Live Blogging the Oscars (until I get bored)
Oops. I'm late. Good thing I don't actually have live readers. (Not that you're not alive, just, well you know...) I caught the introduction, got excited about Back to the Future and then thought that it was poorly used. I liked the younger dynamic joke, but am unsure about these hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco. Hey, Morgan Freeman! Why isn't he hosting?
Gone with the Wind references and all this mom talk have me missing mine.
8:45 Let the awkward speeches begin.
8:49 First commercial break- affordable fashion with JCPenney, inspiring children with McDonald's, the family angle with Hyundai. Finally, iPad (oops I mean Samsung Tab) is the first one to not hit the "women's Super Bowl" demographic hard.
8:52 Kirk Douglas pulls off that compliment to Anne Hathaway with class.
8:54 Helena Bonham Carter looks great and King's Speech is the only one I saw, but I bet True Grit gets best supporting actress.
8:56Good thing I don't bet. Melissa Leo from The Fighter seems completely shocked, genuine, and just got censored. Yes!
9:01 The hosts seem to be relaxing. Maybe that's not good.
9:02 An app joke? Unimpressed. And are those breast tattoos Mila? I know they aren't and I might still be impressed.
I'm not sure I'm young and hip enough for this Oscars, though.
The problem I'm having here is providing context and a response. I'm starting to doubt my talent as a LiveBlogger. Perhaps, I'd be better off watching with someone else rather than reaching out to the Internet.
9:09 Commercial break: We're going less overtly female this round. Hyundai is back again. So's Samsung Tab; no wait, that's Kindle. I kind of liked the quiet pitch they made. Then came the quiet pitch for Fancy Feast. How in the world does a cat food manage to tie itself into the wedding industrial complex? And does that make sense?
9:15 Aaron Sorkin can write. He just picked up the Screenwriter's Oscar. Seems like an interesting fellow. I'd listen to more but the musical hook is coming to take him away. Still he manages to ask for respect from a guinea pig. Not bad.
Ok. Thanks for reading. I'm through. This isn't doing it for me. I'm not sure how much Oscar I have left in me anyway. Good night and good luck.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
My fountain of youth makes it hard to walk
Decked out in neon green shorts and matching neon emblems on our chest, the Catholic team split in two for the first tournament of the semester. It was mixed, the only one on the schedule this year. We pulled in some alumni help and I strapped on my ankle brace and laced up my cleats. I'd been bothered by a shin splint all week, but at game time the pain was gone. That was a relief.
Dubbed team pretty, we had most of the handlers while the other team was team gawgeous and had most of the cutters. Gawgeous looked fast and explosive, but they were mostly without our star Paul as he's battling an injury. In this one day tourney, Gawgeous would be 2-2 in pool play and end up tied for 3rd overall with a nice performance from a couple rookies and strong leadership from Lemon and John. They had lots of hustle, including the exciting return of Senor Banjo in short spurts.
Team pretty got off to an ugly start. Our throws were off and our cuts just weren't coming. We were quickly and easily dispatched by one of the teams that would reach the championship. Our second game was better, but we still struggled in spurts with throwaways and the little big things like setting up cuts and using good fakes on throws. Pretty was joined by Jim and Kyle and both were big contributors to our success. Jim's forehand huck was our weapon of choice, but he also found some success with his backhand. I had a personal highlight in the second game as universe point rolled around. The other team had the disc on the goal line and was looking to score. I was on the mark and as the thrower released I yelled up just as the disc smacked into my hand. We went on to win the game. It was probably Ben who caught the score, though I don't remember for sure. Ben emerged as our favorite target coming down with lots of scores during the day.
It was fun to see Kyle and his amazing little-guy ups. I'd love to see him with bigger throws. For me as I was cutting deep for him, but also for him because I know he sees the field and reigns it in. Frodo continued to play well. The best part for me is to see him shake off mistakes. He had a couple rough ones: a dropped pull and a dump for a callahan, but he shook them off immediately and got right back to business. We were fighting some injuries on team pretty, but as our numbers dwindled a bit, we seemed to be clicking better.
The women played well. Jess is dominant and fun to watch. She skyed a guy and scored a number of times on up the line cuts with sweet little grabs. She forced a few hucks that worked in our favor too. The crowd loves her and she works hard. My only criticism is that when she meets her equal in speed, she ends up chasing on D. This is my recurring complaint about most of the team this year, so I shouldn't be too hard on her. This was Marian's first tournament and I was excited to see her get a score and a couple catches as a cutter. She's feisty and I get the sense that once she figures the game out she's really going to like it and contribute. I hope that can happen within this semester.
Back to me, it's my blog. The fields were short and the competition sometimes shoddy, but I had a good time. I got frustrated and tired at times, but Ultimate is good. I loved pulling down deep puts from Jim and I felt like my deep puts were having more success than usual. I had one or two bad drops and five or six bad throwaways, but I also had a couple grabs that I'm really proud of. They felt well timed. Overall it was a good day. That's what it's all about. I think because I knew alumni were around and playing, I never let that feeling of not belonging creep in. It's pretty awesome to still be a part of Catholic Ultimate. The drama has been high at times this year, but days like yesterday make that easy to forget. We ended up fifth, dominating a game to 5 as the sun was setting. Thanks, Catholic.
Decked out in neon green shorts and matching neon emblems on our chest, the Catholic team split in two for the first tournament of the semester. It was mixed, the only one on the schedule this year. We pulled in some alumni help and I strapped on my ankle brace and laced up my cleats. I'd been bothered by a shin splint all week, but at game time the pain was gone. That was a relief.
Dubbed team pretty, we had most of the handlers while the other team was team gawgeous and had most of the cutters. Gawgeous looked fast and explosive, but they were mostly without our star Paul as he's battling an injury. In this one day tourney, Gawgeous would be 2-2 in pool play and end up tied for 3rd overall with a nice performance from a couple rookies and strong leadership from Lemon and John. They had lots of hustle, including the exciting return of Senor Banjo in short spurts.
Team pretty got off to an ugly start. Our throws were off and our cuts just weren't coming. We were quickly and easily dispatched by one of the teams that would reach the championship. Our second game was better, but we still struggled in spurts with throwaways and the little big things like setting up cuts and using good fakes on throws. Pretty was joined by Jim and Kyle and both were big contributors to our success. Jim's forehand huck was our weapon of choice, but he also found some success with his backhand. I had a personal highlight in the second game as universe point rolled around. The other team had the disc on the goal line and was looking to score. I was on the mark and as the thrower released I yelled up just as the disc smacked into my hand. We went on to win the game. It was probably Ben who caught the score, though I don't remember for sure. Ben emerged as our favorite target coming down with lots of scores during the day.
It was fun to see Kyle and his amazing little-guy ups. I'd love to see him with bigger throws. For me as I was cutting deep for him, but also for him because I know he sees the field and reigns it in. Frodo continued to play well. The best part for me is to see him shake off mistakes. He had a couple rough ones: a dropped pull and a dump for a callahan, but he shook them off immediately and got right back to business. We were fighting some injuries on team pretty, but as our numbers dwindled a bit, we seemed to be clicking better.
The women played well. Jess is dominant and fun to watch. She skyed a guy and scored a number of times on up the line cuts with sweet little grabs. She forced a few hucks that worked in our favor too. The crowd loves her and she works hard. My only criticism is that when she meets her equal in speed, she ends up chasing on D. This is my recurring complaint about most of the team this year, so I shouldn't be too hard on her. This was Marian's first tournament and I was excited to see her get a score and a couple catches as a cutter. She's feisty and I get the sense that once she figures the game out she's really going to like it and contribute. I hope that can happen within this semester.
Back to me, it's my blog. The fields were short and the competition sometimes shoddy, but I had a good time. I got frustrated and tired at times, but Ultimate is good. I loved pulling down deep puts from Jim and I felt like my deep puts were having more success than usual. I had one or two bad drops and five or six bad throwaways, but I also had a couple grabs that I'm really proud of. They felt well timed. Overall it was a good day. That's what it's all about. I think because I knew alumni were around and playing, I never let that feeling of not belonging creep in. It's pretty awesome to still be a part of Catholic Ultimate. The drama has been high at times this year, but days like yesterday make that easy to forget. We ended up fifth, dominating a game to 5 as the sun was setting. Thanks, Catholic.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
There's music in my pants
Drums are awesome. When I was a kid, I wanted to be in a drum line. The thrill of the bang, a parade, that rhythmic sound like a giant heart beating. BAM, BAM, BAM of the bass, the rat-tat-tat of the snare made me wave my arms and play in my imaginary band. It brought the streets to life. It gave the lines of clowns and shriners a pulsing hop in their step. I wanted to be a drummer.
I don't really remember when that dream went quiet. I think it just slowly leaked away from me. It might have been the inferior quality of my Fisher Price drums or it might have been the value of peace and quiet that my parents subtly instilled. The high cost of a drum set surely played a part, but I was too young to understand that. It could have been that I just went to fewer parades. Do parades in another countries have drum lines? The marching band seems like it could be more American with its size and volume. Maybe I missed some that way.
My memory is fuzzy, but the drums got replaced by another instrument. What it lacked in verve it more than made up in portability. Particularly, my first harmonica, which fit easily in the pocket of a first grader. My first harmonica was a miniature. I could blow through it and then hide it under my tongue. It was a great recess trick. I did worry about choking on it in the event that I was hit by a four-square ball (or more likely in a game of sap), so I was careful to use my trick away from the ball games. It was fine for when I was climbing on the lincoln-log-esque tee-pees or for trying to get the attention of the girls like Candice and Autumn.
I suppose I lost that miniature harmonica. I had a tendency to lose things at that age, especially hats, so to lose an instrument smaller than my finger seems quite likely. I soon replaced the miniature with a beautiful full-sized Hohner Echo in a yellow carrying case. It fit in my pocket, but not under my tongue. The Echo was made in Germany and probably purchased there too. I can't remember picking it out specifically, but I do remember looking through many glass counters at the rows of harmonicas. The rows were full of musical possibility. Possibility that has mostly gone unrealized for me. These days the twenty-something Echo has lost a bit of its shine. The red edges still contrast with the silvery metal, but a bit of rust and twenty some-odd years of boy mouth dust have collected on the front side.
Somewhere along the line, I picked up another harmonica. I think it was a Hohner too. Single hole, in a blue carrying case, possibly a G rather than a C. It shows a little less wear. Sometimes I play these harmonicas, picturing myself in Folsom prison, out on the prairie, or riding the rails. I don't play them well and I don't usually play tunes that are recognizable, but there's something about that metallic sound and its portability that makes me keep them around.
Drums are awesome. When I was a kid, I wanted to be in a drum line. The thrill of the bang, a parade, that rhythmic sound like a giant heart beating. BAM, BAM, BAM of the bass, the rat-tat-tat of the snare made me wave my arms and play in my imaginary band. It brought the streets to life. It gave the lines of clowns and shriners a pulsing hop in their step. I wanted to be a drummer.
I don't really remember when that dream went quiet. I think it just slowly leaked away from me. It might have been the inferior quality of my Fisher Price drums or it might have been the value of peace and quiet that my parents subtly instilled. The high cost of a drum set surely played a part, but I was too young to understand that. It could have been that I just went to fewer parades. Do parades in another countries have drum lines? The marching band seems like it could be more American with its size and volume. Maybe I missed some that way.
My memory is fuzzy, but the drums got replaced by another instrument. What it lacked in verve it more than made up in portability. Particularly, my first harmonica, which fit easily in the pocket of a first grader. My first harmonica was a miniature. I could blow through it and then hide it under my tongue. It was a great recess trick. I did worry about choking on it in the event that I was hit by a four-square ball (or more likely in a game of sap), so I was careful to use my trick away from the ball games. It was fine for when I was climbing on the lincoln-log-esque tee-pees or for trying to get the attention of the girls like Candice and Autumn.
I suppose I lost that miniature harmonica. I had a tendency to lose things at that age, especially hats, so to lose an instrument smaller than my finger seems quite likely. I soon replaced the miniature with a beautiful full-sized Hohner Echo in a yellow carrying case. It fit in my pocket, but not under my tongue. The Echo was made in Germany and probably purchased there too. I can't remember picking it out specifically, but I do remember looking through many glass counters at the rows of harmonicas. The rows were full of musical possibility. Possibility that has mostly gone unrealized for me. These days the twenty-something Echo has lost a bit of its shine. The red edges still contrast with the silvery metal, but a bit of rust and twenty some-odd years of boy mouth dust have collected on the front side.
Somewhere along the line, I picked up another harmonica. I think it was a Hohner too. Single hole, in a blue carrying case, possibly a G rather than a C. It shows a little less wear. Sometimes I play these harmonicas, picturing myself in Folsom prison, out on the prairie, or riding the rails. I don't play them well and I don't usually play tunes that are recognizable, but there's something about that metallic sound and its portability that makes me keep them around.
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