it’s world cup time and team oz is ready.
these guys seem pretty unruffled.
and who needs shorts down under?
best of luck to team u.s.a.
let the games begin!
—
I say if you’re going to take a chance on something, you just go full balls to the wall.
Toby Keith
—
image credit: the kangaroo sanctuary Alice Springs
what do you get when you combine the 1980s, video arcades, the guinness book of world records, human drama, sabotage, corruption, power, cheating, trash-talking, genius, ego, and insanity?
why, you get ‘the king of kong: a fistful of quarters’ of course. one of my all-time favorite documentaries. this eccentric film, released in 2007, features ‘self-proclaimed legend’ in the world of video arcade games, billy mitchell, florida hot sauce magnate and the holder of the ‘donkey kong champion of the world high scoring’ record for 25 years, and the first perfect game scorer in the history of pac-man, as he is challenged by quiet and brilliant unemployed aerospace engineer/now science teacher from washington, steve wiebe, who has never won a thing in his life.
in this film, their long distance rivalry and ultimate challenge is played out right before our eyes and under the careful watch of walter day, creator of twin galaxies, and online gaming website gatekeeper. what follows is a classic tale of good vs. evil, davy and goliath, sheer will and karma, and the suspense never stops right up until the very last second.
watching this, i spent 79 fascinating minutes glued to the screen, laughing, crying, cheering and yelling, right along with it. and most of all, i love that it was categorized under ‘sports’ in the documentary world.
film quotes:
Walter Day: This rivalry is among the greatest: the Yankees and Red Sox… Hekyll and Jekyll.
“I wanted to be a hero. I wanted to be the center of attention. I wanted the glory, I wanted the fame. I wanted the pretty girls to come up and say, “Hi, I see that you’re good at Centipede.”
Jillian Wiebe (Steve’s wife) : Work is for people who can’t play video games.
image credit: picturehouse/dendy cinema
and i couldn’t be happier.
part of my family lives down under.
and soon
they will be up top with us for a while.
and i will have my dream
of all of the daughters
and all of the sons in law
and all of the grand babies
in one place at one time.
and it is sure to be an adventure.
—
Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future.
Gail Lumet Buckley
back in my catering days,
we hosted a party in a very small, yet charming victorian house.
it was for a women’s group,
a lovely luncheon that began with tray-passed appetizers.
as i made my rounds through the rooms,
squeezing past people engaged in little groups,
i offered up tray after tray of beautiful bite-sized food.
and one woman ignored me the entire time
and continued her conversation,
she wouldn’t even look at me or make eye contact at all.
and never took one thing from me.
until finally –
she reached down and popped one into her mouth.
and i was sure she did it just to appease me
and hoped i would go away.
but –
she had grabbed the flower on the tray instead of the appetizer.
and it was not an edible flower.
and she put it in her mouth and chewed it.
and got a strange look on her face.
and delicately deposited it into her napkin.
and went back to her conversation.
and i hurried to the kitchen to let the chef know.
who asked if it was the woman in the pink sweater.
and i said yes and wondered how she knew.
and that was when she told me
that the woman in the pink sweater was blind.
—-
The food here is terrible, and the portions are too small.
Woody Allen
—
image credit: ziggityzoom
and so we went to find art.
and after we ran so far,
and climbed so many stairs,
we could see the sky.
and there we found
a beautiful stone lion waiting for us.
we must have climbed to the top of the world.
and we were in the clouds.
Art is the only way to run away without leaving home. ~Twyla Tharp
it was camping day.
we went outside
and hiked
and looked at lots of stuff
and touched it
and found all sorts of things.
we tried to catch a frog to see him up close.
and if we did we promised we would put him back in his home after.
and we got in the mud.
even those of us who usually don’t like to get dirty.
and we learned so much stuff.
—
Must we always teach our children with books? Let them look at the stars and the mountains above. Let them look at the waters and the trees and flowers on Earth. Then they will begin to think, and to think is the beginning of a real education. – David Polis
here’s hoping that you all had a safe long weekend.
we learned about artist frida kahlo and how she created images of herself,
with things that had meaning to her placed all around.
here, h shares her collage with our class,
and it shows us
that she loves flowers, animals, sweets, and celebrations of all kinds.
no words are needed to tell her story.
—
http://www.frida-kahlo-foundation.org
I didn't have my glasses on.... 