August 20, 2007

Lamar High School ... 1987

Lamar High School ... 20 Year Reunion ... Arlington, Texas

For some incredibly geeky reason, I've been looking forward to this since ... well, since a couple of months out of high school. Here's the basic skinny:

Reunions by the Party People
Friday, October 19th, 2007 ... Ice Breaker Party ... J. Gilligan’s ... 8:00p.m. - Midnight

Saturday, October 20th, 2007 ... Reunion Celebration ... (Casual Attire) ... Rangers Ballpark in Arlington ... 7:30p.m. - Midnight

More info? Check out http://www.alumniclass.com/lamarhstx/

There's a slew of people I have not been able to find that I would love to meet up with there. I've gotten in touch with Lori Goe and Annette Simonini ... but I'm still looking for:
Janet Kim (Kyungah)
Brenda Heath
Kate McDonald
Shannon Heizer
Suzanne Gruchow (even tho you moved before going to Lamar!)
Veronica Cano
Susan Stetson
Anna Tan
Amy Alexander
Ashley Aguilar
Kristi Grimm
Alison Campbell
Paula Gill
Lisa Pawloski
Suzanne Scott
Jill Stewart
Jenny Britton
Tracy McGuire

And, of course, there are a slew of other folks that I'd like to catch up with again as well.

Really, I just posted this in the hopes that those people who haven't found out about the reunion can perhaps hit this info thru Google since the info's not all that easy to find.

Posted by Red Monkey at 12:17 AM | Comments (2) | People Say I Have ADHD, But I Think - Hey Look, A Chicken | Stumble

August 3, 2007

Can't Be Careful on a Skateboard II

I adore the X-Games. We have DISH and a DVR now, so I can actually WATCH the X-Games. So it was with great anticipation that I waited for the DVR to flip the channel last night.

I was excited to see some "no-name" (Scott Murray) from Helps, Michigan, make it to the X-Games. It's great when some "youngster" gets a shot at the big time. But my word ... the first event was the skateboard Big Air and the ramp!! Take a peek:

 

These dudes are just flying over this thing, doing tricks across the gap, land that, then go up the vert wall as high as possible (they were mostly hitting right around 18-20 feet high), do a trick and then, of course, land it. Scoring was on both how high they could go and how impressive their two tricks were. For this, you've got to have the tightest trucks you can imagine (I know most of you don't know much about skateboarding - loose trucks = wobbliness and easy turns ... tight trucks = less wobble, much more difficult to make a turn).

Jake Brown from Australia does a freaking 720 degrees of rotation across that gap. SEVEN HUNDRED AND TWENTY degrees of rotation! He's going fast, fast, fast. Up the quarter pipe ... and then:

 

He falls about 50 feet. I'm not gonna show him hitting. I was totally flipping out. I've never seen a pro boarder hit that hard. It was insane. I thought he was dead, or paralyzed ... the whole place was just chilled. One skateboarder friend said he was sure that Jake was dead, because when he got up there, the dude's eyes were open but he wasn't breathing.

No effin' way! Jake Brown hobbled off the ramp. I'm still waiting to hear how much damage was done, but the dude was able to walk (sort of) away.

Unreal.

What I find most interesting is the reactions of those into extreme sports ... and those who don't understand them at all. For me, I know I would never ever be of the skill level to attempt a mega-ramp like that. But would I push myself to do some skillz-appropriate similar stunt? Yeah, sure I would. It's about defining a goal and feeling that utter freedom ... the rush of speed ... the wind ... pushing yourself to your limits until you achieve what you set out to achieve.

Those people who are not so much into extreme sports look at just the ramp and ask WHY?

And so far as I can tell, it's because we all feel that freedom and expression of stretching and joy in completely different ways. For some of us, it's the challenge to program something more efficiently which works better, to design something more efficiently, to write something which captures a universal longing.

There's a million ways that we feel that need to express and share and push ourselves. And, not everyone is going to "get" all of those ways.

But when you're watching someone who truly loves their way of expressing ... well, to me, even watching Jake damn near kill himself, watching skateboarding for me is probably what listening to a really good symphonic orchestra playing Beethoven is to someone else.

Technorati tags:
Jake+Brown
X+Games
XGames
Skateboard

Posted by Red Monkey at 11:08 AM | Comments (0) | People Say I Have ADHD, But I Think - Hey Look, A Chicken | Stumble

July 30, 2007

Jesus Talks

This is a satirical post. If you are super-sensitive about religion, ya might not wanna read this post. In fact, I should probably rip off the intro to Kevin Smith's Dogma for this. Yeah ... yeah I should.

Disclaimer: 1) a renunciation of any claim to or connection with; 2) disavowal; 3) a statement made to save one's own ass.

Though it'll go without saying ten minutes or so into these proceedings, View Askew would like to state that this film is from start to finish a work of comedic fantasy, not to be taken seriously. To insist that any of what follows is incendiary or inflammatory is to miss our intention and pass judgment; and passing judgment is reserved for God and God alone (this goes for you film critics too...just kidding).

So please before you think about hurting someone over this trifle of a film, remember: even God has a sense of humor. Just look at the Platypus. Thank you and enjoy the show.

P.S. We sincerely apologize to all Platypus enthusiasts out there who are offended by that thoughtless comment about Platypi. We at View Askew respect the noble Platypus, and it is not our intention to slight these stupid creatures in any way. Thank you again and enjoy the show.

Okay, so this isn't a film and has nothing to do with Kevin Smith. But yanno ... sense of humour ... satire ... it fits ... really.

According to the BBC, Walmart will soon be test marketing a new line of action figures and toys in 425 of their 3300 stores in the U.S. I believe the toy line is called the Tales of Glory ... a Bible based set of action figures as well as a 12" (the "big" G.I. Joe size) talking Jesus doll who quotes scriptures and three inch high preschooler figure of Daniel and the lion's den.

I can see it now ...

Loki: Hey, Danny. Guess what I got for Christmas? I got the big collector edition of Optimus Prime and I got the new Spiderman playset and a stormtrooper blaster that fires pieces of potato. What'd you get?

Daniel: Well, I got Jesus for Christmas. (beat) Wanna hear him talk about fishing for men? (whispered) Do you think Jesus was gay? I mean, he's fishing for men ... and he only hung out with the disciples and they were all men.

Act NOW and get a BONUS tape for your Talking Jesus with fun quotes like these:

"Great, you got GOD for Christmas and all I got was a lousy manger full of hay. Do you have ANY idea how scratchy a bed of hay is?"

Coming soon:
Talking Paul ... he'll read you the book of Leviticus and remind you of such things as:
Don't play football (you can't touch the skin of a dead pig) (11)
Don't eat blood. (17:10)
And ... the story of the Good Samaritan will play every other time you pull Jesus' string! No more will you have peace as you blithely pass by the homeless begging for booze and food and work ... no more will you be able to pass a broken down car on the side of the road without your good little Christian children telling you that you should stop and help because Jesus SAID SO.

and soooooo much more!

Hurry, order your child's indoctrination today!

Posted by Red Monkey at 8:16 AM | Comments (3) | People Say I Have ADHD, But I Think - Hey Look, A Chicken | Stumble

July 21, 2007

Deathly Hallows - No Spoilers

It was excellent.

I need time to digest it and then go back and re-read it again ... I'm sure in my haste to finish it, I missed a LOT of Rowling's subtleties.

I will say ... I'm happy, I'm satisfied ... it all made sense without any of the annoyances of the locked room mysteries which neglect to give the reader some vital piece of information so the reader couldn't possibly figure it out.

There were, perhaps, not the utterly stunning surprises that tricked me in early books ... but that was because I'd become a much more cautious reader than before. It's easy to think you know how Hollywood does things ... and be surprised when a movie doesn't follow the formula (it happens so bloody rarely). But the ever clever Rowling had so many beautiful touches that I did not expect ... and yet, really, i should have. It was all there.

At any rate ... an excellent read. If you haven't read the books, they are worthwhile. And the ending ...

it's the ending.

(What about Snape? .... ain't tellin!)

Technorati tags:
Harry+Potter
J+K+Rowling
Rowling
Deathly+Hallows
Potter

Posted by Red Monkey at 2:04 PM | Comments (0) | People Say I Have ADHD, But I Think - Hey Look, A Chicken | Stumble

July 20, 2007

Buffy-Fest 2007

Which is not quite the same as Slayer-Fest 1998 ... but close.

When you gonna get this, B? The life of a slayer's very simple:

Want
Take
Have

Posted by Red Monkey at 9:14 AM | Comments (1) | People Say I Have ADHD, But I Think - Hey Look, A Chicken | Stumble

July 18, 2007

Tuff Guy

Yeah ... what a tuff li'l hombre in my boots and cowboy hat with the vest mom made me. The skirt, of course, was relegated to the floor of the closet the instant I saw it. What righteous cowboy wears a frigging SKIRT?

hehehehe

Posted by Red Monkey at 4:36 PM | Comments (1) | People Say I Have ADHD, But I Think - Hey Look, A Chicken | Stumble