Bring on baseball, and with it the perfect summer soundtrack

Baseball season is almost here again, and even for someone who still cheers rabidly for the perpetually suffering (and almost all deserved, unfortunately) Baltimore Orioles, it's the best reason all year of every single year to celebrate.

And what could make the 2010 baseball season even better than it's sure to be? How about a month-by-month soundtrack updating the state of the season from some of alt-rock's (or whatever the hell you want to call it) best singer/songwriters.

In 2007, appropriately enough at a communal stadium urinal, fuzz guitar man extraordinaire Steve Wynn (if I had to pick just one, probably my favorite rocker around) and Young Fresh Fellows/Minus 5 vet Scott McCaughey met, and from that soon was born, thankfully, the Baseball Project.

So, what in the world is that? Well, it's just two really talented dudes, along with longtime Wynn drummer Linda Pitmon, getting together to write and perform really fun, totally fuzzed out odes to the world's greatest sport (with all apologies to the runner-up, soccer.) In July of 2008 they put out their first album, "Vol. 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Qualls," which I just bought this morning (after the head's up from mi hermano, who luckily has an actual good team, the Twinnies, to cheer for along with the O's.) It's just full of all kinds of fun songs about baseball, including odes to Curt Flood,Satchel Paige, Sandy Koufax and others, including a great Spanish ditty about Fernando, and even tracks called "Ted F***ing Williams" and "The Yankee Flipper."

If you've never heard of Steve Wynn, I really probably can't do justice to how great he is in writing, so why not listen to a bit of the Baseball Project yourself? The group has just released the first of its monthly ditties for this season, appropriately enough titled "All Future and No Past." In the perfect spirit of eternal hope that greets each new season, it's a tribute to the league's most long-suffering teams, so the Pirates, Royals and, of course, Orioles all get prominent play. I'm not sure they're right that "The Orioles' recent woes are deceiving," but it's a new season, and that means that for one day at least, the Orioles will be in first place in the American League East by sheer force of alphabetical order.

Click the widget below to listen to "All Future and No Past," and keep a look out on ESPN's The Life for the tracks to come once a month throughout this season (and yes, I can almost guarantee I'll post them all here, too.) Enjoy, have a great rest of the weekend, and unless you somehow cheer for the Red Sox or Yankees, keep hope alive!

A slew of great clips, and then a break for me

After today, I'm shutting this site down for a week or so (though you're still welcome to stop by, of course) because I'm going to see my parents, hang out in fantastic Rehoboth Beach, Delaware (yes, Delaware), and see 10 or more movies in four days.

Yes, it's time once again for the Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival, easily my favorite time of the year. Highlights I'll hopefully get tickets for this year include Nina Paley's animated wonder "Sita Sings the Blues" and a trio of documentaries, Aviva Kempner's "Yoo-Hoo Mrs. Goldberg," Davis Guggenheim's "It Might Get Loud" and "Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love."

I can't wait to get there, but in the meantime, since there's no real news out there today, I'll leave with a series of clips because, since it's Wednesday, how better to waste time while you're at work today?

First up comes the first trailer I know of for "Kick-Ass," which, fortunately has no Nicolas Cage in it whatsoever. You do, however, get to see the kids - Aaron Johnson, Chloe Moretz and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (yes, McLovin) - in costume, and even Michael Cera's BFF, Clark Duke. Here's hoping this Matthew Vaugnn flick is as nearly as funny as it should be when it finally drops in April.

Kick-Ass

Trailer Park | MySpace Video

Next up comes the trailer for a flick I can't say I'm all that excited about, though there's always the chance it could be a lot of fun in the vein of "300." Louis Leterrier is directing this more than a little unnecessary remake of "Clash of the Titans," starring Sam Worthington, Gemma Arterton, Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes and set to come out March 26. Enjoy the trailer.



And now for something completely different. Though I would never - even on the rare weekday like today when I don't have to work - bother to tune into "General Hospital" or any other daytime soap, it's still probably a good thing that James Franco has lowered himself to star on that one for a little while. When I worked in the post office at the Catholic University of America (still one of my favorite jobs) we worked from like 6 a.m.-noon and then again from 3-5 p.m. Now, all the guys would go home for those three hours, but the gals would all huddle in the back room and watch three straight hours of their "stories." My point with that aside is that plenty of people still get pleasure from these shows, so if Franco can do anything to keep them alive, so be it. And besides, you can probably tell from the promo clip below that he seems to be having a lot of fun with this. Enjoy.



OK, back to the movies. It's been a long time since I've gotten to enjoy a silly and fun ninja flick, so I have to admit I'm really looking forward to spending a bit of my Thanksgiving weekend watching James McTeigue's "Ninja Assassin." My friend Sharon, who probably goes to two theater movies a year at most, has singled this one out as the single movie she wants to see for the rest of the year, and while that's more than a little odd, I've already promised I'll go see it with her. The main thing that crossed my mind as I watched these six "Ninja Assassin" clips courtesy of Collider.com is that it sure would be nice to have my daily commute be interrupted by dueling ninjas. Enjoy.



And finally, though this has nothing at all to do with movies, this official video for Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' "Empire State of Mind" is a great valentine to New York City and just really fun to watch. I still wish they hadn't spoiled it a bit by performing this for the great Satan - aka the New York Yankees - but it's still just a really fun song and video (and congratulations, by the way, to Mr. Adam Jones of the Baltimore Orioles on winning his first Gold Glove award this year.) Enjoy.



So, there you have it. Have a great week, and I'll see you back here next Tuesday or so. Peace out.

All I want for my birthday is ...

Two simple things really, but I'm really afraid neither of them are going to happen.

First, I'd really like "Terminator Salvation" to not suck, but the reviews from both critics and people who actually just like watching movies are starting to quickly pile it up in the negative. At least they bothered to release it a couple of days early so I can go see it after work today.

For me, "Terminator" isn't just an iconic franchise. It's also the first time I really understood as a kid that "Rated R" wasn't just for sleazy movies. Granted, seeing Salisbury, Md., native Linda Hamilton all kinds of naked when you're 14 years old is certainly a bonus, but it was also just seriously smart sci-fi that earned the violence side of its "R" with style and purpose.

I have a growing suspicion that McG - who I have no real beef with up to this point - is just gonna blow that all away, but here's hoping against hope that I'm wrong.

And secondly, an Orioles victory over the damn Yankees, I'm afraid, is even more of a lost cause. I was hoping Tuesday night would lead to our second defeat of C.C. Sabathia this season, but in the seventh inning the game went from 2-1 to 9-1 in favor of the Yanks in what seemed like five seconds. And the less that's said about last night's game the better.

Actually, what I really want for my birthday is to see Matt Weiters in an Orioles uniform now, and to bring a bunch of those young arms with him to replace the bums we have now. Gregg Zaun is hitting well below the Mendoza line, which even Peter Angelos must recognize isn't terribly good, so the future is now! Peace out.

For the Orioles, I'll take whatever help we can get

I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised at all to find out that Spike TV has already picked up a pilot series on the U.S. Navy's anti-pirate activities.

When I first heard what happened Sunday afternoon, I have to say it just blew my mind. After what I have to admit was a split second or less of doubt that it was the right thing to do, I just had to say "badf***ingass" (my brother can confirm this, since I was on the phone with him) - as I'm sure a lot of other people did too, in perhaps a slightly less vulgar and more appropriate way - when I first learned what the Navy did to win the freedom of ship captain Richard Phillips. It's the kind of thing that would seem far-fetched in even the craziest of action movies if it weren't, of course, true.

But it's equally refreshing to know that, probably just shortly after he had given the OK to take out the Somali pirates, President Obama was being briefed on another kind of truly insidious evil, the kind that dresses in Yankee pinstripes.

I can't take any credit for this, so I've just included the whole article by New York Daily News scribe Michael Saul about what the Obama family heard along with their Easter sermon, written in exactly the right spirit. Enjoy!

When it comes to church, President Obama can't avoid trouble.

As the First Family attended an Easter Sunday service at St. John's Church across from the White House Sunday, the Rev. Luis Leon unleashed a vicious and unholy attack on New York.

He insulted the Yankees.

With the Obamas sitting in the sixth row, Leon told congregants that "baseball season has started" and that the church's drummer is a huge Yankees fan.

Leon then said he wanted to remind everybody that the Orioles have beaten the Yankees twice so far, and therefore, "The world lives in hope."

"I'm a fairly charitable person," the good reverend said, "but I have to tell you - I hate the Yankees."

Laughter erupted from the pews. It was unclear whether the Obamas joined in.

White House spokesman Bill Burton did not respond last night to the Daily News' urgent inquiry into this matter.

Last year, Obama publicly split from his longtime pastor and friend, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and the family is still searching for a new spiritual home.

New York's leaders defended their team with pride.

Stu Loeser, Mayor Bloomberg's press secretary, said, "We checked with a religious authority here in New York, and on this specific area of belief, Mayor Bloomberg's rabbi assures us that President Obama's minister is mistaken."

Former Mayor Ed Koch said, "When I see the Yankees attacked, the hairs on the nape of my neck go up, and the guy who attacks them is lucky if I don't hit him and then run."