SUPER HEIN!!!

There are events in our lives that are so magnificent and so beautiful that it’s hard to believe they are real. Like a beautiful sunset, or snow fall on Christmas Eve (especially in the North West,) for example. Aah, yes. These moments usually occur in movies.

However, today I had that experience. The life changing, movie-worthy, totally wicked, experience that can barely be described.  What was this event? The Super Hein Freestyle Frisbee Tournament at Seaside, Or. HECK YA!!!

Competitive Frisbee has apparently been around since the 70's and is a huge sport internationally. But hey, nobody told me. Rude.

http://freestyledisc.org/gallery70-9.html

Today I watched the “Pair’s Freelance” category. What I witnessed is so hard to describe because there is nothing to compare it to. Each pair had a routine set to music (much like Olympic gymnasts) and they did tricks with the Frisbee and kicked it to each other without stopping the Frisbee from spinning. I’m just dumbfounded, I suppose. 

Ya, he flipped up in the air and kicked the frisbee. Then his partner caught it behind his back.

This sport goes beyond throwing a Frisbee back and forth. The Frisbees are covered with a silicon lubricant (stop snickering) and the players cover their real nails with really thick acrylic nails. Then the players are able to keep the Frisbee constantly spinning while they toss it, kick it, or do whatever with it they please.

We were encouraged by the folks running the event to take up competitive Frisbee. One guy said it was an old man’s sport and they need a new generation “to take up the torch.” Shoot, sign me up! If you want to learn about Freestyle Frisbee go to the Frisbee Freestyle Players Association Website.

These guys were our favorite team. The guy in neon is from Italy. Mmm yes.

 Today I rubbed elbows with the rockstars of the freelance Frisbee world and I tingle with delight!

A Horrible Habit

So, I have a horrible habit of not finishing my writing projects after I start them. I have 10 journals that all end after about three weeks of entries, I have 2 "novels" with decent outlines and awesome first chapters, and my Celtx folder is full really great unfinished scripts.

I started this blog last year as part of a class assignment but also for personal use. My intention was to write all of the wonderful commentary to my life and it was going to be witty and intelligent. However, after the class ended, so did my blogging.

This next year is going to be absolutely insane for me. I'm Choir President, Editor-in-Chief of the school newspaper, I'm planning my wedding, it's my senior year of college, and I need to find a decent job post-graduation.

Ugh. Every time I list of my responsibilities for the next year, I want to bang my head against the table, but since that is destructive and pointless, I am deciding to commit to writing on this blog at least once a week during the next school year. I may go on after a year, but for now, I'll just commit to my last year of college. We don't want to get too crazy, now do we?

I'm not particularly counting on many people reading this, but it's more of an exercise for myself anyways. Who knows? Maybe I'll actually reach my year goal and finish my award-winning novel as well.

This is why church freaks people out.

A friend sent me the link to this video. Watch and enjoy, or not. However, watch it all the way through. It will be worth it.



This worship leader tells the folks to take their shoes off and hey, why not their socks? Some Christians would call me a pessimist, in fact some do, however, I have a really hard time believing that Christ could even take these guys seriously.

I took a class on the Psalms this semester and I learned about the "Prayer book of the Bible." There are guidelines to praise and worship. Now, don't get me wrong, I am NOT one who is a stickler about sticking to guidlines, but I don't understand how worship so often completely ignores the power of lamenting.

Anyways, this Christian worship scene has become ridiculous. These guys took the music of a popular song by Dead or Alive and turned it into laughable worship.

These are the guidelines given in class:

• Praise Jesus, not man
• For the LORD, not the world
• New song, not old song
• Clear message, not vague or deceptive
• Emphasize message, not music or musician
• Local church, not concert hall or club
• Feed spirit, not flesh
• Dedicated to LORD, not worldly

 So, this group took music that is secular and tried to fit it into Christian music.

New song, not old song: It's not new song, it's old secular song.

Clear message: What does "spin me right round, Jesus, Right round! Like a record, Jesus, spin me right round now!" even mean?!

Emphasize message, not music or musician: Fail.

Local church, not concert hall or club: Fail.

Feed spirit, not flesh: Their toes I suppose felt nice, but their spirit?

Anyways, contemporary Christian music does not make sense to me. It's loud and obnoxious and frankly the guys who were playing looked like tools. Rock on, man.

Virtual Make-over: Here is your beauty.

I stumbled onto this website a couple of days ago. It is a virtual make-over. Just upload a picture and you can change your hair color, eye color, and even the color of your skin.

Wait, what? The color of your skin?

This is the picture that was used as an example for the site.

The Before picture is of an African-American woman with curly hair and lovely dark skin. The After picture is of the same woman, but with lighter skin and long flowing hair. There you have it, ladies and gentlemen! This is beauty. Light skin and flowing hair.

And what of the term, "Virtual Make-over?" What does that mean? This is what you COULD look like— pity you don't.

This is only one avenue society has chosen to steer our idea of what beauty is. Billboards and commercials are one thing, but now we can make unnatainable beauty interactive.

Second Life. What?

Second Life came to my attention about a month back in my Mass Media and Popular culture class. For those of you who do not know, Second Life is a virtual network where people can sign on for free to live vicariously through avatars in a world parallel to our own. People can socialize, participate in campaigns, trade virtual property, attend classes that are credited by universities, and travel the virtual world.

No, this is not the synopsis for the newest science fiction movie: it is real life. Well, Sort of.

Second Life was launched in 2003 and has attracted institutions, such as our own George Fox University, to buy “platforms” or virtual space and students and professors can sign on to interact via avatars. Students can attend conferences given by experts and visit places all over the virtual world, or “the grid,” as Second Life members call it.

It sounds fantastic, right? Here’s another perspective of this popular virtual network. When a new member signs on to Second Life they can design their avatar. Imagine a woman who has reached her mid life crisis, is 40 pounds heavier than she’d prefer, and is single with no prospects of finding her knight in shining armor. So, she signs on to Second Life and is given an opportunity to shave off those 40 pounds, dye her hair blonde, and give her lips that Angelina Jolie could not compare. Then she could make all of the virtual love she wanted to an array of wildly attractive men.

Yes, Second Life can be used as an academic tool to bring people together (although, I don't know why video chat won't get the job done) but it can also be another way for the disconnect between people to get stronger and harder to overcome.

Kevin Alderman is considered the Second Life “Porn Mogul.” His alter ego is an avatar named “Stroker” and he profits off of selling members “sex beds” and other such “tools” to achieve virtual steamy pleasure. Alderman believes and says, “When someone new comes into Second Life [sex] is probably one of the first things they want to explore.”

Now we’re given another level of moral ambiguity. Is it okay to sleep with someone in Second Life if you’re exclusive to your partner in real life? Alright, so maybe a person doesn't participate in sex in Second Life, but some people pour the same level of emotions into Second Life relationships as they do in their real life relationships, if not more.

Missing Pretty Girl Syndrom (Missing White Woman Syndrome)

I gave a presentation last week to a senior capstone class. I'm a junior. Talk about nerve wracking! The presentation was one Race and Media. Ya, you try to narrow that down into an hour long presentation. There were so many things I wanted to discuss and it's so hard to bring up the "race issue" on my campus of predominantly caucasian students. Ya.....

All of the points I made were well recieved except for the "Missing Pretty Girl Syndrome."

Missing Pretty Girl Syndrome is the thought that the media coverage of missing persons is disproportionate leaning heavily in favor of missing beautiful white women.

Elizabeth Smart is one of the best examples of Missing Pretty Girl Syndrome.

Smart was kidnapped in 2002 when she was 14 years old. She was found nine months later. Her abductor, Brian Mitchell, was identified by a biker who had seen Smart's story featured on Larry King and recognized Mitchell from a sketch drawing.

Celebutantes

Celebutantes: rich chicks who are famous because they are rich and famous.

Paris and Nicky Hilton have reigned the celebutante court of America for many years but, Kim Kardashian and Co. (her family) have successfully plastered themselves on tabloids every where. Who will be the Ultimate Celebutante? With sex tapes, clothing lines, and reality TV shows, it's hard to tell.

On Paris Hilton's Wikipedia page, it says she is a "socialite, heiress, media personality, model, singer, author, fashion designer and actress." Now, let's be honest; she is hardly a singer, she is a piss poor author (ya, I read part of chapter 1 of her book, Confessions of an Heiress, while looking at the clearance table at Barnes and Noble), she cannot act, and her fashion line is generic at best.
 

Ya, that shirt says "sexy" in an ugly disfigured font and, ya, that hat is covered of pink sequins and says "Paris Hilton" on it. Wear that, I dare you. These two items are from the Paris Hilton Collection.