What I Watched -- Inspired to Ride

A lot of people have heard about the Race Across America, or RAAM.  It's a bike race from the west coast to the east.

Fewer people have heard of the Trans Am Bike Race.  It's an unsupported coast-to-coast ride, and Inspired to Ride is a documentary about the riders in its inaugural year.  They traveled 4,233 miles through 10 states.  The winner completed the race in fewer than 18 days, an average of 235 miles per day.

Bottom line: it's a pretty crazy story, and if you're into cycling, or sports, or people with bizarre amounts of drive to do even more bizarre things, this movie is for you.

What I Watched -- Today's Special

After watching a couple of food documentaries on Netflix, that seems to be all it suggests.  It worked out well with Today's Special, because it also continued my current trend of watching silly rom-coms.

There is nothing of substance to this movie.  But if you like NYC street scenes, if you like food (and Indian food in particular), and if you have a couple of hours to kill, it's a pretty cute way to do it.

The star is a too-good-for-his-roots son of Indian restaurant owners.  When he gets fired from his fancy Manhattan restaurant, he plans to leave for Paris where he can really hone his craft.  But he discovers the plight of his parents restaurant and opts instead to take it over.  The rest is history.

Bottom line: cute, and delightfully keen on the wonder of the perfect flavor.

Happy Birthday, K!

La Boheme

It's opera season again, and my first show of the season was La Boheme.  It's a Puccini classic, and Grandpa went as my date.

It was a solid show.  The music was beautiful, as always, the vocalists were right on, and I didn't even mind the staging.  There was some complaint about the "modern" set, which is to say, the electric lights over the bar, which extended out into the theater over the seats.  The lights in the theater were dim, though, and I didn't even notice them at first.

All in all, a good show.

A God in Ruins

I don't often give up on books, although it's something I think I should do with more regularity.  It's not that I like the idea of giving up on books, but rather that there are so many books I want to read, and I have so little time in which to do so.

I gave up on A God in Ruins.  I was listening to it on audio, and just couldn't get into it - neither the characters nor the plot.  In fact, I can't even tell you what the plot was.  Perhaps therein lies the problem.  Anyway, it is no longer on my iPod or my reading list.

Microbreweries: Trailhead Brewing

After a bike ride out in St. Charles, a very hungry S and I went to Trailhead Brewing Company for some lunch.  Lunch was an appetizer of ale-battered asparagus, which were both an amazing idea and delicious.  I don't even remember anymore what my main course was -- a burger of some kind.  It was passable, but not memorable (obviously).

My beer of choice was the Riverboat Raspberry, which was every bit as refreshing as I needed it to be after a ride.  Light and flavorful and perfect for a spring afternoon.

What I Watched -- Begin Again

Begin Again is bait for me.  I love Mark Ruffalo, and his lovable loser characters.  I like Kiera Knightly.  I like movies about music, mostly because I know nothing about music, but I enjoy listening to it.  And I love New York.

Objectively, the movie was okay.  Not stellar, but it was cute.  Kiera plays Gretta, a girlfriend who comes to New York with her musician boyfriend.  All is well and good for five minutes, until the boyfriend decides that he's found someone new and poor Gretta is left to express her regrets through her music - which it turns out she writes!  She's discovered by Dan, an out-of-favor music executive who needs to discover some hot new talent in order to save his career.

Their relationship drives the plot of the movie, but the music is its soul.  That's what I like about it.  Even if it's not music written for the movie, it still drives the movie -- like the scene where Gretta and Dan walk through the city, each listening to one earbud.  They're not talking, there's no action.  It's just music and the city and Kiera and Mark.

Bottom line: cute and musical and a bit goofy.

Happy Memorial Day!

The Red Notebook -- Take 2

The Red Notebook is a quick, easy read, but it is as charming and quaint as one could hope for a French novella.  It is the book version of sitting on the sidewalk outside a Parisian cafe and enjoying a great cup of coffee on a warm spring day.

The story is just as I suspected: the finder of a lost purse uses its limited contents to try to track down its owner.  He is bewitched by her and all her private thoughts recorded in the titular red notebook.

Though somewhat formulaic, I found this book was simply a pleasure to read.  I don't know if credit for that goes to the author or translator -- probably both -- but someone nailed it.

What I Watched -- Rising from Ashes

Rising from Ashes was a Netflix find, inspired by a blurb in Bicycle magazine about biking movies.  Rising from Ashes profiles the coach and riders who form the Rwandan cycling team after the genocide. 

It's an interesting story, and a sad one.  Also inspiring, but not goose-bump-inspiring.  It's just about some guys who get on bikes, have talent, and have a lot of terrible stuff in their past.

Bottom line: if you're super into biking, it's probably worth the time.  If not, skip it in favor of Penguins.