Music of the Day: Tyrannosaurus Rex - Unicorn, Miroslav Vitous & Jan Garbarek - Atmos, Cheap Trick - "Southern Girls".

Gooool! I discovered this weekend that the Telemundo network is showing international fútbol matches, and I was able to catch a bit of a couple. Today I saw Bolivia get their asses handed to them by Ecuador for 70 minutes before waking up with a too-late rally. This reminds me how much I love watching World Cup soccer. Hopefully I'll be able to snag some of this throughout the summer.

One thing that was interesting to watch on this Spanish-language network was the commercials. Specifically, how they're exactly like ours! Then it dawned on me that it's less a case of the commercials reflecting American culture than it is a case of them reflecting corporate culture. People see these styles as uniquely American, but we're really just as much victims of these corporate image-manipulators as the rest of the world. It's sad, and indicative of aspects of corporate power that I've been thinking about and will write about later.

While thinking aloud, I'll go ahead and state three big themes I hope to address here in the next few months: the dangers of corporate power, the nature of power and how it affects people, and what I see as the last and next-to-last great civil rights struggles of our age. (Hint: an important court decision was just made in this state about what I see as the next-to-last great civil rights issue.)

Wild about Harry. I'm not afraid to admit it--I'm a big Harry Potter fan. Those stories capture the best aspects of the fantasy tales of my youth and take me away from everything. So I was happy to see today that the latest movie is fantastic--the most enjoyable film I've seen since the first Lord of the Rings movie a few years back. A great number of book details were left out of the swirling, fast-paced filmed version, but Alfonso Cuaron captured and updated the spirit of the stories in a really magical way. I only have one quibble with the adaptation and I'm willing to believe there's a long-term reason for it, so we'll see. And in the meantime, I'll go see it again! Only one thing could have made seeing the movie better--something important from the first two that I didn't have this time.

Faces from the past. Saw some old faces this weekend; at Art in the Park I ran into two old elementary school pals, an unlikely and unexpected bit of time-traveling. Both were hale and hearty and somehow simultaneously very different from and very similar to the guys I knew back in the early years. I wonder if they saw me the same way? In any case it did my heart good to see them in good health and good spirits. And on the trail today (in the midst of another 6-mile run--5 weekends straight!), I saw a face that took me back to the slightly more recent past. Rachel, the second girl I ever fell in love with. God, her smile could light up the world. I hope she's well.

Virtual Phishing. Trying something interesting out next week--going to a "virtual" Phish concert. This being their farewell tour, I thought it'd be neat to connect to it somehow, but the shows are few and in high demand. So I'm going to check out the June 17 show which will be broadcast live to 47 movie theaters around the country. It's not the same thing as being there, but the concept is intriguing--I'm already looking forward to the cognitive dissonance! Driving a couple hours to sit in a movie theater for a few more may not be too glamorous, but it's one of those rare events I just have to check out. They're a hell of a band--it'll be worth it.

Speaking of checking out, that's all the catching up I can do for one night--the bed is calling.

Labels: Life, Sport