LUDIC LOG

Brief entry tonight, after having run around for about twelve or thirteen hours today. First stop was White Sox Park, for my beloved team's home opener; it went amazingly well, with the White Sox turning in a monster offensive performance and defeating the KC Royals 12-5. Esteban Loaiza looked a little jittery at times, giving up a total of three homers, but the big bats of the Sox -- including a monster bomb from Paul Konerko with two men aboard -- saved the day and got Loiaza the win. It was interesting to see Ozzie's aggressiveness put into play; not once but twice, Sox runners got nailed trying to snag an extra base (although at least one of those times was attributable to the machinations of my most hated of all umpires, Chuck "Suck" Merriweather). However, they tended to play pretty heads-up ball: they were on top of any mistakes the opposing pitchers made, they looked aggressive on the basepaths and were constantly juking the pitcher, and they did little things like shortening their swings and getting extra-base hits instead of reaching for the fences every time. It's too soon to tell if this is really a good sign, as teams are always keyed up for opening day, but I'll tell you this much: they played a lot better than I thought they would.

There was some whimsical action from our seats in center field (thanks to Andrea for getting such excellent location for my 10th opening day!). First, during warm-ups, someone had left a ball in center field, and a bunch of guys around us were hollering for Aaron Rowand to toss it to them. Which he did -- albeit a bit too aggressively: it ended up dropping right onto this guy who was coming down the aisle with about 5 beers. He got the ball, but lost all the beer, which means that $5 ball cost him about thirty bucks. Later, some dude was heckling KC center fielder Carlos Beltran by either speaking to him like a mildly retarded 7-year-old Little Leaguer ("Way to back up that play, Carlos, you're really helping out there") or by shouting cryptic but insulting-sounding comments at him ("What are the women like out there in Kansas City, Carlos? Nice and sturdy?"). Later, Rowand tossed a caught fly into the crowd, and the heckler snagged it. After the game, I hooked up with my pal Claire Zulkey and her friend, and we had beer and lovely conversation. Combined with my having gone to Wrigley Field for their opening day yesterday, and getting the pure pleasure of watching the Cubs get trounced 13-2, I have to say, it's been a very nice week for baseball.

After all this excitement was over, I headed to Piper's Alley for a pre-screening of Tarantino's Kill Bill, Vol. 2. My feelings about it are a bit more mixed than the first one; it bears even less close scrutiny than its predecessor (not that I have a real problem with that, as I've said, it being merely a balls-out action flick and all), and there wasn't a single action scene I could pick out that really took my breath away like the 88s/Blue Leaves sequence in Vol. 1 did. Also, Lucy Liu is a better actress than Darryl Hannah, who is lousy even when she has a big juicy character like she has in this flick. On the other hand, there's some really amazing film work in this one, some really great shots -- I've said it before and I'll say it again now, Quentin Tarantino is underrated as an actual director -- and there's an extended sequence with the Bride's kung fu master that is just the kung fuiest thing of all time. It made me have big kung fu orgasms. I mean, for real -- the wushu isn't the best you'll ever see, but the fucking performance of the sifu is just mind-blowingly great, pitch-perfect from beginning to end. Uma is radiant (even when she's covered in dirt and blood), the plot is utterly predictable but still fun, and as usual, it's got a fine soundtrack. Those who are inclined to believe that Tarantino is a horrible misogynist won't find anything to dispute their claim here, and there are moments that are very painful to watch, but all in all I got a charge out of it, it had lots of little shout-outs to fans, it played the sequel game without being obvious, and I have a feeling it will improve tremendously when watched alongside Vol. 1, which is the way it was meant to be seen in the first place.

Now, all I gotta do is think of some questions to ask David Carradine in the interview on Thursday. Good night, everybody!