Red Wings, Movies, Light-hearted Racism

Do you love sports? Is it just mindless movement centered in social collusion? Sports have always been an interesting topic for me, sociologist extraordinaire, because like all social events, the lines dividing class are blurred. In the beginning I believed that devotion to sports was confined to the likes of Joe the Plumber
and auto-workers. My father, and his before, were die hard Red Wings, Tigers, and Lions fans. For those who don't know, they're the professional sports teams that reside in Detroit. And using most models of stratification, one could decree that Detroit's teams are subject to "blue-collar" or "lower class" fans. Which, from what I could tell, was true. As you, the observer, attends more and more sporting events, you begin to notice things like the "boxes" or private rooms that essentially block out the sounds of the crowd, and allow for conversation. These are usually reserved for the rich, or friends of the rich. So they must love sports, too? My theory is this- the upper class needs the lower class (citing the "forces of production" theory of Marx) and therefore in order to subdue them, is to grant them certain luxuries, and imbue in them the false sense of meritocratic success. And the fan support also dictates the condition of said stadiums, seats, and therefore boxes. Trust me, box seats in San Francisco, Oakland, Chicago, and Los Angeles differ greatly. The best way to experience the difference in fan support class is to go to a San Francisco Giants baseball game, and then to an Oakland A's game. Chew on that.


I've decided that Lucky Number S7evin is a great movie. It's mostly a updated version of Hitchcock's "North by Northwest"- in fact, having not seen the original, they make quite a good reference to it in this movie. There are turns, flashbacks, violence, culturally relevant humor, and Bruce Willis. Materialism takes a backseat to the focus on dialogue. Unfortunately it's so well edited that almost 10 minutes at the end is devoted to unraveling the mystery and mystique- a crying shame. Hartnett's conversational fluidity is somewhat astonishing and surprising, really, raising the question: flawless acting or great direction? Hartnett brings a good poker face, and Ben Kingsley, Sir, is quite a believable kingpin Rabbi. How delightful to have the writer kosherly weave a legend of a Hebrew boss of New York. Morgan Freeman, quite possibly the greatest narrator of our time, plays an opposite boss, yet downplays his character strongly in order to seem composed and inwardly reflective after the loss of his son. Try it sometime. The dialogue is quite short and quipping.


That was just for your entertainment...

Like most racially-charged blogs, opinion columns, and stories, stuffwhitepeoplelike.com has many followers- and many light-hearted racists up in arms against the now widely-published articles. It's now a publication- and both sides of the argument are still battling on its so-called racial implications. The blog every so often releases another event, object, or social connection that white people apparently are keen to. From coffee to hybrids, scarves to "The Wire", the author makes comparisons "white-guilt", racial sympathy, and historical racism. Read it. Get back to me, I want to see all sides of my cohort comprehension.

For now, it's beer, sun, and maybe some chicken later.

Down and Out.