Vibe Check №10 • mikie.zip

Getting romantic about baseball, rediscovering my local cinema, and switching streaming services (again).

October Baseball

I’ve always kinda considered the sport of baseball on the same level as golf or tennis; in that I don’t particularly care about them whatsoever. Just not for me. Honestly, I’d rather watch BattleBots if given the choice. That is, until this fateful October. My late grandfather would be so proud.

The Toronto Blue Jays dominated the New York Yankees in Game 1 of the ALDS winning 10-1, following that up with another 13-7 win in Game 2. The Yankees avoid the series sweep but ultimately fell in Game 4 with a 5-2 win for the Jays. This all led to perhaps the greatest post-game interview in the history of sports when the long-time Yankees hater ‘Big Papi’ David Ortiz got to speak with fellow Dominican Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

DAAAAAAAAAAAA YANKEES LOSE!

The ALCS got off to a dicey start with two losses to the Seattle Mariners at home for Games 1 & 2, but the Jays rallied back to win 13-4 in Game 3, and 8-2 in Game 4 to tie the series on the road. Seattle took Game 5 at home as the series shifted back to Toronto. The Jays evened the series with a 6-2 win in Game 6, leading to every Toronto sports fan’s worst nighmare; Game 7.

Seattle’s up 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh inning. Barger’s on third, Kiner-Falefa’s on second. Toronto needs a hero. George Springer to the plate. One ball, zero strikes. The rest, as they say, is history.

A Canadian Heritage Minute™.

The Toronto Blue Jays were headed to the World Series for the first time since 1993, and what followed just might be the longest nine days of my life.

The Jays started off strong with an 11-4 win at home in Game 1, made memorable by a 9-run inning, where Addison Barger became a household name across the country with a pinch-hit grand slam.

The Dodgers evened the series in Game 2 and we shifted to Los Angeles, where Game 3 lasted a nailbiting 18 innings as the Jays lost 6-1 in an all-time classic. I never expected I’d willing watch an uninterrupted 6 hours and 39 minutes of baseball in my life, but here we are.

The Jays rallied back to even the series in Game 4 with a 6-2 win. It had boiled down to a best-of-three with at least one game guaranteed in each city. The winner of Game 5 would be in control heading back to Toronto. If ever you wanted a hot start, it was in this game.

I think this qualifies as a hot start.

Led by rookie Trey Yesavage’s historic performance featuring 12 punchouts in a single game, the Toronto Blue Jays won 6-1 in Game 5, and were now only one game away from winning their third World Series, with two chances to win it all back at the SkyDome.

Unfortunately, the Dodgers would take Game 6 with a 3-1 win on the strength of their ~~starting pitcher~~ serial killer Yoshinobu Yamamoto. And so now it all comes down to one last game later tonight, winner take all. And if I’ve learned anything this fall, it’s this: how can you not be romantic about baseball?

^{edit: oh no. not again. 😭}

Movie Night(s)

So I’ve recently discovered that apparently you can just buy movie tickets online ahead of time, this after a whole summer of wanting to go to see some movies but never actually following through. What a concept! My local Cineplex offers cheaper tickets on Tuesdays, and I’ve been taking advantage of that and racking up those sweet Scene points.

Poster for 'The Smashing Machine' by Benny Safdie. — Visual evidence that I actually leave the house on occasion.

Poster for 'TRON: Ares' by Joachim Rønning. — Visual evidence that I actually leave the house on occasion.

It started late last month with One Battle After Another, which might just be my favourite film of the year. I’ve since followed that up with The Smashing Machine, TRON: Ares, and Roofman. I wouldn’t call it the best crop of movies I’ve seen but I’ve really enjoyed the weekly pilgrimmage to my local cinema. I might just make it a habit to go see a new movie every week for the rest of the year?

Switching Streaming Services, Again

A bit of a boring update but I’ve since switched back to using Apple Music as my preferred streaming service. I’d already felt kind of icky about Spotify after learning about their CEO’s investments in AI weapons. But I cancelled immediately after learning about the ICE recruitment ads being run on the platform. This time, for good.

Highlights

Here’s all the stuff I’ve been into this month:

Movies

TV

Books

YouTube

Give the marketing people a raise.

I enjoyed these other videos, and you might too:

Purchases

The Telepathic Instruments Orchid, a chord generating synthesizer from Kevin Parker of Tame Impala. — Isn't this the coolest looking thing ever?

An impulse purchase if there ever was one. I’ve had my eye on this for a while now and when I got the email saying they’d restocked, it only took a few seconds for my bank account to be a thousand dollars less full. I’m sadly still waiting on this to arrive but I cannot wait to have some fun with it.