I don’t think I am in possession of the requisite superlatives to describe “Punch-Drunk Love.” It is fabulous. It is fantastic. It is fantabulastic. It is, finally, alive.

Every shot makes you smile with wonder at how beautiful it is. Jon Brion‘s score seems to punctuate entire scenes. How much of a genius is Paul Thomas Anderson? He finally made a good Adam Sandler movie.

“Punch-Drunk Love” is laugh-out-loud funny, but also very touching. Not touching in an “oh-that-music-is-playing-so-I’m-supposed-to-care-now” way, but in a real way that makes you glad to be human. Karen says she loves Anderson’s movies because they make her feel normal, beautiful and right. They make you feel connected.

They give you a reason to think there is still some hope for the movies, in spite of all evidence to the contrary.

I’m not sure how to feel about Teddy Greenstein’s report that Cubs general manager Jim Hendry is leaning toward going with someone without previous managerial experience as new skipper.

On one hand, I can see either Melvin or Macha being better with younger players and being more patient about winning. On the other hand, it would be nice to bring in a Lou Piniella or a Dusty Baker who has a proven track record of winning. The last “name” manager the Cubs hired was Jim Frey, and even he had had only one good year, taking the Royals to the Series in 1980.

Before that … Leo Durocher. How much difference does a manager make to a team anyway? That’s one thing that even baseball experts aren’t sure about. A bad manager can do harm, but even a good manager can’t win with a bad team.

Less money for a big name means more money for a good middle reliever or a third baseman with pop, either of which would probably win more games than the best manager out there. Still, I can’t help
but feel that the Cubs are just going with the same old hand-me-down routine in their managerial search.

So now that our World Series matchup is in place, we see that, combined, the Angels and Giants franchises have gone 99 years with a world championship. Aw, Jeez, they’re getting spoiled.

I mean the Yankees only won four in the last six years and 26 total. Poor Yankees fans. Poor, poor Yankees fans. Lucky us. I look forward to a fantastic World Series.

I was very happy to see David Bell sliding into home tonight on Kenny Lofton’s bottom-of-the-ninth single, and will be rooting hard for Barry and the Giants. But it couldn’t come close to my mania at seeing ex-Cub Mark Grace and the D-Backs beat Mariano Rivera and the Yankees in the ninth inning of the seventh game of last year’s Series.

The Braves will not be able to re-sign both Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux. Should the Cubs go after the one-time bruin?

They have a surfeit of pitching talent, but with Lieber questionable after a season-ending arm surgery this year, it would be nice to have a veteran presence to anchor the starting staff. But really, it doesn’t make sense. Maddux already makes $13 million and will probably want more, plus a long-term contract, which at 36 is of course a gamble.

Maddux had some back trouble this year that could be a sign of health troubles just beginning, though he’s been healthy throughout his entire career. Additionally, he does not depend on “stuff” to get by, but natural movement on his pitches. Today we see pitchers like Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens who continue pitching very well into their late 30s. If anyone else could do it, Maddux could.

With that signing, the Cubs would instantly have one of the best starting staffs in the major leagues: Maddux, Lieber, Wood, Prior and Clement. Then promising youngsters Zambrano and Cruz could anchor the bullpen and Bere could be traded for another middle reliever. But this is probably just wishful thinking. The Cubs need a third baseman (cuando?) and a solid left-handed middle reliever.

It would be cool, though, to have him finish his career here. The Cubs could be the Braves of this decade. They’ve got the young pitching talent, and if Choi, Patterson and Hill are what they’re supposed to be …

Any hint that Bonds would be haunted by playoff performances past should by now be thoroughly extinguished. First, he went 2-for-3 with a home run and two runs scored in the Giants’ thrilling game five win over the Braves (poor, poor Braves). Then yesterday the Cardinals made the mistake of pitching to Bonds instead of loading the bases and he made them pay by hitting a bases-clearing triple. Awesome.

But Benito Santiago is a key too. In addition to being the most patient hitter in baseball today, Bonds is the most pitched-around hitter in baseball today. Which means No. 5 hitter Santiago has to come through. And he did last night.

Let’s face it. The Cardinals have the better team, as did the Braves. This is all about who can perform in the playoffs. Rueter wasn’t great, but he was good enough, and Nen once again closed it out in the ninth. Enough home runs from Santiago, Bell and others not expected to turn the tide for the Giants and they could very well sneak into the World Series.

I just hope that Lofton’s outburst didn’t give the Cardinals even more ganas, as if they’re not playing for Darryl Kile and Jack Buck already. But no matter how energized the Cards are, they can’t win if their starting pitchers throw the way Morris did last night. Woody Williams could be a turning point in this series. If he’s really healthy and he can go toe-to-toe with Giants ace Jason Schmidt, then we’re looking at a wide open 1-1 series instead of an almost sure-thing 2-0 Giants lead going back to San Francisco.

As for the Angels, they did what they needed to do, which was get out to an early lead over the Twins and take the mammoth crowd out of the game. They only needed to win one in Minnesota, and they got it. On the other hand, the Twins probably feel they only need to win one in Anaheim, because no team can beat them in games six and seven of a series in the Metrodome.

Which reminds me. My dad and I went to see Bruce Springsteen in Milwaukee last week. It was a very good show, as one would expect from one of the great live performers of all time. My brief impression was that Bruce was much more attentive to his songs from “The Rising” than to the older material. Not that he gave “Badlands” or “Born to Run” short shrift, exactly, but I sensed that he wasn’t as interested in them as he was in the new stuff. Only natural, I suppose.

And I must compliment Bruce on the fact that even though we had terrible seats (way up, behind the stage), the acoustics were flawless and the huge video screens helped bring you into the show a little bit more. I don’t know if I’d make the drive again to see Springsteen, but it was cool to see a legend in person.

As with their show at Old Town a couple of years back, Iris DeMent made up for a lackluster opening set by doing a fine job on her duets with John Prine. While DeMent is blessed with a singularly interesting hillbilly-meets-hobo voice, she’s not much of a songwriter.

Aside from “Let the Mystery Be.” “Mama’s Opry” and a couple of other tunes, most of her songs, plodded along with little of interest melodically or lyrically.

John Prine’s songs, of course, sparkle with whimsy and heart. From old chestnuts like “Fish and Whistle” to haunting ’90s tunes like “Lake Marie,” Prine covered the gamut during his nearly two-hour show at the Symphony Center. Prine’s voice, always a gravelly thing, is even shakier now that he is two years on from surgery to remove a cancer from his throat.

But though he struggled to hit some of the notes on his own songs, the pauses he took to catch his breath made already haunting songs like “Angel From Montgomery” and “Hello in There” into devastating timepieces.

I felt lucky to be there. It’s hard to tell how much longer Prine can tour like this, with two young kids (who for a portion of the show were visible to the side of the stage) at home.But I was there last night, and I was very glad I was.