As Far As You Know

Over the Long Weekend break from school, I visited my folks on Long Island and dove into The Errol Flynn Signature Collection, a Warner Brothers compilation of some of Flynn's best movies on DVD (with the notable exception of the five-star The Adventures Of Robin Hood, which WB already released as part of another collection). This set includes such gems as Captain Blood, The Sea Hawk, Dodge City, and They Died With Their Boots On, and each disc includes a newsreel and a Warner cartoon to emulate the moviegoing experience of the late 1930s and early 1940s.

I have just started Tom Friedman's latest book, The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century. For the past few years, I have been teaching Friedman's The Lexus and the Olive Tree in a unit on globalization in my winter term class. Friedman thinks broadly and writes incisively about the world economy, so I am looking forward delving into this work.

In a rematch of the Monte Carlo final from a few weeks back, Rafael Nadal defeated Guillermo Coria in the Italian Open title match, squelching any doubts about his favorite status heading into the French Open later this month. The teenager won an epic five-setter that lasted over five hours, rebounding from 0-3 in the final set to win a 10-8 tiebreak. Nadal now owns a 17-match winning streak on European clay and is on track for the Old World Triple, should he win Roland Garros after taking the Monte Carlo and Rome crowns. He has won 5 tournaments in 2005; interestingly, the other teenagers to win at least five titles in one season on the pro tour are Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Mats Wilander, Boris Becker, and Andre Agassi--Hall of Famers all! Think this kid has a future?

It's Thursday.

One week until Revenge of the Sith.

Two weeks until U2 in Boston.

A new Harry Potter flick is on its way in November. The trailer is now online here. Looks pretty cool.

Both USA Today and The New York Times gave positive reviews to the latest Star Wars installment, due later this week, in this morning's editions. The latter paper described Revenge of the Sith as better than Episode IV: A New Hope (or, as I knew it in 1977, simply "Star Wars").

The Mets and the Yankees both have identical 19-19 records thus far this spring. The Bombers do seem to be heading in the right direction, what with an impressive winning streak that (almost) erases the frustration of their pretty dismal April. On the other hand, it's hard to be optimistic that their neighbors in Shea will spend a lot more time above .500 this year.

10:30 show tonight.

I didn't want to deal with the hordes of REAL die-hards at midnight last night--you know those who showed up in Jedi robes and Yoda ears. Moreover, since I'm taking a dozen allegedly studious schoolchildren with me, getting home at 3 a.m. would have killed them in their Thursday classes. So tonight it is and I am looking forward to it.

Okay, folks, still pretty wired as I write this in the wee hours of the morning in spite of a two-hour drive from Boston. Just got in from the U2 show, you see, and it was terrific, fantastic, wonderful, inspiring, and the like. The band adjusted their setlist to include a handful of my favorite songs; they must have had a hunch I was there!

This was my fifth concert with the boys from Dublin and on the way home I was trying to piece together in my head the songs I had heard in previous shows. Thanks to the Internet (and a site called U2tours.com), the following is everything I've seen U2 perform in person. (This is probably more to document my nostalgia than to inform any reader who stumbles onto this blog, but here goes:)

The Unforgettable Fire Tour
Date: April 16, 1985
Venue: The Centrum, Worcester, MA

11 O'Clock Tick Tock
I Will Follow
Seconds
MLK
The Unforgettable Fire
Wire
Two Hearts Beat As One
Sunday Bloody Sunday
The Electric Co.
A Sort Of Homecoming
Bad
October
New Year's Day
Pride

Knocking On Heaven's Door
Gloria
40

The Joshua Tree Tour
Date: September 18, 1987
Venue: Boston Garden, Boston, MA

Where the Streets Have No Name
I Will Follow
Trip Through Your Wires
I Still Haven't Found
MLK
The Unforgettable Fire
Bullet The Blue Sky
Running to Stand Still
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Exit
In God's Country
Help
Helter Skelter
Bad
October
New Year's Day
Pride

One Tree Hill
With Or Without You
Spanish Eyes
Out Of Control
40

Elevation Tour
Date: June 03, 2001
Venue: Civic Center, Hartford, CT

Elevation
Beautiful Day
Until The End Of The World
Mysterious Ways
In My Life/Stuck In A Moment
Kite
Gone
New York
I Will Follow
Sunday Bloody Sunday/Get Up Stand Up
In A Little While
Desire
Stay
Bad/40
Where the Streets Have No Name
Pride

Bullet The Blue Sky
With Or Without You
The Fly
One/She's A Mystery To Me
Walk On

Elevation Tour
Date: October 30, 2001
Venue: Dunkin Donuts Center, Providence, RI

Elevation
Beautiful Day
Until The End Of The World
New Year's Day
Out Of Control
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Stuck In A Moment
Kite
Angel Of Harlem
Please
Bad
Where The Streets Have No Name
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Pride

Bullet the Blue Sky
What's Going On
New York
One
When Will I See You Again
Walk On

Vertigo Tour
Date: May 26, 2005
Venue: Fleet Center, Boston, MA

City Of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
Elevation
Gloria
The Ocean
Beautiful Day/Dream On
Miracle Drug
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
Love And Peace Or Else
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet The Blue Sky
Running To Stand Still
Pride
Where The Streets Have No Name
One

The Fly
Until The End Of The World
With Or Without You
Out Of Control
All Because Of You
Original Of The Species
Bad/40