As Far As You Know

A week after extending his domination of world #1 Roger Federer to 4-1--and had a few points in Miami last year swung the other way, it would be 5-0--Rafael Nadal extended his impressive streak of clay court wins by capturing the Barcelona tournament. His run now has eclipsed Bjorn Borg's 46 wins by one and is closing in on the men's record of 53, held by Guillermo Vilas (the overall record of consective victories on clay is Chris Evert with 125--a pretty safe mark, if there ever was one!). Still ahead: more tournaments on the dirt in Rome, Hamburg, and Paris.

Check this out.

For some reason, the cover to this 1971 comic book, which I once possessed, sticks in my mind. The issue was a collection of reprints, as I recall, but it was the wrap-around cover, with two Supermen, Batmen, Robins, Flashes, Green Lanterns, Atoms, Hawkmen, and Wonder Women--from Earth-1 and Earth-2, of course, as any well-read aficionado could explain--that made this so cool. Oh, the stuff that has accumulated in my head!

Saw the 10:30 p.m. debut of Mission: Impossible 3 last night. It's a "check your brain at the door for two hours" popcorn flick, but some strong points were Philip Seymour Hoffman's excellent villain and the sure-handed direction of J.J. Abrams--the man who brought us Alias and Lost.

Episode 2:

Not sure if this is legit--it's from the Internet, after all--but here for your viewing pleasure is a pretty cool-looking "one-sheet" (to use the official term for movie posters) for the forthcoming Superman Returns:

Another:

Just one more:

Here is the latest installment:

I ordered a Griffin RoadTrip to replace my iTrip (which doesn't work with my video iPod model). The RoadTrip arrived this morning and it's already turned out to be a great accessory. The unit incorporates a power supply and broadcasts on radio frequencies and the iPod sits up nicely when you plug the RoadTrip into the vehicle's cigarette lighter. In fact, it's even easy to watch videos while you drive--a dangerous distraction, no doubt.

Yeah, it's only May, but isn't it great that both the Mets and the Yanks sit atop their divisional standings?

A fifth-set tiebreak win gives Rafael Nadal another victory over #1 Roger Federer. Rafa saved two match points en route to the Rome Masters Series title. No doubt the young Spaniard is the king of clay courts; in defending his Italian Open title today, he tied the streak of 53 wins on the dirt that was set by Guillermo Vilas in the late 1970s. While Federer has been largely untouchable on the tour the last couple of years, he is now 1-5 against #2-ranked Nadal. Both are scheduled to play in the German Open next week (though Nadal dropped out last year after winning in Rome). After that, the French Open looms.

Today's final lasted more than five hours. Of course, I'd have loved to have watched it live, but Comcast in my area does not yet carry The Tennis Channel, so I followed the live scores update online.

The West Wing ended tonight. I'll miss this drama. It was a fixture of my Wednesday nights, and more recently Sunday nights, for seven years now. Though Aaron Sorkin's departure diminished the show somewhat, it was re-energized creatively with the Santos/Vinick campaign in the final two seasons.

So sweet! I love my G4 iBook--which is not even a year old at this point--so I am not in the market right now, but when Microsoft Office for Mac is updated for the Intel chips and as the ability to run both Mac OS X and Windows side-by-side on the same machine becomes smoother, this will be a hard upgrade to resist.

A few weeks ago a back-ordered package from Hammacher Schlemmer arrived: a voice-activated R2 D2 robot. It's pretty cool to have a droid around that answers you, moves around, and can even patrol for intruders.

Thank you, Tom Toles, for this one:

Check out the very end of this international trailer for the forthcoming Superman Returns.

Last night's season finale of 24 wrapped up the loose ends of the excellent Season 5 pretty well. Nice to see President Logan get his due! But of course our hero Jack Bauer was captured by the Chinese and was last seen in the hold of a freighter bound for Asia. What will next season bring in January 2007? It's a LONG time to wait!

Very satisfying finale to the second season of Lost tonight. Provided some long-sought answers while dropping some new questions to consider over the summer.

Saw The Da Vinci Code last night. The movie didn't really capture the breadth of ideas in the novel, but like the book, it was entertaining, if somewhat preposterous.

Second night in a row at the cinema yesterday! It was opening night for X-Men: The Last Stand. Typical summer blockbuster fare: somewhat mindless, but lots of eye candy on this roller coaster ride. The story doesn't do justice to the original Dark Phoenix saga, but who cares? One word of advice: stay until the end of the credits!

The 2006 New England prep school tennis season concluded with a day-long singles and doubles tournament on the Choate campus. Congrats to CRH players pictured above: Eliot Jia and Ben Gettinger won the doubles crown.

After a late night in the office putting together a packet of readings for the course I am teaching in South Africa this summer, I woke up late and enjoyed a thoroughly leisurely Sunday in terrific weather. I ate brunch, digested The New York Times on a lounge chair overlooking Mem Field, watched some Day 1 coverage of French Open tennis, made a trip to the waterfall in Rockfall, supped at the annual Mem House barbeque, played a little volleyball, and generally relaxed. Not a bad way to spend a day in late May!

Yesterday marked the start of the French Open. ESPN coverage starts at 5 a.m. each morning, so I will be waking up to tennis for the next two weeks.

I've been enjoying a great series of inspirational ads running on ESPN2 during the Roland Garros coverage. The commercials promote the upcoming World Cup on the ABC networks and feature the music of U2 as well as voice-overs by members of the band. Check out the ads online here.

Rafael Nadal's first-round victory at the French Open enabled him to eclipse the consecutive wins on clay mark held by Argentina's Guillermo Vilas (below)--one of my boyhood favorites.

If, like me, you are a fan of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, then 2007 will bring something to look forward to: for the film's 25th anniversary, Warner Bros. is compiling an ultimate DVD edition, with all the various versions of the movie, as well as a slew of extras. The package also will be released on HD-DVD and Blu-Ray formats at the same time.

Spent much of the day shuttling back and forth, to the branch of the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles, to an emissions inspection, and back to the DMV again to get my vehicle registration up to date. After long waits at each stop, my SUV is now legal again! (I was 9 months overdue--ULP!)

So nice to see the French Open as soon as I wake up each morning: a feast for the eyes!