Tuesday, February 24, 2009

I Am Tiger Woods


Ken McDonald Golf Course
Tuesday, February 24, 2009

The Boss: 53
The Boss's Son: 59
Par: 36

Ugh. I would have done much, much better if I hadn't scored back-to-back 8s on the opening holes (handicap 17 and 1, respectively). I spent a lot of time practicing on the putting green, but no time warming up my swing. On the first hole, I'd taken 7 strokes before even reaching the green.

By the last half of the 9 holes, though, I was hitting the ball pretty well, with a couple slip-ups. It was a fun game, and I don't think that Tiger Woods Golf 09 is doing much to help my swing. But at least I'm ahead of The Boss, who pull out his big driver for the 183-yard Par 3 on 6:



Just for the record, I pulled out my 6 Iron and was closer to the pin (and longer off the tee).

Also, that picture makes me look fat. That's not really how I look.

Coming soon: skinny pictures! :crossedfingers:

Monday, February 23, 2009

Oscar Memory; Bonus Cheesecake!


The Oscars were last night, and so I thought I'd share a memory from long ago featuring the World's Best Actress (?).

By best friend Brian and I started a tradition back when we were in high school of going to see a movie on Christmas Day night. After all the presents were opened and I'd made by blended-family peregrinations, we'd head over to Ahwatukee and the AMC 24 cinemas there to see whatever Oscar bait had come out.

One year, the movie we really wanted to see was Jackie Brown, the Quentin Tarantino-directed Pam Grier/Sam Jackson vehicle that is one of the more underrated movies of the late 1990s. But Jackie Brown was sold out. The thing was that for some reason I don't think we had a car that night. So we were stuck 8 miles away from home with no real plan but definitely little desire to head back already. So we bought a ticket to a big-budget movie that was widely regarded to be a Waterworld-level disaster in the making.

One would think that two seventeen-year-old boys would be pretty happy to sit through almost any amount of time for some nekkid Kate Winslet, but Titanic really tried our patience. It was long and boring. I never really know what to make of people that loved this terrible boat-sinking movie. I'm at a loss to really provide one reason why it's actually good in any way. I suppose that the effects are cool, but wouldn't you rather watch Terminator 2: Judgement Day? That movie's awesome.

Anyway, after we left the theatre feeling like we'd killed two and a half hours, we wandered over to the IHOP across Ray Road, and had some pancakes or something, and then trudged back home. It turned out to be a good night, in the way that a long conversation between two good friends can be. Also: good exercise.

Anyway, congratulations, Kate. I'm going to think about this article when I think about your Oscar, but when I think about you, I'll think of the image above.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Eyes Wide Shut


Scott Tobias at the AV Club has an interesting discussion of Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut as part of his interesting (and increasingly indispensible) "New Cult Canon" series.

My first thought on the piece is that I'm not sure that the movie deserves the "cult" status that is Tobias's project. I think that EWS is larger than a "cult" movie (although it's not unfair to say that the "New Cult Canon" has grown beyond the project's original ambitions as a whole). My second thought is that the movie deserves a deeper reading that Tobias provides (and really can provide in that format).

It's not that I disagree with most of what he's saying. Not in the least. Mostly I think that his reading is incomplete, and leaves out large stretches of the film that I think are important to the essential reading of it. The British Film Institute did an excellent little (and I do mean little) book reading EWS, as well. The BFI book suggested that the film is a discussion or meditation on parenthood, and the ending of the movie conincides with the conception of a male child. I'm not quite sure that I was convinced by that argument. John Rosenbaum has a critique from the Chicago Reader that I'm going to visit after posting this.

I haven't thought hard about this movie in a little while. There are a couple of themes wandering around in it that I'm still trying to fuse. One has to do with masculinity in the face of modernity (this is really the most obvious). Another has to do with sexuality and power--the way that social structures interact with the fragility of the human body. I think that may be the fusing element of the movie--which is a lot about romance in maturing relationships that are supposed to become more secure with time, but perhaps become more fragile.

But beyond that, I think the overarching feeling is that Eyes Wide Shut is a dreamscape. That's the thing that you hear most frequently in the criticism for the film. Everything's dreamlike and there are themes that recur, but this isn't a movie that is supposed to work on the thinking brain. Like most of Kubrick's best work, it speaks to the subconscious part of the brain (again, like a dream). These themes circle, but never join (much like Cruise during the orgy sequence).

The film is beautifully composed and shot. Each section is a feast for the eyes, despite the clumsy inclusion of the CGI figures. The images are in a way beyond-vivid.

There are sections of the film that I just can't yet put together, though. I'm not sure what to do with LeeLee Sobieski and her father the costume renter. I'm not sure what to do with the return visit to the hooker's house, to find out that she has AIDS (or something). There's a lot of Christmas in the film, and I'm not sure what to make of that, either.

I really believe that it's a cop-out to say that because it's a dream, these portions defy explication. That's just not true, because they feel intricately woven into the fabric of the film, as well. The movie would lack from their exclusion. But the great thing about Kubrick movies is that they have a timeless quality that will allow revisiting when I'm better equipped to put them together.

UPDATE: I just finished reading the Rosenbaum piece that I linked to above. It's a really nice analysis, though I don't totally agree with his final thoughts, either.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Daisy's Been Sick

When I was accepted to graduate school, Leah wanted to get a pet so that she'd have something to come home to every night. I'm allergic to cats, and further am kind of opposed to them. On the other hand, the apartment we were staying in had a strict no-animals policy. Also, Leah will spend up to 12 hours a day at the office, and so a dog wasn't a particularly well-advised choice.

So Leah's sister suggested we get a ferret. And we did. We adopted Daisy from a family-run pet store on July 4, 2003. There's a lot to say about our times with Daisy, but that's not important now.

Daisy has been having a little cold the last few days. Maybe on Tuesday, I was listening to her nap, and her little snores were congested and squeaky. She's been even sleepier than usual lately. The days when she's active, if she gets worked up, she'll start coughing and sneezing.

I think she's starting to feel better, but Leah and I are nervous because ferrets and people can pass colds and flu between one another. So Leah brings home her kid germs, and then Daisy gets sick. I'm just glad that I have a super immune system.

Monday, February 9, 2009

R.I.P. Brooks Addiction 6


I started running when I was going to graduate school. I was a walker for a long time, but I began to get some diminishing returns with that, so I started running. When I first started running (maybe 4 miles a day), I was wearing some Adidas high-top basketball shoes.

I immediately began to suffer severe knee pain. It was agony to walk up and down stairs. After consulting with some friends who were going to med school, I was advised to get actual running shoes and that I should be fitted with shoes by professionals.

After consulting with a professional, I was fitted with some spiffy Brooks Addiction 6s. It was magical the way that my knee pain disappeared once I started running in these. It was like Jesus came down from heaven and strapped clouds to my feet.

You're supposed to change out running shoes every 1000 miles. For me, that's about once a year. And now I've come to the end of my 3rd pair of Brooks Addiction 6s. I've gotten my last three pair at Fleet Feet Sports (two in Davis, one in Tucson). This time, I thought I'd be comfortable with my pronation to get the shoes online. So I ordered them today.

Let me say, first, that there's no shoes for my foot like the Brooks. I took a six-month hiatus with some Nikes, and my knee pain returned and my stupid iPod running device malfunctioned. But I've discovered that not only have they discontinued the Addiction 6, but they just discontinued the Addiction 7. The new shoe (Addiction 8, if you're wondering), is re-designed and is bigger and uglier.

My dad used to run, and he kind of stopped running after his running shoe was discontinued. I'm not ready for that (after all, I have a time to beat now), but I think after this 1000 miles, I'm turning to Under Armour. Or, I'll make another stupid trip down to stupid Tucson to get my stupid stride diagnosed.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

5 Things I Love Right Now


1. Chocolate Cupcakes and Peanut Butter Frosting. This was the treat I made to take over to my dad's to watch the Super Bowl. They are unbelievably easy to make (you use All-purpose flour!) and super-delicious. I understand that some of you out there don't love sweets. To those I say: move to Canada. The recipe said it'd make 14-15, but we cooked out the 18 in the little disposible cupcake tin, and still filled my own 12-cake pan. Since we had so many cupcakes, I had to double the frosting. We still have frosting left over. I think Leah's saving it for a special occasion. I'll never watch The Barefoot Contessa, but I thank my stars I found her cupcakes.

2. Bearwood Creek Creamy Potato Soup. It costs less than five bucks at the grocery store, and it makes a half-gallon of soup. That's good enough for a dinner-for-two and at least two lunches. The soup is fine on its own (that's how Leah likes it), but for me, I like to add maybe a quarter cup of canned corn, three strips of bacon (cut up into tiny pieces), and a couple teaspoons of Siracha sauce. Beyond compare for the price.

3. Ferrets. Daisy climbed into one of my cold-weather socks the other day. She wiggled in up to her hips!

4. Cox Digital HDDVR. It's changed my life in ways great and small.

5. Orange pens. They're great for grading, but they don't carry the social oppobrium of the red pen. Also, they don't carry the liberal squishiness of a green pen or pencil.