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TwinkieTown Movie Night: Anna and the Apocalypse

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Nothing says Christmas like bashing zombies with a baseball bat! (They’re not very scary zombies, but I wouldn’t show this to anyone under 15 or so.) Here’s the link, and click your clicks at 7:30!

Anna’s just a regular high school senior, with regular high school senior concerns. Go straight to college, or take a year off to travel? (On her own dime, from money she made working: these teens are MUCH LESS ANNOYING than teens in American movies.)

But there’s another concern; zombies.

The young Scottish film-school student, Ryan McHenry, came up with the idea when he watched a rotten Disney movie about high schoolers. So, he thought, what would improve it? Zombies.

(The violence & goopy gore here are nothing extreme; it’s about at the level of Gremlins, something like that.)

The fairest criticism I’ve heard of this movie is that it starts out so funny and great and ends up being sad.

That’s valid. But I think the movie had to be this way.

Ryan McHenry got financing to write & direct it at age 25! Every young film fan’s dream. And then he got a super-rare cancer and died at 27. Before he could direct it. At 27.

As the movie tells us… “there’s no such thing as a Hollywood ending.”

So the movie is two things. It’s a young person’s joy in goofing with genres and stereotypes and tweaking them around to make something giddy & new. But there is a sad core to it. How could there not be?

And I think it’s a very good movie.

OK, let’s address the Strange Site link: it’s a kind of Russian YouTube.

You’d be worried, with fair reason, that a Russian YouTube is gonna dump malware all over every device you own. And that IS something some Russian sites will do. (If you haven’t heard, Mr. Putin is a very bad man and there is a lot of corruption in Russia.)

But THIS Russian site is considered generally safe (for now) by most internet security experts. In terms of tracking your data, it’s certainly safer than Bezos Prime.

Plus, the versions on Roku/Tubi screw up the “aspect ratio”; chopping off the sides of the image. I used to be a movie projectionist, so this kinda thing drives me batty.

Again, as with Damn Yankees, there’s Spanish subtitles you can’t turn off. But subtitles won’t hurt you. Why there are Spanish subtitles on a Russian site showing a Scottish movie… folks, I have NO IDEA. There’s another copy on the same site without subtitles, but the video quality is lousy, and here it is very good.

Anyhoo, here’s tonight’s link again! Start the show at 7:30!

And here’s the upcoming schedule:

January 2: Eight Men Out (1988)

Yep, they cheated for gambling money, but the way Charles Comiskey treats them, you’ll kinda understand why. Free on Pluto and Tubi.

January 9: Benched (2018)

Boy, do I know NOTHING about these next two films. But they were requested by Movie Night commenters, so if you want a movie, join in the comments! John C. McGinley and Garret Dillahunt star as two youth baseball coaches with very different approaches to coaching. Free on Tubi.

January 16: Alibi Ike (1935)

Starring the great Joe E. Brown (Some Like it Hot) as a baseball player who concocts a harebrained excuse for every mistake, hence his nickname. Free on a Strange Site.

I’ve got some ideas for future ones if we do this more, and all movie suggestions are absolutely welcome & wanted!

But, until then, pop your popcorn, and let’s start the show at 7:30!

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/book-club/50514/twinkietown-movie-night-anna-and-the-apocalypse
 
Have a very merry, Cherry Cherry Christmas!

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Every year, a big movie premieres in theaters on Christmas Day. Usually one that the whole family can enjoy to escape the in-laws for a few hours. This year, that flick is Song Sung Blue.

Hugh Jackman in a musical biopic about one of the greatest pop singers of all time? Count me in!

How does this all relate to baseball? Well, one of Neil’s standout tunes became a staple at MLB’s oldest ballpark…

On May 28, 1969, Diamond released Sweet Caroline as part of his Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show album. Written by the Jewish Elvis himself, the catchy chorale peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100—certified Platinum with 1,000,000+ sales.

But as even the catchiest of songs are known to do, it fell by the wayside in favor of the next month’s ear-worm. That is, until—legend has it—a Fenway Park staffer in charge of tunes randomly spun it one night in 1997 in tribute to a baby Caroline she knew who just entered the world.

The song got a big crowd pop, so it got played again…and again…and again! By 2002, it became official policy for Neil to flow through the Beantown loudspeakers in the middle of the eighth inning. The now-infamous “bah bah BAHHHHHH!” crowd response in the pause after Diamond’s “sweeeeeeeet Caroline” crooning was added in somewhere along the way.

Over the years, Sweet Caroline has become as much of a Fenway tradition as the Green Monster or Pesky’s Pole. It was featured in the film Fever Pitch and the man himself has even serenaded New Englanders.

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Sadly, the 84-year old Diamond was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2018 and has retired from touring. But that hasn’t stopped him from making occasional public appearances to belt out his greatest hits!

Ironically, I discovered Neil due to my Dad having recorded his 1992 holiday TV special on a VHS tape—right before “Rocky”, which I watched a lot as a youngster. If there’s a better Jingle Bell Rock, I haven’t heard it yet…

Happy Holidays, Twinkie Town! As Neil himself croons in this inventive festive tune: “Let’s raise a toast of Red, Red Wine…we’ll even sing Sweet Caroline…while the whole world sings along!” We’ve been doing that since 1969.

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/satire/...stmas-hugh-jackman-sweet-caroline-fenway-park
 
Rival Roundup, Vol. 76: The Big Parade (of links)

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It’s the last Rival Roundup of 2025! I hope you got everything done this year that you wanted to accomplish, because if not, you only have three days left, and you need to basically stop reading this immediately if you want any hope of achieving your dreams. Go on, get!

  • The Christmas rumor mill was churning this week, as Tarik Skubal made an offseason visit to Detroit, attended a Pistons game, and elicited a comment from general manager Jeff Greenberg. Greenberg slyly suggested that Skubal was just a basketball fan; some thought the ace was in town for extension talks, which seems to have been closer to rumor than reality.
  • Speaking of the Pistons — upon whose television network Skubal appeared to share some hoops knowledge — said network is the latest in a long line of Bally-likes to be weathering a financial storm on behalf of their parent company. FanDuel Sports Networks is in jeopardy of shuttering a laundry list of regional sports networks presently in the thick of mid-season NBA and NHL coverage, unless a speculative sale to the DAZN streaming platform can be cleared by next month.
  • Our friends over at Royals Review have a couple items this week — first, a linkdump of their own with some weekend rumblings to close out 2025. Also, Max Rieper rounds up his own rivals, providing a Royal fan’s perspective on the American League offseason so far.
  • The Cleveland Guardians make a couple of minor-league signings.
The Guardians signed reliever Codi Heuer to a Minor League deal with a non-roster invite to big league Spring Training.

Tim Stebbins (@timstebbins.bsky.social) 2025-12-22T18:02:08.517Z
The Guardians signed outfielder Stuart Fairchild to a Minor League deal with a non-roster invite to big league Spring Training.

Tim Stebbins (@timstebbins.bsky.social) 2025-12-20T19:29:09.096Z
The Chicago White Sox have agreed to terms with left-handed pitcher Sean Newcomb on a one-year, $4.5-million contract. To make room for Newcomb on the 40-man roster, the White Sox designated left-hander Ryan Rolison for assignment.

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) December 23, 2025

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/general/50568/rival-roundup-vol-76-the-big-parade-of-links
 
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