This is officially the most brilliant ceremonial first pitch gimmick ever staged, just narrowly beating out that time Bill Murray ran the bases and slid into home at Wrigley Field: Yesterday at Japan's Tokyo Dome, Ringu/The Ring villainess Sadako (who's coming back for more in Sadako 3D, in Japanese cinemas this May) trudged to the mound to throw the first pitch before the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters battled the Chiba Lotte Marines. Somehow she managed to see through her signature wall of scary horror hair to toss a decent looper before the ghostly spirit took over and...well, just watch for yourself.
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Gaga waxes poetic on pearls and baseball in the March issue of V Magazine: "I lay down on the airplane back from Japan, tossing around some dashi, fondling my pearls. I watched the movie Moneyball for the first time. I began to laugh and smile as [Brad] Pitt talked romantically about the game. I suddenly imagined that my pearls were teeny-tiny baseballs. When a player hits a home run, the baseball is flung into an abyss of enigma and screams so great. It travels so far that only rarely is one caught in the bleachers. Where do these balls go? Where do all these wins get encased? Are they in a heavenly baseball land floating around for players who pass to acknowledge? Or do they disappear?" [V Magazine via Deadspin]
Here's the good news: Your first look at the trailer for Bennett Miller's Moneyball (starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill) is online, and, by the looks of it, the September baseball awards has awards season potential. The bad news: It debuted on Entertainment Tonight, which means talking heads Nancy O'Dell and Mark Steines add their own distracting commentary to the trailer. But, still. It's the first Moneyball trailer! UPDATE: Now with full trailer!
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