The cinematic for the upcoming Beatles Rock Band game is very cool: great visual style that grows with the band as it summarizes their entire career in under 3 minutes. The LA Times had a good article about it, breaking down some of the imagery and metaphors in it.

Somewhat-hidden in the cinematic are numerous "placements" of Beatles songs: Handbills mention "Come Together," "Benefit of Mr. Kite," "Rocky Racoon" [sic], "Maggie Mae," "Carry That Weight," and others. The group runs down the street past Maxwell's Silver Sundries into a pub, which has the "Mean Mr. Mustard" lyrics scrawled over the door, the all day breakfast price of "1 & 1 is 2" (but shouldn't that be "1 & 1 & 1 is 3"? Nope...see update below), and menu items like "Honey Pies" and "Savoy Truffle." In the car-turned-plane Ringo has a box of goodies from Strawberry Fields Farms, and dashing onstage you see a typewriter and paper on the ground while "Paperback Writer" plays. A lot of little details are in this very detailed mini-movie.



Update: This blog has a much more detailed annotation of the cinematic — there's way more than I had originally noticed. Also, "One and One is Two" is an old song I never heard of; I was thinking it was a misquoted lyric from "Come Together" ... of course Harmonix would never make such an easy mistake!

"A love of baseball plus a love of infographics equals Flip Flop Fly Ball." Flip Flop Fly Ball has some interesting baseball-related infographics, including Green Monster (comparing the size of Fenway's left field wall), Ballpark Orientation (the direction batters face at each stadium) and Major League Fields (ballpark shapes).

An eventful few days makes Brian & Hilary future spouses and future homeowners. Big congratulations to both of them!

When we go on vacations and getaways (especially in New England) I always like to hit up fancy chocolate shops. Turns out there's some quality handmade chocolates right nearby. If you're in the Bridgewater area and have grown loath of ordinary confections, get over to Skinner's Sugar House. Damn, that's some tasty stuff! (Made a great Father's Day gift, too.)

This is probably going take me to another level of Apple/CSS nerdery, but so be it. (I can't be that bad since this has been around for years and I'm only noticing it now.) In the HTML code for Apple's website they have class="sosumi" for the copyright style. Fellow Apple nerds recognize the hilarity of using a system sound name for the copyright.

And yes, I know:

On the train ride I accidentally discovered an unknown (to me) feature in Klondike on the iPod. Sometimes I'm a little too click-happy and wished I could undo a move. As it turns out, you can: to undo the last move, just click and hold the select button for three seconds. (To keep you from cheating too much, the game only allows one undo.)

I don't mean to turn my site into a baseball blog, but when the Yanks and Sox play (especially when they're so close in the standings) I obviously pay closer attention to the games. I'm glad the Sox won last night, but I can't help but think the Yankees could've easily taken it if they didn't leave Mariano Rivera sitting in the bullpen. He wasn't really needed in the first two games (they never had a lead to protect) but last night it was bottom of the 8th inning with New York ahead 3-1.

Despite throwing 120+ pitches C.C. Sabathia was left in to pitch. I understand that: he was pitching well and there isn't much of a bullpen behind him. After a walk and a few hits to score a run and make it 3-2, there's now no outs with Sox on first and second, and manager Joe Girardi decides to go to his bullpen. With Kevin Youkilis and Jason Bay -- the best hitters on the Sox (and, lately, in the entire AL) -- coming up, rather than bring in Mariano Rivera he chooses Alfredo Aceves. Two more hits and a sac fly, now the Sox lead 4-3 and Rivera basically has the night off.

I'm sure sabermetric Yankee fans were pulling their hair out last night. Rather than use their "bullpen ace" to try to stop the Sox in the heart of their order, Rivera sits in the bullpen so he could pitch the 9th and get another save. A "closer" should be a "relief ace" used when he's most needed any time towards the end of the game instead of only being allowed to pitch the 9th inning. By not getting out of the 8th inning without further damage, it made the 9th inning irrelevant: "Theeeeeeeeee Yankees lose!" and no 15th save for Mo.

Surviving Grady brought this to my attention last month but I didn't mention it here. With Wake's start against the Yankees tonight, I figured now's a good a time as any to mention that Buffalo Tom's Bill Janovitz wrote and recorded "The Ballad of Tim Wakefield". It's not exactly coming-out-of-the-bullpen theme music, but as far as I know it's the only song about a knuckleball pitcher.

Almost a full year after officially starting my own business, I've finally found the time to launch a site that's more than a single page of info.

You can visit the site at kieranchapmandesign.com and then hire me!

When great ones go, it might hurt us more than it does them by Bill Simmons (ESPN)

Watching Papi flounder now, I'd believe he's really 36 or 37 (not 33) before I'd believe PEDs are responsible. In a recent game in Minnesota, he couldn't catch up to an 89 mph fastball. Repeat: 89 mph!

That's what happens to beefy sluggers on their way out: Their knees go, they stiffen up, bat speed slows and, in the blink of an eye, they're done. Beefy sluggers are like porn stars, wrestlers, NBA centers and trophy wives: When it goes, it goes. You know right away.

Whatever the reason, it's a real bummer watching Ortiz come to bat this year. He's got so much goodwill with Sox fans that people haven't called for him to be benched, but I think the next few weeks are his last chance to prove he can still hit.