Thursday, May 10, 2007

After Dominating Toronto Again, Sox Break Out Brooms!

(Alyssa Milano)(Glaus got picked off.)

(Lowell homers AGAIN!)


For the third straight night, the Red Sox thoroughly had their way with the Toronto Blue Jays, Tonight running their record to 23-10 by winning 8-0. In a rotation of of great performers, Tim Wakefield continues to be the most dominant, putting forth tonight, this dominant line:

7IP 3H 0ER 1BB 5K

He won his fourth game of the season, and lowered his ERA to a league leading 1.79. Mike Lowell added a home run for the third straight game and the Blue Jays lost their 9th in a row.

Tomorrow, the Sox return home to faced the Baltimore Orioles, with Sox pitcher Julian Tavarez facing off against Brian Burres.
GO SOX!

TomC

Read this on the off chance you Might be able to help

La Belle Saison: Bloggers Unite! READ THIS!

Another week, another tragedy.

Okay folks it is time to join together and do as much as we can for a good cause.

6 days ago, 3 year old Madeleine McCann disappeared from her bed in an apartment on holiday in the Algarve, Portugal. Just yards away her parents were eating dinner, checking on Maddie and her younger twin brother and sister in their beds every half hour.

Tragically, when her mother checked in on the children at 10pm, only half an hour after their father had, the window was slightly open and Maddie had disappeared.

Since then the Portuguese police have been searching for her, a witness has come forward to say on the night in question he saw what looked like a bald man and a woman walking briskly with a blonde young girl in their arms, heading for the coast. If this was Maddie, she may not even be in Portugal anymore.

The fear and worry of Maddie’s parents and family must be indescribable. I can not even begin to imagine what they must be going through. Their beautiful 3 year old daughter, taken away from them. Are you a parent? Do you have a small child in your life? Imagine they disappeared, imagine not knowing if they were safe.

Police have now suggested Maddie may have been taken for the purposes of a paedophile ring.

Anyone will understand how tragic this is, how inhumane, a child taken from their loving family. You may think there is not a lot we can do. But we can do a little. And every little helps.

If you are religious, pray for the safe return of little Maddie.

If you are in Portugal, help with the search, look out for any evidence, even the smallest piece of information may be of importance. You can do your bit by clicking here and downloading a poster to help find Madeleine. And if YOU know something, or have seen something that may be crucial evidence, The Sun Newspaper are offering a £10,000 reward for any information that may lead to the child being found.

If you have a blog, spread the word, even a few sentences may inform others, or just show that you care. A blog can be accessed by anyone in the world, and you can do your bit by posting a picture, writing a short post giving some information. I have found that the blogging community is full of wonderful, caring people, no matter where you are, (yes, even America!) you’re blog is read by people from Portugal, Britain, Europe…The blogosphere is a powerful place. Have your say. Show you care. Spread the word.

This is a 3 year old child we are talking about. 3 years old. Taken from her family in the middle of the night. Every parent’s and child’s worst nightmare.

Madeleine turns four on Saturday…

My heart goes out to her family.


Thanks for your time,

TomC

Toraño Signature Churchill

7" X 48, Maduro

Appearance: This was one tasty looking stogie. While it was a bit rustic looking, it has this beautiful, shimmering oily mocha colored wrapper. It practically begged to be lit.

Pre-Light: Clip was easy. I cannot tell you enough how well this Palio cutter I got recently works. I have not had the slightest clip or draw issue since I have had this one. The prelight draw had notes of cinnamon and that great tanginess of the Signature Line.

Burn/Draw: Flawless. The burn was never an issue at all, as it was almost perfectly straight the entire ONE HOUR AND FORTY FIVE MINUTE duration of this smoke. Thats right, I probably could have smoked this cigar forever if I wanted because I did not nub this stogie. Unfortunately, after two almost two hours, I had to move on to other things in my evening that made cigar smoking impractical. This is unfortunate.

Flavors: Anybody who knows me, knows I love these cigars. I have from almost the very beginning of my stogie smoking experience. They have this great interplay, balancing this wonderful top note of tanginess with lovely sweet notes of cocoa and cinnamon. I have to say that this cigar thoroughly outclassed the cup of coffee I had during the first third or so of it, its complexity overpowering the one note brew. Toward the last third the previous notes were joined but a nice spiciness and a bit of earthiness that kept this cigar from being cloying. Overall a command performance by a very reliable cigar. This cigar was a gift, I am very curious to see how much age it had on it.

TomC

Julia Stiles

Julia O'Hara Stiles (born March 28, 1981) is an American stage and screen actress. After beginning her theatre career in small parts in a New York City theatre troupe, she has moved on to leading roles in plays by writers as diverse as William Shakespeare and David Mamet. Her film career has included both commercial and critical successes, ranging from teen romantic comedies such as 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) to dark art house pictures such as The Business of Strangers (2001). Stiles also actively supports a variety of progressive causes.

Stiles' first film was a non-speaking part in I Love You, I Love You Not (1996), with Claire Danes and Jude Law. She also had small roles as Harrison Ford's daughter in Alan J. Pakula's The Devil's Own (1997) and in M. Night Shyamalan's Wide Awake (1998). Her first lead was in Wicked (1998), playing a teenage girl who murders her mother so she can have her father all to herself. Critic Joe Balthai wrote she was "the darling of the 1998 Sundance Film Festival" and Internet movie writer Harry Knowles said she was the "discovery of the fest," but the film was not commercially released in the U.S. and went direct-to-video in 2001, after Stiles had become better known.

The role that gained Stiles renown was Kat Stratford, opposite Heath Ledger, in Gil Junger's 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), an adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew set in a Seattle high school. She won an MTV Movie Award for "Breakthrough Female Performance" for the role, and the Chicago Film Critics voted her the most promising new actress of the year. Foreign critics applauded her work as well, including Adina Hoffman, who praised her as "a young, serious looking Diane Lane" and Martin Hoyle, who commented that Stiles played Kat "with bloody-minded independent charm from the beginning with hints of wistfulness beneath the determination."

Her next starring role was in Down to You (2000), which was heavily panned by critics, but earned Stiles and her co-star Freddie Prinze, Jr. a Teen Choice Award nomination for their on-screen chemistry. She subsequently appeared in two more Shakespearean adaptations. The first was as the Ophelia in Michael Almerayda's Hamlet (2000), with Ethan Hawke in the lead. The second was in the Desdemona role, opposite Mekhi Phifer in Tim Blake Nelson's O (2001), a version of Othello set in a private boarding school. Neither film was a great success; O had been subjected to many delays and a change of distributors and Hamlet was an art house film shot on a minimal budget.

Stiles' next commercial success was in Save the Last Dance (2001), as an aspiring ballerina forced to leave her small town in downstate Illinois to live with her struggling musician father in Chicago, after her mother is killed. At her new, nearly all-black school, she falls in love with the character played by Sean Patrick Thomas, who teaches her hip-hop dance steps that get her into The Juilliard School. The role won her two more MTV awards for "Best Kiss" and "Best Female Performance", and a Teen Choice Award for best fight scene, for her battle with Bianca Lawson. Rolling Stone pronounced her "the coolest co-ed", putting her on the cover of its April 12, 2001 issue. She told Rolling Stone that she performed all her own dancing in the film, though the way the film was shot and edited might have made it appear otherwise.

In David Mamet's State and Main (2000), about a film shooting on location in a small town in Vermont, she played a teenage girl who seduces a film actor (Alec Baldwin) with a weakness for young girls. Stiles also played opposite Stockard Channing in the dark art house film The Business of Strangers (2001) as a conniving, amoral secretary who exacts revenge on her cold boss. Channing was impressed by her co-star: "In addition to her talent, she has a quality that is almost feral, something that can make people uneasy. She has an effect on people." Stiles also had small roles as a CIA operative in The Bourne Identity (2002) and its sequel The Bourne Supremacy (2004). Producer Lynda Obst was quoted as saying that Stiles was "turning into the next Meryl Streep".

Her next film role was in Mona Lisa Smile (2003) as Joan, a student at Wellesley College in 1953, whose art professor (Julia Roberts) encourages her to pursue a career in law rather than becoming a wife and mother. Critic Stephen Holden referred to her as one of cinema's "brightest young stars," but the film met with generally unfavorable reviews.

Stiles played a Wisconsin college student who is swept off her feet by a Danish prince in The Prince and Me (2004), directed by Martha Coolidge. Stiles told an interview that she was very similar to the character, Paige Morgan, but critic Scott Foundas said while she was, as always, "irrepressibly engaging" the film was a "strange career choice for Stiles". This echoed criticism in reviews of A Guy Thing (2003), a romantic comedy with Jason Lee and Selma Blair; critic Dennis Harvey wrote that Stiles was "wasted," and Stephen Holden called her "a serious actress from whom comedy does not seem to flow naturally".

In 2005, Stiles was cast opposite Liev Schreiber in The Omen(their second film together), a remake of the 1976 horror film. The film was released on June 6, 2006. She will also be reprising her role as Nicky in The Bourne Ultimatum, alongside Matt Damon. The role will be much larger than in the previous films. Filming has started for an August 2007 release.


TomC

Dice-k Dominates, Four More Home Runs!

(Dice-K was great!)
(Pedroia is streaking.)
(Manny had one of the 4 Home Runs.)

Not to be outdone by Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka was dominant in his start on Thursday, and the Red Sox matched their Run (with Nine) and Home Run (with Four) totals from Tuesday as they defeated the Blue Jays yet again on Wednesday by a score of 9-3. Matsuzaka was as good as advertised for the second time in Toronto, this time picking up the win with a line of:

7IP 5H 1ER 1HR 3BB 8K

Also the Red Sox got home runs from Julio Lugo, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, & Mike Lowell as the cruised to another easy victory. Also of not is Dautin Pedroia continues to streak, going 2-4 with two runs scored. The Red Sox go for the sweep on Thursday night with Tim Wakefield facing off against Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay.

GO SOX!

TomC