Steel Kaleidoscopes

In His Own Atmosphere

Finally saw "The Aviator." Great, great movie.

Leonardo DiCaprio should have won best actor. He was brilliant as Howard Hughes (above), a complex, angst-ridden American visionary.

Johnny Damon

Twenty years ago almost to the date, we jumped on the Green Line and headed to Fenway, in anticipation of Wade Boggs extending his hitting streak to 28 games.

Boggs did not disappoint, rapping a single in a 5-3 Sox win over the Mariners. Could he challenge one of the most revered records in sports -- Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak?

Like the Bird Man of Alcatraz, the Chicken Man of Fenway drew a lot of attention. But Boggs went hitless in his next game, the streak dying on the Fenway lawn.

Now it's Johnny Damon's turn.

The Jim Morrison look-alike extended his hitting streak to 29 games last night against the Yankees. With the pitching-challenged Devil Rays in town for three games, Damon should keep the streak alive.

But it's so hard to do. There's so much that can go wrong. Walks are bad. Screaming line drives right at the defense are bad. Sometimes, it's that little trickler through the infield that keeps the streak alive. Getting at least one hit, night after night, is difficult.

The closest threat to DiMaggio was Pete Rose in 1978, but his streak ended at 44. In 1987, Paul Molitor rattled off a 39-game hitting streak.

If Damon somehow stays hot and continues to find a hole in the defense just once a game, it will get very interesting in Boston. The threat to seemingly invincible records is what makes baseball the greatest of sports.

Imagine, one of baseball's greatest records topped by an Idiot.

Stay tuned.

The Weakest Link

Nice guy, this Mark Bellhorn, but it's good to see him hitting ninth.

Where's Marty Barrett when you need him?

Doctored image courtesy of Richard in Leominster.

The Continuing Saga of Dave

Dave Tomlinson was worried about his grades. The incubator in his biology lab was missing a 75-watt bulb and there was no way he could complete the experiment in time.

In a time- and temperature-controlled zone, the incompetence of maintenance personnel was reflective of missing expectations.

The Bermuda Triangle

Did you know that Rosalie, Ellen Austin, El Caribe and Polymer III are just a few of the boats missing after navigating into the Bermuda Triangle?

It's quite a mystery, this place. Really.

Quote of the Day

"See a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wildflower."

-- William Blake

Rock Star: INXS

Could "Rock Star: INXS"  be the summer's American Idol fix?

Maybe.

For starters, the music is nearly always good, because it's rock 'n' roll. You won't find any schmaltzy pop or bad country chart-toppers here. Instead, you're watching 15 seasoned rockers belt out songs like "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "Baba O'Riley" and "Heroes."

Like Idol, each night someone goes home. Like Idol, someone always seems to forget the lyrics. Like Idol, the "reality" script delves into their personalities.

The carrot? The winner gets to front the new album and worldwide tour of  '80s band INXS whose singer,  Michael Hutchence, died in 1997.

Unlike Idol, this group is old enough to party. And party they do. So when the bad news comes from the surviving INXS band members that the gig is up, they're delivering it to someone who's a little hung over and a little sleep deprived after a night of poolside rollicking with the other contestants.

Is it Idol? No.

But it's good TV and worth a peek.

McDonald's Jingles

Any discussion about radio advertising jingles needs to start with McDonald's.

The first McDonald's jingle was played on the radio in 1960, but it wasn't until 1971 when the jingles really penetrated American audiences with "You deserve a break today, so get up and get away, to McDonald's."

In 1975, perhaps McDonald's most famous jingle aired as a promotion for its Big Mac -- "Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun."

Ten years later, in 1985, America heard "It's a good time for the great taste of McDonald's." And who could forget the Hamburgler?

But it's been a quiet few decades for the Golden Arches.  Clearly, there's more competition in the fast-food space and marketeers seem to default to popular music as a replacement for the traditional jingle.

Then came "Super Size Me." And the South Beach Diet. And the Low-Carb diet.

Fast food seems to be losing its momentum.

Winter, 1976

Angie Follas, Kenny Myers, Liz Schueler, Bernadette Corley, Rich Hood, Lori Lasher, Butch Devins, Cheryl Ulrich, Donnie Amell.

A Zena fireplace. A blue van. No real responsibilities.

Online Salary Guides

Looking for a new job? Make sure you do your homework to find out what you're worth.

Doing that homework is much easier now than it was 10 years ago. The Web has put the power into the hands of the job seeker with the availability of online salary guides, providing a reference point before going on interviews and considering offers.

Before salary guides, job seekers had very limited data on how marketable they were. Employers have always had this information at their fingertips, based on hiring processes. HR departments define and build job descriptions, set a salary range and then hire to it. Employers can tweak this range over the years, based on many variables. But the job seeker only had his or her experience to go by, or what they've heard from family and friends who were willing to share salary information.

Be careful though. Online salary guides can tend to skew the numbers on the high side.

This can be bad for both job seekers and employers, because the job seeker has higher expectations going into the job search and the employer finds itself justifying a salary range when it should be touting the benefits of the total job offer, including benefits, company vision and culture.

What job seekers should understand when referencing an online salary guide is that systematic, aggregate data output can't concisely reflect quality of the skill set, quality of education and a company's perception of how a job title fits into its overall organization. There are many intangibles when matching an employee with an employer.