The decade in photos - 2008

The decade in photos - 2009

Happy 29th Birthday Jake Gyllenhaal

Bad Santa Week

The Blue Jays without Roy Halladay

So Roy Halladay has been traded.

The affection that Jays fans developed for Halladay went far beyond his statistical value. As bad as the team was you always knew that every five days you would get a great pitching performance. He was money in the bank. He was arguably the best pitcher in the American League for the last decade. He was the only true star on a fading franchise.

Halladay struck out nine batters and walked none to shutout the Seattle Mariners in his last home start on September 25. Halladay went the distance in the 5-0 victory. He scatted seven hits to earn his eighth complete game of the season, all at the Rogers Centre. There were just over 20,000 fans to watch Halladay's last Toronto start. His final start as a Blue Jay Halladay took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and wound up yielding three hits while fanning six and walking two for his second consecutive complete-game victory - a 12-0 win in Baltimore.

Now, that's gone. Now, we have to learn to live with a mediocre and inconsistent starting rotation. Sure we'll get the occasional great pitching performance from the current stable of Jays starters. There has never been more uncertainty in recent years regarding the starting rotations which will largely be made up of pitchers coming off surgery or in their first two years of major league service. No one has a clue who the ace is - because there really is none. The opening day rotation may be: Ricky Romero, Shaun Marcum, Marc Rzepczynski, David Purcey and Scott Richmond. Jesse Litsch and Dustin McGowan will not be ready for opening day.

So was this the best deal the Jays could have gotten for Halladay? Maybe. I'm sure one factor was that he will be pitching for an National League team rather than an AL East rival. The players coming to Toronto are all former first round draft picks but whether they will become future stars is still up in the air.

Kyle Drabek
There is a lot to like about Drabek. Hew is the son of Doug Drabek (a former Cy Young winner) so genetics are on his side but as well he is a ground ball pitcher with good control. He is not ready for The Show (will likely start in AA) yet but maybe as a September (2010) call up. Drabek was drafted for his lively fastball and his big curveball, two pitches which put him squarely in the "power pitcher" category. He didn't pitch for very long in the minors, though, before blowing out his elbow and requiring Tommy John surgery. Drabek has really come along way since that surgery - altering his mechanics and working on his change-up, a crucial third pitch that Drabek admits still needs more work. Having a major-league quality change will be crucial to making Drabek's fastball as effective as it can be.
Travis D'Arnaud
A good catching prospects but so many catching prospects wilt on the vine and either disappear or learn to play another position. He can hit but right now there isn't much more to say about D'Arnaud. He may be part prospect and part project. At 20 year old, he is a few years away from playing in the majors.

Brett Wallace
Wallace is a good hitter with no range at third. So look for him to eventually play first. The earliest we will see Wallace is 2011 which means that Adam Lind will more than likely be used at first after Lyle Overbay's contract is moved. Yet he may still work out at third. When Wallace joins Lind, Hill and Snider in the middle of the Jays' batting order, they will be a scary bunch.

The Auschwitz sign is irreplaceable

By now you’ve probably heard the sign over the gate at Auschwitz, the infamous “arbeit macht frei” — “work sets you free,” was stolen this morning, sometime before dawn.

You may wonder what would someone do with this. There is actually a market for Nazi memorabilia. Though you could never sell the sign on eBay. They have a policy regarding objectionable items.

Auschwitz has become both symbol and shorthand for the Holocaust. And that sign - with its twisted and false message that work will bring one freedom rather than suffering and certain death - is immediately recognizable as its nameplate. There are no copies or reproductions at the site; visitors must see only what was real. In that way they will be bear witness to the very objects and structures which in turn remain the mute eyewitness to what happened there.

That is why the act is so despicable. It shows a lack of respect, a lack of compassion, a lack of understanding. I lost much of my family to the Nazis and the act is the same as desecrating a graveyard.

Tara Reid has been photoshopped

Tara Reid appears nude in Playboy in an attempt to revive her career which happens to be on life support. So you want to know how much photoshopping Playboy does with its photo speads? Well the top photo below shows Tara in Playboy while the second photo was taken over the summer at the beach (with her bad liposuction job). Quite a difference.

Charged with battery for pouring a beer on boyfriend

She was charged with battery by beer. Melva Ann Wixon, 49, was arrested on Tuesday night on a domestic battery charge after a wet incident at her apartment.

Here's the police version of events: Wixon got home about 7 p.m. at an apartment she shares with her boyfriend, Eric Hartman. She had been drinking at a bar. He had been sleeping.



She was angry at him because he plans to move to Ohio. So she poured beer on him. This woke him up. Displeased by her action, Hartman called police.

Wixon is still at the Pinellas County Jail. The brand of beer she wielded was not included in the incident report.

Tara Conner is 24 today

Old Jew telling joke for Hanukah week

Israelis shoot up student's laptop

An American student entering Israel from Egypt via the border crossing at Taba two weeks ago stood stunned as Israeli Border Police officers determined her laptop computer was a security threat and shot it three times.

Lily Sussman, 21, wrote on her blog that the police officers subjected her to two hours of questioning and searches, before firing three bullets into her Apple Macbook.

Sussman said that she then heard an announcement on the loudspeaker that "was something along the lines of, 'Do not to be alarmed by gunshots because the Israeli security needs to blow up suspicious passenger luggage.'" Moments later, Sussman wrote, a man came to her and introduced himself as the duty manager, who told her: "I'm sorry but we had to blow up your laptop."



"The security officers did not ask about my laptop prior to shooting it," Sussman said. "They used the term 'blew up' when they told me they destroyed my laptop. I don't know why they shot it."

The Israel Airports Authority said in response that, "A [security] check performed on the lady's luggage signalled the need for security personnel to follow procedure. The police who carried out the operation in question were called to the scene. We suggest you approach the Israel Police for any additional information."

Sussman managed to salvage the hard drive and security officials at the crossing gave her an address where she would be reimbursed for her mangled laptop.

Canadians are pretty tough

Drunk 4 year old steals Christmas presents

A 4-year-old boy, beer in hand, is accused of stealing Christmas presents from his neighbors. It's a strange story, but also a sad one. Of course maybe it had something to do with him mother having him at 17.

April Wright is 21 years old and is going through a divorce with her husband who is in jail. She says she is not sure how her 4-year-old managed to get out of the house, open a beer, and steal the neighbors presents from under their tree. Now she's just glad he's okay and says she won't let it happen again.

The child, Hayden Wright, was found around 1:45 am Tuesday, wandering the streets of his neighborhood. In a police reports, officers said he was wearing a little girl's dress and drinking a beer. The police report says the child had to be taken to the hospital to be treated for alcohol consumption.

They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. What's the chance that the kid's dad is doing time for going on a drunken robbery spree while in drag?

Flashing teens cause car accident

It's not just cell phones that distract drivers.

A New Zealand teen who was flashing her breasts at passing cars has been found guilty of disorderly behavior for the prank, which ended with her in a hospital after a distracted driver ran into her. Cherelle May Dudfield, 18, pleaded guilty to the charge when she appeared in Invercargill District Court, the Southland Times newspaper reported Wednesday.

Dudfield, egged on by her friends, was flashing passing motorists from a traffic island in the middle of a four-lane road in the southern city of Invercargill on Sept. 27.

The alcohol-fueled prank went awry when one of the vehicles crashed into her as she tried to run to the side of the road, police Inspector Olaf Jensen said.

Torch relay went by my office today

Old Jew telling joke for Hanukah week

Tomorrow I'm seeing Fiddler on the Roof...again

The original Broadway production of the show, which opened in 1964, was the first run of a musical in history to surpass the 3,000 performance mark. Fiddler held the record for the longest-running Broadway musical for almost 10 years until Grease surpassed its run. It remains Broadway's fourteenth longest-running show in history. The production was extraordinarily profitable and highly acclaimed. It was nominated for ten Tony Awards, winning nine, including Best Musical, score, book, direction and choreography. It spawned four Broadway revivals, a successful 1971 film adaptation, and the show has enjoyed enduring international popularity.

The original Tevye was played by Zero Mostel who was the best. Others that followed him were Herschel Bernardi, Theodore Bikel, Leonard Nemoy (yes Spock), Paul Lipson, Chaim Topol (also starred in the film version), Alfie Bass, Lex Goudsmit, Henry Goodman, Alfred Molina and Harvey Fierstein (who I'm seeing tomorrow). Other well known actors to perform in the production include Andrea Martin (Golde), Rosie O'Donnell (Golde), Beatrice Arthur (Yente), Bette Midler (Tzeitel), Bert Cony (Perchik), Adrienne Barbeau (Hodel), and Fyvush Finkel (Mordcha).

Here are some of the leads:

Zero Mostel



Theodore Bikel



Herschel Bernardi



Topol

Only 79 days until the release of Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland"

Old Jew telling joke for Hanukah week

Hump Day Hottie

Ashley Greene

Liberals' twisted photo contest

Rick Mercer’s advice to Liberals: “First rule of photoshop – no posting of penis pics on politicians’ heads. Second rule – no assassinations.”

The Liberals seemed to have forgotten the rules because they they have a fake photo of Stephen Harper being assassinated by Jack Ruby on a Liberal website. Not surprisingly there is outrage in the Tory ranks.

Political spin doctors are just so infantile.

One Hit Wonder

Rickie Lee Jones - Chuck E's In Love (1979)

UPDATE: The many women of Tiger Woods

Yeah it's time for another update. Talk about Third Leg Syndrome.

Wife - Elin Nordegren (on her way out the door)



#1 - Rachel Uchitel (party planner)



#2 - Jaimee Grubbs (cocktail waitress)



#3 - Kalika Moquin (nightclub manager)



#4 - Jaime Jungers (cocktail waitress)



#5 - Cori Rist (Hooters waitress)



#6 - Mindy Lawton (waitress)



#7 - Holly Sampson (porn star)


#8 - Joslyn James (porn star)



#9 - Julie Postle



#10 - Theresa Rogers