A handsome and talented athlete, he was even being scouted by the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team in high school, but a football injury derailed his aspirations for a possible professional sports career.Unsurprisingly, Pirates scouting reports from 1933 are scarce, but Aratani's Pittsburgh connection turns up in a few other places. The Japanese American National Museum writes about baseball among second-generation Japanese-Americans (Nisei):
The 1920s and 1930s were the golden age of Nisei baseball. Teams could be found in practically every community. Semipro teams were formed. The San Pedro Skippers, a Southern California semipro Nisei team averaged 14 runs a game in the late 1930s. Stars emerged and sometimes even were invited to play with professional teams. Shortstop George Aratani was invited to practice with the visiting Pittsburg Pirates in Santa Maria in the 1930s where his coaches were Hall of Famers Honus Wagner, Paul and Lloyd Waner.In spite of how good, and how underrated, some of these Japanese teams were, an article from 2003 about Pirates' spring training in Paso Robles, though, may make you wonder how much of a prospect Aratani was:
You've got to wonder what the Pirates and Cubs did for competition in those springs of the '20s. They were the only big league teams that came to California. The answer is the played a lot of intra-squad games that usually pitted the veterans against the rookies. But local players also got into the act according to Brian Milne, sports editor of the North County Tribune, Paso Robles' newspaper. The Chamber of Commerce put together teams that were only to happy to try their skills against the big leaguers. Semipro teams from around San Luis Obispo County and even high school teams got to try their luck. Pacific Coast minor league teams also provided competition for the Buccaneers.The Pirates wouldn't get their first Japanese player until they signed veteran pitcher Masumi Kuwata in 2007, and have never had an Asian-American on their roster.
Some of the better local players were even looked at seriously as prospects. But the talent bar was sometimes set pretty low. Milne writes of Bud Sheely, a student at Paso Robles High School, getting to play against his father, Pirate first baseman Earl Sheely. The older Sheely's only year with Pittsburgh was 1929, when Bud, who eventually made it to the majors himself, was 11 years old.
In Japan, it's been a challenge to convince customers that some coffees are worth more than others, with a slowing economy hitting the industry hard.More on the visit halfway down this Specialty Coffee Chronicle article from last month.
Kenji is your typical teenage misfit. He’s good at math, bad with girls, and spends most of his time hanging out in the all-powerful, online community known as OZ. His second life is the only life he has – until the girl of his dreams, Natsuki, hijacks him for a starring role as a fake fiancée at her family reunion. Things only get stranger from there. A late-night email containing a cryptic mathematic riddle leads to the unleashing of a rogue AI intent on using the virtual word of OZ to destroy the real world, literarily. As Armageddon looms on the horizon, Kenji and his new “family” set aside their differences and band together to save the worlds they inhabit in this “near-perfect blend of social satire and science fiction.”The movie starts at 7 pm at the Frick Fine Arts Building in Oakland (map). It's free and open to the public.
“Savage!” (aka “Back Valor,” 1973, Philippines), “Angels from Hell” (1968, USA), “Wolf-Devil Woman” (1982, Taiwan), “The Killing Machine” (1976, Japan), “Weapons of Death” (1977, Italy), “Massacre Time” (aka “The Brute and the Beast,” 1966, Italy), “Pieces” (1982, Spain), “The Big Bust Out” (1972, Italy/West Germany) and “Ilsa, the Tigress of Siberia” (1977, Canada).The "festival" of domestic and international exploitation films runs from 11 am to 1 am the following day, and includes, again according to the Almanac,
a select number of vendors on hand in the theater’s lobby and lower level, selling a wide range of movie-related items such as DVDs, books, records, magazines, posters, T-shirts and original works of art.Each movie is $5, and you can get an all-day pass for $15.
A family on the Himalayan plains discovers their dog is worth a fortune, but selling it comes at a terrible price. Old Dog is both a humorous and tragic allegory and a sober depiction of life among the impoverished rural Tibetan community.There are two showings, at 5:30 pm and 8:00 pm, in Sprawls Hall. The shows are free and are funded in part by the IUP Student Activity Fee. Before I repost in April I will ask if there is a way for non-students to chip in a little money to the Office of International Education, which is putting on the series. IUP student SiLu Jia will be the evening's musical guest.
