I just watched Miracle again. I figure it's the 8th time or so I've seen the film and it never disappoints, although nothing can compare to the day I watched Team USA pull off the greatest upset in sports history. I was amazed and inspired.
A few years later I met Mike Eruzione for a brief moment at a speech and autograph appearance at the South Hills Mall in Poughkeepsie, NY. I brought him my skates to sign - a pair of cloddy molded plastic Microns. Mike signed his name on the tongue of the right one for me and then offered me a bit of advice. Basically he told me my skates sucked and that I should invest in a pair of leather skates. By the beginning of next season I had a new pair of Bauer 100's and a break out year in my high school hockey career.
As for now, my interest in hockey is returning with the the new NHL season that starts in about a week. The Red Wings look good and I'm happy to see Steve Yzerman is back at the Joe for one more season. Here's to them kicking the crap out of Colorado and NJ. Why NJ? For the bragging rights. Sfumato and a host of other friends of mine are Devil's fans and it's always good to chirp about your team over a beer. Or in your blog.
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
NY Times Select, A Cheap Offer & Bob Dylan
Recently, the NY Times took everything that was worth reading and buried it behind the shiny tall walls of premium content they call Times Select. I used to read Rich, Friedman, Krugman, Dowd, Brooks et al every day and especially on Sundays. I'm not spending 50 bucks to do it though. Thanks NYT for forcing me to expand my horizons. Hello Slate, Salon and Google News.
An old boss of mine called me recently and asked if I would come back and take over my old position. The upside would be a ton more responsibility with exactly the same pay as when I left. In some cases, that might be a gracious offer, but consider that I left because I was grossly underpaid and now make tons more. Consider that I am not unhappy where I am. Consider I am not on the pipe and out of my fucking mind.
Earlier tonight I flipped by PBS and flipped back to it because Bob Dylan was on. It turned out to be Martin Scorsese's bio on him, entitled "No Direction Homee". I just caught the last 20 minutes of it and while there were some great performances in there, the film, at least here at the end, seemed to focus on Dylan and the media. We see him there, smoking and searching for words, joking and playing with the writers - not wanting to be pinned down at all. I'm not the biggest Dylan fan, but it seems to me that this guy has refused to be what we want him to be. While we're free to interpret his lyrics and his messages and ask deep probing questions, he just slips away. He and his art stand alone. He's not going to explain or justify or interpret for you. He's just there. You wanna play the deconstruction game? Go ahead. Bob abides and doesn't give a crap. Or at least he'll never let on.
Anyhoo - I'd like to see the rest of the documentary. It seems like Scorsese really nailed this one. Check it out.
An old boss of mine called me recently and asked if I would come back and take over my old position. The upside would be a ton more responsibility with exactly the same pay as when I left. In some cases, that might be a gracious offer, but consider that I left because I was grossly underpaid and now make tons more. Consider that I am not unhappy where I am. Consider I am not on the pipe and out of my fucking mind.
Earlier tonight I flipped by PBS and flipped back to it because Bob Dylan was on. It turned out to be Martin Scorsese's bio on him, entitled "No Direction Homee". I just caught the last 20 minutes of it and while there were some great performances in there, the film, at least here at the end, seemed to focus on Dylan and the media. We see him there, smoking and searching for words, joking and playing with the writers - not wanting to be pinned down at all. I'm not the biggest Dylan fan, but it seems to me that this guy has refused to be what we want him to be. While we're free to interpret his lyrics and his messages and ask deep probing questions, he just slips away. He and his art stand alone. He's not going to explain or justify or interpret for you. He's just there. You wanna play the deconstruction game? Go ahead. Bob abides and doesn't give a crap. Or at least he'll never let on.
Anyhoo - I'd like to see the rest of the documentary. It seems like Scorsese really nailed this one. Check it out.
Sunday, September 25, 2005
The Catch Up
Ok, so it's been like a month or so. What gives? What's the deal? Why no post? What super duper melodrama is playing out that has kept VJ so occupied he's pulled a Sfumato like month of neglect?
Basically it boils down to self censorship combined with procrastination and its effects alongside a dollop of mild cyclical depression thrown in. Mix and serve. Make sure the depression is cold when you go to mix it in though - just like butter in a cookie mix.
I don't know how many times I sat down here in my office to write something about the debacle and tragedy that was and is Katrina and found my words entirely inadequate or just a recapitulation of sentiments I found better expressed elsewhere. Unable or unwilling to write about it I found it trivial to discuss anything else in the face of such tragedy. On top of it, I watched entirely too much coverage of it which just exhausted me emotionally. I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in that.
I can say this though - when I am done with something I just tend to put it away or abandon it or put it down for so long that it's almost embarrassing to pick it back up. I told Sfumato that my lack of a post was starting to feel like a class I'd been skipping all semester.
He told me that was silly. Just post something he said. Pick right back up. Other people wrote or asked about the lack of a post. I have no idea about the number of people that read this but a few seemed to notice the drop off and were concerned. Thanks for that. It's really appreciated.
In my last post I mentioned how I noticed a lack of response to the hurricane. Who knew how far that lack of response would go? Of course though, the blogging world caught up with the story and so did the large commercial Internet presences like Amazon.com. At first Amazon ran just a small red cross add in the upper right corner of their homepage. I think by Friday that small ad had finally turned into the same large centered Red Cross donation page that had been put up right away for the tsunami disaster.
A few weeks ago the NY Times ran an editorial piece about a med-evac company by the name of Acadian that seemed to actually be able to respond to Katrina and deal with it effectively while FEMA just screwed things up for them and everyone else. Evidently, teams of Acadian doctors were withheld because they were not "Federalized" and helicopters sat on the ground empty while bureaucrats fought over whether or not the right forms were being filled out.. WTF? The story made me think of my old boss , the Director of the Strategic Management Group, Drew Overpeck. Drew was all about nimble thinking and adapting to the situation. Plan? Sure you need to plan but you also need to plan on the fly because things rarely work out the way you want them to.
On a more personal level - we just got back Sasha's ashes the other day. Sad sad sad. I get thinking about Sasha and that gets me thinking about death and that gets me thinking about my sister. It'll be one year since she died on October 13th. I find myself thinking about her last weeks out there in Oklahoma with a person that was ill equipped to deal with her problems. I wonder if she had a good day at all - some measure of happiness or whether it was all frustration.
I miss her.
For the past few years Clarisa and I have been surrounded by death. I'll tell you what, it certainly helps to put things in perspective and appreciate those quiet times when everything is going generally well. It also makes you more aware of your life. Take work for example - in general they expect you to stay late and "get it done" because that is what must be done. They expect you to work like you are immortal.
Guess what.
So my advice, folks, is don't wait. Do. Not. Wait. Work for sure, but don't forget to live.
As for me? I've signed up for and have started taking a black and white photography class at SVA. I'm not sure where it will lead but I'm along for the ride. We're supposed to be shooting "motion" and practicing panning and blurring and freezing. Right now it's cool and overcast and I have some 400 speed Tri-X film loaded up and I think I'll go shoot.
Basically it boils down to self censorship combined with procrastination and its effects alongside a dollop of mild cyclical depression thrown in. Mix and serve. Make sure the depression is cold when you go to mix it in though - just like butter in a cookie mix.
I don't know how many times I sat down here in my office to write something about the debacle and tragedy that was and is Katrina and found my words entirely inadequate or just a recapitulation of sentiments I found better expressed elsewhere. Unable or unwilling to write about it I found it trivial to discuss anything else in the face of such tragedy. On top of it, I watched entirely too much coverage of it which just exhausted me emotionally. I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in that.
I can say this though - when I am done with something I just tend to put it away or abandon it or put it down for so long that it's almost embarrassing to pick it back up. I told Sfumato that my lack of a post was starting to feel like a class I'd been skipping all semester.
He told me that was silly. Just post something he said. Pick right back up. Other people wrote or asked about the lack of a post. I have no idea about the number of people that read this but a few seemed to notice the drop off and were concerned. Thanks for that. It's really appreciated.
In my last post I mentioned how I noticed a lack of response to the hurricane. Who knew how far that lack of response would go? Of course though, the blogging world caught up with the story and so did the large commercial Internet presences like Amazon.com. At first Amazon ran just a small red cross add in the upper right corner of their homepage. I think by Friday that small ad had finally turned into the same large centered Red Cross donation page that had been put up right away for the tsunami disaster.
A few weeks ago the NY Times ran an editorial piece about a med-evac company by the name of Acadian that seemed to actually be able to respond to Katrina and deal with it effectively while FEMA just screwed things up for them and everyone else. Evidently, teams of Acadian doctors were withheld because they were not "Federalized" and helicopters sat on the ground empty while bureaucrats fought over whether or not the right forms were being filled out.. WTF? The story made me think of my old boss , the Director of the Strategic Management Group, Drew Overpeck. Drew was all about nimble thinking and adapting to the situation. Plan? Sure you need to plan but you also need to plan on the fly because things rarely work out the way you want them to.
On a more personal level - we just got back Sasha's ashes the other day. Sad sad sad. I get thinking about Sasha and that gets me thinking about death and that gets me thinking about my sister. It'll be one year since she died on October 13th. I find myself thinking about her last weeks out there in Oklahoma with a person that was ill equipped to deal with her problems. I wonder if she had a good day at all - some measure of happiness or whether it was all frustration.
I miss her.
For the past few years Clarisa and I have been surrounded by death. I'll tell you what, it certainly helps to put things in perspective and appreciate those quiet times when everything is going generally well. It also makes you more aware of your life. Take work for example - in general they expect you to stay late and "get it done" because that is what must be done. They expect you to work like you are immortal.
Guess what.
So my advice, folks, is don't wait. Do. Not. Wait. Work for sure, but don't forget to live.
As for me? I've signed up for and have started taking a black and white photography class at SVA. I'm not sure where it will lead but I'm along for the ride. We're supposed to be shooting "motion" and practicing panning and blurring and freezing. Right now it's cool and overcast and I have some 400 speed Tri-X film loaded up and I think I'll go shoot.
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