The Rainbow Connection

A nice rainbow appeared beyond left field at Nolan's baseball game tonight. Kris wondered if that was Pop showing up to watch the game.

Do a good turn daily

Here's one of the reasons I hope my kids stay active in Boy Scouts...

Who ya gonna call?

Yeah, I know I recently declared "Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings" as my must-have video game. But I forgot about "Ghostbusters: The Video Game."

In an interview in today's New York Times, Dan Ackroyd reflects on his career and his fascination with ghosts. He and Harold Ramis and Ivan Reitman also talk about what made "Ghostbusters" work so well in 1984.

There is a lot of discussion of the new video game coming out on June 16. It's hyped as being written by Ackroyd and Ramis, the writers of the original movie, but they both admit that's "marketing bunk." They say they only looked over the script written by the video game folks and offered to punch up a few lines here and there.

That said, the article says the game is pretty funny and captures the Ghostbusters spirit (pardon the pun).

As great as the Indiana Jones game looks, "Ghostbusters" might have a slight leg up because it features the actual voices of Ackroyd, Ramis, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts and William Atherton (EPA jerk Walter Peck). Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis are not involved, but still, it's an impressive voice cast.

'Raiders' returns

Some really exciting news was announced today..."Raiders of the Lost Ark" will be screened again at the Palace Theatre in Albany.

The Palace made the announcement this morning on their Twitter feed...

@PalaceAlbany 2009/2010 Classical Movie Series sneak preview: Raiders of the Lost Ark. More to come soon!

The last time I saw "Raiders" on the big screen was at the Palace three years ago. I said at the time, and I'll say it again, I'll take a scratchy 28-year-old print shown at a real theater with an audience over the crystal-clear DVDs in my basement any day.

They run some really great classic films there and it's great that my favorite flick of all time is getting a return engagement.

I hope I can bring Nolan with me this time. I had planned to wait a couple more years before letting Thomas watch the Indy movies, but now I might have to reconsider.

The Friendly Free Stuff Files

Last year I got an urgent text message from good friend Ray Brownell alerting us there was free ice cream at Friendly's. It was a hot day. We were on our way back from a hike and drove straight to the nearest Friendly's for some yummy refreshment.

Friendly's is at it again this year. Walk into a participating Friendly's between noon and 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 6 to get your free single scoop cone!

I'm not sure how many years Friendly's has been hosting Free Ice Cream Day, but I'm glad that they do in light of the fact that there is no longer a Ben & Jerry's scoop shop convenient to where I live. B&J's always has a free cone day in April, but it doesn't do us much good.

Redneck fire alarm

h/t Rocky & Mark

Indiana Jones and the Kick-Ass Game

I have never wanted a video game more in my life!

Stay tuned

With the success of sites like Hulu and the increasing ease of streaming high-quality video straight to your television, one has to wonder what the point will be of the network affiliate in the near future.

Networks used to need local affiliates to broadcast their content. Do they still?

NBC head honcho Jeff Zucker insists the network-affiliate model isn't going anywhere, telling affiliates this week:

“We are not abandoning the business of broadcast network television. We are not going direct to cable. We are renewing affiliation agreements. And we are going to be in business together for a long, long time.”

Well, that's nice to hear. Time will tell how long that holds up.

Marvel meets 'The Onion'

How would President Obama handle a storyline from the pages of "The Uncanny X-Men?" The Onion has the answer...

Here comes the sun

Hands down, this is the photo of the day, showing the shuttle Atlantis silhouetted against the sun. It was taken from Florida, using a sun filter, on Tuesday. Very, very cool.

From the Free Stuff Files...

What's the best kind of Chocolate? Free chocolate!

Okay, you can say that about almost anything.

In this case though, we're talking about a deal from the folks at Mars Snackfood US, the makers of M&Ms, Snickers, 3 Musketeers, Milky Way and other favorites.
They say they use only 100% cocoa butter while their competitors substitute vegetable oil for cocoa butter in their products.

To draw attention to this fact the candy maker has instituted the Mars Real Chocolate Relief Act.

Every Friday, go to RealChocolate.com. If you're one of the first 500,000 people to register that day, they'll send you a coupon for a free candy bar.

I first read about it this morning and promptly went to the site to sign up. See if you can still get yours. If you're too late, you can try again next week.

The Amazing Beer Slogan

The Spider-Man fan in me really likes the slogan for MillerCoors beer. Forgive me if it's been around for a while, but I just noticed it for the first time this morning.

Beer commercials often end some sort of a reminder to drink responsibly. But the Coors commercial I heard on the radio this morning ended with:

"With great beer comes great responsibility."

That's pretty cool. I can just imagine Uncle Ben cracking open a cold one passing it to Peter Parker and giving him that advice as he sips his first beer.

'Congressman' Tedisco

Assemblyman Jim Tedisco took a jab during last night's gay marriage debate in the Assembly.

When Assemblyman Danny O'Donnell agreed to yield time on the floor to Tedisco, he said, "For the congressman, anything," referencing Tedisco's recent loss to Scott Murphy in the special election in New York's 20th Congressional District.

"I wish," Tedisco replied. "Do you have 700 votes in the back of your trunk?"

"I'm a Democrat from New York City, you bet I do," O'Donnell answered.

"Yeah, and two bodies," Tedisco fired back.

It came from the break room

The headline on MSNBC.com says it all:
Yuck! 7 hospitalized after office fridge cleanup

I've seen some nasty stuff left in the office fridge or encrusted inside the microwave, but fortunately it's never been as bad as the rotting food that caused problems at an AT&T office in San Jose.

Authorities say an enterprising office worker had decided to clean it out, placing the food in a conference room while using two cleaning chemicals to scrub down the mess.

The mixture of old lunches and disinfectant caused 28 people to need treatment for vomiting and nausea.

Go take a look at your office fridge right now. What's the grossest thing in there?

Higher education

"The Daily Show" demonstrates that college students are funny -- and should probably stay in school...

Bragging rights

There is nothing to get me blogging again like an opportunity to brag about my kids.

We’re knee deep in baseball season and both boys are doing great.

Let’s start with Thomas. He took his first crack at T-Ball last year when he was 5 and it didn’t work out too well. He just wasn’t ready. Ever since he was a toddler, he was never one to go off and play with a group. He’d always want to stick close to mom and dad if he could. We signed him up for T-Ball, but we couldn’t even get him to stay on the field. We wound up quitting after a few games when it became apparent that it just wasn’t going to work out.

What a difference a year makes. We signed Thomas up for T-Ball again after he insisted that he really wanted to play this year. So far he’s been doing fantastic! He hits the ball and runs where he should, he stands in the field and waits for his chance to field a ball and he goofs around in the dugout with his teammates. He really seems to be having a great time.

He may not have been ready yet last year, but he sure is now. It’s great to watch him having fun.

Then there is Nolan, who has become Mr. Baseball lately. After two years in Single A, this is his first year in AA – where the level of competition goes up a notch. We’re now officially keeping score and for the first time the kids get to pitch.

Nolan loves playing first base and never wanted to do anything else. But about a week ago, his coach sent him to the mound to pitch. Nolan was nervous. I was a nervous wreck. But in his first inning, he got two strikeouts and caught a pop-up. He’s pitched for one or two innings in every game since.

He’s hitting the ball pretty well too. So far he’s gone 7 for 11 this year, including a double and two triples (Note, there are no walks in AA. After ball four, the coach takes over pitching until the batter either strikes out or puts the ball into play.).

Nolan also took part in a pitch, hit and run contest and qualified to advance to the sectionals next week in Saratoga.

So both boys are doing great and loving America’s pastime. And I’m having a blast watching them. Standing on the field, helping to coach their teams and watching them do so well and have fun is heaven on Earth.