White Sox, Part II

Here's the post-game self-congrats by the White Sox.
It was nice to see former Sox Frank Thomas (not to be confused with Chicagoan Thomas Frank) (seriously, though I do) playing, even if it was for the bad guys.

Chicago White Sox 2:1 Oakland Athletics

I took advantage on Saturday of an opportunity to catch a rare appearance of the Chicago White Sox here in the Bay Area. After losing to the Oakland A's the previous night, the Sox rebounded on Saturday afternoon to a 2-1 victory. The game was not exciting, but it was a great baseball Saturday: Good seats, good weather, a good friend, good game result.
I took the photos in this posting from the 24th row behind home plate.

Cover Break

And sometimes I just take time out on this blog to appreciate magazine covers that catch my eye. Here's the upcoming issue of Starlog magazine. It's proof that "white space works."

Oh, No, I Agree with David Granger!

In an article on the web site of the magazine industry publication Folio:, Esquire Editor David Granger said: "When I talk to groups I sometimes speak about the days I had when I'd get the new issue of Esquire and go through it and think to myself, ‘F--k, it's still a magazine,'" Granger said in a recent interview with FOLIO:. "What I mean is that the medium is so compelling that I and we should all be able to do more with it. The magazine experience is one of the last remaining opportunities to enter a hermetically-sealed world, an edited experience of our culture created by someone else. And, more importantly, it's an experience that encourages you to stay in it rather than constantly bounce in and out of it."

The first part of that reference is why I can't bear to read Esquire these days. It's clear that its editors are just tired of the magazine format. But as a magazine editor (and reader) who still loves the magazine format, I was impressed with the second part of his comments, in which he said, "The magazine experience is one of the last remaining opportunities to enter a hermetically-sealed world, an edited experience of our culture created by someone else."

Exactly. A good magazine isn't a bulletin board or YouTube. It's a presentation of a worldview (sometimes limited to a narrow subject, such as foreign films or knitting, but sometimes literally surveying the world) done by people who want to present it in a certain way, want it to be experienced in a certain way, and who have reasons for it to be done so. The person putting his or her imprint on that "hermetically-sealed world" might be Hugh Hefner, Kerry O'Quinn and Norman Jacobs, Gloria Steinem, or it might be a group of radical cartoonists in New York or a church society in Minnesota. Whatever. It's their world that they want to present in a way that lets them engage readers in a discussion of what they think is important.

It's why I think magazines are challenged today (because the "everyone's a creator" ethos of the internet undercuts it), and why I think magazines are a valuable tool (because, to steal more of Granger's words, "it's an experience that encourages you to stay in it rather than constantly bounce in and out of it").

I noted it in an earlier posting, but I'll reiterate it: Magazines have a bright future, if they can survive the serious and hazardous technological and market changes of today.

Bush vs. the Democrats

I like this cartoon. (For more by Lyle Lahey, see his web site or his blog.)
At the same time, I understand the odd pressures Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders are under to not appear obstructionist during a time of war. Would I like to see more vim and vigor from that party? Sure. But I think their eyes are all on the November 2008 prize. And then we'll see what the Dems can do.

Scott McClellan on How the Bush White House Works

Scott McClellan Digs at Rove, Cheney

Nonhysteria

Here's a non-hysterical, reasoned (and rather lengthy) editorial on gay marriage from the Los Angeles Times. It makes an important point ignored by the people overreacting to the legalization of gay marriage: It is a profoundly conservative act to allow same-sex marriage, not a left-wing radical act that undercuts marriage. Good job, LA Times.

$170 Ticket

I received a ticket this morning for $170 for crossing the street in the middle of the block near the BART station in my neighborhood in San Francisco. (I'll spare you the snarky comments about how we've got a spate of car break-ins and armed robberies in the neighborhood and how that would be a better use of our scarce police resources.) From what I hear, this is an effort by the city to fill a gap in the budget by going after minor infractions that don't usually get enforced. There has also been a sudden appearance of "denver boots" showing up on cars throughout the city (denver boots are clamps put on wheels to render the car immobile, usually done as a result of unpaid traffic tickets) and cars have been ticketed for not turning their wheels toward the curb on even minor inclines. So, I see it as a $170 donation to the city's financial difficulties.

But to expound on this a moment, doesn't it seem a bit silly to ticket people for jaywalking? I mean, if a citizen is too stupid to know not to step in front of a moving vehicle, aren't they likely also too stupid to know how to make decisions on referenda and other complicated voting matters?

Though if we started ticketing people $170 for making stupid choices in the voting booth, it would at least provide some money to undo the damages done by their stupid choices ...

:)

You, too, Can Play Police State!

Amazon.com's customers provide a refreshing reminder of the power of outspoken black humor, as they write scathing reviews of a Playmobil airport security check point.