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Showing posts from March, 2010

March Madness NOT confined to college basketball....

....but since it's important, let's start there today.  I didn't fill out an NCAA men's basketball championship bracket this year, and just as well, as most I've heard of are a complete shambles by now.  Kentucky's holding up its end of things nicely, what with an unglamorous victory over the feisty Big Red of Cornell late last night,  but Syracuse stumbled and lost last evening, and Kansas bit the dust over the weekend.  Should be interesting the rest of the way, if only because it's less easy to predict. But the word "madness" has to apply to some of the more appalling acts that have been committed by those who cite love of country and such as the reason that they're breaking out windows at congressional offices, cutting gas lines at the homes of the brothers of legislators, and leaving quasi-obscene or threatening phone messages at congressmen's offices.  For the life of me, I don't understand what motivates anyone to do such thing

Daylight savings blues

Are you kind of out of sync today?  Feeling a little out of sorts?  You're not alone. There are numerous studies and articles I found online that indicate that there's a very real effect on the human body's rhythms and cycles, and the simple act of changing one's clocks and watches doesn't begin to cover the havoc we place on ourselves in the "spring forward, fall back" exchange we do twice yearly. Anyway..... Nice to see that the NCAA tournament selection committee has continued its love affair with Duke and Coach K by giving them the easiest route to the Final Four among all of the regional top seeds, and by providing Kentucky the acknowledged hardest row to hoe.  Those who feel I am being a Kentucky loyalist should check around online to see what the "experts" are saying about each regional draw, and I believe you'll find a consensus that Kentucky has it potentially tough.  But as a fan and an longtime observer of high-quality colleg

Profound apologies!

Good day, readers..... In the last couple of days I have become aware of a problem with my blog, which is hosted through Google's Blogger portal.  For some reason I decided to visit my own blog, which I seldom do, and found that I was being randomly redirected to a number of sites in sequence.  Obviously, I found this very annoying, but I believe I've found the problem. Some time ago I got curious about the number of users who visit this space, and added a "gadget" that counts hits.  From what I gather, that counter was loaded with malware than then caused viewers to be involuntarily redirected to useless search engines and other sites. I removed the counter gadget this morning and I believe that all is now working.  If you're an occasional or frequent visitor and have had problems but are no longer experiencing these difficulties, please let me know with a comment that all is as it should be! Sorry to be so oblivious to a problem!

The Oscars

Did you watch the Oscars last night? I only watched bits and pieces of it, but for once it looked as though the broadcast itself had a little bit of a pace to it that isn't usually the case. Speeches were brief but heartfelt, and there weren't as many tribute pieces as usual. On the subject of tributes, one of the nicer ones was in recognition of those movie people who passed away during the last year (actors, writers, directors, behind-the-scenes people, journalists, reviewers, etc.). It was the usual video montage but instead of a piece of recorded music James Taylor performed the Beatles' "In My Life," which I found a nice touch. I didn't have any particular favorites this year, having only seen one of the ten (TEN!) best picture nominees---I, like most of the Western Hemisphere, saw "Avatar" twice, and while I liked it and recognize its importance in advancing the process of moviemaking did not imagine it would win best picture, and it didn&#

Olympic withdrawal

With the closing ceremonies of the Vancouver Winter Olympics last night, our house will now be in a brief period of loss for the next couple of nights. I always find the Olympics to be an interesting experience as a television viewer, as the magnitude of the event causes even casual sports fans to root for (or against) individual and team competitors in such relatively obscure sports as the Nordic combined (ski-jumping and cross-country skiiing), short track speed skating and bobsleigh racing (not bobsled, as we all call it). Even got my wife to watch some hockey this time around, as it helped that Team USA was playing for a gold medal yesterday. But that's always been the mystique of the Olympics....getting people to become emotionally invested in sports and athletes about whom they would not normally give a passing thought. I credit ABC, and particularly a production executive named Roone Arledge with figuring out how to do that. ABC had already cornered the television sport