Tuesday « Kenny Smith | A remarkable thing happens …

Tuesday

adventures / movies / photo / Samford / Tuesday — Comments Off
1
Dec 15

“You ever fought a dinosaur, kid?”

So we’re back at it again. Another late, late night in the newsroom. This was the view when it was still daylight outside. I did make it outside at some point. Some days it is difficult to know for sure, but here is documented evidence:

Sometime I think I should walk around to trees and just start yelling “Quitter!” at them. That wouldn’t be strange. Would that’d be strange? That’d be strange. Right?

A few more photos from the weekend. We ride bikes through here. It looks different at dusk and at different speeds. And it is dark enough and we’re fast enough here and I was maybe just hasty enough that it makes everything look soft and blurry and distant. But look at those colors:

We went to the movies this weekend. We saw Creed, which was emotionally impactful in ways that I wasn’t expecting. And no one saw that happen, either, since The Yankee didn’t glance over at entirely the wrong time or anything. It had nothing to do with an aging Rocky or mortality, but probably had something to do with thinking of Mickey Goldmill. (Did you know there’s a story about Mickey being written? You want this one to make it.)

Walking out of the theater this little girl saw this poster and walked up to it.

“What’s this movie about, Mommy?”

Mom walks over, reaches down for her hand and says “You wouldn’t like it.”

Don’t worry, kid, no one is going to like this one.

This weekend we also learned that Allie likes cupcakes, or at least the paper.

photo / Tuesday / windshield time — Comments Off
24
Nov 15

Heading out, etc.

Autumn in the backyard. ‘Tis the season, etc.

With that comes either a cold or allergies or who knows what. So I’m on some nice throat lozenges and other things. That’s no big deal, it happens, etc. The lozenges have … motivational messages.

And you know what? I’m going to do it. I’m going to get back in there. I’m going to go for it. I suppose that the it in that sentence might be my “can do” muscle. Maybe it is my et cetera muscle.

And a scene from the road.

About five hours on the road, going from home to home. That’s a lot of miles, a lot of lane changes. More windshield time, etc.

photo / Samford / swimming / Tuesday — Comments Off
17
Nov 15

What is Pac-Man’s best stroke anyway?

Not sure how, really, but today I swam 3,200 yards.

The why has become easier. I remember, a year or two ago, topping out on a little ridge on my bicycle. The view was great, just a ribbon of road and one little white house and a sea of pine trees below me. There was something happy and peaceful in that view. Riding, I realized, was one of those things that I was fortunate to be able to do because I wanted to do it. And ever since, even when I take time off the bike, I’ve thought of myself as a rider.

I don’t think of myself as a swimmer, but it is something I can do just because I want to. I’m learning to take the chances you get, even if you think your arms will fall off, to do the things that are yours.

The thing about autumn is that you can’t share it. Is it the signature season where you’re reading this? Does it last for three days, as it seems to here? Whatever you have, you just have to be in it. No photograph really captures the air and the smell and the promise and the sometimes crest-sliding feelings that come with it. But we try:

I walked under that tree on campus. And I pulled out my phone and thought, for about the 14th year in a row, that this isn’t even a snapshot of a season or a glimpse of a feeling. And I sighed at the shortcomings of cameras and smiled at the moment and pressed the button.

After my swim I saw this car while seeking out dinner:

I stood there for a while, trying to decide what kind of person the owner must be. I decided they were pretty nerdy cool. You have to have a sense of humor about you. But they also have to be OK with never clearing the board. The thing about a painted Pac-Man is that you’re never clearing the board. But if you wanted to go classic video game, it is also a bit on the nose. Donkey Kong wouldn’t have made sense. Galaga plays the wrong direction. Centipede would have looked tacky. No one remembers Qbert, probably. Frogger, now that would have been bold.

Update: Today didn’t end until tomorrow. We were still in the newsroom at 3:20 a.m. on the 19th. Never let anyone tell you journalism students don’t work hard. It takes a lot to be that dedicated. And it takes a lot out of them to get it there. They must do it for a reason.

memories / photo / Tuesday — Comments Off
10
Nov 15

Memory week photos, day two

It was fun showing off old photos last week and following them down memory lane. So let’s do that this week. As far as I can recall, I haven’t published these pictures anywhere. We’ll try to do a theme for the week. These are all about signs or words.

Here’s two now.

You just don’t see as much bathroom graffiti as you used to. Or I just go to slightly better places these days. Maybe you just don’t see clever graffiti.

There’s just something perfectly detailed in the vagueness of that joke that I find myself really appreciating.

But graffiti is bad, we can all agree on that.

It has been a few years now, but I found this in a restaurant somewhere:

Great! I’ve been looking for that! I don’t remember what I had, but it was a late lunch and it was probably comfort food and I wanted a lot of it.

Instagram / photo / Samford / Tuesday — Comments Off
3
Nov 15

Walking around the big box store

I’m still playing with the Boomerang app. It seems like it would strike a cord with a very “in your face” message. There’s no real nuance to it. And if this is where we go because the six seconds of Vine is just too tedious … well marketers should just get off the ride now.

But sometimes you can make something that looks cool:

This is the Space Laser light-up blaster from Imperial Toy.

A video posted by Kenny Smith (@kennydsmith) on Nov 3, 2015 at 6:24pm PST

When in doubt, go to the toy section, I always say.

Speaking of toys …

Did we need these? Does anyone like them? More importantly, are these really for young Star Wars fans or older Star Wars fans? The merchandise rollout has been at times impressive and regrettable. But mostly impressive. And we’re still six weeks from the movie.

One more Boomerang:

Iron Man hands are pretty awesome.

A video posted by Kenny Smith (@kennydsmith) on Nov 3, 2015 at 6:31pm PST

This is all a part of my strategy, by the way. Student-journalists are working on the newspaper all night long. And we’re all going to be in the newsroom until the very wee, if not the very grand hours, of the morning. But, for a little while, I just leave them alone. They need me gone more than they need me hovering. I refuse to hover, anyway. They do too well for that. Still, a long night, and I was the only person in the toy section. That’s why I got to play with Iron Man hands.