Monday, July 18, 2011

Weekend Round-Up: Soccer, Potter, More Potter and Not Much Else

In our household, Jamie is the Harry Potter nut.  I don't dislike Harry, but, as we recently discussed, I have questions.  Lots and lots of questions.

Knowing that Saturday night I would be homebound and watching watching Harry Potter and that Sunday I'd be down at the Alamo watching yet more Potter, on Friday I rounded up some pals and we hit The Crow Bar down on South Congress.  Its not bad, but my expectations of bars are very, very low.  Frankly, the nicer the bar, the more I do not want to be there.  It may shock you, but The League is not much of "see and be seen" sort of fellow, and prefers functionality in his nightlife.  I would rather drink with hobos down by the river than go to, say, Qua, the club that just makes me want to punch somebody.*


Anyhow, Saturday we watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 as the penultimate portion of our Potter-Thon, then hit the Alamo South Lamar this evening for Part 2.

1)  If the Alamo wants for people to queue up more than an hour before the movie starts (and they do), then they need to get the AC working.  I was sweating like crazy standing in line, Jamie had to go sit by herself in the corner, and a patron passed out and smacked himself pretty good on the floor.  Keep in mind, the line was crazy when we showed up at 6:50 or so for an 8:00 show, and we were about #200 in line for our auditorium.  So he likely stood there in that heat for about a full hour, passed out, and then missed the damn show, anyway.
2)  Attached to HPatDHp2, one will see a trailer for Batman:  The Dark Knight Rises.  It looks very, very promising, even in 75% of the footage is from the first two movies.
3)  I very much liked the final Potter movie.  I assume Rowling is responsible for seeing to it that the final product provided so much emotional satisfaction.  As we all know, so many long-term projects like this just sort of go off the rails after the third installment.  I'm deeply impressed.

Also today I watched most of the World Cup game between the US and Japan.  The US played phenomenally well, but lost the game in a kick-off, coming in second.

I used to watch a lot of US Women's soccer, but had drifted away in recent years.  After today, I remember what the hubbub was all about.  Looking forward to the Olympics in a couple of years.


*the fact that this club is still open after four years tells me how much this town has changed for the worse.  We lose Liberty Lunch, but we gain Qua.  Its unfair.  Also, drinking with hobos sounds sort of exciting!

2 comments:

Simon MacDonald said...

I firmly believe that penalty kicks or penalty shots are a horrible way to end a game. I like how the NHL once it gets into playoffs does away with the shoot out to determine the winner of the game. I'd love to see soccer adopt something similar where penalty kicks are fine in the round robin but once you get into the elimination round you play until you score.

The League said...

I agree. Its a goofy way to end a game. Its sort of like "ah, the main round has ended. We settle this with skeet shooting!" It makes as much sense.