Last Splash

The gene pool could use a little Chlorine.

I take for granted sometimes the significance of growing up on what the rest of the country knows as "Tobacco Road". I was looking at TSN today, the Canadian version of our ESPN, and saw that one of the stories was headlined something like "Wesley scores OT Game Winner in Tobacco Road showdown". A hockey report even refers to this area as the basketball capital.

It's not always fun and games, either. Some of you may or may not know, but Carolina fans...for the sake of my sanity I will explain that the teams here are refered to as simply 'State' (NCSU) and 'Carolina' (UNC)...and of course, Duke...in any case, Carolina fans have a long-standing tradition of setting fires in the throng on Franklin Street and jumping over them. Most normal schools just set a huge bonfire for everyone to enjoy, but in Chapel Hill, it's more thrilling to be in the intimate circle that crushes the hole around the fire smaller and smaller as students anticipate the risk involved in randomly leaping over as someone else does the same, the probability of collision making everything just that much more exciting. So, imagine my disgust when I had to sit through almost 45 minutes of 'extra game coverage' after Carolina's victory over Duke a couple of weeks ago, which turned out to be a helicopter shot of the craziness on Franklin Street zooming in and out on different little fires as well-respected nightly news anchors stammered to find things to talk about. This occured from 11:14 or so until almost midnight, when the local news finally began.

Now, some may point out that I am bitter because I'm a State fan, and there was a bit of drunken zaniness occuring on Hillsborough St in Raleigh when my team, picked last in the ACC this season, stomped the number 4 Tarheels. We had no more than the obligatory 5 minutes at the beginning of the broadcast and about 2 minutes of the sports report. That's all well and good. What bothers me is that UNC's victory garnered more attention from the local news (based in Raleigh, not Chapel Hill or Durham) that even the ACC championship, or for God's sake, our own Carolina Hurricanes winning the most prized (and most difficult to win in my own humble opinion) trophy in professional sports.

That's right, my friends. College basketball is still the sport du jour in the Triangle. Even a Stanley Cup can't change that. And while it doesn't really bother me all that much, I still feel like our World Champion hockey team deserved a little more respect than an average, mid-season basketball game. Let's all hope that UNC loses in the first round of the NCAA tournament, and takes the hype with it.

posted by: Cannonball14 at 17:35 | link | comments |
the sports report

You know what really gets me?

I watched the movie Message in the Bottle last night, which I borrowed from my dad's extensive DVD collection of John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and Kevin Costner movies (I know, where does that fit in?) It stuck out like a sore thumb, but he insisted he really thought it was a great movie, and he had two copies anyway, so I took it home. Really, if you knew my dad, you'd be thinking "Nicholas Sparks???!!! Really?!" But, I guess I could see how he liked it. He's a boater himself, although not a sailor, and spent part of his formative years in one of those very small coastal Carolina communities. He's gruff and Southern like Kevin Costner's character in the movie. And he really is a conundrum in and of itself. I mean, this is a man that has done all of the following: converted part of the detached garage at his house into a "man" room used solely for grilling, watching old war movies, and smoking; spent about 12 of the last 24 months in Taiwan; eaten Sushi in Japan; sung karaoke in Australia; gotten drunk in the infield at a Nascar game; erected an honorary 9/11 flagpole in my mother's flower bed made of PVC pipe and tied to the house with boating rope. So, all things considered, I don't know why ANYthing he does surprises me anymore.

Former point aside, what really pissed me off during the movie was that it was filmed mostly in a coastal community that was very obviously somewhere on the left coast. Now, there is a very big difference in the two coasts, and as lovely as my feelings towards NoCal are after my honeymoon, I am and always will be an East Coast girl. It's in my blood. And I cannot understand how anyone could look at the beach scenes in that movie and think NC beaches look ANYTHING like that! Our beaches are not cold, or misty, or mountainous. Our lighthouses are tall and obtrusive, and our water is more emerald green that dark and mysterious. There is not a speck of black lava rock anywhere on a NC beach. And as famous as the Outer Banks are, you would have thought the movie's producers would have been OK filming there. I mean, Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger used to own a HOUSE there! People from the midwest go to the Outer Banks all the time! What's wrong with us? We were good enough for fourty seasons of Dawson's Creek, for goodness sake, even though that was set in MA. How come we're not good enough for a book actually set in NC and written by one of our (fairly decent but a little too sappy and conventional) native authors? Shame on Nicholas Sparks for not insisting on that. But, then again, a man that allows ALL of his books to be made into movies probably isn't too concerned with authenticity.

posted by: Cannonball14 at 16:01 | link | comments |
film guide

More tales of corruption from the NC government. My husband had diversity and ethics training yesterday for work, and some of the talking points he came home with really got me thinking. If a DMV officer cannot accept a "food treat" AFTER approving a driver from a CDL license, because it means he may show favoritism to that driver in the future, then how the hell are lobbyists able to take Senators out to dinner at $100 steakhouses? Just a thought.

Something that made me laugh is that apparently, the Department of Transportation (and I'm sure other prestigious departments in our fine state) has a fund set aside in their budget for keeping up their relationship with legislators. Basically, a portion of taxpayer money is set aside so that they can wine and dine the people's representatives if they feel it is needed. Now, answer me this conundrum: if the representatives are the ones setting the budget, then they are basically budgeting money for themselves to be taken out to fancy dinners on ferry boats to help along their own relationship with DOT. Wouldn't it make more sense (and help streamline taxes) if these senators just decided "hey, we don't need this money in the budget...why don't we just make sure that we're giving enough money to DOT to get the roads and ferry system in top shape, and then they won't have to worry about catering a dinner when we come to town". Right?!

posted by: Cannonball14 at 15:07 | link | comments (1) |
political bullshit

Sigh...I, too, am cheating on Mo'time. I have a MySpace page. I like it. I blog on it. I get to put my picture on it, and I have a 20 song playlist that plays whenever you visit my page. My background is not plain. It is a pretty picture of the Pacific coast.

But it's just not the same.

Even though lately I haven't had too much to say, and my blog has no real theme (classic Jack of All Trades, master of none) I still feel as though I can say anything I want here. I don't worry about other people's political affiliations compared to mine. In fact, I've had some really interesting conversations with people about politics, and it's probably even shaped my own beliefs a little.

In that vein, I will point out that one of my beliefs is that the Grammy Awards are now officially a crock o'shit. I mean, seriously, I know the Dixie Chicks album was critically acclaimed and all that, but even Natalie Maines pretty much knew that they won the awards based on the political statements their album made, not on the musicality of the songs. She said it in her freaking acceptance speech, for God's sake.

I personally love the Dixie Chicks. I like country music, and I was kind of amused by the whole boycott and the vehement backlash that the country audience layed on the Dixie Chicks. My own husband and I even disagree on the freedom of speech of musicians. Being pretty close to a Libertarian myself,  I personally feel that they have the right to say anything they want at their concerts, in the press, or wherever they happen to be. I do think that the arts industry is 96% liberal and they will push their agendas, but most Americans that vote with a conscience are really not going to swayed by what three musicians say. And if their fans don't like what they have to say, well then the answer is simple: stop listening to their music. I think the Chicks were smart for coming out to recreate themselves the way they did.

But, I don't think they had the record, song, or album of the year. I haven't heard the song on the radio all year, don't know a single person who bought the album, and really don't even feel that the actual record of "I'm Not Ready to Make Nice" was musically all that good.

I'm ready for GOOD music to win awards. What do you think?

posted by: Cannonball14 at 16:31 | link | comments (1) |
music theory, political bullshit