Six Packs, Movie Review

If a person was ever going to be intimidated by the hard bodies of sport then I would suggest that they not come to the Big Island of Hawaii to spend their hard earned egg money, especially during Ironman week. This time is set aside for Ironman triathletes through out the world to converge on the island and remind it that they will conquer the 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and then top a fun day off with a 26.2 mile run. No folks this is not done over a 7 day period but is done within the confines of the 17 hour maximum cutoff. In the early days they had not formal cut off and the record slowest time is owned by Walk Stack at 27 hours. Of course it is never mentioned that he drank a case of beer and ate burgers and fries during his venture. While his stories are legendary and probably have as much fiction as truth, it is amusing to hear them and be part of this endurance extravaganza. In the early days it was really a laid back affair and the original race director made the comment that this was really a bunch of crazies and she couldn’t figure out why anyone would do such a stupid thing. But it continued to grow into world wide popularity and actually started from a semi drunken discussion between some armed forces(Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard) officers and enlisted men. The discussion turned argumentative relative to who was the best athlete, the swimmer, bicyclist or runner. It was decided by the 12th beer that they would just do all three and whoever finished it would be declared an Ironman(no women allowed at the time). So, that is how it all started and now has been going on for over 30 years. The first time I competed in it I was sure I would never finish it, but just to start it and go as far as possible would be a great thing. Turned out I did finish it within the cutoff and now see why we are called an “Ironman.” What I have noticed over the years is that the athletes have become better trained and their body shape is closer to a gazelle than a man. Their upper body is shaped and molded like a big accordion and their stomaches are not identifiable since the rippled six packs gather all the attention. To add insult to injury these guys and gals have extremely heavily defined muscle groups with the blood veins popping out all over them. Since I have been doing triathlon for the past 27 years I have noticed some similarity to the gazelle bodies; however, I have also noticed that my love handles have moved more forward to the front of my body and have the joined the six packs who have really been reduced, with time, to two packs. So, I have two love handles and two six packs fighting for attention on the front of my body and it is really disturbing. If they would just settle down and enjoy each other it would be much better; however, I notice when I run that they are almost battling each other for position and this affects my running. While I am swimming and biking there is no problem since blubber floats and I am bending over on the bike squashing the dudes flat. While I know it is a noble thing to grow older and the wisdom gained is one to cherish, I just wish that these body parts would go back to their youth and not bother me. I have even gotten to the point that I will probably enlist a strength coach to take charge of these guys and show me how to exercise them back into their normal place on my body. Funny thing is that I am really not intimidated by these hard bodies as much as I don’t like to look in the mirror and see a two pack and two love handles equal a real odd couple. I have been told that there is a remedy for all of this mental pain and torture so I am sure my ego will get around to enlisting this magic muscle worker as soon as I return to the main land. I will also eat more Subway sandwiches since I know after watching their commercials that you can lose lots of weight and add more muscle while eating a 6” sub with whole wheat, turkey, ham, beef, ranch dressing, tomato, onions, peppers, with their side kick potato chips and 12 oz Coke. Yummy, I can see those six packs and love handles doing the two step as they dance off of my stomach.

For you today SH from paradise,

greerman

Movie Review: “Wall Street-Money Never Sleeps”, ****, Well you remember the original where Gordon Gekko, played by Michael Douglas, puts his “greed is good” theme to work and ends up in prison for 8 years. His only sin was he illegally manipulated the Wall Street dudes out of millions of dollars, got caught, was convicted and sent to prison. This new movie starts with his release from prison and his quest to make up for lost time. However, there are other things he wants to take care of, including being reunited with his daughter, but he also finds that Wall Street has changed a lot since spending time in the slammer. While the movie is directed by Oliver Stone I found that the previews of the movie did a great job of misleading us on how the actual movie was going to go. However, it did finally get to the vengeance and new found greed of Gekko and was supported by fine acting from Shia LaBeouf(future son in law Jake, maybe, and current Wall Street young stud), Carey Mulligan(girl friend of Jake, and daughter of Gekko), with a cameo from Charlie Sheen. While Douglas received an Oscar for the original I don’t feel this movie is strong enough for that to happen this go around. It is an entertaining movie and the photography by Oliver Stone movies are always innovative and of the highest quality.