sprite writes
broodings from the burrow

April 24, 2005


uniting over baseball
posted by soe 2:03 pm

This column from today’s Post, “How the Nats Brought Me Home,” hit home with me.

Unlike the author, I do follow sports. And I really enjoy baseball; I’d like to make it to a game at each of the stadiums sooner or later.

And I have had animated conversations on the Metro with strangers in the past — wearing political buttons will do that. (My commute on Metro is only two stops and lets out in liberal Dupont Circle, so perhaps that accounts for all my political Metro conversations being positive.)

But he’s right. The city has moved to embrace baseball with an enthusiasm that surprised me. And it is a rallying point — something that’s ours. When I get on the Metro late at night to come home and see Nats hats in abundance, I have no qualms about walking up to a stranger and asking what the score was. And coworkers have complimented the new Nationals pennant adorning my office door.

So, let’s go Nats!

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quiet weekend
posted by soe 1:49 pm

This week was a busy one. I don’t think I ate dinner before 10 any night this week. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not really complaining. It’s hard to complain when your dinner is delayed by movies and baseball games and concerts.

So yesterday, Rudi and I slept in until noon. We got up and lazed around the Burrow, picking up nothing more consequential than the tv remote or a knitting project until after 5. I did manage to wash the dishes that had been languishing in the sink all week, but that was it.

We split up for the evening — Rudi to a soccer match and a pool hall, me to the DC Film Fest (see the entry below for my review).

And then this morning we arose early to try to beat Nora to the ramps, morels, and strawberries that were going to be in limited supply at the market. No luck, but we came home with an overflowing basket: green onions, a half gallon of whole milk, young cheddar, damson plum-sweet cheese spread, purple lilacs, almond-goat’s milk facial scrub, blueberry scones (much better than last week!), pea shoots, asparagus, rosemary, a baguette, a photo-ready lettuce, and a bunch of chubby, stubby carrots.

We returned home to feast on the aforementioned scones and hot beverages, watch morning talk shows, peruse the Sunday paper, and doze under a warm wool blanket in the nest.

Rudi has left me with the Nationals-Mets game on tv to go on a short bike ride. We head to Ladies in Lavender, the closing film of the DC Film Fest, later this afternoon. Maybe between then and now I’ll walk to the store to buy bread flour to inaugurate the bread maker. Or maybe I won’t. During a weekend of relaxation, it’s just hard to say.

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brazilian movie
posted by soe 1:02 am

I finally had a free night tonight, so I chose to spend it at the movies, watching my complimentary show from DC Film Fest. There were four movies I was thinking about — two in particular. One, The Boys and Girl from County Clare, was described as a perfect date movie, so I decided to hold off on that until the Random Duck and I could see it together. So instead I opted for a tongue in cheek Brazilian romantic comedy, Manual for Love Stories (Como Fazar um Filme de Amor), directed and co-written by José Roberto Torero.

The movie was showing at the Avalon, a old-fashioned two-screen theater, located in Chevy Chase on the border of Maryland. The Avalon only reopened a year ago after having been revived by the local community up there, and this was the first chance I had to visit. The theater is nice; they did a nice job refurbishing it — particularly when you hear that Loews had ordered the inside demolished before they deserted it (presumably to discourage someone else from opening it up again in the near future).

I assume before I arrived they had the doors closed and found it was a little stuffy on a damp night because they kept the doors open for much of the film. Brrr!!! And the popcorn was cold. But those were two minor complaints and not much to discourage me from having a good time.

Manual is a witty satire, poking fun at the cinematic conventions surrounding romantic comedies — á la Down with Love here in the U.S. An omnipresent narrator controls the narrative, picking out the heroine, her name and her occupation, as well as periodically stopping scenes to rework them to suit his fancies better. The hero of the story even argues with the narrator on several occasions, only to learn that’s not a smart idea.

The story is your typical “boy meets girl, boy loses girl through misunderstanding, boy clears up misunderstanding only to have girl’s life threatened by evil vixen before girl’s mother saves the day” movie.

It was cute, but nothing earth-shattering. I gave it three out of five stars on my “viewer’s choice” ballot. Definitely worth seeing if you have the chance, particularly because there is no American DVD plan in the works.

Torero was in the audience and took questions after the show finished. The movie definitely shared his sense of humor and his delivery style. My favorite points during the Q&A were when, after he was complimented on his humor, he shared that his next movie is a documentary about death, and when he said that the movie did better in film festivals than it did in general release in Brazil because the audience at film festivals tend to be smarter. I’m not sure if that’s true, but they’re definitely more high-brow. After he finished talking, I contemplated asking for a new ballot so I could raise my rating to four stars, but then decided the rating would more be based on him than on his film and that that would be unfair.

Torero has written a number of other movies, but IMDB seems to indicate none of them are available here in the U.S. How disappointing. If anyone runs a festival of his work, I hope it comes to a local theater, since they sound like a lot of fun.

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happy happy
posted by soe 12:47 am

Joyous wishes to Jason (my birthday twin) and Essia, who celebrated their … hmmm … fourth(?) wedding anniversary on Friday.

And felicitations to John, who celebrated his 32nd birthday today (Saturday).

Jason and John played major roles in the drama of my college days, and I’m lucky to have them both still in my life. And I’m happy that Jason married such a fantastic woman and has such lovely children for whom I can play aunty.

May the celebrations go long and the happiness last the year through.

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