NFL 2009: Falcons go skyhigh over the Redskins

The Washington Redskins came down to the Georgia Dome to gauge the Atlanta Falcons’ performance capabilities after back-to-back losses (to the Dallas Cowboys and then the New Orleans Saints).  Televised by Fox and narrated by Kenny Albert and Daryl Johnston, the first quarter started with the Falcons on offense and a much stronger first impression than in recent memory.  The Falcons scored at the end of their first possession via a play-fake to running back Michael Turner.  Quarterback Matt Ryan threw the ball to tight end Tony Gonzalez for a touchdown.  Atlanta 7 and Washington 0.  A change-up of offense later, when the ball went back to the Falcons, Mr. Ryan threw an interception–sss-tew-rate into the grasp of Redskins linebacker Rocky McIntosh.  But…what soft through yonder window breaks! It is Falcons cornerback Tye Hill catching a loose ball–slipped through the hands of Redskins tight end Fred Davis–and making a sixty-two yard TD run!  Atlanta 14 and Washington 0.

The second quarter ticked down to seven or six minutes and the Redskins finally got themselves on board with a field goal.  Atlanta 14 and Washington 3.  With just over three minutes left in the first half, Michael Turner ran the ball in for a TD.   Seconds before the end of the first half, Jason Elam made a field goal for the Falcons.  Atlanta 24 and Washington 3.

Redskins QB, Jason Campbell, took five sacks in the first half.  He and his offense mates appeared to have improved in the third quarter with a sneeze more momentum, a whiff of better pacing, and more ground coverage.   Running back Ladell Betts broke the plane on 4th and goal, giving the Redskins their first TD of the game.  Fellow running back Rock Cartwright made a couple attempts but was stopped by the Falcons defense each time.  Atlanta 24 and Washington 10.

The fourth quarter shot out a TD connection between Jason Campbell and tight end Todd Yoder –or alleged TD connection.  Falcons head coach Mike Smith challenged the TD ruling on account of whether or not both of Yoder’s feet were in-bounds after catching the ball in the rear of the end zone.  The left foot was definitely in, but what about the right foot and knee? The ruling stood.  Atlanta 24 and Washington 17.  Now what?  Would the Falcons be able to finish what they started, as many Falcons fans were wondering moments before Michael Turner made a fifty-eight yard run for the end zone.  Redskins QB went down and out not in Beverly Hills when his team got the ball again.  He suffered an ankle mishap.  Todd Collins went in as QB for a possession.  Campbell came back with three minutes left to play.  The clock ticked and ticked to closing time.  Atlanta 31 and Washington 17.  Final score.

Not Another Teen Movie in German!

Nicht Noch Ein Teenie Film!

Llama?!

Observations & Miscellania:

1.  Former Falcons cornerback DeAngelo Hall was booed when he making a fair catch in the middle of the second quarter.

2.  According to Kenny Albert (methinks), Michael Turner’s TD in the second quarter marked his ninth for the season so far.

3.  Close-up to Matt Ryan under two minutes in the second quarter: is he wearing eyeliner?  Mike Smith was right there to see a late hit on Ryan by Redskins safety LaRon Landry.   Ryan had already gone out of bounds when Landry came at him.  Within nanoseconds, there was a convergence of jerseys on the Falcons sidelines; DeAngelo Hall (?) started pushing and shoving.

4.  Two strong offensive Redskins were absent: tight end Chris Cooley didn’t play at all and running back Clinton Portis went to the sidelines due to a concussion, if memory serves.

5.  There was a Veterans Day parade in Atlanta yesterday afternoon? Apparently so, Daryl Johnston saw some of it.

6.  After returning from the commercial break that followed Ladell Betts’s TD, one of the cameras cut to a close-up of Redskins wide receiver Malcolm Kelly’s left ankle being taped.  The camera was behind the seated Kelly, on the left side.  His foot ….his toes are all skin, bone, and sinews.  Blood vessels.  Made me think of a dancer.

7.  Todd Yoder reminds me of actor David Morse.

8.  When Todd Collins stepped in as QB for Jason Campbell in the fourth quarter, he patted Campbell on the back as they passed each other on the field.  Campbell kept his head down, flanked by Redskins personnel.

Get game summary, stats, and play-by-play here.

 

Off Topic: 120 Days of Sodom still wins

…as most disturbing film I’ve ever seen.  Ideologically and visually, Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Salo (aka 120 Days of Sodom) wins as most disgusting movie I’ve ever watched in Italian Exploitation Cinema when I was a college senior.  Do I regret having to sit through it?  No.  And to think Cannibal Holocaust was the previous title holder, which I also saw in the same film class.

A couple months ago, I had written a post about the intellectually revitalizing and humbling experience of reading the work of incredible writers.  I had spotlighted Larry Gross and his article on Lars Von Trier’s film Antichrist.  This Wilotte Gainsfoe-Charlem DeBourg exercise in von Trier hoopla finally reached my fair city.  I adore Charlotte Gainsbourg, so of course I had to watch it.  Moreover, since I’d read Gross’s article on the film, I wanted to be able to understand his thoughts more completely.

I took in a double feature today with An Education (Lone Scherfig, 2009) first and Antichrist (2009) second.  I’m rather fond of the lead actress, Carey Mulligan, in Scherfig’s film, which is based on Lynn Barber’s memoir.  I liked it a lot.  Alfred Molina, who plays the father, is a scene-stealer.  Emma Thompson, the headmistress, only has about six or seven minutes of screentime, but she was quite brilliant.  Olivia Williams plays a teacher and I’d love to see an entire film about her character.   An Education watches very much like a memoir…you get an idea of the characters’ experiences, the environmental and cultural world in which they live, and you may or may not want more.  In this case, I wanted more.

Contrasting with that whimsical cinematic expedition is the craving of Grief, Despair, and Pain, or the Three Beggars as von Trier calls them.  The demographic breakdown of the audience: three males (two of them together, one solo) and me.  Average age of the males – 31.  Yours truly – two days older than Justin Timberlake.

To be honest, I don’t know what to make of Antichrist.  It’s not as exhausting or impactful as the two films that open this entry nor as compelling as Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible (2002) or Claire Denis’s Trouble Every Day.   I saw Irreversible at the Lefont on Ponce with a crowd of perhaps seven or ten (most of them male) and absolutely loved it, probably because I was still in college and was living and breathing film analysis 18/7.  Trouble Every Day I watched for grad school and liked a lot too.  Again film analysis mentality.

In terms of a visceral and psychological response, Antichrist is nowhere near these films or 120 Days of Sodom.  Thematically (even narratively), I’m inclined to believe that it could’ve been given an Audition (Takashi Miike, 1999) treatment.  In fact, I’d very much like to watch a Miike remake of it.  I’ve been re-reading Larry Gross’s article and am struck by his assertion that “Antichrist is both inspired and disabled by von Trier’s ambition to link a psychodramatic art film to a horror movie.  And this boils down to the film’s evasive uncertainty about whether to represent Gainsbourg as a case of psychological trauma or an incarnation of mythic evil” (44).  I feel the very same way.  Gross remarks something utterly clever several sentences later concerning “the outskirts of Seattle,” but I won’t include it because I want you to read his article–to be sure, I enjoyed reading it much more than watching the movie.

And now for something totally unrelated, GEORGIA TECH BEAT WAKE FOREST 30 – 27 IN OVERTIME!

Click here to see photos from An Education and here for Antichrist.

 

Off Topic: It’s not about a Boy

Oh, quit lying to yourself.  It’s always about a boy.

Asexual. Antisexual. Demisexual.

Hetero(non)sexual homoromantic.

Actually, no.  I am none of them.

I’m really a Greek poet.  Quoi?!

How dare I compare myself not quite to a summer’s day?

I never claimed to walk in beauty like the night of cloudless climes or starry skies.  There is no Helen in this Troy.

Niet.

But Anne Carson has finally found an adequate and appropriate, if not earth-shatteringly exemplary, descriptor of my interiority.  Eros the Bittersweet has changed me permanently.

Back to my claim of being a Greek poet.  Observe:

In the Greek poets it is a knowledge of self that begins to come into focus, a self not known before and now disclosed by the lack of it — by pain, by a hole, bitterly.  Not all lovers respond to erotic knowledge so negatively…we saw what a gust of elation accompanies the change of self for Nietzsche…But then, Nietzsche calls the modern world an ass that says yes to everything.  The Greek poets do not say yes.  They allow that erotic experience is sweet to begin with…They acknowledge ideal possibilities opened out for selfhood by erotic experience; they do so, in general, by divinizing it in the person of the god Eros.  Sappho, as we have seen, projects the ideal in the particular person of “the man who listens closely…

But a sense of exultation at the thought of incorporating the self’s possibilities within the self’s identity is missing.  In these ancient representations, bittersweet Eros prints consistently as a negative image.  Presumably, a positive picture could be made if the lover were to reincorporate his lack into a new and better self.  Or could it? Is that positive picture what the lover wants from love? (66-67).

Just who is this Sappho?  What “man who listens closely” ?

Eros who has been, understandably, playing games with me.

 

NFL 2009: Saints give the Falcons a minor chord

The New Orleans Saints, the Atlanta Falcons, the Superdome, Monday Night Football.  I was going to view the first half at my neighborhood Taco Mac but opted to “watch” it on NFL.com’s Game Center instead (much like my previous intake of Georgia Tech games on ESPN’s GameCast).  I actually spent the majority of the first half of the MNF telecast watching public television.  I checked twice online for score updates, and each of these times the Saints and Falcons were tied (7 points a piece and then 14 points a piece). But then, at the bottom of the second quarter, the Saints broke that tie with a TD.

I continued with Game Center and a friend of mine gave me commentary in real-time via gchat.  It was surprisingly fun.  There I was once (or twice) removed from the actual game-play but still able to know what had just happened via two sources of information.  The suspense was just awful too.   I didn’t always know if the lag in Game Center updates was due to a commercial break or a challenge.  Luckily, my friend provided illumination when it counted  the most.  By the way, I hadn’t noticed until last night that the Game Center’s field graphic has a default setting of Top view (aerial view of the staging area), and there’s also a Side view option (you get to see the sky and moon/sun).

We ended up chatting for an hour.  Here, have at it; it’ll spruce up your Tuesday commute through life.

Friend: Hey… sorry I’m on my fantasy page, need michael turner to have a big game.
Me: It’s fine, I was looking at the game center.  You sound like you need…as Monty Python would say, “And Now for Something (Completely) Different.”
Friend: A falcon victory tonight might help the mood here. I really should be in bed, gotta work tomorrow, but I can’t sleep when there is a game on.
Me: You can watch the highlights on the morrow? and then if they didnt win, it wont feel so bad? and if they did win, you can jump up & down for joy wherever you are.

Friend: I know but it’s not the same as watching it as it happens.
Me: I understand. The suspense is even worse when just going by online updates.
Friend: I am the same way when i go to games, i stay until the end. You’re not watching?
Me: I dont have cable and i was too tired when i came home from work…and didnt feel like washing my hair again, otherwise id have gone to Taco Mac.
Friend: gotcha
Me: ive “watched” a few GaTech games on game cast—-so suspenseful cause im just waiting for words to appear…

Friend: fumble atlanta ball. NO is challenging the fumble.
Me: aish. Oh we’re only four points down.
Friend: Looks like a fumble to me… but I’m a bit biased. Atlanta wins challenge
Me: Ryan got sacked twice tonight….yes?
Friend: Yep
Me: Did the camera cut to him afterwards for a close-up? Did he look all flustered?

Friend: Big run from turner. Um, yes but still looked in control of his emotions. NO intercepted at goal line. great game!
Me: 3 mins left to play.
Friend:Yep, i think it’s done barring a miracle play.
Me: You gonna stay with it til the clock says :00?
Friend: Yep… there’s always a chance, maybe a pick six for 99 yards. Here we go…touchdown saints… dang it!
Me: handbags

Friend: Yes. Still a great game, I’m glad i watched.
Me: interesting. I was just gonna say that im glad i couldnt. i think i enjoyed your commentary a lot more than the sight of Ryan getting sacked twice or having to “see” and “hear” Roddy White’s 3rd quarter TD taken back.
Friend: Both teams played great and left everything on the field.  That’s all you can ask for.
Me: what happened to Babineaux?
Friend: saints may be the best team in nfl. I think he came back… i’m not sure. Uh oh.. fumble by ryan.  Atlanta is challenging of course. Tuck rule… his arm was moving forward… again, i am biased. Atlanta wins challenge.

Me: Truth is stranger than fiction, yes,but can it defy the laws of the space-time continuum?
Friend: we need 2 scores with 1:59.
Me: well, actually..yes it can. ive experienced it before…twice.
Friend: truth is stranger than fiction… I believe that. 4th and 10… this is it.
Me: Oh poor Ryan. He must have that lost-parent-at-macys feeling. Yhat description is universally…representative of anxiety, of not being able to find one’s parent at a retail store.

Friend: I had a similar experience when my daughter decided to hide in a clothing rack. We had a long talk about not freaking dad out.
Me: The older you get, when you lose sight of family at a retail store, anxiety turns to inconvenience. and you whip out the cell phone
“helloooo? where did you go?”
Friend: i know, isn’t that crazy.
Me: and then you stare them down from across the store once you see them.
Friend: been there done that.

Me: clock strikes midnight. Coach is gonna turn into a pumpkin. Indeed babineaux is back in the game.
Friend: falcons recover fumble… hold the phone. Another review… c’mon. 1:23 to go. Atlanta ball.
3rd & 10. 1:03 to go. Another review of jenkins catch/non-catch.
Me: i like that phrasing.
Friend: 54 seconds. Ryan sacked three times.
Me: Goodness graceland.
Friend: Field goal attempt…good. Now for the onside kick. :28 sec. Time out by NO c’mon. Atlanta ball. big scrum for ball.  Atlanta gets the ball. Holy cow?! what a game. Atlanta ball @ 50 with 11 sec. intercepted… it’s over.

New Orleans 35 and Atlanta 27. Final Score.  Get game summary, stats, and play-by-play here.

 

NFL 2009: Eagles Big Fan the Giants

I spent the afternoon raking leaves.  I only watched a bit of the fourth quarter of the game where the Philadelphia Eagles served the New York Giants with a platter of buses.  The Eagles won 40 to 17.  Get game summary, stats, and play-by-play here.

I watched Big Fan (Robert D. Siegel, 2009) a couple months ago and reviewed it for FilmThreat.

The opening paragraph:

Don’t let the premise of “Big Fan” mislead you. Writer-director Robert D. Siegel’s 2009 Sundance-approved dramedy indeed examines the fall-out of a hematoma-induced encounter between New York Giants fan Paul Aufiero (Patton Oswalt) and his favorite player Quantrell Bishop (Jonathan Hamm), but it’s not a football film. It’s not even a sports film. “Big Fan” is more accurately a romantic drama about loyalty and unconditional love that elects a Giants fanatic as its messenger…

Read the rest here.

Product Placement & Branding (the longest list I’ve compiled so far):

Epson.  NY Giants. Philadelphia Eagles.  Toni Braxton’s second album Secrets (Paul has a copy in his room). Texas Holdem.  Brian Westbrook.  Donovan McNabb.  Osama t-shirt.  Jeremy Shockey.  Red 90s Toyota Corolla (Paul’s car). 50 Cent cake.  Kodak disposable camera.  Costco and Priceline (in conversation).  Samsung TV (big screen but not necessarily flatscreen).  Mobil gas station.  Chevy Escalade. Adidas (baseball cap if memory serves).  DHL.  Band-Aid. Dr. Scholl’s. Old Spice leather. WWF Panda (on Sal’s laptop). Red North Face parka-esque jacket. Verizon phone booth.

Budweiser. Hawaiian Pizza. Sudsy’s Bagel. Coke in a can. Wise Chips.  Mountain Dew.  A & W Root beer (Sal tells Paul not to drink Mtn Dew, alien piss, and instead to drink the root beer).  Pepsi.  Shakey’s Sports Bar.

NFL. Giants Stadium.  Madison Square Garden parking.  Legends Sporting Goods.

~!~

Observations & Miscellania:

1.  Paul writes down his phone rants—his passion is thought-out.  He has a mobile phone but no regular or easy access to the internet.  This (conspicuous) absence of online activity is consistent with his character—he drives a mid-90s red Toyota Corolla—as well as the film’s grainy visual design, which gives the film a sense of timelessness.

2. NFL paraphernalia (particularly of the Giants and Eagles sort) is prevalent throughout the film, yet there is no game-play to be seen.  Paul and Sal listen to a couple of games on the radio and watch telecasts at the stadium, but the viewer is not privy to a single image from it.

3. My favorite line in the film: “There’s no way we can lose, not with us in the parking lot.”

4. The events in the film take place in 2006.  Did the Giants lose to the Kansas City Chiefs 40 to 28 in that year?  Did they play the New England Patriots in December of 2007?