photo « Kenny Smith | A remarkable thing happens …

photo

I do not know what is happening. / iPhone / journalism / links / movies / photo / Thursday / video / winded-intellectual property — Comments Off
9
May 13

Green, light green and brown

So I downloaded Vine. I haven’t done anything with it yet. I’m waiting to see something amazing and use it one time, and then walk away. (At some point you have plenty of ways to capture atmosphere, after all.)

But, if you’re interested in Vine, here are some tips from Poynter: How journalists ‘can get serious content’ from Vine:

Like other newsrooms, KSDK uses Vine to show the personalities and the processes behind the curtain, but Anselm says the tool is also useful for finding stories.

She suggests searching local hashtags, like #STL in her area, and #breaking. “A lot of people think it’s a really lighthearted, fun thing, but you can get serious content from it,” Anselm says.

There is a video, which is useful. Just like Vine, it is 9:13 long.

The next video is more entertaining. Someone mentioned the Golden Trailer Awards earlier this semester. Those are the awards given for best movie trailers. The Golden Trailers began in 1999. That’s because in 1989 they saw the best trailer ever, recovered for a decade and then started judging every other inferior product.

This being the best one ever:

This movie, Captain Phillips, is coming out in October:

You might remember the circumstance behind it in 2009.

This part better be in the story. They downplay it here, but this an impressive series of shots by the SEALs:

But here’s the movie you’ll really want to see this year, Yuck: A 4th Grader’s Short Documentary About School Lunch:

Zachary is a fourth grader at a large New York City public elementary school. Each day he reads the Department of Education lunch menu online to see what is being served. The menu describes delicious and nutritious cuisine that reads as if it came from the finest restaurants. However, when Zachary gets to school, he finds a very different reality. Armed with a concealed video camera and a healthy dose of rebellious courage, Zachary embarks on a six month covert mission to collect video footage of his lunch and expose the truth about the City’s school food service program.

Here’s the trailer:

The guy is hysterical. Here’s another clip, which is the direct inspiration for this post.

Of course the New York City school system doesn’t believe him:

A spokeswoman for the Education Department, Marge Feinberg, said in an e-mail that vegetables and fruit were served daily and she suggested that Zachary must have chosen not to take the vegetables served in his cafeteria.

“It would not be the first time a youngster would find a way to get out of eating vegetables,” she wrote. Zachary responded that he always took every item he was offered.

And then:

On Monday, Zachary thought he was in trouble again when he was sent to the principal’s office and found two men in black suits waiting for him.

They turned out to be representatives from the Education Department’s Office of School Food, he said, who complimented him on his movie, asked for feedback on some new menu choices, and took him on a tour of the cafeteria kitchen.

[…]

Then he sat down for lunch with the officials. The adults ate the cafeteria lunch of chicken nuggets, carrots and salad.

Zachary had pork and vegetable dumplings – brought from home.

Went running tonight. We realized that the trail near our home is measured out perfectly, so I can say that, this evening, I shuffled along a 5K, here:

It is blurry because, when my feet are pounding and I have no breath and the blood is flowing everything sort of looks that way. But at least there was honeysuckle:

So there we were this evening beside the green leaves, the light green weeds, over the brown runoff dirt and through the honeysuckle, running and walking and shuffling five kilometers. I do not know what is happening.

(This phrase is now protected as winded-intellectual property. It will probably be used quite often.)

(So is the expression “winded-intellectual property.”)

iPhone / journalism / photo / Samford / Tuesday — Comments Off
7
May 13

The last paper of the year

Every year, at the end of the year, I buy dinner for the people who work on The Samford Crimson. There is a giant platter of Roly Poly.

That night was tonight. We commemorated it with a Twitter photograph:

Not everyone is there, of course, but there is a fair amount of talent sitting at that table, and a good bit of potential beyond that, too.

Later in the evening, we’d worked our way down to the “I-can’t-believe-it-is-over” end. The outgoing editor and the incoming editor, putting this last paper to bed:

Katie Willis, who aspires to run her own photography business, handed the reigns to Zach Brown, who draws philosophical stick figures for fun. We asked Katie to consider running the paper last year on the basis of her success at everything and a year’s experience as the editor of the literary arts magazine on campus. She is an incredible talent and she proved it again this year.

She’s worked for me in some way or another all four of her years on campus. I’d like to find a way to prevent her from graduating, just so she has to stick around for one more.

Zach, meanwhile, is someone I met in perhaps his second semester in school. I gave him advice on his website and watched him handle everything in the class with ease. He’s a thinker, sharp guy. He’s been the opinions editor for the last three semesters and one of those people who, you can tell, is probably going to do big things. I expect him to start doing those big things next fall with the paper.

We get some fantastic students in our program. At the picnic last week the faculty sat and observed many of the seniors, who’d naturally circulated to the same tables. We were impressed by the collection of their talent. The hardest working of them all come through the Crimson and spend time working over InDesign and getting their hands dirty with newsprint. And even when the seniors move on, there is always another group of promising students who eagerly jump in as freshmen and sophomores. Would that they all did, but I’m proud and grateful for all those that do.

And so at the end of the night, right around midnight, they sent the final copy to the publisher. The last speeches, the last jokes. Everything was commemorated with Vine, which is how things must be done these days. Programs were closed. Lights were turned off. Doors were shut.

New ones are opening.

And then my phone rang: “My car won’t start. Can you help me?”

Sure. Of course.

College.

If there’s anything better I haven’t found it, and only because I’m not looking.

Auburn / baseball / photo / video / weekend — Comments Off
5
May 13

Catching up

The weekly post with extra pictures that would otherwise just sit on my phone or in my camera and never be seen because there was no logical place for them, except for Catching Up.

The seniors give us all awards at the end of the year. This year’s seniors acknowledged my Twitter account. I try to share helpful material with them there.

For the first time in years I looked at the dates on coins. These are the ones sitting on my desk. All week I’ve been checking out dates, since taking this picture. I’ve learned it has become difficult to find a random coin that is as old as I am. Birthdays and years don’t make me feel old. Little things like that have a way of getting to you, though.

I don’t remember why I took this picture, which is a rare thing for me to say. But I did, and here it is. I was on my bike one evening, I think. I seldom forget why I took a picture. I regret taking them even less.

Our friend and baseball smart guy Kevin Ives is holding up the rebel black bear that Dr. Magical Balloons made. We were his warmup act — he just volunteered us — and this took him about 45 seconds. He’s good. Book him:

So there was John Pawlowski, an otherwise quiet, even-tempered, nice guy, watching his team struggle in this very inert fashion today. The weather was getting to everyone. And just as the sun came out Pawlowski saw something he could get animated about. So he went out to argue a strike call against one of his batters.

Only you don’t argue balls and strikes. So when Pawlowski, the likable man did it, the umpire heard him out and walked up the first base line. Pawlowski stayed by the batter’s box, like he was getting ready to dig in. He said a few more things. The fans were egging it on. And the ump came back down the line and they argued a bit more. And then the ump tossed the manager, which was his plan and what the ump was trying to avoid. This ejection, his first of the season, fired up the team. You can see the video below:

There was a C-130 flyover. He was very low. A C-130 did some historic and record-breaking landings on the USS Forrestal in the 1960s. And yet this is still strange to see knowing the only airport close by is a small municipal airport that has two runways which are … both … long enough for the Hercules. OK, never mind. Still cool to see:

The Mother’s Day gift you’ll want to leave on the shelf:

Great game at the ballpark today. This game had it all: pickoff moves, base stealers thrown out by a mile, moonshots, two home runs denied, two comebacks, ejections, arguing from both sides, sunshine and, naturally, an over-the-shoulder catch by the closer to end the game. It was a gritty performance by Auburn to take the series and the best game I’ve seen all year:

At the end of the weekend Auburn is now 11th in the SEC. The top 12 teams advance to the conference tournament in Hoover. It will come down to the last two weekend series again for the Tigers.

Auburn / baseball / memories / photo / weekend — Comments Off
4
May 13

We haven’t bested 72 in a week

OK, I’ll complain about the weather this much: “Tomorrow morning temperatures will drop into the 38-42 degree range.”

Checking my elaborately Photoshopped gag gift calendar … yes, I see that this is May.

In Albany, NY, where Maine is playing baseball today, it is sunny and 75. We haven’t seen 75 in a week. It is 57 right now. The high temperatures for Auburn on this day in this century: 80, 78, 82, 69, 71, 84, 82, 79, 77, 84, 70, 84 and 60.

I’ve seen snow in the Deep South in April. But I’m pretty sure I’ve never huddled under a blanket in May. This is a strange season.

Also, it is rainy.

The baseball game was delayed from the afternoon until the evening. So that meant even cooler still. Which wouldn’t have been so bad itself, but for the continual drizzle and threat of rain. And, also, it is May.

By the end of the night you could see your breath in the air.

But it was a quality baseball game:

The coach called it magical dust in one interview and said in another “I don’t know what works and what doesn’t work – just try to put guys in different spots.”

Whatever gets you into postseason play.

Today the high was 61. Tomorrow will be about the same, overcast, unseasonably cool and curiously devoid of any hints of spring. Mostly I just miss my friend, the sun.

photo / weekend — Comments Off
28
Apr 13

Catching up

The Sunday post of extra pictures. Look at all these neat snapshots! Marvel at the stories they tell! Forget there’s no real content here on Sundays!

Two guys coming back in from their ride yesterday. They still had a 5K to go. Check out the guy in the front. He’s already out of his shoes:

Two more racers wrapping up their ride:

Random self-portrait at the hotel elevator:

And the message on the inside of the elevator door. Why do people throw away their children?

And now a series of bicycles I found myself admiring at the race. These first three triathlon bikes were built by Felt, which is the same maker of my humble little bike:

As much as I do love love Felts, there’s just something about the Cervelo that I’m drawn to. This P2 has a nice aero setup:

Another sharp looking P2:

Clearly they are popular bikes:

This is the P2C, one of the winningest pro bikes around. This is about a 2008 model:

The current top of the line, the Cervelo P5. It wins Ironmans, the U.S. Time Trials and the Giro d’Italia. This one has electronic shifting, which is apparently the way to go:

Here’s a 2011 Kestrel Talon carbon triathlon setup.

A surprisingly sharp Trek tri bike:

Want the best in Swiss cycling? Here’s the BMC TM01. This’ll run you about $14,000:

Finally, at the massage tent they had a signing sheet. Here are the various complaints people were listing: