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photo / Tuesday / Twitter — Comments Off on We’re playing a game
23
Feb 16

We’re playing a game

If you could hire an actor to do your GPS narration, who would you get?

We got some suggestions online, one of my favorites being Dame Judy Dench. To be thorough, we tried to ask Allie.

She did not care. So long as the voice knows how to find the tuna.

journalism / movies / photo / podcast / Thursday / Twitter — Comments Off on Somehow I made this all about cameras
8
Oct 15

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.

peanuts

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:

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.

photo / Samford / Tuesday / Twitter / video — Comments Off on News engagement day
6
Oct 15

News engagement day

Just another beautiful day on campus. This is the view from one of the plazas on the quad, in front of Cumberland Law and beside the Davis Library.

campus

The occasion was something called News Engagement Day. Students were out interviewing passersby and giving them a current events quiz. I strolled out to give moral support and took the quiz. (I passed! No pressure in getting that result.)

The students also produced some nice videos.

This story starts “When you’re in your 80s, rarely do you embark on a new profession.” But, really, you’re going to click this link to see the video. It is a wonderful four minutes.

This one will strike a different chord, Jason Gunter faces last shot at redemption in Ironman. Just your standard “double amputee looking to finish the race that thwarted him six years ago” story.

Every day since collapsing about four miles from the finish line Oct. 10, 2009, at the Ironman World Championship, the Fort Myers double amputee and attorney has plotted and prepared for redemption.

For the first five years, the unlikeliest of Ironmen would log onto the 140.6-mile race’s website in early April. He would survey the five winners of the triathlon’s physically-challenged lottery, of which there were 25 to 30 entrants. He would not see his name.

[…]

Gunter, 50, said this will be his second and last attempt to conquer Kona, the world’s most famous triathlon.

(Update: Did he do it? Yes he did.)

football / I do not know what is happening. / Monday / photo / running / Twitter / video — Comments Off on Used to walk down it; now I run up it
28
Sep 15

Used to walk down it; now I run up it

I had a nice eight-mile run this weekend. Eight miles isn’t a lot, maybe, but it is a big number for me. This is only the second time I’ve run that far on purpose. I’m pleased with how it all worked, except for my overall time. I’m pretty slow, you see. Anyway, it gave me views like this, views I normally see on my bicycle:

field

This is not a view I normally see on my bike, because I don’t care for it. It is one of the bigger hills around, and it feels a little more severe on your legs than it does through a windshield or a computer monitor. I’ve shattered myself on this hill every time I’ve been up it on my bike. But I ran up it Saturday:

field

I do not know what is happening.

This isn’t the first one of these that you’ve seen, probably. It is a football celebration shot by both the school’s staff, but also their fans. It won’t be the last video you see like this. Storytelling is now a collaborative endeavor.

Sometimes you see stories of young people and think, ‘These leaders of tomorrow have it figured out.’ In grief, high school athletes show us the healing power of sportsmanship:

For those that are unaware, last year’s game between Davidson High School and Charles Henderson High School was marred by the death of a Charles Henderson High School student – Demario Harris. Demario died after sustaining an injury during the game between the two schools.

[…]

This brings us to this week and the events that took place. Throughout the week the students at Davidson High School have been selling orange shirts with the number 10 and Demario Harris’ name on it – which all of the band had on underneath their uniforms. The school purchased a plaque to present to Coach Brad McCoy and the players of Charles Henderson High School. There was a moment of silence for Demario and prayer for his family and community that are still grieving. None of which was expected of Davidson to do, nor were they obligated to do. Not to mention, it was homecoming week and the homecoming game.

And, I suppose, that is how you make the most of something that no high school kid should have to experience. And that’s a shame that had to come their way, but good for them, and the people around them.

Said goodbye to my in-laws today. They came in late last week. We took them to see the raptors, to see a football game, hosted a nice little party and a fancy dinner one night.

Also, we did this:

field

Lovely time.

Friday / photo / Twitter — Comments Off on It seems to me
11
Sep 15

It seems to me

I had this thought that you can look at the moving sun — or us moving around it, if we need to be precise — in a couple of different ways. The early evening version goes: Do you see it as a miracle of daybreak? Or do you see it as a trust, that this thing is coming back tomorrow?

Samford

I have no idea what that means, really. It could be a half-empty, half-full formulation. It could be a Rorschach test. It could be nothing at all. You get lost in the wonder of the sun and how it looks and how it feels and the impressiveness of fusion. That’s a miracle. Or you see it and soak up the sun and know it’ll be back. That’s trust.

But everybody feels that way about Saturday on a Friday, right?

A great look at that historic first pitch that President George W. Bush offered at the beginning of the 2001 World Series. Great little documentary.

An old classmate of mine was too kind:

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