Game Change

The last time Victoria Dinatale had an acting gig was in 1978, when she played a tree in a North Carroll High School production of a play whose name she can't even recall. But she still remembers the thrill of the spotlight, which is what drew her and hundreds of others to a casting call for extras in "Game Change," an HBO movie about the 2008 presidential race that started filming in Baltimore late last month. Aspiring extras filed into a theater at Stevenson University for hours Saturday, bringing with them headshots that in some cases had to have been taken decades before, on the best hair days of their lives.

"Game Change," HBO's made-for-TV movie about the 2008 presidential election, started production in Baltimore on Wednesday with a flurry of casting news and the release of the first image of star Julianne Moore as former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Based on the best-selling nonfiction account of the election, HBO's film focuses on the campaign of Republican candidate Sen. John McCain from the time of his controversial pick of Palin as his running mate to the ticket's loss in the general election to Barack Obama.

We've arrived, I think. The Baltimore area has long been used by Washington politicians seeking outside-the-Beltway backdrops and beating well-worn paths to the GM plant in White Marsh or Jimmy's in Fells Point. But now, Baltimore itself has been cast in something of a role reversal — playing Washington. That's right: Baltimore has become Washington's body double. Just as Julia Louis-Dreyfus wrapped up filming the HBO pilot and political satire "Veep" in these parts, another HBO crew is headed here to film "Game Change," based on the wonderfully dishy book of the same name about the 2008 presidential campaign.

W ith President Barack Obama's victory in the passage of "Obamacare," I've heard a number of Republicans say, "The Democrats have won the battle but lost the war." Really? Prior to that, as Mr. Obama lost his footing on the utopian pedestal he was idealistically elevated upon, I heard other Republicans say, "He's a one-term president like Jimmy Carter." These have indeed been tough days and weeks for the Obama White House. That said, myopic comments like those can only be music to the ears of battle-tested Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod.

Because of the expected heavy snowfall, the Ravens announced that Sunday's game time at M&T Bank Stadium will move to 4:15 p.m. Officials from Baltimore City cited safety reasons in recommending the time change to the team and the NFL, the Ravens said. "That gives the city more time to clear the streets and other passageways around the stadium," Ravens president Dick Cass said. "It also gives us more time to clear the stadium of snow." The Ravens have 700 workers at the stadium ready to help clear the snow before game time.

Tim McCarthy remembers what usually happened in the old days - just a few years ago - when a property appraisal would land on a mortgage lender's desk. "The lenders would get a two-page appraisal, they'd look at the bottom of the second page [at the estimated property value], and just say, 'Next!' " said McCarthy, who owns an appraisal company in Tinley Park, a Chicago suburb. That was when property values seemed to be going nowhere but up, and many lenders giddily presumed that the appraised worth of the collateral for the loan - the house - was a safe bet. Nowadays, chastened by the cascade of bum loans that came back to haunt them, most lenders are casting a wary eye to just about everything in an appraisal, according to McCarthy and others in the field.

How do you define a player who can do almost anything imaginable on a football field, who can leverage a game with the ability to deliver two or three big plays every week? How do you define Ravens safety Ed Reed? By the 39 passes he has intercepted in his NFL career, five returned for touchdowns? By the 11 total touchdowns he has scored over seven seasons? By extraordinary return skills that produced touchdowns of 106 and 107 yards, and the two longest interception returns in NFL history?

The Ravens went into halftime remembering the image of safety Dawan Landry getting carted off the field. They left the locker room hearing a couple of words by teammate Bart Scott that resonated the entire second half. "Focus and dominate," the loquacious linebacker simply said. In a stunning second-half ambush, critical interceptions by Chris McAlister and Ed Reed carried the inspired Ravens to a 28-10 victory over the Cleveland Browns before an announced 71,104 at M&T Bank Stadium.

The Ravens went into halftime remembering the image of safety Dawan Landry getting carted off the field. They left the locker room hearing a couple of words by teammate Bart Scott that resonated the entire second half. "Focus and dominate," the loquacious linebacker simply said. In a stunning second-half ambush, critical interceptions by Chris McAlister and Ed Reed carried the inspired Ravens to a 28-10 victory over the Cleveland Browns before an announced 71,104 at M&T Bank Stadium. Delivering hard hits and jumping routes, the Ravens suffocated the Browns after halftime, holding them to 27 yards of total offense, two first downs and no points.

When four-year LPGA tour veteran Jung Yeon Lee decided to go by Sarah Lee instead of her Korean name, it was not because she was inspired by a box of cheesecake. "When I was born in London," Lee said, "my mother, an English tutor, named me [Sarah], also. I got an English name and that's why I decided." Born in England to Korean parents, Lee was known as Sarah until the age of 4, when she returned to Korea with her family. While the bakery connection draws smiles, Lee says her name also has some sweet rewards.