Wes Leonard

Something scary to think about; This kid was 16 years old when he collapsed in the middle of a basketball court in Fennville, Michigan. He had made the game winning layup in the final game of a perfect 20-0 season. Regardless of medical reasons or other scenarios in which someone dies unexpectedly, as an athlete myself, my thoughts and prayers go out to the teammates, fans, coaches, and family members of Wes. To imagine that i could throw a pitch or hit a ball and next thing i know be in a life or death situation is beyond scary. Cory Hahn, a freshman baseball player at Arizona State, slid into 2nd base earlier this season and ended up needed spinal surgery after the headfirst slide. To lose a sport in a matter of seconds during a routine play is scary and one of the worst things about sports.

Video Feed of NAIA Athletics

so for starters, girls basketball is one of the lamest sports on the entire planet with the exception of track and NASCAR so the poor video quality wasn't a huge factor in my disappointment of my viewing experience. With that being said i thought the video feed of the NAIA championship series was embarrassing. Two rookie announcers working with a 2-3 camera crew with no advertisements or commercial breaks, very poor if you ask me. Yes, maybe recognition of the league is below the norm but there has to be enough of a client base of family, friends, relatives, even old teammates to force a demographic strong enough to build some arguement for a NAIA network through a cable package.

Design in Today's World

First of all, i just would like to point out that i was very impressed by the presentation on Tuesday and thought that the designs and paintings i was shown that day were not only extremly impressive, but also creative. Her ability to combine different techniques along with common styles of painting and art really brought life to her work. I think digital design is important simply due to the fact that it is the opposite of print, it is the ability to show someone a picture rather then use imagery and description through text to paint a picture. Design is also important because the logos and pictures that we create or look at happen to be the first thing that customers or an audience will notice. The use of color, shape, technique, even size all play a factor into the success and quality of digital and/or graphic design. Compared to text, the power of writing is shocking. The ability to take any sentence and as a writer, create emotional stir or controversy personally speaking is alot more impressive then a drawing. Text shows knowledge, passion, emotion, and countless other descriptive terms as opposed to a picture, as a writer you can create whatever you want on a piece of paper and choose how you want people to feel or react to your words. As a design artist, i feel as though they have no control over the outcome of their overall message of their work

"If you think im greedy, then you don't know me"

I saw this scroll across the bottom of ESPN while in the trainers room this morning. It is probably one the funniest quotes/soundbites to ever come from a professional athletes mouth since i have existed on this planet.
The quote comes directly from Albert Pujols, the St. Louis Cardinals first basemen who recently was unable to reach a contract agreement by the Wednesday deadline. Currently in the final year of his contract, Pujols was looking to make a new deal prior to opening day of this season. From what sources have been saying across the media, the Cardinals offered a contract around the $200 million range for an additional eight years of service from the three time MVP. Pujols rejected. Other rumors have stated Pujols was looking for a contract that would pay him up to $30 million a year.
Now, here is where things get fun.
I can name 250 people that would give their left kidney to play professional baseball. Pujols is well worth a contract that would put him in the top 10 of highest paid players, the guy is consistent and easily one of the best hitters in the game, his reputaiton proceeds himself immensely. There is no player in the game today that i would pay $30 million a year to hit a ball for my club. MVP or not, Pujols is not going to single handedly win me a world series, seeing as how St. Louis has won 1 since his arrival as a Cardinal 10 years ago. If i gave Pujols $30 million a year, i can kiss any world series appearance goodbye. I will just hopefully reap the revenues he will bring in through the fan base and struggle to meet his paycheck week after week. The guy is a god, dont get me wrong, but if i didn't have to censor myself on this i would throw a nice four letter word in front of his name. There comes a point in money, personally speaking, that at some point, it really does not matter anymore. If someone slid an 8 year contract in front of me worth $200 million, i would sign it in blood. Pujols felt that wasn't enough.
Really? $200 million is not enough to live off of?
Pujols can talk about wanting to be a cardinal forever, but he needs to come back down to reality if he wants to rep the colors of St. Louis.

Final Project Update 2

Update on Final:
- Talked to Rob today about setting up times to shoot film, currently dealing with a sick child.
- Have proper equipment, dates, and ideas to shoot the film.
- My goal is to have at least the first part of the film (waking up, training, slight audio/verbal by the end of February.

Final Project Update 1

It's what i struggle with. I have yet to start the documentary, so far i have verification from my subject that i can shoot the film. In my mind it is going to look like something that should win Sundance, but the overall appearance might struggle due to the lack of talent ha. We shall see what happens with it

An In-Depth look at the KWU Coyotes Baseball team

I’ll be honest; I don’t plan on writing another blog entry that has anything to do with something other then sports or mainstream media, with the exception of documentaries. So I snapped these pictures with my buddies iPhone at practice last night, pretty neat little device.
The first picture is just some of the guys throwing at practice, nothing to fancy about that really except the fact that we are practicing inside a gymnasium. Due to the fact that the Kansas weather is extremely unnecessary right now, we are forced to throw 34 guys into a gymnasium for three hours of fun. In reality, it is really just a mission to come out of the break without getting dotted in the head by a random ball.
The second picture is the same thing just from a different angle, and a couple different guys. That bald man in the sweats happens to be our assistant coach who apparently is quite fine with walking behind guys who are playing catch. Aside from the fact he is an easy target to pick on, which happens a lot, he can recruit like a champ. Therefore; this season will be a memorable one.
A lot of it will be attributed to this guy right here. Monty, as we call him, is a pitcher from Texas who should do some damage this year. Throws hard, hits spots, wins games, it’s a great combination. He joins a staff which is well known around the rest of the conference and was very dangerous last season. Personally speaking, we lacked pitching last season which eventually turned out to be the end of our season. This year, I think things will be very different simply to the fact we have depth in the rotation and in the bullpen.
This guy right here is Kyle Lynch, our first basemen. He hit a little for us last year and more than likely will do a little more of it this season. We hit well last year as a team we just struck out a lot and at times couldn’t seem to find the big hit. This season we have more power, speed, depth, and especially more swag, and our offense should do some pretty incredible things this year.
That’s Cory Shorette bunting, one of the many drills we do inside the gym. It is semi-pointless because were crammed as a unit already and hitting balls towards people that include people not looking at you does not make anyone better. This picture relates to something completely pointless and irrelevant to anyone except someone who played baseball on the team last year. This is just an example of the things that happen throughout the course of the season when you hang around the same guys for 8 hours a day. It’s called chemistry and we don’t need to sit in a science hall class to learn about it.
This is the boss, the big boy. Coach Carv, our genereal & commander. He is a pretty straight forward guy. I mean he led us to 33 wins and a Conference Tournament Championship last season, I am pretty comfortable with him at the realm. In all, its going to be fun. We have 34 of the most oddballish people ever who happen to love hitting, throwing, and winning. Plus a coach who is willing to put up with all of it.

Go Yotes

Koyaanisqatsi Review

Koyaanisqatsi (KOY-AH-NISS-KAHT-SEE) is a documentary full of imagination, creativity, and depth through its depiction of images and clips seen across the world. The beautiful, flashy, and even argumentative viewings made viewers wonder just what it is they were watching.

It is a film with no verbals at all, an occasional chant of the name appears throughout different scenes of the movie but as far as dialogue goes, it is non-existent in this piece of work. There is not a main character to become emotionally attached with or a counterpart to play the role of his sidekick. There is not a developing story or even plot for that matter.

It is just a rolling video for eighty-six minutes of nothing but video clips of some of the most random places, objects, people in the world.

For nearly an hour and a half, the audience sat through clips of busy highways, a moon rising, ocean waves crashing, airplanes landing, windy deserts, old people smoking, the list is just getting started.

It seemed to have no use to me personally, but apparently I didn’t see the art behind it. This film was actually the first in a three part series and was also the first production for director Godfrey Reggio. Reggio was a big hit, claiming numerous awards including the Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards (KCFCCA) for Best Documentary as well as the Best Feature award at the Sao Paulo International Film Festival.

The music is the real pleasure to the film. The dramatic tones and yet melodic harmonies not only compliment the film itself but really add more emotion and thought to each clip.

Phillip Glass brings the background to this picture. Glass was also recognized for his musical genius with a win at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) in the Best Music category.
             Personally speaking, I would never watch this documentary again. In short, it is nothing more then a sequence of video relating to different areas of civilization from different locations of the globe. Endless clips continue to roll back to back in no hierarchy of order. It is annoying but somehow kept drawing me in. I was indulged to the point where I wanted to know what the next clip was going to be.

The music throughout the film was genius. The documentary actually took three years to produce but they only filmed for a year. The extra two years were spent getting the music to fit with the sequence of clips. Numerous changes were made in both music and the order of video during the documentary.

             Doing background research, Godfrey says the film has no direct meaning; it is intended to be a film that makes you think. The audience is supposed to come up with their own definition for the film and the meaning behind the images on screen. With images ranging from cloud formations to a busy highway, Godfrey painted a masterpiece if his goal was to confuse his audience as a whole. Several other memorable scenes from the film include The Grand Canyon, Ocean waves, and even more socialized environments like stores and movie theatres. These scenes mixed with the award winning music from Glass, gives off numerous expressions and feelings ranging from complete isolation and loneliness to a feeling of dependence in a world run by computers and technology. Although this is not in my top choices for films i would like to watch again, Koyaanisqatsi is a documentary that not only challenges the human mind, but composes a perfect scenario where the definition of art stands true; it is what the audience makes it to be.