Sports: Golden State Warriors

The Warriors finally look like a good team this season, but I fear I'll be jinxing them just by posting this. I say this because the last time I was excited about the Warriors was November 1994. I was with my manager in Beijing, China to teach a class. Managed to find an English paper with NBA standings (though delayed by a day or so) and saw the team had started the season undefeated with five straight wins. I bragged to my manager that this was the year. He just snickered at me, mumbled, "Uhh-huhhhh." Then flashed a knowing smile that only a middle-aged ex-surfer dude with several more years of experience and wisdom could get away with.

Sure enough I get home, and it's like the bubble burst. 10 game losing streak, injuries, a divided team, and eventually a fired coach.

So if the team starts losing from here on out, you can blame me. I still have a little bit of doubt. Who would ever dreamed of a day when the Warriors and Clippers would be tied for the lead in their division (with the Lakers down near the bottom)? While I opted to watch "Lost" instead of the game tonight, that may change in the near future. [I really didn't need yet another excuse to stay home in front of the TV set instead of working out at the gym, but I'll take it.]

TV: The Amazing Race

I think the most amazing thing about "The Amazing Race" is that everyone involved (and potential witnesses to the filming) can keep the winner a secret despite the fact that the whole race is probably over before the first show is edited and aired.

I started watching the show in it's second iteration when it was a lead in to "CSI". And I've been hooked ever since despite my general distaste for what's been called reality television. What earns the show an exception is that it appeals to my interest in travel with great cinematography and manages to keep things moving with some wonderful editing to make some endings seem closer than they probably were.

I have no idea how people could prefer other reality shows watching people spend most of their time sitting on a beach and plotting against each other or worse just sitting around a house plotting against each other is beyond me. In "The Amazing Race", the relationship conflicts and humorous moments just add icing to the cake. The scheming is pretty minimal (Yields, Fast Forwards, withholding flight info, etc.) and usually ineffective. Only Boston Rob and Amber have managed to strategize successfully when they convinced a few other teams to take a four-hour time penalty at a challenge that required one member of each team to consume four pounds of overcooked random cow parts. This guaranteed that they would not finish last when Rob decided he could not eat the food.

Unfortunately, with the this "Family Edition" of the race, much of what I like is missing. They've mostly remained in America (admittedly some places have been added to my "To Visit" list, but I'll take a pass at the rest). The conflicts have not been very interesting, though I hope families learned lessons from watching how the Gaghans supported and encouraged each other. As for humor, the Weavers just come across as weird, the Linzes are sophomoric, and the Paolos looked like a Court TV case waiting to happen. And how much more of a bummer could it be for a team (the Rogers) to be eliminated on their home turf and then lose their house to Hurricane Katrina a few weeks later? [Though I know several people would have offered Brittney a place to stay] Production problems where a camera drained a car battery and put a team into last place has occurred twice! I think only the first season (which I've missed) had more technical issues.

That said, I'm looking forward to next week's finale, and cannot even guess at who the favorite will be. Word is the show will revert to having teams of two next time around. That race may have already finished by now (applications for Season 9 required passports be valid until September 2006), and hopefully they will have traveled to interesting international destinations again.

TV: Prison Break

"Prison Break" is one of the best television series of the 2005 - 2006 season.

When I first heard that the premise would be about a man who intentionally gets himself sent into jail just to break his brother out, I didn't think the show would survive a full season. It's one thing for a series like "24" to show what it takes to thwart a terrorist plot, but how much action could go on in a prison and how do you stretch that over 20+ episodes? I imagined it might steal a bit from The Shawshank Redemption where the main character manipulates everyone while perhaps digging a tunnel a few inches longer each week.

[And if that tiny revelation has somehow spoiled the movie for you, I apologize. but how do you miss a movie that's been shown on TNT about a trillion times?].

The show's trailer was repeated sufficiently enough over the summer to brain-wash me into giving the show a chance. I was pleasantly rewarded. The creators apparently did their homework and constructed an intricate plotline with many unexpected twists and tricks literally hidden up one's sleeve (or even inside the arm as the case may be). The writers mixed the gritty prison tension of "Oz", a lighter version of government conspiracy from "The X-Files", the urgency of "24", and a healthy dose of humor to form one riveting hour of TV each week.

Now I'm worried that the show is so good, that Fox will inevitably ruin it, cancel it, or both. Yes, their track record is pretty bad. I can only hope that popularity will not be harmed by the decision to put the show on yet another hiatus. It was initially interrupted for 3 weeks by the baseball playoffs and now until May [due to "24" and "American Idol"?].

** POTENTIAL SPOILERS [for those who haven't watched this yet] **

Other pluses:
Some nice cinametography. Scene of Veronica in a public square with a potential witness while faces appeared on giant screens around them was pretty cool.

I cannot complain about a quality show that gives me the opportunity to see Robin Tunney and Sarah Wayne Callies with guest appearances by Holly Valance and Jessalyn Gilsig.

Robert Knepper plays one creepy dude, almost too well.


Minuses [that keep it from being the best show this year]:
Some plot points still require much suspension of disbelief. Latest example is leaving Lincoln unguarded in the infirmary so soon after he had attacked a guard and with little left to lose with an execution just hours away. How the bad guys could eavesdrop on a cell phone conversation but completely ignore text messaging when a teenager is involved is beyond me.

Sometimes plots rely too much on sheer luck. But I guess the writers are trying to establish hope and faith as recurring themes.

TMI: New Year's Resolutions

One of my New Year's 2006 resolutions, was to start a Blog.

"But isn't it still November?" you ask.
Yes, it is. But another resolution I have is to get a jump start on these things as much as possible.

Why?

These days, things are changing faster than ever, and you have to run ahead just to keep up. If stores can start putting up window displays for Christmas before Halloween, I can get my Christmas shopping done in September and avoid that Friday after Thanksgiving crowd. The most practical Christmas presents I can get for the nieces and nephews are back-to-school supplies. And they can open and use those gifts right away rather than wait until late December to use that stuff.

On March 1, I can tell people their shoes are untied and actually fool them.

In April, I can take my mother out to dinner for Mother's Day and have no problems getting a reservation at a decent restaurant.

October 31: Celebrate New Year's in Times Square and not freeze my *?#! off.

Even the US government is getting into the act by starting Daylight Saving Time a few weeks earlier starting in 2007.

Best thing about this is if I break my resolutions in the next few weeks, I can take a mulligan and start over on Jan 1. Or I can consider this pre-season for resolutions. :-)