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Cleveland’s Celebrity Curveball
The Cleveland Indians or the Chicago Cubs?
I was born and raised in Columbus, OH. I am a fan of many teams from my home state, around the country and all around the world for various sports for various reasons. I have written about the Indians and the Cubs qualifying for the World Series through a pop-culture/movie lens throughout the past few days and the fact that rises above all this jubilant chaos occurring in Major League Baseball is that we’re currently living in a Bizarro World. The Cubs are in the World Series for the first time in seven decades and the Indians could potentially win their second professional sports championship in the same calendar year, leading to a city-wide identity crisis.
What is happening right now?
The one thing I do know is that I will be cheering for…
Tom Hanks may have said it best last night.
Go Cleveland Indians!
If Tom Hanks is not shown on national television sitting at a World Series game in Progressive Field (definitely a catchier name) with a typewriter, while wearing an Indians hat and jersey or t-shirt, then we’ve officially entered a new dimension of the Bizarro World. Indians organization: The “Wild Thing”/Charlie Sheen and Tom Hanks are handing you pop-culture TV gold on a platter…take it and show it to everyone!
Otherwise, that’s what those in the baseball biz call a strikeout K – (open parenthesis, SIT DOWN…backspace, backspace, backspace, Shift 8, ”’, close parenthesis).
Our Puzzling Future
Have you pulled the blanket down from over your head? Yes, that presidential debate last night was real and wasn’t an SNL sketch…yet.
The always entertaining and insightful author and essayist Christopher Buckley’s rationale for relieving himself the responsibility of satirizing high-stakes political circumstances was, once again, effortlessly reaffirmed during yesterday’s presidential debate. His imaginatively shrewd writing that amusingly paints the politically powerful with shades of absurdity and twinkling nonsense now needs no outside author, as the starring characters from both sides have willingly taken on his role as penman and penwoman.
Mr. Buckley can’t believe he used to make this stuff up.
On a completely alternative, and therefore happy note, the only spectacle being promoted on television more than the presidential debate is the new Dan Brown book adapted for the silver screen. Skipping the slightly underwhelming 2009 “The Lost Symbol,” Mr. Brown’s 2013 thriller “Inferno” was chosen for grand cinematic treatment. Having read “Inferno,” the excited anticipation for the movie is warranted. Get ready for a fun, thought-provoking ride! Incredibly, from the little shown in the trailer, every one of the scenes look precisely as I pictured them with my imagination from just words on a page.
A testament to the brilliant vision of both Dan Brown and Ron Howard.
Favoring suspense over information, the engrossing plot and pulse-racing sequences won’t be disclosed. The spectacular reveals and intellectual twists-and-turns deserve genuine shock and awe, coupled with unnerving curiosity and reality.
And who better to preview and hype Robert Langdon’s adventures than, well, Robert Langdon himself.
October 28th cannot arrive soon enough. As surprising as this will read, readers and audiences will learn more and feel better equipped to confront the complexities of the world (past, present and future) from a Dan Brown novel and/or film than from a modern presidential debate.
And Dan Brown’s “Inferno” deals with hell…
Pushing Towards that Whopper of a Dream
Viktor Navorski’s preference for Burger King aside, his passion for working hard for what he wants makes for a perfect Throwback Thursday.
The Terminal was a 2004 Steven Spielberg-Tom Hanks collaboration that cleverly told the story of a man from a war-torn nation stranded in New York’s JFK terminal desperate to visit the United States. Bustling during the day and eerily lonely at night, the JFK terminal proved an opportunity and a prison for Viktor. He cannot leave the terminal and enter the United States because of his status as the man without a country. In what’s revealed as his charming character trait, Viktor befriends the blue-collar workers of the airport and evolves from a peculiar foreign nuisance into an inspirational tour de force.
No matter what your goals and dreams are for today and tomorrow, we should all embrace the spirited resolve of Viktor Navorski.
Only Steven Spielberg could’ve framed and transformed a mundane activity into an endearing exercise of the human spirit.
Happy Throwback Thursday!
Jimmy's Daily Planet 