Believability Factor

"And it just makes me wonder
Why so many lose, so few win
So give me something to believe in"
--Something to Believe In, Poison

Made the small mistake of seeing "The Day After Tomorrow" tonight, and while it entertained for the most part, the sheer number of implausible occurrences--large and small--was staggering. It's a lot just to accept the premise that the world is going to freeze over in a matter of hours, so we're doing them a favor just by going that far. Unfortunately, the movie's creators can't stop there. They inundate us with ridiculousness, matched only by the cheese factor that permeates the heartfelt story angles (and believe me, there are plenty). The absolute worst exchange in the whole film--anyone who has seen it can attest to this--comes between two so-called rivals (from the academic decathlon, mind you) that are competing for the attention of a girl. I don't want to ruin the comedy of the moment for anyone who hasn't seen it, but I really laughed out loud at how bad it was.
On the subject of movies, Shrek 2 was brilliant (probably should have just seen it again tonight instead), maybe even better than the first, and full of great characters. Eddie Murphy delivers again as the donkey and Antonio Banderas is hilarious as Puss 'N Boots (spelled like Guns 'N Roses, I think?). Preview for "Dodgeball" was outstanding and the little standup ad for "Anchorman" also has me excited. Might see Harry Potter sometime soon as well.
So last night Cary and I went to a fun little party up in Santa Monica, saw some familiar faces, definitely met some new ones. The girls who live there, Melanie and Michelle, are very fun people and entertain guests quite frequently. They also have a very diverse circle of friends, which makes for a fun environment at these get-togethers.
One of the girls who lives upstairs (her name is Elizabeth, though not nicknamed Poon, strangely enough) dates a guy named Otis. He used to live in La Canada and knows many of the people I know, which is pretty cool. She also has a friend in town named Tina, who attends medical school in Grenada, and all three are outstanding people. Theoretically they'll all be coming down to the beach tomorrow to hang out and watch the AVP Tournament down at the pier. Should be good times.
Why does ESPN Classic have to make my life so difficult? The Stanley Cup Finals are on, Game 6 in Calgary, which should obviously be the object of my attention as soon as I get home from work. So of course, I'm watching, only to notice during a commercial that Classic is playing the 1992 NBA Finals Game 6 (MJ vs. Portland), immediately followed by the '93 Finals Game 6 (MJ vs. Chuck). Ouch. How, in good faith, can I not be watching Michael play? Thankfully, I began the process of taking inventory of my VHS collection, and plenty of Bulls playoff games are included therein.
Finished baseball work this afternoon and headed down to the Best Damn trailer (that's used as a proper noun, "Best Damn," rather than an adjective, one that could certainly become overused) to say hello to a couple guys who were putting in some Saturday hours. One of our producers had just gotten back from Healthsouth, where he had followed Jalen Rose around and had him filmed as our correspondent at the Lakers' and Pistons' practices.
Several hilarious moments on those tapes--we'll see what he's able to include in the actual piece--but the funniest was probably Phil Jackson calling Jalen "Jamal" to his face, and truly believing that was his name. Good stuff.
Played some more NASCAR Thunder--Timmy even gave it a shot and he loves it now too, and I guess Phil played some on his own earlier--sweet. Had a couple Top-10's and a couple not-so-good showings, but then I won the Lowe's All-Star qualifier and finished 8th in that one. I can't even imagine the adrenaline being in one of those stock cars for a race, seeing as how I end practically every race in a sweat as it is.
Belmont Stakes provided us with a great race, even if Smarty couldn't pull it out. It just extends the mystique and the significance of the Triple Crown, something I hope does happen again sometime in the near future. It's cool to have people united in rooting for something like that, 'cause that sort of thing doesn't happen often enough in sports (unified rooting interest, that is).
It seems that people do unite to root against the Lakers, however, and I'm sure that will be in full effect tomorrow evening. Even though it's game one of the Finals, is it sacrilege to call the Laker game the Sopranos' pre-game show? I'm really not sure which one I'm looking forward to more. Maybe Sopranos, if only for the reason that at least three more games are to follow from the Lake Show. Here's a question: Which of the two mailed it in more often this season? The Sopranos didn't really start playing until the "playoffs" either.
Late night, up for church and then beach. Hope for sunshine. Yeah.