The Sporting Life

LSU fans, get ready

It appears there's a chance that Auburn fans will take a road trip in 2009 worse than the one they brave every other year in Baton Rouge. So you'd better start gathering your tallest urine cups and thickest whiskey bottles now if you're going to retain your title as least-hospitable fans in the eyes of your Tiger brethren four years from now.  (Hat tip: EDSBS.)

The Truman show: Judging by the reviews listed on moviefone.com, Capote is certainly worth enduring the 25 minutes of commercials and 20 minutes of previews that precede films at theaters these days. KCRW's The Treatment has an interview with Philip Seymour Hoffman.

About a reluctant boy: I've yet to read Nick Hornby's latest, as I waited to find it used (which I did last weekend). If you enjoy his work, then you may be unaware (as I was) that a short story of his was a part of an episode of This American Life in August. "Small Fish, Smaller Pond" begins shortly after the 32-minute mark.

Peaches and Sugar: The Georgia Dome will play host to not only the Peach Bowl but also the Sugar Bowl, according to the AJC's Tony Barnhart. What a relief for you Bama fans that you'll be in Pasadena and not making two boring trips to Atlanta, huh?

Finger-lickin' good: If you were graduated from Auburn, Alabama, Georgia or Florida State and now live in the Atlanta metro area, you'll welcome this news: Guthrie's of Dunwoody is expected to open later this month.

Is nothing sacred? I'm a nerd when it comes to advertising, but even I object to the use of Babe Ruth imagery to pitch Bud Light.

Here and there

Random comments on life and links found online

• "Business casual" is interpreted so liberally by my fellow employees that I've begun taking bets on when someone will show up in only a thong. I've seen people arrive at work in pajama bottoms and house slippers. My former boss swears to me that a punk woman once showed up wearing jeans with "F**k" written on her right knee and "You" written on the other in ballpoint ink. It was only a coincidence that the CEO's quarterly meeting was the same day. So it's rare for attire to surprise me any longer. But this morning I entered the building at the same time as a guy wearing low-riding jeans and a sleeveless, fitted T-shirt. Maybe he drove here directly from Jungle.
• Nice try, Georgia: Bulldogs develop fiendish plot in hopes of putting Boise State on probation. In future news ... Gamecocks face bowl ban, scholarship limitations after NCAA discovers kidney donor to father of South Carolina football player is Clemson alum.
• You chop off your hair and take a Greyhound across the country to bail on your wedding. A nationwide manhunt ensues. When you finally call home, you claim you were kidnapped by minorities. Your punishment for lying to police includes mowing grass — and news outlets both national and local consider it so important they cover it with not only a story but also photos. What's the old phrase? "They will take us over without firing a single shot"? Sounds about right.
• New Indymedia reality series "Scripting the Dictator" continues.
• Tired of Terrell? Palmeiro played out? Frank Deford reminds us of one of pro sports' most likable legends.
• Guantanamo interrogators put up their "Dukes." Apparently "Not Another Teen Movie" and "View from the Top" weren't working. Kenneth Turan goes a little easier on it, simply calling it a "cosmic void where a movie's supposed to be."
• Pfffft. Typical Auburn. Trying to pad its always-easy schedule with another I-AA creampuff.
• "Uh, well ... Bush is Hitler! No blood for oil! Yeah."
• You got a book published. You picked up a gig as a columnist. Now you're the lead character in an upcoming movie. You lucky bastard.
• Donald Trump is to Amarosa as Morgan Spurlock is to _______.
• I have to admit I, too, feel as if I'm loading an 8-track whenever I have to fax something.

Willie, wailin' and 'the boys'

Whiskey River, take my mind.

Because, if Willie Nelson is going to portray Uncle Jesse in the motion-picture version of The Dukes of Hazzard, I'm going to need enough booze to wipe away all knowledge of it.

In general, I'm not exactly a supporter of making movies out of old TV shows, and this one is no exception. Is creativity in such short supply in Hollywood these days that I should expect to see The Red Hand Gang, Sara and Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch on a screen near me sometime soon?

And speaking of desperate — Willie, c'mon. I thought the financial troubles were over. But maybe I'm taking this all too seriously and you're just trying to have a good time in your twilight years. Or maybe Johnny Knoxville is set to supply the cast and crew with premium-grade pot.

(Hat tip: davedorm.)

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Lutherans on the halfpipe
My brother will be beside himself when I share this news with him: Davy and Goliath will return to TV on Dec. 19 in their first new cartoon in 30 years.

I think that show is why "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" is as catchy and hummable to my brother as any Beatles, Carpenters or Simon and Garfunkel song.

(Hat tip: Holy Weblog.)

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Only in the South

The little white blobs on the ledge outside my window in this cameraphone photo resulted from a storm that came through today. Yep, it's hail. On Dec. 10.

And plenty of lightning and thunder, just like an afternoon storm that rolls through in July or August, accompanied it. Tomorrow's high is expected to be in the mid-40s (F), though today it was probably in the mid-60s.

Birds of a feather

Dan’s humorous and thought-provoking rant about how The Day After Tomorrow could detract from the real arguments for protecting the environment reminded me of an article I read earlier today.

So moveon.org intends to use a film inspired by the work of conspiracy theorist Art Bell to further promote its Bush-is-worse-than-Pol-Pot-or-Idi-Amin campaign. Sounds about right.

Lenin and things

When the Berlin Wall fell and Germany became whole again, one of my dad's friends through work, an East German general, found himself without a job.

So, along with some of his co-workers, my dad started exploring options in Huntsville (Ala.) for employment for his friend. They were successful.

This brilliant man formerly behind the Iron Curtain relocated to the United States with his wife. During the past five or six years, the two of them have become part of our extended family, joining us for most holidays.

I can't wait to talk with them about the film I saw on Sunday, Good Bye Lenin!, which is my favorite of the year to this point. The story tracks a son's struggle to protect his fragile mother, a devoted Socialist, from the news that, while she was in a coma, Germany reunified and the political ideology she held so dearly had been placed out on the curb.

If subtitles don't hinder your moviegoing experience, then I strongly recommend this award-winning motion picture.

Shocking news

Michael Moore? A PR stunt? NO WAY. I'm blown away.

Setting the record straight

To the editor, Details:

I wanted to make certain all of Ethan Hawke’s statements from his interview are correct, since he said 98 percent of the things reported about his break-up with Uma Thurman aren’t true.

  · Ben Affleck’s drive for success has been fueled by a desire to become “a goddamn movie star,” but Bill Clinton’s drive for success was fueled by “a desire to do good.” I’m assuming both of these men verified these statements for Hawke.

  · Bill Clinton’s infidelity and alleged sexual addiction were irrelevant to his presidency, but George Bush’s alleged drug addiction is relevant to his.

  · Infidelity doesn’t have anything to do with the end of Hawke and Thurman’s relationship, but “you’re much more likely to find great leadership coming from a man who likes to have sex with a lot of women than one who’s monogamous.”

I didn’t want to see the press putting words in Hawke’s mouth again. Thanks.

Misc.

I didn’t see Heatley’s return to the ice in person last night because my friend Fred and his daughter had the tickets. (My friend Bruce and I split a full season with them.) I did watch the game on TV, though, in between phone calls, feeble attempts to write and a couple of chapters of Make Your Words Work. The guys seemed much more aggressive and energetic, which was certainly good to see since we’re seven points behind Tampa Bay and near the start of a February with more road games than any of us want to ponder for too long.

For tomorrow night’s game vs. the Leafs, my parents are driving over, and the three of us might travel to Auburn on Saturday for the basketball game vs. Mississippi State. With how much time on the road that would mean for them, they might opt for only the trip here, especially since they have responsibilities with a big Super Bowl party at church on Sunday.

The first 4,000 fans tomorrow night get Thrashers ski caps, so I’m planning to take a book and get in line. If the quality is comparable to the T-shirts the first 10,000 fans received at last week’s Avs game, then it will be worth the extra effort. Whether it will fit my huge head remains to be seen.

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None of my three favorite films of ’03, In America, Cold Mountain and Lawless Heart, are among the nominees for Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards, but they weren’t shut out of every category.

  · In America: Writing (Original Screenplay); Djimon Hounsou (Actor in a Supporting Role); Samantha Morton (Actress in a Leading Role).

  · Cold Mountain: Cinematography; Film Editing; Music (Score); “Scarlet Tide” Music (Song); “You Will Be My Ain True Love” Music (Song); Jude Law (Actor in a Leading Role); Renee Zellweger (Actress in a Supporting Role)

I suspect my fourth and fifth (Lost in Translation and Something’s Gotta Give) will win more than In America and Cold Mountain combined.

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I’m returning the Nikon Coolpix 3100 digital camera I bought after Christmas because I want more control over the shutter speed and aperture. When some friends of mine and I went to a Japanese-style karaoke parlor last weekend, the mood lighting should’ve been sufficient for a clear photo. For the 3100, however, it wasn’t even close. With how long the shutter stayed open, we might as well have been in a cave.

Based on the reviews at c|net and the images I’ve seen at towleroad.com, I’m leaning toward some type of Canon.

(Since I know a couple of people who read this are wondering, yes, I sang. As a matter of fact, I kicked things off with my rendition of how Clint Black might cover Sixpence None the Richer’s “Kiss Me.” But I couldn’t hold a candle to Byron and Denise’s “Islands in the Stream” by Kenny and Dolly or Denise’s “Genie in a Bottle” by Christina Aguilera.)

Go, tell it on the mountain

Tonight I am at my parents’ computer, in the house in which I was raised in northeastern Alabama. My brother and sister-in-law are here, as well as my nephew and niece. Earlier, one of my aunts and three of my cousins from my dad’s side of the family joined us to share a meal and catch up on what’s new in our lives since we last similarly gathered.

Throw in my mom’s skittish dog, my niece’s rambunctious kitten, my nephew’s battery-powered, remote-controlled miniature Jeep Wrangler and more sweet tea, ham, three casseroles and rolls than you can imagine and you’ll get an idea of the atmosphere of the last few hours. Somewhere between festive and downright rowdy would be accurate.

But now the house is silent, and I’m the only one still awake. All I can think about is Cold Mountain.

In less than 48 hours, people across the country will choose to make the film part of their Christmas celebration. In doing so, they will hear the almost otherworldly singing of Liberty, the church my maternal grandparents were raised in, only a few miles away.

And I absolutely can’t get my mind around it. The thought overwhelms me.

For most of my childhood and adolescent years, I went one Sunday each spring to Liberty for Decoration Day. Oddly enough, I can’t ever remember venturing inside the church during that span because, frankly, the singing shook me.

Full-throttle and almost chantlike in its rhythm, the music, I was sure, had to be some sort of charismatic tradition, not unlike the snake-handling found elsewhere on the mountain. I received enough Baptist guilt and hellfire and brimstone from plenty of other sources, thank you, and I didn't intend to add one more. So I chose to stay outside and eat dinner on the grounds from plastic plates and Styrofoam cups, playing tag with other kids dragged to the annual event in my younger years and, as a teen-ager, talking with cousins about who was dating who and what team won which ballgame.

It wasn’t until I graduated from college, when it seems most people start appreciating their heritage and realizing their parents and grandparents aren’t clueless as they once thought, that I slipped in the front door of the church and realized no screaming minister accompanied the swirling, hypnotic sounds that these people produced from their collective windpipes. For the first time, I witnessed, in awe, the singing I had shied away from for so long.

Since that initial encounter, I’ve been intrigued by it. That’s why, when I learned the recording from summer 2002 made the cut for the film, I spent much of the last three days interviewing people whose voices, including one man to whom my grandfather’s name was given for his middle name, are on the soundtrack.

I was unsuccessful in locating a newspaper interested in picking up the story for Dec. 25, but I did make a decision. On Jan. 4, when a teacher will instruct newcomers and novices on how to read the shaped notes at Liberty, I will be among them.

Frankie and Johnny

I wouldn’t recommend it to everybody, but I saw on Saturday what probably will be my favorite when the Oscars air in a few months.

Lawless Heart is perhaps the film I liked the most this year, but, among the pictures that will probably be true Oscar contenders, In America would get my vote.

It’s sad but hopeful, bleak yet beautiful. I don’t want to ruin the film for anyone who plans to see it, so I’ll say only that it’s the story of an Irish family that moves to Manhattan to start life anew.

I left the theater thinking again about a couple of different truisms. For one, material possessions play such a small part in the truly passionate portions of life. No matter how much money you have, you choose whether you live life or simply float along with it.

Also, there’s a lot you can learn — and life can be enormously enhanced — by leaving yourself open to getting to know people from all sorts of demographics outside your own. That’s tough for me to remember sometimes when I meet someone with an abrasive personality or with whom I share what seems no common ground.

If you don’t mind movies that lead viewers along rougher patches of life's highway and maybe even make you well up, then I’d recommend this emotional work.