"It's Always Wild in Philadelphia"

once again our fearless fighting Phils are in a Wildcard race again, and for the most part no one seems to care. I recall last year all excited when it was down the wire over Duke's. No one there aside from Jason cared, or even knew. This year it's a bit better, but I am sure once the Eagles start the real season they will get all the headlines and 610 airtime.

At any rate not only to the Phils still have a leigit shot at a wildcard spot, Ryan Howard is poised to set a single season homerun record for the ballclub. Howard knocked out his 45th.

The blast put Howard in a tie for third place with Mike Schmidt (1979) on Philadelphia's single-season home run list. Jim Thome is next with 47 (2003), then Schmidt again with 48 in 1980.


Cincinnati
67 62.519
-
Philadelphia
65 63 .508 1.5
San Diego
65 63 .508 1.5
Arizona
63 65 .492 3.5
San Francisco
63 66 .488 4.0
Milwaukee
62 66 .484 4.0

"Flying Phils"

In case you havent seen it yet here is the footage of Rowand and Chase running into each other. Here is it.

"Twas the Night Before Doomsday"

August 22nd is supposedly a much feared day of terrorist attack. Thats a lovely thought. Apperently something "major" is going to happen. I can't help but shake a feeling recently that there is going to be an attack gain on US soil. Maybe the whole foiled plot last week got me thinking of it or that fact that its coming up on 5 years since 9/11. Read here to see why people a lot smarter than me think something big is coming. http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=nation_world&id=4483263. Its been 5 years, for most people 9/11 might as well not have happened, not that we should live in a contant state of fear, but at the same time I think the terrorists will eventually find a weak link.

"No Liberman Is an Island"

So, Joe Liberman lost the nomination from the democrats, so he is just saying he will run as an independent. The democrats were happy to see him lose because, they were basically throwing him under the boss for his pro-war stance. Although, he has come out and said he supports the war, but we really screwed up when we carried out the plans.

Oddly enough Hillary Clinton who is pro-war didn't get merely as much heat as Liberman (who John Kerry called the new Dick Cheney today) which doesn't make sense to me. Certainly if they want everyone to toe the line, because that makes for stronger machine even if that means throwing independent thought out of the window.

I really do respect what Liberman is doing, and I wish more presidential candidates would do that. I never understood how for months they could be telling us how badly they wanted to lead this country, than after losing the backing of their political party they throw in the towel and crumble like a drakes coffee cake.

A few of my democrat friends felt Kerry was a weaker candidate than people he beat out. Yeah, I know all the money is gone once you lose the backing from your party, but what kind of message does that send? I imagine most these guys hope that they get another crack in another 4 years, but how many people keep running and losing anyway? Hell, the movie studio barely had to spend a dime on Snakes on a plane to promote it. It was all internet buzz.

Can't some smart minded guy (good quality for a leader of the most powerful nation in the world) who doesn't have silver spoon in is mouth or tons of money win an election by means of the new media? Get support from bloggers, and give a different voice? Instead we are stuck with guys like Kerry who were having their strings pulled by all their advisors, pollsters, and money men, he really didn't come into his own till after he lost the election.

Having someone break away from a party would provide them the freedom to not have to walk on eggs shells and toe the line on all the issues. It doesn't have to be a two party system. Considering the millions and millions of people in the country, Id hope we could find more than two people to choice from. Maybe, things will change by '08, but I doubt it. I m sure we will be stuck with the same thing, people treating political parties like sports teams. Cheering their own and booing the opponent. Mindlesslessly pushing their chad all the way through simply based on the letter next to their name. Even in many cases when they admit they don't like the candidate.

"It is a Small Cyber World After All"

So, a girl in the department at work came into the office on a Monday morning awhile back telling us all she had been swept off her feet by the greatest guy ever. She met him at some bar in Philly. Everything was perfect, she even told us if he asked she would have moved to Florida for him. You see, the dude was in the Navy and had to ship out after a long weekend in Philly.

Anyway, the poor girl committed the sin of modern dating. She never goggled the guy! Her friend pointed this out to her Monday morning. A quick search came up with a site made by his proud dad. However, quite much to her surprise, the picture of him was of him and his lovely wife. A farther search revealed a MYSPACE account with pictures of his little baby boy.

Anyway, I will be honest with you. I had no idea what MYSPACE even was till earlier this summer. I heard people talk about it, and obsess about it. I guess I should have known more since my Ex had one, and talked about it all the time. Maybe, I should have been concerned about all the "Myspace" dudes that wanted to be her friend? But even still the whole trend didnt appeal to me. You see the point of it is for people to use the spot on the internet to the the whole world their life story or what they are up to, and who they know.

The goal for some people is, is simply to find more "myspace friends". You can approve or disapprove friends. This way you can have links to tons of strangers and post comments on whether or not people are hot or not. You also post strange pictures back and forth to one another.

I spent a whole night on there once, and found tons of people that I know on there. Not to mention people I haven't seen in years. It kind of felt strange by doing a search by my highschool. With a simple click of the button I could find out what all these people I don't talk to anymore are up to.

Most pictures of girls on there are of them with their lowest cut shirts on, or drunk or high some place. Some MYSPACE people put all kinds of information on there it makes you wonder if anyone can blame "Big Brother" for being the one showing the world their private information.

I really spend time looking at peoples MYSPACE pages, and I have to say I simply don't get it. Its so huge, and I just don't see the appeal. I guess lots of guys do it to try to get laid. I guess its nice since its free and easy, but I still don't see how it gripped an entire world's free time. I don't I guess I shouldn't talk since I have a webblog. Although it never lead me to pictures of girls dressed like sluts.

I seriously think the next election should be done on MYSPACE. Whoever gets the most myspace friends wins. At least if someone was sitting at their computer and they got a friend request from Hillary Clinton or Jeb Bush they would be more likely to ROCK THE VOTE in 2008 than having to go out and interact with actual humans.

I don't mean to upset anyone by this post who holds their MYSPACE page dear to their heart. I am usually way behind on hot trends anyway. I have to go now, I have to feed my Giga pet.

"The Return of Tucker's World"

Well I was down the shore for a week and had no internet during that time. So, that is why there was no updates. But rest assured both my readers Tucker's World is back! Let's see what happened since I last blog. Hmmm.. The whole World War III, got worse. The Phillies were in and out of the wild card race about half a dozen times. Rico retired. The new season of the sopranos was pushed off again. What else did we learn? Mel Gibson only hates Jewish people when he drinks. Everyone is excited about the upcoming movie Snakes on a Plane, which could be one of the biggest movies of the summer. Oh, yeah a bunch of terrorists almost blew up a bunch of planes, but the bleeding hearts are still pissed that the government wants to listen in on our phone conversations.

What, else what else, what else...oh yeah. I keep finding Spiders in my apartment. What is up with that? Okay, I know its summer and there is a lot of woods near where I live. But, even still it seems like every morning I kill a spider before most people have their first cup of coffee.

I mean it would not be such a big deal if it was the same kind of spider. Like, oh maybe Tucker just has a huge family of spiders living with him. But thats not the case, they are like all different kinds. Big ones, hair ones, green ones, long legged ones. I came home from work the other day and there was actually a camera man from the Discovery Channel was filming aspider in my bathroom.

He was saying excitingly into the camera.

"Wow I have never seen a this species before!"

Anyway both my readers, Tucker's World is back.

"Stop It Right There!"

Dorny won't be in the booth the coming season for the Flyers. He "retired" and got some lame ass office job with the Flyers. Keith Jones will take his place in the booth. The Flyers kick off the preseason in about a month and a half! Go to http://www.philadelphiaflyers.com/ for the update on Jones and Dorny. Dorny will be missed.

"Heath Ledger: The Joker.

So Warner Brothers said today that they have cast Heath Leadger as the Joker in the sequel to Batman Begins. I have only seen two of his movies, and he is a pretty good actor. But, I just can't picture this guy pulling it off.

"City of Bloody Hate"

Philly has gotten totally out of control. Murders are out of hand and after the 226 homocide Mayor Street has finally decided to do something about it. Now young people gunning each other down isn't anything new for our neighbors across the Delaware. However this is an 8 % increase in murders over last year.

Philly is trying to cool off the killing by hiring 200 more police officers.

They are actually going as far as to install cameras at certain communites (wonder if they will just shoot them out anyway). This comes a year after National Geographic named PHilly "The Next Great City" and during their bid for future Summer Oylmpics.

At this points many residents are scared, because quite a few of the murders were just people caught in the cross fire. What is even more upsetting is the ages of all the people. IF you read in the papers they are mostly 16-21.

Just people killing people.

With the 3rd heatwave of the season here now, it is likely going to put tensions up even higher.

"Classic Conan"

http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=3740421 Here are some classic Conan O brien videos. When you are done with the first one, make sure you watch Conan's car and Cat accountants.

"Sal is No Longer Our Pal"

I guess now I don't have a good reason to grow a handle bar mustache anymore.....http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060722&content_id=1569573&vkey=news_phi&fext=.jsp&c_id=phi. How many days before Mike "Leave them on" (as Jay calls him) gets hurt again?

"No end in Sight"

The heat just wont stop...Record heat in LA, hot everywhere still!

"Now Europe Roasts!"

Global Warming has gone EXTREME! Buy a home in the midwest before becomes beach front property! Read alllllll about it! More Records broken! Hopefully Al Gore can smash the sun bettween his hands.

"Roasting US"

48 of 50 states hit 90 or above. Highs in South Jersey came close to 100. No end in sight...

"Is Weezer Done?"

iIt certainly sounds like it. I guess Rivers is getting up there for the Weezer type music. I can see him releasing a really lame solo albumn in like 3 years. I wish I had seen them in a better venue than from 50 miles away at the Tweeter Center. I mean it was fun and all, but I would have liked to be closer. I was told the played at the electric factory once (might have been the other small philly concert place) and it rocked. RIP Weezer 1993-2006. Read here http://www.comcast.net/entertainment/index.jsp?cat=ENTERTAINMENT&fn=/2006/07/13/433631.html Okay everyone top 5 Weezer songs ever.

"Killer Klowns"

Not from outer space....but its a fun way to get your summer kicks I guess. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003121207_insaneclowns12m.html

"Super Flop"

Its official after this weekends totals came in Superman Returns is a huge flop. Superman Returns" slipped to No. 2, making $21.9 million in its second weekend and taking the Man of Steel's 12-day tally to $141.7 million. Distributor Warner Bros. Pictures, a unit of Time Warner Inc., said it expected the movie to reach $200 million. ---YAHOO What it doesnt mention there though, is that the movie lost over 50 percent of it's audience from week to another. It's highly thought in the industry that the sequel to Superman Returns has already been nixed. I guess the core movie goers (really young people) are just not interested in Superman anymore, and they flock to the more modern super heros like X-men. I really liked the film (review to follow) but it has been a total disaster for Warner Brothers. Just their worst nightmare. If there is a sequel it will certainly be really low budget. But it is more likely though that the movie series will lay dead for 19 years again at least.

"Biggest Movie Ever!"

55 Million and Counting it is not even Saturday Night Yet. That is in one day. Biggest Movie Ever....

"Hot Dog Talk"

So, my dad was at a charity event recently, and at the end they had hotdogs out for refreshments. Anyway he put some ketchup on his dog, and the guy behind him, was like "Are you really going to put Ketchup on your dog?!?!". My dad did, and it got me thinking is ketchup not as a common dressing for a hotdogs as I thought. I am a ketchup and mustard guy myself. But, if I had to pick one of the two it would be ketchup easily. I would think the most common dressing for a dog would be as follows. Ketchup, Mustard, Relish, chopped onions. What does everyone else put on their dog?

"10 Reasons Why Jaws Still Rocks"

I finally got around to screening Jaws on the bigscreen.

For that reason alone I decided to post 10 reasons why the movie still rocks after over 30 years.

1. You can say what you want about the fake shark, but honestly the shots of the shark are so few and far between it doesn't really matter. Also, it looks a hell of a lot better than most of the CGI images used in the Star Wars Prequels.

Anyway, if they movie was shot today. I doubt they would have had the film shot the same way. The 2nd act of the movie out on the water, was shot on actual water. They had another boat with cameras and a crew on it. If they made this movie today, it would be 3 actors sitting in front of a bluescreen in a soundstage, with awful CGI water added later. Having the movie shot on actual water made you feel as if you were there.

2. The music score. I mean it's just truly classic. Something lacking in the blockbuster films these days. Can anyone actually tell me how the X-men, Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings themes go?

3. All the extras, and some of the small speaking roles were all cast with residents of marthas vineyard. Since it was supposed to be a small new england town. This worked great. Too often you have extras that just seem fake and mostly just people that hang out in LA all day waiting for their big break.

4. I have seen the movie countless times. Honestly, every time I have watched it. I pick up something different. That is the sign of a truly great film

5. The acting. Roy Scheider is truly on top of his game in the movie as are Robert Shaw and Richard dreyfuss. Scheider playing Brody is great at the anti-hero. Most of his flaws are not brushed with broad strokes that they would be as today. It is clearly implied he has a bit of a drinking problem, and his fear of water is a nice touch given what he has to do. But his fear is never blown up into a huge deal. Robert Shaw is full of energy (and from what I read about the making of the film booze during most of the filming) with his random singing, disdain for richboy know-it-all Hooper(Dreyfuss). The exchanges of the three make the movie tense as much as shark looming.

6. The lines. Very quotable movie.
7. The fact that it is created as the first blockbuster ever.

8. The dinner scene. Truly one of my all time fav. Scenes. You got Quint and Hooper comparing battle scares from run ins with various sea life. Than poor Brody tries to chime in with what looks to be an appendix scar, than decides "man that's too lame to bring up, they are talking about arm wrestling injuries and shark tails cutting them"

After that is Quint's powerful WWII story, followed up by "Show Me the Way to Go Home" which in an instant turns back into action when the shark starts slamming his head into the side of the ship.

9.
Mayor Vaughn (played by the Murray Hamilton) is a great villain of sorts. Just trying to great a big smoke screen in his little summer town. Hoping that no one gets hurt, but at the same time people don't really fear for their lives enough not to spend money in order for his "summer town" to get their "summer dollars". This is most evident when he tells a reporter (mind you after a girl, a little boy, a dog, and a fisherman were all killed) that a shark supposedly "injured some bathers"

10. The movie is paced perfectly. Never a slow moment, and the action doesn't drag forever like modern movies. It ends enough time that you almost wish it was longer, which means they did their job. I also love the final scene of the movie. Which I always think is key to wrapping up a great film.