footy and movies

Thursday night I watched Juve v Genoa. What a display. Juve rode their luck and were clinical in front of goal to go ahead 2-0. The game finished 4-1, and it was one of the best performances I’ve seen this season. Very reminiscent of last season when they outworked their opponents and created chance after chance. I’m still not sure they can keep it up. At least they are playing Tiago now instead of Poulsen. Sissoko is still in the team, but I’m hoping Zanetti is fit soon. With the win, Juve was on top of the table for the first time since the calciopoli scandal. Inter won to back on top, but for one brief moment, Juve was back in their rightful place.



What a great weekend. Went to Art’s Bar and Grill on Friday night. It’s a local establishment on Kalamazoo St. that was filled with people, smoke and giant goblets of beer. Forget the Brewtus at Applebee’s. It took two hands to drink this bad boy. Ummm . . . beer.

Saturday, got up and watched Manchester United game. They absolutely destroyed Stoke. The final was 5-0 and could have been much worse. CR7 had two nice free kicks, but to be honest, the rest of the game he was crap. His moves weren’t coming off, his passing was atrocious and he was back to his diving. I thought Fletcher had a phenomenal game, and Wellbeck’s debut goal was stunning. Then I watched the second half of Arsenal and Villa. What a result for Villa. Arsenal was all over them, but couldn’t really create clear cut opportunities. Then one bad touch from Clichy and instead of grinding out a draw, Arsenal went to all out attack for the equalizer. That chance was destroyed by a devastating effort from Gabby, who shook off Captain Billy and slotted the second goal in. Consistency, Gunners. Look it up.

Then it was off to help the Vance’s move. Got that out of the way and it was back to the house for some Coen brothers.

Fargo. I had not seen this in forever. It is depressingly realistic. The dialogue and interaction is understated and not dynamic, but how many times in your life do you think, I’m living in a movie? The story was told, the story ends and life moves on. In essence, crime doesn’t pay.

Big Lebowski. What a great movie. Hilarious dialogue, fantastic characters, outrageous situations. The movie creates a world that is just slightly surreal and lets you in for an hour and a half. If you haven’t seen it, rent it TODAY!!

Planning on watching Raising Arizona and Miller’s Crossing in the next couple of weeks, hopefully before Burn After Reading comes out on DVD.



Sunday after church went to see Quantum of Solace. A great Bond film. Action sequences of breathtaking action and detail. Story was actually somewhat believable, which was a nice change of pace. The last sequence was a little over the top, but what are you going to do? Make sure you watch Casino Royale right before. I made the mistake of not doing that and missed out on certain elements of the plot. I can’t wait until it comes out on DVD and watch them back to back. I’m sure I’ll enjoy Quantum a lot more the second time.



Finally, I saw this link on digg.com:
11 lamest blogs http://www.pcworld.com/article/153615/top_11_lamest_blogs.html

I took the time to scan it. No need to worry, we are not on the list.



Ta Ta.

soccer and movies

What a weekend of soccer.

I watched highlights of Barca’s demolition of Atletico. 3-0 after 8 minutes. After three consecutive late shows, including a ridiculous goal to by Messi to beat Shaktar, they left no doubt against Atletico. I read a FCB blog Monday and the writer stated that Barca was exactly in the same position last year, came back from international break and slowly declined for the rest of the season. Hopefully the Blaugrana will finish the job this year.

Speaking of finishing the job, all hail Liverpool. I watched them in midweek destroy a subpar PSV. Then I show up at James’ house on Sunday afternoon with Liverpool down 2-0 to City. European hangover? Typical Liverpool swoon? How wrong I was as Torres started the fightback and Kuyt finished the job as the Reds came all the way back and won 3-2. Losing Skrtel will be tough but all other things being equal, I really think Liverpool will compete for the title this year. If they pick up points in December and January, they should have the momentum to go for the Double. Could the almost 20 year wait be over? They may never have a better chance.

I have strong and lengthy comments re: Juventus that I will publish as a separate post.

Finally, my over 30 team won on PK’s Sunday to advance in our end of season tournament. Next is Dewitt. With a win we play under the lights at East Lansing, which will be sweet, but quite cold I’m sure.



Moving on, I listened to the new Oasis album, Dig Out Your Soul. It starts quite well, 4 of the first 5 tracks are passable, and the first single, The Shock of the Lighting is quite good. After that I wasn’t too interested. I will say it might grow on me, but it feels like the last couple of albums. Decent start, a couple of rockin tracks and then a bunch of filler. Let’s face it, after Morning Glory, it’s been just a futile attempt to regain glory. Their first two albums are absolute quality from start to finish. After that, there are several very good singles, but as a whole, lots of wasted tracks. A friend has tix for the December show at the Palace. I’m debating whether to go or not.



I have several movies on hold at the library. I’m hoping to a) get there and b) find time to watch them. On my account are:
In Bruges
Michael Clayton

I hope to review these next week. Early thoughts?


Also, there are rumors of a Coen Brothers marathon in November. Any interest out there in cyberland? Ben? You could fly back for the weekend. Brandon, you can come over. I’m sure we find you a place to crash. Sam? You’ve got nothing to do.


Until next week . . .