a nice quiet evening

[winterbadger]

 I got home, had a few beers on the porch with my book, cane in when it got too dark to read, fed the cats, made some pasta (enough for dinner and a couple of lunches), and watched A Shot At Glory while I ate it.

I know it's not the best movie in the world, and a lot of Scots footy fans probably can't stand it, but you know what? I don't really care. I love it. It's cheeseball in the hackneyed concept (small-town team takes on the big leagues while formerly great player has to redeem himself in the eyes of peers and family), but it's about football, it's set in Scotland, it has a soundtrack by Mark Knopfler, it has not just a mention but screen time and a speaking role for the only Scottish football referee (that  I know of) ever to officiate in MLS (Hugh Dallas), and an appearance by a band that redactrice saw play llive in Scotland. And did I mention it's set in Scotland? 

I remember Chris and I saw it on 2001 when it came out in a premiere at the Kennedy Center (of all places). It was before we'd been to Scotland together, before I fell in love with the country, before I learned half of the (small amount of) stuff I know about it now. Now I can wince and pick out the three or four widely separated locales that Robery Duvall's "accent" draws on. I can tell just by looking at the little village the film is supposedly based in must be on the east coast because of the way it's harbour seawall is built. I can lust after the tower house that the American owner (played a bit unconvincingly by Michael Keaton) lives in. Since I've been in town after an Old Firm match, I can imagine the possibilities when, halfway through the movie, the former star is in Glasgow and rescues a little kid who's been spray-painting Rangers grafitti before the local Celtic supporters catch him. I can recognise some of the housing estate tower blocks in the background when the star's wife takes him to the Gorbals to remind him where he came from.

But mostly I just bathe my ears in the sound of all the Scots voices. Accents from all over, but all music to my ears. If there's anything that's as beautiful to me as the hills and mountains, the lochs and glens, the fields of grain and the sandy beaches of Scotland, its the voices of her people. I really couldn't say why, but there's no sound that makes me feel quite  the way a Scottish voice does.

 

And, no, I really am quite sober. :-)

Comments

[azbound.livejournal.com]

Dude, you're channeling my mother.

[winterbadger]

I sometimes wonder what would have happened if you and I had ended up together. :-) Your mother would have gone goofy at having another Scot-lover in the family. :-)

[redactrice.livejournal.com]

I remember that movie. But I didn't know that Graeme Pearson did the music! I saw him just a year later, but he never mentioned it. :-)

Was Hugh Dallas the visiting ref who, somewhere in the second or third season, made such a hash with yellow and red cards in the United-Fire game at Soldier Field where the fog was so thick in the first half that you couldn't see the field from the press box? Cause if not, there was another Scottish ref in MLS at one point.

[winterbadger]

I remember that movie. But I didn't know that Graeme Pearson did the music! I saw him just a year later, but he never mentioned it. :-)

Yeah, they play at the team's promotion-celebration party in the middle of the movie and get a mention in the credits. The music for the movie itself was written and performed by Mark Knopfler (Glasgow-born, Newcastle-bred).

Was Hugh Dallas the visiting ref who, somewhere in the second or third season, made such a hash with yellow and red cards in the United-Fire game at Soldier Field where the fog was so thick in the first half that you couldn't see the field from the press box?

I thought it was, but my memory was playing tricks on me. It was Stuard Dougal.

MLS report

CNN/SI report

Soccer Times article with inflammatory remarks by Kevin Payne

I recall Kevin Payne actually getting lured on camera at halftime by (IIRC) Dave Johnson and getting so worked up and abusive that his face was glowing like a forest fire. I think it was the last time he's ever been on camera during a match; he had an absolutely swingeing pile of fines from the league for his language and behavior during the interview. I rather imagine the staff has had orders to keep him away from cameras during the game since then.

In trying to confirm the details, I ran across this *fascinating* article, an op-ed really, by Dallas about reffing Old Firm matches. Amazing insights.

[schizokitty.livejournal.com]

Scots (in its many forms) is the most beautiful accent in the world...even when I can't understand it. I almost swooned when I saw The Lord of the Rings the first time and my favourite character (Pippin!) spoke with that incredible accent. Hell, I could listen with perfect contentment to Billy Boyd reading the phonebook.

[ban-leodhasach.livejournal.com]

OK, I don't get what is so great about the Scots accent!! Have you heard some of the weegie accents - it's like listening to somebody scratching a blackboard.

Now if you liked Irish accents - then I would understand :-)

[winterbadger]

Whereas I know plenty of people (mostly Irish!) who would say "Oh, GOD! Irish accents are AWFUL!"

Chacun a son gout, my dear. It's something totally irrational that I can't even begin to explain. But Scots accents totally sound like "home" to me. Compare that to the native accent of the coastal region of Virginia, where I grew up, is to my ear quite unpleasant ( a nice, old-fashioned uppercrust Richmond accent now, I don't mind at all).