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This news is so 15 minutes ago, but it's a bummer to hear that disco legend Donna Summer has died. She
was 63.
That dress rocks.
A backup singer for Three Dog Night, Summer was a monster hit in the '70s cranking out hits such as the very controversial "Love to Love You Baby" which by today's standards would be on a Saturday morning cartoon show.
And then there is this winner:
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Rex Kramer: Flying a plane is no different than riding a bicycle, just a lot harder to put baseball cards in the spokes.
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FORT WORTH - The search for the best burger in the world takes us now to a convenient store. On the window of Ray's Grill it reads "Voted Best Burger". Looks legitimate enough.
It reminds me of the scene in "Elf" when Will Ferrell's character, Buddy, finds the world's best cup of coffee.
The interior of this place is an actual convenient store.
The man behind the counter was very gracious, and assured me that as a first-time customer I had to order the burger.
Was not disappointed. Ray's is a "complete", inexpensive burger experience. The beef itself is fine, but with the soft bun mashed down and with pickles, lettuce, tomato, cheese and mayo the whole thing is what a cheap burger should be: Greasy, a little messy, and good. The fries, which are well seasoned, are a solid addition.
This is not a high end burger experience, like a Salsa Fuego, but Ray's is large step above McDonalds or another fast food joint. Stop here before one of those places.
Ray's Corner Store Burgers
1945 8th Ave, Fort Worth, TX 76110
817-924-9461
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Time to think outside of the sports comparison box, and that means Yu Darvish is not to be compared with another Japanese import. The Big Mac Blog is looking to Mexico for the last time a rookie kicked this much MLB tail this early.
Texas Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish is 6-1 with a 2.60 ERA after going 7 2/3 innings and allowing 1 run with 7 Ks against the Oakland A's on Wednesday night in Arlington.
The last time the MLB was this impressed by an import pitcher was a Mexican teenager with the L.A. Dodgers in Fernando Valenzuela. Fernando may have had a weird delivery, and a bit of a gut, but he was a great athlete. He was also pitching in the National League in more of a pitcher's era.
When he broke into the bigs with the Dodgers in 1980 he did so as a 19-year-old reliever. In his first full year, in 1981, Fernando was a starter and finished 13-7 with a 2.48 ERA with a staggering 11 complete games and eight shutouts.
As impressive as Yu's start is, Fernando's was brilliant.
Yu Darvish's first eight starts:
1. 4/9 v. Sea, 5/2 ip, 8 hits, 1 er, 4 BB, 5 K W, 11-5 (1-0)
2. 4/14 at Min, 5.2 ip, 9 hits, 2 er, 4 BB, 4 K W, 6-2 (no decision)
3. 4/19 at Det, 6.1 ip, 2 hits, 1 er, 5 BB, 5 K W 10-3 (2-0)
4. 4/24 v. NYY 8.1 ip, 7 hits, 0 er, 2 BB, 10 K W 2-0 (3-0)
5. 4/30 at Tor, 7 ip, 4 hits, 1 er, 2 BB, 9 K W 4-1 (4-0)
6. 5/6 at Cle, 6 ip, 5 hits, 3 er, 4 BB, 11 K L 4-2 (4-1)
7. 5/11 at Angels, 5.1 ip, 3 hits, 3 er, 3 BB, 7 K W 10-3 (5-1)
8. 5/16 v. A's, 7.2 ip, 4 hits, 1 er, 2 BB, 7 K W W 3-1 (6-1)
Fernando Valenzuela's first 8 MLB starts (in 1981)
1. 4/9 v. Astros 9 ip, 5 hits, 0 er, 2 BB, 5 K W, 2-0 (1-0; shutout)
2. 4/14 at SF Giants 9 ip, 4 hits, 1 er, 2 BB, 10 K W, 7-1 (2-0; complete game)
3. 4/18 at Padres 9 ip, 5 hits, 0 er, 0 BB, 10 K W, 2-0 (3-0; shutout)
4. 4/22 at Astros 9 ip, 7 hits, 0 er, 3 BB, 11 K W, 1-0 (4-0, shutout)
5. 4/27 SF Giants 9 ip, 7 hits, 0 er, 4 BB, 7 K W, 5-0 (5-0, shutout)
6. 5/3 at Expos 9 ip, 5 hits, 1 er, 0 BB, 7 K W, 6-1 (6-0, complete game)
7. 5/8 at NY Mets 9 ip, 7 hits, 0 er, 5 BB, 11 K W, 1-0 (7-0, shutout)
8. 5/14 v. Expos W 9 ip, 3 hits, 2 er, 1 BB, 7 K W, 3-2 (8-0, complete game)
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This is a relatively new site, and now offers free Apps for your iPhone, other Mac products, and the Droid is coming.
Don't expect Netflix, but it is free. This site isn't loaded with familiar titles; it says it's most popular releases are "Easy", "Dead Tone", "24th Day" and "Cyborg 3: The Recycler", etc. Again, let me remind this is a free site.
One of the founders of Popcornflix, Gary Delfiner, is what he calls himself a "recovering movie producer". Delfiner is the senior VP for Screen Media Ventures, which runs Popcornflix. He was on the groundfloor of Aaron Spelling's distribution on video if Beverly Hills 90210 and Twin Peaks.
He recently made a stop by The Big Mac Blog to talk about the future of home entertainment.
The Big Mac Blog: In terms of the price of going to see a movie, or paying for it for home viewing, are we apt to see a spike?
Gary Defliner: My platform is free, and that's a good price we think. There is no barrier to watch. It's all ad revenue. The other services like iTunes or Netflix, have great models. The ability for one price and all you can eat is a service people want.
Where we are going is more specialized services. You may see an all opera service, or an all foreign films service. But in terms of price point, this is right where it's going to be. In some cases it's going to go up, and in some cases down but it's going to be incremental.
The Big Mac Blog: Can you see a day when a movie theatre is obsolete?
Gary Delfiner: No, but I see a can when it's changed even more. You are going to pay for more of a first class seat like you would get on an airlines. You are going to see fewer and fewer multi plexes, but the theater experience will always be around. But you are going to see more digital, and more films delivered by satellite.
The Big Mac Blog: Then what should we expect from Hollywood in the next 10 years?
Gary Delfiner: More fragmentation. You are already seeing it in that there is a fairly big gap between The Transformers and The Avengers and everything else. After day 1 of Avengers, the studio announced two and three.
The other thing is I don't use good or bad to describe a movie. I say relevant, not good, not bad. Relevant. Good or bad no longer have any value from my point of view as a person in a company that is on the cutting edge of this business. There is so much content, and so few barriers for entry, that what you need is relevant content. Are you producing something that a big audience wants to see that supports the business model?
The Big Mac Blog: Considering that, what movie made 20 years ago would never be made today?
Gary Delfiner: Something with a big star, like Julia Roberts, "Eat, Pray, Love". That would never find an audience today.
The Big Mac Blog: That was just a couple of years ago.
Gary Delfiner: Right, and it didn't have an audience then. The expensive, $50 million drama wouldn't be made today. Big action? You bet your life. An explotation movie? Bet your life. The technology is driving the business model.
The Big Mac Blog: In terms of your site, Hulu, Netflix and others, what can they do that they aren't already?
Gary Delfiner: Sites like Hulu and Netflix are doing this now and creating their own content. Why do I keep HBO? Because I like Game of Thrones. I'm willing to pay the freight on HBO because that (hour) is worth it to me. People are going to pay for what they want to watch.
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DALLAS - Call Dallas Stars head coach Glen Gulutzan an expert on the L.A. Kings and Phoenix Coyotes, a tiny bit less so regarding the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils.
He saw the Kings and Coyotes about 100 times during the regular season. He saw the Devils twice and the Rangers once.
These are the NHL's Final Four. Glen is going with the New York Rangers to win this thing.
"(LA Kings coach Darryl Sutter's) system is to hunt. They are going to hunt you until they beat you. That is what they are doing right now," Gulutzan said. "They are putting on pressure until they are wearing you down. ...
"Just looking at this, the Rangers have more depth than anybody else. So if it's the Rangers/L.A. I just think, if you go past the first two lines of L.A., the bottom two lines the Rangers can put out a better bottom two lines. If it gets into a real grind, two-way hockey series, the Rangers have more. And the Rangers have Henrik Lundqvist, and the Kings have Jonathan Quick, so that's a wash. It's going to come down to depth."
An L.A vs. New York Stanley Cup Finals, after which Gary Bettman should immediately retire. Never will his league enjoy higher ratings.
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Steve McCroskey: Looks like I picked the wrong week to amphetamines.
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In the first move of what should be one of the busiest summers in recent memory for the Dallas Mavericks, the team re-signed "free agent" head coach Rick Carlisle to a new contract today.
Had to be done. He wins. A lot.
Per Star-Telegram Mavs' "man" Dwain Price, this is a four-year deal. Carlisle was paid $4.5 million last season.
Despite radically different rosters with the Pistons, Pacers and Mavericks, Carlisle consistently wins games. He is 479-325 in his career with an NBA title.
How much more successful he will be with the Mavs for the forseeable future largely depends on what other moves are made this summer.
Hopefully Carlisle has a "Deron Williams" out clause in his contract, or something to that effect. As good of a head coach as Carlisle is, this is a player's league. If the Mavs don't acquire a D-Will, or another high caliber scorer and a more legit interior presence, Carlisle won't make it the duration of this deal.
Keeping Carlisle around is a positive first step for the Mavs this offseason, but now it's time to start adding players.
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DALLAS - Picking just one scene from "Old School" is almost as tough as finding a wide-audience hook for rhythmic gymastics. Mathematical impossibility.
But Will Ferrell's performance as a rhythmic gymnast in Old School may be comic genius, it sadly won't win gold.
According to U.S. women's rhythmic gymnast Julie Zetlin, Ferrell bombed.
"People ask me about that all the time: 'Do you do what Will Ferrell did in 'Old School'?" she said. "He was very, very bad. Let's just put it this way - I don't run around swinging my ribbon all over the place and flailing my legs and arms everywhere. I'd love to have a conversation (with Ferrell) about that scene."
Doesn't matter. Ferrell needs a spot on the U.S. rhythmic gymnastics team. Ratings record.
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DALLAS - In the movie "Lethal Weapon" Mel Gibson plays Martin Riggs, an LA cop and Vietnam Vet who says early in the film: "When I was 19, I did a guy in Laos from a thousand yards out. It was a rifle shot in high wind. Maybe eight or even ten guys in the world could have made that shot. It's the only thing I was ever good at."
I posed such a scenario today to U.S. military squad leader, expert marksmen, and paralympic shooter, Josh Olson. Is what Martin Riggs' claimed to have done actually possible?
"Oh yeah. I've done that," Olson said. "With technology now, we have seven different shooting teams in the Army and one of them, that's what they do - they shoot at great distances. Those guys do it with iron sights all day long. They are hitting that target (he makes a very small box with his hands) at 1,000 yards."
ME: So you could do it?
Josh Olson: Yeah.
ME: You could be Mel Gibson?
Josh Olson: I'm better than that.
In fairness to Martin Riggs, the movie was released in 1987 and he was a Vietnam Vet. Totally different equipment.
Olson enlisted in the military in 1997, and was a squad commander in 2003 in Iraq. In October of that year, Olson's squad was hit by an RPG attack.
"I remember a white flash out of the corner of my eye. It felt like I had the wind knocked out of me," he said.
He was put in a medically induced coma, and transported to Walter Reed Hospital in D.C. He woke up eight days after the attack, and his lower right leg had been removed.
"When I woke up there was my family, and I said, 'What are you doing here? It's not safe,'" Olson said. "I didn't even know I was in the hospital. I thought I was still back in Iraq."
During his 18-month stay in the hospital, Olson was awarded his Purple Heart by President George W. Bush. Olson was already a good shot, and eventually found his way to the U.S. Paralympic team.
He still has his spot in the military as an active member.
"It just got passed that we now have 24 new spots for wounded veterans to stay on active duty and become comptetive marksmen and marksmen instructors," Olson said. "Through my injury and hard work of myself and my teammates we just created 24 new jobs that were never there before."
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