More good reads ...

During the hectic offseason that is baseball...
a Astros didn't want to get burned again ... As usual I agree with just about everything Mr. Rosenthal has to say. He's a good man.
a Rice, Dawson look awfully good now ... a great column from Bernie Lincicome of the Rocky Mountain News about the Hall of Fame voting. Again -- agreed. (Why would I post it otherwise?)
a A change of philosophy for Beane? ... This week the Oakland A's took hold of Milton Bradley, and I say 'have fun with that project!' Thank God, the Cubs backed off.

Music ...
a Mraz makes it look EZ on 'Mr. A-Z'
a Fall Out Boy takes pop route to rock success ... So just this week a colleague was researching a story about this band he'd heard of called Fallout Boy. I hadn't heard of them -- yet -- but they're from Illinois and the word was that they played here A LOT several years ago. That same night, I'm driving home and on the radio is a cool song by some kind of pop-punk band. The song ends and the DJ tells me 'that was Fallout Boy.' ...I smile and kind of shake my head. And the next day it seems like everybody is suddenly talking about Fallout Boy.

Movie stuff ...
a Aping a classic ... an interesting story about Peter Jackson's lust for 'King Kong,' and that makes you want to root for him even more ...

a The Many Sins of Casting the First 'Stone' ... For all the trailers I've seen, 'Family Stone' looks pretty decent to me. And I really like everyone who stars in it, including the adorable Sarah Jessica Parker ... All of that's why this review from the Washington Post made me laugh and laugh -- because the guy had nothing -- actually it's infinitely beyond nothing -- good to say about the movie. Moreso, the review just made me want to meet this Stephen Hunter guy and try to figure out what some of these grumpy old movie critics are made of ...

And finally for newspaper and history buffs ... Newspapers show the world, say couple who saved some (and a related Web site)