I played basketball yesterday - four games of half court. I am out of shape from laying around so much but it felt good to play and I was actually happy with how I played. I even played a little defense, which I haven't done for a while. It was also good to see my basketball friends. I was matched up with my friend Ben. Lucky was also on the other team and shot really well, including a lot of three-pointers. Our team did better once we added our own three-point shooter, Gary McKinney, which spread the floor and gave me more room to post up inside. I liked our team: me, Gary (good outside shooter), Mike Henniger (good pick-setter and interior defender), and Ernie (my hero and master of the step-back bank shot and other crafty moves).
In the evening Grace and I went to the movie "The King's Speech" (my mom babysat Miles - thanks Mom!). The movie was very good. The acting was excellent, led by Colin Firth. The "Best Picture" and "Best Actor" Oscars seem deserved, in my opinion, although I didn't see all the competition. It was nice to go out and do something with Grace.
I gotta love a movie in which the hero is a speech therapist. Maybe they'll make a movie about my friend Kim Peters. Who would play her? Maybe Charlize Theron, with her hair colored brown. Kim's husband John Rybczyk (who my son Seth likes to call "Johnny Lipstick") would like that, being a Charlize fan. Speaking of Charlize, here's a funny video of her with one of my favorite comedians, Zach Galifianakis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83I_rQUbw8c
I read some interesting things recently by the Gopniks. Alison wrote something in Slate about the value of exploration versus direct instruction in preschool children: http://www.slate.com/id/2288402/
Adam wrote something in The New Yorker (I am little behind on my New Yorkers) about how the Internet affects our cognition and culture. I don't love everything that Adam writes, but I thought this essay was very good: http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2011/02/14/110214crat_atlarge_gopnik
Alison's essay reminded me of Grace's ongoing uncertainty about where to send Miles for preschool and kindergarten over the next couple of years. He is currently at a child-care facility affiliated with an evangelical Christian church. They are convenient, affordable, flexible, and super-nice, but not very academically-oriented. Miles is also picking up some religious references, which is kind of funny but kind of weird for us. He was singing a song the other day that went: "I'm in the Lord's army - Amen!" Another day we were talking about making things and Grace said that she and I made Miles and Miles objected, saying "God made me!"
Adam's essay reminded me of what I was writing about a few days ago: whether the social networks in our culture are fraying. I joked that Facebook doesn't count, but maybe it does. Does the Internet help us stay connected in meaningful ways, or is it just voyeurism without real interaction? I guess I don't know about Facebook, being one of the last people in the world (or at least in my generation) to not be on Facebook at all. But email and blogs have helped me stay connected to friends, both near and far.
Ethan
Ashley Judd would play Kim!
ReplyDeleteThat's so funny. I was going to say the same thing. Ashley Judd. And Johnny Lipstick is in favor of that as well, especially if he gets to play himself in the movie. It should definitely be an action flick--you know, where I get to help a super-hero with his lisp so he can go on to save the planet. I would like the super-hero to be played by Jake Gyllehaal or John Cusack, if at all possible.
ReplyDeleteFacebook can be a colossal waste of time, but it has reconnected me with some people I completely lost over the years. Rachel, for example. Of course, it's also connected me with a few assclowns who barely spoke to me in high school but want to be Facebook friends for some reason. It's kinda interesting to see what some of them are up to, and what they've become.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was telling a new neighbor that the street cats I feed keep our building free of rats and cockroaches, I thought of the palindrome "Rats live on no evil star." You taught me that. Out of all of Mark's friends, you were one of the very few who was always nice to me. Hence, the massive crush I had on you all through school.