

    By LewaLew,

    Sorry about not being on BZPower quite as much as usual. Since I got my job I have almost zero time to use the computer. So little that I wasn't even able to write anything about the Pujols signing. And so little that this is all I have the time to say right now.
     
    Just thought it would be a good idea to explain my absence.
     
     
    Maybe this is how all the other RKs disappeared.
  17. LewaLew

    Stanley Cup Rings

    By LewaLew,

    While I'm at it, I might as well mention that the Chicago Blackhawks (my favorite hockey team), received their championship rings a couple days ago.
     
    The best way I can describe them in a way BZPers will understand is...
     
    SHIIIINYYY!

     
     
    Seriously, those things are awesome. Not as awesome as the Cup itself (and it will pale in comparison to the Commissioner's Trophy the Cubs win when the World Series drought finally ends), but still incredible. Plus, the players actually get to keep these, unlike the Stanley Cup--unless they win again, which they still have a shot at doing.
     
    ~LL
  19. LewaLew

    A Comic Caption Christmas

    By LewaLew,

    Merry Christmas Eve Eve, everybody, and congratulations to this week's winner, Night Fury!
     
    Also, for this Christmas week, I have the Detroit Tigers' mascot, Paws, walking about Comerica Park in a Santa suit for their "Christmas in July" event that occurred in the middle of the season.
     

  20. LewaLew
    Sometime in August, I will be leaving BZPower, as I will be starting college in September. Unfortunately, there's a lot of stuff on the BZP bucket list I posted in this blog a while back that isn't going to happen, but that top item I am absolutely determined to finish before then. Sometime before that point in August, I will also be retiring from the staff--perhaps in the first or second week, but I don't actually know for sure yet. I'll see what happens.
  23. LewaLew
    The Tribe has been raiding quite a few wagon trains lately, with the profits of an eight game winning streak to boast of. Granted, in the MLB, eight games is only 5% of the season, but it's more than most suspected of Chief Wahoo's warriors. Yesterday, the latest success of the Cleveland Indians came through the eight-inning shutout delivered by Indians starter Mitch Talbot, who earned his first win of the season against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, California, USA, North America, etc., etc.
     
    In Boston, however, it was an offensive beatdown that allowed the Tampa Bay Rays to show they not only do not need Carl Crawford, but that they can beat him as well. Fuld went 4-6 with 3 RBI, Damon 3-5 with 3 RBI, Upton 3-5 and scoring three times, and lastly, Zobrist 3-4 with 2 RBI, while Jaso, Brignac, and Kotchman delivered the other Rays runs. Crawford, meanwhile, only went 2-5 with 0 RBI. The Rays clearly had the upper hand over their old outfielder's new team.
  24. LewaLew

    L C S Matchups Set

    By LewaLew,

    American League Championship Series: New York Yankees @ Texas Rangers
     
    For the first time in Washington Senators/Texas Rangers history, a postseason series have been won. If they win another series this year. they will reach their first World Series in franchise history. The primary obstacle? The Champions of the World Series of 2009, the New York Yankees.
     
    Joe Girardi's squad is fighting to raise Girardi's number again, this time from 28 to 29, as motivation towards their next goal. Given the Yankees track record, it is easily shown that Texas has a rough road to their first World Series, but they have the man who has faced the Yankees before in the Postseason--the World Series, even-- and beaten them twice. That man is Cliff Lee. In addition, the Yankees' once-formidable three-man playoff rotation of Sabathia, Pettitte, and Burnett has been reduced to Sabathia, a recovering Pettitte, and Phil Hughes, with a slumping Burnett as a fourth starter.
     
    Still, the Yankees are the Yankees, the Evil Empire, the Bronx Bombers, etc. and have all the tools necessary to win it, and are most certainly the favorites to win the ALCS.
     
    National League Championship Series: San Francisco Giants @ Philadelphia Phillies
     
    The Formula for this series: H x 2 + O. Halladay, Hamels, and Oswalt are the reason the Phillies are the favorites to win the National League Title again. Halladay is more favored to win Game 1 than Lincecum, and Oswalt's past success in the NLCS with the Astros should give him an edge over Matt Cain, and Hamels also has had tremendous success on this level, having won the NLCS and World Series MVP awards in 2008.
     
    Do the Giants have a chance. My guess is only by a long shot. Firstly, they'd have to solve at least one of the H2O starters, but the Giants have a far weaker lineup than the Reds, who were the top offensive team in the NL, but were shut down by the Phillies in a sweep. Secondly, they would also have to beat one of the H2O starters in probably three games, unless the Phils run on a three man rotation as the Yankees did in their World Series run last year.
     
    Predictions
     
    ALCS: Yankees in 6
     
    NLCS: Phillies in 4. (Yes, I'm thinking a sweep for the second round in a row.)
     
    What I want to happen
     
    ALCS: Rangers in 7 (Seven games mean more baseball. )
     
    NLCS: Phillies in 7
  25. LewaLew
    Unfortunately, there hasn't been much to write about as far as offseason deals and Gold Gloves go, but we do have the first Comic Caption Contest complete, with Legolover-361 as the winner. Not only that, but he graciously provided his own picture with the words already on it, so I didn't have to put them on: WE WANT YOU!...
     
    For this week, we have a classic safe-out call argument between Hank Aaron Award winner Jose Bautista and the umpires during the September 11 Rays-Blue Jays game:
     

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