Saturday, July 01, 2023

"Asteroid City"

Strange movie. "Asteroid City" is a kind of meditation on American life in the 1950s and early 60s, particularly Route 66 American life, which I very much remember. The important centers of American life are here - the motel, the gas station, and the luncheonette. The flat effect all the actors employed made for difficulties in understanding - almost like muttering. Two of the funniest bits were the General's speech, and the girl with the flashcards (both briefly seen in this trailer). Miniatures made in Berlin and the movie filmed near Madrid. Strange movie.

 

Heartwarming Skateboarder Story

The advantage of sports over every other field is that you know instantly when things go right:
A 13-year-old Australian girl nailed a "720," becoming the first female skateboarder to competitively land two airborne rotations and pulling off the amazing move in front of the sport's pioneer, Tony Hawk.
Arisa Trew won the women's competition at Hawk's Vert Alert in Salt Lake City over the weekend.
The audience roared when Trew, wearing a pink helmet and with her ponytail flying, pulled off the move.
...Even 72 hours after the history-making trick, the teenager didn't seem to grasp the enormousness of her feat.
"It's pretty big?" she said, when asked if the feat had sunk in.
Her coach, Trevor Ward, said he's not surprised that Trew is so nonplussed by the worldwide attention she's receiving.
"That's kind of Arisa," Ward said. "She focuses on something. She does it and says 'OK what's next?' She's one of the easiest people to coach."
Trew and Ward had been working on the 720 at practice for only the past two weeks.
..."I knew she was really close when we had done it a few times in Australia so when it came to best trick, I just said to her 'Let's just do it' and she just did it," Ward said.
The 720 is a signature move by skateboarding godfather Hawk, who first did the trick in 1985. 
...“When you got a girl doing a 720, it shows they can do the same as men can," Ward said. "She's looking at potentially a 900 and trying put this into her run at the 2024 Olympics in Paris."