Thursday « Kenny Smith | A remarkable thing happens …

Thursday

Somehow I made this all about cameras

The park, the crack of the bat, umps making bad calls, managers doing their best to make the umpires look good. (Seriously, you don’t make the last out at third.) Ahh, baseball. It is a communal sport to me at this point. I’ve long since stopped watching it on television. I don’t follow standings or stats or side stories of any league at any level. But I will go to the park to watch a game. And I’m always pleased to do it if there are people around I know a little bit.

Mostly, though, I go for the peanuts. Peanuts are usually a springtime food for me. But I had a few today, and that seemed like something to take a picture with.

This is the other side of having a camera in your phone. It sometimes creates the opportunity for an uninspired pic. I would have never brought my Canon to my eye, let alone changed the aperture or adjusted the shutter speed for that snapshot. But, it allowed me to get a few sentences on sport and legumes, so there’s that.

Here’s the podcast I recorded yesterday. This is with one of my students, and the features editor of the Crimson. He’s my first student guest on this program. Hopefully the first of many. Jimmy did a great job and this episode shows how easy it could be for others interested in such a conversation. If you like movies, you’ll find this a very interesting chat. And, he said, his mother was proud to hear it. Hi, Jimmy’s mom! Check it out.

It occurs to me now that I should have pulled out the phone to take a picture of him in action. I bet his mom would have liked that even more. Except the background would have been pretty flat. So I could dress up the room. At which point I would be inclined to take that shot with my DSLR …

In a mostly-unrelated story, this is at least the third television outlet to give this a try:

Swiss TV station @lemanbleutv replaces cameras with iPhones and selfie sticks/ http://t.co/5AFbK10PQc pic.twitter.com/NtrDex6J2u

— LIQUID NEWSROOM (@LiquidNewsroom) October 8, 2015

It is in play at a Scandinavian station. It underwhelmed in an American news shop. But I’m sure it’ll be tried again. We already have the technology to do this sort of thing from our homes on the cheap. I’m shopping for green screens right now. Someone, in their den or an extra bedroom or basement, is going to resurrect the phrase “When news breaks, we fix it!”

It’ll be all downhill from there.

Alabama / football / podcast / Samford / Thursday — Comments Off
1
Oct 15

Window tape, part 2

Continuing the display from yesterday, this is the time of year on the Samford campus when the art students work on the windows, practicing their craft with tape. This is one of my favorite projects of the year. Here are some geometric examples. Here are more from yesterday.

Among our many upcoming budget cuts, there’s this story:

The Alabama National Guard on Wednesday announced that 19 armories will be closed around the state by 2017.

[…]

Two armories have already been closed in Albertville and Monroeville.
As part of the National Guard’s “25-Year Master Plan,” 13 armories were slated to close between 2014 and 2017.

Speaking of budgets, my friend Andre Natta joined me for a podcast today. You’ll want to check this out.

If you’re more in the mood for sports than budgets, here are two football podcasts. Ole Miss and Florida play in this week’s game of the century:

And this one is for the Arkansas and Tennessee fans:

Yes, we do have Vols and Hogs stopping by. And I thank you for visiting, too. More tomorrow.

football / links / photo / podcast / Samford / Thursday — Comments Off
24
Sep 15

Trees, football, futbol and … well … you’ll see

I don’t really have a visual for today, so here are two trees in various stages of denial. I shot this last week on campus.

Here’s something I made for the Internet, a new sports podcast. This time we’re talking Ole Miss football:

I like how the logo just sits there and stares at you while the audio plays. Rather hypnotic.

Here’s an ESPNW feature about one of Samford’s soccer stars. Epic hourney of hope for Samford’s Jermaine Seoposenwe :

To stand on a field in the uniform of her country as the national anthem plays requires a long journey. And not just because of the flights involved.

“It’s just my family and everything that I’ve gone through to get to that point,” Seoposenwe said of her thoughts in those moments. “How hard it was getting into the national team. Just going from not wanting to play with women, or girls, to now stepping onto a field with girls that are so talented and so good at what they do.”

Here is one of the season’s more obvious headlines: For Carnival executive, return to Mobile a better moment than 2013’s ‘poop’ cruise experience. I could discuss newspaper influences and SEO demands and clickbait tactics, but, like you, I just think ‘Really? Really?‘

history / I do not know what is happening. / photo / podcast / running / swimming / Thursday — Comments Off
17
Sep 15

Jogging achievement unlocked

I ran 10 miles today, he said nonchalantly.

And, in both of those phrases, I do not know what is happening.

I also swam 3,000 yards. So I’m tired, sure. But it feels great, too. That’s all unexpected, but then I took a rest day, no exercise, earlier this week and at one point I didn’t think one day would do the trick, but by the end of the evening I was ready to get back to it. I wonder how long I can keep all this up. Not long enough.

I found this on campus during my run today:

Miller Wire Works …

was founded on April 1, 1949 by Charles E. Miller and is now into its third generation of family ownership. Originally employing three men, it now operates with 55 highly skilled workers. Present facilities include offices, two manufacturing plants and a machine shop consisting of 78,000 square feet.

They’re still in wire, and they’ve been working in polyurethane since the 1980s. I believe that campus building was built in the late 1960s, but I couldn’t say when the door went in.

Miller is far too common a name to ask Google to scare up anything definitive.

Here’s something to know for sure: I want to be this guy when I grow up. Peaking at ninety:

Richard Dreselly first hiked to the top of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire in 1941. He has since hiked the 6288 foot summit seventeen times. Now at 90, he climbed for what he says will be his last time. Globe photographer John Tlumacki captured his three day arduous journey amid the stunning mountain views.

Here’s the full story that goes with that photo gallery.

And a podcast with my old friend Chadd. He’s talking about what it takes to be an athletic director in college sports.

movies / Thursday / video — Comments Off
10
Sep 15

I’m BFFs with a cult movie star

Yesterday Variety reported that Ronda Rousey is going to play Dalton in a re-make-imagining-production of Road House. I’m the kind of guy that finds Road House on television and has to watch it. I am firmly in the camp of people that love the film. I think it was all the roundhouse kicks.

Anyway, I said this is a great thing, if they keep the “Be Nice,” speech.

Marshall Teague, who played Jimmy, the antagonist’s big heavy, favorited my tweet. And then he played along for a series of three or four more tweets. He did an interview about the news, too. This is awesome:

Teague is staying busy. He’s been doing a lot of TV and has two movies, Road to the Well and Hardin this year. Next year he’ll appear in Oil Run and Divorce Texas Style. He’s got 115 credits to his name and somehow I’ve seen a half dozen of them.