February 4, 2008 by wilmington.

In this episode: Sea Shanty update, baby photos, Duke vs. UNC basketball, USA vs. Mexico soccer…

Sea Shanty Films stuff first:

MATT is still pounding the beat in Hollywood. He’s got some nice leads on scripts and agents and Hollywoody stuff like that. His writing for LA2Day magazine (which can be found at, well, La2Day.com obviously) is diverse - movies, music, theatre. A recent one on Nirvana generated tons of comments and replies…and may have single-handedly caused apoplectic seizures in every “Tool” fan in North America. See the site and just search for articles by Matthew Long.
In the works are a thriller and something else we’re carefully brainstorming and planning as the next Sea Shanty film. With technology like web cams, conference calls, Skype, conference call web camming, Word documents that track changes, screenwriting software, etc. - it’s really not much of a problem to co-write and plan and even do pre-production stuff from very long distances away.

BRIGHAM has been working on several projects small and large in Sea Shanty’s ancestral home at Pirate’s Cove Studios and Hydrotherapy-Massage Compound. He’s got DP, directing, editing, and a bunch of other fish in the frying pan.

MY most recent film work was not a Sea Shanty production, but with our friend and fellow filmmaker Jay Tyson (Manny the Pupeteer in X-GEN). His short feature “The Story of ONE” was screened at the “Puppet Parts Film Festival” just down the road from me in Austin, TX! I was just actor in this one…a very broad, funny, often silly comedy with a good heart to it.
I attended with 6 family members and got to experience again the bizarre, exhilharating fear of hearing and watching an audience of strangers watch me pretend to be someone else. As I communicated to Jay, we got a lot of laughs (some in places we wouldn’t have guessed), a very positive audience response, and praise from the festival director. Jay wants to juice things up with even more music and by adding in a few sequences he had to leave out due to the festival’s 30 minute limit.
Here’s me as “Roger” in his cube farm office…barely holding on…the part in my hair as severe as my personality:

In Non-Movie Business, there’s this small update:A BABY GIRL!

[ Click on the thumbnail to see full-size. ]

And here she is again looking slightly more human and less Rick Baker puppet-like:

[ Do not click on that photo, because if you do, she will grow even larger and eat you. ]

So there’s a baby in the house (read: small 2-bedroom apartment) now and a whole lot of pink stuff. More on that topic later. I’m learning to leave things for future posts so months don’t pass before I feel like writing anything.

Edifying Thoughts:
This WEDNESDAY, Feb. 6 gives US soprts viewers the chance to watch two of the greatest rivalries in the Western Hemisphere. Both start at 9pm Eastern/8pm Central:
On ESPN: Duke vs. UNC basketball
On ESPN2: USA vs. Mexico soccer

USA-Mexico is big. Really big. Even when supposedly a “friendly,” it is huge and brutal and dramatic. We have owned Mexico over the past several years everywhere in the world *except* Mexico’s home stadium. We’re fielding a decent team as Bob Bradley tries different combinations - Mexico is doing the same. Not all the stars will be there for both teams, but neither is playing the “call up only unseasoned players so we have an excuse if we lose” tactic, either.
The game is in HOUSTON, so it will certainly be an “Away” game for the USA…and that’s not a joke or exaggeration. MORE ON THIS dynamic and the rivalry before Wednesday…I have some harsh things to say.

Duke-Carolina is widely considered the greatest rivalry in college sports. Having lived in Durham for 12 years worth of them, I’m not going to argue. This year should be epic - Duke is ranked #3 in the country (17-1 and undefeated in the ACC) and UNC is ranked #4 in the country after having been at #1 for months.

The only downside is having to look at big ol’ goofy Tyler Hansborough barge through people without getting called for fouls and hearing announcers like Billy Packer rave over this guy as they did last year”How great is Tyler Hansbrough?! And he’s ONLY A FRESHMAN!!!” Every game, all &$%*-ing year.

Well, yes…last year he was “only a freshman.” But he was ONLY A 21 year-old FRESHMAN !! Fine to recognize him as a great player, but give me a break with the “only a freshman/sophomore” nonsense. He played well last year as he barged through guys who, even as juniors were younger and less experienced than he was.

OK - got that off my chest.

Next time…which will be SOON!: USA-Mexico and something about PhD work (since it is actually what takes up 90% of my time…evidence on this blog notwithstanding).

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November 18, 2007 by wilmington.

NOVEMBER 18, 2007 - Houston Dynamo are Back-To-Back MLS Champions!!!

It was an awesome final. Neither team tried to play it safe, two amazing headed goals, one scramble and finish in the box. Physical play, good refs, attacking style from both sides.

Most people focused on New England’s chance to avoid talk of a curse (going 0-4 in MLS Cup games, 0-3 in the past 3 years!), but the Houston story was just as compelling. After winning the championship last year (a goalkeeper save in PK’s vs. New England), Houston started the season 2-5-1 and then turned it all around to go 7-0-1 in the next 8 games (which included victories over 6 of the eventual playoff teams..2 of them semifinalists)!!

Over the course of the season, Houston proved to be the best defense in MLS history giving up only 22 goals in 31 games. They also broke the record for longest defensive scoreless streak in MLS history: 726 minutes without giving up a goal. Average crowd was about 15,000 (better than many MLB teams) and the home playoff games were sold-out, standing room only crowds (30,000 and 31,000).

In the Cup Final:
Even without injured main forward Brian Ching, Houston finds a way to come from behind and win. And once again, Dwayne DeRosario has a quiet game (or 3) but then rises up to score THE big goal in THE big game. 40,000 people cheering at RFK stadium - most for New England - with passionate support and reactions from fans of both teams.

It was the kind of game that can create new soccer fans.

Regardless of how ESPN or any other sports media cover the game on their shows tonight (and past experience suggests that SportsCenter will devote less time and respect to this than they will to way-early NHL games that mean almost nothing and had 1/3 of the attendance), this was a game you should try to watch and record if they re-play it on any of the ESPN channels later tonight or this week (check www.soccertv.com or the ESPN site).

I’m already looking forward to taking my son to the games in Houston next season.

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November 6, 2007 by wilmington.

ITEM #1: In Which the Ambassador Muses About the Change of Seasons
As I wonder at the Texans who haven’t spent time in colder states as they wear parkas in the 55 degree mornings (while they stare at me as if I’m insane in my shorts and t-shirt), I am thankful that fall in Waco is much different than the fall in Houston I remember from 7th-12th grade.
Accurate or not, I remember a stretch of grey, overcast high-60’s-and-never-brisk days that lasted from November through March. Here in Waco: brilliant sunsets, 40’s at night - high 50’s in the day with the promise of even colder weather to come. In short, and despite the absence of the violent explosions of burnt reds and oranges and bright yellows erupting from the trees that we enjoyed in Durham, NC, for 12 years…there is a fall in Texas…at least in Waco…this year.

ITEM #2: MLS Playoff Soccer + Champions League on ESPN2
(2-1) It should be a happy time of year for U.S. Soccer fans. Major League Soccer is in the playoffs - Conference Finals coming up as I wrote - but I use the modal “should” because the MLS Playoffs are disgracefully undercovered by the sports media. I’ve ranted on this many times, but the fact that only 2 of the 8 Conference semi-finals were broadcast on “mainstream” cable channels really infuriates me.

The short version of this rant goes something like this:
Sports media in this country is essentially ESPN and wannabe-ESPN types. ESPN sets the negative tone for soccer in a few ways. 1) Ignore it 2) Show only freakish soccer news/highlights 3) Cover it only to ridicule it (stupid accents and British-sounding lingo) 4) Cover it only to the extent that they stress how soccer has never caught on in the USA, how the quality of soccer is terrible, and how they are quite sure soccer will never be as big a spectator sport as football, baseball, basketball, hockey, NASCAR, etc.

>>> You can see all of the above in the following comparison. ESPN will create its own sports event - “The X-Games” - and endlessly hype it with thousands of dollars before it will cover soccer adequately. Note: the number of Americans who actually participate in or travel and pay to attend “X-Games” kinds of events is miniscule - something like 20 million Americans
play soccer every week and a significant percentage of that is made up by adults. Many of these soccer players or, by extension, soccer families are in precisely the economic demographic broadcasters and advertisers want to reach. Now consider the things ESPN covers faithfully - World’s Strongest Man, X-Games, truck racing, etc.
>>> Add to this the idiotic comments by people like Jim Rome - truly one of the most obnoxious and uneducated sports guys out there. This talking suit spent 5 minutes of his ESPN show one day ridiculing David Beckham for not being able to “get his team into the playoffs.” No mention of the fact that Beckham didn’t join the Galaxy until the last 1/3 of the season when the team was already in last place, and certainly no mention of the fact that soccer is not a game in which one player - with the rarest of exceptions - can take over and “get his team” anywhere over the long haul.
>>> Can you imagine a sportscaster saying this about an injured football player who joined a 2-8 team?!? Idiot. Rome finished his 5 minutes of stupidity by railing against soccer as a game. Something like: “I’m sorry. But soccer is just not a serious game in this country. So all you haters can e-mail me as much as you want, but you can just go back to your soccer mom mini-vans and have your orange slices at half-time.” Ignorance + arrogance is pathetic. Even without his trying-too-hard “cool jock guy” voice and affected directness, his complete lack of knowledge should be an embarrassment to his TV and radio network bosses.
>>> So ESPN talks soccer down as much as it can, builds up truly marginal “sports,” and then claims Americans don’t like to watch soccer.
Enough rant (for now).

So…be sure to watch what ESPN *does* give us of this inferior and unserious sport by tuning in Thursday night at 6:30pm Central Time to see New England Revolution vs. Chicago Fire.

(2-2) And of course, you can check the programming schedule for the Champions League broadcasts - which ESPN probably covers ONLY because they play at 2:30pm Eastern Time when there are no live events featuring huge men lifting rocks. Liverpool played today, Manchester United plays tomorrow - Wednesday - on ESPN2 at 1:30pm Central Time. Some of the best teams in Europe playing in an ongoing tournament with huge $$$ and prestige at stake.

(2-3) TEXAN Clint Dempsey - playing for Fulham in the English Premier League - is lighting up one of the best soccer leagues in the world. He’s the lead goal scorer for his team and continues to score against quality opponents. And when he doesn’t score, he is marked closely and oftne fouled - that is, some of the best players in the world respect an American (TEXAN!) soccer player…as a goal scorer. YEEEEEEEE-HAWWW!

Ah-hem. As always, check out www.soccertv.com to see what’s on where and when.

ITEM #3 - The Ambassador’s Reading and Writing Workout
Because many have asked, here’s what I’ve been doing as a PhD student. I won’t take the time and space to explain it all (and the explanations I do give are very simplified), but you can Google these names and books or look things up on Amazon and see for yourself! I’ll do one class in this post…

Philos. Seminar:Readings in Alisdair MacIntyre (Dr.Thomas Hibbs)
MacIntyre is the most influential philosopher of the last 25 years. He revived an interest in Aristotelian philosophy and his book After Virtue and his subsequent development of his ideas critique: modern society and the Enlightenment project which created it, capitalism, and the parasitic nature of what passes for modern moral philosophy. He believes the solution is a strong emphasis on local communities that sustain practices which cultivate the virtues.
>>> Since my former students always ask about such things - we usually read about 8 chapters of a book + two essays OR 3 essays for each class (that’s anywhere from 70-120 pages..of philosophy!…per class) PLUS we are expected to write a 4-page essay in which we review and critique the arguments presented in the reading. Each student also “takes charge” of one class set of readings and is responsible to start and lead discussion for the 3 hour session. End of semester paper is something along the lines of 15-20 pages of an intensely focused critique on MacIntyre’s thought.

Complete Books
Nietzsche: Advantage and Disadvantage of History for Life
MacIntyre: After Virtue;
Dependent Rational Animals,
Edith Stein: A Philosophical Profile
Pierre Manent: A World Beyond Politics
Hans Reinders: The Future of the Disabled in a Liberal Society Wendell Berry: Sex, Economy, Freedom and Community

Essays
MacIntyre: “Epistemological Crises, Dramatic Narrative and the Philosophy of Science,” “Notes from the Moral Wilderness I,” “Notes from the Moral Wilderness II,” “How Moral Agents Became Ghosts,” “The Theses on Feuerbach: A Road Not Taken,” “The Privatization of Good: An Inaugural Lecture,” “Natural Law as Subversive: The Case of Aquinas,” “Plain Persons and Moral Philosophy: Rules, Virtues and Goods,” “Philosophy, Politics, and the Common Good,” “Sophrosune: How a Virtue Can Become Socially Disruptive,” “Toleration the Goods of Conflict,” “The Ends of Life, the Ends of Philosophical Writing,” “Truthfulness and Lies: Kant,” “Truthfulness and Lies: Mill.”

Thomas Hibbs: “Subversive Natural Law: MacIntyre and African American Thought”

John Paul II: “The Culture of Death,” “Evangelium Vitae.”

Charles Taylor: “The Politics of Recognition,” in Multiculturalism.

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October 29, 2007 by wilmington.

Well, several papers and presentations later, and even I believe it’s time to shift the Wonder Pets pictures down the page and write something new…

Here are two backlogged items - more to come.

1) Let’s see…random and unsupported musical pronouncements:
“Coltrane Plays the Blues” is one of the greatest albums of all time.

“Entertaining Thoughts” on the new Over The Rhine album (The Trumpet Child) is, as I told my remote broadcast engineer Myles Werntz, pure pop perfection on the order of The Beatles. The live version of “Changes Come” (on Vol.2 of the live albums of the same name) is jaw-dropping - an apocalyptic soundscape that pulses out in waves around Karin’s “maranatha.”
Or something.

There should be a congressional investigation to discover and prevent whatever happened to change the Stevie Wonder of “As,” I Wish,” “Pastime Paradise,” “You Haven’t Done Nothin’,” “Bird of Beauty,” etc. etc. into the Stevie Wonder of “Part Time Lover,” and “I Just Called..”
It’s just wrong.

2) How funny that I randomly chose to put Hope Solo’s photo up for my last note about the Women’s World Cup! The saga of Coach Greg Ryan choosing to bench the starting (and undefeated) keeper for the semi-final, Solo’s comments afterward, Ryan’s comments, Hope being ostracized by the team, the 3rd place game, yadda. It was almost as ugly as the soccer Ryan had the team playing, and it has become THE story of the World Cup.

Below are some comments I posted on the ESPN Soccernet discussion boards during the
whole debacle. Now that Ryan is OUT as coach, it’s all moot. But I’d like to think that the reasoning US Soccer used to give Ryan the boot was similar to my own harsh criticism of him as coach:

For everyone criticizing Hope Solo as unprofessional or for breaking some kind of rule:

Imagine that after Solo clarified/apologized following her comments on the Brazil game and everything blew up, Greg Ryan comes out and says:

“As the coach, I take full responsibility for my decisions, and I still think I made the right decision based on my read of the challenge against Brazil. As coach, I also realize that I have intentionally cultivated a competitive atmosphere within the team because it makes us better. I knew that my decision to start Bri after Hope had performed so well would raise questions and would be tough for Hope to deal with.

“If it wasn’t hard as hell for her to sit on the bench against Brazil, she would have no business being on this team. I don’t blame her for being angry; I don’t blame her for criticizing me or for saying things that seemed to criticize Bri in the heat of the moment because, as a fierce competitor, she *has* to feel that she could always make the difference. That’s why we’re all playing at this level. She has apologized and nobody doubts that she wants Team USA to be the best it can be. We’re dealing with this now as a team and we will be ready for the next challenge.”

INSTEAD - Ryan came out and gave his “We’re going with 20 players who supported each other…” - clearly labeling Hope as unsupportive. To frame it in terms of “support” is a complete dodge. He continues to shift the attention onto Hope, tries to cast himself as “taking the high road,” and implies that she is selfishly seeking her own glory rather than the team’s success.

Hope’s frustration and hasty reaction was obviously due to wanting the team to win, and her comments about her abilities were made while thinking about how she could’ve helped the team win.

Greg Ryan reacted as if he were just a self-righteous fellow player. He did not step into the mode of leadership required of a coach at this level. His comments should make certain - if there were any doubt left - that his tenure as coach will end soon.

——————-

Good, experienced, and above all, wise coaches know how to make everything play out to help the team. If he had said something like I suggested (yes, I know 20/20 hindsight, but he’s supposed to be experienced by this point), he would simultaneoulsy have defused the hype, protected Solo from charges of selfishness, and borne the burden himself. Instead, he encouraged accusations of selfishness, made snarky digs at Solo, and did nothing to settle the bad team chemistry that is even now getting worse.

Anyway, the point of this thread (nicely echoed in Canales’ article on soccernet) is that this should be entirely about Greg Ryan right now. He failed in several key ways:

He failed to give convincing support for his initial decision. He failed to take responsibility for the *full* consequences of his decision (beyond the typical boilerplate post-loss coach-speak). He failed to act like a coach when he had the chance to show real leadership in reacting to Solo’s remarks and clarification. He failed to act in a way that would repair the long term damage (all of which was instigated by his poor decision).

He’s not a disgrace, he’s not evil. He’s just not good enough - or mature or wise enough - to do what needed to be done.

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September 24, 2007 by wilmington.

ITEM #1
———

If you have not been part of the phenomenon that is “The Wonder Pets” on Nick, Jr. and/or
Noggin, you are unbelievably uncool (perhaps terminally so).

It’s a simple premise, one that has been around since the time of Shakespeare: the class pets of a kindergarten class - a guinea pig, a turtle, and a baby duck - are really a crack squad of animal rescue experts. As soon as the kids and teacher leave for the day, an international hotline phone (cleverly disguised as a tin can with a string attached) rings to alert the team that “an animal’s in trouble somewhere.”

The show is almost through-composed like an opera - complete with alternating sections of recitative and arias. “Linny” the guinea pig is the leader and most experienced, “Tuck” the turtle is the quietly inscrutable moderating force, while “Ming-Ming” the duckling is the boldly emotional comic relief who speaks her mind despite a pronounced speech impediment (”This is seewious!”).

The show sets up repeated patterns and formulas (and cleverly varies them, which 3+ year-olds love) and varies musical styles for each animal rescue: a baby cow stuck in a tree AND threatened by a twister in Oklahoma, a baby hedgehog trapped in a hedge in London, a baby mouse trapped in a saxophone (I’m not making this up), and even a baby swan who doesn’t know how to dance.

Like all great shows for kids, “Wonder Pets” has stuff to crack up parents. The rhymes, half-puns, and musical allusions are very clever. Plus, there’s always the absurd moment when you realize that you are entranced while watching a singing guinea pig, turtle, and duckling rescue a baby chimp who got lost in space (in a Gemini-era space capsule!). That same episode has one of the greatest moments (alongside the time Ming-Ming is the animal they have to rescue):

Linny (singing after answering the phone): It’s a bay-bee chi-imp, / lost out in spa-ace

Ming-Ming (singing): This is seewious!

-pause - music stops -
Tuck: Wait a minute, Linny. I thought chimps lived in forests or jungles!

Linny (singing ): Use - ually, they do!…but some-times theygetsentuptospace!

And that’s it. No other explanation. Yes, chimps do live in forests or jungles (educational point) but, you know, sometimes they get sent up to space. True. And they’re off!

The message of these caped and capped wonderheroes: “What’s gonna work? TEAM-WORK!” [up a minor 3rd] “What’s gonna work?! TEAM-WORK!”

Imagine when Barney was the only thing going…we’ve got it good, fellow parents.

ITEM #2
———

Ok. Umm…yeah. I guess I did say that the Germany v. N.Korea game could be one of the great women’s soccer games of all time. And though I DID say “if both teams are on form” I should also have added “as long as N.Korea doesn’t suddenly decide to play nothing like the way they played the U.S.”

Germany won 3-0 because N.Korea played tentatively, slowly, and only showed flashes of aggression. At about 20 minutes into the 1st half, N.Korea seemes to remember who they were and put some real pressure together - fast 1 and 2-touch passing, great movement off the ball, purposeful runs, and highly aggressive pressure every time a German touched the ball.
In short, they played for a few minutes as they played the U.S. for 93 minutes.

They looked afraid of the Germans and therefore made the Germans look better than they were actually playing. Then the Germans realized how much time they had on the ball…and they stepped up to be as good as they can be. Scary. Maybe the N.Koreans were fired up vs. the Americans by some extra motivation? Maybe their style of play wore them out too soon? Who knows.

IF IF IF Germany plays the U.S. in the Final, Germany will have gotten there by playing weak or off-form teams the whole way. The U.S. had to play the good and fresh N.Koreans, traditional power Sweden, much-improved bruisers Nigeria, the best team England have ever fielded, and Brazil - the most on-form, most-improved, most-skilled, star-powered team in the world. Strangely, the same thing happened when the brackets were assigned LAST World Cup: Germany has a cakewalk until they play the U.S.

Not saying there’s a conspiracy, but I believe Oliver Stone is in talks with Michael Moore and Algore (who wore his special tin-foil hat to the meeting) about a movie treatment. At the end of the day, as Julie Foudy said, you have to beat everybody anyway. As this World Cup has shown - to the 3 or 4 other people watching along with me - gone are the days when you should be shocked to find that the US lost.

Final thought - Australia was robbed in their loss to Brazil. The PK given to Brazil was based on a foul outside the box. An Australian player suffered an obvious foul - pushed from behind in an open box, for God’s sake! - just before time ran out…no PK….and Algore just reminded me that the replay people refused to show that foul despite the fact that any, I mean ANY, apparent contact in the box is always shown on replay 5 or 6 times within seconds of the play.
I’m just sayin…

THURSDAY Morning: ESPN2 - U.S.A. vs. Brazil
(OK, this one really COULD be the greatest women’s soccer game ever played. Really.)

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September 20, 2007 by wilmington.

The quarterfinals are set for the Women’s World Cup 2007:

> Germany v. N.Korea (4:55am (EST) Saturday ESPN2): This game should be unbelievable. The Germans will be very well-rested - the N. Koreans are machines who never stop running. See previous post re: the skills of the N.Koreans. In terms of total soccer quality and for a stylistic match-up, this could be (if both teams play on form) one of the best women’s soccer games ever played.

> U.S.A. v. England (7:55am (EST) Saturday ESPN2): A real challenge for the U.S. England has one of the best goal-scorers playing right now in Kelly Smith, and the U.S. has not played their game (possess in mid-field, pull outside backs up to serve, and vary long balls and through balls on the flanks and in the center) other than in spurts. Lily is off form due to constant man-marking, and players are getting frustrated without feeling the usual rhythm. See previous post for comments about England and then add the fact that they are definitely playing at peak performance and confidence after a great game against Germany. We will have really earned a semi-final place if we make it.

The other quarterfinals are on Sunday, same times on ESPN2 with Norway playing China first and then Brazil playing Australia second.

Official Ambassador predictions:
N.Korea will upset Germany and U.S.A. will defeat England for a semi-final re-match.
Brazil will beat Australia and Norway(?) will either score first and hold on to win 1-0 or win in P.K.’s.
Teams who could win the whole thing (depending on team chemistry/confidence - enormously important in women’s soccer): Germany, U.S.A., Brazil.

If you miss any of the live games, check www.soccertv.com for re-plays on Galavision and/or Univision/Telemundo etc.

> A movie to watch and listen to carefully without interruptions:
“Blue” (and the other two parts of the “Three Colors” trilogy - “White” and “Red” as well) is beautiful, sad, hopeful, angry, and almost transcendent. A film in which the music is intricately tied to plot as well as tone. Juliette Binoche is perfect. The music in question throughout the film, sung in the original Greek, is from 1 Corinthians 13 - the passage that ends “but the greatest of these is love.”
This is a small film in that it just follows one woman through a few urban and small town settings. It ends up feeling and sounding enormous, though, even before you factor in all of the overlaps (characters or places or even colors) that just pop in from time to time…and then end up being key moments in the other two films!

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