Had a really, really bad pair of softball games on Friday night. Not only did I top the ball every time up (still managed to get on base 5 of 6 times, but still, damn), I overran a ball in the outfield and made a big fat error. No good. We did win both games which puts us in good shape for the playoffs - first game's Friday at 6:20; I'll let you know how it goes. Man, a bad streak in softball lately, but I did a good job of keeping my head held high and a positive attitude for the future. Hooray for small victories.
Beck worked on Saturday, and so did I - headed over to Mama Java's, read four articles AND wrote my phil paper for this week (posted earlier). Yeah productivity! Met Beck at home, had some crunchy turkey burgers (Cajun style!), and went to see the super-Oscar winner Slumdog Millionaire at a local cineplex.
So, the Slumdog... I did enjoy the story-framing, the soundtrack, the cool multi-locale, the must-have-been-technically-challenging cinematography, and the overt attempt to enlighten mainstream Western audiences as to the plight of a huge chunk of the world's population. And the kids were fantastic - charismatic, pulled off the street urchin charm with aplomb. There was just something - and maybe this is more of a product of post-hype effect - lacking about the movie for me. Ebert pointed out in his review that behind the above-mentioned aspects and the fact that it's a mainstream American movie in India with Indian characters, this is a film with a rather traditional plot: brothers with a protective yet conflicted relationship, a wet-blanket love interest who inexplicably inspires deranged loyalty from the protagonist, a severely Westernized gangster motif of late redemption, and the requisite happy ending. So I see it as a movie with some fantastic moments, some beautiful story-telling, but ultimately a hiddem fomulaic-ness that seaps through if you pay attention.
Side note - some triumph of the human spirit commentary has accompanied this movie, and I just don't know how to respond to that. For every ounce of credence that I want to credit to the characters' perseverance, I want to equally note the horrors of a culture that permits that sort of stratification and abuse, worse that we feel there is somehow a possible happy ending offered by a game show. Don't want to delve too much into this - again, I did enjoy and appreciate a lot about this movie - but I question the ability of at-least-somewhat formulaic fiction to give me elated feelings about a reprehensible set of cultural circumstances.
Fast forward to Sunday - Beck and I hit up the circumference trail at Squaw Peak, ate a delicious brunch, did some house work, then headed to pickup. Went extraordinarily well - Beck had a great afternoon with some good catches and throws, even a jumping above-head catch on a deep throw - good times! I had a pretty great session, too, with a crazy layout on the very first point of the day, a bunch of skies and Ds, no turns (except for a ridiculous joke thumber I threw at one point) and several just spot-on hucks. I brought it, for whatever reason, and other than getting charley-horsed by Nipar on a skying catch, the day went perfect (my quad is really sore, but pretty much better now (Tuesday evening)).
Next stop: softball, after a healthy dinner at Tom's BBQ in Tempe. Delicious sausage sandwich and red beans and rice; I may have to get back there soon. The softball game: not so delicious. The other team consisted of reasonably good female players backed by a bunch of 6'3" and over men who could all mash. Those guys had no business being in an E-league or playing on a field that small - one of their guys hit a HR, but it was a 252' blast - not exactly something to be too excited about. Just a waste of time, and they effectively kicked our arse. Beck hit the ball well, and after slamming another couple of ground balls, I finally hit a line drive triple to right center toward the end of the game. Yay! Of course, I followed this up by making the last out of the game by inadvertently crossing the commitment line, and I know there's some serious marriage joke in there somewhere. Still, it was an effectively athletic slump-evidence-free double header, and I'll take it.
So a fun weekend. Back to the grind the past couple of days - I had a full day of reading / meetings yesterday, and another full day of reading, a presentation, a class, and general exhaustion today. Curenty waiting for the beck to get home from surgery, but that may not happen anytime soon. The Zorro has a matchup with the tallest team in Spring League tomorrow; I'll be sure to let you know how that goes.
No comments:
Post a Comment