A misremembering

Watched most of Lawrence of Arabia again today, which has one of my favorite pieces of dialogue from any film. It goes like this:

"We can't just do nothing!"
"Why not? It's usually best."

The curious thing is that I had remembered that second bit as a line said by Alec Guiness's character. He plays an Arab king, so I took it as a little bit of Arabic wisdom, although I don't suppose the screenplay was written by an Arab.

However, I misremembered this. It isn't Guiness who says it. Rather it's said by a British General, who suggests doing nothing in response to a statement by one of his lower officers.

The different speaker gives phrase a different sense, I think. The British are hardly doing nothing in 'Arabia'
during the time period of the film. Yet in the instance in question, which is whether they should do something to help Lawrence out in his dealings with the Arabs, the General is for not helping - that is, doing nothing.

Thoughts on The Good Shepard

Just saw The Good Shepard, Robert De Niro's directoral debut. All the parts of the film are good, if not excellent, but somehow it doesn't really come together. So, it's a good film but not great.

First off it goes against expectation, as one has the impression that it will be more of an action film than it is. If you're looking for a punch 'em up, blow 'em up flick, you should just go see Casino Royale again.

Matt Damon gets recruited into US army intelligence and then what develops into the CIA. Nasty things happen, but all in a covert sort of way, as befits CIA activity.

Much of what the movie portrays is the high personal cost Damon's character pays for his occupation. Estranged from a woman he married but wasn't in love with, as well as their son, unable to trust anyone, as that's the only good, or true piece of advice that his 'superiors' offer him: "trust no one."

In a nice cameo role, Joe Pesci as an old mafia boss tells Damon's character that he, as an Italian has family and the church, the Irish have their homeland, the Jews tradition, even the blacks their music, what has Damon - an American WASP - got?

Damon's response is "the United States. The rest of you are just visiting."

It's a good question, and I don't know if Damon's response is consistent with the rest of the film as it seems the USA is happy to throw him over if circumstances warrent.

But I do know I don't have a good answer for that question.

Robs and their hats

What is up with guys named Rob and their hats? I was in a bar this week, where me and my friends Jen and Stephanie met up with some other folks, including a guy named Rob, who was wearing a hat.

Alcohol was consumed, as we were in a bar, and at one point Stephanie got it into her head that she wanted to try on Rob's hat. So, she does, removing it from his head unannounced.

He practically freaks out! It's not like he was bald underneath, or looked to be having a bad hair day. And he didn't really seem the type to be freaking out about such things. He was a frat boy, so perhaps somewhat prone to freaking out, but he also studied and liked stoic philosophy so you'd think he could be a little more rational about such things as someone borrowing your hat for a few minutes.

But it got me to thinking that there was a Rob I knew in Paris who was sensitive about his hat, as I found when I touched it one night. That Rob did seem to thinning on top, so maybe that was some of it.

And my cousin Rob used to wear a cap 24/7, or so it seemed. Don't know if he wore one in bed. He also didn't seemed to be thinning on top, so I'm not sure of the reason for his hat behavior.

But he has stopped wearing hats quite so much. So, perhaps there's hope for all the other Robs out there.

I mean, it's just a hat, man.

Give it up for Jeff Garcia!

Congratulations to Jeff Garcia for leading the Philadelphia Eagles to an 8-6 record and a chance to win their division. No one would have thought that they'd be in this spot after Donovan McNabb went down with an injury.

However, Garcia, who lost the starting job in Detroit, and had to settle for a back-up position in Philadelphia this year, had performed great in the four games since becoming their starter.

I think he's thrown 9 TDs and only one interception, which came late in yesterday's victory over the NY football Giants.

Always like to see those former CFL players do well down in NFL.

First cards

I have received my first Christmas cards of the season, but I want to go on record that I sent cards prior to receiving any.

Yes, I put the cards in the post on Sunday, and received my first card on Monday, but still I was ahead of the game! First time ever I think.

I'm ahead, because I won't be sending out cards for a few days as I'm going to Arizona tomorrow for 9 days. Going to the Grand Canyon, staying at in a 'Heritage cabin' at Bright Angel Lodge and for a couple of nights, and then driving back down to Tempe to see the World Junior Racquetball Championships that begin with the opening ceremonies Friday and wrap up the following Thursday.

I may also take in a Coyotes game or a Suns game, who are playing the Raptors next week. Could be fun.

Congratulations Cindy!

Cindy Klassen, pride of Winnipeg, won the Lou Marsh Award as the Canadian Athlete of the Year today. Klassen, for those living under a rock last spring, won 5 medals at the Turin Olympic Games, the most ever at one games by a Canadian. Those 5 plus the 1 she won in Salt Lake City are the most medals won by any Canadian.

And Klassen's still young enough to be a major competitor in Vancouver in 2010, so she'll likely add to her lifetime total.

The Sports Reporters on TSN were talking about who would be chosen yesterday. The consensus was that Klassen would likely win, but that Steve Nash was who they would likely have voted for.

They favoured Nash, because his sports achievement - winning a 2nd NBA MVP award - was even more unlikely for a Canadian than winning a pile of Olympic medals. It was also suggested that competition for the NBA MVP is stiffer, and maybe loaded against someone who'd won the year before, than for speed skating, so the competitive situation of Nash's is greater.

A non-politically correct thing that they didn't mention but is consistent with the competition pool argument is that more men play sports, whatever sport it is, than women, so the men who rise to the top have climbed over more guys than gals the top women have climbed over. I'm not too hip on this line of argument.

A more interesing point the Sports Reps. made was that Nash and some other possible Lou Marsh winners, like Justin Moreau, the AL baseball MVP, and Joe Thornton, the NHL MVP, were under consideration because people voted for them as league MVPs, which is an indirect result of their acheivements, while Klassen's acheivements are the direct reason she was considered.

If Kobe won the NBA MVP (Q: what's the official name of the NBA MVP trophy?) or Derek Jeter won the AL MVP, then Nash and Moreau, respectively, are not big contenders for the LM award. And that could have happened even with the Canadians having the same stats as they did.

Of course, Klassen, Nash, et al. don't compete to win the Lou Marsh Award, or MVP awards, or anything like that. They play to win. In the case of Klassen, that's reflected in medals. Team sports players wins are reflected in championships, which sadly none of those MVPs won this year.

But you know they would trade their MVPs for a Championship, as I'm sure Klassen would trade the Lou Marsh for a gold medal.

Happily, she needn't make that choice.

Quote of the Day

Changing your mind is the surest proof that you have one.

- Roger Scruton, English philosopher/writer interviewed on CBC's The Sunday Edition.

Rube Goldberg was a real person

Planned actions of ordinarily unrelated objects are known as Rube Goldberg devices. I didn't think of Rube Goldberg as a real person, but he did exist. I found that out at The Library of Congress last month, which had an exhibit on cartoonists including some work by Rube Goldberg, who was an editorial cartoonist in the early 20th century.