The State of Sports (SoS) 2011.

So, sports. People love 'em.. literally can't get enough. Where religion once was the opiate of the masses, the twin harbingers of mouth breathing: big advertising and mass media have turned sports into black tar heroin. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy sports, a lot, but the whole thing lacks perspective.. and it's sort of ruining the whole enterprise for me. Let's examine what's going on here.

First, ESPN brought 24/7 sports coverage to the world.. which is about 21 more hours than any sport or sports deserve. Second, coming along with this 24/7 coverage was a need to fill ALL of those hours.. and it's much easier to fill hours upon hours of down time if you're taking everything DEATHLY SERIOUS. The quest for a championship, something that once held some regional significance, but mostly as a source of pride and bragging rights, now is on a level with religion or politics or national identity as an identifying source of meaning for far too many people. Sports are games. They're played by little kids and grown men alike, and meant to be fun first and foremost. By becoming (like everything else), massively financed and marketed so that big time college and professional sports are multi-billion dollar industries, sports managed to achieve some gravitas that isn't inherent or even appropriate to what they actually are. By pulling an identity from a group of people that literally consider you a consumer or a dollar sign or signs, you're dealing with a totally one-ended relationship. You (as a fan) will never get anything other than manufactured fulfillment out of all of your time, effort and energy. I'm wholly comfortable with that and have come to terms with the implications, but the reality is that in a one-sided relationship, in order to feel that you're getting some sort of payoff for your passion, you've got to become more intense yourself in order to mask the complete lack of any reciprocity. So that's why we are where we are: where athletes/coaches who leave or screw up or are perceived to cost a team _________, are treated like actual bad people. See: Bartman, Steve. Buckner, Bill. Norwood, Scott. (that one hurt to type) Hamby, Ryan. (a college kid) And that's fine, to a certain extent.. but the key word is perspective. No one should ever get a death threat or have to move or fear for their safety from a game. Ever.

On another level, everything has taken on a preposterous sense of importance. There's no humor to anything.. everything is treated as if it's life or death. Are we playing football or in Iraq? Let's be real. When Jim Schwartz and Jim Harbough nearly came to blows at the conclusion of the Lions/49ers game last weekend you'd have thought President Obama swung at David Cameron. They're football coaches guys, come on. Football is basically one long legal fight where people try to run from other people who openly want to hurt them. Two coaches almost fought after the game? How is that an indictment of anything, anywhere? They're men, not stoic heroes. Boston Red Sox pitchers may or may not have drank beer, eaten fried chicken (?) and played video games during games that they weren't playing in. From the media reaction, you'd have thought they were in the back room shooting heroin and running a dogfighting ring. They're professional baseball players in their 20's and early 30's. They aren't CEOs. This is baseball.. players used to smoke in the dugout. Babe Ruth ate 6 hot dogs a game, Doc Ellis threw a no-hitter on LSD, David Wells threw a perfect game with a "raging hangover" (his words). Unless they're pitching that game, who cares what they're doing? What are they supposed to be doing? Icing their arms and charting pitches on their day off? It's a game.. and most of all, it's their job. A game that too many people have taken far too seriously for far too long. YOU taking it seriously doesn't make it serious. No matter how many blogs you read, talking heads you listen to or games you attend, no one on that field will ever care what you think or feel. Ever. And the sooner you realize that, the more enjoyment you'll get from the whole thing. I like sports, I like movies, I like TV, I like music.. none of those things define me and I know damn well that no one involved in any of those things cares one bit about me. Am I going about it the right way? I don't know.. but I'd rather be me than screaming "Who Dey" and blind drunk after the Bengals give false hope every few years.

Stop taking it so seriously, world... you're coming pretty damn close to ruining the whole thing. ESPN is a giant turd in the punch bowl of life. Sports are fun.. please remember that.

2011: The Year in Film: "Ides of March" Review

The Ides of March So, since the last time we spoke, I went ahead and turned 28.. and I'm strangely comfortable with that. Here's why: when you're 28 you're unquestionably an adult.. hopefully with your shit together. But on the other hand, you're still young enough that you can do things like... sleep on a friend's couch all weekend and get black-out drunk without bringing too much of society's ire down on you. You're still a young person... but you have money. Unless you did dumb things like "buy a house", "make babies" or the like, that is.

Based on a play, this movie was all over the local Cincinnati news in early 2011.. any conversation with a female resulted in a story of seeing Gosling or Clooney at some bar or hotel. From what I could tell, they shot approx. 80% of it in the greater Cincinnati area.. so, go Cinci. Oh, and Miami U gets to be featured in the first 5 minutes.. so that's legit. As I mentioned earlier, this one is based on a play, and you can definitely tell.. there are plenty of monologues and intimate settings with two or three people in a small room. Clooney wrote, directed, and stars in this one, and brought together an absolutely stacked cast... one could say it absolutely pays to be as well-liked and connected as Clooney is. Ryan Gosling, Paul Giamatti, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright and Marisa Tomei join Clooney in this drama about an ambitious and idealistic governor who seeks to gain the Democratic Presidential nomination.

The American political process is often referred to as a "sausage factory".. i.e., something that you don't really want to know how it's made because it's complicated, disgusting, and it's generally better to just enjoy and marvel at the final product rather than delve into the backroom promises, handshakes, compromises and devil's bargains that go into the finished product. Let's just say that there's a reason all of these bills are thousands of pages long: you do not want to know what's in there.. because it's mostly ridiculous items thrown into unrelated bills in order to pander to some congressman from Wyoming or Montana or god knows where. Most of you know this, or I hope you do. Well, actually getting elected to national office is no different. By the time a candidate makes it through a year of Primary battles and a general election, there have been so many compromises, backroom deals and promises that what once was the candidate's message has been utterly gutted by the realities of what it actually takes to get elected. The Primary cycle is especially messy.. with each state having differing rules and delegates and what not.

So in the week or so leading up to the Ohio Democratic Primary (which is on March 15, hence the title) in a world where Barack Obama evidently doesn't exist, Pennsylvania Governor Mike Morris, a charming, idealistic politician with some radical ideas on how to move the nation forward finds himself locked in a tough and increasingly dirty Primary battle. Idealistic young media man Stephen Meyers (Gosling), a rising star in the political scene, works on Morris' campaign, where duplicitous tactics and a campaign that's becoming more and more complex really reveal how on the campaign trail idealism takes a back seat to realism as the realities of what it takes to get elected sets in. Scandal, backstabbing and compromise take place behind closed doors as Political staffers and opportunistic politicians seek to gain a seat at the table. Power corrupts is a cliche.. but there's a lot of truth to it.. and around a Presidential hopeful, there's a lot of power to go around. People are lobbying for Cabinet spots, campaign workers are lobbying for what they hope will be high-profile and lucrative jobs in the future administration, and the Candidate himself is hearing a lot of different things from a lot of different people. In short, it's virtually impossible for someone to emerge from the long, messy process without some bruising and scuffing. This is a cynical, bleak film that says a lot about what the American Political Process is actually about. The business of winning has very little to do with the business of governing, and those best equipped to win are almost never those most equipped to rule.



All of that being said, this is a wonderfully done film. It looks great, and all of the actors involved bring their "A" game. Clooney is magnetic on screen, as he almost always is, and the film's weakest stretch comes during the 30 minutes or so that he's largely absent from the scene. Giamatti and Hoffman, are, as always, great. These are two of the top 5 character actors in all of Hollywood and they are both utterly believable and wonderfully bleak as opposing campaign managers, trying to stay ahead of their competition. Gosling, as the young, wide-eyed up and comer, makes a transformation throughout the film from idealist to cynic when the sausage maker is revealed to him in all its glory.. and he does a great job with a role that's written for the stage.. so there are lots of solitary moments and the role requires an emotional complexity that most young actors are incapable of. Marissa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood are strong as an NYT reporter and young intern, respectfully. Across the board, the acting is the strength of this film.. and you'd expect nothing less from an accomplished actor behind the camera.

All in all, while the performances are strong and the film really strives to reveal what happens behind the scenes at a major campaign (and Clooney would know), the plot at a point takes a leap for the somewhat ridiculous. I understand that scandals absolutely happen and the truth is likely shocking... but the places that this film goes seem needlessly over the top. That being said, as a parable of sorts and commentary on the realities of the American Political process.. absolutely worthwhile. Great, great performances by some of the strongest actors working today.

7.5/10.

2011: The Year in Film: "50/50" Review

So I don't know if there's any legitimacy to this theory of mine or not, but I just came up with it tonight, so hear me out. My theory, simply, is that there are two kinds of narratives. There are "stories", i.e., things that actually happened or feel like they did, and there are "tales", i.e., something more based in allegory, metaphor, legend, archetype or the like. And one's not necessarily better than the other.. each narrative technique has a time and a place, and each can be damn effective when done well. This flick is a "story", plain and simple. TV producer and friend to Seth Rogen Will Reiser wrote the screenplay based on his own experience with rare spinal cancer and this flick has the feel of authenticity to it. Not the sort of authenticity where it's like "this is what cancer is like"... rather, the sort of authenticity where you know this is what HIS cancer WAS like. And there's something powerful about that. Is it THE definitive film on grief and illness and coping? Absolutely not.. but what it is is a very human and intimate look into the mind, experience, reactions and emotions of one very small group of people. So based on that, on with the review.

So Adam is a young man in Seattle Washington, all is seemingly well with his world. He's got a beautiful girlfriend who's keeping stuff at his place.. he has an entertaining friend, an interesting job, etc., etc. Lingering back pain drives him to the Dr., where an MRI reveals a large mass that turns out to be a malignant tumor. World. Rocked. Needless to say, the diagnosis of a rare and serious form of cancer turns his world upside down. He undergoes chemotherapy, sees a therapist at the hospital, and struggles to deal with the seriousness of what the diagnosis actually means.

This is an odd little film. It feels like an indie movie + Seth Rogen and Bryce Dallas Howard, but it's not. It's sad and melancholy and sweet and funny and depressing and uplifting in turns. I laughed out loud more than once and teared up more than once.. not your everyday combination. This is an intimate film.. 90% of which takes place either in a hospital or either Adam or Kyle (Rogen's) places and has about 8 characters that actually matter.

As a quick aside, I don't quite know what to make of Joseph Gordon-Levitt as an actor. He clearly displays fine range and can be very, very good in spots. He has a great screen presence and more than adequate emotional range. At the same time, however, and I don't know if this is due to his choice of roles or what, but he's always playing these melancholy, excessively quirky straight laced indie dudes. Is that him in real life? Even in Inception he played a sort of frumpy straight-laced grump. There's no real difference so to speak of between his character here and his character in "500 Days of Summer".

With that being said, this is a film that will succeed or fail based entirely on the strength of its cast. Joseph Gordon Levitt is very good approaching perfect in this role. He basically effortless displays the emotional and physical roller coaster that is dealing with a life-threatening illness. There are two scenes in particular, the night before and day of a major operation, that are poignant, touching, raw and powerful. I can take or leave Seth Rogen most of the time.. but his schtick works in this one. He's the jokester, gross pig of a best friend who also has an underlying sensitivity and humanity to him.. and it works, very well. Bryce Dallas Howard plays Rachael, Adam's girlfriend who turns out to be unable to handle the intensity of the whole cancer thing. She's an awful person and reminds me of certain characters from my past. You know, selfish and emotionally stunted and needy. That being said, she's extremely beautiful. Stunning even. Anna Kendrick plays Katherine, Adam's young therapist at the hospital, who is sweet and awkward and utterly believable. Phillip Baker Hall plays a patient at Adam's chemotherapy sessions who develops a bond and is very warm and believable as an elderly cancer patient. Angelica Houston plays Adam's mother.. and does a lot more with her role than she by rights should. She comes off as convincing and loving and completely authentic.


This is a very good film. It's genuinely touching while also quite funny. The direction is understated and the actors are given plenty of room with which to work. You really get the impression that these are people with a wide range of emotions and motivations rather than a stock set of characteristics that are generally written into comedies of all stripes. As I mentioned above.. I laughed, I teared up, I cared. I'm about 99% sure that's exactly what this flick set out to do.

8/10.