Catching Up
Jul. 30th, 2025 03:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cjlasky7Catching Up; 20th Anniversary;"The Warriors" at Coney Island; Soccer at the Meadowlands; Super/Fantastic
Hi! Yes, I know it's been awhile. There's a lot to talk about...so let's get to it:
Catching Up; 20th Anniversary
"So, Mr. Lasky, how are we today?"
I am fine. I am in relatively good health. There has been no recurrence of my deep vein thrombosis--and it will probably stay that way since I will remain on Lipitor until the end of time. My cholesterol levels are under control. My weight is slowly sneaking back up, though. (I'll have to watch that.)
Am I doing WELL? Frankly, nobody in America with an income under a billion a year is doing "well" right now (but that's another post).
My wife and I just celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary and the 20th anniversary of our first date. We went out to dinner (without the boy) just like twenty years ago. I teased her that the date went well and maybe we should be exclusive. She went along with it, then deadpanned: "I gotta warn you... I've got a kid." (Perfect timing and delivery. This is why I love her.)
"The Warriors" at Coney Island
For our second date, my new GF and the aforementioned kid took the subway out to Coney Island for an evening screening of "The Warriors" on the Jumbotron at Maimonides Park.
[Formerly MCU Park, formerly Brooklyn Cyclones Park, future corporate sponsor name pending.]
Perfect combination of venue and movie. For those of you who haven't seen it, The Warriors (1980; directed by Arthur Hill) chronicles the odyssey of a Brooklyn street gang as they navigate the NYC streets and subways from the Bronx to their home base in Coney Island with every other gang in the city on their trail and out for blood.
The kick of The Warriors is the contrast between the RL location shots and the highly stylized appearance of the rival gangs. (They look like they've been studying Commedia Dell'arte; definitely more West Side Story than Blackboard Jungle.) Watching the Warriors return home with the lights of the amusement park twinkling behind the screen was a magical experience.
"Waaaaaarriors... come out to play-yay!"
(If you know the movie, you'll get it.)
Soccer at the Meadowlands
Third date on our little anniversary tour was a trek out to the swamps of New Jersey for some English Premiere League football (soccer) action! But let's face it--this one was for the Boy. We just tagged along for the ride.
If our son has one abiding passion, it is soccer. He follows all the international club play and European cup finals. He's already sizing up the competition for next year's World Cup here in the states. He can spend hours playing FIFA video games (time that should be spent on homework). He is a huge fan of Manchester United; he knows all the players, owns all the merch. An entire section of his closet is Red Devils red. So when he heard Man U was playing an exhibition at the Meadowlands against West Ham United? We were there.
Actually, there were TWO games played that day, with Bournemouth and Everton going first at 4pm. Turnout for that match was relatively light. I expected hordes of rabid football fans to pack the rafters; but I would say the stands were one-third full.
Man U vs. West Ham? That was different.
The lower tier of MetLife stadium was a solid block of red. The Man U fans came out in force. It was only an exhibition, but the crowd gave it all the energy of a regular league game. And--just for a moment--I truly understood why the rest of the world loves this sport so much.
(Man U 2, West Ham 1.)
Super/Fantastic
To cap off our anniversary weekend, my wife and I went to see Superman. I'm going to talk about Kal-El's return in a separate post, because I have SO MANY THOUGHTS about it. I'm also kind of doing a Barbenheimer thing, as I'm seeing Fantastic Four with Shadowkat next week, and I anticipate having many many nerdy thoughts about that one.
So....watch this space!
Hi! Yes, I know it's been awhile. There's a lot to talk about...so let's get to it:
Catching Up; 20th Anniversary
"So, Mr. Lasky, how are we today?"
I am fine. I am in relatively good health. There has been no recurrence of my deep vein thrombosis--and it will probably stay that way since I will remain on Lipitor until the end of time. My cholesterol levels are under control. My weight is slowly sneaking back up, though. (I'll have to watch that.)
Am I doing WELL? Frankly, nobody in America with an income under a billion a year is doing "well" right now (but that's another post).
My wife and I just celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary and the 20th anniversary of our first date. We went out to dinner (without the boy) just like twenty years ago. I teased her that the date went well and maybe we should be exclusive. She went along with it, then deadpanned: "I gotta warn you... I've got a kid." (Perfect timing and delivery. This is why I love her.)
"The Warriors" at Coney Island
For our second date, my new GF and the aforementioned kid took the subway out to Coney Island for an evening screening of "The Warriors" on the Jumbotron at Maimonides Park.
[Formerly MCU Park, formerly Brooklyn Cyclones Park, future corporate sponsor name pending.]
Perfect combination of venue and movie. For those of you who haven't seen it, The Warriors (1980; directed by Arthur Hill) chronicles the odyssey of a Brooklyn street gang as they navigate the NYC streets and subways from the Bronx to their home base in Coney Island with every other gang in the city on their trail and out for blood.
The kick of The Warriors is the contrast between the RL location shots and the highly stylized appearance of the rival gangs. (They look like they've been studying Commedia Dell'arte; definitely more West Side Story than Blackboard Jungle.) Watching the Warriors return home with the lights of the amusement park twinkling behind the screen was a magical experience.
"Waaaaaarriors... come out to play-yay!"
(If you know the movie, you'll get it.)
Soccer at the Meadowlands
Third date on our little anniversary tour was a trek out to the swamps of New Jersey for some English Premiere League football (soccer) action! But let's face it--this one was for the Boy. We just tagged along for the ride.
If our son has one abiding passion, it is soccer. He follows all the international club play and European cup finals. He's already sizing up the competition for next year's World Cup here in the states. He can spend hours playing FIFA video games (time that should be spent on homework). He is a huge fan of Manchester United; he knows all the players, owns all the merch. An entire section of his closet is Red Devils red. So when he heard Man U was playing an exhibition at the Meadowlands against West Ham United? We were there.
Actually, there were TWO games played that day, with Bournemouth and Everton going first at 4pm. Turnout for that match was relatively light. I expected hordes of rabid football fans to pack the rafters; but I would say the stands were one-third full.
Man U vs. West Ham? That was different.
The lower tier of MetLife stadium was a solid block of red. The Man U fans came out in force. It was only an exhibition, but the crowd gave it all the energy of a regular league game. And--just for a moment--I truly understood why the rest of the world loves this sport so much.
(Man U 2, West Ham 1.)
Super/Fantastic
To cap off our anniversary weekend, my wife and I went to see Superman. I'm going to talk about Kal-El's return in a separate post, because I have SO MANY THOUGHTS about it. I'm also kind of doing a Barbenheimer thing, as I'm seeing Fantastic Four with Shadowkat next week, and I anticipate having many many nerdy thoughts about that one.
So....watch this space!
no subject
Date: 2025-07-30 10:22 pm (UTC)Well, yes, my niece turned 21 this year. And she was born one year prior.
I've seen The Warriors, in fact I wondered if that was the movie you were referencing - and thought, no, that can't be it? But it was. I watched the Warriors on television way back in the 1980s late one night and it was a weird film, and it kind of haunted me? I remember thinking at the time - what is this about - oh, they are trying to make it home alive. Very odd film.
He is a huge fan of Manchester United;
Him and Spike.
You should watch Ted Lasso at some point. It's about an American football couch who travels to England to coach a English football team (soccer).
Although I applaud him for picking soccer.
**
I'm on the fence about seeing Superman. I've seen all of them to date, but...James Gunn likes busy movies, and I do not like busy movies. And John Scalzi's review lead me to believe that this is an insanely busy movie with a ...juvenile sense of humor.
no subject
Date: 2025-08-02 12:51 am (UTC)I cover Superman more thoroughly in my 7/31 post, but to put it briefly: yes, a very busy movie; and no, I didn't think Gunn went overboard with the juvenile humor, at least not compared to his other projects. (I'm watching Peacemaker S1--and man, that's wall to wall juvenile humor.)
no subject
Date: 2025-08-02 04:39 pm (UTC)Hope it's enjoyable. I'm not overly familiar with Chicago - I've heard them of course, just not that familiar. May download on my phone to check them out (I've Bose Headphones - so the sound is always good.)
If you ever get a chance or it ever becomes available outside of HBO Max - check out the Billy Joel documentary - you'd love it. He goes into the musicality of it - and the process, also his influences, and references a lot of 50s, 60s and 70s music. And talks about his father a classically trained musician who lives in Vienna - and what happened to his family in WWII.
**
On Superman? I don't know if you've figured it out by now? But I have very little to no tolerance for juvenile humor. It's my difficulty with 90% of American humor and situation comedies. I was able to handwave it a bit in the first two Guardians of the Galaxy flicks - but the third one made me cringe.
Here's the twin Scalzi reviews - https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/07/16/
I was considering Peacemaker - but I'm not sure I'll make through the first episode.
no subject
Date: 2025-09-04 02:12 pm (UTC)I still haven’t seen the movie, but my friend sovay saw it a few years ago and was delighted (she has a background in Classics). I think she’d love the idea of watching it on Coney Island, even more so since two of her grandparents were from NYC and one of her spouses is a roller-coaster aficionado and she herself is happiest when she’s close to the sea.
no subject
Date: 2025-09-06 12:06 am (UTC)The Cyclone at Coney Island is a holy shrine for roller coaster fans. You gotta ride it at least once if you're a real aficionado.