Archive for August 1st, 2004

Watching Rocky IV again, I noticed something. Rocky and Adrian are suposed to have been married for about 9 years. That’s true in real time, but in movie time that can’t be right. When Apollo fights Drago, the announcer says that Apollo hasn’t fought in 5 years. Rocky and Adrian got married right before Apollo did his in-ring retirement and sat down at the count of 9. Even Rocky Jr. is about 5 years old. Of course, Rocky was suffering from early brain damage…

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I wonder what Clubber Lang is up to these days.

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I asked this before, but maybe somebody who reads now wasn’t looking back then…
Watching Rocky IV for the Nth time (150th? 200th?) looking at the scene before Apollo fights Drago and the question just came to me: what would a relationship between Adrian and Apollo have been like? Because on the one hand, there’s Adrian, who’s all low-key and mousy, where Apollo is all outgoing and mouthy. I think it would be interesting. And that’s before you include any racial elements.

Part of the dynamic between Adrian and Rocky was the fact that neither of them had anything. Like Rocky explained to Paulie, they each had gaps. Rocky’s main gap was his lack of intelligence. That was certainly not Apollo’s problem. He was by far the smartest man in all the movies in which he appeared (although definitely not the wisest). In saying that, I’m not sure what would have held Apollo and Adrian together, but I think it would be interesting to see how those two would bounce off each other.

Any opinions?

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Also, when I have a reason to write it, I’m gonna break down the reason why Rocky is probably one of the best cinematic love stories ever.

I really don’t do baseball, but tomorrow is August 2, my late grandfather’s birthday. To commemorate, I’m saddling up with his favorite team, the Cubs. I remember many a summer evening spent in the TV room spent watching the Ryne Sandberg-Leon Durham-Lee Smith Cubs. When they lost, he would always mutter, “Old sorry Cubs.” Then in 1984, they won the NL East Pennant. I didn’t know who was happier, Grampaw or Harry Caray. At any rate, for the next two months, or however long they play, I’ll be representing the Cubs.

Feeling nostalgic, I’m looking at some old footage of Tyson. While there aren’t enough drugs and alcohol in the world to make me say Tyson was better than Ali, I will say that none of Ali’s hits will have me up dancing in circles like Tyson’s. He was a steamroller; a rhinocerous. He used to literally knock guys silly. One of his victims was laying on the canvas talking about, “Dude, where’s my brain?”

*cues Archie and Edith*

Those were the days.