Adventure from my Netflix queue: Lilya 4-Ever

broderic on July 19, 2006

I’ve already written praises for Lukas Moodysson’s Fucking Amal, and I’ve already said some things about Lilya 4-Ever.

So I place it in my Netflix queue once more.

It’s even sadder upon second viewing. The scenes between Volodya and Lilya are more poignant. The subject matter more brutal. The dreams more surreal and touching. I don’t know, but there’s something about this flick. Heart-wrenching. Grotesque. Men are stupid and gross.

It’ll keep you off internet porn for a while.

4 of 5 stars.

Le Tour 2006: L’Alpe d’Huez

broderic on July 18, 2006

The name says it all. The Yankee Stadium of cycling, the Orange Bowl of cycling, l’Alpe d’Huez. Franke Shleck takes it at the pinnacle.

Landis makes it back into yellow.

This is just the beginning of a good final week. Two more days in the Alps and a penultimate individual time trial will decide things. Who knows if Landis can keep it especially with the next two days in the mountains.

Happy iCal Day!

broderic on July 17, 2006

Wha? You didn’t know it was iCal Day? Just check your dock to see what
I’m talking about.And for you Windows fools, just keep moving along.

Click

broderic on July 14, 2006

Click. I was surprised about this flick. Much funnier than you would think. Not as outright dumb. And halfway through the tone changed from funny to bittersweet, which is a tone I like. I laughed out loud plenty, and it seemed as if I was the only one in the theatre to do so.

This movie ripped off It’s a Wonderful Life. It made little use of Kate Beckinsale. She was hot as a young lady, as her at present day, and as an older lady. She’s very hot, a numero uno hottie.

Buying the tickets, the pimply-faces ticket seller tells me that it was “Adam Sandlers best movie.” Great. If you like his flicks. I should’ve said, “Better than Punch Drunk Love?” But I didn’t want to explain to him that movie, and I didn’t want to see a blank face staring back at me.

Better than expected.
3 of 5 stars.

Y’aarrgh!

broderic on July 14, 2006

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. It was an uninspiring sequal. Very long and drawn out. It matches the Matrix middle movie in terms of boringness when it should’ve been like Spiderman 2.

It is the anti-“Superman Returns.” Nothing in the first 2 hours, then bang, an awesome sword fight for 20 minutes. Slow then fast, but it ultimately slows down again.

I don’t understand why people are pissed that this was a cliffhanger of a film. You should already know that once a sequel is being made that there will be a trilogy. This film felt like a bridge, and ended with a pitch for you to see the next film. They should’ve of freeze framed the last shot and flashed onscreen, “See you next July, suckas!”

Blah.

2 of 5 stars.

Le Tour 2006: GC standings blown up again

broderic on July 14, 2006

What a day of racing! An American sandwich of Landis and Leipheimer surrounding the eventual stage winner Menchov. He outsprints Leipheimer to get the stage win, but Landis gets the maillot jaune.

I mistakenly thought that yesterday the GC contenders let it slip away, but they waited until today to, once again, shake things up. It was 6 hours of hard racing, up 5 mountains, and finishing on an uphill climb. The main group destroyed by the hard charging of team T-Mobile, up the Col de Portillon, but they couldn’t maintain the pace which was picked up by Rabobank (I fly their team colors on my helmet!). Team Rabobank lead out the eventual winner of the day. And the race is once again on.

Unfortunately, it looks as if team Discovery Channel have come crashing back to earth. George Hincapie getting dropped early on the Portillon and finishing well back. Popovych finishes later as well. The team that was so good with Lance Armstrong as the leader has broken asundered and will now have to settle for stage wins. Armstrong was their motivator and without him they are struggling. They have regressed back to being spectators in this race. Perhaps, a stage win later, but they are not the monster team like years past.

It always amazes me that men on bikes can average 19mph up mountain passes. I can’t even maintain that for 10 miles on flat land with a tail wind. These dudes are amazing.

That’s it for the Pyranees. Some flatter stages ahead and next week, the Alps. It has been a surprising Tour.

Le Tour 2006: Up and up and up they’ll go

broderic on July 13, 2006

Stage 10 was the first mountain stage of this year’s Tour. And what a Tour it has become.

There are no clear favorites, yet, and today’s stage produced a long breakaway with the finishers climbing right up the podium and into contention for the maillot jaune.

I think the main contenders (Landis, Hincapie, Kloden) let today’s break gain too much time. They are minutes off the lead. It may be too much to regain that and today we may have seen the winner of the Tour.

Tomorrow more climbing!

But can he do the job

broderic on July 12, 2006

Everyone who watched the 2006 World Cup Final between Italy and France are still wondering why Zidane headbutted the Italian opponent. It’s still a mystery and unfortunately a sad coda to a brilliant career.

Here’s a video of an amazing Zidane goal. Fucking awesome.

Urban Commute

broderic on July 11, 2006

Yesterday, I was in Arlington, VA for a technical workshop. I left my home hours before I really should’ve in order to avoid DC traffic. I was down in VA before 7 am, so I went looking for breakfast. After eating, I walked around the hotel to kill more time. I watched as the commuters began to arrive. The hotel is next to a metro station so there were plenty of commuters walking to the metro to get to work. There were other commuters riding bikes as well. I found this a
fascinating sight.
My commute is nothing more than a 45 minute/30 mile drive alone in my car. You don’t see many people at 70 mph.
After the workshop ended, I stopped by a Starbuck’s and again watched the commuters, and shoppers too, walk from the metro station to wherever they were going. That’s what’s missing in my commute. I saw cute girls, fat girls, happy girls, foreign girls. You don’t see that at 70 mph.