Musa the Warrior

I believe that Musa the Warrior is the first Korean movie I've seen.

A group of Korean soldiers have to make their way through dangerous Northern China, catching hell from Chinese armies and Mongol warriors. They pick up a Chinese princess along the way. I'm a big fan of the Mongols, so that part made me happy. Actors you'll recognize: Zhang Ziyi.

I could have lost some in translation, but I got the feeling that this was a movie about courage and cowardice and sacrifice and violence and obstinance, and maybe a few other things thrown in as well. The violence isn't extremely bloody, but it's not bloodless, either. You get stabbed, and blood comes gushing out. It has some really interesting elements, but the one I took most notice of was the attention to detail when dealing with battle tactics. The scene where Korean footsoldiers take on Mongols on horseback in the forest was a darn good one.

One caveat: The Netflix slip says this movie is 2 hours and five minutes long. But I'd swear it seemed like it was pushing three.

I also got to watch Harold and Maude, which I hadn't seen in quite a while. Very funny and enjoyable, and you can be introspective about it if you want. I won't talk about it, because there's really no way to describe Harold and Maude.

Do you like yellow?

Because if you do, then today's Netherlands-Portugal game was made for you. The ref handed out 16 yellow cards and four players got sent off, leaving 9 a side at the end. Let's talk about one in particular, the second one given to Deco. I like Deco. He's fun to watch. He scored a great goal during the group round. He looks like a nice guy. But the act he committed to get his second yellow gets on my nerves so bad I wish he'd also been punched in the face.

He got called for a foul. Instead of heading back on defense, he picks up the ball and starts to carry it off in a time-wasting ploy. This happens rather often, so it was pretty surprising that he got carded for it. But I hate this garbage, so it made me happy. One of the Dutch players grabbed him when he had the ball and basically threw him to the ground. "What about that guy?" the announcers asked. "Give him a medal" I say.

World Cup

This Thursday, the USA will play Ghana in a first-round matchup between two teams that really ought to win if they want to advance. The US need to beat Ghana and hope for Italy to beat Czech Republic. If the confidence the Americans gained from getting a draw with Italy carries over, then we've got a pretty good shot. Now let's get to the important stuff. The favorites Brazil have won their first two matches, though they've looked very vulnerable along the way. As I mentioned here, Brazil have a player boringly named "Fred" in their lineup. I was listening to the radio on Sunday and heard Fred score a goal against Australia. Indeed, beware the dreadful footballing might of FRED. Brazil have now won nine straight World Cup games, which is really remarkable. They won all seven four years ago and two so far this year. When you consider that two teams of greatly unequal talent and/or skill often play to a tie, the fact that they've been able to keep winning in regulation against this level of competition is really impressive. Argentina used a 6-0 beatdown over Serbia & Montenegro to claim the label of most impressive squad so far. With a 3-1 comeback over Tunisia, Spain look like #2. The biggest surprise so far could be Ecuador, who sits atop their group with Germany. They've each scored five, but the Germans have allowed two.

The best part about FIFA's website that I've found is the Flickr Gallery. Fans can email their photos in to the site and give links to more that they've taken at the World Cup. My favorite so far is here.

Back at Last

Deadwood came back for its third season tonight, and not a minute too soon. Where Sopranos is the master of incorporating the small banalities of everyday life into the overall scope of a mob drama, Deadwood is equally adept at asking great philosophical questions about life, the universe, and everything.

"Instead of running for office and tending bar, why don't you tend bar and let people punch you in the face?"

Running up to the season premiere, they showed reruns from the end of last year, and I watched the funeral episode. The ladies of negotiable affection who work at the Gem saloon attended, and were all in tears at the tragic death of young William. Which got me to thinking: "Some of the time, they're prostitutes who sell their bodies for cash, and some of the time, they're just young girls who laugh and fear and love and ache and everything else." In another episode last season, one of Cy Tolliver's girls tells him that she prays for him every night.

Tonight, Joanie Stubbs (a prostitute and aspiring madam herself) asks the Lord who she is. She rents a room for a few hours a day and converses with the Almighty. It's tempting to ask ourselves how such a terrible sinner has the nerve to talk to God. Then I remember a passage I read in a book about four writers: Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, Walker Percy, and Flannery O'Connor. I forget which figure it was about (I think it was Dorothy Day), but there was a passage about how the troubled sinner is closer to God than the saint. They experience struggle and anguish and tribulation, and dealing with all of this exposes them more to the true Christian life than the saint who never doubts and always does everything right. I love that stuff.

And just to review, only one person got killed and there was no sex on screen. I didn't count the number of f-bombs, but you can probably visit this site, which keeps a running tally. A hearty welcome back to Bullock, the angriest man on TV.

A film, a movie, and a flick

Over the weekend I watched one of each. Day of the Jackal, a very good film about a plot to assassinate French president Charled de Gaulle. French terrorists/anarchists/revolutionaries (take your pick) are upset with de Gaulle for giving Algeria independence. So they hire an accomplished assassin with the codename "The Jackal" to eliminate him. The film does a good job of illustrating what the killer goes through to prepare for the hit, and what the police go through to try and stop him.

The movie was X-Men III. Like the mutants, saw the first two, liked this one. That's really all I can say. Except that "The Jackal" sounds like a good name for a mutant. And that I was surprised to see Jubilee listed in the credits, since I tend to regard her as the most useless mutant ever. I guess there are those more educated in the field who could prove me wrong.

The flick was Stick It. My cousin and I went to see it at Kingstowne in Alexandria. I'd never been down there before. They have a Popeyes next door to an ABC store right across from the theater. You can buy liquor and chicken and then go see a movie and enjoy all three. That's a good way to go. Stick It was better than I thought it would be. It was fun and entertaining, and well-done for what it is. (I think that's an overlooked feature when evaluating movies. Not everything has to be high drama to be a good movie). Stephen Hunter from the Post called it a "nubile-o-rama", which is accurate. You've got a bunch of very, very fit girls in leotards erforming outstanding athletic feats. But it's also funny, sometimes emotional, and it sometimes makes you go "Ooh, that's gotta hurt." I liked it. But if you're a guy, don't go see it without a girl. You'll just end up looking creepy.

(speaking of girls performing outstanding feats, the last three standing in the National Spelling Bee are all girls)

Tremble before the awesome footballing power of...FRED?

The story goes that when soccer was first becoming popular in Brazil, it was considering a low-class sport, only for the riff-raff to take part in. So when the papers reported on the results of games, the players would identify themselves with aliases so people wouldn't know who they were. The trend continued after the sport became respectable. Brazil has since turned into the premier soccer nation on the planet, winning five World Cups and spawning great player after great player.

The names these players have taken have often been flashy and catchy, and are usually just one name. We've been graced with Pele, Garrincha, Jairzinho, Zico, Romario, Socrates, Bebeto, Dunga, Leonidas, Tostao, and Zizinho. The current World Cup squad features names such as Cafu, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Roberto Carlos, Adriano, Ze Roberto, Cicinho, Gilberto, and......FRED? How can they let a guy with such a boring name onto the most celebrated squad in the world? Brazilian soccer names are supposed to have pizzazz and set off fireworks in your brain. Fred?

This year's Brazilian team gives us some seriously entertaining players. The most famous are Ronaldo (speed dribbling and quick striking), Ronaldinho (fancy dribbling 1-on-1, 1-on 2, 1-on-3, 1-on-4, etc. and precision passing), Adriano (combining great ball skills with serious power), Roberto Carlos (making runs up the left side and blasting free kicks from who knows how far out), and a personal favorite of mine, Cafu. He's a right fullback trapped in a forward's body, game, personality, you name it. One of the great sights from the last two World Cups is Cafu streaking up the right sideline, taking a long cross right out of the air and taming it with his feet. Should Brazil make the finals, Cafu would have seen the field in four straight final matches.

After all that, I guess I should say something about the USA. I hope we win. Nothing would tick off the rest of the world more than the United States wining the biggest sporting event there is. Especially since they like to take solace in the fact that it's something (often the only thing) they do better than us. We don't have a "Fred", but we do have a DaMarcus and an Oguchi. So there.