Saucyman: How I Spent My Summer

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

How I Spent My Summer

True to the great indoorsman that I am July and August were spent inside. Not just my usual laying on the couch reading, poking around the kitchen, dithering self...no this time I was inside for a purpose or a reason anyway...I was getting to know the video editing program Final Cut Pro a little better.

My goal was to shoot videos for Portland Farmers Market. My first installment, Wag Eggs, is a reminder that we are incredibly sophisticated media consumers. Watch a season of the Wire or Mad Men and you know story, editing, sound design better than the most hard core movie enthusiast from 50 years ago. Take that viewing acumen, which you'd think would be a bonus, then try to make your own short film and you quickly realize the difference between doing and watching. It's harder than it looks even with a supportive and knowledgeable instructor and super-fast equipment.

The other short was a student film in which I play a charcter named Douchebag. Student Film, Douchebag, enough said:

1 comments:

Anonymous said...: I don't know what makes me happier - that lovely pan of those pretty hens or seeing the Douchewina get his ass kicked. Good work!; August 31, 2010 3:11 PM

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Basketball

Since the lockout ended, I have been largely silent about the great sport of basketball. Despite Brandon Roy retiring, despite my beloved Blazer’s sprint out of the blocks to a really good start, despite my home team playing a style of basketball than can no longer be described as Van Gundying (Jeff) up the sport’s fluidity.

I don’t know, some interesting developments transpired: During the lockout, analysts and beat writers, the very people who possibly think about professional basketball more than I do, had a light bulb go on over their collective heads and across the league they discovered what everyone else pretty much already knew, NBA Commissioner David Stern is a dick. Over the last decade Stern forced bankrupt municipalities to build new stadiums for billionaires’ new play thing, this heavy handed behavior garnered nothing but praise. The writers sighed and thought eh, “we live in the suburbs, we write for suburban middle managers, our values are if anything anti-urban” - with all the weight that word carries. But needlessly locking out players jeopardizing their tenuous employment in publishing, well that is something that we might complain about except they hate the players more - Oh the conflict.

But mostly I can’t get excited about any team helmed by Nate McMillan. We’ll make the playoffs with a pretty good but not best record, maybe get home court advantage in the first round and then fail to advance. This is true until McMillan proves otherwise, 11 years a coach out of the first round once - this record while coaching some pretty good but not great teams. Along the way Nate will overplay star forwards LaMarcus Aldridge and Gerald Wallace so there is nothing in the tank come playoff time and risk their health. And yo-yo Nicholas Batum’s minutes so the young player becomes a head case instead of developing into a consistent contributor.

So a predictable finish is part of the my own jejune response to the return of the sport of kings (not really, that's horse racing) maybe it's the sweet science (damnit google says that's boxing). My attitude goes deeper than a finish more predictable than one of McMillan's earth toned, triple pleated suits, if the lockout exposed a fault line in NBA coverage it's that broadcasters and writers are now PR agents for the teams - so who is left to advocate for the fan - thank goodness for blogs and the posting cyborg that is named Henry Abbott.

2nd round or bust