I went to my first, and possibly only, Blazers game this season with three friends yesterday. The Blazers, fighting for the playoffs in a very close, tough Western Conference right now, blew out the Spurs 102-84 after losing to them in San Antonio roughly a week earlier. The Blazers opened the game with a big lead and never allowed the Spurs to get close. Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge each scored 26 in the win. Rookie Nic Batum also contributed this dunk:
P.S. Don't count on finding good food near the Rose Garden before a game. Go early and eat on the other side of the river.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
General update
A list:
• I am an inconsistent blogger and therefore a poor blogger.
• Today was a beautiful winter day in Oregon.
• I hadn't missed 3 days of work or school consecutively in years; but, I was sick from Tuesday afternoon until Sunday, today, only recently feeling a bit better.
• Randy Johnson is a fantastic addition to the Giants pitching staff. Too bad they still won't be able to hit. (Bring back Barry!)
• Midway through the second year of my MA program, I've finally written a paper I'm truly happy with. It hardly relates to my thesis and it's only 6 pages long, a careful look at Marlowe's move toward the Foucauldian "author function" in the Prologue of Tamburlaine the Great.
• I will have a beagle one day. One day, when Zoe is gone.
• My fantasy basketball team is up the upswing thanks to Kevin Love and Lamar Odom.
• I'm too short on time to include links in this blog because I'm behind in my work.
• My thesis will now focus on new media, rhetoric and composition studies through the work of Anne Wysocki.
• Lankshear and Knobel's section on "New 'Ethos Stuff'" in "Sampling 'The New' in New Literacies" is too simplistic but a nice introduction into talking about Web 2.0 and authorship.
• The Blazers need to move Raef's contract and Sergio.
• Curb Your Enthusiasm is now, probably, my favorite series.
• What's with all these little black gnats flying around town lately?
• I should have watched "The Last Waltz" a long time ago.
• I am an inconsistent blogger and therefore a poor blogger.
• Today was a beautiful winter day in Oregon.
• I hadn't missed 3 days of work or school consecutively in years; but, I was sick from Tuesday afternoon until Sunday, today, only recently feeling a bit better.
• Randy Johnson is a fantastic addition to the Giants pitching staff. Too bad they still won't be able to hit. (Bring back Barry!)
• Midway through the second year of my MA program, I've finally written a paper I'm truly happy with. It hardly relates to my thesis and it's only 6 pages long, a careful look at Marlowe's move toward the Foucauldian "author function" in the Prologue of Tamburlaine the Great.
• I will have a beagle one day. One day, when Zoe is gone.
• My fantasy basketball team is up the upswing thanks to Kevin Love and Lamar Odom.
• I'm too short on time to include links in this blog because I'm behind in my work.
• My thesis will now focus on new media, rhetoric and composition studies through the work of Anne Wysocki.
• Lankshear and Knobel's section on "New 'Ethos Stuff'" in "Sampling 'The New' in New Literacies" is too simplistic but a nice introduction into talking about Web 2.0 and authorship.
• The Blazers need to move Raef's contract and Sergio.
• Curb Your Enthusiasm is now, probably, my favorite series.
• What's with all these little black gnats flying around town lately?
• I should have watched "The Last Waltz" a long time ago.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Cadillac Records
Don't see Cadillac Records. Don't miss the music, though. Okay, maybe see the film when it goes to DVD.
There are a lot of problems with the film, and what's worse is that there's so much potential here. This could have been a great, great movie, and there are several strong performances wrapped within a plot that fails to do justice to the influence of Chess Records. Adrien Brody plays Leonard Chess, the record executive who began the label in the 1940s by selling records out of his Cadillac. It seems a little convenient that this film is out as General Motors begs for money from the federal government, of course, and there is no subtlety here: LOOK AT THE TRADITION OF THE CADILLAC, THE HISTORY! WE HELPED BREAK DOWN RACIAL BARRIERS! THINK OF THE TRADITION! I actually laughed aloud in the theater several times.
I need to say some good things about this film, though. Amazing cast. Brody wholly fails, but I think it is due to poor writing, not execution. Jeffrey Wright does a nice job as Muddy Waters. Mos Def predictably steals the screen as Chuck Berry. Columbus Short does a fantastic job as Little Walter, and Beyoncé's Etta James is the highlight of the film. Eamonn Walker as Howlin' Wolf is another bright spot; you may know him from HBO's Oz. Cedric the Entertainer's narration is so poorly written that I shook my head a few times in the theater, just hoping he was about to lead into another performance from Beyoncé or Mos Def. Gabrielle Union shows some talent as Geneva Waters, Muddy's wife.
None of these characters are developed as much as they should be, as much as you'll want them to be. What this does, hopefully, is introduce some of these musicians to new audiences, and perhaps it will lead to more developed biopics of Etta James or Howlin' Wolf in the future.
And please, please buy a Cadillac.
Howlin' Wolf's "Smokestack Lightning" (1964):
Eamonn Walker's Howlin' Wolf:
Beyoncé doing Etta James's "All I Could Do Was Cry":
There are a lot of problems with the film, and what's worse is that there's so much potential here. This could have been a great, great movie, and there are several strong performances wrapped within a plot that fails to do justice to the influence of Chess Records. Adrien Brody plays Leonard Chess, the record executive who began the label in the 1940s by selling records out of his Cadillac. It seems a little convenient that this film is out as General Motors begs for money from the federal government, of course, and there is no subtlety here: LOOK AT THE TRADITION OF THE CADILLAC, THE HISTORY! WE HELPED BREAK DOWN RACIAL BARRIERS! THINK OF THE TRADITION! I actually laughed aloud in the theater several times.
I need to say some good things about this film, though. Amazing cast. Brody wholly fails, but I think it is due to poor writing, not execution. Jeffrey Wright does a nice job as Muddy Waters. Mos Def predictably steals the screen as Chuck Berry. Columbus Short does a fantastic job as Little Walter, and Beyoncé's Etta James is the highlight of the film. Eamonn Walker as Howlin' Wolf is another bright spot; you may know him from HBO's Oz. Cedric the Entertainer's narration is so poorly written that I shook my head a few times in the theater, just hoping he was about to lead into another performance from Beyoncé or Mos Def. Gabrielle Union shows some talent as Geneva Waters, Muddy's wife.
None of these characters are developed as much as they should be, as much as you'll want them to be. What this does, hopefully, is introduce some of these musicians to new audiences, and perhaps it will lead to more developed biopics of Etta James or Howlin' Wolf in the future.
And please, please buy a Cadillac.
Howlin' Wolf's "Smokestack Lightning" (1964):
Eamonn Walker's Howlin' Wolf:
Beyoncé doing Etta James's "All I Could Do Was Cry":
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Synecdoche, New York
I won't say this is the best movie I've ever seen, but I can't think of one better.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Victory (delayed post)
Monday, October 27, 2008
Fish, Obama, and Jesus
As you likely know, Obama is gaining momentum heading into next week's election. This campaign has lasted, what, two years? I think the length of the campaign cycle needs to change in the future, but I'm not optimistic that it will. And after all this, it feels like a lot of heads are coming together from various corners of the country--many camps, so to speak--to try to avoid what I'd call a catastrophic collapse between now and next Tuesday. From Greg Oden to Stanley Fish. Frankly, if this doesn't excite you, I might consider you disengaged in one way or another.
On Sunday, Fish wrote in the NY Times about Obama's patient, passive approach to campaigning, comparing him to Jesus. A stretch? Well, I'm not the person to comment on whether the connection is entirely accurate or not, but it's quite an impressive rhetorical move by Fish to draw this particular sketch one week before the election.
(And before you say, "oh, like all the liberal sheep haven't treated him like Jesus for months now," just check out the article. Not all of Obama's supporters blindly praise and follow his every word. Yeah, I've grown defensive in this area.)
On Sunday, Fish wrote in the NY Times about Obama's patient, passive approach to campaigning, comparing him to Jesus. A stretch? Well, I'm not the person to comment on whether the connection is entirely accurate or not, but it's quite an impressive rhetorical move by Fish to draw this particular sketch one week before the election.
(And before you say, "oh, like all the liberal sheep haven't treated him like Jesus for months now," just check out the article. Not all of Obama's supporters blindly praise and follow his every word. Yeah, I've grown defensive in this area.)
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Live and direct from the Pangea Café
I'm sitting at Pangea in the MU finishing my lunch. Dinner last night was two pints of Lagunitas IPA at American Dream, so I threw in a Rice Krispies treat today in addition to a hummus and pesto wrap. That makes no sense, I know, but I was hungry and won't be having any dinner (two pints of IPA again?) until late because the final presidential debate is on at 6 tonight. I am hoping McCain doesn't try anything desperate; Palin has grown increasingly out of line lately, and I fear cable news networks, in attempting to be even-handed, are letting the GOP off the hook. Frank Rich agrees. On Monday the Washington Post released the results of a recent poll showing Obama firmly ahead of McCain nationally, and in typically red states.
I'm going to share a Carver poem I thought about earlier today.
Photograph of My Father in His Twenty-Second Year
Raymond Carver
October. Here in this dank, unfamiliar kitchen
I study my father's embarrassed young man's face.
Sheepish grin, he holds in one hand a string
of spiny yellow perch, in the other
a bottle of Carlsbad Beer.
In jeans and denim shirt, he leans
against the front fender of a 1934 Ford.
He would like to pose bluff and hearty for his posterity,
Wear his old hat cocked over his ear.
All his life my father wanted to be bold.
But the eyes give him away, and the hands
that limply offer the string of dead perch
and the bottle of beer. Father, I love you,
yet how can I say thank you, I who can't hold my liquor either,
and don't even know the places to fish?
I'm going to share a Carver poem I thought about earlier today.
Photograph of My Father in His Twenty-Second Year
Raymond Carver
October. Here in this dank, unfamiliar kitchen
I study my father's embarrassed young man's face.
Sheepish grin, he holds in one hand a string
of spiny yellow perch, in the other
a bottle of Carlsbad Beer.
In jeans and denim shirt, he leans
against the front fender of a 1934 Ford.
He would like to pose bluff and hearty for his posterity,
Wear his old hat cocked over his ear.
All his life my father wanted to be bold.
But the eyes give him away, and the hands
that limply offer the string of dead perch
and the bottle of beer. Father, I love you,
yet how can I say thank you, I who can't hold my liquor either,
and don't even know the places to fish?
Monday, October 6, 2008
Gettin' Mavericky
This just isn't getting old. SNL is legit again.
(So busy. More words, fewer videos someday.)
(So busy. More words, fewer videos someday.)
Friday, October 3, 2008
This was a night.
One of Portland's finest bands, Starfucker, Sept. 18 at Doug Fir on Burnside. In 4 parts. One of the coolest venues I've ever been to, with cool people, drinking $2 bottles of PBR. Good nights end with dance parties, cartwheels.
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Thursday, October 2, 2008
It's raining, school's in
Week one of the Fall 2008 term is basically over for me -- I'll be working in my office Friday for a few hours before the Rays look to go up 2-0 on the White Sox; this postseason I'm a Rays fan. And dammit, I'm taking a few hours to watch it despite having a lot of work to do this weekend. I taught my first college classes this week (Tuesdays and Thursdays 4-5:20) and everything went well, as expected; in fact, I'm fortunate that I don't have any distracting or sleepy students in my class at all. My friend Adam and I were talking tonight about how we pull some energy from our students and feel pretty good at the end of a long week when class goes well. And it's been a long week.
I'm nervous about how much time I'll have to devote to Spanish. I've completed 9 weeks of Spanish classes (this summer) and there's no way to speak the language as well as some of the other students in my 211 class. I have to take 211, 212, and 213 this year, and I understand about half of what the instructor says in class, maybe less; she was also my instructor this summer. The grad director in our program now tells me the English Department is considering dropping the MA language requirement next year or after that and, he asks, what do I think?
Anyway it might be my Spanish class that drives me to insanity this term, or at least to really erasing my weekends and working late each night of the week. I don't usually break form with commas like in this blog's title. I've been thinking more about writing creatively lately and missing it a lot. A friend made a squash and beets dinner last night and we drank Rogue's Dead Guy Ale and wine until very late on a Wednesday when maybe I could have been doing thesis reading. The Spanish instructor today listed me as one of about ten students in class who hadn't done any of the online homework yet, just as a reminder. I immediately identified a few new students who are favorites because of their energy and interest and engagement but really, they're all fantastic and I'm glad my week in the classroom ends on Thursday evenings.
There's always more to write about. Pete agrees, he's living hour to hour right now, too. My grandfather turns 93 on Saturday and I wish I could spend more time with him. The air in Corvallis smells like rain and fields.
I'm nervous about how much time I'll have to devote to Spanish. I've completed 9 weeks of Spanish classes (this summer) and there's no way to speak the language as well as some of the other students in my 211 class. I have to take 211, 212, and 213 this year, and I understand about half of what the instructor says in class, maybe less; she was also my instructor this summer. The grad director in our program now tells me the English Department is considering dropping the MA language requirement next year or after that and, he asks, what do I think?
Anyway it might be my Spanish class that drives me to insanity this term, or at least to really erasing my weekends and working late each night of the week. I don't usually break form with commas like in this blog's title. I've been thinking more about writing creatively lately and missing it a lot. A friend made a squash and beets dinner last night and we drank Rogue's Dead Guy Ale and wine until very late on a Wednesday when maybe I could have been doing thesis reading. The Spanish instructor today listed me as one of about ten students in class who hadn't done any of the online homework yet, just as a reminder. I immediately identified a few new students who are favorites because of their energy and interest and engagement but really, they're all fantastic and I'm glad my week in the classroom ends on Thursday evenings.
There's always more to write about. Pete agrees, he's living hour to hour right now, too. My grandfather turns 93 on Saturday and I wish I could spend more time with him. The air in Corvallis smells like rain and fields.
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