Day: January 2, 2008

A 53 might be the lowest Metacritic score of any movie I’ve watched. Goal “earned” its way to the bottom. The movie was on my Netflix queue because it was a pitched as a Rocky on the soccer field. In its outline, yes, that’s true. Other than making Newcastle seem scenic, Goal is simply trying to sell soccer (football). An illegal immigrant from Mexico playing in a local league in Los Angeles is noticed by a visiting ex-Newcastle United player and one-time scout. Run through Rocky script, and guess who scores the winning goal over arch-rival Manchester United to earn a trip to the Champion’s League? I’m skipping several other cliches, but there you go. Propaganda for FIFA, plain and simple.

For the first movie of a supposed trilogy, wouldn’t you keep the original website working? Maybe Buena Vista Pictures (read: Disney) realized this wasn’t that good, either. I did find the actual website, and it’s touting the second part of the trilogy, coming this year. Oh goody!

My chess is limited, but until tonight, it’s been enough to hold off the boy. I got sloppy. The boy, playing black, got his first ever win (one stalemate previously). He didn’t realize he’d won until I pointed it out, but he sauntered off to bed with a buoyancy that’s rare. Click on the thumbnail to see the final board.

First bicycle race under my belt yesterday, and I’m happy enough with the results. Official time, 20:03, which put me 115th out of 228 overall. I was 21st out of 37 in the Master 35+…which seems less competitive (slightly) than the Elite Men 5 results. I don’t really understand these groupings yet, but it was a great way to start the New Year: crisp, clear, tired. Fun ride back down to the starting line, too.