Signs of life?

Did you know... that Jorge Posada is hitting .230/.330/.460 this season vs RHP?

That's not good for a DH, but hey... it's not hopeless. Over his last 24 at-bats, he has 8 hits (3 doubles), for a .333 BA and .583 SLG. And add in seven walks over that span, and that's an OBP close to .500.

Maybe there's still some life left in the old man's bat, at least against right-handed pitching. Luckily, Andruw Jones is putting up an .861 OPS vs LHP.

It's the end of the world as we know it...

Supposedly, the end of the world begins at 6 p.m. Lots of people, including Anderson Cooper, have said "I don't know if that's Eastern time or Pacific time." Well, I do. Supposed prophet Harold Camping is quoted in this article saying it is 6 p.m. in each local time zone. It's a "rolling rapture" apparently.

Christmas Island -- how appropriate, I guess -- is the "latest time zone" according to this site. And it's now... Saturday, 6:12 p.m. on Christmas Island, and apparently all is well. I guess no apocalypse tonight. I guess just to be safe he has until Saturday at midnight before people start saying he's wrong.

He was wrong once before, in 1994. I guess he'll just break out the Bible and the calculator and come up with a new date. I doubt he'll be around in 17 years to see the next one though, as he's 89.

So what was the point? It's not like he wanted to drum up attention for his church -- the guy has been a laughingstock for a month. If he's right, his church is irrelevant (because all true believers are in heaven). If he's wrong, everyone knows he's a joke. So it couldn't have been publicity.

Could it have been... money? This article says he raised $18 million in donations... just in one year, 2009. Who knows how much he raised last year and this year. I suppose it's easy to raise money from people who think the world is about to end.

Pretty amazing that a guy who not only predicts bullshit, but predicts bullshit twice, can raise that much money!

Anyway... how many bars are going to be playing that R.E.M. song above over the next 24 hours? Boring!

If you're looking for a song to go out on, how about "Rapture" by Blondie:



(Is that Flavor Flav?! No... no it isn't.)

If the earthquakes actually start, though, sign me up for Pink Floyd.

How awesome is this?

I'm sure this took a tremendous amount of time... and you know what? It was well worth it.



Apparently this has become quite the meme. There's a Lord of the Rings version, an Inglourious Basterds version and a Dark Knight version. And of course, you can't have a meme without Hitler reacting to it.

'The Killing' -- it's not what you think

Once again, a marketing department does its best to chase away the right audience from a promising new show.

After seeing the commercials for AMC's The Killing on heavy rotation, I assumed it wasn't a show for me. It looked like it was some kind of Law & Order: SVU rip-off... cops tracking down the serial killer of the week.

It's not that at all.

The Killing isn't a typical police procedure, more like a mystery novel. It unfolds slowly, even though the two-hour pilot takes place over a single day. Think Mystic River, not SVU or CSI.

The pilot is re-airing Sunday at 8 p.m. (followed by the second episode at 10 o'clock). Ignore the commercials; if you like a good mystery, give it a try.

Um... really?

I was hoping this was an April Fool's Day prank. Alas, it's still with us on April 2.



So let me get this straight. An institute of higher education -- the university that runs around proclaiming itself THE State University of New Jersey, even though there are other state universities in New Jersey -- not only pays $32,000 to an idiot, but to an idiot who has become rich and famous for trashing our state's reputation to the world. And an idiot who isn't even from New Jersey, no less.

Rutgers University's defense is that the university didn't invite her to speak there -- some students did. And the students paid for her two-hour appearance themselves, not using university funds.

If this is truly the case, then all I can say is: It's time to up your admission standards. Set the bar somewhere above moron, please.

Why 4th is 5th

It doesn't mean much, but sportswriters keep calling Ivan Nova the fourth starter and Freddy Garcia the fifth starter. But when the season opens, I think you'll see a rotation with Garcia followed by Nova.

This doesn't mean I think Garcia is better than Nova. I'm just remembering something that the sportswriters have apparently forgotten -- the Yankees in recent years have been very careful with young arms. The 24-year-old Nova pitched 187 innings last year, but just 42 of those came in the big leagues. By making Nova the #5, they can skip him periodically throughout the year, saving some innings for September.

The strange progression of 'Lights Out'

I really like Lights Out. I better enjoy it now, because the ratings don't make a second season likely.

The conventional wisdom surrounding the late and lamented Terriers was that FX's marketing department didn't do it any favors with a minimalist, avant-garde ad campaign that usually just featured a little snarling dog. That, and the title, convinced a lot of people it was a show about dogs, not private investigators.

Lights Out went the other way, with an ad campaign that made clear it was all about boxing... lots and lots of boxing.



But if you watched the first few episodes, there was hardly any boxing. It was mostly about a family man with financial problems, struggling to find a way to keep up his million-dollar lifestyle even though he can no longer do the only thing he was ever good at -- being a boxer.

So, once again, a problem for FX's marketing department. If you're a fan of boxing, you saw those commercials and tuned in -- only to see a compelling family drama with just a dash of boxing mixed in. If you don't like boxing, you didn't give the show a try -- and likely missed out.

So who is watching it? I guess weirdos like me who like shows about boxing but also like shows about family dramas.

But the last few episodes, Lights Out has turned into a series mostly about boxing, with the family stuff there but increasingly playing a smaller role. It's as if it's finally caught up to the initial ad campaign. Hopefully some of the boxing fans will come back.

Assuming there are enough boxing fans left in the world to make a difference, anyway.