Following Elena Dementieva By Remote Control

Elena Dementieva and I have never met. We’ve been just feet apart, at the Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament in New Haven. I had just gotten my Canon and was anxious to take some sports photos. I had a press pass already, so what the heck!

Elena is strikingly blond and tall and lean. You catch a glimpse of whatever it is that passes for underwear as her tennis outfit rides up while she lunges after shots.

I was very pleased with the shots I took and put them in my photo gallery. They sat there until Google started crawling through, finding my pictures and their captions. All of a sudden I was on the first page of Google’s images results! In fact, my shot is now on the top line.

Whenever Elena does well, I do well. I woke up this (late) morning to find nearly 2,000 page reads on my site. That’s more than I usually get in a full day – certainly many more than I expect to see on the 4th of July.

I didn’t have to think twice. I knew she had to be in late contention in a tennis tournament. In this case it was Wimbledon. Elena made the round of 8 before being defeated by Maria Sharapova.

By tomorrow, my Elena Dementieva traffic will be gone, only to reappear when she gets hot the next time. Meanwhile, that one photo of mine has been seen 29,000 times! I can’t even imagine what would happen to this site if she won a major.

Anchorman – The Movie

Helaine, Steffie and I went to see Anchorman – The Legend of Ron Burgundy tonight in North Haven. It was enjoyable – though this is certainly no Oscar contender.

I thought I already knew the story, yet it was different. I was unhappy with Christina Applegate’s character, who falls into bed with Ron much too easily. Actually, I was unhappy with the story in general, which is the weakest link here.

Before I go on, let me answer the most asked question. Do I know any anchor like Ron Burgundy? Superficial anchors? Sure. Superficial and dumb? No. I’m not saying Ron Burgundy types don’t exist. I just haven’t run into them yet.

There were loads of Saturday Night Live cast members in this movie, and by and large they were under used. I’m a big Fred Armisen fan, but his part (similar to a character he plays on SNL) was pretty weak. Same goes for Chris Parnell, playing Fred Willard’s constant companion/lackey.

No one plays Fred Willard better than Fred does.

If you’ve seen Will Ferrell on any of the commercials or interviews, you know what he’s all about. This character is one dimensional.

The biggest standout was Steve Carrel, from the Daily Show, as the imbecilic weatherman. He actually didn’t do anything remotely connected with the weather, so I’m still safe from comparisons. His dead pan characterization of a guy who just doesn’t get anything is priceless. Very impressive.

Also excellent was Jack Black, in a cameo as a biker who drop kicks Ron’s dog off a highway bridge! The dog, Baxter, wasn’t too shabby either, and since he saves the day in the end, Helaine and Steffie were thrilled.

Interestingly, one of the most previewed scenes, where Ron slaps the tush of a woman who then exclaims, “Mr. Burgundy,” wasn’t in the movie.

We sat near the back of the theater, but not far enough back. A group of teens behind us kept up a running commentary, while keeping time with their feet on our seat backs.

There were two enticing coming attractions. One “Mr. 3000” with Bernie Mac looks very funny. The other, “Wimbledon,” credited to the Bridget Jones production team, looks like a fun date movie/chick flick.