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I sat down with my screenplay class to dissect the opening story beats in Collateral. I noticed something for the first time: How much of the Cruise character is developed outside of the actor himself. He is literally a study in contrasts. It starts with the Jason Statham meet up at the very beginning. Where Cruise is hairy (facial and head), Statham is bald and very reserved. Even the British accent builds a contrast between him and Cruise, which, given everything we know about Statham as an archetype, is meant to tell the viewer something.

The contrast continues when you look at the female lead (Jada Pinkett-Smith). She is dark skinned with eyes lightened around the edges to an almost white color. Cruise is pale with sunglasses. These two characters are meant to contrast each other–a fact already established by the initial in-car conversations that both have with Jamie Foxx.

Cruise is the Antagonist in the film, and he is designed to play off both the female and male leads as a larger-than-life individual whose presence far outstrips his minimal size. He and Foxx toy openly with the idea of control as they enter the driver/passenger dynamic but also throughout the conversation with jabs and queries about the life of Foxx outside of the cab company–information he was forced to give Cruise but willingly offered to Pinkett-Smith.

The first twenty minutes of the film represents roughly six pages of actual dialogue, which means that a lot of this character creation is purely driven by the visual aspects of the film as well as the diegetic and especially non-diegetic elements (which frequently are the same sounds moved in and out of the story world) as a way to create POV.

This Darabont/Mann production represents for me a small explosion of wonder in film and I am grateful to be able to use it in a class.

Turns out after a certain distance of years students stop recognizing adults as even being human. I think I will call this the Peanuts effect, though I am certain an actual trained psychologist uncovered the age disparity conflict and I just don’t know it. It reared its ugly head in class today when my students were getting to know each other and having conversations about subjects they felt only pertained to them and I actually understood.

Minds blown.

They were talking about dealing with roommates and figuring out meals and the uncomfortable necessity of what, in the John Hughes days, was known as the sock on door compact. You would think they forgot I ever went to college or had roommates or even understood the basics of person to person physical attraction.

I’m 40. I’m not paleolithic or anything. Moreover the conflicts they are talking about are timeless. It doesn’t end there though. Often 18 yr olds describe 25 as ‘ancient’ often using other more heinous terms to describe the thirties and anything over that doesn’t even compute. I was likely the same way, assuming these oldies were so far removed from my reality that they had no concept of what it even looked like.

Now I’m living on the other side of that reality and wondering why and how the young bucks can e so very stupid. But is it stupid at all?

They orbit a set of activities and organizational elements that are indeed foreign to me. I don’t use tinder. My pintrest is woeful. I have never have and never will acquire a snapchat. I think Juicy J is an idiot. Drake is powerfully overrated. I live in the haze of B.I.G. and remember when Jay-Z was still just that wack dude that everyone ignored.

I recognize that Tupac is actually dead.

Now I know I’m belittling an entire generation in some ways by making my stuff sound better than theirs but that too appears to be part of the generational gap. Our stuff is always better than their stuff. Its better than the new and better than the old and entirely ours. This is perhaps the insular situation that creates a sense of dismissal of past generations and often an abject distaste or disregard or disappointment (I’m about them D’s today) when thinking about the ‘next generation’. I remember when one past generation called itself the ‘best generation’. What kind of madness is that. So, for the rest of creation you guys are the pinnacle? It is all downhill from there?

Somehow every generation seems to feel that way for a time. Somehow every generation forgets that their elders went through a lot of the same stuff and dealt with it in a lot of the same ways. I wish more of us saw that and more of us communicated. Maybe the generations would be closer.

Maybe we wouldn’t be quite so worried about the kids screwing everything up.

I found a few minutes this evening to sit down and test out the new Madden 16 on the PS4. I chose the Giants, because thats how I roll–at least it was until I played them. I think Madden got it right with the team, trading the excitement of Beckham’s energy, ability, and personality for the lack of all three emanating from the G-men’s O-line. Still, sometimes realistic is just a bit too realistic and I’m left to wonder if Madden is good or just accurate. Either way, the game is one more thing: over the top.

The Ps4 version has been rebuilt from the ground up. I spent some time in the beginning forced into a strange tutorial that picks up early in a Steelers v. Cardinals game. At key moments in the game I was directed to try to catch a pass or intercept one and other in-game promises that read like a who’s who of world class game element design. The stuff they put in isn’t only good, it feels crucial to the two plus decade old franchise that birthed it. Still, the presentation of the add on’s felt forced and non-engaging, if only for the reason that I have no desire to walkthrough with a team I’d never be playing with on my own.

I’ve barely scratched the surface of the franchise. I only had time for one regular season game, a brutal thumping courtesy of the Cowboys. I did enjoy the level of competition, though it exposes my many weaknesses in trying to move from a three to a four.

Time and practice will make perfect.

I remember the excitement I used to feel as a student walking into a classroom on day one. I’m a guy, so my first tingle of excitement was about meeting all the new girls walking through the door. Hot on the heels of wanton desire was the urge to learn something new and applicable to my life. I wanted to be everything when I was a student. I went through so many majors and minors that by the time I finally got into a teaching career it turned out I could teach a bunch of stuff.

Once I became a teacher that excitement shifted. No longer about them girls, my excitement for day one turned into seeing all the faces and hoping to find reflected in them that same urge to learn something applicable that I felt as a student. Honestly, I don’t see that flicker in every face. More and more I get the disinterested stares of the caged student and I wonder why they are here.

Still, that flicker does exist for many and it is those that drive me to be truly good at what I do. I recognize the role a teacher has in the classroom. It isn’t to stand up there and deliver content, but to ignite the imagination and educational desire of each new student that walks through that door. Because we live in an information age, the role of the college instructor has shifted. Most students are savvy enough to figure something out if they really want to. Look at any video game and you’ll find that it always starts with a decoding–a period in which the user must decode the controls and learn how to apply physical response to on-screen cues.

The game provides the motivation to learn in the same way the instructor must provide positive motivation for student engagement and success. This is the lesson we new breed of instructors still struggle to accept.

NOTE: I woke up to find this post sitting on my desktop. In all the excitement of preparing for the first day of class I neglected to hit the publish button…

 

I believe the new American story starts with, “Nobody ever thought I was good at everything…” I came by that feeling after watching a series of commercials that focused on individuals from different walks of life who’d failed at everything they’d tried until aided by one lending startup or another or even just decided to focus on leisure (seriously, a beer dude said he sucked at working so he made a beer and sold it). The general idea behind this is that we are all successful on the inside and no matter how much we fail we still have within us the ability to succeed.

Thats the good version.

That is the version I desperately cling to. However, I fear that this message is going to be misconstrued as, “doesn’t matter if you screw up. You’ll get it right when you’re ready.” I can see how the two might get confused. Teaching at a Community College I run into a large volume of students who feel like its okay to screw things up for a while and not give a dang about what they are doing until the decide that it is time to turn it on and be heroes.

Not everyone has that switch. Often success is the result of long term planning and persistent hard work. I fear this specific message is lost to the masses who are tuned in to ‘think not’ TV.

 

Some Thoughts

1. At one point there were five members of the Cromartie family in the NFL. There are still three. That’s some serious familial dedication to the sport.
2. Yesterday’s post made no friends… Not surprising. It is a difficult truth. I stand by my statement that a sport must stand on its own. Cheer does not exist in the absence of other sports. Who would you cheer for?

This is going to be a rant.

Cheerleading is not a sport. I am aware that I sound like an ass for saying so, but it ought to be said. Cheerleading isn’t a sport. I sat down my boys the other day to watch a bit of gymnastics and they were blown away by how athletic and cool the whole thing was. They are still at that tender age when girls only seem to matter if they can do something fantastically athletic (keep your heads out of the gutter) and these girls mattered. All three boys were very impressed with the gymnasts.

They have never been impressed by a cheerleader.

I have been very impressed, though it was more of an admiration of the synchronized dance as opposed to any real deep sense of a competitive aura. Heck, i’ve even watched cheer competitions and.. yeah, no. Not a sport.

This isn’t about the hitting or the physical demands of the act. This is just a gut thing. I’m not the type of feminist that thinks that women ought to feel like they have to do everything a man does. I’m more of a ‘get yours, girl’ type of dude. However, the ‘yours’ in this case is utter bollucks.

I just don’t get why it needs to be turned into a sport.

I can’t think of one other ‘sport’ that exists solely to support other sports.

Some Thoughts:

1. Keep an eye on JJ Nelson #14 of the AZ Cardinals. I’ve mentioned him before, because he has that Vic Cruz vibe I talked about in the preseason before he straight blew up. Nelson might be a year out as well…

I saw Dominique Wilkens on a Victoza commercial, featured alongside a half dozen aged and overweight men laughing and acting like life was wonderful. The way he moved held memories of athleticism, but his chest and belly hinted at hours and weeks on the couch. I thought for a moment, wow I finally have the body of an elite NBA player.

It was a fleeting thought.

I chased it with a slice of cake and some water. As I was munching on the cake I considered a second piece along with some coffee. Generally I lead with the coffee but I decided to change it up a bit, focusing on the cake and water to really experience the taste of the Louisiana Crunch Cake. It was right about that moment that I realized what my problem was. It is a mindset issue. I’ve just grown so accustomed to enjoying all of the foods that aren’t so great for me and I do so without restriction. This is a symptom of a larger lifestyle issue. It is so hard to strike a perfect balance between taking care of your body and taking pleasure in good foods. I’ve never mastered the secret of turning that into reality. I am certain a great deal of it has to do with moderation and the rest is squarely about living a lifestyle that allows for steady exercise and healthy thinking.

That is yet to come.

 

Some Thoughts:

1. Condolences to family and friends of Maricopa High Schooler Nate Ford who tragically lost his life today in a collision with a truck. I didn’t know Nate the way many did, but to hear it from his closest allies, he was one of the good guys and will be missed.

I’m starting to get a glimpse of how it is going to be for the boys this football season. I expected hard work and the need to fight for their spot, but given the lack of depth on the offensive line, I am seeing my boys either put to work on the line in practices or left as a running back facing the number one defense with a line composed of–literally–the smallest kids we have.

On one snap the D-line beat the ball to the QB.

Under those conditions our #1 back would look horrible, but what really has me concerned is my mid kid who is playing for the first time and discovering–the hard way–that it sucks being the new kid.  He’s trying to learn all the plays and find his place on the field. As one of the smallest on the team you wouldn’t expect him to be on the line but there he was tonight. He was on the o-line and the d-line and struggled to make plays. He took a couple of big hits too–kind of a welcome to the game situation. Still, he fought through. I wonder if he is still going to like the game after the season. He’s already talking about the upcoming soccer season–a sport he’s been dominating for years now.

Monday is our first team scrimmage, which will give him a chance to play against the kind of competition he will face this year and perhaps make a few plays to build confidence. He’s used to being wildly successful at all that he does and this is a new challenge for him. I’m curious to see what is going to come of it all, and I look forward to being an interested observer vs. a helicopter pop waiting to swoop in and save him.

Some Thoughts:

1. With NanoWrimo quickly approaching I’m doing the front end work for a solid run. I expect my students to work the month too, all of us trying to hit big numbers and maybe crank out an entire draft.
2. Tyrod Taylor looked legit out there today.

If I’m being honest about the first dozen pre-season games, New York is already out of the running for a championship. The Giants looked rough on defense and then both their new safeties were injured. The Jets looked rough on defense and that is supposed to be their strength. The Bills were, well, the Bills. Add it all up and there’s a real interesting surprise: Some valid fantasy options.

Let’s start with the Giants. If Beckham and Cruz are capable, they’ll have a lot of work. Add in the option of Jones and a defense that will give up a lot of points, and we are looking at one of the best Points Per Catch options in fantasy. The G-men receivers will get plenty of touches in the vein of Patriots receivers. They’ll need to get big yards for the come from behind habits that are about to be formed. Don’t forget that this is a contract year for Eli, who expects to become the highest paid player in the NFL. Last year’s work won’t earn him that contract, so this year must. If those Manning boys know anything, they know how to be earners.

The Jets are a mess. A real bad mess. The starting QB only has the job due to the original starter getting cold cocked. With that mess (and likely that QB) in the rearview, it boils down to what the Jets are going to have to do. Well, they are going to have to play some scoring defense. That is going to happen, and smart people will ride that D to the fantasy championship.

The Bills have two injured running backs and a QB that is unknown. Mark my words: This is going to be a breakout year for Tyrod Taylor. He’s the best thing to come out of VaTech since Vick, and though lacking some of the footwork and speed of the fleet footed Vick, he does have far better accuracy. I’m banking on him to be effective…

All in all, draft weekend will be one for the ages. I have two drafts in two days and lots of unknowns. Here’s hoping for a good season.

This is a farewell to summer. The boys said goodbye some time ago, trading in swimsuits for school shorts and knapsacks. Long afternoons of gaming fell away to reveal homework and reading. For me there was still time. With them in school it was almost a mini-vacation. It shifted quickly, however, becoming a task-driven time of problem solving and infant cat watching. Now it is fully over. I strode back into the office, calling out my official return to the business of teaching. Now I get down to the business of building schedules and working hard.

I like the summer. I love the chance to reset but also to explore different aspects of my psyche and spirituality. I played a ridiculous amount of Minecraft and finished the complete Gilmore Girls series. I did work projects and taught classes. I read a half dozen books–some good. I learned how to be a better football coach. I recognized how terrible I am with money.

Every summer I learn something new about myself. This year was no different.

 

Some Thoughts:

1. Right after my last post I sat and watched an hour of CNN (Crappy Network News). They talked about Trump for 43 minutes. They only mentioned 3 of the other Repubs and hardly anything substantive about those three.