USA BASKETBALL WINS GOLD!!!

I didn't comment on this yesterday when it was new news despite watching the end of the game online. But I'm glad that the USA Mens National Basketball Team won the gold medal in Beijing and winning all of their games can go back to being no news. Is it time for the NBA season yet?

Tropic Thunder

Hollywood is obsessed with itself. I mean that beyond the obvious narcissism involved in its relentless promotion of stars and starlets who have this movie they just happen to be starring in opening this Labor Day weekend. It's just a part of the marketing to make an actor talk about what a character (written by someone else) means to them. Of course that's going to be very self-referential.



I'm referring more to when Hollywood decides that seeing a movie isn't enough. What audiences really thirst for is a movie about making a movie. It's not a few and far between occurence either. On IMDB there are 164 "Film Within a Film" movies, 366 "Film In Film" and 558 "Breaking the Fourth Wall" movies. Not all of them have been on par with Fellini's "8 1/2" either.

Tonight I went to see the latest incarnation of this phenomenon. Except "Tropic Thunder" is a film-within-a-film but also a BIG SUMMER ACTION MOVIE!!! So the intent is to make a bunch of inside jokes and observations about filmmaking that will be relateable to as many people as possible. Just beginning from that point while making a satire will doom you to taking limp cliches and calling them jokes. Which is exactly what "Thunder" does.

If fighting cliche with cliche is allowable, then my quick review is you see all of the best parts in the trailer. By the time Steve Coogan makes his "exit" from the film, the majority of the jokes have already been made once if not twice and they're coming back multiple times over the next hour and a half. "Thunder" plods along making points that a Pat Proft movie could've made a lot more efficiently and inexpensively while it also reminds us over and over how clever it's being. It's not a commentary about Hollywood as much as a bunch of ideas of what that might look like and the shadow versions were disappointing through and through.



The truth is I suspected "Thunder" would be a bad movie going in. Although he has made a bunch of really hilarious movies in the past, you can see in the trailer when Ben Stiller is going to be on auto-pilot and it looked like this was going to be one of those movies. However the movie was getting a lot of really good reviews and I felt it necessary to give it a chance in case my barometer was off. Sometimes its necessary to absorb a bad movie to know your sense is still accurate.

A Week At Home - Last Weekend

(Sorry about the delay getting this last Minnesota trip post up. Returning to your everyday life will do that.)

Friday morning I woke up early as a man on a mission. Involved in the bumming around the city I did on Thursday was searching for an apartment. Specifically I was searching in the Loring Park area. I felt like I'd lived in Uptown for three years and I wanted to not simply return there. Loring Park is, like Uptown, very close to the city and populated by my peers. It seemed like the logical place to live when I moved back.

The place I found is a beautiful studio apartment on the east side of Loring Park on Spruce Place. Pete was nice enough to drive me there on Thursday night after we had pizza and upon seeing the place I was sold. Here are some of the photos from the Craig's List ad.



Bedroom and living room



Living room close-up



Kitchen



Bathroom

There was another girl who had taken an application too and so my mission was to be the first to get the application in. I got up really early to be at the rental office first thing in the morning and arrived just after they had opened which meant I was the first person to apply. I spent the rest of the day looking at other apartments in the area too just to make sure I was making the right choice and also to have some options in case things didn't work out. It was all unnecessary hedging though since I did get the apartment and just signed my lease this Friday.

I spent a lot of time in coffee shops during the day and after work Brian Bell came over to the Dunn Brothers where I was sitting and we went for a walk to chat. After we parted I went downtown to the Block E movie theater and saw two movies I'd previously missed back-to-back.

The first was "Hancock" and I thought it was alright for what it was, a "smart" summer blockbuster. You'll notice smart is in quotes. "Step Brothers" was not as great as "Anchorman" but also didn't feel as stilted as "Talladega Nights." It had a loose energy that worked at times and didn't at others. I did love Adam Scott who is always great at playing smarmy.

That evening I met up with an old family friend Nick and his new wife Lauren at their apartment in Loring Park. Nick's parents were in kindergarten together with my dad so you can imagine how far back our families go. They showed me photos of their wedding at the Grand Canyon, I told them about my reasons for moving back to Minnesota and we finished a bottle of wine. Later Dan and Hillary came over to hang out and then they took me home.

On Saturday morning Dan and I watched the USA-Spain with our step-cousin Nick. Well, it was more like Nick and I watched the US treat Spain like a red-headed stepchild while Dan checked out the back of his eyelids.

After the game I went to hang out with Will, Gerry and Emily. Will normally lives in San Francisco but was home to visit his parents. Gerry and Emily decided that just having him in the same time-zone was reason enough to drive to the Twin Cities. They came to pick me up and we went to St. Paul to have a barbeque with some of Will's high school friends. The rest of the night was spent kicking back beverages, bullshitting and watching videos on YouTube.

I was flying home on Sunday evening. So after we spent the morning like we had the day before with Dan catching some Zs and me watching the Olympics, he and I went for brunch at Zumbro Cafe with Hillary and then went to the pool until it was time to go to the airport.

The week home was energizing. It was both blissful because I got to see people I hadn't seen in a while and reassuring to know I was coming home to an entire network of friends. It's just two short weeks from today until I'll be home and I'm looking forward to enjoying the time here in Chicago as best I can and then enjoying being back home for keeps.

A Week At Home - Midweek Report

(I had this all typed up on Wednesday but the Internetz ated it. Take two.)

After the stick throwing and all of Saturday, Sunday was my first day to settle in here. Our original plan was to get up, have some breakfast and go watch the USA Mens Basketball team play China. Well, after getting up once the game was already over, the plan changed a bit. What was still on was some breakfast and we went to Victor's 1959.

Victor's 1959 Cuban Cafe is south of Uptown at 38th and Grand. They serve traditional breakfast food which is fine if you're not feeling adventurous. But the reason to go to Victor's is because they do Cuban breakfast. My bro had mango pancakes for example. I had the dia y noche (day and night) which is black beans in white rice with a side of roasted plantains and toast with guava jelly. There's a word for what it is and it's yum.

Afterwards we went to Dreamhaven Comics which is closing at its current location in Uptown. Thus there are a lot of deals and I wasn't prepared at all. I could've easily gone inside and left giggling madly with an arm full of comics. Restraint was the name of the game and I was able to practice it. I left with only five comics and a wedding gift for some friends. I'd say what the gift is except I know they read my blog. (Hi CJ and Elaine!) Then we went back to Dan's place to read our recently acquired material.

We ended the night with dinner at my dad's place. He was grilling out and made us burgers. My dad also gave my brother, my step-cousin and I all watches. It's a really nice watch and I'll be able to wear it with work clothes. Normally I just use my cell phone as a clock. But in this case, it really is the thought that counts.

The rest of the week has been a lot more straight-forward. Just about everybody I know has work so I've been taking it easy. That doesn't mean I've been bored. The order of the day for Monday through Thursday was catching up with friends and going to Twins games.

On Monday I hung out with Nicky. I met her new pomeranian, we went to Plan B Coffee and then went to Cheapo for a massive CD purchase. I bought six CDs including Massive Attack "Blue Lines", Murs "3:16" and the Jarvis Cocker solo album. She dropped me back at my bro's place, I watched a little "Lost" and waited for Todd to pick me up for the Twins game.

The Twins game itself was excellent. Todd and I sat in the left field bleachers with his friends Rob and Anthony, Adam Everett hit a "Really? Adam Everett?" homerun into the stands in front of us and Glen Perkins pitched eight innings of shutout baseball. Even better, because the White Sox lost, the Twins took a small half game lead in the division.

Tuesday was similar but doubled. I got up in the morning, took a bus out to Longfellow and had brunch with SayRock. We went to the Longfellow Grill for breakfast and catching up. The best quote of the day (and I'm paraphrasing) was "I exude a certain granola-ness. But you look like the sort of person who does eat beef." After brunch I immediately ran back to the light-rail and took the train downtown to have lunch with Brian. We had Thai food from the Sawatdee Express and got a chance to catch up.

On Tuesday night, a large group including my brother, my cousin and my step-cousin and I went to the Twins game and sat in the upper deck in front of the Hrbek banner. Mike Mussina pitched a good game for the Yankees and the Twins were down three runs when we left in the middle of the eighth inning. The new rule of thumb is that we aren't leaving any game early if it's a save situation and the Twins are coming to bat. Mike Redmond started the inning with a double, Randy Ruiz hit a one out single and we were turning on the radio in the car in time to hear the fans who stayed cheering for Delmon Young's three-run homer. The Yankees did win in the 13th inning but it would've been thrilling to be there when Delmon hit a homer.

I know because he hit another three-run homer on Wednesday. Todd came by early and we drove out to the Twins Pro Shop at Ridgedale for another splurge purchase. I got a 2006 Division Champs shirt on sale, a home Santana jersey also on sale, a Morneau t-shirt jersey and a Mauer alternate home jersey if for no other reason than he's dreamy. We were on a rocket to get back down to the Dome in time to meet Ellen O who procured excellent seats behind home plate on the Twins dugout side and twenty rows up in Section 127. Kevin Slowey gave up only one run in six innings, Brian "I'll Get You A Hit Only With Runners In Scoring Position" Buscher hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Mauer and Delmon hit the aforementioned three-run homer to send us home having witnessed another Twins victory.

Wednesday night I went to Galactic Pizza with Patrick, Don and SayRock. We had the Paul Bunyan which is made of all local Minnesota ingredients on top of being very yummy. I didn't have a hemp brownie this time around though they really are worth it. We instead went for Sonny's ice cream at Crema Cafe.

Yesterday, without a Twins game to attend, I slept in and then bummed around the city. My high school friend Pete came to pick me up from my brother's and we went to my home-away-from-home, Leaning Tower of Pizza. I may be exagerating a bit. But I do want it noted that they stopped carding me five years ago even when they card everyone else at the table.

Today I'm again bumming around the city and may end up at the Twins game tonight. Francisco Liriano IS pitching. Six days down, Three to go.

A Week At Home - Day 1

Yesterday was my first day back home for nine days in Minnesota and, since my ten year high school reunion next weekend was cancelled for lack of interest, the motivating factor in coming home right now. My friends Don and Sarah lived in Boston until recently and they got married there this March. The three people in attendance were Don, Sarah and the priest. So they decided to have the reception today in a park in St. Paul. Thus I was in a cab and on my way to O'Hare at 8:00 am yesterday morning for my 10:50 flight.

The actual reception was very chilled out. It was just a summer barbeque except at one point two of the people cut a cake together. I saw Don and Sarah for the first time in two years or so and I also saw other people I hadn't seen in almost as long like Holly, Marcos and Jamie. It was also good to get a little time with Patrick and Morgan Mae as we were riding in the car to the park. It's good to get back on radar back here in Minneapolis.

The highlight of the day was The Viking game. No, I'm not talking about the professional football team who play their home games at the Metrodome. This game involved sticks, blocks and a metaphorical viking. If your interest is piqued, here are the rules.

Set four posts to set the boundaries of the field. You can set the posts wide or close together based upon your skill level. These posts were about ten feet apart at the ends and fifteen to twenty feet apart lengthwise.

Along the end lines set five to seven woodblocks again based upon your level of skill. It will be your goal to knock down these woodblocks from the opposite end line. To knock them down you use six closet dowel rod sections about six inches long.

Finally set a much more sturdy wood block in the middle. This is The Viking and in the game I played it was an old coffee table leg. This serves as the metaphorical eight ball in that once you've knocked down the rest of the wood blocks your objective is to knock over The Viking. The catch is you have to do it facing backwards and through your legs.

You start by throwing the dowels at the blocks from your end line. All the throws have to be underhand and end-over-end. No overhand, no sidearm, no bowling it, etc. I was accused of (and may've done) a few of those manuevers so I know they're out. Once you knock over a block, the other team throws it to your side on their next turn. They then have to knock over that block as well as the rest of your original blocks.

Here's the catch. If they don't knock over the newly set block, you can advance as far forward as that block to make your throws. So there is a mix of strategy between throwing it close enough that they can hit it easily on their turn throwing dowels (which follows the block tossing) and not so close that you're too close throwing dowels at their blocks. The extra wrinkle is that if you throw a block and it strikes another block, those two blocks are stacked and easier to tip over.

So it's a game a little like bocce ball except more complex. We played a whole game and it took us an hour. But unlike bocce ball there were teams and therefore it wasn't every man for himself.

There were two times that I was the person lined up to knock down The Viking and both times I missed. The first time I was the last person in our rotation and just missed it high. The second time I was the next to last person, I overcompensated, skipped it about two or three feet behind me and missed even more egregiously.

Up stepped Holly. Despite wearing a skirt and having to throw between her legs, she was a dead aim on her first try. She clipped the top of The Viking and our team won the game. Everyone cheered. I was kind of bummed because I'd had two chances to win the game and blown it each time.

Sarah's mom Karen had the best words of consolation. I told her, "Man, I could've won the game twice and I missed both times." She told me, "And wasn't it gracious of you to leave that honor for Holly." Touche, Karen. Touche.

After the sun went down all of the kids went to Merlin's Rest in the Longfellow neighborhood where we had drinks outside and enjoyed the wonderful night air. My brother, Hillary and Charlie all came by and joined the party too. After the 11:00 curfew on outdoor food and beverages, Dan, Hillary and I came back here to Dan's place and played a quick game of Scrabble. I may've scored the least points but I'd like to think I also did the best work for expanding the board.

Day 1 down, 8 more to go.

Update: My friend Kate says The Viking game is also called Kubb. Here's the Wikipedia link.

Changing Body Math III: The Return of the Update

A little less than three months has passed since I made my last post about the weight I've lost and that means I'm due for another post containing the math of it all.

In the past nine months I've lost 53 pounds dropping my weight from 305 to 252. I've also reduced my body fat composition from 30% to 24%. As I mentioned in the last post about my weight loss, the goals for no longer being obese are 263 pounds and 25% body fat. So you can see that I am healthily under the bar for both metrics.

Multiply those numbers together and I've lost 31 pounds of body fat and 22 pounds of water weight. If 4.5% of the 6% of body mass change is new muscle then I've also added about 11 pound of muscle too. So add 505 calories burned each day just for that new muscle existing meaning I can netting out a pound of fat less every 6.4 days without lifting a weight or spending any time on the elliptical.

Having lost 50 pounds and no longer being obese, I've basically achieved my goals in wanting to lose weight. Now the goal is to maintain my weight, lower my body fat even further and not have to think about the numbers anymore. I'll keep going to the gym three to five times a week and I'm sure I'll keep losing weight for a while. It just won't be as necessary to quantify it which is a good feeling to have.

FIRST PLACE!!!

Back on the 6th of June, I attended a Twins-White Sox game here in Chicago and it was a drubbing. The final score was 10-6 but that's misleading. I was so upset after Minnesota gave up 6 runs in the 5th inning that my friend and I actually left before the game was over. Just a half game out of first place on the 2nd of June, the Twins would fall to 6.5 games back after the series. Times were tough for a soldier deep in enemy territory.

Fast forward through two months of the season and the Twins nipping at the heels of the White Sox but being all gums when it came time to bite. The Twins took 3 of 4 games from the Sox at The Metrodome and were again only a half game back. After a try on Friday night (both teams won) and on Saturday night (both teams lost), the Twins finally took first place as they cruised to victory (6-2 over Cleveland) while the White Sox lost in embarrassing fashion (14-3 to Kansas City!). With Chicago off tonight, the Twins will either lead the division by a full game after tonight's contest in Seattle or be tied for first place with the White Sox.

This is very important because, after a week of games in Seattle and Kansas City, the New York Yankees are coming to Minnesota for three games. And, oh what a coincidence, it just happens to fall when I'll be home in Minnesota. Already I have plans to see the game on Monday with former "Youngest Person I Know That I'm Not Related To" Todd Turner and then see the game on Tuesday night with my brother Dan. (Wednesday's day game is open if you don't have a day job or want to take the day off.) These are going to be important games for the Twins and may decide whether they stay in the catbird seat or if they give the division back to Chicago with a bow. Like a good fan, I will be there to cheer my team to victory.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. For a team that was supposed to finish last or next to last in the division, being in first place (even by a half game) this late in the season is a big deal. They aren't doing it with smoke, mirrors and veterans either. This is a team built for the long haul and one that may achieve their ultimate goal for the season; being in first place on the last day of the season too.