Duke Basketball vs. Syracuse: 73 - 54

Unlike the embarrassing win against Virginia Tech (I saw the last 10 minutes of it), Duke appeared to play some solid defense.  When it came to the Virginia Tech game, from the parts of the game I saw, Tech had open 3-pointers and could drive into the lane at will.  During this Syracuse game, I didn't see too many open 3-pointers nor open lanes.  Unlike the previous Syracuse game, former Duke player Michael Gbinije didn't drill Duke.  Without him shooting lights out, Duke had this game in hand.  Sure, it was close for about ten minutes, but then Duke just started putting the game away.  It was definitely done in a four minute span in the 2nd quarter when Duke hit 3 3-pointers and outscored Syracuse 13 - 2.          

What I liked about this game?  With Jahlil Okafor having to deal with Rakeem Christmas, Justise Winslow stepped up.  I swear that Justise Winslow can freeze in midair.  It is amazing to watch.  What is important about this is that even though Duke can't play solid defense on a consistent basis, at least they aren't dependent on a specific offensive methodology.  In the past, Duke has been dependent on the 3-pointer.  I think this year, they are a very diverse offensive team.  They can hit the threes.  They can go into Okafor.  And they have a slasher like Winslow.

Amusing moment of the night -- though it could be less so come March Madness -- Okafor just couldn't hit his free throws.  When he finally made one the crowd erupted and so did his father who was in the audience.

The Mynabirds and Elle Belle at The Satellite

Let's call it a night of magic.  The Mynabirds (Laura Burhenn -- photo to left) hit the stage and her first song had the crowd's attention.  She has that alto vocal nailed.  And it's a touch raspy, yeah.  The place was packed.  In fact, there was a minor disagreement going on beside me.  A couple attempted to get up front.  They got a tap on the shoulder regarding line of vision interference.  Laura Burhenn came to Los Angeles from Omaha, Nebraska.  Their loss. I wonder if she's ever run into Warren Buffett.  

Elle Belle opened up the night.  The lead singer was having a fun time making quips.

Quip #1 (turning to his keyboardist):  You forgot your tambourine?  Oh well, I guess this is a night of forgiveness.

Hmm, I wonder what sort of forgiveness was required earlier in the night.

Quip #2 (talking about a guest singer that had come on stage):  You can look her up on wikipedia to learn more about her . . . that's a lame joke.

Their music takes a frenzied turn as the lead singer shows his passion for their sound.

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Hunny and Mount Saint at Chinatown LA

It was off to celebrate the Chinese New Year's at Chinatown Los Angeles.  This meant catching Hunny and Mount Saint.  Hunny had the young girls cramming the front of the stage.  Their earnest rhythms got one girl feeding the lead singer orange slices.  After their set, I think every girl there got a photo with various band members.  Mount Saint was the main reason I headed down to Chinatown.  I saw them previously at the Bootleg HiFi.  There really is something just mystical in their sound.  Enchanting.  I will admit I found myself at times counting how many times lead singer Brittany tapped her right foot before bringing down the left.

Footnote:  instead of dealing with the traffic, I went with the metro Gold Line.  Of course, I drove to the Gold Line.  Part of me was thinking, "I'm really not doing anything for the environment.  All I'm doing is saving myself the hassle of having to find parking in Chinatown."  Oh well.

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The 9th Annual Dre Day at Dragonfly

I missed last year's Pu$$y Cow (photo to the left) hosted Dre Day.  I had a serious cold at the time.  There was no missing this one.  It was a fun time starting from the moment I got to the club.  The door guy was very friendly.  Then I went inside to pay the entrance fee to the ticket guy.  A third guy was working the event and as I turned to head inside the Dragonfly, he blocked my way.  He kept nodding his head towards the ticket guy.  I was wondering if I was supposed to get a hand stamp or wrist band.  I turned to the ticket guy, but he didn't seem to know what was going on either.  So I turned back to the third guy and he kept nodding his head towards the ticket guy.  Finally, frustrated with me, he said, "You said you wanted to buy a ticket and so what do you do next?"  I was in total confusion.  Was it customary to say "Thank you" at the Dragonfly?  ". . . you are supposed to give him $10."  I looked at him, thinking, "What?"  The ticket guy responded, "He already gave me the money."  The third guy said, "Oh, I didn't see that."  The ticket guy responded, "He was on top of things."  We shared a laugh.

Now I have to admit that ever since the Blue Star shut down that my music venue choices have basically been reduced to The Satellite, Silverlake Lounge and Bootleg HiFi.  So what was so great about Dre Day wasn't just the celebration, but catching bands that I haven't come across.

The first thing I noticed was the hyper-energy emanating from the bands.  Be it Jen from Payoff
playing that guitar from every possible bodily angle or Patrick from Lysolgang leaping to the ceiling or Pu$$y Cow throwing a party celebration and let's not forget Johnny Madcap and The Distractions keeping the crowd going in a post-midnight nightcap.  (I'm not saying you don't see similar hyper-energy sets at my recent favorite venues, but I say there is a 50-50 chance you'll see a more laid back approach.)  

Is it appropriate to say that Jen has Gwen Stefani vibes?  Lysolgang was by far the most fun for this photographer.  As for Pu$$y Cow, I've been very derelict.  How can one go close to 2 years without seeing a favorite KorK band?  Excuses aren't relevant.  They left a lovely mess on the Dragonfly floor.  Johnny Madcap and The Distractions ripped down with passion a sheet that revealed a marijuana leaf in front of the American flag.

Noticed:  all four bands had female guests musicians.

Brief encounters.  I was approached by one young woman (speculation being that she'd gotten in via a fake I.D.) who insisted that I keep photographing the bands.  Hey, I took over 300 photos :-).  I had a brief conversation with someone who was embarrassed by the fact that she had gone to the wrong bar and that all her friends were elsewhere.  Hmm.  She wasn't leaving, so she must have been enjoying herself.      


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Duke Basketball vs Clemson: 78 - 56

Jahlil Okafor sat out due to his ankle sprain, but that didn't stop Duke.  This game was competitive for 13 minutes and then Duke just pulled ahead.  Sure, Duke had a short lapse in the 2nd half, but that didn't last long.

What did I like about this game?

1.  I loved how the minutes were spread around.  No one on the 7 player rotation played less than 16 minutes.

2.  I loved the passing in this game.  There was one half court series that ended in a 3 pointer by Quinn Cook.  The ball went from Quinn Cook to Matt Jones to Tyus Jones to Justise Winslow and back to Quinn Cook for the shot.  That whole passing play must have happened in less than 5 seconds.  I wonder how Clemson felt seeing that ball getting moved around the court like that.

3.  How about them playing full court press for most of the game?  They've got to have some tired legs today.  Clemson really didn't know how to handle it.  Sure Duke had 10 turnovers versus 14 by Clemson so the stat sheets may not indicate that the full court press was causing turnovers, but it sure felt like those 14 turnovers occurred while Duke was in the middle of a scoring spurt.

4.  One has to love the play of Grayson Allen.  With Rasheed Sulaimon no longer with Duke, Grayson had to step up.  From the games I've watched, he surely has.

A Movie Review: Holiday (1938)

Holiday.  Johnny Case is off to meet his soon to be fiance, Julia Seton, at her family house.  They only recently met and decided to rush to the wedding alter.  The two of them plan to tell her father that they're getting married.  Johnny is in for one big surprise.  He doesn't realize that Julia Seton's father is a major Wall Street titan.  Johnny himself works for a Wall Street firm, but is much lower down the ranks.  While at the house, we also meet up with Julia's siblings, Linda and Ned.  Julia's father is skeptical of the marriage, but gives his blessing once he realizes that Johnny is a hard working young man and a perfect fit for his firm.  A problem arises.  A deal Johnny is working on makes it big, meaning that Johnny is about to become semi-wealthy.  That might not seem like a problem; however, Johnny's goal in life was to work hard, make a nice nest egg and then go on a long personal holiday to find himself.  Once he reveals this desire, it doesn't sit well with Julia nor her father.  On the other hand, Julia's sister Linda finds this very intriguing.  It doesn't take long for one to realize that Johnny and Linda are a far better matched than Johnny and Julia.

I started watching this 1938 film and within minutes I came to the conclusion that The Family Stone (a 2005 movie) is simply a remake of Holiday.  I did a quick Internet search and I'm not sure if any critics mentioned this fact.  In Holiday, we have Julia Seton (Doris Nolan) who wants a life of luxury and wishes to marry a Wall Street titan.  In The Family Stone, we have Meredith Morton (Sarah Jessica Parker), a business woman -- okay, I admit that one wants to marry stability while another is a business woman, but we're also talking 1938 vs 2005.  In Holiday, we have Julia's sister, Linda Seton (Katharine Hepburn).  She wants adventure.  In The Family Stone, we have Meredith's sister, Julie Morton (Claire Danes), who enjoys seeing the unique side of life.  In Holiday, we have Johnny Case (Cary Grant), a business man who wants to make the big deal so that he can spend time finding himself.  In The Family Stone, we have Everett Stone (Dermot Mulroney) who is a button down corporate type who dreams of living a more carefree life.  Both movies take place over the holidays.  Both movies involve meeting one set of parent(s). Both movies essentially end with the same results.

The question is:  which is the better movie?  Holiday by far.  I enjoyed The Family Stone; however, I did have some problems with the movie.  I thought the Meredith Morton character was not well defined.  I also had a problem with the sibling swapping.  In Holiday, there is a similar swap, but The Family Stone takes it a step further and in Holiday we understand that Johnny and Julia decided to get engaged within days of meeting.  The fact that Johnny might find more in common with the sister doesn't feel like a stretch.  As I mentioned when reviewing The Family Stone, it does have one huge plus, which is whenever Claire Danes comes on screen.  Holiday on the other hand has plenty of laughs.  The characters are all well defined.  And there are some wonderful moments in the playroom.

Noticed:  there is a Nazi salute given.  One article I read states that the salute indicates an anti-wealth opinion.  Of course, I couldn't help notice that the couple that receives the salute has a vague  resemblance to Hitler and Eva Braun.  So I wonder if this was a pre-WWII anti-Nazi protest.  

Duke Basketball vs. North Carolina: 92 - 90

I got home and about 8 minutes had gone by in the game.  It looked like Duke was taking it to Carolina.  This being a rivalry game that only lasted so long.  Carolina slowly pulled closer.  Then a crowd silencing event happened:  Jahlil Okafor went down with what looked like a really bad ankle sprain.  This was a chance for Carolina to perhaps take the lead going into halftime, but Duke drilled a couple threes and was able to hold on to a 49 - 42 halftime lead.

From about the 2 minute mark in the 1st half until the 3:22 mark in the 2nd half, Carolina had total control of the game.  With 3:22 left in the game, Carolina was up 77 - 67.  Now a lot of that appeared to be due to Okafor's play on the court.  Though he had to leave the court for awhile after twisting his ankle, he soon returned; however, it just didn't seem like he was moving very smoothly.  In fact, with him not playing all that great, the rest of the team seemed to stall out, which resulted in Carolina building a significant lead.  It really looked like this wasn't going to turn out well for Duke -- even Jabari Parker (who was at the game) admitted as much during an after game interview.  

But then the game turned, perhaps driven by Okafor's ankle loosening up.  In fact, maybe it was a good idea that Okafor played the whole second half instead of heading to the bench when he was looking like a liability.  If he'd left the game, his ankle would have stiffened up.  I'm sure at this very moment of this blog post going up that his ankle is packed in ice.  Duke started to make a run and Carolina didn't seem to do what had gotten them the ten point lead, which was driving the ball into the lane -- which maybe once again was due to Okafor's ankle feeling better.  Instead, Carolina settled for shots from the outside.  J.P. Tokoto is a prime example.  He was scoring up a storm near the rim, but his last shot of the 2nd half was a jumper.

How else could this rivalry game end, but in overtime.  Carolina took a brief lead in overtime, but then Duke powered through to win by two.  They would have won by more, I think, but they had trouble hitting their free throws -- potentially due to exhaustion.

Though this game did go into overtime and the game was only won by two points, I don't think this was one of the more exciting Duke-Carolina games ever.  My issue is that Duke basically seemed to disappear for nearly half the game -- once again perhaps driven by Okafor's injury.  Just by how I was seeing the flow of the game, I think Duke would have won easily if Okafor hadn't had that fall.

Interesting note:  I watched a little of the post game.  One of the ESPN anchors who was doing SportsCenter from Cameron was as close to nirvana as one can get.  All Duke coaches need to do when talking to new recruits is show the first couple minutes of that anchor's time on ESPN and how he was on Cloud 9 regarding his experience in Cameron.  

Interesting note 2:  I noticed how Coach K took his last time outs in the 2nd half and overtime with about 1:30 left.  I wonder if he did this to give his guys a breather before pushing through the remaining time.

Kid Cadaver/Waterbed/Scavenger Hunt at Bootleg HiFi

It was a fun night at Bootleg HiFi.  Kid Cadaver hit the stage first with a slew of fans in the audience.  Their electronic beats immediate hook you.  The drummer is amazingly fun to watch, his hair flies to the beat of his drums.  This was San Fernando Valley's night.  On their Facebook page, Kid Cadaver claims San Fernando Valley as their hometown.  The next band up, Waterbed came in from Tarzana.  Their music reminded me of a pleasant child's dream.  Towards the end of their set, I noticed lead singer Cat switching shoes.  I was thinking, why is she doing that?  Well, she was putting on tap shoes to do a little tap dancing.  The residency band for the month of February is Scavenger Hunt (photo to the left).  I learned another useful function of duct tape while the band was setting up for their set.  A roll of duct tape is of the circular dimensions to fit a cup of beer most perfectly.  On to the music, Scavenger Hunt just wants you to enjoy life.  If one is feeling glum, one only has to listen to Scavenger Hunt and a smile will cross those lips.

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A Movie Review: Ivanhoe

This movie revolves around the struggles of returning King Richard to the throne of England.  King Richard is being held captive in Austria.  His brother Prince John refuses to pay the ransom.  Prince John goes even further.  He does not inform anyone of this demand and instead uses the moment as an attempt to seize the throne.  Meanwhile, the movie focuses in on Ivanhoe (Robert Taylor) who is in search of King Richard.  He locates him in Austria and learns that a ransom needs to be paid.  He returns to England, working with Locksley/Robin Hood (Harold Warrender) and Issac/a Jewish banker (Felix Aylmer) to put roadblocks in the way of Prince John and to raise the necessary ransom.

I remember seeing this movie when I was a kid and just loving it.  And this time around, I just found it a bit boring.  I guess when I was young, I was drawn in by the gallant Ivanhoe, protecting and being protected by beautiful women who both loved him.  Now I see it and I can't believe that Ivanhoe would choose  Rowena (Joan Fontaine) over Rebecca (Elizabeth Taylor).  Come on, Joan Fontaine over a young Elizabeth Taylor?

And the boring part?  The movie just seems to revolve around Ivanhoe being moved from one location to another.  He is wounded in a joust tournament.  He is carted off where he is put under the care of Rebecca.  Prince John's men come to the conclusion that Ivanhoe is up to something.  Ivanhoe's allies learn of this plot and take him into the woods.  When his father is captured, he surrenders himself.  Okay, all very gallant of him, but I found it boring.  

And then there are just too many silly or unlikely moments in the movie.  For example, Ivanhoe just randomly stops right under the window of King Richard's jail cells.  Or, Ivanhoe is able to attend a court proceeding when many of his sworn enemies are also in the court and no one recognizes him until he official makes his presence known.  (Admittedly, the sword fights and various battle scenes look laughable, but that is a special effects situation.)

The movie does attempt to make a progressive argument as it addresses the outcast status of Jews in England, which I suppose could be seen as addresses social issues in America.



 

Duke Basketball vs Syracuse: 80 - 72

This was an all Duke game.  Wait, what do I mean by this when Syracuse was up by 11 with 3:10 left in the first half?  The major reason Syracuse was up was due to the fact that former Duke guard Michael Gbinije was hitting everything.  He'd just walk up the court and sink it in from beyond the arc.  He had 19 points in the first half.  After Gbinije made his point, Duke got things under control by raining threes, as well.  Quinn Cook, Justise Winslow and Matt Jones all hit threes in the final minutes of the first half.  The half ended with Duke down just by 3, 36 - 39.

Even though Duke eventually went on to win by 12, it never felt like Duke really had the game fully in hand.  Syracuse kept it competitive.  Gbinije was held in check, but other Syracuse players stepped up.

Unfortunately, for Syracuse they have a really short bench this year.  They went 8 deep according to the box score, but one of those players only played 2 minutes.  Everyone talks about Duke having a short bench, which is true, but even with Rasheed Sulaimon gone Duke is still going with an 8 player rotation.  In past seasons, Duke has played only 7 deep so I say going 8 deep for Duke indicates a rather deep bench.

          

Little Dove/Town in the City/Young Creatures at Silverlake Lounge

Little Dove (see picture to left) is a two piece band that had me thinking Pat Benatar.  I love the contraption that the drummer uses that I'm rather sure he constructed himself.  After the rock guitar rhythms of Little Dove, on came Town in the City.  With their violinist, I couldn't help but think early Local Natives when they had a violinist.  I just loved the harmonies of this band.  Young Creatures has this casual and yet earnest sound with lyrics that makes you ponder.


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Hearty Har/Banta at The Satellite

Hearty Har.  At times, this band reminded me of a Kiss or Kill Club band called The New Fidelity.  Hearty Har has a 60s/70s sound.  They do mix it up.  Sometimes hitting the psychedelic.  Other times, going with the folk.  You won't get bored as this band travels of gamut of music genres.

My amusing notice (or what I consider amusing):  So they have 2 guitarist and a bassist.  The 2 guitarist have large pedal boards.  I was half wondering if they used all the various pedals.  Then you have the bassist who had only two pedals.

Banta.  This band drives off the wonderful vocals of Sharaya Mikael.  Their music also creates this urge to dance -- not in a club style, but one where you're having fun with your friends out on the beach.

Notice:  They had a friend using an old school overhead light projector.  On the base, two glass plates were placed atop the base.  Different liquid colors were squirted into the two glasses, which made for some mood images across the stage wall.

    

  



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Santa Anita Park: San Antonio Invitational and Robert B. Lewis Stakes

On a slightly overcast and sometimes rainy day, it was off to Santa Anita Park to catch the California Chrome vs Shared Belief battle in the San Antonio Invitational with a Grade 2 rating that was by default upgraded to Grade 1.

There seemed to be a buzz in the air.  Partially driven by my own excitement, but also by the atmosphere of Santa Anita.  Parking attendants were out early directing traffic, not something I usually see.  Fox Sports had their media vans in place.  Food vendors were out selling kettle corn.  And you could hear the discussions between individuals debating California Chrome vs Shared Belief.

Come 4:00 p.m.-ish, the crowd around the walking ring to greet California Chrome (Victor Espinoza/Art Sherman) and Shared Belief (Mike Smith/Jerry Hollendorfer) was four or five deep in certain areas.  Some individuals could be seen standing atop the benches so that they could get a better view.  Purple dotted the crowd.  There was definitely a fan desire for California Chrome to win.  And yet, the betting crowd (which is largely the same crowd) was for Shared Belief.  Well, I think bettors have a brain and a heart.  The heart desires one thing, but the brain tells you another.  From my viewpoint at the walking ring, Shared Belief looked better than California Chrome.  Maybe this isn't the most accurate betting clue out there, but California Chrome was foaming at the mouth while walking the ring.  I consider this a negative sign.  I have this grading system for when a horse is foaming at the mouth:  1/2/3.  Three is when there is just a layer of white foam around the mouth, which doesn't impact my betting.  One is when the horse is just dripping foam and if my horse is in category 1, I'll change my bet.  California Chrome was a two in my book.  That tipped my hand towards Shared Belief and off I went to bet a $1 exacta:  5-8.  Would I have gladly traded losing a $1 to see California Chrome win?  Most definite, but my brain just told me to go in a different direction.

The race started and the speed horse Alfa Bird took the lead in the first turn with California Chrome and Shared Belief going 2 and 3 wide.  Both California Chrome and Shared Belief were in their perfect spots tucked behind Alfa Bird.  The order and distance between the 3 horses basically stayed the same throughout the backstretch.  Then at the start of the 2nd turn, California Chrome started to pick it up.  By the middle of the turn, California Chrome had shot pass Alfa Bird and Shared Belief followed.  Not to be forgotten in all of this was Bob Baffert's Hoppertunity (Martin Garcia) who briefly challenged for perhaps 2 strides and then gave up the chase.   This was the only challenge for California Chrome and Shared Belief.  The crowd was treated to what it wanted, a 2 horse dual without any interference from the other horses.  The crowd noise grew as California Chrome pulled away and then there was anxiety as Shared Belief gathered and eventually pulled ahead for the win.  Shared Belief went on to a 1.5 length win though Espinoza did appear to put away the whip at the end as it became obvious that victory wasn't to be.  

In a grand moment, Mike Smith took Shared Belief to the front of the grand stands and gave a fist pump.  Why not, it was a brilliant race by Shared Belief.

Is Shared Belief the better horse?  It sure appears so.  I love California Chrome, but I just don't think the Chrome has much of a kick in the final stretch.  To me, California Chrome is a horse who can get a burst of early speed in order to get his position.  He can then kick it in the turn to get up front at the start of the stretch, but when it comes to the final stretch I'm not sure he can kick it up another notch as he's already done so twice already.  To me, California Chrome needs to secure a 3-ish length lead at the start of the stretch to win.  If he leads by less and another horse has that ability to kick it in the final furlong, he isn't going to keep his lead.  On the other hand, at least among U.S. racing horses, I suspect there are only a handful of horses who can challenge California Chrome.  Hoppertunity is obviously not one of those horses.

The San Antonio Invitational wasn't the only major stakes race of the day.  There was also the Robert B. Lewis race featuring Dortmund (Bob Baffert/Martin Garcia) and Firing Line (Simon Callaghan/Gary Stevens).  This was a two horse race for Kentucky Derby points.  Both had previously met in a thrilling Los Alamitos Futurity race with Dortmund winning by a nose.  In the Futurity, Firing Line was in front of Dortmund and got chased down at the wire.  In the Robert B. Lewis, Dortmund went ahead of Firing Line.  Tizcano (Peter Miller/Martin Pedroza) did go to the front, but that only lasted for a bit.  By the time the final turn arrived, Tizcano was drifting back and it was a Dortmund/Firing Line race.  At the start of the stretch, Firing Line took the lead and it looked like he was going to win it going away, but Dortmund gathered and won by a neck. 

For my betting, I went with Firing Line.  At the Los Alamitos Futurity, they both carried the same weight and went for a thrilling finish.  For the Robert B. Lewis, Dortmund was carrying 5 pounds over.  I figured that Firing Line would gain an advantage.  Oh well, Dortmund was a beast.  Here's hoping Firing Line does earn enough points to get into the Kentucky Derby.  After two duals with Dortmund, he deserves a shot at winning the Kentucky Derby.  There shouldn't be any shame coming up a neck short in two races to a horse that is definitely getting invited to the Kentucky Derby.

There were a number of other awesome races at Santa Anita at the lower levels.  Race 6 was awesome with 68:1 odds Solid Wager edging Logan's Moon.  Also, in race 4, Battle of Evermore broke the maiden in a tight downhill race against first time starter Young and Hungry.

Duke Basketball vs Notre Dame: 90 - 60

Notre Dame hit the first two buckets in the game for a quick 6 - 0 lead.  That was the high point of the game for Notre Dame.  From there, Duke took it to Notre Dame.  Actually, it initially felt more like Justise Winslow took it to Notre Dame.  The highlight wasn't a score, but a massive block by Winslow.  (In the second half, Grayson Allen also had a big time block, which was probably more impressive.)  Jahlil Okafor got two quick fouls with Duke up 17 - 9 with 12 minutes left to play in the half.  At that point, you'd think that Notre Dame might close the gap and force Duke to gamble on putting Okafor back into the game and potentially picking up a 3rd foul before the half.  That wasn't going to happen.  The torch was passed from Winslow to Matt Jones who hit 2 3-pointers and sunk a pair of free throws within a minute.  Duke just continued to pull away, leading 50 - 24 at the break.  Essentially, game over at that point.  If I recall correctly, the announcers were calling it game over within minutes of the 2nd half.  

As for Duke's much maligned defense, other than perhaps 3 defensive rotation problems during the game, their defense was smothering.

It really felt like the Duke team of the early season was back.

A Movie Review: Philomena

Philomena. Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan) has just been fired from his Labour Party job in the UK.  He's depressed and is considering writing a book on Russian history.  He goes to a party where a young waitress approaches him, Jane (Anna Maxwell Martin).  Jane's mother, Philomena (Judi Dench), has just revealed some information to her.  As a young teen (1951), Philomena got pregnant.  She was sent to Sean Ross Abbey in Ireland where she had her child.  The child named Anthony was then given up for adoption to a wealthy American couple.  Jane asks if Martin will assist in tracking down Anthony.

Martin initially declines, but then has a change of heart.  Philomena and Martin being digging into the whereabouts of Anthony.  The nuns at the Abbey are not very helpful, but then via some fortunate luck they are led in the direction of America.

This is based on true life events.  As in all true life events movies, it is always helpful to read up on the accuracy of the film, which one can do via this link. Over-all, this is an unfortunate story told in a compelling way.  Steve Coogan as the somewhat arrogant, focus driven journalist and Judi Dench as the unsophisticated mother give wonderful performances.  The movie doesn't spare any punches towards the Irish Catholic church though at least via the link the modern Sean Ross Abbey isn't portrayed properly.

For a movie that deals with tension, I will admit there isn't much tension to the movie.  Yes, there is supposed to be an emotional wallop that hits, but to me all the potential outcomes are already played out via Philomena's concerns.  And you already know that they'll eventually locate Anthony, because why else would you make a movie about this topic if there wasn't a payoff of sorts.  Even with that complaint, it is still well worth watching this movie.

Duke Basketball vs. Virginia: 69 - 63

This was the game after Rasheed Sulaimon became the first player ever kicked off a Mike Krzhzewski Duke team.  I personally always had a soft spot for Rasheed Sulaimon as I have fond memories of his freshman year.  So how would the team respond against the #2 ranked team?  They responded just fine.  Duke jumped out to a quick lead, but Virginia slowly pulled closer and the 1st half ended 26 - 25.  What I found interesting was how Duke was able to drive the basket.  Last year, Virginia's defense looked really stingy against Duke, but in the 1st half Duke seemed to breakdown that defense with ease.  That speaks more to Duke's offensive abilities versus Virginia's defensive demise as in the last two games Virginia held their opponents to 28 and 47.  What was concerning in the 1st half was that Duke wasn't able to hit a 3 pointer and Jahlil Okafor was having turnover problems.

The second half hit and Duke's offense stalled out.  At the 9:15 mark, Duke was down 47 - 37.  Around this time, one of the announcers mentioned that being down 10/11 points to Virginia was more like being down 19.  Well, Duke's offense finally started to heat up.  Okafor's turnover problems ended and he started to score.  Three point shots started to fall.  Duke finally took the lead with 1:20 left in the game.  Then Virginia had a bad offensive series that took up 34 seconds.  Duke got the ball back with 0:46 seconds left.  Virginia decided not to foul and with the clock running down, Tyus Jones hit a 3 pointer with 11 seconds left.  That provided Duke with a  6 point lead and so Virginia was dealt their first loss of the season.

Potential major future concern as Duke has lost 2 players this season: with 8 scholarship players left, one has to be concerned about how the team can appropriately prepare for opponents in practice.