Tag: ek Holiday

Call me Ishmael.  Long before the movie there was a book and since paperback pop trash sci-fi was only a hobby I can say that Jaws was worth the $.75 I paid for it and the 2 hours it took to consume not unpleasant if not particularly memorable.  I have no idea why people think Spielberg is a genius either.

Nor are sharks a particular terror of mine, the reason I don’t swim in dark water is my acrophobia and the sensation of falling, not because I’m afraid of getting eaten by a big fish.

Still there is no denying the mass fascination.

About 24 years go the programmers at Discovery were wondering how they could fill the hot dead humid air of August when they came up with an idea.

The Evolution of Shark Week, Pop-Culture Leviathan

By Ashley Fetters, The Atlantic

Aug 13 2012, 1:02 PM ET

Now the longest-running cable TV programming event in history, Shark Week has cemented itself as a fixture in the pop-culture lexicon, both seriously and meme-tastically. Stephen Colbert and Tracy Morgan (the voices of their generation, of course) have both publicly professed the sanctity of Shark Week in recent years: In 2006, Morgan’s character on 30 Rock sagely advised a colleague to “Live every week like it’s Shark Week“, and Colbert proclaimed it the second holiest annual holiday next to the week after Christmas in 2010.

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By 1994, Shark Week had lured Jaws author Peter Benchley on board as the show’s first-ever host. For its 15th anniversary in 1997, the sharks had costars-Celebrity Shark Week, it was dubbed, with appearances by Julie Bowen, Mark McGrath, and Brian McKnight, among others. Volleyball player Gabrielle Reece jumped into shark-infested waters without ever really informing the producers that she was more than a little new to scuba-diving: “I thought if I told [Discovery],” she said, “they wouldn’t let me come.”

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To this day, Runnette says, the team continues to develop its programming simply by asking themselves the question that spawned the first Shark Week: “What would be the most fun?” (“Chum underpants” and “the meat suit” are just two unforgettable responses that Runnette mentions, laughing at the memory-but clarifies that neither one has ever been or will ever be actually implemented.)

Shark Week, though, Runnette says, has never been at a loss for fun. “It’s taught us that it wants to be almost like a holiday-which it is for a lot of people,” Runnette says. “They want to wave little flags that say ‘Happy Shark Week.’ I always see pictures of all these cupcakes and these party decorations that they have to celebrate Shark Week.”

A beginner’s guide to Shark Week – a bloody American tradition

Amanda Holpuch, The Guardian

Friday 10 August 2012 12.28 EDT

Thrashing limbs, bloodied ocean and the shell-crushing teeth of the most-feared creature in the sea: this my friends, is Shark Week.

Broadcast annually for a quarter-century, the shockingly educational and often voyeuristic week of shark-oriented programming has dominated American airwaves each summer, courtesy of the Discovery Channel.

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The combination of courageous camerawork, melodramatic music and terrifying facts – a shark can smell a single drop of blood in an Olympics-sized pool! – has been a ratings boon for Discovery since its inception.

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For the past 24 summers, the network has hosted shows including: Teeth of Death, In Search of the Golden Hammerhead, The Man Who Loves Sharks, Shark Shooters, Blood in the Water and Jaws Comes Home.

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And though people are more likely to die from digging a hole in the sand than from a shark attack, the programming’s focus on these aquatic onslaughts plays up to the fears most famously induced by Jaws (whose author happened to host the first Shark Week) and helps get great ratings along the way.

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“People are quite obviously a greater danger to sharks than the other way around, so I talk to them about how we can show that or how we can talk about that,” Runnette said.

Happy Shark Week.  Tomorrow, Little League Baseball.

Spoiler Alert!

Acutally it’s been on live for a while now and streaming on the web, but I prefer to ‘enjoy’ it in the same manner as my readers, tape delayed.

Which I wouldn’t have minded so much if they’d just published an accurate schedule.

I got to see most of my weird and wacky favorites at least once and caught some of the pivotal moments though I didn’t let it dominate my life.  Title IX really showed its impact at these Olympics making up for some disappointments in areas of traditional strength.

In addition to being more entertaining, the men are grim relentless joyless competitors.

We are once again reminded that most subjective judging is thoroughly corrupt and that amateur umpires and referees make mistakes too often for all of them to be deliberate.  Again we see the demonstrated jingoistic bias and shallow understanding of traditional USA television, but…

Sometimes you get to see something surprising or inspirational or amusing that you’d be disappointed to have missed.  79 Nations got some medal, 50 got at least 1 Gold.

London 2012: A Gold Medal, or An Also-Ran?

The International Herald Tribune

August 12, 2012

There was anonymity. A U.S. shooter, Kimberly Rhode, 33, won her fifth medal at her fifth straight Olympics. No American has ever done that in an individual event, but almost nobody noticed. Her gun was stolen from her car after the 2008 Olympics, then she had a breast cancer scare. Is she on for 2016? You bet.

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There were breakthroughs. Oscar Pistorius ran on prosthetic legs and Caster Semenya won the silver medal in the women’s 800 meters. And the Earth continued to spin on its axis. Women boxed for the first time. Three holdout nations – Qatar, Brunei and Saudi Arabia – finally gave up their gender apartheid in sports and allowed women to compete.

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“The I.O.C. is making a huge fuss about her being here – their spin is that Olympic sports are opening the door for women, especially Arabic women. Which is kind of a joke,” the observer said. “I think these girls are being propped up by the I.O.C. as their token Islamic female participants.”

I’d really rather skip the Superbowl Spectaculars in favor of rewatching my dvred Bissel Kitty Halftime shows, but they’re not going to be talking about that at the coffee machine tomorrow.

Rule Britannia: Olympic closing ceremony explained

By JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press

22 minutes ago

Organizers say the ceremony will be a celebration of British music “from Elgar to Adele.” Many viewers will have heard of Adele, the big-voiced singer who won six Grammys with her album “21.” Edward Elgar was the composer of the “Pomp and Circumstance” marches and the “Enigma Variations.” His composition “Nimrod,” regarded as quintessentially English, was played at the opening ceremony of the London Games – one of several elements linking the first night of the Olympics with the last.

From there, the ceremony explodes in a kaleidoscope of musicians and eras – from 1960s Mods with The Who, to the 1990s “girl power” of the Spice Girls.

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British humor has a big role in the closing ceremony, with an appearance by Eric Idle of iconoclastic comedy troupe Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Expect surreal visual juxtapositions as he sings “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,” the jaunty but sardonic ditty from the film “Monty Python’s Life of Brian.”

London Olympics: Preview of closing ceremony

By Lisa Dillman, Los Angeles Times

August 12, 2012

Like the opening ceremony, much of what will happen is being kept under wraps. But a few details have trickled out, and some interesting people have been spotted around town, so we can make a few educated guesses.

How else can you explain the rumored appearance of Muse and One Direction?

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Annie Lennox, Kate Bush and Kaiser Chiefs, if they appear, could help the gala nudge into bronze-medal territory, up from the DNF zone.

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Exact details are kept secret, but expected to perform are Adele, George Michael, the Who, Muse, Spice Girls, Pet Shop Boys, Annie Lennox and Fatboy Slim. No word yet if Sir Elton will be there.

There was one act I heard they were unable to book-

More Spoilers.

We close our final day of competition with the Men’s Volleyball Final.  We’ll be having a separate piece on the Closing Ceremony tonight.

Broadcast Schedule

All this is sourced through the NBC Olympics broadcast schedule.

Competitions designated by (Medal) will award winners that day.  ‘all’ means not specified.  Sometimes NBC especially does mashups and doesn’t include event or competitor information.  Elimination means no round robin, one and done.

These schedules are a place for you to make sure you don’t miss a sport you like and share your observations.  Have fun today!

The Perseids are the remnants of Comet Swift-Tuttle and stretch all the way around its 130 year orbit because it’s falling apart.  First historically recorded about 2,000 years ago the main current debris source is a chunk that fell off more or less 1,000 years later and a stream from 1862.  This year’s display is expected to be exceptionally active because of the numeric density of the material the Earth will pass through.

Perseid meteor shower: NASA explains why it’ll be the year’s best

By Rene Lynch, Los Angeles Times

August 10, 2012

But the Perseid meteor shower is only part of the treat in store for stargazers, NASA says.

“The brightest planets in the solar system are lining up right in the middle of the [Perseid] display,” NASA says. Specifically, “Jupiter, Venus and the crescent moon are gathering together just as the Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak.”

The red giant star Aldebaran will also be visible, “adding a splash of color to the gathering,” NASA says.

The three celestial orbs will make for a brilliant, three-point line in the sky, all surrounded by shooting stars. The display is expected to be best seen in the eastern skies and in the early morning hours before sunrise.

The show will get better as the weekend winds down. Early Monday, the increasingly narrowing moon will pass even closer to Venus, as Jupiter “hovers” overhead, according to NASA.

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“Star-watchers say there’s nothing prettier than a close encounter between the slender crescent moon and Venus. Nothing that is, except for the crescent moon, Venus and a flurry of Perseids.”

Viewing conditions might not be the best, especially in the Northeast, but should get better by sunrise.

Perseid meteor shower peaks tonight, best places to view it

David Epstein, Boston.com

August 11, 2012

Much of Texas, the Ohio Valley, Tennessee, the northern parts of Alabama, Mississippi and the Rockies look to have favorable sky conditions. parts of Florida and a good deal of the West Coast will also be mainly clear.

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If you live where it is expected to be cloudy, like here in the northeast, it is still worth looking up later tonight. Last evening we had big thunderstorms in the area but early this morning it cleared enough to see some of the meteors in the Massachusetts area. The same thing could very easily happen across the northeast later tonight.

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On Saturday the 11th, leading into the 12th, expect about 25-60 meteors per hour. You won’t see the meteors evenly spread out over time. You may see nothing for five minutes and then four or more in a row a minute later. Lie on a blanket and look up rather than stand. If you stand with your neck tilted up, you will have neck issues in the morning. On Sunday night, heading into the morning of the 13th there will be fewer meteors per hour, but still a nice show. The best time to see this will be around 2AM-3AM, but if you don’t want to wait till then it’s still worthwhile once it gets dark.

Well, I’m almost sure you’re not up to watch Taekwondo.

C’mon, sing along.  You know you want to.

Broadcast Schedule

All this is sourced through the NBC Olympics broadcast schedule.  Last  Day of competition starts at 6 am tomorrow.  

Competitions designated by (Medal) will award winners that day.  ‘all’ means not specified.  Sometimes NBC especially does mashups and doesn’t include event or competitor information.  Elimination means no round robin, one and done.

These schedules are a place for you to make sure you don’t miss a sport you like and share your observations.  Have fun today!

Olympic losers – the misery of past hosts

Lee Wellings, Al Jazeera

August 6, 2012

The most senior Australian member of the International Olympic Committee, former Olympian Kevin Gosper has said the failure to win gold medals results from cuts to government funding of Olympic sports in 2009.

‘You’ve got to put money in there. That pays for coaches, it pays for international competition. It’s the difference between gold and silver.’

But Australia are not the only nation suffering funding cuts in these austere times.

Spain’s Olympics so far has been grim – 39th in the medal table at the time of writing. I’ve seen and spoken to Spanish supporters in the Olympic Park and spirits remain high amongst people whose football team dominate the world.

At these Olympics their football team was eliminated without scoring a goal – summing up their first 10 days at the Games where no golds and just three medals came their way.

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Which brings us to Greece. Hosts eight years ago they have just two bronzes to show for their efforts so far and are out of the top 50 in the medals table. They brought a team weakened to just over 100 members by the crippling economic problems and their modest performances are completely unsurprising.

So bad were their finances after the Athens games that the IOC have had to acknowledge the part of the Olympics in their demise. They told me the problems in Greece are less than two per cent because of them hosting. Less than two per cent of Greece’s debt amounts to a big problem.

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Greece, Spain, Australia. Three of the last five Olympic hosts with one gold between them.

It’s a warning to governments in any host nation from Britain to Brazil.

The Elusive Economic Lift of the Olympics

By JOSHUA MILLS, The New York Times

August 10, 2012

Playing host to the Olympics rarely turns out to be an economic benefit for a country or city, and sports economists have convincingly documented how silly the expectations sometimes are, as Nick Watanabe of the University of Missouri did with regard to the London Games (“Yeah, so if we don’t include costs, there is a profit”).

Part of the faulty calculation is a disposition to focus on revenue and ignore many of the costs – particularly the indirect ones, needed to address increases in traffic and thus pollution; crime, littering and so on.

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When the Bloomberg administration was pushing hard for New York City to get the 2012 Games, it insisted that a new Olympic stadium would need to be built on Manhattan’s West Side – despite the presence in the metro area of three major stadiums. It also wanted to build a multimillion-dollar equestrian arena on Staten Island (which would be used for what after the Olympics?) despite the presence of Belmont and three other horse-racing tracks.

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Chicago, with the enthusiastic support of Barack Obama, pushed for the 2016 Olympics, and its officials said a new Olympic stadium was needed, despite two major-league baseball stadiums and Soldier Field, a football stadium (home of the Chicago Bears) that was recently renovated.

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Another piece of the faulty calculation of Olympic benefits is they often fail to acknowledge the displacement of other economic activity. The Greek government and Greek businesses invested billions of dollars to hold the 2004 Games – and while they drew full houses, tourism in Greece was down for the year, because so many people stayed away and many promised improvements were never made (though Athens did gain a much-needed subway system).

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In effect, rather than creating new economic activity, spending is shifted from one segment to another. Sports economists have been documenting this for decades.

And that’s to say nothing of the cost overruns that come with almost every major construction project and the upkeep needed in subsequent years to keep athletics facilities clean, safe and functional. Sydney is spending millions each year. The wonderful velodrome built in London will undoubtedly be used by cyclists – but how many and how often and at what cost?

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As public schools are increasing class sizes and dropping music and arts programs, firehouses are being closed and infrastructure is failing, how does being the host of the Olympic Games makes economic sense?

Gold in Women’s Water Polo and Football, UConn gets a scare.

Women power U.S. Olympic team

Aubrey Cohen, Seattle Post Intelligencer

August 9, 2012

U.S. victories Thursday in the women’s soccer and water polo finals followed a notable trend at this year’s Summer Olympics: American women are winning most of the country’s medals.

American women have hauled in more than one-third more medals than U.S. men, including twice as many gold medals. And that’s despite the fact that 10 percent fewer women’s medals have been awarded so far.

My memories of Flint are as a fairly substantial urban center with lots of Arenas and Halls put up by the Manufacturers and Unions and a ring of Factories (all GM).  Some dense housing but mostly 1 story brick ranches with barely a basement for storms.  Now of course Rabbits for Pets or Meat post-apocalyptic Road Warrior.  It is also flat, dry, and dusty.

Broadcast Schedule

All this is sourced through the NBC Olympics broadcast schedule.  Competition starts again at 8 am tomorrow.  

Competitions designated by (Medal) will award winners that day.  ‘all’ means not specified.  Sometimes NBC especially does mashups and doesn’t include event or competitor information.  Elimination means no round robin, one and done.

These schedules are a place for you to make sure you don’t miss a sport you like and share your observations.  Have fun today!

C’mon, sing along.  You know you want to.

They still have one game to play, but today we’ll be saying goodbye to Women’s Football and Women’s Water Polo where the ladies have Gold Medal prospects.

Broadcast Schedule

All this is sourced through the NBC Olympics broadcast schedule.  Competition starts again at a am tomorrow.  

Competitions designated by (Medal) will award winners that day.  ‘all’ means not specified.  Sometimes NBC especially does mashups and doesn’t include event or competitor information.  Elimination means no round robin, one and done.

These schedules are a place for you to make sure you don’t miss a sport you like and share your observations.  Have fun today!

Well the Olympics is winding down to Closing Ceremonies on Sunday which you can tell from the length and breadth of the coverage.  I wonder if we’ll have another unlisted Greco-Roman Final Monday and if so will anyone notice?

Yesterday I watched two really extraordinary contests and if they both happened to involve the USA team I must admit I’m not immune to the kind of jingoistic nationalism that pervades the Olympics (and international sporting in general, let’s talk Formula One).  However it’s also my philosophy that sports are more understandable and enjoyable if you have a rooting interest in the result.  Thus my scramble around Series time to find the team I hate least, goodness knows I’ll never see my Mets on that field but I’m not above picking based on cute mascots and jersey color.

And in my defense they are both distaff teams.  Men’s Basketball doesn’t need my help, their heads can fill a stadium.

In Water Polo the women advance after double overtime (it’s always a double overtime).  They scored 2 in the first overtime that went unanswered but the critical moment was a literal last second time out (which was idiotic and they didn’t need) called by USA and without clear possession.  The resulting penalty shot tied the game.

It’s the first time the USA Women’s Water Polo team will be in the finals in ages.

In Basketball it was Lady Huskies 2000 as Geno and the UConn All-Stars doubled down on Team Canada.  I’d pay good money to see them play the men, bet they’d kick their ass.

Back to the Women’s Football ‘victory’.  Canada is very depressed.  The game was sent into overtime on a penalty kick from a 6 second goalie holding violation.  Well, Team USA had been holding all day and it was never called.  Of course it’s Canada that’s being investigated for letting this slip to the public.

Finally from the halls of bad officiating.  It seems that despite getting his loss over turned, Spence fails to advance and the USA is sent home medal less for the first time ever.  Women’s team has two guaranteed.

Team USA Dressage was only able to muster a 6th place finish yesterday and Rafalca’s performance wasn’t good enough to qualify for individual competition.  This means they can strap her to the roof of the Gulfstream and have her back for the announcement of Consul any time.

Broadcast Schedule

All this is sourced through the NBC Olympics broadcast schedule.  Competition starts again at 8 am tomorrow.  

Competitions designated by (Medal) will award winners that day.  ‘all’ means not specified.  Sometimes NBC especially does mashups and doesn’t include event or competitor information.  Elimination means no round robin, one and done.

These schedules are a place for you to make sure you don’t miss a sport you like and share your observations.  Have fun today!

The talk of the town is the Women’s Football Team.  Now many of you know I consider Soccer confusing, low scoring, and slooooooooooooooooooooooooooo…ooooooooooooooooooooow.

Yesterday’s match, which I had the good fortune to catch from about 60 minutes in, was anything but.

4 Goals in 10 minutes!  Last minute score sends it to overtime tied with a 30 second remaining victory!

Almost as exciting as Baseball.

It’s been mighty confusing to see everything I really wanted to (NBC reschedules with no notice, I do the best I can) yet I must say that catching glimpses of the unique events like Fencing and Whitewater Kayaking makes me wish that there was a channel like the old ESPN which would show odd stuff like Lacross and Field Hockey.

Now things like Motor Sports and Shooting have several channels and I’d think narrowcasting the non major sports would find a market.

But then I like Rugby and Darts.

Broadcast Schedule

All this is sourced through the NBC Olympics broadcast schedule.  Competition starts again at 6 am tomorrow.  

Competitions designated by (Medal) will award winners that day.  ‘all’ means not specified.  Sometimes NBC especially does mashups and doesn’t include event or competitor information.  Elimination means no round robin, one and done.

These schedules are a place for you to make sure you don’t miss a sport you like and share your observations.  Have fun today!

More Competitive Armchair Olympics

Produced by CHRISTOPH NIEMANN and JON HUANG, The New York Times

• Lost
• Super Hit
• Go Britain
• Olympic Record

Broadcast Schedule

All this is sourced through the NBC Olympics broadcast schedule.  Competition starts again at 6 am tomorrow.  

Competitions designated by (Medal) will award winners that day.  ‘all’ means not specified.  Sometimes NBC especially does mashups and doesn’t include event or competitor information.  Elimination means no round robin, one and done.

These schedules are a place for you to make sure you don’t miss a sport you like and share your observations.  Have fun today!