For the regular guy.
A new definition of a tough man. Damn.

So, this weekend I saw MYSTIC RIVER. Everyone has been talking about this movie - and the cast and director gave me very high hopes. When is the last time you saw Sean Penn in something that wasn't at least interesting to watch?

The first 2 hours of the movie totally lived up to the hype. Brilliantly acted, tensely crafted, believable, dark, moving... all that stuff. The last 10 minutes or so were a total disaster. I so wish that someone had told me to just get up and leave the theater at a certain point. The ending was so atrociously illogical and inexplicable that it distracted from the amazing work of art that is the rest of the film.

I would be very interested to hear from anyone who has read the book as to (a) whether the ending is the same; and (b) if the ending is the same, is there stuff in the book that was left out of the movie that makes the ending make sense?

First serious, then too serious, then not so serious:
Are we seriously considering invading Iran? Unbelievable.
Need something to help with the pain of last week's loss? This may help. Then a second dose. And then the final dosage. Warning, it's not recommended to take all three close together.
This could be really cool.
Ha.
Ha ha.

Another breakthrough from the scientific journal Duh.
Hopefully this will catch on next year as the Red Sox fight song.

COWBOY UP

I blame the whole depressing thing on this phrase that has become a rallying cry of sorts for Red Sox fans. The origin of "Cowboy Up" lies in rodeo competitions a sport that includes an event in which a cowboy gets up on a bucking bronco and tries to stay on for 8 seconds. I think the Red Sox have demonstrated that they ARE capable of playing well for 8 seconds. It takes a little longer to win the play-offs.

When we scored those three runs I felt pretty good. Adding the fourth run made me feel great. When Giambi hit his home run I wasn't too worried. Not scoring for a few innings started to gnaw at me. Giambi hitting his second homer worried me a little, and the fact that Pedro had obviously hit the wall that inning made me feel only relief when it ended. When Ortiz hit his homer to put Sox back up by three I felt a bit better, and was sure they'd pull Pedro, since he was clearly done and the bullpen had been so great. Of course Grady left him in to pitch the eighth, so I tried to convince myself it was the right move, even though I knew it wasn't. Of course the Yankees scored three runs to tie it up. I was so tense I felt sick. When the inning ended I went outside to get some air, but also because I thought I might throw up (I didn't). Then both bullpens kept putting up zeroes on the scoreboard. The tension mounted, and mounted, and mounted. Bret Boone said his obligatory two sentences and went back to sitting there quietly. My only comfort was knowing that we have a better, deeper bullpen, so the longer the game went, the better for us, right? When Aaron Boone hit that pitch, the first pitch of the eleventh inning, I knew immediately that it was all over. The instant it hit seats, I stood up, grabbed my jacket, slapped my friends bye, and left without a word. Not thirty feet from the apartment I fell to my knees and threw up, three times. I promptly got back up and walked to my car. My roommate called just as I was unlocking the door. Knowing that I didn't want to say a word to anyone, I muted the ringer and began to get in, but there was one more heave left in me, so I dropped down and let loose a last hurl. Finished, four disgusting times, just like the Red Sox, I drove home silently, ignoring the incoming calls, not even talking to myself or listening to music. I couldn't fucking believe it: They did it to us again, only this time I think was the worst of them all. Certainly for me this one takes the cake, shits on it, and makes me eat it. Unbelievable. Fire Grady Little.

Ok, everybody, time for a big group hug.

First, Greg Easterbrook has a very interesting idea on rape. I think this really could help reduce the number of borderline rapes significantly. At least I hope so.
Onto lighter stuff. I saw Lost in Translation. Wow. I'm pretty sure this is the best film I've seen this year, though there are a few movies still coming out soon that might surpass it (Return of the King in particular). Anyway, I think it was Bill Murray's finest performance ever. He was able to make me laugh as much as he ever has, but did it almost entirely with his eyes. There were some good lines and ridiculous situations, but mostly it was Murray's subtle reactions to what was going on around him that made the movie. Then there was Scarlett Johansson, who was nearly as great as Bill. She played the perfect foil for her much older co-star, with a perfect blend of innocence and maturity mixed with loneliness. Go see it.

I always suspected this was true.

Great game last night. Not classically, dramatically great, but I enjoyed it immensely. Great game.
Great article on foreign aid.
Paul Craig Roberts, hardly a Democrat, rails on Bush, as he has for quite some time.

Not really much I can say about that game last night. It was the most tense experience I think I've ever had where I didn't have a direct definable role/vested interest in the outcome of the situation, and maybe it doesn't need even that qualifier.
Question: Has a manager ever been fired after winning it all? Because I think I'd support letting Grady go even then.

This whole Rush Limbaugh-Donovan McNabb situation is interesting. If you don't know, Rush said the other night on ESPN said that Donovan McNabb of the Philadelphia Eagles was highly overrated, and that it was because people/the media wanted to see a great black quarterback. After a couple days where a controversy looked to be brewing, Rush resigned from the ESPN gig (presumably at the request of his bosses). First off, Rush didn't say McNabb sucks, just that he is not as good as most people think. And after his awful performances to start this season, there does seem to be reason to question whether or not he is worthy of all the praise he's received. I'm still a McNabb fan, but I do think we (including me) prematurely put him in the elite group of quarterbacks. So maybe Rush had a (small) point.
I don't, though, think we overrated him because of race; Donovan is a good, exciting player on a winning team, and by all accounts is a good person too. It was bound to happen that he'd be over-hyped. Rush's comments are reminiscent of what Dennis Rodman said about Larry Bird, that if he weren't white he be just another good player. I'm not putting McNabb in the Larry Legend category of player, but the comparison is apt. Is there any truth to the comments? A bit, in that clearly race helped get each more noticed than they might have otherwise been. Were the comments stupid? Definitely. Were they racist? I don't think so, not in the sense of hating a race or thinking that no one from it can play a given sport or position. I mean, Michael Irvin sort of agreed with Rush after he said his bit. I think if Limbaugh had followed up with something like,"I mean, it's not as bad as the Jason Sehorn situation where everyone wanted there to be a great white cornerback, but it's similar," every football fan would have understood where he was coming from.
Rush shouldn't have resigned. He should have stayed and stood by his comments if he believes them, or he should have said that he was out of line if he doesn't. If ESPN didn't like it, make them fire you. Resigning was the easy way out.