Friday, December 9, 2011
Class project
Here's the link to Street Art Pittsburgh. Just a wonderful job by my whole team: Randi, Gareth, Steve and Alexis.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Description of classmate
A mind filled with science sits atop this person's head. The ability to rattle off foreign terms seems perplexing, but I'm used to it. I have a friend back home that's just like this person, so it's nothing new.
Still, it makes me feel like I wasted time just focusing on sports and games and movies my whole life. I could have spent my five years at college learning something useful -- not that writing isn't. It's just more of supplementary major.
This person's longer hair hugs their face, curving around the chin just right -- you can tell care went into the grooming process. A smile from ear to ear always greets this person's classmates, revealing pearly-white teeth brushed with care. Only helpful comments are spoken and their ego seems to be suppressed to the point of nonexistence. This person also identifies themselves as geeky and likes the same TV shows I do. Spending a rainy afternoon after class rattling off my favorites with them gave me a tiny bit of insight into what life is like for them.
Blue eyes pierce through thin frameslike tiny gems beneath glass. For all of this person's geeky qualities, familiarity with tech trends isn't one of them. Twitter was something I knew little about before this class and knowing this person tweeted less than I did made me feel like less of an outcast.
Your moment of Zen
This debate will be must-see TV. I think Jon Stewart can take care of the rest. God help us if the GOP gets back into the White House....
Oscar-metrics
This post on Grantland gives good insight into how the Academy votes and how the Oscars are trending back to the much maligned decade of the 1980s.
Bust the BCS
If you're a fan of college football at all, this will really get your blood boiling. The BCS needs to die ASAP, and this article is proof!
My season at PSU
I'll never forget my last game as a PSU reporter.
I'm sure Joe Paterno won't either.
It was the last game for both of us, but ole' JoePa didn't know it at the time. He had just become the all time winningest coach in Division 1 football history and received a nice plaque from Graham Spanier, Tim Curley and the rest of the Penn State dignitary in Happy Valley.
But the smiles would be short lived.
Just a week later the news broke about the travesty that occured at Penn State and the non-response the upper echelon of the university apparently gave the perpetrator. It was sad for everyone -- not just Penn Staters -- because it painted a picture of college atheltics being higher in scale than the lives of the victims. College football has its fair share of critics and detractors, but this case is especially heinous and especially frightening.
My opportunity to further my career as a sports writer was all of a sudden thrown into a perspective, showing me that what I plan to do really only centers on a couple of athletes playing a game on a field. It has no real effect on world events. These games won't stop wars or solve global problems. They really only serve to entertain. To hear about these children being jeopardizes makes one sick and disgusted. It made me feel dirty just being in the same room with those abhorrent men.
I guess my career will continue as planned, but I won't be so naive in the future to think what I am doing changing something. Maybe I can entertain my readers; maybe I can touch a chord inside of them. But my time at PSU will remind me that there's only so much I can do with my writing.
I'm sure Joe Paterno won't either.
It was the last game for both of us, but ole' JoePa didn't know it at the time. He had just become the all time winningest coach in Division 1 football history and received a nice plaque from Graham Spanier, Tim Curley and the rest of the Penn State dignitary in Happy Valley.
But the smiles would be short lived.
Just a week later the news broke about the travesty that occured at Penn State and the non-response the upper echelon of the university apparently gave the perpetrator. It was sad for everyone -- not just Penn Staters -- because it painted a picture of college atheltics being higher in scale than the lives of the victims. College football has its fair share of critics and detractors, but this case is especially heinous and especially frightening.
My opportunity to further my career as a sports writer was all of a sudden thrown into a perspective, showing me that what I plan to do really only centers on a couple of athletes playing a game on a field. It has no real effect on world events. These games won't stop wars or solve global problems. They really only serve to entertain. To hear about these children being jeopardizes makes one sick and disgusted. It made me feel dirty just being in the same room with those abhorrent men.
I guess my career will continue as planned, but I won't be so naive in the future to think what I am doing changing something. Maybe I can entertain my readers; maybe I can touch a chord inside of them. But my time at PSU will remind me that there's only so much I can do with my writing.
Oscar talk!
December is one of my favorite months of the year for a variety of reasons:
I like the cold
Christmas!
Lights and songs associated with Christmas!
But I also love that this is when Oscar season is in full force. All of the year end awards are being handed out to numerous movies from the year; some are huge pitctures everyone has seen, and others are small art house indies no one has heard of or even understand.
This season, there are several films up for consideration as the best of the year:
Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life, chronicling a family from 1950's Waco, Texas in a series of vignettes that symbolizes creation and death of not only a member of the family, but of the universe as a whole.
Michael Hazanaviscius' The Artist, which has been the critical darling of the season so far. This film attempts to be a throwback to Hollywood's simpler golden era, and as such is a modern day black and white silent film.
Alexander Payne's The Descendants, starring everyone's favorite leading man, George Clooney. Payne has been a favorite of the Academy for sometime and won over many (including me) for his film Sideways. This film seems to be in the same mold of dramedy that Academy voters are sure to go gaga over.
Steven Spielberg's War Horse. This film seems like the epic that used to be a shoe-in for the Best Picture Oscar in years past. Spielberg also looks to be the best possible director for such a film: his technical prowess alone ensures it will be a visual tour-de-force, and he's already shown he can make beautiful WWII films -- let's see how he does with WWI.
Tate Taylor's The Help was the critical darling of the summer, and also a hit at the box office. This film depicts "the help" of an affluent white family in the south during the 1960s. Oscar voters usually have a hard time nominating anything from before October, so it seems like a stretch that The Help will be able to win the elusive Oscar. Still, box office matters and The Help has it.
These are just several of the films that have a chance to shine once the ceremony rolls around. Here's to happy viewings!
I like the cold
Christmas!
Lights and songs associated with Christmas!
But I also love that this is when Oscar season is in full force. All of the year end awards are being handed out to numerous movies from the year; some are huge pitctures everyone has seen, and others are small art house indies no one has heard of or even understand.
This season, there are several films up for consideration as the best of the year:
Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life, chronicling a family from 1950's Waco, Texas in a series of vignettes that symbolizes creation and death of not only a member of the family, but of the universe as a whole.
Michael Hazanaviscius' The Artist, which has been the critical darling of the season so far. This film attempts to be a throwback to Hollywood's simpler golden era, and as such is a modern day black and white silent film.
Alexander Payne's The Descendants, starring everyone's favorite leading man, George Clooney. Payne has been a favorite of the Academy for sometime and won over many (including me) for his film Sideways. This film seems to be in the same mold of dramedy that Academy voters are sure to go gaga over.
Steven Spielberg's War Horse. This film seems like the epic that used to be a shoe-in for the Best Picture Oscar in years past. Spielberg also looks to be the best possible director for such a film: his technical prowess alone ensures it will be a visual tour-de-force, and he's already shown he can make beautiful WWII films -- let's see how he does with WWI.
Tate Taylor's The Help was the critical darling of the summer, and also a hit at the box office. This film depicts "the help" of an affluent white family in the south during the 1960s. Oscar voters usually have a hard time nominating anything from before October, so it seems like a stretch that The Help will be able to win the elusive Oscar. Still, box office matters and The Help has it.
These are just several of the films that have a chance to shine once the ceremony rolls around. Here's to happy viewings!
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