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Re: Beautyland v. Great Expectations — The Tournament of Books

Martin Schneider — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 09:15:41 -0000

I thought Great Expectations was quite bad and I don't really understand where all the praise is coming from. The point made by the judge is about the seeming irrelevancy of the protagonist's infant child is well landed. There's a scene about 100 pages in where we're told that David Blaine showed up at the protagonist church and levitated for them.

This is the kind of thing that is compelling if a friend tells you and it is not compelling if a novel tells you. Fail. I can't believe that David Blaine scene hasn't gotten more attention. It's a sign of the incompetence of the book.

Full disclosure: I didn't finish this book.

Re: Song of the Summer: Wet Leg’s ‘Chaise Lounge’ is catchier than the Delta variant | Dangerous Minds

Martin Schneider — Sat, 17 Jul 2021 10:31:11 -0000

Getting Baxter Dury vibes.
https://youtu.be/OUfu_QmcSw0

Re: G/O fuck yourself

Martin Schneider — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 18:26:20 -0000

That's a fair point. Scott mentioned something about a dress code that is completely in line with that. With any luck, the utility of the example to make the "we actually understand this business" point will persist.

Re: G/O fuck yourself

Martin Schneider — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 16:58:01 -0000

I haven't been following this closely but I think you have made the point very well that the Deadspin saga will hopefully have a long legacy in terms of giving creative people a way to respond to the suits with the money who come on so strong with the reality talk and "this is just what works." No. Often the independent-minded creatives who have a vision and find new ways to say things are the ones who know "what works."

Re: A Mini-Scalia Almost Ruined the World Series

Martin Schneider — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 09:48:29 -0000

You say that Hinch will received scrutiny. One has to laugh because even here, you are letting Hinch off the hook even though he out-and-out blew game 6 and game 7. He was very passive and had a lead in both games but let them get away.

In game 6 Hinch couldn't see that Verlander in the 5th was obviously ready to get hit hard with the heart of the order coming up, he had nobody warming up even though Verlander didn't really have anything. (He was so oblivious to Verlander's true condition that he failed to have anyone warming up even after the 2 HRs that lost the game. OK, eventually he got someone up. I was amazed Hinch let Verlander leave the dugout for the 5th.)

Then in game 7 after Correa's RBI hit in the 5th, the Astros desperately needed to deliver the knockout blow to Scherzer and remove the game from the category of closely contested pitcher's duels. Instead he let the .234 lifetime batter (Chirinos) hit -- he promptly struck out, ending the threat. It was Hinch's fault that the Nats were still in the game only down by 2. The media never stops saying that all hands are on deck from the pitching perspective, and yet nobody noticed that Hinch left all his bullets in his gun on the batting side. What's that? You don't PH for your catcher when you're leading? It's game 7, you're playing the best team in the National League, you have to be creative.

Amazingly, Buck and Smoltz didn't notice either of these managerial blunders, and neither did anybody else, really. The same way NFL teams sometimes have a clock management coach, the Astros would be well-advised to hire an "Is either pitcher in this game getting by with nothing?" coach. Hinch's failure to see what was happening in front of him cost the Astros the series.

Re: A Lot Of People Think That The Nats Have No Chance Against The Astros, But Chelada People Believe In Miracles

Martin Schneider — Tue, 22 Oct 2019 20:06:59 -0000

Oh yeah! But so ... still talking about the same Giants.

Re: A Lot Of People Think That The Nats Have No Chance Against The Astros, But Chelada People Believe In Miracles

Martin Schneider — Tue, 22 Oct 2019 19:47:58 -0000

So I'm from NYC area, have been a Yankees' fan most of my life, remember the 77-78 teams from when I was about 7. Teen years, Mattingly's Yankees, a lot of frustration. 30s and after dominated by Torre's Yankees which were a lot of fun but after the point that Giambi arrived, in there somewhere, around 2001, it became really not fun to root for "the team that always wins and everyone else hates." So I suffered through a few years of that, ha ha. Ten years ago I developed friendships with a bunch of people in Cleveland and six years ago I made the decision to move there -- at that point I was ready for the switch and did so, I've been an Indians fan since then and it's been great fun. After the Yankees came back from a 2-0 hole to beat the Indians in 2017 I now actively root against the Yankees which had not been the case before.

On the whole I would say stick with your old team unless you have a compelling reason not to do that. I had every reason to give up the Yankees and adopt the team of my new city but it was a strange situation.

Re: A Lot Of People Think That The Nats Have No Chance Against The Astros, But Chelada People Believe In Miracles

Martin Schneider — Tue, 22 Oct 2019 19:41:33 -0000

I think this series is much closer. I would pick the Astros but I would not expect like some obscene rout. I think the Astros' lineup is deeper but stuff like that can prove to be surprisingly inconsequential in the World Series. The Nats remind me a lot of Brenly's Giants which was devoid of big stars but guys that produced in a timely fashion as well as good pitchers. They won three titles. The Astros deserve to be favorites because they hit better and because there's like a 10% chance the Nats don't show up at all and I don't think that will happen to the Astros. But the Astros could easily find their hands full with the Nats and once you get to about Game 5, all bets are off. The Nats beat the Dodgers, remember.

Re: NFL Open Thread: Yankees Elimination Decade Edition

Martin Schneider — Sun, 20 Oct 2019 16:58:58 -0000

A fairer statement would be to say that the 83-88 Yankees (6 seasons) were a strong team that averaged 89 wins a season and wasn't good enough to make the playoffs in a pre-WC era. If you fold in the Stump Merrill teams -- Stump never managed a single game in the 1980s -- then of course they're far worse.

Re: NFL Open Thread: Yankees Elimination Decade Edition

Martin Schneider — Sun, 20 Oct 2019 16:48:56 -0000

1992 has nothing to do with this conversation. The subject was explicitly the 1980s. I agree that it's technically "worse" but there's a general trashing of the Mattingly-era Yankees that has nothing to do with reality.

Re: NFL Open Thread: Yankees Elimination Decade Edition

Martin Schneider — Sun, 20 Oct 2019 15:29:53 -0000

true statement

Re: NFL Open Thread: Yankees Elimination Decade Edition

Martin Schneider — Sun, 20 Oct 2019 15:05:29 -0000

The Yankees had the best W/L record of any MLB team in the 1980s. So "way worse" except that the wildcard didn't exist then, or something.

Re: “Get over it”

Martin Schneider — Mon, 30 Sep 2019 15:49:34 -0000

That's fair. I was being pretty glib there. I think the Biden-Clinton nexus is just a touch deeper than is being suggested here though. The vote for the Iraq War kind of seals that connection in my mind. It was a very big vote.

Re: “Get over it”

Martin Schneider — Mon, 30 Sep 2019 14:59:36 -0000

That is interesting information. I know a number of people who can't vote for Biden (yes, even against Trump) because of his more warlike role in Bosnia and of course, the Iraq War. He's hawkish enough.

Re: “Get over it”

Martin Schneider — Mon, 30 Sep 2019 14:57:35 -0000

There is something to this. I mean HRC may be a creature of the establishment etc. but she's not notably stupid. She's saying both things to some extent.

Re: “Get over it”

Martin Schneider — Mon, 30 Sep 2019 14:56:42 -0000

Imagine that.

Re: “Get over it”

Martin Schneider — Mon, 30 Sep 2019 14:55:17 -0000

Ultimately you can't make Paul say something he didn't say, and he didn't say that Biden isn't making arguments on his own behalf. It's a silly line to argue.

Re: “Get over it”

Martin Schneider — Mon, 30 Sep 2019 14:54:31 -0000

I think it's indisputable that the lion's share of the argumentation pro-Biden has focused on his familiarity to moderate voters and his strong poll results in head-to-head matchups. Paul is dead right about that. Biden speaking on his own behalf doesn't count because he has to say something. Fact is, the non-"electability" argument for Biden is notably weak. He's a good man, a decent man, etc. but despite the high poll data there is a real lack of generalized enthusiasm for him.

Re: “Get over it”

Martin Schneider — Mon, 30 Sep 2019 14:48:28 -0000

This is kind of a yawn. I like Hillary, voted for her in the primary, canvassed for her in an important swing state, etc. But I mean she is ideologically so close to Biden it's almost ridiculous. Voted for the Iraq War, is part of that whole 90s DLC crowd, so you know, it's just totally unsurprising that she would have this take. It's not a "terrible take," it's the one her position relative to all of the other players requires. Plus she's 71 years old and from the Midwest. Did you think she was going to depart from the consensus view held by some that it's Biden or bust?

Re: “Get over it”

Martin Schneider — Mon, 30 Sep 2019 14:45:39 -0000

In essence Paul is correct. The absence of positive arguments for Biden qua Biden is very striking.

Re: On Terrible and Overrated Books

Martin Schneider — Sun, 29 Sep 2019 22:27:44 -0000

The Beach may have dated poorly but it's still a terrific book. I read it about two years ago with no real sense of any hipness it may have had in the 1990s or connections to rave culture. It still reads great. The content is a little dated, sure.

Re: If the President Does It

Martin Schneider — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 17:33:26 -0000

More properly: Or maybe it won't be.

Re: What Is Happening on Eighth Avenue?

Martin Schneider — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 01:39:17 -0000

The "over time" matters a lot, though. It would take a whiiiiile.

Re: What Is Happening on Eighth Avenue?

Martin Schneider — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 00:00:45 -0000

At least they have embraced that ethic wholeheartedly and never shown any oversensitivity about criticisms coming from Twitter. Does Bret Stephens count as an NYT staffer?

Re: What Is Happening on Eighth Avenue?

Martin Schneider — Mon, 16 Sep 2019 23:57:04 -0000

That's a great point. I had forgotten about that.