GodsendJen

The Real Losers in the Writer's Strike

2008-02-18T18:18:47.4370000-08:00

The beauty of being a never at home kind of girl is that I often miss out on the real drudge that is prime-time television. But on this very rare Monday night at home I discovered what has to be one of the most painful side-effects of the writer's strike--a reality show called My Dad's Better than Your Dad. Here is the premise...heartwarming children and thier proud papas work as a team to defeat each other in feets of strength, skill and agility. This disaster of a show offers viewers several inspiring reasons to watch.

The earth shattering look of disapointment on a pre-teen's face when they realize dad made a collosal error in judgement in front of all their friends back home.
The look of pained restraint when dad is trying very very very hard not to yell at their kid for not being the best kid performer.
Proof that stereo-types are right. The cross-cultural competitors worked hard to verify all the stereotypes. The Asian team wins the smarts portion. The oversized guy wins the stregnth portion. The rocker/skaterboarder combo looks good but doesn't excell at much of anything.
Evidence that when it comes to quality programming NBC spares no expense. They went all out and bought 4 flat-pack desks from the discount mart, 3 kettle-style grills and navy collarless button up shirt straight from the racks at Goodwill to make sure the host is never ever confused with Jeff Probst.
A couple of windows, a frying pan, a tennis racket and 2 hockey masks to protect the dads from nerf missles.

On a serious note there is something precious about watching the kids berate their dads in their role as sideline "coach." I'm sure you can find clips of this disaster online, but do yourself a favor and just watch an old episode of the Andy Griffith show instead. Opie's "Aw, paw...do I have to" comes much closer to reality than "That's ok dad, you're still the greatest."

When Intelligent Engines Aren't

2007-12-10T07:40:45.6290000-08:00

It is no secret that I'm a Yahoo Music junkie. Some of my favorite artists I've happened upon by clicking on the "Explore Similar..." links. Groups like Cross Canadian Ragweed and singers like Paolo Nutni and Adam Hood. But sometimes these recommendations just don't add up. I was feeling rather spirited and nostalgic today so I pulled up the soundtrack for "A Charlie Brown Christmas." Does anything say childhood Christmas the same way Vince Guaraldi's soundtrack does? (Ok, it was my second choice. Yahoo didn't have Alvin and the Chimpmunks.) But check out the "Similiar Albums" listed with this soundtrack. Yes, I like The Arcade Fire..but how anyone gets from Gauraldi to Neon Bible is beyond me.

Did they say Puck Possesion

2007-10-18T11:07:45.2570000-07:00

In terms of on-ice success the first refreshing phrase I've heard in a while came out of today's pregame skate for the Thrashers, from Micah Hart at the Blueland Blog

Marian Hossa said he expects the team to play with a little more puck possession now and not do as much chasing, but that's about as far as anyone went in terms of discussing what will be different.

Don Waddell addressed the media afterwards as well, and you can listen to the full Q and A here.

Waddell sounded confident that the team could still get on track for this season, and though he may make some changes going forward it appears tonight the lines will stay mostly intact. He did mention, like Hossa did, that they will be attempting to play more of a puck-possession game, so perhaps that will be something that will help get this team off the schneid.

That's right, tonight we might play less dump'n'chase and do that crazy thing where we skate the puck into the zone and maintain possession. So far Kovy and Enstrom are the only players who've been willing to skate in with the puck, but I'm excited to see what happens when everyone else starts doing this as well. My only concern is that dump'n'chase could be a hard habbit for the vets to break. But who knows, maybe there is a patch to cure that.

The Water is Really that Blue in the Bahamas

2007-10-07T19:52:05.1910000-07:00

I've been a bit busy for posting lately. But I have gotten around to uploading some photos from my cruise.

Karma is a Four Letter Word

2007-08-27T06:31:06.2090000-07:00

Some lessons are learned the hard way, others are learned the hard and bloody way. The photo doesn't do it justice, but I sustained my first bloody in-game injury a mere week after being so blithely stupid as to make fun of my klutzy non-game injuries. My glove and stick got in the way of a slap-shot and even through the monstrous finger padding of a hockey glove the puck managed to split the tip of my finger, turning it black and causing it to spew blood all over the previously white palm of my gloves. Amazingly I didn't break a nail.

Hockey Bruises

2007-08-18T08:34:13.4750000-07:00

An expected side effect of my great hockey experiment is the ~~occasional~~ ever-present bruising. Last night I cataloged yet another of these little joys. Typically these bruises show up after 3 on3 games when someone else can't stop and consequently hits me--in the beginner league this is frequent--or when I fall because I get tangled up with someone's stick while fighting for a puck. (Note, this also happens in the beginner league. In the other league everyone else just takes the puck and leaves me in their snow.) However this bruise is part of a disturbing new trend--bruises I get for being a klutz. It seams a new one of these may arrive after every Rec-League game. Last week I had one from the most comedic part of my game--trying to go over the wall on my way to the ice for a shift change. But last night I rose to a new height. The bruise you see here I got because I fell...while stretching before the game. I guess I'm just the kind of uncoordinated bafoon that can fall stretching. It didn't photograph well, but I'm particularly impressed with the solid deep purple line at the top of this bruise. That line corresponds with the end of the side-padding in my breezers. Without padding I believe I'd either have avoided a bruise altogether, or I'd have one twice this size.

Those Cobra Kais Didn't Age So Well

2007-08-06T08:21:28.0900000-07:00

It's always fun when pop-culture recylces itself. I grew up watching The Karate Kid over and over on video tape. An upbeat soundtrack, classic good vs. evil storyline and cute boys...what more could a pre-teen girl want? Skinny little Daniel was a great hero, but we all secretly wanted bad-boy Johnny with his perfect hair and glistening muscels. My how times change. The Phat Phree dug up a video from the group No More Kings called Sweep the Leg Johnny. Mr. Belding has stepped into Mr. Miyagi's tiny shoes but Cobra Kais all showed up to play themselves. You can see for yourself that Johnny and the boys were much hotter in highschool. On the other hand, Kreese and Daniel haven't changed that much.

A Day in the Life of a Hostess

2007-07-06T05:59:05.5870000-07:00

At work I usually refocus by taking a few minutes to read random internet writings to clear my mind. Often I read about sports, but occasionally I end up reading the chronicles of expats who are living overseas. I find their stories of adjusting to life in a different culture fascinating, especially the stories from people who find themselves living in Asian cultures. The small details are fascinating. The Wall Street Journal chronicles these frustrations in a column called The Expat Life, but some of the best stories are chonicled on blogs.

One of these is Captain Japan's Sake-Drenched Postcards. The captain provided a seven-part series on Japanese Hostess Clubs. It is a fascinating concept--men paying for the pleasure of a conversation with women. For many women this sounds like one of the only routes to finacial independance they have, "It is no secret that the allure of becoming a hostess usually comes down to one thing: money. The chase for brand-name goods and the chance for an affair with a successful corporate executive provides all the motivation necessary for a girl to take up work in one of Tokyo's thousands of hostess clubs."