whiners are losers
17/01/2010
Brett Favre, Minnesota Vikings Image from SFGate.com
We’ve been watching American Football since the season started, so it’s pretty much 3-4 months now. Last year I caught on to it late, and managed to only get warmed up to it by the Superbowl (AKA American Football World Cup, although of course, the World in this case is confined to the United States). Also with more understanding of the game, I can now root for teams based on some sort of identification of their style or quarterback instead of picking them by the team logo/mascot, hahaha. That’s
American Football though, is a needlessly overstaffed, complex game with too many rules. The saving grace is its throwback to Roman times. Indeed, the game involves a (semi-) armed combatant engaged in violent confrontations with other armed combatants, wild animals (AKA the defensive line and linebackers) and condemned criminals (almost!). While European come across as relatively more refined metrosexuals with their fancy coifs and equally fancy underwear endorsements, traipsing around a ball, coaxing it almost into a goal, American Football will show itself up to be brash, boorish, wild and loud. Moves are magnified, tackles are explosive and half-time entertainment nothing short of spectacular – remember Janet’s wardrobe malfunction?
But like any other game, once you get into it, it gets pretty entertaining. There is something special about sportsmen; guys that get to play for a living are awe worthy creatures. There aren’t all that many of them to go around, but they live the dreams of many.
The quarterback in the photo above is Brett Favre. I’ve never heard of him before I got here. But over these parts he’s a bit of a legend. He’s probably the oldest quarterback in the league – he’s 40, and he had some problems making up his mind about retiring. Twice. Now he’s playing for the Minnesota Vikings and they’re 1 game away from the Superbowl. He’s a fantastic player, and oh so fun to watch. The closest comparable quarterback (in terms of age,experience and quality) would probably be Kurt Warner of the Arizona Cardinals, but Warner’s not fun at all to watch. Here’s our theory why: Favre plays to win. Warner plays to make a living. Favre is fun to watch and you’ll find yourself rooting for him because he’s playing to score. He’ll take the spills of the game to enjoy the thrills. There’s little else in his mind besides winning the game, and it almost seems like he sheds a few years off his age with each touchdown he scores. Warner plays with so much baggage – will he be able to keep playing, provide for his family, will he get hurt – it’s tiresome to watch. Kurt Warner and the Cardinals received a whipping yesterday, from the New Orleans Saints whose quarterback, Drew Brees, is younger than me. Bleah.
Anyway, I’m hoping the Superbowl match up will be between Brett Favre & the Minnesota Vikings vs Peyton Manning & the Indianapolis Colts. It’s a long shot, because to get to the Superbowl the Vikings have to first beat the New Orleans Saints, and that’s a tough team. A tough team because they’re mentally tough, and aren’t afraid to come back from a deficit. It’s going to be a slugfest next week. And even if the Vikings do beat the Saints, they will (most likely) be up against the Colts, and those guys are even tougher.
Needless to say, my weekends for the next three weeks are going to be glued to the telly. Next week 24 Jan, four teams will slug it out for their respective football association’s championship. On 31 Jan, they’ll play the Pro-Bowl (AKA American Football All-Stars Game). Then on 7 Feb, it’ll be the battle royale known better as The Superbowl. Half time entertainment this year will be provided by the relatively less provocative The Who (whose claim to fame is the opening theme to CSI:Miami).
Can’t wait.
Ikiru
17/01/2010
The first Akira Kurosawa movie I ever saw was Rashomon. It pretty much set my expectations for other Kurosawa movies – black and white, samurai, Toshiro Mifune, chaos, but really good. Different, complex, and made in the 1950s, no way! Too sophisticated for its time.
Then on some whim, we got Ran on DVD. Samurai movie, in colour, large sets, King Lear. I didn’t think any of the other Kurosawa films I saw after that topped it. Kagemusha was similar but lacking, especially after Rashomon. KF went through the whole 7 Samurai, Yojimbo, Red Beard phase, but I was so over samurai movies. Especially in black and white. That was years ago.
Lately we caught up with Kurosawa again, this time because they were available at the library. Nora Inu was again, pretty surprising. It was apparently the first Japanese detective-thriller type movie. Again, a really sophisticated movie, with characters that are well thought out and realistic. I liked it. Toshiro Mifune was splendid.
But my favourite of the lot is Ikiru. It was made in 1952, like classics of its kind, it is not just relevant still, it resonates with some sort of universal truth. It’s about living. And dying. And coming to terms with it.
There are seldom scenes that are so memorable that they stick with you outside the movie. Usually they’re pretty gross, like the Mr Blonde Stuck In the Middle with You ear scene. Or the Francis Ng – the world shouldn’t be like this scene in Infernal Affairs II.
In Ikiru, it’s a simple scene: Shimura Takashi is singing The Gondola Song. About how fleeting life and love is. It’s the scene that made the movie. And it’s a terribly good movie even if it rings a little too true to feel good.
