Golazo! and Godzilla! (or what might as well be a scene from one of his movies)

The Kid has done it again. Freddy Adu (left) may not be the most prolific goal scorer in MLS (or even on his own team), but when he scores, he does it right. This is hands-down the best individual goal I’ve seen in MLS play since Clint Mathis dribbled 75 yards through five defenders back in 2000. Watch the move Freddy makes to free himself at the beginning of the sequence. You don’t teach that, folks.

So apparently it’s common knowledge among Washington Post staffers that the Everglades has a python problem, but it came as news to me. Check out the results when a Burmese python and an alligator duke it out for swamp supremacy. Thanks to Todd for the link.

The Washingtonian

Spent the weekend across the river from DC at my cousin Brian's wedding and visiting my friends Matt and Katie and their 10 month old son, Conor. It made me a little homesick to be back in the DC area. It really is beautiful at this time of year. Warm, but without the summer humidity. Great walking weather, and rather nice for a wedding as well, especially since the reception was held at a library along the banks of the Potomac.

But enough about all that. On to more important things. Like the fact that I got to watch my first NFL game in hi-def this weekend (and even better, the Redskins managed to pull their usual late-game choke but still won the game in OT). After just a few hours of HDTV, I've decided I gots to get me one of those things. You could see every blade of grass on the field, and the color was so real, I might as well have been sitting in FedEx Field. Fantastic.

Ticketmaster sucks

So I went to the Ticketmaster website tonight to get tickets for Jem’s latest attempt to play Indy on November 1st. (I’m hoping the third time’s a charm and she manages to perform her show instead of cancelling.) Anyway, I started pricing it out, and once Ticketmaster adds in all their fees and service charges, two $12 tickets end up costing $35. Now I’m no math whiz, but it seems to me I would basically be paying the price of a third ticket just to buy the tickets online instead of driving to the venue where there’s no service charges. Well, thanks for the "convenience" Ticketmaster, but you can bite me. Gas prices may be bad and it may be 20 minutes out of my way, but I think I’d still prefer ponying up for the drive to getting raped.

A History of Violence

Well, I didn’t love it. I didn’t hate it either. I’m still trying to decide exactly what I felt overall, but my first impressions were: it was a little predictable, none of the actors blew me away (except maybe Ed Harris), and Howard Shore’s score was very disappointing. Certainly didn’t seem worthy of a standing O at Cannes, but hey, the French are the French. I definitely didn’t hate it as much as the people one row behind, who called it “the dumbest f---ing movie ever.” In fact, I didn’t feel strongly about it either way, and I think that’s what bothers me. Sure, it was a more interesting way to spend an evening than sitting around my apartment, but I feel no compulsion to see this film again. I was really hoping for a lot more.

On movie etiquette: here’s a couple of tips for when you head to the theater. Do not, I repeat, do not bring a four-year-old to an R-rated movie, even one that starts at 7:30 pm, and expect them to sit quietly. Setting aside the fact that you’re an incredibly irresponsible parent for exposing them to some very graphic violence, you can’t get upset when they ask questions like, “Why is he hurting her, Mommy?” during a sex scene. You’re not allowed get upset, but the people sitting around you sure are.

And for the love of God, if you have a persistent cough that produces enough phlegm to fill a large cup, don’t come to the movie theater and ruin the experience for everyone else. Take a night off. Cough up your lung in the privacy of your own home, take some Nyquil, and wait a few days until you’re better to go see the movie. It’ll still be there next weekend.

More music

Ahh, the library. So much free music, so little hard drive space... Made a run through the CD section on Saturday, and I was apparently in the mood for some completely different sounds, because everything I checked out ended up being either rap or jazz. Still processing a lot of it, but it made for a nice change of musical pace this weekend. Here’s what I picked up:

Atmosphere, Headshots: Seven
Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Both Sides of the Brain
Blackalicious, Nia
Lyrics Born, Same !@#$, Different Day
Latryx, The Album
Thelonious Monk, Thelonious Himself
Charles Mingus, Ken Burns Jazz
Charles Mingus, Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus (remastered)
John Scofield, Works for Me

Got passes today to a preview of Viggo Mortenson’s new flick, A History of Violence, tomorrow night. I’ll have a review later in the week. I’ve got high expectations for this one. The preview looks great, and it was very well-received at Cannes.

Desert island discs

So between all the Lost buzz and the news that someone may have discovered Atlantis, I’ve had islands on the brain this week. Being slightly music-obsessed, that got me to thinking about the age-old question, “If you could only have five albums with you on a desert island, what would you take?” Well, three of these are no-brainers for me. The other two I had to think about a little more, but not too much. Despite the fact that I’m nearing 15,000 songs in my iTunes collection (which roughly translates to 1,500 albums), I can still pretty easily pick my five most-precious discs. As a side note, it’s weird how my thinking has changed over the past two years. For a long time, I measured my music collection by how many CDs I owned. But since I’ve gone almost completely digital, now I measure in songs and gigabytes. Anyway, here’s my list:

Riverside, One
Four guys from small-town Pennsylvania get together and create the best album of British shoe-gazing mope rock that I’ve ever heard. This is, quite simply, the most beautiful rock album I own, and every time I listen to it, it puts me in a good mood. Every song follows pretty much the same pattern: textured vocals and chiming guitars, sometime with underlying strings. The tempo may change from song to song, but the quality doesn’t. This is an easy choice as my all-time favorite. Sadly, Riverside broke up in the early 90’s before making a follow-up. I’ve heard they reunited recently and may have finally recorded that next disc, but I’m afraid to listen to it. I don’t want to taint the purity of One.

The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Time Out!
Outside of the Sesame Street Christmas Album, this is the first strong music memory I have. My dad had this record, and I remember being absolutely haunted by the opening strains of “Take Five” every time Dad would spin the disc. To this day, the opening bars with the cymbal and brushed snare give me chills, especially when the bouncy piano line comes in. Dave Brubeck made this album to experiment with different time signatures, and as I’ve gotten older, I've come to appreciate it on that level (and many others). But there’s something in these songs that just hits me in exactly the right spot, and I can’t imagine never being able to hear it again, so it’s an obvious desert island choice. Someday, when I get around to writing my will, I’m going to ask that “Take Five’ is played at my funeral. After the bagpiper’s done playing “Amazing Grace,’ that is.

The Beatles, Revolver
It’s impossible to imagine being stranded without the Fab Four. The only way to improve this selection is if I could make it a double album by adding Rubber Soul. Fantastic songs straight through, with lots of different moods. “Taxman.” “Eleanor Rigby.” “Yellow Submarine.” “Good Day Sunshine.” Just the thing for when “I’m Only Sleeping” the day away on a deserted beach.

John Williams and the London Symphony Orchestra, Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace Soundtrack
Sometimes when I go for a long run, I load my iPod Shuffle with nothing but this album, because I know I’m guaranteed at least 6 or 7 adrenaline rushes during the course of my run. Far and away the best part of this movie, this soundtrack is the pinnacle of John Williams’ work for me. He takes 20-year-old themes that are some of the best-known pieces of music in the world and manages to make them sound fresh and new. The introduction of choral passages makes for some pretty powerful music, but the ultimate geek moment for me is the self-referential introduction of a few bars of “The Imperial March” at the end of “Anakin’s Theme,” an ominous musical hint of what’s to come at the end of a light and airy piece of music. Every time I listen, I hear something new. And that, to me, is the mark of a masterpiece.

Fountains of Wayne, Utopia Parkway
And we’ll close with some power pop. I suppose I would say FoW are my favorite band, and this album has it all: upbeat rockers, power ballads, love, loss, and snarky, self-deprecating lyrics. But best of all, it's a concept album about growing up in New Jersey. Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger lyrically create a perfect snapshot of summers during high school. It’s impossible for me to hear “It Must Be Summer” or “Prom Theme” and not instantly be taken back to my last days of freedom before heading off to college. And if I’m going to be stuck in a moment of my life on a desert island, there are worse times I could think of.

What came very close to making the list:
AC/DC, Back in Black.
Guns N’ Roses, Appetite for Destruction.
The Connells, Ring.

A two-goal lead is the most dangerous score in soccer.

Don't ask me why, but this has been the prevailing wisdom among coaches since before I started playing futbol all the way back in 1978. Apparently, teams tend to mentally relax and give up soft goals, and it happens often enough that the idea keeps kicking around (yes, pun intended). DC United did a good job of proving this nugget of wisdom this evening in the second game of their home-and-home series against Universidad Católica in the Copa Sudamericana, South America's club tournament. United is the first MLS team ever to participate (but not the first North American team; Mexican League teams have been involved before). United and Catolica tied 1-1 in the first match in DC, and because these series are decided by aggregate scoring, a win tonight would have put DC through to the next round. If they tied, the score needed to be at least 1-1, because goals scored away from home are the first tiebreaker. After 20 minutes of rather shaky soccer, United got off to a dream start, with Christian Gomez (above) scoring two quick goals to give them what seemed to be a comfortable margin. But Catolica pulled one goal back before halftime, and DC spent the entire 2nd half fighting against an erratic referee, hard fouls, injuries, cramps, and a general lack of defensive shape before finally surrendering two late goals that ended their run in the tournament. I'm not making excuses for them, because they deserved to lose this game. The players are probably relieved, because these matches happen to fall right during the MLS playoff push, so the timing couldn't have been much worse. But no matter what the situation, watching the Black and Red give up a lead like that is always painful, especially in a game where they had something to prove.

I bought some new music from the iTunes store tonight, and in both cases donated to charity at the same time. All the proceeds from Coldplay's Fix You EP are being donated to Hurricane Katrina relief funds, and Help: A Day in the Life supports the War Child charity, which works towards improving conditions for children in war-ravaged countries. It's great collections of songs from some of my favorite British artists. Radiohead, Coldplay, Keane, Elbow, Bloc Party, and the Magic Numbers are just a few of the contributors.

Getting Lost again

Damn, that's good television. Clearly, the writers of Lost heard the viewers clamoring for answers, because tonight's season premiere tackled a big one. But by finally showing us what's inside the hatch, they managed to give us several new mysteries and simultaneously set up up the path that Season Two will travel. And that is why this show is genius.

I haven't been much of a TV watcher for the past few years, but after a few years of reality-crap overload, this season seems to be full of interesting (and fully-scripted) programming. Mondays are shaping up to be a busy viewing night. I'm already addicted to Arrested Development, and both Kitchen Confidential and How I Met Your Mother showed some promise. Tuesdays have My Name Is Earl, and most likely Scrubs when it returns mid-season. Lost rules Wednesday, and after taking most of last season off, on Thursday nights I'm going to give Smallville a try again this year, since I hear Clark finally begins to embrace his powers and act like Superman. I'm beginning to appreciate my DVR more and more, since I can set it to record every episode of these shows and watch them on my schedule (damn, could I sound any more like a frickin' commercial?), even if I suddenly decide to have a life and leave the apartment once in a while.

Financial security

Very interesting article from Money magazine about the financial struggles of an MLS player, in this case Real Salt Lake's Andy Williams. Talk about being up, down, and all over the map. In most cases, players don't move around the way Williams has, but it's interesting to see the other side of collective bargaining agreements and incentive-based contracts. Link from Grant Wahl at si.com.

Caught the premiere of My Name is Earl tonight. Interesting idea. My initial thought is that the show is trying a little too hard, and it needs some time to catch its stride, but it's got promise. Jason Lee is the man. And tomorrow night, new Lost. Clear the decks! I am not accepting phone calls.

Dammit, Jim! He's a ham, not an actor!

Let me begin by saying that despite my all my nerdly glory, I am not now, nor have I ever been, a Star Trek fan. Sure, I appreciated Wrath of Khan, and I admit to having watched a season’s worth of Next Generation episodes. I can even throw out the occasional pop culture reference when I need a subject line (although I should credit my friend Tony for this one). But mostly, I find the show and all its consecutive movies and spinoffs to be overwrought and campy.

That said, there’s something about William Shatner that I find to be completely awesome. Overwrought and campy describes him perfectly, but in him, I don’t find it offensive. Instead, I find it endearing, mainly because he has such a great sense of humor about himself. He knows better than anyone that he’s coasting on the strength of an almost 40-year-old series, and he embraces his past with open arms. So when I read the list of Emmy winners this morning and saw that Bill had won a Best Supporting Actor statue for his work on Boston Legal, I couldn't help but feel a little bit of satisfaction for the man. Somewhere out there, Trekkies are firing off their phasers in celebratory fashion. Hopefully, they’ve got them set to stun.