cookies!!!

← Here's what I ate last night, this and a lovely glass of white wine while we watched ESPN's 30 for 30 (read about it here). I NEVER would have guessed myself a sports fan or ESPN watcher but it happens to be one of M's favorite pass times and despite my best intentions I've become embroiled in the wide world of sports (go Celtics!). 30 for 30 is a documentary series that's actually quite interesting and covers a broad range of topics that happen to relate to sports. Last night was all about the OJ Simpson car chase which I vaguely remember happening but M remembers clearly b/c he and his brother were watching the NBA finals (read: me=not a sports person). The format of this documentary (they vary since there's always a different filmmaker) was pretty neat-o; it had no official commentary, it was just old footage from that time but not just of the OJ chase, it was a juxtaposition of footage from the Stanley Cup final game, Arnold Palmer's final professional tournament, the 1994 World Cup and the NBA finals (with a certain Bob Costas looking the same; does the man not age?). The side-by-side was meant (I think) to showcase how this tragedy and a man's personal downfall stole the world's attention when there were so many other big sports events occurring at the same time; it was pretty riveting and made me wonder if OJ really was guilty. M says that he was, without a doubt; do you remember this event and whether you thought OJ was guilty or not? I guess I don't know what I think, I just feel bad for all of those involved, even though it was quite a while ago, it's still horrific. The filmmaker had a brief commercial blurb where he talked a bit about the whole thing and he talked of how the car chase was an early form of reality TV, which I thought was pretty interesting. I'm definitely a fan of reality TV, but a guilty one; I almost feel embarrassed for the people on most shows and especially for their children and I wonder how the TV experience will shape their childrens' lives. Then again, no one's forcing them so c'est la vie.

Today I took my kids to see a pretty cool (my favorite, I think) sculpture in downtown San Jose. I'll post pictures later since I don't have my USB cord and there is yet to be (as far as I know) wireless camera-to-computer technology. The sculpture is of John Carlos and Tommie Smith who won medals for the USA in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. They famously made quite a political statement by doing a variety of things when on the podium listening to the national anthem: wore no shoes (as a nod to the poverty suffered by African Americans [and others, I suppose]), wore unzipped jackets (sticking it to the man, basically), wearing an Africa-inspired colored necklace (a symbol of lynching suffered by African Americans), carried a picture of olive branches (peace, yo) and looked down while making the "Black Power" hand gesture (fist up). These two men suffered quite a bit as a result of their actions and I think that it's good to remember. I am in NO  way an expert and I think that art is such a personal experience so please take my musings with a grain of salt; I gathered the explanations from an article I read about the sculpture but I believe that everyone has their own right to interpretation. The kids liked it (I hope) and I was glad to be out in the sun.

I'm off to some light lunching, running, LAUNDRY and cleaning so that our apartment can be clean when we get back Sunday night. M drove off this morning for LA since it's his family friends and they're pretty close, so he's taking a couple of days off to hang out which is really good for him since he works very hard and long.  I'm Southwest-ing it down there tomorrow after work and we're going to drive back home together on Sunday. I confess that I love to come home to at least some order after a trip and I find that clean sheets and a made bed is the easiest/most fulfilling in said situation, so that's priority #1, along with the aforementioned laundry and the dreaded dishes...fun times 2010.

Have a great day before Friday!