Russian video gamers win a tournament and they win advance copies of a new game. But when they pop the game in their computers, all of their in game skills are transferred to real life. So, the racing champion becomes the best driver, and the fighting champion is a hand-to-hand specialist. Mostly, the team becomes super soldiers, which are then forced to complete assassinations to corner the palladium market and achieve energy dominance for a Russian corporation based on a blimp.
Oh, and stuff blows up. Lots of stuff blows up.
There's a sequence where the kids, armed only with paintballs, take down a whole platoon of soldiers.
It's pretty cool.
And there's a Siff iPhone App so you can organize your schedule.
There are literally dozens of people who would be super appreciative of this ball.
It was given in a fundraiser to a student who could not identify this object as a football.
(sigh) (I'm probably exaggerating. I bet he knows it's a football. But I'm pretty sure he doesn't appreciate the gift the way other people would. That thought is still depressing.)
(Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise, Josh Groban, Patti LaBelle, Madonna, Dakota Fanning, Beyonce, John Legend, Diane Sawyer, Maria Shriver, Halle Berry, Katie Holmes, Queen Latifah, Rascal Flatts, Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith, Michael Jordan, Jaime Foxx, Stevie Wonder, Jerry Seinfeld, Maya Angelou, Aretha Franklin, and Alicia Keyes.)
So yeah, It was worth watching.
I did not realize Oprah has a scholarship at Morehouse College. All the graduates talked about how they would not have earned an education if not for her scholarship. They talked about how they were doctors and lawyers and hedge fund managers because of the opportunity Oprah gave them.
Then they all came out on stage to surprise Oprah, which made her cry.
It's about the Tarahumara, a tribe of ultra-marathoners in Mexico's Copper Canyon. The Tarahumara run for hundreds of miles in sandals and love every minute of it. The author wanted to figure out their secret and see if he could learn how to be a crazy ultra runner too. That story is peppered with little tips about running (try to land on your forefoot or midfoot) and a history/biology lesson of how humans are made for running long distances.
There's a great story about persistence hunting, where tribesman would just start jogging after an antelope. The antelope would try to sprint to get away, but the tribesman would just keep jogging after it, eventually catching up to the antelope and forcing it to sprint again. The antelope eventually runs itself to death and the human has dinner.
This still happens in Africa today.
2) Prince of Persia
I like going to Bridle Trails because there's nobody else there. It also helps that the soft trails are better for my back. But the downside is giant mud puddles and regular sized horse droppings.
4) Canucks Vancouver beat the San Jose Sharks in Game 4 The Canucks scored three goals while enjoying a 5 on 3 advantage. Sami Salo had two goals in 16 seconds!! These guys are legit. You can get updates from the Canucks on Twitter. The twitter hashtag? #nowayjose
We have one guy on our soccer team that does not stop sprinting. Long after everyone else is winded, he's still charging all over the field. He blessed me with 2 goals this week.
I had almost nothing to do with it.
He took on three defenders, managed to pass the ball directly onto my foot, and fooled the keeper so bad that I was three feet away from an empty net. It felt like this: Thank you, Daniel!
And right after our game went final, the Sounders won on a header in Stoppage Time.
Look at the height Jeff Parke gets on this:
I couldn't find a photo credit. I found the picture in a tweet.
I gave my students a typical math assignment on Wednesday. Students had 30 minutes in class, an extra hour and a half after school due to early dismissal and all day Thursday to finish their homework. Only 25 out of 60 students completed their homework. How can I help them if they won't help themselves? I am depressed and discouraged.
Radiolab is hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, neither of whom is a scientist. So the show is two very entertaining and jovial guys talking about science with scientists, but looking at it from very fresh and interesting angles. I really liked this episode on "Falling", including stories about falling in a black hole, falling over Niagara Falls, and a heartbreaking story about falling in and out of love.
A kid decided to build a pile of torn tissues instead of completing his math assignment. I asked him to stay after class and clean up his mess. I remained calm throughout his entire reaction. First,he threatened to drop his backpack and himself out the window. Then he called his mom and said they should sue me. Then he kicked several desks over. After this five minute tantrum, he spent 30 seconds cleaning up the mess and I let him leave. (Ugh)
SIFF is spread out over several theaters and several weeks. They have a cool feature this year called the Siffter that can help you find movies you might like. You can search by genre, country, venue, day and time. Mix and match the settings to find movies you might like. You can also get ideas from the Stranger Siff Blog.
TBTL recently launched the "TBTellaella Song of the Summer". This is where they try to find the song that will be everywhere this summer. You'll hear it blasting out of cars. You'll hear it being pumped up at barbecues. You'll hear when you're shopping at Target. For me, It means that I get a ton of new music.
TBTL has had a debate about if the Song of the Summer should be something wildly popular or just the song we like the best from that time period. The current songs in the running for the 2011 crown run the gambit from indie hits only heard on KEXP to more commercially successful songs.
One requirement for being the TBTella ella Song of the Summer is that the song has to come out this summer. The song is supposed to transport you to a certain time and place because the song is ubiquitous. For example, here are some other "Songs of the Summer" (though these were not all chosen by TBTL because it didn't exist)
I know many of these videos are links to VEVO versions. I'm not sure what VEVO is, but it seems to have removed every other version of the songs and videos. So it's a tradeoff. I have to sit through a 15 second ad every other song, but I get to see every music video ever made for free. I'll take it.
