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By now everyone knows that Blake Griffin won the 2011 NBA Slam Dunk Contest at All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles. But did he deserve to win it over the likes of JaVale McGee, DeMar DeRozan and Serge Ibaka, each of whom threw down some excellent dunks of their own?
Here’s how I would have judged each dunk from the the dunk comp yesterday.
Faster is a strange film. It has the feel of a classy production. The director (George Tillman Jr — who directed Notorious) seems to know what he is doing. There is a certain dark, noir-ish mood infused throughout. It features a star studded cast — Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson (looking bulkier than in recent times), Billy Bob Thornton, Carla Gugino, Moon Bloodgood and Maggie Grace. And yet, I found the whole thing incredibly uninspiring and forgettable.
Perhaps it’s the couldn’t-be-any-simpler plot — a guy (The Rock) is just released from prison and decides to go on a killing rampage against the people that put him there in the first place (oh, and killed his beloved big brother). There’s cops (Thornton and Gugino) chasing him. And a hired assassin. You get the drift — kill, chase, investigate and repeat until final climax.
Speaking of which, perhaps it’s the silly subplot with the beautiful genius assassin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) and his lovely girlfriend (Maggie Grace) that spoiled it. The dude is supposed to be some super-overachiever who needs a challenge to keep himself going — but they tried to be too cute with it and it came off looking contrived. And besides, Jackson-Cohen can’t act. He looked good but was horrible.
But perhaps the worst part was that the whole time, the secret mastermind behind everything was so obvious it stuck out like dog’s balls.
Accordingly, I had the bizarre feeling when watching Faster that I should be watching something that’s a lot better than what’s before my eyes. It wasn’t awful, but it kept me wondering what all these stars saw in the script. The gun-fight scenes were okay, as were the obligatory car chases. Ultimately, however, I suppose the title of the film is apt, because I wanted it to end ‘faster.’
I was pretty excited for this year’s NBA All Star Weekend, even though not a single player from my Indiana Pacers made any of the events (I thought at least one of Paul George, Darren Collison or Tyler Hansbrough would have made the Rookie/Sophomore game). The reason? Blake Griffin.
For those who don’t follow the NBA, Griffin is this year’s lock for Rookie of the Year — a 6’10″, 251 pound freak of nature that jumps and dunks over everything in sight. He was actually drafted last year but missed the entire season with a broken kneecap. Now he’s back and wrecking havoc on the league. Here’s a video of some of his dunks. Remember that he has only played in 56 games in his entire NBA career so far.
The other reason is because I wanted to see teen hearthrob Justin Bieber (generously listed at 5’5″) play in the celeb game — not because I’m a fan of the kid, but because I was genuinely fascinated by whether he’ll embarrass himself in front of his millions of adoring fans.
Here’s a video of Bieber tearing up the court in a Proactiv commercial. I’m not kidding.
Well, I can honestly say I did not come away disappointed. Bieber’s boxscore was uninspiring (8 points on 3-11 shooting, with 4 assists and 2 rebounds) and his team lost 54-49, but he still managed to win the Celeb game MVP because it’s an award voted by the fans. The highlight of the night was when the Biebs was rejected by Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen while going up for a jumpshot. Bieber elevated and tried to shoot but Scottie swung his arm out at about chest level and smacked the crap out of the shot. Hilarious. Scottie was even congratulated by former Pacer Jalen Rose for the fantastic rejection.
On the other hand, Griffin participated in the Slam Dunk Contest today as part of All-Star Saturday. He already played in the Rookie/Sophomore game the day before and will be a reserve in the proper All-Star Game tomorrow. Given that they were win LA given his popularity, Griffin was a heavy favourite to win the comp, where the final round is voted by the fans. His opponents were relatively unheralded — JaVale McGee (Washington), DeMar DeRozan (Toronto) and Serge Ibaka (Oklahoma City) — but Griffin’s presence alone was enough to make this the most anticipated Dunk Comp since Vince Carter brought the house down with some of his classic dunks (since then it’s been a bit of a farce as the comps have focused more on style than substance).
As expected, Griffin won the comp (against McGee in the final), and while he may have deserved it overall, he probably didn’t even have one of the best 3 dunks of the night. Each of McGee, DeRozan and Ibaka had some sick jams that didn’t get the respect or scores they deserved, while Griffin had a bit of hometown judging to help him out.
That’s not to say Griffin didn’t have some amazing dunks. His first one of the night was an example of how freakishly athletic he is — a twisting 360 degree two-handed slam with the ball brought back behind his head. His second dunk of the first round saw a teammate toss the ball off the backboard support — he caught it in mid-air and windmilled it through.
In the second round, he threw the ball off the backboard and went up so high that he dunked his entire forearm through the hoop ala Vince Carter — but this was more impressive because it was off the backboard, he went up higher, and there was a lot more power (so much so that he had a welt on his arm from it).
His final dunk brought everyone to his feet even before he attempted it — they drove a car out onto the court and had a gospel choir singing at halfcourt. Griffin took a run up and leaped over the hood of the car, just as Baron Davis passed him the ball through the car’s sun roof. Griffin caught the ball in mid-air and slammed it down two-handed. To be honest, that description made the dunk sound better than it really was. It was, after all, a jump over the hood of the car (as opposed to the top of it), though the presentation deserved props as did the fact that it was a potentially dangerous attempt by someone who just recovered from a broken kneecap.
Griffin got scores of 49 and 46 for his first two dunks, which I believe were about right — only if they scored the dunks of his opponents with as much generosity. If they did, I don’t think Griffin would have made the second round (more on this in my next post) — actually, you could even make an argument that Griffin was the fourth-best dunker in that first round.
Griffin’s two dunks in the secound round were not scored as the result was decided by fan voting (he got 68% of the vote to edge out McGee), though I believe he deserved the nod — only because McGee’s second dunk was a run-of-the-mill (if you can call it that) off the backboard, one-handed slam. If he left one of his spectacular first round dunks for the second round, I believe he should have won it.
I had been looking forward to seeing Liam Neeson’s latest thriller, Unknown, ever since I saw the trailer a few months ago. It reminded me of Taken (another Neeson film), one of my surprise favourites from a couple of years back, with an compelling mystery anchoring the plot — a biologist visits Berlin with his wife and has an accident, and when he wakes up from a coma days later, another man has assumed his life.
Is there a conspiracy at play here, or has he lost his mind? And what lengths will he go to in order to uncover the truth and take back his life?
For the most part, Unknown unfolds as expected. Nothing appears to make sense, and it keeps you guessing whether what you’re seeing is real, imagined, or perhaps both. At the same time, there is action, suspense and thrills, and plenty of it. I can honestly say I was intrigued.
Of course, Liam Neeson is brilliant, but the supporting cast wasn’t too shabby either — Diane Kruger, January Jones, Aidan Quinn, and Frank Langella. Each actor/actress manages to put their stamp on their characters, even with limited screen time.
Director Jaume Collet-Serra (who directed the underrated Orphan) does a fairly good job here with some pretty farcical material (and I’m not just talking about how improbable it is for someone as attractive as Diane Kruger playing a taxi driver).
In less capable hands, Unknown could have easily spiralled out of control, but despite all the plot holes and unnecessary convolution in the unravelling of the mystery, the film manages to stay afloat and avoid total disaster.
Ordinarily, films with predicaments this bizarre can only end in bitter disappointment. You’ll tend to be riveted by the mystery until you discover the truth, which is usually outrageous or silly or both, and the film just completely crumbles from that point on. Surprisingly, Unknown‘s resolution is about as good as you can get for a film of this kind. It’s not necessarily believable, but considering how far it takes you, it’s at least within the realm of possibility. Or so I tell myself…
Look, I don’t know much about workout supplements per se, but since we were on the topic of exercising (to avoid doing what I should be doing, ie, writing), I’ll share an experience I had yesterday.
I take a few vitamins (a multi, fish oil, etc) to maintain my general well-being, and a few days ago I visited a new bargain vitamin store that opened a few suburbs away from us. As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been doing the 100 push-up challenge (which is bloody impossible using the suggested ’6-week program’ — if the most push-ups you can do is say 40, how can you possibly do 7 sets of 20-24 push-ups with 45 second intervals and THEN do at least 50 in your last set?) and the 20 chin-up challenge (surprisingly easy). Together with the cardio and basketball and PS3 Move, I’ve been getting pretty sore lately, so I decided to get some protein powder to assist recovery.
Anyway, at the counter, the assistant couldn’t figure out out to print a store receipt and became awfully apolegetic. The sheer guilt led him to offer us a bunch of free stuff, such as T-shirts, shakers, drink bottles and supplement samples.
Yesterday I decided to try one — called Code Red from MuscleMeds (check out the website here).
From the outside, it’s a little long red packet which says ‘clinically superior, super-potent workout amplifier!’ and ‘scientifically formulated to enhance muscle growth, pumps, energy, endurance, intensity and improve recovery*’ (* These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA).
So I dumped the packet into a glass of water and downed the entire thing. Tasted like fizzy punch. Waited 20 minutes for it to sink in while sitting in front of the computer. Then suddenly, my world began to spin. I was getting lightheaded, dizzy, even a little nauseous. Not a good sign, but I felt strong.
So I decided to start my push-up routine. I’m into the final and sixth week of the program (even though it’s taken me like 10 weeks already) and it’s not easy. I breezed through the first four sets with ease, surprised by how easy it was.
Then I suddenly realised that I was sweating. Profusely. As though I had just been sprinting for half an hour. The dizzying sensations were still there. I put my head down and powered through the next four sets. No big deal at all. By this time my heart was thumping and I felt like my body was burning from the inside. A big wet patch developed on the front of my shirt.
The last set was brutal — 58 — and I could never complete it before, not after doing eight sets right before it. But amazingly, I did it. I even did 60 for good measure. I was pumped. This thing works!
Still feeling strong, I went and did my chin-ups immediately after, and absolutely killed that too. Did reps of 10 instead of the four that was prescribed.
Then I went hard for 35 minutes on the elliptical machine.
By the time I was done my shirt was drenched in sweat, much like when I play basketball for 2.5 hours on Sundays. But this time, something was different. I was too focused on the exercises that I hadn’t noticed it before. I raised my nostrils and took another whiff. I was horrified.
I stunk! I had BO!
I’m one of those lucky people that never — and I mean never — get BO* (* I don’t count foot odour). I occasionally put on deodourant for the sake of it but even when I don’t I never smell, no matter how much I sweat. I know I’m not delusional because people have told me how amazing my odourless sweat is on many occasions.
And yet, there was no denying it. I had BO for the very first time in my life. Could it be a coincidence? I think not. I have no doubt the Code Red was the culprit.
The lightheadedness and the similarly weird sensations followed me for the rest of the night, and I even had a little trouble sleeping. But none of that bothered me as much as the BO. I took a cold shower straight after exercising but I found it incredibly easy to sweat again for the remainder of the night.
This morning, the weird feelings were gone, but when I smelled my shirt (the one I put on after I had showered), there was still a tiny hint of lingering BO. And just now, sitting up alone in my room and typing away on this admittedly humid day, I can still smell something.
Have I opened up a gate I can’t close? Or do I just need time to allow this evil concoction to leave my defiled body?
One thing is for sure. I’m never having this stuff again. Anything that makes you dizzy, lightheaded, sweat like crazy, nauseous, and gives you BO (when you’ve never had it) can’t be good for your body, no matter how good it might make you look.
I like to write about stuff. Books, film, food, travel, games, sport, whatever. Currently working on a few books. Hoping to finish one some day. Maybe.
