Asashoryu back in the winner's circle. It was his 17th championship.
However, he did lose a match -- on the final day, to Hakuho. Hakuho ended up 13-2. Not good enough to get a promotion to Yokozuna, but it was good enough to keep Yokozuna hopes alive for next tournament. If he wins in September, and probably if he wins 13 or more matches, he'll be promoted.
The rest of the Ozeki's were all pretty average: Chiyotaikai 9-6, Kaio 9-6, Koto'oshu 8-7, Tochiazuma 8-7.
Baruto didn't quite dominate like I thought he would -- his march to Ozeki slows, but he will move up next tournament. He finished 9-6.

Hakuho lost another, so it's not looking like he's going to make Yokozuna, but you never know.

10-0: Asashoryu
9-1: Chiyotaikai, Tamanoshima, Tamakasuga
8-2: Hakuho, Tochiazuma
7-3: Kaio
6-4: Koto'oshu, Baruto
3-7: Takamisakari

It is day 8, halfway through the tournament, and anyone who wondered if Asashoryu's elbow injury from last tournament would still be hurting him this time got their answer. Asashoryu is 8-0 and tied for the lead. Also 8-0 is Tochiazuma -- he needed 8 wins to stay at Ozeki next tournament -- i guess that wasn't a problem.
Last tournament's winner Hakuho is looking for another win to make Yokozuna. But he suffered a shocking loss on day 1. However, since then, he's won every match, so he's right in it.
Also 7-1: Chiyotaikai. Other ozeki's: Koto'oshu at 6-2 and Kaio at 5-3.
Miyabiyama is trying to get promoted back to Ozeki, but it doesn't look good, since he's only 4-4.
And the giant Baruto is down to 5-3 after losing 2 in a row.

8-0: Asashoryu, Tochiazuma
7-1: Hakuho, Chiyotaikai, Tamanoshima, Tamakasuga
6-2: Koto'oshu
5-3: Kaio, Kotomitsuki, Baruto

Hank Williams was the first giant of "hillbilly" music, writing many of the greatest songs of heartbreak and loss, creating hits with unmatched regularity, singing with a masterful blue yodel, and bringing freshly-named "country" music to the cities and into the mainstream. (OK, for the last accomplishment, now I think he should maybe be cursed, not praised.)

Finally growing popular enough to get into a studio and record, Hank joined up with Fred Rose of Acuff-Rose Music, and together, they began an incredible run of hit-making. A legendary debut at the Grand Ole Opry followed. (A spot on the stage of the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville is still marked to remember where Hank's debut took place.) After a few years of incredible success in music and incredible pain in his personal life (failed marriages, debilitating back pain, and even more debilitating alcoholism), Williams died at only 29 years old.

Here is what I left out of the story: the songs. In his few years of performing and recording, Hank Williams managed to record the following songs and more: Lovesick Blues, I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry, Long Gone Lonesome Blues, Cold Cold Heart, Hey Good Lookin', Jambalaya, You Win Again, Kaw-Liga, and Your Cheatin' Heart. As recorded by himself, his songs were giant hits. But they were also covered by other country singers, and countless singers from other genres (Tony Bennett had a hit with Cold Cold Heart, Elvis did Cheatin' Heart, etc.)

Without whitewashing Hank's faults -- his drinking, especially, but also his womanizing -- Hemphill remains sympathetic to Williams. He wasn't perfect, true, but his problems stemmed from other things, like his back pain (he suffered from untreated spina bifida) and bad choices with women. And Hemphill doesn't skimp on praise for the Williams catalog (though, to be honest, I felt his book could have used more firsthand accounts of the power of Williams' songwriting).

If Hollywood hasn't started on the Hank Williams biopic yet, it should. His life was interesting (the twist could be that he never got clean, so we could avoid the tedious drying out scene) and his music warrants a tribute much more than Johnny Cash's, and at least as much as Ray Charles'.

Read the book, or, even better, buy the greatest hits on CD.

Mr. Gore shows off his skills with the slideshow in the new global warming thriller An Inconvenient Truth. The movie is currently playing in theaters, though I think it would fit a little better on the Discovery Network or PBS. Let's face it, I prefer my big-screen entertainments a little less "lecture-y".

This movie suffers from too much educational content and too little action and humor (though, thankfully, there is some of the latter). As they were basically making a "concert film" of an Al Gore global warming scarefest, the filmmakers tried to break up the lecture with short vignettes about Al Gore's past or action shots of Gore creating his slides. The pieces about Gore himself seemed out of place (save one anecdote about the cancer death of his sister) and the action shots and ponderous close-ups of Gore with the weight of the quickly-heating world on his shoulders seemed ridiculous.

Having said all that, I highly recommend seeing the movie. The content of Gore's lecture is fascinating, at times frightening, and of vast importance. What Gore does, with expertly created graphics, is provide the clearest explanation I have heard of why the Earth is getting warmer and what could happen if it continues. Hint: If your grandchildren have children, tell them not to bother having kids of their own.

Although there are flaws, including a few overtly manipulative moments. (Lingering on Hurricane Katrina is bad, showing a sad computer-animated polar bear feebly attempting to climb the last remaining square foot of floating ice is worse.) Also, when one hears about the ice ages and warming going back millions of years, once can't help consider whether the human race is at the precipice of extinction -- a wholly natural event. In this case, it would have been nice to hear of any species that have approached extinction and managed to make their way out of it (though I don't think any other species has quite the tools we have to affect such an escape, nor the vision to see it coming.)

The movie mostly avoids politics, though not completely. Understandable, since I'm sure a full-length lecture could be made on the current administration's horrific track record on global warming (which amounts, sadly, to selling out the entire planet for the short-term profits of a few industries). However, this is definitely not going to be sweeping Gore back into power. It makes him appear to be the one-issue man he was accused of being in 1992, even if he is right about that one issue.

In conclusion, this is a movie everyone should be made to watch. I know I've learned my lesson (he says, as he embarks on a 7,000 mile gasoline-powered drive across country).

For those who've forgotten, we start him off with 5 points.

First, the fact that it took me half an hour on the Internet to find his name means he's not exactly a superstar. -3 points.

I saw him at the Farmer's Market at The Grove. +1 for being a good spot to see celebrities. However, he was with two people who were both unrecognizable. -1 point, because celebrities are supposed to hang out with other celebrities. (What, Ray Romano wasn't available?)
-2 points of beauty factor, for obvious reasons.
-2 points Star Wars factor.

+1 for guesting on Everybody Loves Raymond, but -1 for being a very annoying character (though, yes, that was intentional). +1 for writing two episodes of Seinfeld.

And finally, +2 for being a frequent guest on the gone-but-not-forgotten Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist. By the way, Dr. Katz is finally out on DVD! (Season 1, at least.)

Anyway, final score: 2 points. Hardly worth the 6-hour drive from San Francisco.

First, Yokozuna Asashoryu took a hard fall early on and had to drop out of the tournament with an elbow injury. (No word yet on whether he'll be healed in time for July's tournament.) This left the tournament wide open for anyone to win.

And that left brand new Ozeki Hakuho as the favorite. Living up to the new ranking, he proceeded to go 14-1 and then win the tournament in a tiebreaker. If Asashoryu doesn't make it back by July, look for Hakuho to be a strong favorite to win his 2nd in a row and gain a quick promotion to Yokozuna.



Hakuho's opponent in the tiebreaker was the man with the worst pec's in all of sports, Miyabiyama. He always hangs around with the top wrestlers, so it wasn't too surprising, but I don't look for him to do it again any time soon.




The next biggest splash in the tournament was made by Estonian giant Baruto. After going 15-0 in the Juryo (Sumo's AAA minor league) last tournament, Baruto was promoted to the top level of Sumo. Despite being too young and having hair too short to make the traditional Sumo topknot, he was man enough to go 12-3 and stay in the race for the championship until the last couple days. Clearly too much for the low-ranked wrestlers, Baruto will be up in the top ranks before long. And not only does he have some skill, he seemed from interviews and candid shots to have a likable personality, too.

In other news, Tochiazuma choked again attempting to make Yokozuna and finally dropped out of the tournament with an injury, Chiyotaikai looked good but faded at the end, Kaio hung around for a little while, and Koto'oshu lost some more luster with an average tournament.

My personal favorites Kyokushuzan and Asasekiryu had great tournaments and everyone's favorite Takamisakari managed a winning record by winning on the last day, to stave off demotion to the minors.

Noted Dylanologist and music critic Greil Marcus' book Like a Rolling Stone: Dylan at the Crossroads examines the source material, musical content, and vast influence of this song. Unfortunately, Marcus does so with poeticism, impressionism, and even mysticism, rather than journalism. Marcus' purple prose and outright idolatry interfere with his mission.

Art criticism in general always walks a razor's edge, attempting to describe in words the effects of a visual or aural artform. But phrases like "this sound within the sound tells you the story can't end soon, and that it won't be rushed" (about an organ line - p. 115) and "The first sound is so stark and surprising, every time you hear it, that the empty split-second that follows calls up the image of a house tumbling over a cliff; it calls up a void" (p. 94-95) just leave me wondering if the critic could make up anything about any song.

And Marcus loses credibility with his over-adulation of Dylan and his oeuvre. Which is certainly saying something coming from a true fan like me. (Ask me the greatest songwriter ever, greatest lyricist ever, most important pop musician of all time, favorite concert of the last 10 years -- my answer will be Dylan.) But when the author spends pages seriously analyzing Dylan's spectacular disaster of a movie Masked and Anonymous, he is going too far. He finally loses all credibility for me when he states the only two songs since Rolling Stone to live up to it have been Dylan's musically monotonous Highlands from Time Out of Mind, and a Pet Shop Boys cover of a Village People (!!!) song (Go West).

Marcus' greatest successes come when he discusses the impact of the song, specifically offering reactions to the song by people like Jimi Hendrix and Rolling Stone magazine publisher Jann Wenner. What I had hoped to read was a book that showed how Dylan made the leap from folk music to rock 'n roll, the turmoil of the actual recording process (the released version was the only decent take all day) and the impact on pop/rock music around the world. Marcus wrote about all of these, but deciphering his message through the diversions and imagery was a little too much for me.

Too bad, because without a doubt, Like A Rolling Stone is the greatest pop song of all time! Even with a 3-chord (C,F,G) structure straight out of Louie Louie or La Bamba (or a hundred others), the almost unprecedented 6-minute long song feels like 3, and leaves you wanting more.

The reason? An incredible lyric, both as music and as poetry. Musically, the lyrics flow so well, with an intricate, impossible rhyme scheme that was never even attempted again in pop music. Lines like:
Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people, they're drinking, thinking that they got it made.
and:
You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns when they all came down and did tricks for you.
Meanwhile, the 3-syllable ending to each line creates a surprise every time, as you wait to hear how Dylan will fit it in. (It still grabs attention in concerts today -- although Dylan has taken to rushing every word out so fast the overall musicality is lost.)

Poetically, the lyrics were meaningful, if only for carrying any meaning at all. In a time of Be-Bop-a-Lu-La's, Dylan made pop music smart -- an influence that has been acknowledged by almost every pop musician at the time and since. Although the meaning of the song is debatable -- is it an angry rant at a woman too ensconced in her own "scene" or is it a warning to that woman, carrying an optimistic tone in breaking out of the scene? Either way, Dylan displays his usual gift for writing brilliant epigrams like "When you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to lose" and paints a detailed portrait of the subject.

As most of you will already know the song, maybe even own the standard radio version found on the album Highway 61 Revisited from 1965, I highly recommend checking out the live version from Dylan's tour with The Band, found on the double album Before The Flood (and also used to perfection in the highly-underrated Scorsese segment of the 1989 movie New York Stories).

Today's featured position: Shortstop.

Let's review:
Summer 2004 -- Traded franchise shortstop and former Rookie of the Year Nomar Garciaparra.
Winter 2004 -- Let Gold Glove winner / World Series champion Orlando Cabrera walk.
Winter 2005 -- Traded Gold Glove & Silver Slugger winner Edgar Renteria. Traded "shortstop of the future" Hanley Ramirez. Signed Alex Gonzalez.

Hmm. That's 4 shortstops gone, and Alex Gonzalez currently filling the position. Wondering how everyone's doing this year?

Garciaparra -- Currently batting .337 with 5HR and 25 RBI in just 23 games, riding an 11-game hit streak and current NL Player of the Week. OK, he's playing first base, not shortstop, but he's the only regular 1B in the NL without an error yet.

Cabrera -- Batting .275 and currently on pace for over 100 runs, almost 100 RBI, and almost 30 steals.

Renteria -- Batting .333 (leading NL for shortstops) and set a new Atlanta Braves team record for longest hitting streak to start a season (24 games).

Ramirez -- Living up to the hype, contending for Rookie of the Year honors, batting leadoff for the Marlins, hitting .331 and on pace for 40 steals and 140 runs.

Gonzalez -- Batting .206 and slugging .290 (just 7 extra-base hits). On pace for just 50 RBI and 35 runs. (Admittedly, great fielding with only 1 error so far this year, but is that going to make up for over 100 fewer runs produced?)

So, in the last season and a half, Theo has managed to get rid of four shortstops all leaps and bounds better than the one he ended up with. Genius?!?

Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita is a great book. I can say that, even though I think I maybe got about 50% of what was going on in it.

What I missed:
- It seems that the book is probably a hilarious, biting satire of Russian society and its people, especially the Russian literati. (I found myself wishing I knew a little more about early-20th century Russia, so I could have gotten more of the jokes.)
- I understand it is also a political commentary on the new Stalinist regime in power at the time it was written. (Had I known a bit more about Russian history, I might have understood why Bulgakov had to keep the book secret in his lifetime. The book wasn't published until 30 years after his death.)

- Much of the book takes its inspiration from the Faust story. Having never read Faust in any version, that went right over my head.
- Finally, there is quite a bit taken from and/or adding to the stories in the New Testament. (I tried to read the Bible -- I only made it as far as the endless censuses in the Old Testament's Judges...)

OK, are you getting the point that this is an incredibly rich novel, built on the timely (political/social commentary) and the timeless (theology/philosophy)?

Beneath all that I missed, there was the literary low-hanging fruit. The book boasts a wildly imaginative story, told at a breakneck pace. The core of the story regards the arrival in Moscow of Satan himself, accompanied by a retinue including mischievous, sometimes murderous, men and a large talking cat. The group immediately begins wreaking havoc on the entire town, performing feats of magic with hilarious consequences -- making one administrator disappear but leaving his suit to continue to perform his duties; turning an entire office into a glee club, singing in harmony against their wills; and even minor tricks like turning paper into 10-ruble notes, which then turn back to paper to all of Moscow's consternation.

But that is only the set up. In fact, the story regards the titular characters of The Master, a frustrated author of a book about Pontius Pilate, and Margarita, his devoted lover/apostle. And meanwhile, Bulgakov smoothly and ingeniously intertwines the book-within-a-book story of Jesus (Yeshua, in this telling) and Pilate -- a different take on the story, in which Pilate begrudgingly sentences a very human-seeming Christ, then has Judas murdered himself, and finally finds himself in Hell (or is it Purgatory), suffering from guilt and the desire to speak to Christ again.

What is most amazing, considering the literary references, theological inquiries, multiple plotlines, and typically confusing Russian patronymics, is how enjoyable this novel is. Its swift-moving story, amusingly detailed characters, and drive towards a tidy and truly satisfying conclusion, all make the book eminently readable.

My biggest question after reading The Master and Margarita was why haven't more people heard of this book?

Kaio came up big and beat Hakuho to get to 8-7 and keep his Sumo career alive. Hakuho dropped to 13-2.

All Asashoryu needed to do was beat Tochiazuma to win the tournament, but amazingly, Tochiazuma managed to beat Asashoryu. Tochiazuma keeps his Yokozuna promotion hopes alive for next tournament (13 wins next tournament will earn him promotion).

And Asashoryu had to face Hakuho in the first all-Mongolian playoff in Sumo history. Asashoryu got his revenge from the loss Hakuho handed him earlier in the tournament and denied Hakuho his first championship. Now, Asashoryu has won 8 of the last 9 tournaments.

This was the tournament of the Mongolians, as Asashoryu won, Hakuho won the Outstanding Performance prize and a Technique prize, Kyokushuzan (11-4) won a Fighting Spirit prize, and Ama (8-7 and heading for promotion to the top ranks) also won a Technique prize.

Or maybe the tournament of the foreigners, as Baruto (the Ivan Drago of Sumo) from Estonia went undefeated, 15-0, in Juryo. He's the first Juryo wrestler to go 15-0 since 1963.

Final Standings:
13-2 Asashoryu, Hakuho
12-3 Tochiazuma
11-4 Wakanosato, Kyokushuzan
10-5 Kisenosato (young Japanese wrestler will be moving up the ranks to take on all the Mongolians)
9-6 Chiyotaikai, Koto'oshu (battling some ankle injury, lost his last 3)
8-7 Kaio
7-8 Takamisakari (another demotion -- Takamisakari getting dangerously close to droppping down to Juryo level)

Next tournament is in Tokyo in May. It will be Asashoryu vs. 5 Ozeki's (including Hakuho after his promotion). And Baruto will be at the bottom of the big leagues, representing for Estonia.

On day 15, Asashoryu faces Tochiazuma (now 11-3, and needs to beat Asashoryu to continue his quest for Yokozuna promotion next tournament).

Hakuho goes up against Kaio, who beat Chiyotaikai to even his record at 7-7. That means Kaio needs to beat Hakuho to stay at Ozeki (and not be forced to retire). Kaio's managed to win 3 of his last 4, so maybe he actually has enough to win it.

If both Asashoryu and Hakuho win, then they take each other on in a tiebreaker match (a chance for Asashoryu to get revenge for his 1 loss this tournament).

Hakuho lost to Tochiazuma on Day 12 and Asashoryu beat Kaio to tie him. Today they both won to go to 12-1. Asashoryu beat Ozeki Chiyotaikai and Hakuho beat fellow Sekiwake Kotomitsuki.

Looks like Asashoryu faces Koto'oshu tomorrow and Tochiazuma Sunday, while Hakuho faces Wakanosato (the scrub who finally got the respect of the match-schedulers, only to lose his 3rd and fall out of contention) tomorrow and Kaio on the last day. That Hakuho-Kaio match could be huge -- Hakuho will probably be going for the championship and Kaio could be 7-7 and need to win to save his career. (Kaio won today to keep his hopes alive, at 6-7, and faces Kotomitsuki tomorrow.)

Hakuho, with 12 wins already, is assured his Ozeki promotion for next tournament. He'll be the 4th youngest Ozeki ever (Takanohana was the youngest). He'll also be the 6th foreigner to make Ozeki and 2nd Mongolian. And now the question becomes -- how long until he makes Yokozuna?

In other news, another Mongolian who's little but has great skill, Kyokushuzan, is 10-3. Retarded-looking Takamisakari has lost 4 in a row and needs to win his last 2 to keep from sinking to the bottom of the Sumo major leagues. And Estonian monster Baruto won the Juryo (2nd highest level - triple-A minor league) championship.

Standings:
12-1 Asashoryu, Hakuho
10-3 Tochiazuma, Wakanosato, Kyokushuzan
9-4 Koto'oshu, (Great Japanese Hope) Kisenosato
8-5 Chiyotaikai, Kotomitsuki
6-7 Kaio, Takamisakari

So, one promotion will happen and one won't, as Tochiazuma lost to hanging-onto-Ozeki-by-his-fingernails Kaio to drop to 8-3. Tochiazuma won't get promoted to Yokozuna even if he wins the rest of his matches, but if he does manage that (which he won't), he'll be alive for Yokozuna promotion after the next tournament. Meanwhile, Kaio has decided he will stay in this tournament to the last day, even if he gets a losing record. It's unclear if he'll come back for the next tournament as a Sekiwake if he gets demoted, or if he'll retire.

With Tochiazuma losing, the only wrestler other than Hakuho and Asashoryu with a realistic chance is Wakanosato. Well, he's 9-2, anyway. I guess he could get lucky.

Standings:
11-0: Hakuho
10-1: Asashoryu
9-2: Wakanosato
8-3: Tochiazuma, Koto'oshu, Chiyotaikai, Kisenosato (next great Japanese hope)
6-5: Takamisakari
5-6: Kaio

Meanwhile, Kaio lost again to fall to 4-6. He now has to go 4-1 to stay at Ozeki and, most likely, stave off retirement.

Chiyotaikai has all but sewn up remaining an Ozeki. He's 7-3 and needs just one more win in his next 5 matches.

Tochiazuma is still hanging onto Yokozuna promotion (and championship) hopes, at 8-2. If he can win all the rest of his matches, he'll be promoted and end Asashoryu's record string of tournaments as the only Yokozuna.

Koto'oshu and Kotomitsuki are still hanging in, 3 wins off the lead, but with only 5 days left, they're pretty much out of it.

Standings:
10-0 Asashoryu, Hakuho
8-2 Tochiazuma, Wakanosato (this tournament's top scrub)
7-3 Koto'oshu, Chiyotaikai, Kotomitsuki
6-4 Miyabiyama, Takamisakari
4-6 Kaio