Reviews

So I've got to do this quickly, before all of my motivation wanes into that nebulous area we all know as sleep. So, here it goes…

I've discovered a fundamental truth about myself: I hate getting burned. I played a game of pick-up football today with a few of my old high school buddies and I got absolutely lit up. It sucked. What made it worse was that two days ago (Sunday), I played a similar game, and did amazing. Man, it was a downer. I mean I've got an excuse, but it just completely burned my desire to play pick-up football in the near reason. On Sunday, we were playing barefoot, and I could dance like a butterfly. I played in my indoor soccer shoes today, and at about the second cut, exactly at the point that I realized that the WR I was covering had decided to change directions for the third time, I decided to correct my wrong course of action. By slipping and eating it. Which, if the Q threw an accurate pass (about 1/3 of the time), resulted in an touchdown. Note that when I didn't fall, I was actually able to catch up and at least prevent the touchdown. But, getting burned sucks. Even if you're not wearing cleats.

I saw Funny People about a week ago. It starred Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Eric Bana, and the rest of the Judd Apatow Crew. What makes it such a great movie and what makes my friends disagree is how different it is from the other popcorn comedies. I found nearly every scene hilarious, especially the standup; as pretty much everyone else in the theater could tell too, I was able to note the difference between the stand-up scenes which were supposed to bomb and those that the (in-movie) audience was supposed to love. But underneath the humor of the everyday relationships with friends, families, and lovers, there was a much deeper theme. Regardless of whether the theme is one of the underlying reality of everyday life or the tragedy of relationships that shouldn't have failed, I think this movie is definitely worth seeing. Now. Just do it. I'll wait.

It's cool seeing people back from high school. While its completely cliché to say this, it's interesting to note how much some people have changed, while staying basically the same. Actually scratch that, it seems like everybody I knew hasn't changed at all. Has four-plus years of absence dulled my memory to such an extent that they seem the same as when they left? Or, conversely, have I also changed that little, and do my friends see the same Marek? I definitely feel like I've completely changed over the past six years, but maybe I haven't. Like the saying goes: maybe the more we change, the more we stay the same.

We got bumped up to Tuesday A-League Soccer this Indoor Season by winning B League. Awesome….except for the huge talent gap between A and B. Every game in B league I felt like we should have won, so far in A, I felt like we've been evenly matched/the slightly worse team on most nights. But we've only played two games, which were basically warm-ups (we've lost by a combined 3 points, 9-10 and 4-6). We're not bad at all. In fact, once we break out of this slump, we'll proceed to win A. I don't know why the other teams try.

I read Do Androids Dream Electric Sheep? by Philip. K. Dick recently. I would strongly recommend it: it succeeds at being philosophical without sacrificing readability. Without seeing the movie Blade Runner, which it was based on, I can completely understand why they would make a movie based on it.

While doing a 14er a little while back, one of my friends mentioned what types of books he reads. So, I thought I'd mention the types of books that interest me. First: I hate Shakespeare. The language is far to archaic, full of bland attempts at color and flattery. Second: I like a good mystery novel. I used to be a big Tom Clancy fan (and still am), but I've definitely read all of his thick, good books (especially those starring Jack Ryan). (For the record my favorite is Executive Order). When we stayed in Venice, Italy, two summers ago, I discovered a Jack Reacher book (he's the main character) on the shelves, and absorbed it in about a couple days. While I find Lee Child's writing to be a bit pedestrian, he does manage to weave a complex and interesting yarn. Another recommendation. So, mysteries—especially ones that make you think, are in. Tony Hillerman, and his books about murder mysteries in the southwest/Indian reservations are also fun, easy, page-turners. I like sci-fi, but only to the extent that the books I like in it are those that make you think about their deeper meanings and implications for our future. Starship Troopers (put that at the top of your list, if your bored) was an awesome commentary on politics, introducing a new political system which, unfortunately, was presented in such a manner that I actually agreed with it. I'm still working on counter arguments for it. For the record, it's completely different than the movie. But in a good way, especially if you didn't like the movie. At the cost of being overly verbose, I must mention the last author/style of book that I've been enjoying recently: Robert Ludlum. The first two Bourne books are mind-blowing awesome. While most of his books follow a conspiratorial plot theme, they are fascinating nonetheless.

Wow. That was actually kind-of fun. But it's 23:38, 38 minutes later than I planned on staying up (My alarm's set for 6:00 AM. Which means I'll get up at 8:00). Time to recover from tonight's endeavors and sleep.