Movie: After a drought, I have had a chance to watch some superior films, the latest being Winter Solstice, an indie about a month in the life of a father (Anthony LaPaglia) and his two sons. The mom died five years before in an accident, and the three quietly are going about their business with various interior dramas showing themselves in different ways.
The movie itself is a quiet, sensitive affair, not much in plot, but rings true throughout. All the actors, including supporting cast such as Allison Janney (West Wing, showing how sexy casual can be) and Ron Livingston (in a quirky role that reminds one of a quite different character in Office Space), shine. One goes to the movies for various reasons, and one of them is simply to watch wonderful stories play out on the screen.
[btw wasting some time, I happened to see that the new version of the Oxford Guide to the Supreme Court (last one in 1992) is finally out. Cheers.]
Baseball: Talking about droughts, the Mets won two in a row. I am simply not the Fever Pitch sort of fan, willing to bear all the ups and downs, every minute of the game, but this team has just has had something that was equal parts likeable and aggravating for about the same period of time the Yanks dominated (the Yanks are struggling some in their Yank way). The team, even with the higher payroll, had a blue collar feel, with various stars and role player parts that you root for. And, they always were missing that one (or more) piece, allowing them to kill you time and time again.
These two games (2-5) seems to foreshadow the season. Pedro Martinez v. John Smoltz on Sunday, their first win, is an example of the baseball gods having a heart. It looked like the Mets was due to lose 1-0, another one bad break damning the team (even Aaron Heilman pitched fairly well other than, ahem, the grand slam). But, the Mets hit a homer and then the floodgates emptied. One wonders why they did not do that a bit earlier.
Anyway, today ex-Braves Tom Glavine put a bad opener away as well, and pitched well (this time getting some close calls, most importantly a bases loaded 3-2) ... and had a no-decision because the bullpen could not hold a 3-1 lead. The Mets bats, as they will have to consistently, picked up the bullpen. And, Looper did his job. Still, some games will go the other way. But, the players will keep on drawing the fans back, including with such plays such as the gem of a bunt by Matsui for a base hit that led to a run (because slow footed Victor Diaz stole third).
And, heck, I do not need those fingernails chewed on while the bullpen pitches or the starters have little margin of error, even when they have a few runs to spare.