San Antonio is about to be thrown a curveball. Boom Ball, a new touring league delivering a twist on America’s pastime, will bring trick plays, crowd shenanigans, and reality-TV stars to Nelson W. Wolff Municipal Stadium on August 29.
Yes, the whole thing sounds like Banana Ball, the viral baseball phenomenon that has already made a couple of stops at Wolff. But there are a few differences. For one, the league is co-ed. And the teams aren’t just made up of collegiate and minor-league players. Reality personalities like Big Brother’s Zach Cornell and Rylie Jeffries sometimes show up for a few innings.
There also seems to be fewer of the Magic Mike-ish dance breaks that the Savannah Bananas have made their stock in trade. But spectators will be treated to back flips, speed innings, home run derbies, fireworks, and light shows.
The San Antonio leg of the tour will have six innings in a tight, two-hour event featuring the Lucky Llamas and the Chaos Crew. The two teams are thus far the only ones in the league, so presumably they’ve built up a healthy rivalry.
Tickets start at $25 and go up to $150. Through a new partnership with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, the league is also offering charitable passes that include an exclusive post-game on-field experience and a $20 donation.
"We are thrilled to welcome Boom Ball to Wolff Stadium," said San Antonio Missions General Manager David Gasaway in a release. "High-energy baseball for the whole family is something we cherish and are proud to support."
Nathan Fielder and Elizabeth Holmes in You Can See Everything.
Elizabeth Holmes faced one of the most public downfalls in recent history after she was accused of defrauding investors in her health technology company, Theranos. Her subsequent indictment and conviction drew the interest of many, including, it seems, comedian/actor/filmmaker Nathan Fielder. Fielder somehow convinced Holmes and her husband, Billy Evans, to make a documentary about her final days of freedom, called You Can See Everything.
It’s not immediately clear why Fielder — who only has one previous feature-length documentary to his credit — is interested in profiling Holmes, but the approach that he and co-director Lance Oppenheim (Primetime) take is one that puts Fielder in the spotlight as much as her or Evans. Fielder looms over the couple — sometimes literally, sometimes from afar — as they care for their children, make meals, try to re-establish business relationships, and prepare for Holmes’ prison sentence, which is due to start about a month after the film begins in 2023.
Fielder quizzes Holmes and Evans about predictable subjects — such as how Theranos worked, her relationship with COO Sunny Balwani, and her conviction — and ones that are slightly off-kilter, including the miniseries The Dropout, which dramatized Holmes’ rise and fall. He is met with seeming openness by both of them — the title of the movie is uttered by Holmes at one point — but there are times when their idea of transparency doesn’t jibe with Fielder’s expectations.
Through it all, the quirky reputation that Fielder has from TV shows like Nathan for You, The Curse, and The Rehearsal colors his participation, as well. He appears sincere, if surprisingly intense, in his questioning, but there are more than a few moments where it’s fair to wonder if the whole thing is an act of performance art. That suspicion grows in the second half of the nearly three-hour film as Fielder and Oppenheim go down roads that stretch the definition of what a documentary is or can be.
The film is utterly fascinating as the filmmakers go on what seems to be a full-on exploration of the meaning of truth. Holmes and Evans, either intentionally or unintentionally, carry on conversations with Fielder with wide-open, unblinking eyes, something that conveys honesty and creepiness in equal measure. Fielder meets them with squinting expressions, looking like he’s trying to determine how candid they’re actually being.
One of the biggest things the film reveals (or does it?) is that — if she’s not a sociopath — Holmes might be someone who’s either oblivious or naive. As cryptic or strange as she can be in words and actions, Evans is even more so, and as the film progresses, his motives and ideas are called into question. Control over the narrative of the film wobbles back-and-forth between Fielder, Holmes, and Evans, and even at the end it’s unclear whose perspective has truly won out.
There is no way to accurately get across what it’s like to watch You Can See Everything for the first time. The motives of everyone involved are up in the air, resulting in a roller coaster ride that’s full of astonishment, laughs, and a number of surprises. It’s an audacious film that can’t be categorized, one that will challenge the thinking of voters when it comes time for awards season.
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You Can See Everything opens in theaters on October 16.
