vivalaultra

I'm in agreement with everybody who's suggested the RiverWalk and the Alamo. Most of SA's 'attractions' are within a few miles walking distance of one another. I don't do the club scene, so I don't know much about that. I do, however, know that the San Antonio Wax Museum (right across from the Alamo Plaza) and the San Antonio Museum of Fine Art are great fun. On July 22nd, the SAMFA is hosting a public tour of the baroque paintings of Botero, if you're into baroque art like I am. The Buckhorn Saloon is neat. If you're looking for Mexican food, my favorite Mexican place down that way is La Fogata on Vance Jackson St., but any Mexican join in San Antonio is good. Just outside of San Antonio, they have the Natural Bridge Caverns, which I enjoyed. And I don't think any first-time trip to San Antonio would be complete without seeing 'Alamo-The Price of Freedom' at the IMAX. It'll make you proud to be a Texan, even if you're not a Texan. If you're looking for like...nightlife, the RiverWalk's the place to go, but, personally, I'd do Botero. I love me some Botero. Or just drive a couple hours to Austin, go to 6th street, eat at Stubb's and get totally shitfaced on Lone Star Beer.

Nah, Elmsworth's been ripping the cover off the ball at AA, to the tune of a 34.6 VORP. Cornell, on the other hand is hit or miss. If he can learn to throw his changeup for strikes to left-handed batters, I imagine he'll get a Sept. callup. Burke isn't going to be traded. He makes the front office jizz and he seriously deserves a shot to play 2nd. He's going to get the majority of playing time the 2nd half of the year. Luke Scott has little to no value. For a lefty power bat, he has little power and he's about the streakiest damn hitter I've ever seen. Two games on, three months off, two games on, three months off, repeat ad nauseam. Ensberg seems like he should be doing better than he is. He's got a really good eye at the plate. If he was hitting more than .221 and he had more XBH, he would seem to be a Billy Beane type player-works long counts, draws walks, etc., but he doesn't, so he's not gonna go anywhere. The Astros really don't have any options at AAA that are close to being ready at 3rd, so I don't think they'll trade Lamb. I hope he's going to become an everyday player, but he's a FA at the end of the season. Still, I would hope that he'll stay in Houston and take over the everyday slot at 3rd next year. Of course, the Astros COULD still go on a hot streak and win the division...If all the chips fall in the right places and everything.... Vivalaultra:Boundless optimism::Czech:Sarcastic remarks

I'd say Loretta and maybe Lamb. I'd be sad about both. Jennings will probably be moved. I won't be sad about that one. Roy won't be moved. Lidge won't be moved. Ensberg won't be moved (much to my dismay).

My girlfriend works at Wal-Mart. They have this whole big event planned for the nite of the 20th. Every employee has to take a 'Harry Potter Pledge' swearing their loyalty to the world of Potter and vowing to not share any details of the book or let anyone see a copy of the book before they go on sale at midnite on the 20th/21st. Myself, I'm not planning on going to Barnes and Noble or Wal-Mart or one of the other big stores that are having a ridiculous supermegaultraevent. I'm going to do what I've done the last 3 years-go to the Kroger a couple miles down the road at 11:58, talk to the 40 year old man dressed up like a wizard, get a piece of cake from the 40 year old man dressed up like a wizard, buy the book at midnite, go home and spend hours reading it. My sister writes for the newspaper a few towns over from me. She was telling me today that she works with this guy...like a 30 or 35 year old dude. He was scheduled to cover some event for the paper on the weekend of the 21st, but he spent all day today going around trying to get somebody to cover for him; he kept telling people that he had a 'project' he had to finish over the weekend. The editor couldn't find anybody to cover for him, so he was telling the guy that he was going to have to come in. The editor was asking him what kind of 'project' he had to do. The guy kept just talking about how he had to do some 'project' and he didn't wanna talk about it. Everybody kept questioning him about it and finally he got all pissed off and like...started slapping himself in the face and yelled 'I HAVE TO READ HARRY POTTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' and stormed out of the office. I'm not that nuts, but I did finish all of my work for next weekend and have cleared my schedule so I can read it.

The problem isn't cutting things out of a book to make a movie; of course there's going to have to be certain things cut. The specific problem I had with the cuts in this movie is that the things that they left out seem like things that would've helped the plot. In the case of the Harry Potter series, the movies don't just serve as standalones. They're meant to all build off of each other. If you cut out an essential plot element in the fifth movie (and I think that there were at least a few things I would consider essential plot elements cut from the movie) that's going to affect the next movie and the movie after that. Also, this movie was the shortest of the Potter movies so far, so it's not like they cut stuff out to save time. It's not like they cut out inconsequential stuff; they cut out things that are integral to understanding the story, at least as far as the plot of the series thus far is concerned. If I hadn't read the book or any of the preceding (or following) book(s), I wouldn't have any knowledge of the stuff that they left out and it wouldn't have bothered me at all. However, having read all of the books, I know what they did cut out, and some of it I understand why they did it (the 'Weasly is Our King' stuff), but other stuff, I just don't see how they decided it would be better to not have that stuff in there. I don't think it was a time issue, this being the shortest of the films so far. I think it has something to do with whether you read the books and then see the movies or see the movies and then read the books. If you see the movies first, you enjoy the movies and then go read the books and the stuff that they cut from the movies that's in the books is extra information that rounds out the plot. If you read the books first and then see the movies, then the stuff that they cut out is sacrilege and detrimental to the story.

If only Booker T and Goldust would get back together, I would start watching wrestling again. ...AND I GOT A SWORD TOO! NOW CAN YOU DIG THAT....SUCKAAAAAAAASSSS!!!! Booker T and Goldust at 7-11 Goldust ruinin' Booker T's mack game Booker T and Goldust as Lumberjacks Booker T steals a pretzel Goldust as Elvis The Rock, Booker T, and Goldust at KotR 2002 ('I have more ammunition in my cannon than you'll ever know...')

So, about midnite tonite, I was getting ready to go to bed. Before I went to lie down, I opened my front door to let my cat back inside. When I opened my front door (clad in my underpants, I was), I noticed that there were about 6 police cars, an ambulance, an EMS vehicle, five or six other vehicles and various groups of people congregated in front of my house. Upon further inspection, I noticed that one group of people was literally standing/sitting in my front yard sobbing uncontrollably. Also, I looked to the house next door and noticed that around ther entire house, front yard, and driveway, there was yellow police tape. I went to put some pants on and then went back to gawk to find out what was going on. I saw a lot of movement and crying; one girl that was crying in my front yard had to be carried to the ambulance to get oxygen or something. Lots of cops interviewing people. A camera crew and newspaper reporter showed up and talked to people. The cops had corpse handling gloves on. Looking out of my bedroom window to my neighbor's house, I notice that all of the lights in the house are now on (they weren't as of about 10 minutes ago). I have no idea what's going on. I live next door to a volunteer fireman who occasionally has this sexy blonde chick come shack up with him. I think the sexy blonde was cheating on her lover with my neighbor. About two years ago, I opened my front door to see some dude getting dragged out of my neighbors house in handcuffs. Then the police carried out a shotgun. I think the lover went over there to murder my neighbor and his lover. At about 6 PM, I was on the phone with my girlfriend and I heard something that sounded like either Black Cats being exploded or a pellet gun going off from my neighbor's backyard. I wonder if someone was being murdered. Maybe I should turn that evidence over to the police. Also, I have to go pick up my Dad from work in about an hour, so hopefully the crowd will have dispersed because my driveway is completely blocked with cops/mourners and I don't know a tactful way to say, "I'm sorry your daughter was just murdered; can you move your truck please?".

Well, of course she has to say it's the best yet. If she said, 'This movie is a complete piece of crap. Don't waste your time.' that wouldn't be good for business. The difference between Azkaban and this one is that in Azkaban, I don't think that any of the plot deviations/changes left out important plot events; they were mainly stylistic. And in that movie, they had the whole stopping time plotline which would be really hard to film in a linear way. The discrepancies in Pheonix, I think, were more detrimental to the overall plotline, as the stuff that they left out or glossed over, to me, were more important to the story than the things that Cuaron changed or cut. And I just love Alfonso Cuaron as a director so he gets a free pass anyway.

I hope he doesn't get approved. I find Cuban's antics amusing from a distance, but if they invaded baseball, my chosen sport, they would just get annoying. HeyLookAtThis!It'sHilarious!!!!!!

Here's a list of everything that was different between the movie and the book: Differences between OotP (book) and OotP (movie) Looking at the list, there seems, to me, to be a lot of stuff from the book that seems very important to the plot that wasn't included: There was some stuff that was cut that was basically just giving advancement to minor characters (Ron and Quidditch, Mrs. Weasly and the Boggart) but a lot of stuff that they cut definitely seems to figure heavily into the plot of the story. Some of the stuff that they didn't include seems to suggest that they might have to deviate even further from the book's plot in the upcoming movies, or at least make some dramatic changes to explain things.

I agree about Papi. He should go ahead and get the surgery so that he can be back 100% for the playoffs. The Sox have built a comfortable enough lead where they can afford to give the ABs to Willy Mo or somebody else. Seeing him foul that ball of his knee last nite shows what obvious pain he's in and there's no sense in risking him hurting himself further when the Sox are so far ahead, especially when he's having a 'down' year (only on pace to hit 28 HRs and drive in 100?!?!). There's gotta be a trade or a minor leaguer that the Sox can use for a month or so that won't hurt the team dramatically. Also, it's now official that Marc Cuban has applied to buy the Chicago Cubs. If he's successful, that could cause some serious inflation on the FA market.

I had thought they were going to cut Alomar when they called up Dave Williams to pitch against the 'Stros right before the ASB. I can't imagine that he'll be around after Carlos Gomez comes back from the DL, right?

The Mets are reportedly releasing Julio Franco and recalling Lastings Milledge. My Dad will be devestated; he loved Franco, for no reason other than the fact that seeing a 48-year old man still performing at a high level made him feel better about himself and his own advancing age.

The Indians have signed Travis Hafner to a 4-year/$57 million extension. I hope that now that he's got a deal in place, he'll go back to putting up big numbers; I drafted him in the second round on my fantasy team and he has not lived up to zee expectations.

Ladybird Johnson, perhaps?

I just got back from seeing the midnite showing of OotP. I found it to be the weakest of the films, but still quite good. The pacing of the movie, I thought, was generally bad, with the entire first 2/3 of the movie being a lot of plotting and talking. The last 10-15 minutes of the movie tried to fit in the last 200 pages of the book and the whole thing came off as rushed as certain 'key' elements of the book ( ) not being explained well or given what I would think to be proper justice. Other developments in the book ( ) were either hurried along or not mentioned at all. Mainly, I think this movie fails where the other movies succeeded because of the fact that, as the books progress and get longer in length and scope, it gets really hard to go over everything, even in a 2 and a half-hour movie. Also, I think David Yates is an inferior director compared to Chris Columbus, Alfonso Cuaron, and Mike Newell. Still, even though it's easily the worst of the five movies thus far, it's still a quality movie and I enjoyed it; I'm just worried about what's going to be left out or rushed in the next two movies.

Paula Cole...? Really? Ok then...

Oswalt's not available. That came from an article in the Houston Chronicle. Some reporter down here was asking him hypothetically if he would waive his no-trade clause if the team wanted to trade him to say...The Red Sox or the Braves or somebody comprable. Oswalt said that he would never request a trade, but, if the team thought it was in their best interest to trade him, he would waive his no-trade clause. However, there is absolutely no way that Oswalt will ever be traded...ever. Never. There was some stink about it on the Astros' MLB board earlier today, but whoever posted about it didn't catch that the reporter was asking him hypothetically. I also read an article today that says that Drayton McClane doesn't want to trade his big players because he's still convinced the Astros can come back and win the division. ok, cause I was told that it would be both Lidge and Oswalt and my response was "If it happened then goodbye farm system". That would literally cost Ellsbury, Bucholz, Bowden, Lars Anderson, Hansen, and Lowrie. Oswalt is not available nor will be available. However, the Red Sox were inches away from acquiring Oswalt at the trade deadline last year. They were going to flip Andruw Jones for Oswalt but couldn't shake the Braves insisting on having Lester included in any deal. That story was also fabricated at best. I believe that story came out of the Astros, last year, were trying to acquire Tejada from Baltimore and Peter Angelos was being Peter Angelos and wouldn't accept ANYBODY that Houston was going to offer. Angelos asked for Oswalt with the thinking being that they could trade Oswalt for Miggy and then flip Oswalt to the Mets for Lastings Milledge and prospects. Tim Purpura didn't accept the deal but he also didn't flat out decline it because he was hoping that the Oswalt talks would lead to a different deal for Tejada. Then the story came out from Angelos or somebody else with the Orioles that Oswalt was available so suddenly the Astros' front office was flooded with calls about him, including the one from the Sox. However, Oswalt was never actually on the table and he signed his 6-year deal with a full no-trade clause. It was all speculation and hearsay from what I understand. Now the story about Lidge being available was true and a Beckett/Lidge swap was discussed. God, how I wish that had happened.

Oswalt's not available. That came from an article in the Houston Chronicle. Some reporter down here was asking him hypothetically if he would waive his no-trade clause if the team wanted to trade him to say...The Red Sox or the Braves or somebody comprable. Oswalt said that he would never request a trade, but, if the team thought it was in their best interest to trade him, he would waive his no-trade clause. However, there is absolutely no way that Oswalt will ever be traded...ever. Never. There was some stink about it on the Astros' MLB board earlier today, but whoever posted about it didn't catch that the reporter was asking him hypothetically. I also read an article today that says that Drayton McClane doesn't want to trade his big players because he's still convinced the Astros can come back and win the division.

Thank God I didn't actually change the channel or I woulda missed the new $100 million Man Ichiro with a 2-run inside the parker. This game isn't bad at all.

I've actually enjoyed it so far. It's baseball and Junior Griffey made a really good play. I think the game would be a lot more enjoyable if it didn't count. Oh God, here comes Eric Byrnes on a boat. I'm changing the channel.

I dunno...last year was the first one I watched closely since the tie and it was pretty good drama towards the end with Hoffman on the mound and Michael Young playing hero.

I heard a rumor that this year the game actually counts. Can anyone confirm or deny? Anyway, I predict another heartbreaker for the NL like last year. The AL wins 6-4 after being down by 2 runs with 2 outs in the 9th.

I have nothing to add about the mid-season awards threads. I just wanted to point out something about run support. Roger Clemens left the Astros because he wasn't getting enough run support to go to the offensive juggernaut Yankees. Last season, his avg. run support was 3.80 runs per game. This year it's 2.90 runs per game. That's not so much about run support as it is just pointless Clemens bitching, but yeah.

AL Cy Young: Dan Haren-I'm betting Johan comes on strong in the second half and takes it, but, for now, Haren's in. NL Cy Young: Brad Penny-Really close betwixt he, Peavy, and Young. AL MVP: Magglio Ordonez-Yeah. NL MVP: Prince Fielder-Leads the league in HRs, leading the offense on a contending Brewers' team. AL ROY: Hideki Okajima-Sorry Dice-K, but Okajima is the crown jewel of the Orient this season. 43 IP/24 hits/4 ER/0.83 ERA/539 ERA+/0.831 WHIP. NL ROY: Hunter Pence-Easily. His .342 BA not only leads NL Rookies, it leads the whole National League. He's a goofy looking guy that doesn't look 'good' doing anything, but he does everything well. Leads all rookies in RBI (42), 3rd in HRs (11), 1st in doubles (23), 1st in OPS (.956), 1st in Total Bases (162), 1st in Extra Base Hits (40). Yeah, Hunter Pence wins this thing walking away. Ryan Braun, Tulowitzki, Josh Hamilton are all having good seasons, but Hunter Pence is having a better season than any rookie and a better season than a lot of non-rookies. He's been 'due for a regression' because he doesn't take a lot of walks or something else for the last month and a half, but it hasn't happened yet. His worst statistical month was June where he hit .314/.336/.542 with 11 2Bs, 2 3Bs, and 3 HRs. I'm not speaking as a homer, but I could see Hunter winning the batting title in the NL this year in addition to his ROY award. The kid's ridiculous. AL Manager of the Year: Eric Wedge NL Manager of the Year: Ned Yost