Chak De!

I just finished watching Chak De! India. A fun movie from India. The title translates to “Go For It! India” and it certainly fits the film’s plot. A ragtag group of female field hockey players must unite and overcome their differences to win the World Cup for India. Yes, there’s a World Cup for field hockey. It’s not a sport I ever paid attention to, but it seems big in India and other countries. Shahrukh Khan stars as the coach who must make a team out of the girls.

Now if anyone expects that a movie from India will not use the tired sports movie cliches, you are so wrong. They’re all there: the team finally banding together, the “darkest before the dawn” scenes, the last minute wins, and cheering crowds. Yet for all the cliches, I enjoyed it.

Most Bollywood films have musical numbers, but Chak De stayed away from them except as background songs during montages. The movie is entertaining fluff and offers some fun scenes.

This scene starts out with a “darkest before the dawn” mood:

Here’s a video of the title song:

Slow Sunday

A nice, quiet Sunday here in Flagstaff. Once again, I didn’t make it to the farmer’s market. I think it’s something to do with not wanting to take a shower any earlier than I have to.

What I did do this morning, was take Spencer for a hike in the woods. Got out by 8:30 and it seemed a bit too warm for so early. Still, we both enjoyed the hike. A nice hour out in the woods does start the day quite nicely.

I came back and did my physical therapy knee exercises, plus lots of stretches. My desire to get my hamstrings stretched out on a daily basis seems to help lessen knee issues. I still feel pain, but I can minimize it, and even make it disappear if I stretch and massage trigger points in the thighs.

I’m feeling yesterday’s CrossFit workout. I’m really working on using my glutes and hamstrings and, by god, that’s where I’m feeling it today.

Michael Jackson

Hard to believe Jackson is dead. He was only 50 — a year younger than me. I remember how I used to play the heck out of the “Off the Wall” album when I was stationed over in England, back in 1979. A great musician; a creepy kind of guy.

That Time of Year

Do I care that Transformers 2 is opening tomorrow? No.

Sometimes the summer movie season is incredibly depressing.

Star Trekkin’ Again – The Gals Can’t Help It

I did it again. I went to see Star Trek. That makes it the seventh (eighth?) time. I can’t help it, I’m obsessed.

As the movie only has two times per day this week at our local cinema, I’m assuming that it won’t be around next weekend. The funny thing is, the theater was packed today. It’s one of the smaller theaters at our 11-screen cineplex, but the movie is still bringing in people here in Flagstaff.

Maybe it’s the Father’s Day crowd and the other showings this weekend were sparsely attended, but overall it’s holding up very well. It’s still one of the top 10 movies this weekend, placing number 7:

1. THE PROPOSAL – 34.11 million – 34.1 million
2. THE HANGOVER – 26.86 million – 152.9 million
3. UP – 21.34 million – 224.1 million
4. YEAR ONE – 20.20 million – 20.2 million
5. THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1 2 3 – 11.30 million – 43.3 million
6. NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM 2 – 7.30 million – 155.9 million
7. STAR TREK – 4.70 million – 239.4 million
8. LAND OF THE LOST – 3.98 million – 43.7 million
9. IMAGINE THAT – 3.10 million – 11.3 million
10. TERMINATOR SALVATION – 3.07 million – 119.5 million

It may eventually earn 250 million dollars in the U.S. by the end of summer. A very good record for a movie. It’s still leading the box office totals for 2009, but Up will eventually win that spot.

I do think that the audience isn’t just young geek-boys, like the Transformers crowd. Star Trek seems to be pulling in lots of female fans. Star Trek seems to fit the strange niche of big special-effect filled chick flick. There’s not many movies like that out there, but Star Trek seems to have found a way to bring us women into the theaters. My sister described the attraction women have for either Kirk or Spock as similar to how men can decide whether it’s Ginger or Mary Ann. I think it’s easier for women to enjoy this film because neither Kirk or Spock are infallible — there’s no superhero who can vanquish the enemies with a quip and an act of violence. It takes Kirk and Spock working together with a team of talented staff to come up with victory. And face it, Kirk doesn’t win many fistfights in the movie.

It’s not just the women I’ve talked to about how much they like the film. The IMDB ratings for the film show a  female preference for the movie. At every age group, women rate it higher than men.

	Votes	Average
Males	58,934	8.4
Females	10,875	8.9
Aged under 18	2,627	9.0
Males under 18	1,872	8.9
Females under 18	752	9.3
Aged 18-29	46,515	8.5
Males Aged 18-29	39,135	8.4
Females Aged 18-29	7,206	9.0
Aged 30-44	16,371	8.3
Males Aged 30-44	14,176	8.2
Females Aged 30-44	2,025	8.7
Aged 45+	4,188	8.3
Males Aged 45+	3,334	8.2
Females Aged 45+	805	8.6

So, I’m not alone. Star Trek is a hit. My biggest worry about the movie, once it’s gone from the local theater, is how soon it will come out on DVD. I’m not the patient type. Do I have to wait until Christmas?

Hmmmm…maybe I need to grab some of my gal friends and go see the movie…just one more time.

Looking Out the Window…Sighing…

…Is it the weekend yet?

Religulous review

I reviewed Religulous while a co-worker reviewed Angels and Demons, thus the references to the opening of that movie. I’m not religous in any kind of way, so found Religulous enjoyable, but as someone who agrees with Bill Maher I’m probably the audience he was aiming for.

Here’s the review.

Lifting Things

Tonight’s workout at CrossFit Flagstaff was fun. We lifted things. Actually, after warming up, we lifted people and then barbells.

Lifting people had two people pairing off and carrying each other down the road. We did fireman carries (slinging someone over the shoulder), piggy-backs, and then dummy drags (picking up a person who is laying on the ground as a dead weight and dragging them by the waist). We were all laughing so much as we tried the different carries. I accidentally grabbed Katie’s breasts when trying the dummy drag, which was not the suggested way of dragging someone.

Then we worked on deadlifts. This is the one lift that I love. I can do these much more easily than pushing weights over my head or squatting down and standing back up while holding a barbell.

I wanted to see how heavy I could get. I’d lifted 60k (132 lbs) last week and knew I could get heavier. Seven tries and I got up to 69k (151.8 lbs). A personal record. Well, most of my lifts at this point in CrossFit are personal records — the joy of being new at this.

I must admit, lots of things I try in CrossFit can suck. I’m weak, uncoordinated, and slow. Yet lifting people and barbells is fun.

Pay Raise Equivalent?

I’m looking forward to July. A new fiscal year begins at work and more money will be showing up in my paycheck. No, not because of a raise, but because I can stop taking leave without pay (sort of like furlough time) to help our department’s budget survive the cuts.

I may still have to do furlough days in this next fiscal year, but our department head has said we should hold off until we know exactly what the university policies will be regarding furlough time.

My paycheck going back to what it used to be is a good thing. It’s almost like a pay raise… a rather sad one.

Recovery Time and Attitude

Letting my body recover tonight after I went to CrossFit two days in a row. I came home and took my dog Spencer for a quick hike. That’s about the activity level I can handle.

I’m also feeling lazy. So nothing I want to write about. Yeah, that does sound like too much attitude coming off of me, huh? Sounds sort of like “Suffer everyone, because I do not deign to write.”

Hey, go ahead and suffer. It’s my quads that are suffering due to pulling muscles while sprinting yesterday. So, suffer, everyone.  I’m finished writing.

My Happy Body

After my last workout at CrossFit I really felt it. My body had a hard time doing those overhead squats. I took a two-day workout break and woke up this morning wondering whether to go to CrossFit. I debated as I lay in bed: what if the workout of the day (WOD) was another killer workout? I don’t like feeling so inept and weak as I did after Thursday’s session.

So temptation  wanted me to stay in bed. Yet I fought it. I rolled out of bed, splashed water on my face, and dressed for CrossFit. That seems pretty amazing to me that I would even want to do that. Once upon a time I could never build up the energy to get up early, much less go to a workout class.

I am so happy I did. What a fun WOD. We mixed tire flips, hose drags, deadlifts, and more. I loved it.

I came home filled with that happy thrill of getting a job done and putting my all into it. That’s when I love CrossFit the most. Not only do I feel stronger, but I feel more capable.

I’m glad I made it to class today. Happy results today will make it easier for me to roll out of bed or leave after work to make it to another CrossFit session.

My Poor Body

I love going to CrossFit. I’m working my body in new ways, but it is never easy. Some people are good at running, some good at lifting weights, others are coordinated or fast. Me? I can’t do anything well.

Sometimes it’s disheartening how hard the CrossFit workouts are. Yet I do love the feeling of completing the Workout of the Day (WOD). I love seeing the muscles forming on me. Sure there’s a layer of fat covering those muscles, but I know my shoulders are getting broader, my thighs tighter, and my hips less wide.

Tonight it was overhead squats. Jiminy, but those are hard. Cullen, who was leading the class, had me working more on keeping the bar up and my arms locked. The depth of my squats were pretty pathetic, but that was okay. We were doing five sets of five reps. I had to start with the empty 15k bar (33 lbs) and the last round all the way up to 19k (41 lbs). I finished off with a one rep max of 25k (55 lbs).

Now that wasn’t the whole workout. We warmed up doing sprints. Six 50 meter sprints. My best time was 9.6 seconds. The worst of the folks there, but this I find fun. Kids in the neighborhood hung around as they watched us racing down the street two at a time.

Here’s the workout at the CrossFit Flagstaff site. Needless to say, my picture doesn’t show up — I was a lousy example of how to do overhead squats.

So, I love CrossFit, but I do suck at it. Give me enough time and I may eventually get good at it…if my poor body can handle it.

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian review

I’m sure lots of people enjoyed this movie, but I wasn’t one of them. So many opportunities wasted by a sloppy script and mediocre direction. Here’s my review.

Frost/Nixon

Finished watching the Frost/Nixon DVD. Entertaining and well performed. I’d forgotten that Ron Howard had directed the movie and he did a decent job.

I’ve a pile of DVDs I’m getting through. All these great movies that I never saw in the theaters and have delayed renting them, but I’m making up for lost time.

The Hangover and Up

I just got back from seeing The Hangover. Oh my god, what an hilarious movie. Jokes coming from all kinds of funny situations. It’s nice to go to a movie and get a script that finds ways to make you laugh.

It’s funny that I enjoyed The Hangover more than Pixar’s latest film, Up. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed Up, but it didn’t bowl me over like other Pixar films. It’s still very good, but if you’re an adult wanting something to make you laugh uncontrollably, then The Hangover is the perfect movie.

And please, please, please, if you do go see The Hangover, don’t bring your little four-year old child with you. The Hangover is rated “R” for good reason. I had a couple sit next to me with their little kid. It’s disturbing to think a child that age is going to see adult situations and listen to many a “fuck!” exclaimed throughout the movie. Up is a much better choice for a child that age. The Hangover is meant for children my age.