Last night’s annual MLB All Star Game took 15 innings to settle and those 15 innings took 4 hours and 50 minutes to play. Now, I enjoy a good game of baseball every now and then, especially when I get to see the best of the entire league, but 5 hours seems a bit long to watch men hit balls with sticks. If you’re on that same page, you might want to check out one of the 9 baseball movies below (in honor of the appropriate amount of innings). If you’re a baseball fan you’ve probably seen them all, but perhaps it’s time to try them out again, they never really go out of style. Also they’re all under 2 hours long, leaving you time to do something crazy like actually play baseball instead of watching it on TV.

takepart to learn about Major League Baseballs relationship with the Boys and Girld Club of America and be sure to let us know if we missed your favorite baseball film!

1) Eight Men Out (pictured above) - John Sayles portrait of the infamous 1919 Chicago White Sox and the controversey surrounding the possibility that they lost on purpose is a quiet gem of a film. It could easily be alarmist and focus only on the scandal, instead Sayles explores the people and the game they loved.

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The Onion’s AV Club has a great list up of 19 awesome one scene wonders - or scenes where an actor comes in just for that scene and completely steals it. And while the choices on their list are great and include some of my favorites, they also missed a few - so here are 5 more one scene wonders along with takepart links so you can act.

1) Crispin Glover in Dead Man - you have to wait a little while for it, but it is completely worth it!

takepart and learn how you can help save the buffalo today

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The new trailer for City of Ember is out and since I know how much everyone here at TakePart likes Dystopian Cinema I thought I’d go ahead post it:

The film stars Bill Murray and everyone’s favorite actor/activist Tim Robbins:

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Just a reminder that the Media that Matters Film Festival is premiering tonight in New York City at the IFC Center.

In the words of Tim Robbins,

“We no longer have to rely on major corporations for things to be seen — we have Media that Matters to distribute new material and new voices and new points of view.”

• Get info about the screenings and buy tickets
• Watch films from past festivals
• Learn more about the Media that Matters Film Festival

The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

Katie Halper:

Necklacing Returns to South Africa, Tutu Calls for Peace, and History Repeats Itself

Ted Kennedy’s Malignant Brain Tumor: Sad News, But the Work Goes On

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Nicole Hughes:

Bush’s Food Aid Package Promotes Use of GMOs

Gas Prices Exceed Those of 1973 Oil Crisis

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Andy Kondrat:

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Could Cost US 38 Trillion Annually

USDA Budget Squeeze Forces Agency to Stop Tracking Pesticide Use

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Jon Popham:

Brooklyn Bridge Birthday Celebration!

Smokey the Bear: Environmental Icon

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Giulia Rozzi:

Suicide Tourism in New York City

Kristin Davis and Her Solar Powered Home

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Gina Telaroli:

Media That Matters Film Festival Premieres on May 28th

Top 10 Ways Indiana Jones Saved the World: Part #1

Films can change the world - this is one thing the folks at the Media that Matters Film Festival know. From their website:

“We no longer have to rely on major corporations for things to be seen — we have Media that Matters to distribute new material and new voices and new points of view.”
-Tim Robbins, Actor

The Media That Matters Film Festival is the premier showcase for short films on the most important topics of the day. Local and global, online and in communities around the world, Media That Matters engages diverse audiences and inspires them to take action.

Each year the MTM folks curate an amazing group of short films that all inspire action and dialog and they put them online and bring them to tons of places around the world. Here’s a trailer for one of the films in the fest (made by awesome Meerkat Media Collective - which I’m in!)

The premiere of their 8th festival is less than a week away. The screening takes place at New York City’s IFC Center and is followed by a ton of great NYC events celebrating the fest:

Every Third Bite - Coming soon! from meerkatmedia on Vimeo.

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When the National Assn of Broadcasters chose Tim Robbins to give the keynote address at their broadcasters confab in Las Vegas they may not have known what they were getting themselves into:

In a keynote speech laced with wry irony and winking sarcasm, Tim Robbins managed to slap back at his right-wing critics, recount an entertaining history of radio and TV and urge broadcasters to “appeal to our better natures,” saying news directors and producers have a responsibility to “the health of the nation.”

Robbins also denounced television’s “pornographic obsession with celebrity culture” and warned that meaningful civil discourse is being threatened by it.

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Don’t miss these excellent posts on some very engaging and thoughtful topics - from going green at the office to Julian Beever to dystopian film telling us to take action now. Check out our most popular articles of the week on a variety of subjects, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites.

Katie:

Katoucha’s Body Found: Model Helped African Women Escape Mutiliation

Julian Beever Brings Art to New Orleans Sidewalks

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Nicole:

Heath Ledger Nick Drake Video for “Black Eyed Dog” Hits Web

Top 10 Ways to Go Green in the Office

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Giulia:

Crate & Barrel Goes Green

The Black Comedy Project

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Gina:

Top 10 Dystopian Future Films Telling Us to Take Action Now

Going to “The Edge of Heaven” with Fatih Akin

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Kerry:

Sustainable Songstrees Sue West’s Rural Revival

No Impact Home A Hit At Ecobuild Exhibition

The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Several topics really stood out this week, including the Oscars as social advocacy inspiration, civil rights and Black History Month, and lots of hot news on entertainment going Green. Check out our most popular posts of the week on these subjects, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites.

Katie:

Happy Belated “Freedom to Marry” Week!

Rosa and Raymond Parks: Valiant Valentine #5

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Nicole:

Top 10 Oscar Picks to Inspire Social Action

Cornel West: Black Thoughts On Black History Month

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Giulia:

H&M’s “Fashion Against AIDS”

Ed Begley Jr. Goes Green

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Gina:

Top 10 Best Picture Winners That Inspire

Remixing “Chicago 10″

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Kerry:

How To Set the World On Fire Without Burning Out

Eco-Brokers Cater to Green Homebuyers

Rosa Parks and Raymond Parks Shared a Love For Each Other and For Civil Rights. And as Valentine’s Week comes to an end, they are the final recipients of my Valiant Valentines Award (VVA) (joining Tim Robbins & Susan Sarandon, Ossie Davis & Ruby Dee, Lucie & Raymond Aubrac, and Robert Capa & Gerda Taro) which honors couples who loved together and worked together to make the world a better place.

When Rosa met her husband in Montgomery, Alabama, Raymond, a 29-year-old barber, was active in the NAACP and the campaign to free the Scottsboro Boys, 9 young black men who had been convicted (8 of whom were sentenced to die in the electric chair) for raping two white women, despite no real evidence. As a couple, they became even more involved in civil rights and Rosa became the secretary and later youth leader of the local NAACP branch. Raymond, whose education was limited by segregation, had educated himself and encouraged and supported Rosa to pursue her education.

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