Recent Comments
Re: “Charlie Chaplin vs. Clint Eastwood”
Due to space limitations I couldn't quite expound on the point I only briefly raised, but in essence I find it highly questionable that the Monsieur Verdoux character takes the world to task for its systematic violence and then defends his own killing of women on the grounds that he was just supporting his wife and child: "Wars, conflict -- it's all business. One murder makes a villain; millions, a hero." I'm pretty sure the majority of the human race considers Adolf Hitler a villain.
Re: “The Coen Brothers Get Serious”
Well, I guess Citizen Kane, Blow-Up, Vertigo, Pierrot le Fou, Bigger Than Life, and Barry Lyndon are out the window, then.
Idiot.
Re: “Rick Moody on the Meaning of the Mets Tragedy”
My bad, I meant the "enemy of my enemy" phenomenon. -- mjr
Re: “Rick Moody on the Meaning of the Mets Tragedy”
I have high standards. There's a difference between rooting for another team to beat an enemy team (the "friend of my friend" phenomenon), but rooting for another particular team in the playoffs no matter who they happen to be playing (and year after year, no less) is akin to having a "second favorite team" (I use quotation marks because of the dubious validity of this sadly common fall-back) and is downright unacceptable in my book.
As for shame, I do often feel ashamed of the Mets -- when they fail (the fact that they do so in the most excruciating manner makes that shame mingle with utter agony, a dangerous combination). But I could never, ever, not in a million fucking years feel ashamed of the Mets for supposedly playing second banana to the Yankees. That Moody does so makes him unqualified to be a true Mets fan, at least in my book. I never said he doesn't take religion seriously, but I don't think he takes the Mets to heart in the way others devotedly do.
mjr
Re: “Rick Moody on the Meaning of the Mets Tragedy”
Moody is not a true Mets fan. Anyone who has a "second favorite
team" and can go to a back-up once the Mets as per usual fall flat on
their faces isn't a true Mets fan. And anyone who believes New Yorkers
are too ashamed to believe in a "second team" either doesn't know
their history (the Mets outsold the Yankees throughout the 80s and
into the 90s, dry evidence of the necessary spiritual counter-balance
to the Yankees the Mets represent for much of the City's populace) or
is projecting onto the world his own personal, pathetic shame. While I
agree with his Christianity analogy (even if I'm Jewish), Moody's
obviously a Christmas Catholic for whom fandom is a matter of
convenience and not devotion.
mjr
Re: “New York's New Mega-Stadiums Are Built for Everything Except Baseball”
To gjk: you're probably a little older than me. My first baseball memory was my father jumping eight feet in the air as we watched the ball roll under Bill Buckner's glove. But I didn't really understand what was going on at the time and really feel I'd die more peacefully if the Mets win a World Series when I'm a little bit more of a sentient human being, you know? Can't believe you were at Game 7 1986 in person . . .
