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Sulians lost the final at The Rec last night. It was bloody annoying, cause our pack got bullied in a way that it hadn't in the league game against them that we won a few weeks back and, while the game was close in score (went into extra-time at 24-24), some parts were embarrassing for Sulians. Our scrum getting abused for a pushover try near the line was not a highlight. It's strange, cause our pack was mostly unchanged from the league game (with the exception of a talented and skilled hooker who spent last night trying to avoiding drunken mouth-opening) and it shouldn't've got bossed like that.
Still, it was a journey and hopefully we should be able to go one better next season. A very good evening followed though, with the team and supporters getting mildly intoxicated on alcohol, including a home-brewed potcheen, courtesy of our centre's granddad, so it wasn't a wasted evening.
Moment of the night: Attempting to run and leap on a friend's back (for some unspecified reason) only for him to see my shadow coming, duck with perfect timing and see me go flying through the air to faceplant on tarmac. Thank god for alcohol-cushioning allowing me to find it hilarious more than painful.
I also spent some of yesterday going to see the Iron Man film. It's a great, great film and spoilers will commence under the cut:
If you're going to see it at the cinema, then stay to the end of the credits. They're very, very long, but it's worth it. I went to see it with Andy, who apparently always stays till the end, and I'd've been miffed if I'd missed the last scene.
PJW
Still, it was a journey and hopefully we should be able to go one better next season. A very good evening followed though, with the team and supporters getting mildly intoxicated on alcohol, including a home-brewed potcheen, courtesy of our centre's granddad, so it wasn't a wasted evening.
Moment of the night: Attempting to run and leap on a friend's back (for some unspecified reason) only for him to see my shadow coming, duck with perfect timing and see me go flying through the air to faceplant on tarmac. Thank god for alcohol-cushioning allowing me to find it hilarious more than painful.
I also spent some of yesterday going to see the Iron Man film. It's a great, great film and spoilers will commence under the cut:
I'm not a comics person generally and have no prior experience with any of the characters, but I was instantly taken by all of them. Tony Stark is a lonely genius who drowns his isolation in the vice that his wealth can afford. Robert Downey Jr was brilliant in portraying the naivety of Stark, showing him as a man who believes wholeheartedly and naively in all of his tissue-thin justifications for dealing in arms, only to have them ripped away from him. The look on his face as he realises that the bomb which is about to blow him up has his name and logo on it is priceless.
I have to have the one complaint about the first Iron Man suit which Stark uses to escape captivity. I'll buy scrap metal stopping all bullets and allowing him to survive a plummet to earth, but I won't buy that not a single bullet from the hail found the giant eye holes. However, beyond that point, the new suits that he builds are beautifully imagined and something that you can easily believe in. They're also beautiful characterisation - Stark builds them, not because he's going out to fight the injustice of the world, but because he's got the idea in his head and he wants to see what he can do with it. It's also symbolic of his fear and anger at being captured and tortured; he wants the biggest and baddest toy to make sure that he's never in that situation again.
It's an odd superhero film, because the world is the bad guy, rather than there being a strict supervillain. Sure, Obadias Stane is mad and evil, but he's an amoral arms dealer whom you could imagine existing in the real world. He's not a larger-than-life evil overlord and his fight with Stark is powered solely by greed. Also, Stark doesn't go out on the streets to fight crime and, in fact, hasn't designed the suit to help people. He only gets the idea of using it as a weapon while destroying things in a fury after learning that his weapons are still out there, fuelling terrorism and tribal warfare.
The end battle is nice, although I'm not sure about the Arc Reactor ex machina that finishes things. And the final touch is brought by the press conference, where Stark makes a vague attempt at sticking to the cover story before deciding, with a smirk, to say, "Okay, the truth is... I am Iron Man."
I have to have the one complaint about the first Iron Man suit which Stark uses to escape captivity. I'll buy scrap metal stopping all bullets and allowing him to survive a plummet to earth, but I won't buy that not a single bullet from the hail found the giant eye holes. However, beyond that point, the new suits that he builds are beautifully imagined and something that you can easily believe in. They're also beautiful characterisation - Stark builds them, not because he's going out to fight the injustice of the world, but because he's got the idea in his head and he wants to see what he can do with it. It's also symbolic of his fear and anger at being captured and tortured; he wants the biggest and baddest toy to make sure that he's never in that situation again.
It's an odd superhero film, because the world is the bad guy, rather than there being a strict supervillain. Sure, Obadias Stane is mad and evil, but he's an amoral arms dealer whom you could imagine existing in the real world. He's not a larger-than-life evil overlord and his fight with Stark is powered solely by greed. Also, Stark doesn't go out on the streets to fight crime and, in fact, hasn't designed the suit to help people. He only gets the idea of using it as a weapon while destroying things in a fury after learning that his weapons are still out there, fuelling terrorism and tribal warfare.
The end battle is nice, although I'm not sure about the Arc Reactor ex machina that finishes things. And the final touch is brought by the press conference, where Stark makes a vague attempt at sticking to the cover story before deciding, with a smirk, to say, "Okay, the truth is... I am Iron Man."
If you're going to see it at the cinema, then stay to the end of the credits. They're very, very long, but it's worth it. I went to see it with Andy, who apparently always stays till the end, and I'd've been miffed if I'd missed the last scene.
PJW
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