That was the scene in the bottom of the 7th inning when, down 2-1, Houston Astro Lance Berkman launched a 3-run-homer off Chris Carpenter to put the ‘Stros up 4-2. It was the top of the 9th inning. Minute Maid Park was rocking. With former President George Bush and his wife Barbara looking on from just behind home plate David Eckstein stepped up to the plate with 2 outs. Soon he had 2 strikes against him and the Astros were one strike away from going to their first World Series in franchise history.

But Eckstein got a base hit. He then stole second. Then Brad Lidge, phenom pitcher, walked Jim Edmonds. With 2 men on and 2 outs Albert Pujols stepped to the plate. Pujols is admittedly one of the best hitters in baseball but he had been ineffective all series long. He had stranded runners on base in this very game. He swung and missed the first pitch but the second pitch that Lidge lobbed over the plate had home-run written all over it and Pujols rocketed the ball way above the upper deck of the stadium. It was incredible! I literally cried out “no way!” which brought my wife scrambling out of the next room to see what had occurred.

As much as I love October playoff baseball I have to admit that 90% of the games thus far have been somewhat disappointing affairs. This game made up for that and more…it was the kind of thing you only see in movies. And so the Cardinals kept themselves alive to return to St. Louis to play game 6. They are still down 3-2 and are one loss away from the end of the season. Even if they lose I appreciate the performance given tonight! That game truly was October baseball at its best.
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Have you been checking out the full moon the last few nights? Here in KC it has been incredible. Two nights ago there were thin patches of cottonball-like clouds rolling past the moon giving a nice eerie effect. Last night the sky was clear and the moon was amazingly bright. I took a back road home from my part time job and observed lots of low fog over the fields. With the full moon overhead it made for a perfect October atmosphere. I expected to see werewolves running across the fields in search of hapless victims.

If you’ve looked in the eastern sky just as it gets dark this month or if you have been looking at the ever-growing moon these past few days you may have noticed how close and how bright Mars is. It looks like a very large, bright star that is following the moon very closely across the night sky. When the moon isn’t so full you can notice a slightly redish tint with the naked eye. I looked at it with the telescope the other day and though it doesn’t magnify it much it does show it as a perfectly round disk, like the full moon but much smaller. This is the closest Mars has come to earth in 50,000 years and will be at its closest on October 29th. Check it out in your night sky, its pretty cool. With a bigger telescope you just might be able to see the Martians getting ready to attack.

I have always been fascinated by the promotional art and the concept of Alfred Hitchcock’s movie The Birds but had never seen it. This was rectified Saturday evening as we gave it a viewing for our spooky family night.

The Birds tells the story of Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedron) who is a wealthy socialite and practical joker. While in a pet store she meets Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) shopping for lovebirds for his sister’s birthday. Brenner eventually admits to having some involvement in a court case regarding one of Ms. Daniels’ practical jokes. On a whim she decides to drive from San Francisco to the small coastal town of Bodega Bay to bring Mitch these lovebirds. Soon after arrival she is attacked by a seagull, the first of many inexplicable bird attacks on the unsuspecting townspeople.

If you have ever seen a Hitchcock film than you know he is a master of the medium in so many ways. Despite the fact that The Birds was released in 1963, the film does not have a dated look to it. The color palette, lighting, costuming etc. looks so good that it could easily be mistaken for a movie filmed today made specifically to pay homage to that nostalgic time period. The bird attack special effects are incredible, especially considering when they were done. The Collector’s Edition DVD has a long ‘making-of’ piece that includes recently filmed interviews with the main actors/actresses and others involved with the film. It shows in detail how they filmed the bird sequences, where live birds were used, etc. and it is fascinating.

Tippi Hedren was a model whom Hitchcock had seen in a commercial and he picked her specifically to play the role of Melanie Daniels. She was absolutely stunning and did a marvelous job. It was fun to see a ‘classic’ film with an actress that I had never watched before.

(click both actress pics to see an additional image)

Suzanne Pleshette played the role of Annie Hayworth, a school teacher who still held a torch for Mitch Brenner. Her smoldering looks and rich, deep voice was a far cry from her comedic acting on The Bob Newhart Show. The film also stars the veteran actress Jessica Tandy as Mitch Brenner’s mother and Veronica Cartwright as his sister.

The Birds is loosely based on a short story by Daphne du Maurier (Rebecca) and real life accounts of bird attacks that Hitchcock had read about. The sense of foreboding in The Birds builds slowly and deliberately, creating the right amount of tension to keep you in suspense as to what is going to happen. It is very well done and I highly recommend it.
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Prior to the Chiefs game yesterday we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and take a walk. While out walking I suddenly saw something in the air that just didn’t seem right. It was a B-2 Stealth Bomber, flying low over our neighborhood.

It was quite an amazing sight to say the least. Mary mentioned that it looked like something out of a Batman film. I guessed correctly that it was out for a pre-game fly over at Arrowhead Stadium.
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Target stores have a wonderful, artistic Halloween theme this year. Here are a few examples of the look of their displays:

I purchased a few more Halloween decorations there this weekend including a candy dish that looks like Itsy Bitsy. The legs are metal and bend down like spider legs, suspending Itsy’s body for you to put candy, etc in. They have some great, kid-friendly stuff there so check it out.
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Lastly I’d like to publicly thank my wife, Mary, for a delicious Sunday dinner of turkey legs, stuffing and green bean casserole! It was terrific and I get to take leftovers for lunch today…yay!!!

Happy Monday!

I’m so thankful it is Friday!

(cover image of Oct. 2005 Living magazine)

If you are in the mood to decorate for the season and are out of ideas or if you just need a little inspirational kick in the pants look no further than beloved ex-con Martha Stewart. Her Martha Stewart Living magazine and her website are both filled with wonderful Halloween ideas. I discovered these last year and loved them and rushed right out to by the October 2005 issue as soon as it hit the shelves. There is a special Halloween section on her site that is full of family-friendly, relatively easy tips, tricks and decorating ideas. There are downloadable templates for carving pumpkins, spooky candy and drink labels, and a host of other ideas to get your home in shape for the season. I especially enjoy the different ideas regarding pumpkin carving. Here is an example of a haunted village:

I also want to try doing something like this with pumpkins/gourds this year:

It involves gouging a pattern in them without completely breaking through the skin. I’m sure it is not as easy as it looks but I love the effect.
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As you might remember from this post awhile back, Lisa Snellings-Clark is an artist I respect and whose work is very inspiring. For a little short story to get you into the creepy spirit I point you to Part 1 and Part 2 of Lisa Snellings-Clark’s story Little Death. It won’t take you long to read but is worth the effort.
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Last night I babysat for James and Jules’ four daughters so they could celebrate their anniversary (check it out, funny pictures…or scary, depending on your affection for the late 80’s, early 90’s!). Jules made her delicious homemade chicken noodle soup and apple crisp. It was wonderful. Their youngest, 2, repeatedly informed me that there were “bugs” in her soup. Every little grain of seasoning was apparantley a bug. Despite efforts to convince her otherwise she continued to matter-of-factly inform me that there were bugs in her soup. Consequently she dined mostly on crackers. I share this only because it was funny and seems fitting for the season.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Happy October 13th! If you are one of the many people today who suffer from Triskaidekaphobia, an abnormal fear of the number 13, then today may be one in which you lock yourself safely indoors to protect yourself from the forces of evil. If you do so, here are some entertainment options in the spirit of the season that may help allay your fears.

In the recent Poe-related posts and reader comments there have been many mentions of Edgar Allan Poe’s story The Tell-tale Heart. Hardly surprising as it is a great short tale of suspense. The Puphedz are the concept of producer Jürgen Heimann. The Puphedz are essentially a theatre troupe of carved wooden puppets who perform their interpretations of various classic tales of horror. Their interpretation of Poe’s tale, entitled The Tattle-Tale Heart, was released to DVD in February of 2003 and was supposed to be the first of many such tales. Unfortunately there has been no activity on their site indicating any work on future projects. The Tattle-Tale Heart is a hilarious, albiet short, story. Told from a padded cell by the straight-jacketed Woodrow J. Larchbottom, III:

The Tattle-Tale Heart is his accounting of what occured that fateful night when he could no longer stand the presence of his roomates’ eye:

The Tattle-Tale Heart is filled with wood-related puns, bad jokes, and unrestrained silliness. The detail in the sets, as well as in the ‘actors’, is wonderful and you can tell that this is a project that was lovingly tackled by its creators. The DVD contains 2 versions, the second being slightly longer with a ‘judgement of God’ sequence that is intended for more mature audiences. When I purchased this I bought it directly from the Puphedz website and recieved an autographed copy. I also joined the Puphedz Navy and was sent a wonderful initiation packet complete with wood shavings from the Puphedz workshop…it was all very silly fun. I encourage you to visit the website and watch the trailers…the quality is slightly dated but they are still entertaining.
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If you choose to get out and drive I recommend the Edgar Allan Poe Audio Collection.

This 5 disk collection contains a large assortment of the poems and short stories of Edgar Allan Poe read by veteran horror actors Vincent Price and Basil Rathbone. Both men do a marvelous job. Other than The Raven I find it easier to “get” the poems if I’m reading them along with the audio, but the short stories are very easy to follow. My only complaint with this collection is that in some spots, particularly when the story calls for a character to be whispering, the audio quality is lacking. Overall the sound quality is very clear but for some reason I have to turn my car stereo speakers to the maximum volume to hear the reading at a normal speaking volume. In addition to bookstores and Amazon.com this CD set is most likely available in your local library. It is well worth an October listen.
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Last but not least, if you feel like tackling your Triskaidekaphobia head on I recommend the under-appreciated movie The Thirteenth Floor.

Starring the lovely Gretchen Mol, the always creepy Craig Bierko, and Vincent D’Onofrio (one of my absolute favorites) this is an interesting science fiction film that suffers mostly from being released too close to The Matrix. This film is very much in the vein of films like The Matrix, Blade Runner, The Imposter, and Dark City. While not a classic science fiction masterpiece this film does make for a good rental and is an enjoyable sci-fi adventure with a little romance thrown in for good measure.
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Be careful out there today, avoid black cats, don’t break any mirrors, and beware the number 13!

This past weekend, for the first time in a loooong time, I had a Saturday morning free. The family was out and I used the time to clean the house and begin my Halloween decorating. I pulled out my Edgar Allan Poe paraphernalia and went to work. In addition to this space I also have some items on the table behind my couch. In the process I decided to paint my old wicker birdcage black as it better fits the mood.

I’ve always liked this book, The Poe Reader, with its cover picture of a raven wing. My little black bird isn’t exactly a raven but I like the image of the book looking like a feather that has fallen from the raven on to the floor of the cage. We shopped on Sunday and bought a few more Halloween decorations and I have yet to purchase pumpkins or set up my Nightmare Before Christmas stuff so there is still some work to do.
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Saturday afternoon Mary and I went to see Serenity with Dominique, who had not seen it and Mary’s cousin Craig who had never watched Firefly. This was the third viewing for me and I enjoyed it even more than the second viewing. I paid more attention to the music this time which is phenomenal. The music pays homage to the acoustic Firefly theme song in tone and spirit. As a science fiction western some of the music has a melancholy tone symbolic of the loneliness of the open plain, or open space as it were. For Firefly/Serenity geeks I recommend this book:

Serenity: The Official Visual Companion is a nice, relatively inexpensive book published by Titan Books. The book contains behind the scenes photos, conceptual artwork, a number of short interviews with Joss Whedon on various aspects of the film and the entire shooting script. It was cool to go back and look at parts of the script after seeing the movie to check out lines that we missed or couldn’t remember. I borrowed Jeff’s copy (he’s the geek, not me!!! 🙂 ) and Mary and I both enjoyed reading it (darn, just blew that whole “I’m not a geek” thing). In it Joss Whedon refers to Serenity as a science fiction western noir action suspense drama which is as apt a description as I’ve read. There is also a Serenity magazine out at bookstores now for $9.95 that has a ton of pictures and individual interviews with cast members…a must-have for any Browncoat.
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In my October 1st post I mentioned that October baseball has become one of my great loves and this October has been no exception. My hopes for a Red Sox/Yankees reunion were dashed when the White Sox swept the Red Sox in their Divisional Series. It was with great joy then that I watched the Yankees (one of the few teams I openly despise) get beat in game 5 of their Divisional Series by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (what a ridiculous name) last night.

If you didn’t catch it the game was much, much closer than the 5-3 score indicates. In the top of the 9th the Yankees began loading the bases. A timely double play made it 2 outs with nobody on. Then the Yankees started loading the bases again. I just knew the Angels were going to gift wrap the series for the Yankees but a ground out to first ended it all and I can enjoy the playoffs without fear of the Yanks winning a World Series!

Of course at this point I’m not sure who to root for. Being a Missourian I will of course root for the Cardinals…especially since I feel guilty about rooting for the Red Sox last year. But hey, the reverse the curse story was too good not to root for. The other series is more tricky. Having just spent 5 games pulling for the Angels I’d like to be on their bandwagon, but the White Sox haven’t won a series since 1917 and I’m more inclined to root for history. Either way a Yankee-free ALCS and World Series is like a gift from heaven!

Hope everyone is enjoying their October!