King Lear is a perfect vehicle for Kurosawa because it has to do with warring clans with different colors (Kurosawa loves playing with color), children's betrayal (perfect for Samurai films) and war (Kurosawa loves playing with motion). IMO, this is one of the best movies ever made.
Also one of my favorite film adaptations along with Polanski's Macbeth, Olivier's Hamlet and the 1950 Julius Caesar directed by Joseph Mankiewicz with Brando, Gielguld and Deborah Kerr.
Zeffirelli's Romeo & Juliet is also timeless. Every classroom deserves to have some English teacher showing that movie and then trying to block the projection of Olivia Hussey's 16 year-old bewbs being shown.
I remember someone passing out Canadian flag pins for that purpose back in the early 2000's when W was the biggest national embarrassment we could ever conceive of. Good times.
The Athletics dropped the series opener against the Texas Rangers on Tuesday evening at Sutter Health Park, falling to their division rivals 8-5 in their first matchup of the 2025 season.
On the mound to get this game started was Osvaldo Bido. Making his fifth start for the club Bido came into this game on an absolute roll. His ERA sat at an impressive 2.61 mark and the righty had gone at least five innings in each of his four outings entering tonight.
Giants let Joc Pederson walk away and he goes and tears it up at Arizona last season. Now he's playing for the Rangers on a 2-year 37 million dollar contract. He has zero RBIs, no homers, no stolen bases, one extra base hit (a double) and is currently on an 0-for-41 hitless streak. It's gone past funny to sad, even for a kid from Palo Alto.
The thing about bad baseball teams is that they spend most of their time looking like bad baseball teams. But the thing about good baseball teams is that they also spend a not-insignificant amount of time looking like bad baseball teams.
We’re still trying to determine whether the San Francisco Giants are the former or the latter, and Tuesday’s 11-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers didn’t help us make that determination, it just was a reminder that all teams have bad losses. A lot of them.
Too soon. Was at a house viewing party of A's fans - maybe 30 of us and one Dodger fan. That vision of gimpy Gibson coming to the plate against Eck, falling behind 0-2 then full count and then that hit that carried despite Gibson kinda lunging at it, and then the arm raised and that arm pump was just... ugh.
SANTA CLARA – The California softball team (31-16) came out victorious in the 3-2 contest against Santa Clara (27-17) on Tuesday at SCU Softball Stadium.
For the third time this season, California track & field first-year hammer thrower Valentina Savva has been named the ACC Women's Freshman of the Week, as announced by the conference Tuesday. Savva is now the first Cal woman to earn three conference weekly awards in the same season since fellow hammer specialist Camryn Rogers, who was named Pac-12 Women's Field Athlete of the Week three times in 2022.
BERKELEY – Senior Leah Polonsky of the California women's swimming & diving team was named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-America Second Team on Tuesday.
Polonsky, a computer science major with a 3.71 cumulative grade-point average, becomes the 13th student-athlete in program history to be named an Academic All-American. She is also a two-time CSCAA Scholar All-American and two-time selection to the Pac-12 Winter Academic Honor Roll.
Former NFL kicker and broadcast personality Jay Feely says he wants to continue kicking, this time kicking out foreigners, a few legal immigrants, and the odd American citizen or so
About one in five LGBTQ youth have attempted suicide. The Trump administration wants to slash funding for the national LGBTQ youth suicide and crisis hotline. It receives 2,100 contacts per day
while i do not think there was an actual suicide attempt, our younger one had persistent suicidal thoughts and was hospitalized for nearly 2 weeks during their sophomore year in HS.
thankfully, w/ good doctors, meds, therapy, they are on a good track, going off to college, all grown up.
i assume that they still have their tough moments but nothing that rises to that very concerning level lately.
It's been quite fortunate that the Wilcox era has coincided with Stanfurd being even worse. We've at least been afforded the joy of winning five of the last six Big Games.
The Bears have SPEED at WR this year, perhaps the fastest in a long time. Furd WR room is essentially a full rebuild. They lost their top almost all of their WR (top 7 wide receivers) and their returning production at WR is 1 catch for 7 yards.
Regardless of what else happens, Stanford has a massive TE or WR running down the middle of the field that will wreck somebody's game at some point. Like gravity and earthquakes in California, its an unalterable force of nature.
The key is to limit the surrounding damage so that it doesn't become an overwhelming occurrence.
Today is National Shakespeare Day, because while we don’t know exactly when ol’ Willy was born in April 1564, the 23rd seems like a pretty good bet.
People are encouraged to celebrate the legendary playwright by talking like Shakespeare for a day. Here are a few tips:
Instead of saying “it,” simply use the letter “t” (’tis, I’ll do’t, ’twould).
Make your verbs sing by adding “eth” to the end.
When you want to talk smack about someone, say their brain is “as dry as the remainder biscuit after a voyage.”
In the middle of a conversation, abruptly peel off and recite a monologue.
~~ i took this from the Morning Brew daily newsletter i get ~~
FAVORITE SHAKESPEARE PLAY?
King Lear, Othello, and maybe Mdisummer Night's dream. My favorite adaptation is Akira Kurosawa's version of King Lear "Ran"
King Lear is a perfect vehicle for Kurosawa because it has to do with warring clans with different colors (Kurosawa loves playing with color), children's betrayal (perfect for Samurai films) and war (Kurosawa loves playing with motion). IMO, this is one of the best movies ever made.
Also one of my favorite film adaptations along with Polanski's Macbeth, Olivier's Hamlet and the 1950 Julius Caesar directed by Joseph Mankiewicz with Brando, Gielguld and Deborah Kerr.
Zeffirelli's Romeo & Juliet is also timeless. Every classroom deserves to have some English teacher showing that movie and then trying to block the projection of Olivia Hussey's 16 year-old bewbs being shown.
Apropos: Olivia Hussey passed away 15 weeks ago
One super upset girl ran out of our freshman english class once the nudity flashed. Mid 80s, but still very hard for her to live that down...
For me Macbeth, Richard III and Henry V
Name something that is lowkey Canadian
NOT having an individualism complex
Hawaiian Pizza
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/hawaiian-pizza-origin
classic rock on EVERY radio station all the time.
Roots (athletic apparel)
canadian bag tags to flash Not-American while traveling abroad. Can only think that is going to greatly increase.
I remember someone passing out Canadian flag pins for that purpose back in the early 2000's when W was the biggest national embarrassment we could ever conceive of. Good times.
Probably something USA Americans should invest in for preventative purposes.
along with the Sorry.
Seth Rogen
Tim Horton's restaurants.
Pizza Pizza
PRO
Athletics drop series opener to Rangers 8-5
https://www.athleticsnation.com/2025/4/22/24414410/athletics-drop-series-opener-to-rangers-8-5
The Athletics dropped the series opener against the Texas Rangers on Tuesday evening at Sutter Health Park, falling to their division rivals 8-5 in their first matchup of the 2025 season.
On the mound to get this game started was Osvaldo Bido. Making his fifth start for the club Bido came into this game on an absolute roll. His ERA sat at an impressive 2.61 mark and the righty had gone at least five innings in each of his four outings entering tonight.
Dodgers can’t complete comeback, fall in extras to Cubs
https://www.truebluela.com/2025/4/22/24414279/dodgers-cubs-game-recap
The Dodgers and Cubs dueled in a back-and-forth slugfest, but it was Chicago coming away victorious 11-10 in extra innings.
Dustin May got the nod for the Dodgers, who entered with a 1.06 ERA, while lefty Shota Imanaga took the bump for the Cubs.
Giants let Joc Pederson walk away and he goes and tears it up at Arizona last season. Now he's playing for the Rangers on a 2-year 37 million dollar contract. He has zero RBIs, no homers, no stolen bases, one extra base hit (a double) and is currently on an 0-for-41 hitless streak. It's gone past funny to sad, even for a kid from Palo Alto.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.fcgi?id=pederjo01&t=b&year=2025
Guardian's David Fry is doing rehab, so his teammate Steven Kwan did a gender reveal at his at-bat on behalf of Fry and his wife
https://x.com/CleGuardians/status/1915042981704593782
2024 ass loss (Giants lose to the Blue Crew 11-3)
https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2025/4/22/24414466/giants-loss-brewers-jordan-hicks-christian-koss
The thing about bad baseball teams is that they spend most of their time looking like bad baseball teams. But the thing about good baseball teams is that they also spend a not-insignificant amount of time looking like bad baseball teams.
We’re still trying to determine whether the San Francisco Giants are the former or the latter, and Tuesday’s 11-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers didn’t help us make that determination, it just was a reminder that all teams have bad losses. A lot of them.
Name an MLB closer that was untouchable at his peak
Eck, Mariano ... except when they were (touchable)
Too soon. Was at a house viewing party of A's fans - maybe 30 of us and one Dodger fan. That vision of gimpy Gibson coming to the plate against Eck, falling behind 0-2 then full count and then that hit that carried despite Gibson kinda lunging at it, and then the arm raised and that arm pump was just... ugh.
Was going to post an ASCII picture of Gibby but the font isn't monospaced so it doesn't work.
Goose Gossage
Koji Uehara
Eric Gagne, or so it seemed to this Giants fan.
Except the one epic AB against Bonds.
Sergio Romo was untouchable as a set up man and to a lesser degree for a short time as a closer.
Rob Nen
Until the 8th inning of Game 6, 2002 World Series.
Some scars never fully heal.
Well, yes. That being the last game he ever pitched, I would argue that his peak lasted until the day before game 6.
ESPN does long-form on pitchers who collect (and sometimes fail to collect) new pitches
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/44783370/mlb-2025-pitchers-failed-new-pitches-aces-sweeper-slider
A long-form article about the Sacramento A's
https://www.theringer.com/2025/04/22/mlb/sacramento-athletics-faustian-bargain-john-fisher-vivek-ranadive-las-vegas
CAL
[SB] Cal Closes Nonconference Slate In Winning Fashion
https://calbears.com/news/2025/4/22/softball-cal-closes-nonconference-slate-in-winning-fashion.aspx
SANTA CLARA – The California softball team (31-16) came out victorious in the 3-2 contest against Santa Clara (27-17) on Tuesday at SCU Softball Stadium.
[T&F] Savva Earns Third ACC Weekly Honor
https://calbears.com/news/2025/4/22/track-field-savva-earns-third-acc-weekly-honor.aspx
For the third time this season, California track & field first-year hammer thrower Valentina Savva has been named the ACC Women's Freshman of the Week, as announced by the conference Tuesday. Savva is now the first Cal woman to earn three conference weekly awards in the same season since fellow hammer specialist Camryn Rogers, who was named Pac-12 Women's Field Athlete of the Week three times in 2022.
We are the UNIVERSITY OF THROWIN' AND ROWIN'
Ax (or hammer) throwing near a boat that could sink? What could go wrong?
[WSWIM] Polonsky Named CSC Academic All-American
https://calbears.com/news/2025/4/22/polonsky-named-csc-academic-all-american.aspx
BERKELEY – Senior Leah Polonsky of the California women's swimming & diving team was named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-America Second Team on Tuesday.
Polonsky, a computer science major with a 3.71 cumulative grade-point average, becomes the 13th student-athlete in program history to be named an Academic All-American. She is also a two-time CSCAA Scholar All-American and two-time selection to the Pac-12 Winter Academic Honor Roll.
impressive, particularly for her major!
Go Bears!!!
From the Front Page.
Jonathan Brady in the portal
https://writeforcalifornia.com/p/cal-wr-jonathan-brady-transfer-portal
Of course....
Fun fact: We've got the Axe!
POLITICS
Deepfake Hesgeth is [chefskiss.gif]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc-GNWBf6vY
On a related note about Hesgeth's crusade against transgender servicepeople, he's ordered a makeup room for himself at the Pentagon
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hegseth-orders-makeup-studio-installed-pentagon/
Former NFL kicker and broadcast personality Jay Feely says he wants to continue kicking, this time kicking out foreigners, a few legal immigrants, and the odd American citizen or so
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/44804971/jay-feely-run-house-representatives-arizona
I saw this last night. Parts of it read like The Onion.
Great. Now they're advertising their racial hatred on international TV.
https://www.eleconomista.com.mx/amp/internacionales/sheinbaum-pide-televisoras-retirar-anuncio-migracion-secretaria-kristi-noem-20250421-755682.html
About one in five LGBTQ youth have attempted suicide. The Trump administration wants to slash funding for the national LGBTQ youth suicide and crisis hotline. It receives 2,100 contacts per day
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/04/national-suicide-hotline-lgbtq-youth-cuts-rfk-jr-hhs/
while i do not think there was an actual suicide attempt, our younger one had persistent suicidal thoughts and was hospitalized for nearly 2 weeks during their sophomore year in HS.
thankfully, w/ good doctors, meds, therapy, they are on a good track, going off to college, all grown up.
i assume that they still have their tough moments but nothing that rises to that very concerning level lately.
Every day I look at the news and there's something else to infuriate me and the bastard's only been president for three months.
Everyday these MAGA folks tell us how reprehensible they are, how sick they are, and how cruel they are. Why is this tolerated?
Trump caves. I expect him to declare "victory" somehow
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/22/trump-china-tariffs
So much winning....
ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE
Here is the list of the Stanfurd Cardinal QBs on their roster
Elijah Brown
Myles Jackson
Charlie Mirer
and this guy
https://x.com/Stanford_247/status/1914481787147043239
Stanfurd has the following amount of college QB experience on roster: 28 of 48 attempts for 274 yards (2 TD, 3 INT)
Cal has 33 of 67 for 388 yards (3, 1)
It's been quite fortunate that the Wilcox era has coincided with Stanfurd being even worse. We've at least been afforded the joy of winning five of the last six Big Games.
Advantage Bears? Caution, EXTREMELY small sample size.
The Bears have SPEED at WR this year, perhaps the fastest in a long time. Furd WR room is essentially a full rebuild. They lost their top almost all of their WR (top 7 wide receivers) and their returning production at WR is 1 catch for 7 yards.
But, they probably have a TE running down the middle of the field that we won't cover. But will they have a QB that can throw the ball to him?
Regardless of what else happens, Stanford has a massive TE or WR running down the middle of the field that will wreck somebody's game at some point. Like gravity and earthquakes in California, its an unalterable force of nature.
The key is to limit the surrounding damage so that it doesn't become an overwhelming occurrence.
Underthrown and turned into a pick six.
DBD AV CLUB