Dan in Real Life

No Daniel, this is not about you. But I did see a fantastic movie last Friday night with a main character that shares your name. "Dan in Real Life" was one of the best movies I've seen this year. Humor, love, family, death and "drama" all brought together in a wonderful package. It was in several moments very difficult for me to watch and it struck a few chords that probably wouldn't have hit their mark if I had seen this 10 years ago. (Probably because I would have been on my mission and feeling really bad about watching a movie).

The Plot - Dan (Steve Carrel - The Office) is a middle aged man who lost his wife four years ago. He writes a column about parenting teenagers, but in "real life" its much more difficult to practice what you preach. Dan is taking his three daughters to a family reunion and meets a woman (Juliette Binoche - Chocolat) the first day on his trip. Its love at first sight and after an hour of chatting, he gets permission to call her even though she just started seeing someone. Unfortunately, that someone is his brother who brings her to the family reunion later that afternoon. The movie is then filled with fun romance/family chaos over the secret love triangle.

I was very impressed with Steve Carrel that he could maintain being very funny in a serious character. Reminds me of Jim Carey and the Truman Show breakthrough. Most of the movie seemed well cast. I heard they ditched Jessica Alba for Binoche, which was a good move. She has a certain emotional aura that makes it believable that Dan could go head over heels for her in a couple of hours. However I've read several other reviews that put this movie well beneath Binoche and the idea that she could be dating the hated Dane Cook (comedian). But I thought it worked well. She liked Cook's character because he was using Dan's lines from his books and columns to woo her. Once she found the real source of inspiration she would go for the real thing. As a result, I thought the casting worked quite well, despite this not being some sexual French drama of Oscar proportions beneath one of the most "luminous" women of all time.

Another aspect of the film that I really liked was seeing a family have lots of fun together. I read several other supposedly "high-brow" reviews where the family was decried for being too cheesy and reviewers would rather slit their wrists that deal with people like that. (WOW. Good thing most of these "happy" people are not procreating - they just love angst, and frankly I'm not a fan of angst 24/7). But was the family cheesy? Yes, but THAT'S WHEN YOU HAVE THE BEST FUN! They had crossword puzzle competitions, talent shows, football games, kayaking... nothing perfect, but good times. This had to be one of the most positive portrayals of family life I've seen in years (which is why some people hated it so much). Ah, to each his own.

What made this difficult to watch is that it made me consider what would happen if I became a widower with two girls. How hard it would be to relate to them without mom around to interpret their actions. Especially love sick teenagers - YOU ARE THE DESTROYER OF LOVE!!! That title is coming to me in about 9 years. Love isn't a feeling - its an ability. And if that's true, I must be a superhero.

Overall, what I liked the most is that this movie had me flat-out laughing several times. Hard. And it was good humor. This is definitely a daddy-daughter movie that I can re-watch in the years to come with my girls and hope things never get that way.

Sign of the Apocalypse

Sports Illustrated has an interesting section in its weekly publication where unusual sports events are presented as signs of the impending apocalypse or end of the world. In an effort to be a blogger who beats the traditional media to the punch, I'm going to declare that the Rockies winning 17 of their last 18 games, winning a one game tie-breaker, and sweeping the NLDS, 3-0 to be a sign of the apocalypse. If this feat were accopmplished by the Red Sox or Yankees, it might seem stunning, but certainly not a sign of the end of the world. So why it it?

Growing up in Denver, we had the Broncos and the Nuggets. But baseball was always missing. The Denver Zephyrs just didn't cut it. We wanted the big leagues. I remember well in 1993 when the expansion team opened on April 5, 2 days after my birthday. The first batter hit a home run. Destiny was on our side. The whole town was crazy for the new team. Everyone had a Rockies ballcap. We heard that Cryps in the hood had adopted the hat as identifying paraphernalia. Despite our good feelings, we stunk that year, but it was OK, we had MLB at last. We continued to be awful until 1995, when Coors field opened and the Blake Street Bombers (Galaraga, Bichette, Walker and Castilla) combined to hit 139 home runs in the thin mile high air. We went to the post season for the first time and people thought the team had arrived. Then we got swept by Atlanta. I remember thinking that if we couldn't do it with that kind of hitting, we'd never get anywhere. And that's exactly what it was for the next 12 years. I'll admit, I barely kept up on the Rockies, did not watch games and just occasionally noted how pitiful and inept my home team was. But we had a cool ballpark and most figured the team would labor on as a way to watch other MLB teams that came to visit. Following a dismal 67 win season in 2006, another blogger made a photo-shop picture at the beginning of 2007 to show his apathy for the team (kitties on the right).

You can imagine how surprised I was to see the Rockies sustaining a winning record this year and contending for a playoff spot and claiming they had an MVP in Matt Holliday. I still didn't watch, figuring the playoff push would not bear fruit. Finally, when the tie-breaker game came around with San Diego, I decided to watch and feel the Pavlovian call to eat sunflower seeds and scratch. It was a very suspenseful game and the team really did look good. It went to 13 innings and a stunning come-back win after SD scored 2 runs in the top of the inning. Three runs seemed highly improbable. But to show that the world is near destruction, we rallied and a bloody Holliday rose from a controversial slide into home plate to send us to the post season. I was stunned. My shock continued when we won the first two games AT Philadelphia, the best offensive team in the NL, in a ballpark that favors hitters. Then came last night. A pitching duel, that ended in a 2-1 victory. 3-0. Sweep. I remember doing an ESPN sports nation poll before the series started and only 13% of the respondents thought the Rockies could sweep. During game 3, the crowd sounded like it was watching football or basketball game. Following the final out, the jumbo-tron showed the word: ROCKTOBER. Could it be that we already had a post-season slogan? The Rockies? THE ROCKIES? Yes. The world is coming to an end. We could get swept by the D-backs and it wouldn't matter. I'm just glad we got a small taste of winning before all the elements melt with fervent heat and the earth is wrapped as a scroll.

But could the winning be due to the team's recent adoption of so called "Christian Rules" of conduct and faith in a low payroll? Here are some encrypts on it from Wikipedia:

"On June 1, 2006, USA Today reported that Rockies management, including manager Clint Hurdle, had instituted an explicitly Christian code of conduct for the team's players, banning men's magazines (such as Maxim and Playboy) and sexually explicit music from the team's clubhouse. The newspaper reported:

Behind the scenes, [the Rockies] quietly have become an organization guided by Christianity — open to other religious beliefs but embracing a Christian-based code of conduct they believe will bring them focus and success.

From ownership on down, it's an approach the Rockies are proud of — and something they are wary about publicizing. "We're nervous, to be honest with you," Rockies general manager Dan O'Dowd says. "It's the first time we ever talked about these issues publicly. The last thing we want to do is offend anyone because of our beliefs."

The article sparked controversy, including criticism in a column in The Nation, which stated:

San Francisco Giants first baseman-outfielder Mark Sweeney, who spent 2003 and 2004 with the Rockies, said, "You wonder if some people are going along with it just to keep their jobs. Look, I pray every day. I have faith. It's always been part of my life. But I don't want something forced on me. Do they really have to check to see whether I have a Playboy in my locker?"

Soon after the USA Today article appeared, The Denver Post published an article featuring many Rockies players contesting the claims made in the USA Today article. Jason Jennings, a Rockies' pitcher, said:

"[The article in USA Today] was just bad. I am not happy at all. Some of the best teammates I have ever had are the furthest thing from Christian," pitcher Jason Jennings said. "You don't have to be a Christian to have good character. They can be separate. [The article] was misleading."

While the initial USA Today article caused some controversy, the main claims have been repudiated by the ballclub and its players in the subsequent Denver Post story."

Not all Major League baseball teams have similar revenue streams, which contributes to a disparity of "haves" and "have-nots" amongst franchises. Major League Baseball franchises average spending 48.9% of every revenue dollar on player payroll while the Rockies spent 28.4% of team revenues on player payroll. Only one team in all of MLB spends a lower proportion of team revenues on player payroll than the Rockies."

After learning about these controversies I became more proud of my team. I'm not a fan of people making obscene money for anything, much less playing a sport. I'm also all for organizations that uphold good moral conduct codes. Am I saying that the recent success is due to their claimed moral conduct? NOT AT ALL. Like many of you, I thought the way many of the the Rams players claimed that God supported them in their victory over the Tennessee Titans in the Super Bowl was ridiculous. However, I do believe that virtue in thought and spirit fosters strength in body and confidence in your ability to do your best. Clearly something changed in a team that was just awful. I don't believe that God helps sports teams win (even BYU). But I do believe that following Him allows you to be your best. Apparently, the Rockies found a way to be their best before the end of the world and I got to witness it.