Archive for May 2012
Just Reviewed “The Countess” at SBR
Folks, if you enjoy romance mixed with screwball comedy, you will enjoy Lynsay Sands’ THE COUNTESS. While not high art, the story of Christiana, Countess of Fairgrove, and her love story with Earl Richard will amuse you. Richard, you see, had been “disposed of” by his brother George, who took Richard’s place and called himself “Dicky.” George then married Christiana, who knew nothing about the real Richard; the world knows one of the Fairgrove twins died, but for whatever reason, George assumed Richard’s identity rather than rule in his own right. (Yes, I know the reason, but if I told you that, some of the comedic effect would be spoiled. Just go with it.)
Anyway, George dies suddenly, but Christiana covers this up because her sisters need to be “brought out” into society quickly before word gets around about her father’s gambling debts. (Besides, she never liked him anyway.) But to her complete surprise, “Dicky” shows up at a ball she and her sisters are at — he’s not dead, and in fact, he’s not Dicky, either. He’s the real Richard, and he’s wondering the same thing any of us would in a similar situation — what the Hell is going on here?
This is a screwball comedy that often descends into farce, and it’s not the art-house type of screwball comedy, either; instead, it’s the “pie in the face, don’t look now, the train’s coming!” sort. But it’s quite good for what it is, and I enjoyed it very much despite the plot’s oddities. (Maybe because of them, as I can’t resist a novel that makes me laugh over and over again. I really can’t.)
Anyway, go take a look at my review over at SBR, will you? Then, if you’re in the mood to laugh (hard and often), go pick up THE COUNTESS.
Enjoy!
May 2012 Milwaukee Brewers: Not Hitting on All Cylinders
As I write this, the Milwaukee Brewers are losing, 5-4, in the bottom of the 11th inning against the Minnesota Twins; so far, they’ve lost three in a row and are at the bottom of the National League Central Division standings. But even if they win this game, the Brewers obviously aren’t firing on all thrusters just yet (or hitting on all cylinders, either; take your pick of clichés). They aren’t hitting well, fielding well, pitching all that well, and their baserunning is suspect.
Now, as former Brewers first base coach Davey Nelson said last night on Brewers Extra Innings on WTMJ-AM 620 radio last evening (he was host Dan O’Donnell’s guest), it’s difficult to win games when you can’t hit, pitch, or field. (Nelson put it a bit more diplomatically, but this is the substance of what he said.) A caller added that the Brewers couldn’t run the bases overly well, either, as even big stars like Ryan Braun and Corey Hart have made odd baserunning errors in recent days; Nelson then added poor baserunning to his assessment.
All I could do when I heard this was laugh.
As for today’s game, it’s now over. With two outs in the bottom of the 11th, the Brewers had the light-hitting Cesar Izturis up, and all he could do was send a line-out to the shortstop. Brewers lose, 5-4, due to a home run hit by the light-hitting Twins SS Trevor Plouffe (he had been hitting .143 before he hit the game-winning HR in the top of the 11th).
At any rate, today’s game featured some clutch hitting by Ryan Braun and Aramis Ramirez, and some good table setting by Nyjer Morgan and Corey Hart. But it also featured two errors (one odd one by RF Hart where he may have lost the ball in the sun; he should’ve caught the ball in foul territory, but it instead bounced off his glove), some questionable baserunning, and a dearth of clutch hitting as six Brewers were left on base.
The Brewers have now lost four in a row, twice to the lowly Twins, twice to the lowly Astros. Their current record is 16-24; they are one game ahead of the Chicago Cubs due to the fact that the Cubs haven’t yet played their game against the White Sox so the Cubs’ record is currently 15-24. Most likely, the Brewers will be in last place again tomorrow. (The Twins’ record has improved to 14-26 due to their two wins over the Brewers.)
I don’t know what the Brewers can do at this point to improve as a team, except work on fundamentals such as bunting, baserunning, and fielding. Rickie Weeks is hitting well below .200, while Aramis Ramirez is stuck in the low .200s; these two hitters were expected to do far better than they’ve done thus far. (Even with Ramirez’s well-known penchant for slow season starts, he was still expected to have more than 21 RBI at this point.) Even the guys who are hitting, like Braun, catcher Jonathan Lucroy (a surprising .333), Nori Aoki, and Corey Hart (hitting only .252, but with 8 HR and 18 RBI, which is fourth-best on the team), can’t make up for the guys who aren’t doing much of anything.
Brewers manager Ron Roenicke says that the Brewers need to show more personality on the field, basically blaming the whole clubhouse for being quiet and reserved. I’m not certain how showing more personality would win games, considering the 1962 Mets had loads of personality, yet won only 40 games. But that’s Roenicke’s story and he’s sticking to it.
The usual way to fire up a team is to fire the manager, but the Brewers gave Roenicke a two-year contract extension earlier this season so that’s highly unlikely to happen. The second way would be to fire a coach — perhaps pitching coach Rick Kranitz, as the Brewers’ team ERA is 5.20 — horrible — and the Brewers are dead last in the majors in this particular statistic (which probably is the main reason they’re not winning too many games). Individual pitchers, such as Zack Greinke or Shaun Marcum among the starters, or Kameron Loe and to an extent Manny Parra among the relievers, have been OK; it’s the fact that others who were expected to do well like Yovani Gallardo have done very poorly that has caused the team ERA to balloon up.
The Brewers need to get something going in some area. Whether it’s clutch hitting, fielding, pitching (definitely pitching) or baserunning, the Brewers need to improve. Until or unless it does, the Brewers will remain mired in the bottom of the NL Central.
Just Reviewed “Dead Reckoning” at SBR
Folks, if you love steampunk, zombies, Westerns, fantasy, action-adventure, or just plain good writing, you will love Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill’s novel, DEAD RECKONING, which will be released on June 5, 2012. This is an excellent young adult adventure that I called a “zombie steampunk thrill-ride” for good reason — this book kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end.
Here’s the link to my review:
Enjoy!
Just Reviewed “The Outsourced Self” at SBR
Folks, you owe it to yourself to read THE OUTSOURCED SELF by Arlie Russell Hochschild. Hochschild, a sociologist at the University of California, Berkeley, has an interesting and often trenchant take on the current trend of personal outsourcing — where we pay someone else to do something we used to do ourselves, like organizing a child’s birthday party, or finding a name for an infant, or finding someone to meet and marry (as in the case of e-Harmony.com). This is an interesting book with many laugh out loud moments, but it’s the power of its argument that eventually won me over.
Know, though, that this isn’t a perfect book; Hochschild mostly deals with the American upper middle class, and in these tough economic times, that really seems nonsensical. (When we do see low-income people, they are almost always foreigners, which seems really strange.) We have plenty of poor people in the United States; why didn’t Hochschild interview a few? Didn’t she think they would advance her argument, considering that this whole idea of “outsourcing yourself” seems prevalent now among all classes and cultures in the United States, for one reason and one reason alone — that is, “if you pay for it” (whatever it is), “it must have more value.”
While I disagree, and disagree strongly, with that idea, I’ve certainly seen other people who espouse it. That’s why Hochschild’s book is both topical and relevant — and it’s why I believe every writer should read this book.
Here’s the link to tonight’s review:
Enjoy!
May Baseball: Brewers in Extras, Rottino Sent Back to AAA
Currently, as of 11:56 PM on Friday, May 11, 2012, the Milwaukee Brewers are tied with the Chicago Cubs, 7-7. They’re about to go to the thirteenth inning; all position players and all non-starting pitchers have been used, with the only two players available being starting pitchers Yovani Gallardo (who pitched two days ago) and Marco Estrada (who’s supposed to pitch Sunday), which leaves Brewers reserve pitcher Vinnie Chulk as the pitcher of record . . . this is a game, believe it or not, where the Brewers were ahead, 1-0, until the top of the seventh inning.
All of that sturm und drang, though, pales in comparison to the latest twist of the Vinny Rottino saga. Rottino was called up by the New York Mets on May 4, 2012, played in three games, went 0 for 4 during that time, and now has been sent back to AAA Buffalo. The main reason Rottino was sent down is that Mets IF Ronny Cedeno was reinstated from the 15-day DL.
Some of what Rottino is dealing with has to do with being the 26th guy on a 25 man roster; that is, he’s good enough to play in the majors, though probably not every day, and the Mets know this or they’d never have called him up. They also have to know that Rottino is a guy who does better if he plays every day or every other day — that doesn’t mean he’ll never stick in the majors, but the timing has to be right for him.
Rottino’s career, thus far, seems to be plagued by bad timing. This, of course, is entirely out of Rottino’s control. All Rottino can do is prepare himself, persist, and hit the cover off the ball at Buffalo. If he does this, let’s hope the right opportunity will finally arise as Rottino truly deserves it.
By the way, the Brewers are now batting in the bottom of the 13th inning. The game’s still tied, 7-7. The Cubs are now out of relief pitchers and have used their very last player, catcher Geovany Soto, off the bench. Rickie Weeks got hit on the left wrist and may have hurt himself badly; he can’t get the batting glove off his hand and is wincing in pain. Ryan Braun is about to bat; let’s hope he can end this game so the Brewers can find out what’s wrong with Weeks already.
UPDATE: Braun, too, was hit by a pitch (in the back); the Cubs final reliever, Lendy Castillo, was wild and didn’t get warned. Aramis Ramirez lined a single into center, then came the hero of the day night — Corey Hart. Hart had already hit a 2 R HR in the 9th to tie the game at 7, then hit a seeing-eye single that drove in the eighth and final run for the Brewers. Brewers win, 8-7; Hart goes 4 for 7 with a HR, double, and two singles, and drove in 3. Chulk gets the win (his first win since August 19, 2007 in the majors); he’s 1-0.
Scott Walker Tape Surfaces: “Divide and Conquer” Strategy Clear from Day One
Folks, it is official. Scott Walker is a liar.
You see, when Walker was campaigning in 2010 for Governor of Wisconsin, he never told the public that he would eliminate collective bargaining for public employee unions. Nor that he intended to use a “divide and conquer” strategy. But due to a video that surfaced a day ago, that is indeed exactly what Walker intended all along. In this recording, Walker used the words “divide and conquer” clearly to one of his biggest fund-raisers, Beloit (WI) billionaire Diane Hendricks; she, of course, approved of this.
This recording was made in January of 2011, a few weeks before Walker “dropped the bomb” and announced that his “budget-repair” bill would have a provision in it to strip public employee union members of their collective bargaining rights.
And lest anyone complain that this somehow is a “gotcha” moment — well, Walker did this to himself, talking with a real, Republican backer. Since he uttered those words, Ms. Hendricks has given over $500,000 to Walker’s campaign, so it’s obvious what Walker intended.
Please see this link from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel for further details:
While Walker now says he “doesn’t remember” what he said back in January of ’11, and now just wants to “move forward,” this is a typical politician “non-denial denial.” None of us should believe it.
Democratic opponent Tom Barrett, the current Mayor of Milwaukee, astutely analyzes why Walker said such a thing. In this quote from the above-cited Journal-Sentinel article:
Barrett said that he first heard about the video Thursday night while driving home from Wausau and was “flabbergasted at his language.””If you want to know when Scott Walker is really telling the truth, it’s when he’s talking to billionaires and when he thinks he’s talking to billionaires,” Barrett said. “He says one thing to the public, but to people who give him $500,000 or to people he thinks are giving him $1 million to the Republican Governors Association, his message is completely different.”
All of this is important because Walker insists that he does not want to make Wisconsin a “right-to-work” state. “Right-to-work” states make it harder for existing unions to operate, and almost impossible for new unions to arise, due to its onerous provisions against such practices. Or as the recently surfaced video says (quoting from the above article):
In the conversation on the video, Hendricks was seen asking Walker about right-to-work legislation. “Any chance we’ll ever get to be a completely red state and work on these unions – ”
“Oh, yeah,” Walker broke in.
“- and become a right-to-work?” Hendricks continued. “What can we do to help you?”
“Well, we’re going to start in a couple weeks with our budget adjustment bill,” Walker said. “The first step is we’re going to deal with collective bargaining for all public employee unions, because you use divide and conquer. So for us, the base we get for that is the fact that we’ve got – budgetarily we can’t afford not to. If we have collective bargaining agreements in place, there’s no way not only the state but local governments can balance things out . . . That opens the door once we do that. That’s your bigger problem right there.”
So that just goes to show you, folks. Walker’s intentions — that is, to break unions — were clear from the moment he took office. Any denial to the contrary is just nonsense; worse than that, it shows Walker’s mendacity in full measure.
So don’t fall for the Walker “non-denial denials.” Because they just don’t make sense.
Quick Writing/Editing Update
Right now, I’m still ensconced with the nuts and bolts of a lengthy non-fiction manuscript that I’m editing for two other writers. So very little fiction writing has been done in the past month or so.
That said, I did get about 1100 words into a new story, which is of all things a YA dystopia. (No, I’m not trying to follow today’s market trends so much as just figure out where this story leads me. Tomorrow’s market trends may be much different than today’s, and every writer worth her salt knows this.) So that’s encouraging.
Otherwise, I sent two different stories (the second only after the first was rejected) to a well-known anthology. Neither story was picked, but I’m pleased that I was able to format these stories properly for the market and get them out despite the otherwise heavy workload.
I also have two other stories out, plus a third at a place that’s part writing workshop, part market. (This latter is for Universe Annex, and that particular story will likely need to be revised for this particular market if I’m to have any hope of selling it there, which is fine.) And three poems are currently sitting at a different market altogether, so at least I’m getting my completed short fiction and some of my poetry off my computer and out to various markets.
All of this is important, because you can’t possibly sell anything if you aren’t willing to take the risk. I know this sounds basic, and it is. But you still must take that risk.
Now, I need to get back to editing. Just know that unless something really interesting happens between now and Saturday, it’s unlikely I’ll post much except to get a book review out the door at SBR due to the ongoing work that must be completed — and soon — lest I risk the wrath of my writers and their publisher.
Barb Caffrey's Blog 