MMS008 Advanced Jazz: Class is now in session

This is the cover for the latest chapter of the monthly Madlib series we've been blessed with this year, Medicine Show #8: Advanced Jazz. The painting is called "Jazzcats Crossing the Hudson" and features jazz pioneers like Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Sun Ra as they make their way towards New York City. Read more about the cover here.

The album is an 80-minute mix of jazz from the last 40 years with Madlib at the turntables throwing in his usual obscure skits and sounds in between the carefully chosen jazz records.* Since receiving this album last week I haven't listened to anything else, just letting it repeat over and over. I've never been a huge jazz fan but with my growing interest for the multifaceted Madlib, especially this year, my audio tastes have witnessed a very pleasing expansion of horizons. The previous Medicine Show, an album of Madlib's original jazz music called High Jazz, helped evolve my ear drums to the richness of this musical genre (although, I should point out that much of Madlib's jazz stuff seems to transcend the limits of any genre except maybe "cosmic music," if there is a such thing). I will have a double review of the Medicine Show's Summer of Jazz written soon but for now I'm still soaking in the sounds of Miles, Pharoah, Herbie, Mingus, and more. I suggest you do that too. You might learn something.

*I've tried to use the Shazam application on my phone to identify the tracks but the app has been completely stumped thus far. Madlib does it again! (Or Shazam sucks)

It's been an amazing week...

That is to say, it is an amazing week when discovering the art of Gustav Klimt is merely a side note.

Here is his Tree of Life.

Modern Cinematic Brilliance

I had a chance to watch this movie the other day. First time I'd seen it in many years and this scene struck me as powerfully as it ever has. Just wonderful filmmaking.

Movie Videos & Movie Scenes at MOVIECLIPS.com

Almost

Well tonight was almost a full moon and sure enough there was an almost no-hitter. The Texas Rangers held the Twins hitless until there was one out in the 9th inning.

I eagerly await tomorrow night's slate.

Tuesday's Full Moon Augurs Another No-Hitter

Since we've had three straight no-hitters that have all occurred on the night of the full moon (and because no-hit bids are happening often enough) I am predicting that we will see a no-hitter on Tuesday night August 24th which is a full moon. But who will throw it? I've identified some potential candidates out of the moundsmen who are scheduled to pitch that night. We can look at the batting average (since we're talking about a no-hitter, not necessarily a perfect game) of the opposing team and the batting average allowed and overall dominance of the starting pitcher. Keep in mind he'd also have to be a guy who can go the full 9 innings without getting pulled for running up a high pitch count (although that didn't stop Edwin Jackson two full moons ago when he threw 149 pitches).

We've actually got a few strong candidates pitching that night.

Most likely:
Adam Wainwright vs the Pittsburgh Pirates

By far the strongest candidate to throw a no-no on Tuesday, Wainwright is one of the most dominant pitchers in the league right now. He leads the NL in ERA and WHIP, ranks behind only Roy Halladay with his 5 complete games, and has the 4th most strikeouts in the league. He is facing a Pittsburgh Pirates lineup that has the second-worst batting average in all of baseball.

Other candidates:

Cole Hamels vs Houston Astros

Hamels had a game against St. Louis last month in which he allowed only 2 hits in 8 innings and before his most recent start (a clunker against the Giants) he had a string of 3 consecutive dominant games, striking out nearly ten per game during that span and pitching into the late innings each time. The Astros as a team are batting .246 on the year (ahead of only Pittsburgh in the NL) even though they've actually played a bit better of late. If it's not a no-hitter, it should still be a pretty dominant game for Cole Hamels.

R.A. Dickey vs Marlins, Josh Johnson vs Mets
The knuckleballing sensation known as R.A. Dickey nearly threw the first no-hitter in Mets history last week, giving up only 1 hit (to the pitcher Cole Hamels) while throwing a complete game. The Marlins rank in the bottom third in the majors with a .255 batting average and have been no-hit already this year but they've got plenty of threats in their lineup, particularly Hanley Ramirez. While Ramirez is having a subpar season by his own standards (117 OPS+ after three seasons above 140) he's still an excellent hitter and, as the leadoff man, will be granted at least 3 chances to hit Dickey's knuckler.

Opposing Dickey and the Mets will be the towering (6 foot 7) ace for the Marlins, Josh Johnson. For most of the year Johnson has been nearly untouchable but he's slowed down recently and was even knocked out of a game in the 4th inning by the Reds. The Mets are pretty bad in the batting average department (.248) and in Johnson's 12 innings against them so far this year they've batted just .182 against him. They've been pretty pathetic at the plate lately, culminating in a weak showing in Pittsburgh. They were held to 1 run on 5 hits earlier today against the Pirates' Zach Duke. Should be an interesting pitcher's duel in Queens.


Gio Gonzalez vs Cleveland Indians
He's prone to wildness so he might rack up a high pitch count but he still has the potential to dominate, especially against a flimsy Cleveland lineup (they were the victims in the famous Armando Galarraga perfect game incident). Opposing hitters are batting just .227 against Gonzalez this year.


Not likely but certainly possible:


Josh Beckett vs Seattle Mariners
Beckett hasn't had a good year at all so far. While his strikeout and walk numbers are fine (8 Ks and 2 walks per 9 IP), he's been shelled for an OPS against of .856. But on this night he'll be facing the absolute worst lineup in major league baseball. The Mariners are hitting a pathetic .238 as a team.

Gavin Floyd vs Baltimore Orioles
I see Floyd as the wild card of the group. He's been hit hard in his past two starts and these Baltimore Orioles he'll be facing are playing much better than the lowly O's I saw earlier this year at Petco. Floyd has occasionally put it all together and pitched some dominant games this year including a game at Wrigley in which he had a no-hitter going with two outs in the seventh inning. I don't think he'll get one against Showalter's boys but he belongs on this list as someone who might do it.

One-In-A-Million Shot Bonus:

Ervin Santana vs Tampa Bay Rays
Nothing against Santana, but this is just kind of a joke because the Rays have already been no-hit twice this year and once last year. In all seriousness though, it is definitely not out of the realm of possibility that the Tampa Bay Rays, who might be the best team in major league baseball (or, at worst, the second-best behind the Yankees), will go hitless in a game for the third time this season. Santana has three complete games already this year and has been pretty stingy in his two most recent starts, giving up 4 hits or less in both games. It would be a memorable and historic event if the Rays were the victims of a no-hitter again but perhaps not as strange as having four consecutive no-hitters occur on the night of a full moon.

Metempsychosis

Still finishing up a lengthy post on A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. I've got something else for the mean time.

This is an extremely interesting (though very low budget) documentary. Enjoy.

Absent Note

I haven't been able to put anything up on the blog this week as I have been rehabbing a torn ligament in my knee and working on a huge post to come about A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man which will serve as an introductory post to my series on Ulysses. Hopefully that will be finished up this weekend.

At the moment I'm enjoying watching the Padres' newest pitching star, a young man who was born exactly one day after me in 1985. His name is Ernesto Frieri, he hails from Colombia and amazingly he wears the same jersey number (39) I've chosen to wear for most of my career as an ice hockey player.

How 'bout them Padres?

It's certainly been a great season for the Padres so far. I managed to secure great seats to Thursday afternoon's battle with their rival Dodgers and watched a tense 2-2 game that was won in the bottom of the 9th by Padre pinch-hitter Oscar Salazar. On "Throwback Thursday" with the Padres sporting their 1978 brown-and-yellow uniforms, it was fitting that the game was won by one of the only players wearing the true 70s high stirrups.

*   *  *
It was announced during the game that the Padres had just traded for Miguel Tejada from Baltimore and a great buzz hummed throughout the 42,000-plus in attendance. I heard some bad words about current struggling shortstop Everth Cabrera and grumblings about what Tejada has left. But I like the deal very much and was excited when I heard about it.

Make no mistake about it, this Padre team has some run-scoring issues. Their pitching is so unbelievably amazing that this hasn't hurt their success but general manager Jed Hoyer recognized the team's main issue and made clear improvements with some offensive reinforcement for the pennant race the Padres are now seriously involved in. In his first year running the team, he's already shown a knack for shrews trades. This morning he picked up a solid corner outfield bat in Ryan Ludwick from the Cardinals.

*   *   *
The key in acquiring Tejada is that the Padres have gotten pretty much nothing offensively out of their shortstop position. After a strong rookie season last year, Everth Cabrera has struggled terribly this year with a .198 average and .270 OBP. He's looked pathetic at the plate recently as he's receded further into a slump and taken to bunting in almost every at bat to try and beat out an infield base hit. With David Eckstein injured, Jerry Hairston Jr. has had to cover for him at second base and so Cabrera has been left to rot out there. Now he'll be a back-up and pinch runner.

Tejada hasn't hit well in Baltimore this year but escaping that decrepit failure of a franchise (and the highly competitive AL East division) for the first place Padres should enliven him a bit. He had a very good year for the Astros last season, leading the National League in doubles with 46 so he probably has something left to show NL foes. His diminished defensive range shouldn't be a huge problem with the Padres pitching staff leading the majors in strikeout rate and thus putting fewer balls in play. He's also a perfect platoon partner for Chase Headley at third: Headley struggles with a .194/.263/.242 line against lefties while Tejada has a strong .821 OPS against southpaws for his career.

Ryan Ludwick is a huge addition for this team. Not only is he a very good fielder with a cannon arm (thus not disrupting but perhaps adding to the excellent Padre defense) but he's a solid above-average hitter (.288 True Average) who immediately becomes the Padres' second best offensive player. As a fan, I'm very excited about this upgraded lineup.

Best of all, the Padres didn't have to give up very much to get these two hitters. The best player given up is probably minor league pitcher Wynn Pelzer who they sent to the Orioles in exchange for Tejada. Pelzer was the #5 prospect in their system before this season according to Baseball Prospectus but he's struggled at Double-A this season and will probably end up in the bullpen.

Epiphanic Morsels

Briefly apprehending the nascent ice cubes in my freezer's ice tray conjured this: ice as metaphor for human life span.

The trapped, individual soul in between periods of flowing aqua-essence and floating gaseous mist.

Also the evolution of stars, solar systems, planets, the cosmos.
*   *   *
Came across this quote from Nietzsche this afternoon:

"In some remote corner of the universe, poured out and glittering in innumerable solar systems, there once was a star on which clever animals invented knowledge"
--Nietzsche

Further 'Inception' Awesomeness

This makes me want to go see the movie a third time.

And then there's this cool graphic representation of the whole dream heist. Click for a larger view and zoom in to study it.

A couple things I didn't catch in my first viewing of the film but which stuck out when I saw it a second time, both involve the chemist Yusuf:

*When they go to meet Yusuf for the first time, he takes them into a dark dreary backroom where people come to take sedatives and dream for hours (in deep dreams that feel like days or weeks). Both Yusuf and his creepy dream den attendant eerily insinuate that they know Cobb and that he's done this before and been there before even though, as far as we can tell, this is the first time he's met these people. It's a very dark, dank, spooky scene that feels like the inside of a cave, and after Cobb tests out Yusuf's special sedative he's a bit of a mess. We see him in the bathroom splashing water on his face and looking in the mirror (very reminiscent to the opening of "Shutter Island") trying to convince himself it's not a dream. When he tries to spin his totem it goes flying off the table and this was actually a part where many people have suggested Dom proved he was dreaming. I'm not so sure about that, but the way Yusuf and the old guy talk to Dom with familiarity is weird and never explained.

*This one is a lot less relevant (or at least I think it is), but I caught on to the line where Arthur derides Yusuf for not going to the bathroom on the plane. Apparently his feeling of having to pee (or, since he's heavily sedated, peeing on himself) is what caused the heavy rain in that dream level.

The Big Baseball in the Sky

Last month when Edwin Jackson threw a no-hitter against the Rays in Tampa Bay, I wrote a post about the weird coincidence between the evening's odd baseball events (an 8-walk no-hitter, the Phillies playing a road game in their home park) and the lunar eclipse that occurred that night. It was not only a lunar eclipse that night but also a full moon and I noted the other strange coincidence: the previous no-hitter (Roy Halladay in Florida) was also on a full moon. So you could imagine I was pretty stunned when I learned this evening that Matt Garza had thrown a no-hitter in Tampa Bay against the Tigers because tonight is a full moon. That's 3 straight full moon/no-hitters.

*   *   *
Since we're on that topic, here's a superbly written article about baseball and metaphysics. Very tongue-in-cheek, almost satirical actually but it's still a great read. Very impressive and, despite the absurd hyperbole, much of it is true.

All these variations, all these hints of arbitrariness, are absolutely crucial to the aesthetics and moral metaphysics of the game because they remind us that fair territory is, in fact, conceptually limitless and extends endlessly beyond any outfield walls. Home plate is an open corner on the universe, and the limits we place on the game’s endless vistas are merely the accommodation we strike between infinite possibility and finite actuality. They apprise us, yet again, that life is ungovernable and pluriform, and that omnia mutantur et nos mutamur in illis. They speak both of our mortality (which obeys no set pattern or term) and of the eternity into which the horizons of consciousness are always vanishing (the primordial orientation of all embodied spirit). And something similar is true of the juncture of infield and outfield, where metaphysics’ deepest problem—the dialectical opposition but necessary interrelation of the finite and the infinite—is given unsurpassable symbolic embodiment.

          ...

Really, the game has such an oddly desolate beauty to it. Maybe it is the grindingly long, 162-game season, which allows for so many promising and disheartening plotlines to take shape, only to dissolve again along the way, and which sustains even the most improbable hope past any rational span; or maybe it is simply the course of the year’s seasons, from early spring into mid-autumn—nature’s perennial allegory of human life, eloquent of innocent confidence slowly transformed into wise resignation. Whatever it is, there is something of twilight in the game, something sadder and more lyrical than one can quite express. It even ends in the twilight of the year: All its many stories culminate in one last, prolonged struggle in the gathering darkness, from which one team alone emerges briefly victorious, after so long a journey; and then everything lapses into wintry stillness—hope defeated, the will exhausted, O dark, dark, dark, all passion spent, silent as the moon, and so on. And yet, with the first rumor of spring, the idiot will is revived, the conatus essendi stirs out of the darkness, tanha awakens and pulls us back into the illusory world of hope and longing, and the cycle resumes.

A much more eloquent and academic version of George Carlin's classic sermon.