Month: April 2016

Yesterday I fumbled through an evening post about the Judd Apatow show ‘Love’ featuring Paul Rust. The point I was trying to make was that there is this standing trope of the average to below-average looking dude constantly being engaged by beautiful women. This show does that, but I want to believe that they are doing it openly and sarcastically. Given the way the writing group drops in various tropes as jokes and open snark, this is quite possibly part of the joke or they are at least in on the joke.

They are in on a lot of jokes, like the one where they cast Chris Rock’s lil brother as the black friend who always shows up to provide the perfect advice, and then he says that he is the black friend who always shows up to provide the perfect advice and his character is in Hollywood to act as that exact trope character.

The show isn’t the best I’ve seen but there are a few gems. It takes some funny shots at Hollywood and the movie industry. I’ve gotten several episodes in and it is strangely uncomfortable and compelling to watch the main love story unfold. The writing itself is wonderful and when those gems hit (mostly the argument scenes and the relationship formation scenes) it is TV gold. I suppose what I like the most about the entire situation is that it never goes in quite the direction they make you wanna believe it is heading. Not overall. See, it isn’t actually a love story.

Not even a little.

I checked out a new netflix show the other day (actual netflix and chill, with none of the urban dictionary flair). The show is called Love and is created by Judd Apatow and the couple of Paul Rust and Lesley Arfin. I gotta say this about Apatow, he’s about the unattractive dudes getting the pretty girl. Of course, that is how everyone is, but sometimes Apatow goes off the deep end. This new show, Love, is interesting. It charts the budding ‘romance’ of two people with difficult backgrounds and very limited skills at building relationships. The show is hilarious and weird and everything you’d expect from the people responsible for This is 40 and girls.

It makes me feel like Netflix is on to something. They are churning out shows at the rate of a local network.  The shows either hit or miss, but tend to hit at a rate greater than what happens on NBC, ABC, and CBS. Even better, these shows tend to be more experimental and land all at once, so I can check out an entire season binge mode.

Some Thoughts:

1. The new interface for the site doesn’t work right. It isn’t publishing the pages without help.

For the record: I get that Palin is paid to make these rash statements that tote the party line on a variety of topics. She’s a less fiery, easily stupider Ann Coulter. Still, following her latest statements about Bill Nye and climate change, I want to pay Rhonda Rousey to punch her in the face. Real Hard.

It might be a function of middle age to become less tolerable of nonsense as you become aware of your biological clock stumbling towards zero. To quote my favorite meme, “Aint nobody got time for that.” So, I’m acknowledging the stupid and then I will move on. Here it goes: To spend your time arguing that we are doing no damage to the environment is to ignore the obvious changes occuring to the environment through the encroachment of earth’s most dangerous STD: Man. Keystone, the pipeline many legislators fought so hard to open, stating that it would not damage the environment has already leaked 16,800 gallons of oil into that ‘unharmed environment.’ So, yeah, Shenanigans.

Some Thoughts:

1. I get stuck on certain things and have trouble letting them go. I think about sports way more than I should. I think about exercising far more than I actually make an effort to do some. This rule also applies to cleaning and gardening.
2. Jamie Alexander of Blindspot fame is also Lady Sif of Asgard. Yep, same chick. I liked her then,  and I still will not watch that show.
3. Blacklist is a whole different matter.
4. Back to the sports thing, it feels like that is all I talk about these days, though it is not. Still it occupies better than 60% of conversational time, making it a significant part of the day-to-day. Too much. I need to make an effort to reduce it and be about more stuff.

There aren’t a lot of things that can make a grown man cry, but watching Kobe have an epic final game is one of them. I missed the live telecast, but followed the highlights with a warm smile. Kobe Bryant AKA The Black Mamba is an iconic figure that transcends the sport of basketball and has become to many people of my generation a scion of our era. It was difficult to watch him these last few years, a man still young in my eyes but in such massive physical decline that he couldn’t put up with the night to night strains of the game he’s been playing since the womb.

Kobe started his career right out of high school. He was the cocky know it all (read: me) who felt he could jump into his professional career without the training wheels of college to guide him in. He was right. Kobe was an instant starter and superstar by year’s end. He went head to head with Jordan and others who were the scions of their time and came out on top more often than he didn’t. Over time he developed the nickname ‘The Black Mamba’ because of he was clearly the most dangerous player in the NBA.

All of this focus on his basketball life covered up a man who’d already had an amazing off-court life. His father was a ballplayer overseas. As a result Kobe speaks fluent Italian and Spanish. Most of us struggle to speak proper English. Of course, tabloids don’t care how smart or traveled an athlete is, they are just interested in who shares his bed at night. Unfortunately for Kobe one such companion was a 19 year old concierge in a Colorado hotel, and when word about the sex got out, she cried rape. I’m being very particular about the order of events here, because once the charge was leveled against Bryant he lost virtually all of his endorsements and credibility. This is before there even was a trial.

Still, Kobe is Kobe and once the charges were dropped, the praise and adulation flooded back into the empty space like water into a dry spring bed. He spent the rest of his career dominating opponents, and rebuilding the brand of the Black Mamba. Last night he turned the page on that career, with a final 60 point game and a win to carry him out. In the words of Kobe, “Mamba Out.”

As I write this blog I am waiting for a ten minute clock to tick away to zero on a series of auction bids in the Madden Mobile game. I first started playing the game on a very long bus trip to the Grand Canyon. I played it out of boredom, but when I got home and gained access to wifi, my boys showed me the possibilities. What fascinates me about the game is the economy. See, players cost money and you can by and sell them for coins which you gain by winning games and challenges. The better the player the more coins he costs–or so you would think. Within the game is an auction system that allows people to sell their players at any price they see fit. Therefore the market dictates player value, and the market is strange indeed.

So I got sucked in. I started playing a bunch in order to gather enough coins to make a serious run on the market. I discovered that the real value comes based on the tier of player you are selling. Bronze is worth under 1,000. Silver is close to that and can be sold instantly for 500–anyone would take that buy. Gold is tricky. I haven’t quite figured out how to sell gold. Elite is the highest level and players can go for millions.. or they can go for 2k. That is what blows my mind. It feels very much like a wild market in that we are battling over specific prices and trying hard to get the product for a price in reason. I am convinced there is a mathematical formula that can be applied to ensure success. I just need to find it.

Some Thoughts:

1. Thoughts and prayers for the Will Smith family who are grieving over the loss of their patriarch. More info on the case revealed that the man who killed him was also the victim in the fender bender. The man was rear-ended by Smith, an altercation of some sort ensued and the man shot Smith.

Once again I am out of things to say. So, I am filling these ten minutes with lots and lots of nothing. The empty is an important part of the process. The only thing that keeps filling that emptiness are these thoughts about video games and breaking down the last frontiers in developing leads that are not default white male.

Strange topic, I know. It wanders back up into my consciousness every time I see a commercial for a game and the character is a version of that guy. Of course, that means every time I see a commercial for a game. In fact there are more non-human protagonists in games made in 2015 then there are black protagonists in the history of gaming.

Its a problem. Unfortunately not one that is going to be solved in my fragile state of consciousness.

So, tonight I watched a mom get really upset about spending a lot of money only to see her kid get the minimum number of snaps in a game. I tried to explain that it does happen time to time and given the size of the squad, we cannot give 28 kids equal time an remain competitive. HC said it better. He talked about the league and improvement being about what you do at practice and the kid in question had not been to practice recently. This all resonated with me and reminded me of how it felt as a parent to spend a ton of money on football and watch my kids not only not play but be in a situation where practice wasn’t making them better. In this situation practice is making the kid better. I know because I watch over him like a hawk. I recognize in him what my son went through, so I talk to him and make sure he is engaged. The one thing I wanted to ask his mom is if she’d asked him if he is having fun. I asked my kid that and the answer was no. That is why we left. I don’t think she should leave unless he is not enjoying his time there and his hard work in practice.

 

Some Thoughts:

1. Handful of teaching weeks left. Ahh…
2. Yeah, night blogging–I know.
3. What is the point of drug commercials. All they focus on are the side effects of use and mention at the end that you have to ask your doctor–who will likely say no.

What if Superman stayed in Smallville?

Odd question to ask, I know, but I’m living in what is technically a small suburban town and quickly realizing how and why I settled so quickly here. Quicksand. See, I’ve been watching the small town superstar mentality flourish here and it is really beginning to grate on me. Sadly, it took me this long to break away from the quicksand and understand what it is I’m not liking.

My kids play sports. We win games sometimes and we lose sometimes. The boys get straight A’s and generally seem pretty wonderful at most things. They are superstars. When it comes to sports there are a handful of ‘Superstar’ camps. You can sometimes recognize them by the color they wear or the team they like. I’m the Giants guy. None of that identification is terribly important in of itself. What makes it relevant is the fact that it does exist. See, we have these factions and divisions of stardom within this little town, because it is usually one faction or the other winning our parks and rec youth championship.

Here’s what it took me so long to realize: I was allowing stuff like that to matter. It doesn’t. Just like I was allowing a GYFL tackle football or AYSL tackle football championship to matter. It also does not. All of these things are ways to recognize kids for minor achievements that show how they are superior to people who are either inexperienced and poorly coached or simply do not care. Yet we walk around with a great deal of swagger about relatively meaningless accomplishment. I have one friend/coach who raved about his local parks and rec flag team being unbeaten in 5 years.

Parks and Rec Flag.

Sure, it is cool to feel good about your accomplishments but my point is that the small town mentality over these things limits your ability to go further by, for one, limiting your reasonable understanding of your skill level. You might be the king of Maricopa, but what does that actually mean? It isn’t the same as king of New York or King of AZ (which has less people than NYC–not state–CITY).

It is easy to lose that relativity and toot your horn egregiously. Once that thing starts blaring you need to get out of the town and go find real opportunity, challenge, value, and worth. That, my friends, is why I am done hiding behind this white picket fence.

 

Some Thoughts:

1. Yesterday was horrible for writing and here I am near the end of the night again, ready to throw up (hoping I don’t) and trying to squeeze in another late night blog. You’re supposed to learn from your mistakes, not dive headlong into the path of stupid again and again. I’ve heard that Einstein defined crazy as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Perhaps I am crazy. Or maybe I’m just loaded on coffee tonight.
2. Its weird that auto-correct changes my misspelling of crazy to ‘cray’. Thanks, Kanye.
3. Goodbye Will Smith the football player. Another senseless, testosterone driven death. Neither you nor your family deserved this.

Another day of standing in the hot sun for more hours than is rightfully right for  my brain. Four minutes into the post and battling consciousness the shoe way I realize that if I’m going to do something like that then I have to do it without expecting to be awake and writing that night.

The day went well for the boys. Their teams won in soccer and then in football too. They had fun doing it. I think winning has no value if it cannot be enjoyed, so I encourage them to live up the moment then get ready for the next game. That one is monday and I am not ready.

I was in the division meeting this morning and we decided to do a warmup writing exercise (odd meetings, yo, but you gotta love it). The query was: choose an admirable character from a show, book, play, etc. What do you admire about him or her? I chose Buttercup. I will always choose Buttercup. Well, until I choose Clarence. She represents the best of what is possible in ‘rage-cool’

I first fell into my Buttercup phase in season one. I think the writer (Craig McCracken)  really keyed on three basic differences in personality which are completely conflicting and totally archetypal but fun as heck. Buttercup is Rafael is young Annakin is all of these things and sweet and wonderful and cray deadly. I tend to gravitate towards that sort of character, because that is kinda who I am on the inside–full of energy and potential which is most likely activated by vengeance. I’m also the guy who wants to lead but often seems a bit too direct/hot-headed to do so.

There isn’t a lot more to say or write about this particular query except that reflecting on it I realize that I haven’t changed all that much since 1990. This is a great and terrible thing, because it also means that I haven’t achieved a certain number of goals I set for myself 26 years ago. I ought to get right on that stuff.

Some Thoughts:

1. People who are sick need to get better. You know who you are…