Thank You, Derek Jeter

Today’s post will be a little different than the usual fare here at the ‘o Stuff considering I don’t write about sports that much. Hell, outside of SFF, the only thing I’ve posted about consistently is my dog. I know sports and SFF don’t always intersect, but I know some of my fellow SFF geeks are sports fans. Others…aren’t.

I have been a fan of the New York Yankees my entire life (and a Batman fan, too), I may have been three years old when my parents took me to my first game and I recall going to Helmet day during a very rainy day as one of my first baseball memories and memories overall. If I was three years old, then that puts my first Yankees game in 1978, when they were in the midst of their second Championship season in a row. It was a long time before they would return to the World Series and win it in 1996, the intervening years were not that great, to put it mildly. There were some highlights, for sure. Dave Righetti’s no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox on the fourth of July in 1983, with Wade Boggs striking out to end the game is a big one. The following year, the emergence of Don Mattingly as the face of the franchise and his run for the batting title to the last day of the season with teammate Dave Winfield. Then…not much else, sure Righetti converted to closer and broke the single season record for saves. The Yankees had another no-hitter thrown by Andy Hawkins, which they lost.

The famous jump throw

That’s a lot of preamble to get to 1995 and the debut of Derek Jeter, and him being awarded the everyday shortstop role in 1996. How did he handle that role in 1996? Oh, he only won the American League Rookie of the Year Award. Like many, I immediately couldn’t help but love him as a player, appreciate his skill and heart. He and I are also the same age, he was born in NJ, and grew up a Yankees fan. As if I needed any other reason to identify with him and root for him. With Dave Winfield as one of his favorite players (a Hall of Famer in his own right), Derek took it upon himself to start the Turn 2 Foundation his rookie year, before he was a multi-millionaire. He helped the Yankees get through the playoffs (and Jeffery Maier may have helped Derek just a bit in the ALCS) into the World Series to beat the Braves for their first championship in nearly 20 years. To put it another way, I lost my mind and I think a cloud of my screams of excitement after Charlie Hayes made that catch is still hanging over New Brunswick, NJ. My voice hasn’t been the same since October 26, 1996.  From that point on, the expectations of greatness for the Yankees was always high.  My then fiance and now wife and I went to a few games a year and to playoff games during this run. We came out, announced as Mr. and Mrs. Bedford to the "Here Come the Yankees" song and our ice sculpture at our wedding was the interlocking NY.

Circling the bases after the Mr. November HR

Jeter was an emerging superstar, which was further cemented when Michael Jordan hand-picked Jeter as the first athlete to endorse the Jumpman Nike brand. Jeter would go on to help the Yankees appear in five more World Series in old Yankee Stadium, the House that Ruth Built and win three of them in a row. Jeter’s critics like to say he’s overrated, he doesn’t put up numbers he hasn’t won a regular-season MVP (he finished 3rd in final voting from 1998-2000 and he was second in 2006 when many thought he should have won). How about the fact that he’s (thus far) the only player to win the All Star MVP and World Series MVP in the same season? The nickname "Mr. November" has been given to him, both because he is the first player to hit a home-run in November, has a .351 World Series batting average, (and .309 in the postseason overall). Not too shabby, these numbers gave rise to Jeter’s other nickname “Captain Clutch,” because he always rises to the occasion. His 3,000th hit? A home run. How does he finish his final game at Yankee Stadium? With a walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth inning.

While it would have been as fun to watch Jeter play while I was a younger fan, I think the fact that he was on the Yankees when he was allowed me to truly appreciate what a special player he was. The younger me might not have realized the level of greatness and legendary player we as Yankees fans had the opportunity to watch play every day from May through October (except three years when it was through September). 

The Dive

As great as his on-field accomplishments have been, Jeter has been a model athlete. He plays the game hard, he played the game the way it should have been played. He never got into trouble and he did the impossible for a NY athlete – he (along with manager Joe Torre) helped to soften George M. Steinbrenner AKA “The Boss.” Steinbrenner often focused his ire on his star players, hiring private investigators to spy on Dave Winfield and telling Don Mattingly he needed to cut his hair. The one time The Boss criticized Jeter (for partying too late) they turned it into a credit card commercial. Jeter also “dated” quite a few Hollywood women including a couple of Jessica Biel, Mariah Carey (he did not play well when they were dating), and most recently, Minka Kelly among others. He also hosted Saturday Night Live.

Jeter always said the right things, always acted the right way. You don’t have to be a sports fan or baseball fan to appreciate the kind of person (or persona) Derek Jeter projected into the world. His parents, at least his father, became a fixture at Yankees games and it is from his parents (and grandparents whose house in NJ he’d visit in summers) that Jeter learned how to be the person he is.

The shame of it all, is that Jeter is a player who is praised for simply doing things the right way – applying oneself, hustling, working, practicing his craft, learning his craft and being a student of the game. So many players don’t hustle and give very little effort or showboat after they succeed (a protracted homerun trot or touchdown dance, for example).

The Flip

Now that Derek Jeter’s last game has been played, he is the all time hits leader for the New York Yankees (which he achieved in 2009). Think about that, the New York Yankees, the most storied franchise in all of sports with some of the most legendary players and Jeter holds the team record for hits. He is also 6th on the all-time hits list. To have any top 10 achievement in baseball, with its lengthy history, is quite a feat.

What will he do once he’s retired? Last year, Jeter started a publishing imprint, Jeter Publishing, with Simon & Schuster. Who knows how much of a day-to-day hand he’ll have in that, but ultimately, the goal of the imprint will publish nonfiction books for adults, children’s picture books, elementary grade fiction, and books for children who are learning to read.

Will he be involved in baseball? That’s the tougher question. Jeter’s a close-to-the vest guy, but if he wants to manage, coach or work for the Yankees front-office, he’d excel at such positions.

All I know is that his play on the field will be missed. I was lucky enough to watch his entire career and be a fan of the team during one of their brightest periods.

So, thank you Derek Jeter for being you and putting everything into your time with the New York Yankees.

Bakker's The Judging Eye Reviewed and Miscellanea

R. Scott Bakker gets the treatment this week on review Monday/Tuesday. Ever since I first read The Darkness that Comes Before, I’ve been a huge fan of Scott’s writing and I feel he is on a very short list of writers who are taking the fantasy genre in a stark and wonderful direction. For whatever reason, I was a little slow in getting to his latest, The Judging Eye. I finally read it recently and posted the review last night:

There are no absolutes in Bakker’s fictional world, or rather once something is thought of as an absolute, something or someone thrusts that absolute into the fire both illuminating and destroying what could be considered absolute. Take Sorweel again - his hatred for Kellhus is thrown asunder once Kellhus appears. The dichotomy of conflicting absolutes drives much of the fiction and can be seen in the mirrored journeys of Achamanian and the Skin Eaters and the march of the Great Ordeal. Both are striving towards what they see as the greater good, although part of what fuels Achamanian is his hatred of Kellhus. Whereas the Great Ordeal is marching in the name of good against an accepted evil, Akka’s march in the depths of darkness may eventually illuminate the true nature of Kellhus. The Great Ordeal is an army of knights and order, Akka’s march is basically a mish-mash of chaos and those on the fringes of society.

While I’m probably one of the last folks on the genre intarwebs to post it what the hell: the shortlist for The David Gemmell Awards was announced (included below are the links to those I reviewed):

Joe Abercrombie – Last Argument of Kings (Gollancz/Pyr)

Juliet Marillier– Heir to Sevenwaters (Tor UK)

Brandon Sanderson - The Hero of Ages (Tor US)

Andrzej Sapkowski - Blood of Elves (Gollancz)

Brent Weeks - The Way of Shadows (Orbit)

This award is fan voted, similar to the Locus award, although the focus here is mainly on epic fantasy. As the links above point out, I read three of the books, although I have read books by the other two authors. I will likely be voting for Joe Abercrombie’s Last Argument of Kings which was one of my top reads for last year. Much as I loved The Hero of Ages Joe’s book just nudged it out.

Sadly, Harry Kalas, Philadelphia Phillies broadcaster and voice of the NFL since 1975 passed away yesterday. Anybody who has an interest in Baseball or even a passing interest in the NFL knows Kalas’s deep voice. He actually died in the booth just before calling a Phillies game. Is it poetic or sad to die while doing the job you loved in life? Either way, his voice will be missed.

Lastly, to end on an up note, I hadn’t realized it but thanks to Adam, Steven Erikson’s Malazan saga is officially 10 years old. That is, the first book, Gardens of the Moon published in 1999. It’s been almost a year since I read The Bonehunters, so I need to do a little bit of catching up.

Waking from March

It’s been a while since I posted, Mrs. Blog o’ Stuff and I were hit last week with the worst colds we have ever had. Sleeping and clear breathing were just not options, let alone spending more than a half hour on my computer after a day in the office.

I put up my latest review, Peter F. Hamilton’s The Dreaming Void, which I really enjoyed. A lot of people were looking forward to this book and I doubt any of them will be disappointed. Epic and vast are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to describing Hamilton’s latest.

I’ve also got to mention that a couple of weeks ago, BantamSpectra published the US edition of John Meaney’s Bone Song, a book I reviewed when it was published by Gollancz about a year ago. After a few correspondences with the US editor, I’m really thinking of listening to this song once again. At the very least I can’t wait to read the sequel, Dark Blood when it publishes in about a year.

Baseball season is officially on and I’m really excited. I didn’t realize how many players switched teams in the off-season, so it should be another fun season. That is of course unless the Red Sox win it all again.

Slow blogging, what can I say. I recently passed the one-year mark at the "new job," I guess it isn't so new anymore. In the year I've been there, a decent amount of change has occurred, much of it working in my favor. The work has been more challenging than past jobs, but I am realizing just how much I can accomplish.

I posted my review of Justina Robson’s Keeping it Real yesterday. A very fun book that managed to throw many fantasy AND science fiction clichés together in an original manner. Hobbit reviewed it about a year ago and my review is based on the recently published Pyr version of the book. A lot of the books I’ve been reading lately are review books for SFFWorld, so I should be posting a spate of reviews over the next few weeks.

It seems like the rains are finally over, thankfully. I was able to cut down the jungle of grass in my yard and will soon be getting the pool ready for the warm weather. And with the warmer weather comes one of the beer highlights of the year for me – Sam Adams Summer Ale.

The Devils got ousted rather unceremoniously. I don’t know what happened, they’ve had Ottawa’s number in the playoffs in the past, but not this year. They looked great against Tampa Bay but like last year, fell apart in the 2nd round. Until next year I guess in the new arena. My biggest complaint about the team the past few years has been actually going to and from the game in the Meadowlands.

The worst news, and something I was dreading as a Yankee fan, has come to pass. Roger Clemens is a Yankee, again. I never cared for him all that much, and after coming out of retirement following the most over-hyped retirement tour to play for the Astros a couple of years ago, I liked him even less. Now, with the Yankees pitching rotation in shambles he gets to come in like the returning hero and look like the savior. It has always been about him and not the team, this only proves it more.

Black Thunder

Having a basement really makes one hate rain. Last night the thunderstorm had to be one of the most powerful I have ever felt. My house/town was clearly at the eye of the storm since the thunder and lighting were simultaneous. At one point, one of the thundercracks nearly scared the shit right out of me, and I normally love thunder. I have never heard anything so loud and powerful in my life, my house was shaking as the thunder grew louder, rather than dissipating. I looked out my window and could tell immediately that power went out in the entire town. The thundercrack was powerful enough to set off car alarms going in every direction. All in all, it was quite eerie.

In good, or more normal news, I posted my review of Richard Morgan’s Black Man a day ago, after having received an advance copy from UK publisher Victor Golllancz. Readers in the US will see the book published very soon from Del Rey as Thirteen. I suggest picking it up, under either title.

In moment of serendipity, the collaborative interview with Richard Morgan, quarterbacked by Pat (http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com) and supported by Adam (http://thewertzone.blogspot.com), William (http://speculativereviews.blogspot.com), and myself went up at Pat’s blog today. Go read the my review, the interveiw then get the book. Black Man may be the one of the most talked-about SF novels of the year, and for good reason.

7 in a row for the Yankees; it is embarrassing.

Rothfuss Interview

Tonight, I posted the e-mail interview Pat and I conducted with Patrick Rothfuss. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out; I wasn't surprised that Mr. Rothfuss's responses were very much in the same tone as his protagonist Kvothe.

In sports news, I'm happy to see the Rutgers Women's basketball make it to their second Final Four under coach Stringer. Baseball season is less than a week away, though this will be the first season in many years I will not have a fantasy team to manage. Lastly, the NHL season is becoming very exciting - the Devils and Penguins are neck and neck for the Atlantic division lead. I've a feeling this is how the Atlantic division will play out for the next few years, or at least as long as a goalie named Brodeur is between the pipes in NJ and a kid named Crosby is wearing black and yellow.

Writin' & Ramblin'

I finished up Tim Powers' pirate novel, On Stranger Tides a couple of days ago. I liked it quite a bit, even if the ending wasn't as strong as the first 2/3rds of the novel. It was a cool mix of pirates, magic and history. I think I need to read more of Tim Powers' books.

I also posted my latest review today, One Million A.D. edited by Gardner Dozois and published/offered by the Science Fiction Book Club. The book is a couple of years old. In fact one of the stories, Charlie Stross's Missle Gap was (or will be) offered in a limited edition by Subterranean Press.

In beer news, I recently had Samuel Adams' White Ale. I don't recall enjoying it, or rather I was somewhat noncommittal in my taste. However, in the past I had it in bottles, this time I had it on draught and it was suprisingly delicious.

I've been plugging away daily at the new story I'm writing, or rather the story I started many months ago and picked up last week.

Lastly, baseball season is just 'round the corner and Alex Rodriguez just cannot keep his mouth shut.

A Rant-worthy Week and Two Reviews

It has been a relatively trying seven days. Nothing major or life shattering, but rather more frustrating than anything. Last week, my car battery died, but thankfully I was only a couple of miles from home.

Saturday, driving home, I hit a deer with my car. Or rather, the young deer ran into my car. In the area of NJ where I live, I see about one dead deer on the side of the road for every couple of miles I drive. One could say I live out in the country. In fact, when I first moved into the house last year a deer was hit right outside my house (not by me). I was woken by the gunshot which put the poor creature out of its misery. Between where I live now and where my In-Laws live, I've been avoiding deer on the roads for a while, I've become relatively skilled at spotting them. However, this little guy came out of nowhere and with the hour being dusk, it was even more difficult to see the road and my surroundings. I pulled over to check the car and glance back at the deer, the deer struggled for a minute or so, got up and bounded away. The car is driveable and Mrs. Blog o' Stuff and I are fine, just a little shaken and stirred.

Sunday, the Yankees lost to the Tigers. Considering the tall goofball who pitched on Sunday, and the whiny prima-donna who pitched on Saturday, I'm not too suprised. The Yankees loss is another rant, which I don't care to go into at the moment.

Monday, I had some plumbing issues in the house and had to have Roto Rooter come out today. Getting ready for work today, I lost a contact. Luckily, I had a spare set. Getting into the car, I spilled coffee all over my seat.

So while on the whole, life is generally "OK," I still (as I told my wife) would like to, if they were a perseon, take the past 7 days outside in the back yard and beat it about the face with a large frying pan.

I joined the revolution today and signed up with MySpace. What I'll do with it, is probably minimal.

Last and not least, I posted a couple of reviews in the past week:

The Black Tattoo by Sam Enthoven - a little bit epic fantasy, a little bit horror, and a little disappointing.

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor - A retelling of Alice in Wonderland vis a vis Gregory Maguire's Wicked.

The venerable Hobbit of SFFWorld posted his review of Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghosts, making me want the book even more.

The new seasons of Lost and Battlestar Galactica are doing exactly what they did last season - leaving me wanting more.

Latest sign of the apocalypse: Mr. T. has reality Show.

Enough ranting for now.

A Genre Reawakening

Infoquake just might be THE Science Fiction novel of the year, if not the past five years. David Louis Edleman has done so many things right in this book, from the plausible next steps in human society to the characters, all the notes ring true.

The future history only begs for MORE background, to the Reawakening to the Three Jesuses to the typical lunar colonies, he has it all mapped out and Infoquake is only the tip of the iceberg. Edleman has a fascinating background and timeline mapped out at http://www.infoquake.net.

I hope most of my reviews are fair, though I know a share of them tend to be enthusiastic. I hope my earlier praise of some novels doesn't lessen my enthusiasim for Infoquake. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Pyr is publishing some great books, but this might be the book that puts them over the top in terms of US genre publishing.

The last book I read when it first came out (I know that is something of a qualifier) that had me this enthusiastic was Greg Keyes' The Briar King.

I also posted my review of Wayne Thomas Batson's fine young adult fantasy Rise of the Wyrm Lord.

I need to see thos motherfucking snakes!

Boston Massacer 2006 - Holy Crap! I expected the Yankees to win three, but a sweep. That was very nice.

Ahoy Matey!

Between this and this, my inner swashbuckler is itching at the barnacle to be unleashed. Apropos of the location of tonight's All-Star game, I've begun chronicling the journey of Vette the Pirate.

Speaking of the All-Star game, this coverge is awful. Twice when they announcers broke away from covering the game to go to either a mic'd up manager or a reporter on the 'sidelines,' exciting things happened in the game. Focus was taken away from the game on the field when great things happened - Vlad Guerrero's homer and Alfonso Soriano getting thrown out at home. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Fox is one of THE worst things to happen to baseball in the past 10 or fifteen years.

Sports, Books, and Midgets

Nine years a row and counting for my two favorite sports franchises - the Devils making the playoffs and the Yankees winning their home opener. Last night’s clinching game for the Devils was very exciting, but they way they’ve been letting leads slip in the third period is a bit worrying as they head into the playoffs. On the other hand, last night’s victory was their 8th in a row, so they just might be the hottest team in the league right now.

Some nice news from Gary and Gabe, I think this will be great for both of them.

I posted my not-so-positive review of The New Wave of Speculative Fiction – The What If Factor edited by Sean Wright.

As much as I was pained during my reading of Savage Messiah, Hal Duncan’s Vellum is having the opposite effect on me. So far, the book is living up to all the hype it received last year when the UK published the book first..

Lastly, via Hornswoggler, battle of the midget Kisses. We all knew it was inevitable.

Skulls and Bats

I posted my review of The Book of Skulls, by Robert Silverberg yesterday. A very solid dark fantasy/mystery/thriller/coming of age story. In some ways, it reminded me of Stephen King's The Body, the basis for the film Stand By Me.

The Baseball Draft went pretty well this past weekend, the early rounds worked out just as I hoped they would. I was able to pick up the run-producing machines of Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon, so I got my Yankees out of the way early and picked up a lot of runs, doubles/triples, and some stolen bases in the deal. With four keepers per team, the first round of the draft was actually like the fifth round. I'm pretty satisfied with my team, plus or minus a couple of guys, so we shall see what the season holds for my team, the Voodoo Tribe.

WIN A FREE BOOK!

Over at SFFWorld, I posted a bunch of David Forbes stuff, my review of his novel, The Amber Wizard, the interview Pat and I conducted with David, and a contest for a free ARC of The Amber Wizard. I enjoyed the book, but it was a bit flawed. I think his next book will be even better.

The fantasy baseball draft is approaching - this Sunday I will be drafting the 2006 roster for the Voodoo Tribe. As I mentioned about a month ago, I am keeping four players from the 2005 roster, Ichiro, Brad Lidge, Mark Buerhle, and Cliff Lee. I've been strategizing with my baseball guru pal for about a month now and things look pretty interesting. The most fun is usually the draft day itself, so I'm looking forward to that.

Random Round-Up

Pitchers and catchers are in camp, baseball starts soon, and I’ve got to finalize the four players I will be holding over from last season Fantasy Baseball League. I finished in probably the worst position possible last season – 4th place. Fourth is just shy of winning money and results in picking 7th overall the following season. Granted, first place picks last, but the way we rotate the draft the first and last pick get back-to-back picks as the draft proceeds. I would have rather finished in last place, which of course is out of the pot, but at least last place guarantees first pick in the following year’s draft. As it is, I’ve got a few decent players to keep in Ichiro, Brad Lidge, and Mark Buerhle, I just need to figure out the final holdover. Of course the men are separated from the boys in the middle rounds when the rankings don’t mean is much and you’ve got to build the heart of your pitching rotation and outfield.

Random thought – I’ve been trying to weigh the benefits of LiveJournal vs Blogger. It seems most of the kewl kids and writers are on LiveJournal and lord knows I want to be one of the kewl kids. I’ve seen some of the WordPress journals and they seem entirely too restrictive for my tastes. Regardless, I may just register with LJ anyway.

On to the geekery – In watching my Farscape season 2 DVD set, the ninth episode, Out of their Minds, was on deck. During the course of the episode, a very familiar-looking bird-like creature appeared on the screen. Being the Henson fans that we are, Mrs. Blog o’ Stuff and I remarked simultaneously, how much the aliens on this episode (referred to as Halosians) resembled the Skeksis, the giant bird creatures from Henson’s epic fantasy The Dark Crystal. After watching the episode, I did the geeky thing and searched the Web to confirm my suspicions. Sure enough, the FX people behind the show created the Halosians in homage to the Skeksis (scroll down about 1/3 of the page).

I am still churning through both Judas Unchained and The Amber Wizard, and I’m still enjoying both books.

One of the many things that makes Mrs. Blog o’ Stuff the greatest is how she indulges my love for beer. For Valentine's Day she gave me some cool Guinness swag and whenever she stops at Wegmans, which has a very impressive beer selection, she always picks up some random beer for me. The most recent gem of a beer she picked up for me was Yard's Washington Porter. This had to be one of the better bottled porters I've had since Samuel Adams sadly stopped producing their Honey Porter a few years ago. Good, good stuff. She said she picked it up for me in honor of President's Day holiday.

Last, but not least, great news for Mr. Lynch; as if I needed another compelling reason to read this book as soon as it publishes.

Shinedown The Wizard

Mrs. Blog O’ Stuff picked up Shinedown’s debut CD for us the other day, Leave a Whisper. I’d been hearing Shinedown on the local rock station WDHA for over a year now and was really impressed with what I heard: the powerful ballad showcasing lead singer Brent Smith’s stunning voice: .45, both the original and the acoustic, the faster Fly from the Inside and their acoustic cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Simple Man. This is an extremely impressive debut album, Smith’s vocals are an amazing compliment to guitarist Jasin Todd, bassist Brent Smith and Barry Kirch’s singular musical sound. I’d probably classify the group as hard rock and call them simply great. Leave a Whisper is a polished, great sounding album, not by just debut standards, but by hard rock standards overall. I am looking forward to more of their albums and hope to see them in concert, though now I am kicking myself for not going to see them at the Starland Ballroom over the holidays in 2004. Methinks they’d be a great opening act for Godsmack if and when Godsmack tours later this year.

Also finished up The Wizard by Gene Wolfe over the weekend. Even though this was really the second part of a novel, it started off a bit more weakly than The Knight. I think that is because Wolfe switched from Able’s first person narrative to Able referring the story of his companions after they separated. Once Able came onto the stage, though, the book returned to the level of excellence Wolfe accomplished with The Knight. This isn’t to say that the early portion of The Wizard was bad, just that by comparison, not as strong as the other portions of the story. And let's face it, those who have read Wolfe will agree that reading Wolfe when he is a notch below his strongest efforts is far superior to 99% of most writers at their absolute best.

The last 100 or so pages of the novel were absolutely wonderful. Packed with emotion, thought, choices and introspection, I think it will be difficult for anything I read for the remainder of this year to move me emotionally and entertain me as much as did Wolfe’s Wizard Knight. I don’t know if Mr. Wolfe plans on penning more stories of Sir Able or any of the characters from this rich novel, but the door is open. While any of Gene Wolfe’s work is worthy of excitement, more tales of these characters would be most welcome.

Mrs. Blog o' Stuff and I went to the Rutgers vs. Georgetown Basketball game on Saturday and both teams didn’t look good. Rutgers was sloppy at the end of the first half arrived, but did make a nice little comeback towards the end of the game, which was too late. Rutgers basketball does look to be getting a better profile now that Gary Waters is doing such a fine job. It would be real nice to see them in the NIT again this year, though I highly doubt they will be invited.

Good Superbowl last night, I was really hoping the Eagles would pull it off, and at the end of the game, they came pretty close, too.

A new Batman Begins trailer was shown during the game and the Web site for the movie has been pretty substantially updated. Interviews, Wallpapers & other downloads, (one of which is now on my computer). Have I geeked-out enough for this film on my blog yet? I think I'm looking forward to this even more than Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith even though super-cool writer Matthew Woodring Stover has written the Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith novelization. Though I think am more looking forward to the novlization than the movie, I think.

Lastly, less than two weeks until Pitchers and Catchers!