Running is Boring; Let's Talk Movies Instead

58 mins.
8 miles

Nothing too exciting to report today, just got in some easy miles around town with Jordan and Scotty. We did put in about half of this run on the OU rec fields, which can be a bit repetitive but at least affords plenty of soft surfaces. I'm feeling a bit sluggish compared to Monday, no doubt a result of the blazing speed I threw down on those four hundos yesterday, but I supposet that's to be expected come taper time.

Rather than leave you with this lackluster posting, I thought I'd pass along some movie reviews. Jordan and I have been on a bit of a Red Box tear as of late (which we watch on his Mac since we have nothing in the way of a DVD player or a TV manufactured before 1992). Our first selection, Revolutionary Road, was deemed unacceptable by Jordan because there was "too much talking" and Kate Winslet "isn't attractive." I would beg to differ slightly on count two, though not on count one, and simply add that while I found the movie to be a realistic (albeit heartbreaking) portrayal of 1950's suburban discontent, I certainly would not recommend it to anyone who is already in a less than cheery mood.

Second on our list was Taken, an action flick that casts Liam "I-want-my-daughter-back" Neeson in an atypical role as an angry avenger pitted against, well, everyone. Jordan gives this picture two guns up, while I would agree that it was entertaining if not edifying. (Favorite monologue, Neeson on the phone with adversary: "I have a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.") Bad. Ass.

Our next selection, The Wrestler, is probably our most highly-rated film to date, though I found it too visceral and difficult to watch in some scenes (I'll leave you with the words "wrestling match," "staple gun" and "barbed wire"--you can fill in the blanks). Mickey Rourke, virtually unrecognizable (and virtually indistinguishable in real life from his character Randy "the Ram" Robinson), gives a brilliant turn in a film that shoulda-coulda-woulda won him the Oscar this year.

And finally, we'll close this chapter with last night's viewing of Rachel Getting Married. Jordan apparently forgot to put on his big boy pants for this one, as he deemed it "boring" and, you guessed it, "too much talking," but I was mesmerized by Anne Hathaway's portrayal of a drug-addicted nightmare of a wedding guest fresh out of rehab to ruin her sister's big day. An Oscar nomination well deserved for a performance that is richly-layered and subtly nuanced throughout.