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crystal-lillies · 2 months

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General thoughts after watching Season 1 of Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender (spoilers may be present)

It's not bad. It's weird, but it's not bad.

No one asked for this.

No one asked, but we got it anyway. So what did we get?

It's not a 1:1 remake. I don't think, despite everything people have worried and griped about before the show's release, anyone wanted that either. It doesn't retain the same character arcs for everyone. Not just Sokka, but everyone.

At the same time, they still have arcs.

They're weird, they feel weird, because this show does what the Shyamalan movie doesn't, and makes an honest effort to capture the essence of the animated show, of the characters, of the world, and there is respect in its efforts.

There are musical motifs from the original. The set designs are out of the original. Many scenes are shot exactly like the original as homages.

And yet, storylines are merged together, elements from later seasons are introduced earlier, character interactions happen differently, character motivations are presented differently, and that feels weird.

We know the motions but when we the audience try to follow them, the show changes its direction and pulls a weird flex out of left field.

I won't say I agree with every major and minor change made, but I'm not enraged or disappointed in the same way as I was (and many of us were) after seeing the movie.

Instead, I'm more inclined to see where these new threads intend to go, and how the story we all know and love can be told in a different way.

Roku had barely a presence in this season, whereas in the original, he was more or less Aang's spiritual teacher. Instead, we've felt more from Kyoshi and Kuruk and Yangchen, and Aang has felt lost in his spiritual journey as well as his physical one.

Ozai, who was just a shadowy one-dimensional nightmare for most of the original first book, is now a more fleshed out figure, but one of confusing motivations. It's not the tonal whiplash of the movie, of the Ozai who legitimately worried and cared about Zuko's well being while also having still scarred and banished him, but one who is playing a 4-D chess game with his kids as the pieces and doesn't care who wins so long as one does.

I don't think it was the right call to have Zuko fight back in the Agni Kai before getting burned, but it gives a different dynamic to Zuko and Ozai's relationship that he's not the towering, shadowy Mark Hamill terror Zuko cowers before.

This Zuko seems legitimately convinced Ozai cares about him and all it takes is the Avatar to win his full love back, whereas there's still bitterness in the OG Zuko of book one. He knows Ozai favors Azula over him, he knows he's had to struggle well before being banished.

I also think not casting Dee Bradley Baker was a mistake. But they have time to correct that mistake.

All the kid actors, being green, of course do not stand up to expressive and gorgeous animation with brilliant voice acting. But they are all giving it their best, and I think they have what it takes to grow into the Book 3 Team Avatar if they get the chance.

The music got to me a number of times, particularly the instrumental renditions of "Leaves From the Vine."

Do we need this show? No absolutely not.

We have the original ATLA, and we always will. It's a timeless classic of our generation. Nothing could ever compete with it or ruin it.

However, I do feel like this adaptation is worth giving a chance to stand on its own. It may be far from perfect, but after watching it through, I legitimately want to see where it goes from here. I want to see this cast grow and change in their own ways. I want to see Toph in live action. I want to see Ba Sing Se. I want to see the new directions this story chooses to take to end up in the same place at Sozin's Comet.

But that might not happen if Netflix decides to cancel it, and I think that would be a shame.

I really do think it's worth seeing this show through, for better or worse.

Overall, as a show, I would give it a modest 7/10. (With individual elements skewing higher or lower throughout)

I don't like that it's only 8 episodes, but that's been a trend of other streaming shows also, across platforms, so I cannot fault NATLA alone for that.

You don't NEED to have seen the original to understand what's happening or get key details (unlike SOME adaptations have been doing recently). You can get a complete picture with just this. Is it as pretty or vibrant as the original? No. But it is still a whole picture (or, could be, with all three seasons).

It has great effects, sets, props, choreography, good music. It has SUKI. And JET. and JUNE. And THE Cabbage Man!

AND OMA/SHU ARE LESBIANS! I mean, I see that as an absolute win.

#flowerspeak #long post #atla #avatar the last airbender #netflix avatar the last airbender #natla #netflix atla #I do think two more episodes could have been added for breathing room and more show element inclusions that were mentioned offscreen #but that's a problem I've had with streaming shows as a whole. lacking necessary breathing room #we used to get shows with 20 to 22 episodes each season #and now we are lucky to get double digits at all per season #but overall. i truly enjoyed my watch. and i do want to see more #natla spoilers #Netflix atla spoilers

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newstfionline · 4 years

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Headlines

Born to prevent war, UN at 75 faces deeply polarized world (AP) Born out of World War II’s devastation to save succeeding generations from the scourge of conflict, the United Nations officially marks its 75th anniversary Monday at an inflection point in history, navigating a polarized world as it faces a pandemic, regional conflicts, a shrinking economy and growing inequality. Criticized for spewing out billions of words and achieving scant results on its primary mission of ensuring global peace, the U.N. nonetheless remains the one place that its 193 member nations can meet to talk. And as frustrating as its lack of progress often is, especially when it comes to preventing and ending crises, there is also strong support for its power to bring not only nations but people of all ages from all walks of life, ethnicities and religions together to discuss critical issues. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, looking back on the U.N.’s history in an AP interview in June, said its biggest accomplishment so far is the long period during which the most powerful nations didn’t go to war and nuclear conflict was avoided. Its biggest failing, he said: its inability to prevent medium and small conflicts.

Global trade rebounding (WSJ) Global trade is rebounding much more quickly this year than it did after the 2008 financial crisis, lifting parts of the world economy and defying predictions the pandemic could send globalization into permanent retreat. When the new coronavirus hit earlier this year, international trade in goods suffered the biggest year-over-year drop since the Great Depression. Economists warned of rising protectionism, and some companies said they would reassess overseas supply chains that were vulnerable to unexpected shocks. Trade remains below pre-pandemic levels. Still, it has snapped back robustly—and had recovered about half of this year’s historic loss by June, according to calculations by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German think tank.

Dwindling ranks, declining public support plague police (Washington Post) Police forces are suffering from diminishing ranks, slumping morale and declining public support as the nation nears the end of a long, fraught summer defined by protests against policing tactics and racial injustice. Agency leaders and experts say the months of demonstrations have left officers strained and departments struggling to both recruit officers and keep the ones they have. The Portland Police Bureau in Oregon lost 49 officers to retirement in August, more than during all of 2019. The Atlanta Police Department, which became the focus of protests after a police shooting this summer, said about 140 officers have resigned so far this year, up from 80 during the same period last year. “Our workforce in general is pretty emotionally and physically fatigued,” said William H. “Skip” Holbrook, the police chief in Columbia, S.C. Weary officers were further shaken by the Sept. 12 ambush shooting of two Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies as they sat in a police car. One is still hospitalized while the other has been released. Combined with the surge in nationwide demonstrations and calls to defund their departments, police in the United States say they feel under siege. Public opinion on policing has shifted. In a survey this summer, the Pew Research Center found that while most Americans still believe police do an excellent or a good job protecting people from crime, the percentage of people who think they use the right amount of force, treat racial groups equally and hold officers accountable for misconduct all fell by double-digit points since 2016.

Trump Expected to Name a Replacement for Ginsburg in the Coming Days (Foreign Policy) U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on Friday while undergoing treatment for cancer, leading to an outpouring of grief but instantly opening a new battleground in an already intense political fight between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden less than two months before the country’s presidential election. As Foreign Policy’s Michael Hirsh wrote, Ginsburg’s “replacement could crucially tilt the court” toward either its conservative or liberal wing. With fewer than 50 days until the election, the timing of Ginsburg’s death leaves little time to complete the often long and cumbersome nomination process. There are also questions over how Senate Republicans will handle the situation. Republicans controversially blocked former President Barack Obama’s nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016, Merrick Garland, arguing that a president shouldn’t have the power to appoint a new Supreme Court justice in an election year. Leading Republicans have already backtracked on the logic they used to block Garland, signaling that they will facilitate the nomination process once Trump selects a replacement. But with a small 53-47 majority in the 100-member Senate, Democrats would only need four Republicans to vote against Trump’s pick to push the appointment until after the election.

How California Became Ground Zero for Climate Disasters (NYT) California is one of America’s marvels. By moving vast quantities of water and suppressing wildfires for decades, the state has transformed its arid and mountainous landscape into the richest, most populous and bounteous place in the nation. But now, those same feats have given California a new and unwelcome category of superlatives. This year is the state’s worst wildfire season on record. That follows its hottest August on record; a punishing drought that lasted from 2011 to last year; and one of its worst flood emergencies on record three years ago, when heavy rains caused the state’s highest dam to nearly fail, forcing more than 180,000 people to flee. The same manufactured landscapes that have enabled California’s tremendous growth, building the state into a $3 trillion economy that is home to one in 10 Americans, have also left it more exposed to climate shocks, experts say. And those shocks will only get worse. “There’s sort of this sense that we can bend the world to our will,” said Kristina Dahl, a senior climate scientist in San Francisco for the Union of Concerned Scientists. “Climate change is exposing the vulnerabilities in the systems that we’ve engineered.”

Tropical Storm Beta makes landfall on Texas coast (AP) Tropical Storm Beta made landfall on the upper Texas coast late Monday night. The storm made landfall about 5 miles (8 kilometers) north of Port O’Connor, Texas, with maximum winds of 45 mph (72 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Its winds weakened as it made its way to shore over several days. Beta was the ninth named storm that made landfall in the continental U.S. this year. That tied a record set in 1916, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach. The biggest unknown from Beta was how much rainfall it could produce in areas that have already seen their share of damaging weather during a busy hurricane season.

Cuba’s Economy Was Hurting. The Pandemic Brought a Food Crisis. (NYT) It was a lucky day for the unemployed tourism guide in Havana. The line to get into the government-run supermarket, which can mean a wait of eight or 10 hours, was short, just two hours long. And better yet, the guide, Rainer Companioni Sánchez, scored toothpaste—a rare find—and splurged $3 on canned meat. Cuba, a police state with a strong public health care system, was able to quickly control the coronavirus, even as the pandemic threw wealthier nations into crisis. But its economy, already hurting from crippling U.S. sanctions and mismanagement, was particularly vulnerable to the economic devastation that followed. As nations closed airports and locked down borders to combat the spread of the virus, tourist travel to Cuba plummeted and the island lost an important source of hard currency, plunging it into one of the worst food shortages in nearly 25 years. What food is available is often found only in government-run stores that are stocked with imports and charge in dollars. The strategy, also used in the 1990s, during the economic depression known as the “special period,” is used by the government to gather hard currency from Cubans who have savings or get money from friends or relatives abroad. Even in these stores, goods are scarce and prices can be exorbitant: That day, Mr. Companioni couldn’t find chicken or cooking oil, but there was 17-pound ham going for $230 and a seven-pound block of manchego cheese with a $149 price tag.

Madrid asks for Spanish army's help in battling coronavirus surge (Reuters) Madrid’s regional government chief requested the army’s help on Monday in fighting the coronavirus surge in the Spanish capital where local authorities ordered a partial lockdown of some poorer districts, prompting protests. At the height of the first wave of the pandemic in March-April, Spain deployed thousands of troops to help civilian authorities contain the outbreak. A recent spike in infections, peaking at over 10,000 per day, took cumulative cases above 670,000 as of Monday, the highest in Western Europe, while the number of deaths from the COVID-19 respiratory disease in Spain stood at 30,663. Meanwhile, residents in the southern district of Vallecas, one of the areas where a partial lockdown took effect on Monday, were upset but resigned to the curbs as police stopped cars getting in and out of the neighbourhood.

Indian couple run street-side classes for poor students (AP) On a quiet road in India’s capital, tucked away on a wide, red-bricked sidewalk, kids set adrift by the country’s COVID-19 lockdown are being tutored. The children, ages 4 to 14, carry book bags more than 2 kilometers (a mile) from their thatched-roof huts on the banks of the Yamuna River to this impromptu, roadside classroom. There, they receive free lessons in math, science, English and physical education, taught by a former Indian diplomat and his wife. It all began when Veena Gupta’s maid, who lives on bank of the river, complained that with schools shut, children in her impoverished community were running amok and wasting time. Veena, a singer and grandmother of three, and her husband, Virendra Gupta, decided to go out to the street and teach the kids so they are not left behind when school reopens. “They don’t have access to internet, their schools are shut and they don’t have any means to learn,” said Veena, who bought books, pencils, notebooks and other teaching materials, and set up the small, open-air classroom under the shade of a leafy banyan tree. India’s stringent lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19 shut schools across the country in late March. Most remain closed. The street-side classes have grown as dozens of children showed keen interest. Now the Guptas—with help from their driver, Heera—teach three different groups three times a week, morning and evening. After class, the children are treated to homemade lemonade and cookies prepared by Veena.

Salarymen (Bloomberg) Japanese companies like to recruit employees fresh out of school and then keep them for the rest of their lives. In 2018, 70 percent of open jobs went to new grads. About one out of every four workers in Japan has been at their job more than 20 years, a figure that in the States is only around one in 10. This means that companies cutting back on hiring in 2021 will be devastating for the careers of an entire graduating class, and possibly for the rest of their lives: the jobs-per-applicant ratio is lower than ever amid 122,000 fewer openings. When this same thing happened in the late 1990s, the effects were felt decades later: among that era’s college grads, 35 percent of men and 9.6 percent of women are yet to find full-time employment. This is prompting a push for more job mobility in the country.

Alone among nations, US moves to restore UN Iran sanctions (AP) The United States slapped additional sanctions on Iran on Monday after the Trump administration’s disputed unilateral weekend declaration that all United Nations penalties eased under the 2015 nuclear deal had been restored. The announcement came in defiance of nearly all U.N. members, including U.S. allies in Europe, who have rejected U..S. legal standing to impose the international sanctions. It set the stage for an ugly showdown at the annual U.N. General Assembly this week and also came as President Donald Trump seeks to portray himself as a champion for Middle East stability ahead of November’s presidential election. The sanctions include freezes on any assets those targeted may have in U.S. jurisdictions, bar Americans from doing business with them and, perhaps most importantly, open up foreign governments. companies and individuals to U.S. penalties if they engage in transactions with them.

Opposition growing in the Ivory Coast (Foreign Policy) The political crisis in the Ivory Coast is escalating as opposition leaders have called for the public to engage in acts of civil disobedience to block President Alassane Ouattara’s bid for a third term. Critics of Ouattara, who was first elected president in 2010, argue that his candidacy violates the two-term limit set in the country’s constitution. His supporters, however, contend that Ouattara’s term count was reset because the constitution was ratified in 2016, after he took office. Protests against Ouattara have gripped the country since last month, leaving more than 12 people dead and raising concerns that next month’s presidential election could plunge the country into another deadly civil war.

#headlines #news

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junker-town · 3 years

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Final Four teams in the men’s NCAA tournament, ranked

There are four teams left standing in the men’s NCAA tournament. Who do you think will win it all?

The 2021 men’s NCAA tournament has been anything but predictable. The opening weekend featured the most upsets in tournament history, with four double-digit seeds busting through to help form the highest seed total the Sweet 16 has ever seen.

It looked like things would go mostly chalk from there with three No. 1 seeds still standing, but UCLA had other ideas. The Bruins upset top-seed Michigan in an Elite Eight thriller to set up a Final Four that should offer a fitting and exciting conclusion to the tournament.

UCLA now faces a powerhouse Gonzaga program looking to finish off its historic undefeated season. Baylor and Houston sit on the other side of the bracket. In a way, this tournament has played out in perfect fashion: we got upsets early, but still have a chance to watch the two best teams in the country all year long square off for the national championship. The Cougars and Bruins likely have other ideas.

Let’s re-rank the field in the men’s bracket before the Final Four starts on Saturday.

4. UCLA Bruins (No. 11 seed)

UCLA was at rock bottom two years ago when they hired Mick Cronin away from Cincinnati. Cronin wasn’t their first choice, and he wasn’t their second or third choice either. A defensive coach with a grind-it-out style seemed like an odd fit for a job as glamorous as UCLA, but Cronin was still building positive momentum after a solid 19-12 debut season. Then everything seemed like it started to fall apart.

Months after last season ended, UCLA’s top incoming recruit, Daishen Nix, opted to instead play in the G League. Eight games into the season, star forward Chris Smith tore his ACL. Jalen Hill left the team for personal reasons shortly after that. The Bruins still looked solidly in the NCAA tournament for most of the season despite all that, but losing their last three regular season games plus their first Pac-12 tournament game made for a sweaty Selection Sunday.

UCLA did earn an at-large bid with a play-in game against Michigan State, and the rest is history. The Bruins made their way to the Elite Eight with two overtime victories against the Spartans and No. 2 seed Alabama before certifying their case as a legit contender with a win over top-seed Michigan. UCLA slowed down the game to a halt, forced Michigan to hunt mismatches in the post, and drained the exact shots (long two-pointers) that Juwan Howard’s defense is built to give up. Along the way, former Kentucky transfer Johnny Juzang has become an unlikely tournament hero with his tough shot-making, while Tyger Campbell has given the Bruins the steady hand they needed at point guard.

UCLA will be a massive underdog to a Gonzaga team that looks like one of the best in the modern history of the sport. In that sense, there isn’t much pressure on the Bruins heading into the Final Four. They’ve already proven the world wrong by getting this far. What’s one more victory?

3. Houston Cougars (No. 2 seed)

The Midwest was supposed to be the region of death in this year’s NCAA tournament, but that didn’t apply to the Houston Cougars. Kelvin Sampson’s team busts into the Final Four after beating only double-digit seeds on their way to winning the region. Things are about to get a lot tougher against a Baylor squad that has been one of the country’s best teams from the jump, but at this point Houston’s profile suggests it is far closer to elite than it is lucky.

The Cougars enter the Final Four with the No. 7 offense and No. 8 defense in the country. They play at a snail’s pace, shoot tons of threes, and dominant the offensive glass. The Cougars have won 11 straight games heading into the showdown with the Bears, and they’re one of the few teams in the country who have the guards to keep up with Baylor.

Quentin Grimes was a McDonald’s All-American out of high school who was supposed to be a one-and-done at Kansas. He transferred to Houston after a subpar freshman year, and has now fully blossomed into a star for the Cougars as a junior. DeJon Jarreau, a former UMass transfer, has become Grimes’ co-star, while 6’1 sophomore Marcus Sasser gives Sampson another guard who can get after it on both ends. This Final Four run happens after Caleb Mills, the AAC Preseason Player of the Year, left the program in Dec.

Houston will try to get Baylor into a rock fight. If they can control the tempo and hit their threes, an upset is absolutely possible. Yes, the Cougars have had an ‘easy’ path through the bracket, but they still very much deserve to be here.

2. Baylor Bears (No. 1 seed)

It’s easy to forget that the Baylor Bears would have been a No. 1 seed in last year’s NCAA tournament if it wasn’t canceled because of the pandemic. The Bears brought back four starters from that team and added a few impact transfers, led by big man Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua and guard Adam Flagler. The result has been a team that’s even more dominant on the way to the program’s first Final Four appearance of the modern era.

The Bears started this season 18-0 before dropping an away game to Kansas and a Big 12 tournament semifinal matchup to Oklahoma State. Those are the only games they’ve lost all year as they break into the Final Four at 26-2. If there was concern that Baylor looked a little shaky heading into March Madness, it didn’t really show itself on their run through the South region. Only Arkansas came within single-digits in the Elite Eight, and there was no doubt who the more talented team was during that game.

Baylor’s trio of guards — Davion Mitchell, Jared Butler, and MaCio Teague — have powered the program to elite status for two seasons now. Mitchell has become the leading man in March, showcasing his incredible offensive burst and lockdown individual defense throughout this run. Teague’s shooting and Butler’s steady hand in running the offense have also shined, while Matthew Mayer and his mullet have provided some essential floor spacing.

We were supposed to get Baylor vs. Gonzaga back in early Dec. before the game was canceled just before tip-off because of Covid protocol. Let’s do it again for the national championship.

1. Gonzaga Bulldogs (No. 1 seed)

Gonzaga enters the Final Four staring down history. No college basketball team has finished the season as an undefeated national champion since Indiana in 1976. At 30-0, the Zags are just two wins away from doing it.

Gonzaga was not challenged during their march through the West region. It beat No. 16 Norfolk State by 43 points, No. 8 seed Oklahoma by 16 points, No. 5 seed Gonzaga by 18 points, and No. 6 seed USC by 19 points. None of those games felt as close as the final score indicated, and the final score still indicated a blow out.

The Gonzaga machine was hitting on all cylinders against the Trojans in the Elite Eight. Freshman superstar Jalen Suggs scored 18 points and finished two assists short of a triple-double. Sophomore center Drew Timme dominated his matchup USC’s freshman star Evan Mobley, finishing with 23 points, four assists, and three steals. Corey Kispert added 18 points, too. All three looked like the All-Americans that they are, and the rest of Gonzaga’s overqualified role players finished the rest of the job.

Gonzaga’s offense — the second most efficient of the KenPom era, starting in 2002 — gets most of the credit for good reason. More underrated is how effective the Zags’ defense has been. The Zags are currently No. 4 in the country in defensive efficiency, and are posting the second lowest points per 100 possessions of Few’s tenure. The Zags had six steals against USC, but it felt like twice as many. Their ability to turn misses and turnovers into quick-strike buckets is typically what blows games open.

Gonzaga has been the best team all season. They certainly look like the best team as we reach the final weekend of the season. It probably won’t be easy, but at this point we haven’t seen any team’s best shot actually be good enough to beat the Zags.

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racingtoaredlight · 4 years

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The degenerate’s guide to college football TV watch ‘em ups, 2019 season, week 10

The weeks are a double digit now. How do we continue to move forward in this maddening rush towards mortality? This football? It isn’t enough. It is not justification for the plodding. Neither, then, is the sweet rush of endorphins that comes with gambling nor the sweltering tawdriness of sitting prone on a couch and imbibing. Alas we must yet continue to watch them up. It is our lot.

Good luck to all who read this, whether they are commenting or not. The schedules are unwittingly courtesy of FBSchedules. Likewise, any gambling information comes from Vegas Insider. Enjoy this post if you can.

Saturday, November 2

Matchup Time (ET) TV/Mobile

Nebraska at Purdue 12:00pm FOX

No Rondale Moore means no Purdue wins as far as I’m concerned. Huskers -3.5 seems like easy money.

Boston College at Syracuse 12:00pm ACCN

Syracuse was the consensus “second-best team in the ACC” in the preseason and they are not even close to that in a hilariously awful year for the conference. Can they hold serve at home against an also not-good Boston College team? Probably not. BC +3, book it.

Buffalo at Eastern Michigan 12:00pm ESPNU

SUNY-Buffalo is favored by 1 on the road but I think these are the same team, really.

Houston at UCF 12:00pm ESPN2

Houston is out here trusting the process but I don’t get the plan exactly. UCF has an offense again but I’m still stupidly gambling on Holgo +22 even against the tank. They have to show some life to stay viable in recruiting.

Liberty at UMass 12:00pm FloSports / NESN

Life is too short for this.

14 Michigan at Maryland 12:00pm ABC

Michigan humiliated Notre Dame last week and Maryland turned back into a pumpkin a few weeks ago but without looking I’m still taking the Terps to beat the spread. Hey, they’re +21.5, I like it! Michigan 35, Maryland 14 is a winning bet in these circumstances.

NC State at 23 Wake Forest 12:00pm ESPN

By record, Wake Forest is the second best team in the ACC but I’m waiting for the bottom to drop out any day now.

NIU at Central Michigan 12:00pm CBSSN

Old Dominion at FIU 12:00pm ESPN+

Butch Davis had five sort of crummy years at The U before things really clicked. FIU isn’t even really supposed to be good so he’s still got some time to make it happen there.

UTSA at Texas A&M 12:00pm SECN

UTSA has to be the favorite here.

Akron at Bowling Green 2:00pm ESPN+

Virginia Tech at 16 Notre Dame 2:30pm NBC

I bet you think Notre Dame is a lot better than VPISU but go look up their records.

Troy at Coastal Carolina 3:00pm ESPN3

I don’t think it’s possible to win more than a few cents on this game so bet it and learn to live, you cowards.

TCU at Oklahoma State 3:30pm ESPN

Canada’s greatest export didn’t have a great game last week but I still have faith in Chuba Hubbard to break free and get a couple of 400-yard games and claim his rightful place as Oklahoma State’s greatest running back of all time.

UNLV at Colorado State 3:30pm ATTSN

I can’t be bothered to look this up because I’ve got a blog post to write but I’m pretty sure UNLV has the worst offense in the country and there’s a cold front blowing over the Rockies so pound the under (65.)

Middle Tennessee at Charlotte 3:30pm ESPN3

This is where a real gambler makes his living, not on the glossy prime time matchups and the big nude saturdays. So, again, don’t be a coward.

Miami (FL) at Florida State 3:30pm ABC

Man, fuck this Miami team. I hate them. If they win this game I’ll like them again but I haven’t felt this sure of a loss against FSU since Jameis Winston was there, at least. Maybe even since the Polish Cannon was there. And those FSU teams were good. This FSU team is full on garbage and I still think they win by 20.

UTEP at North Texas 3:30pm NFLN

UNT is favored by 23.5. Being horrible is UTEP’s business and business is good these days.

Arkansas State at ULM 3:30pm ESPNU

The Sun Belt and the MAC have one halfway decent team between them this year. And they just lost on Thursday night. I say this as a way of pointing out that both of these teams are bad.

Rutgers at Illinois 3:30pm BTN

Illinois is looking like a bowl team. If they cover the spread here (-20.5) they’ll be one win away. I’m not saying Lovie Smith can’t blow it but that’s the most hope the Illini have had in like 12 years.

Marshall at Rice 3:30pm Facebook

If you say “Marshall at Rice” out loud it sounds like you’re trying to do a southern accent explaining that somebody named Marshall ate some rice.

22 Kansas State at Kansas 3:30pm FS1

YOU CAN THROW THE RECORDS OUT WHEN THESE TWO MEET! The sunflower showdown somehow pairs a freshly ranked KSU with a theoretically potentially bowl eligible Kansas team. That might be stretching credulity but 3 wins is probably worth the money the Jayhawks ponied up for Les Miles.

8 Georgia vs. 6 Florida (in Jacksonville, FL) 3:30pm CBS

Didn’t they try to change the name of this game to something other than The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party? Georgia is favored by 6, which seems dicey. These teams are both bummy on offense. The o/u of 45.5 is interesting because if there are too many turnovers then it could go way over but if it’s relatively clean then it’ll be a stretch to get over 30.

Army at Air Force 3:30pm CBSSN

As per usual, go not Army. This game is a metaphor for the recent battle in Syria where the U.S. bombed its own weapons depot.

Pitt at Georgia Tech 4:00pm RSN

Georgia Tech beat Miami its last time out so, uh, you probably still shouldn’t waste precious breathing time watching this. I think both teams look cool, at least.

Florida Atlantic at WKU 4:00pm ESPN+

This one looms large in the C-USA East standings!

Mississippi State at Arkansas 4:00pm SECN

This is the kind of game you should keep in mind when arguing about conference superiority. Is there anybody in the country that could beat Arkansas and it would be a surprise? They’re in the SEC, too. True parity is when all the teams are bad.

Tulsa at Tulane 4:00pm ESPN2

TulTul, the battle for the TTUULL Trophy.

9 Utah at Washington 4:00pm FOX

Think back to two months ago when these ranking were flipped. Utah is the Pac-12′s answer to LSU for those who are unaware. I mean, the whole Pac-12 is like LSU but Utah is even more so. In a historical sense. That’s not a comparison to this year’s team. Just a reminder to expect chaos.

Wofford at 4 Clemson 4:00pm ACCN

Best game left on Clemson’s schedule until the playoffs.

Oregon State at Arizona 4:30pm Pac-12N

Khalil Tate should have had a better college career. Not saying it hasn’t been awesome just that it seems like he’s given completely different offensive systems every week and he should have been an off-brand version of Lamar Jackson.

Texas State at Louisiana 5:00pm ESPN+

Mississippi at 11 Auburn 7:00pm ESPN

I really believed right up until the end that Auburn was going to beat LSU last week. So obviously they’ll turn around and lose to the Faulkners.

Northwestern at Indiana 7:00pm FS1

The Hoosiers are going bowling and Northwestern averages like 2 points per game. Take Indiana at -10.5 or even lower if you can.

17 Cincinnati at East Carolina 7:00pm CBSSN

If the spirit of CBS Sports is alive and well then ECU will rise up against the 24-point line and take the hated Bearcats out. OR! They will lose by 63.

UAB at Tennessee 7:00pm ESPNU

Tennessee in a rare game they can actually win. I know they’re at home and an SEC team versus a C-USA team but UAB is 6-1 and counting on the Vols to beat anybody by 13 points seems crazy.

Vanderbilt at South Carolina 7:30pm SECN

Two huge disappointments (minus the one obvious bright spot for the Cocks) face off in the SEC. It’s not easy for Vanderbilt to be disappointing.

Virginia at North Carolina 7:30pm ACCN

This is something like the third most played rivalry in college football. It has rarely featured two decent teams and it’s iffy that it does this year. UVA should have been better but the offense has been out of sync and Bryce Hall broke his ankle. UNC has been better than expected but all that effort still only has them a .500 team.

15 SMU at 24 Memphis 7:30pm ABC

GameDay Game of the week! Both teams got lucky to win last week but SMU is currently higher profile so the money is all moving towards Memphis. I was telling you not to be cowards when I wanted you to bet on games earlier in the day but this one is impossible for me to call. I think the SRODs are a better team than the ms621s but it’s really close and I don’t know how much of my belief is analysis and how much is emotion.

7 Oregon at USC 8:00pm FOX

Perfect stupid game for USC to win and fuck up the money for the whole stupid conference.

Colorado at UCLA 9:00pm Pac-12N

I’ve actually liked what UCLA has done this year but they’re about two years away from a real breakthrough and I’m not sure how the recruiting trail is going for Chip Kelly. I don’t think very well.

BYU at Utah State 10:00pm ESPN2

Don’t let Soused know but this game looks awesome. In a very bad way. Both teams are total fuckups with occasional flashes of brilliance. And Jordan Love is the perfect distillation of that.

21 Boise State at San Jose State 10:30pm CBSSN

Much less “fun” but you never know. Boise could fall apart to close the season again. If I were a betting man I would take the Broncos -17 but I’ll have to live vicariously through one of you fools. Probably Beer.

New Mexico at Nevada 10:30pm ESPNU

Weirdly compelling. I don’t know why I am this way. Nevada isn’t particularly good and UNM is particularly bad. Why do I want to watch this?

Fresno State at Hawaii 11:59pm Spectrum / Facebook / KAIL-TV

The Fall back game of the season! Some time early in the third quarter clocks on the East Coast will go from 1:59am to 1:00am. If you want to wake up for a reason put money on the Rainbow Warriors (dropping the Rainbow is one of the worst branding decisions in sports history) and excitedly see if it makes sense that Vegas thinks they’re worse than Fresno at a neutral site.

#saturday post #watch em ups #rtarl watches tv #degenerate football #football #college football #gambling

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preciousmetals0 · 4 years

Text

Fake Markets, Shopify Targets and Tesla’s “Karen” Musk

Fake Markets, Shopify Targets and Tesla’s “Karen” Musk:

Friday Four Play: The “Fake It Until You Make It” Edition

It’s been a really really messed up week. Five days of bad data, five days of going nowhere.

And the market went and cheated on me. It’s in the Fed’s back pocket and it doesn’t even matter.

(La, la, la … whatever. La, la, la … oh well.)

Are you picking up on the Hot Chelle Rae vibes I’m puttin’ down?

Analysts at Bank of America certainly are. The financial giant’s securities division issued a research note on the U.S. economy this morning, and they came to the same conclusion Great Stuff has thrown at you for months now.

That conclusion? The U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks around the world have created “fake markets.”

According to Bank of America’s Chief Investment Strategist Michael Hartnett: “Government and corporate bond prices have been fixed by central banks … why would anyone expect stocks to price rationally?”

Let’s look at the facts: Central banks are droppin’ Benjamins around the globe, shelling out $4 trillion for asset purchases in the past two months. They’ve also spent about $2.4 billion an hour on financial assets, Bank of America states.

The net effect has forced investors to buy into the equity market, coerced banks into lending and created corporate “zombies” to issue debt. In short, the Fed and its global partners in crime have created “fake markets” to artificially bolster investment returns while the world’s economy tanks.

How does this relate to Hot Chelle Rae, you ask? (OK, you didn’t ask, but I’m telling you anyway!)

From the song Tonight Tonight: “I don’t know if I’ll make it, but watch how good I’ll fake it. It’s all right, all right, tonight, tonight!”

Wall Street is most certainly faking it right now. And that, dear reader, is why Great Stuff remains pert’near bearish on the entire shebang. If the economy doesn’t rebound as fast as the talking heads on Wall Street expect, there’s bound to be a reckoning.

Until then, investors will “party on the rooftop top of the world.”

Wondering where to find a rooftop party in your neck of the woods? Paul Mampilly has you covered.

Click here for your invitation to America 2.0.

And now for something completely different … here’s your Friday Four Play:

No. 1: Don’t Be Greedy

This week, yours truly, Mr. Great Stuff himself, appeared in a Money & Markets podcast with Matt Clark to discuss Shopify Inc. (NYSE: SHOP). If you’d like to listen to my dulcet tones, click here.

As regular readers know, Shopify is a Great Stuff Pick that we recommended back in early September.

Right now, that position sits on a roughly 110% gain! Congratulations!

As I explained in the podcast, Shopify still has quite a bit of growth ahead of it.

The company enables small- and medium-sized businesses to go online during the stay-at-home pandemic. It’s paying off in spades for Shopify, especially since Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) shafted these smaller retailers to focus on essential goods.

I’m being a bit unfair. There isn’t any real blame here. It’s the right move for Amazon. But so too, is it the right move for small businesses to strike out on their own with Shopify.

However, while I think there’s plenty of upside left for SHOP shares, we recommend taking profits on our Great Stuff Picks position.

You’re up 110% on a free recommendation, after all! No reason to get greedy. And with market volatility being what it is, it’s better to take the money and run. A bird in your hand is worth two in the bush … so they say.

The bottom line here: Sell SHOP for a triple-digit win!

Finally, if you think doubling your money in nine months is a good deal … boy do I have news for you. Paul Mampilly’s readers in Rapid Profit Trader have had a winning trade every week on average during the past two years. You know you want to find out how they do it. You need to find out how they do it.

Click here to see how you can join them now!

No. 2: Makin’ Nice in Cali

The feud between Tesla Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA) and Alameda County, California, is over. Elon Musk and Co. officially dropped their lawsuit against the county.

The row started after California issued guidance for reopening the state’s economy from the pandemic shutdown. Alameda County, however, maintained stricter stay-at-home orders that prevented Tesla from immediately reopening production at its main factory in Fremont.

In response, CEO Elon “Karen” Musk ranted and raved about tyranny and fascism, demanded to speak to California’s manager and threatened to immediately move all production to Texas or Nevada. Tesla then filed a lawsuit claiming the stay-at-home orders were unconstitutional.

The two sides have since reached an agreement on reopening the Fremont plant, likely leading Tesla to drop its lawsuit.

TSLA shares have weathered the storm better than you’d expect, rallying more than 125% off their March lows.

It’s a nice outcome for investors following one of the most ridiculous “Let me speak to your manager” moments I’ve ever seen.

No. 3: Baa Baa Black Sheep

Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) is hardcore. Despite U.S.-China tensions … despite the coronavirus pandemic … despite a struggling Chinese economy, Alibaba reported blowout fourth-quarter earnings.

Now, you probably expected stronger-than-expected earnings from the online retailing giant … but these figures were even better than those expectations. (Bet you didn’t expect that!)

Alibaba’s earnings came in 51% better than the consensus estimate. Revenue jumped 22% to $16.14 billion, topping Wall Street’s target by $860 million. What’s more, cloud computing revenue alone surged 58%, also blowing past estimates.

That said, not everything lived up to expectations.

Alibaba forecast full-year revenue growth of 27.5%, slower than last year’s 35% growth rate and below Wall Street’s targets. Given that Wall Street is doped up on unlimited Fed stimulus and can’t see the writing on the economic wall, I don’t think consensus estimates really apply here.

In other words, today’s dip in BABA shares following a stellar quarterly report may be an opportunity for anyone looking to dive into an Alibaba investment. That is, if you aren’t looking for opportunities stateside.

Considering the hoopla going on in the “Chinese stocks” conversation right now … there’s no better time for Trump’s “Re-Declaration of American Independence” — his mission to bring manufacturing and growth back to American soil from overseas.

Click here for the whole story.

No. 4: Foot Meet Mouth

It’s a low-expectations week here at Great Stuff — well, as far as Wall Street’s analysts go. (You bet we keep our expectations pegged at Greatness all year-round!)

Earnings from Foot Locker Inc. (NYSE: FL) today went toe to toe with some of the worst reports yet this season.

To start, analysts expected a 36% drop in revenue and an earnings loss of $0.17 per share — a world of a difference from year-ago profits of $1.53 per share.

So with the bar lower than a Leprechaun’s lucky coins, how low did the Locker limbo? How about a $0.67 loss per share! Same-store sales were almost cut in half, plunging 43% last quarter. Considering that Foot Locker is essentially a Nike store, selling 71% of the brand’s merchandise, this doesn’t give Nike my checkmark of confidence, either.

Keep in mind, Foot Locker’s first-quarter horrors even include two months of pre-pandemic store hours. Imagine what this quarter’s earnings will come in … even if the chain’s “phased reopening” is now underway.

Until the company’s next report, Foot Locker investors may be waiting for the other shoe to drop. FL shares were down 5% on the news today, before they, too, lost footing and slipped another 7%.

Great Stuff: Front-Row Special

Before we all sign off for the weekend — whoa-ho! Long weekend alert!

I want to give you a quick reminder of next week’s can’t-miss shindig. We talked about this on Wednesday, but in case you’re just tuning in today, listen up, this is big!

Paul Mampilly has kept busy during the quarantine. So busy, in fact, that he scheduled a special event for next Tuesday, May 26 — online, of course. At the “300 Event,” Paul wants to show you his bread-and-butter strategy.

It’s the same strategy that helps Paul “pull double and triple-digit winners from the markets year in and year out.”

You still have a few days to sign up (for free), but your invitation to the 300 Event closes on Monday!

Click here now to make sure you don’t miss Paul’s event.

And while you’re signing up for your virtual front-row seat … be sure to have a good weekend! You can always hear more from us on Facebook and Twitter too.

Until next time, stay Great.

Joseph Hargett

Editor, Great Stuff

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goldira01 · 4 years

Link

Friday Four Play: The “Fake It Until You Make It” Edition

It’s been a really really messed up week. Five days of bad data, five days of going nowhere.

And the market went and cheated on me. It’s in the Fed’s back pocket and it doesn’t even matter.

(La, la, la … whatever. La, la, la … oh well.)

Are you picking up on the Hot Chelle Rae vibes I’m puttin’ down?

That conclusion? The U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks around the world have created “fake markets.”

How does this relate to Hot Chelle Rae, you ask? (OK, you didn’t ask, but I’m telling you anyway!)

From the song Tonight Tonight: “I don’t know if I’ll make it, but watch how good I’ll fake it. It’s all right, all right, tonight, tonight!”

Until then, investors will “party on the rooftop top of the world.”

Wondering where to find a rooftop party in your neck of the woods? Paul Mampilly has you covered.

Click here for your invitation to America 2.0.

And now for something completely different … here’s your Friday Four Play:

No. 1: Don’t Be Greedy

This week, yours truly, Mr. Great Stuff himself, appeared in a Money & Markets podcast with Matt Clark to discuss Shopify Inc. (NYSE: SHOP). If you’d like to listen to my dulcet tones, click here.

As regular readers know, Shopify is a Great Stuff Pick that we recommended back in early September.

Right now, that position sits on a roughly 110% gain! Congratulations!

As I explained in the podcast, Shopify still has quite a bit of growth ahead of it.

I’m being a bit unfair. There isn’t any real blame here. It’s the right move for Amazon. But so too, is it the right move for small businesses to strike out on their own with Shopify.

However, while I think there’s plenty of upside left for SHOP shares, we recommend taking profits on our Great Stuff Picks position.

The bottom line here: Sell SHOP for a triple-digit win!

Click here to see how you can join them now!

No. 2: Makin’ Nice in Cali

The feud between Tesla Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA) and Alameda County, California, is over. Elon Musk and Co. officially dropped their lawsuit against the county.

The two sides have since reached an agreement on reopening the Fremont plant, likely leading Tesla to drop its lawsuit.

TSLA shares have weathered the storm better than you’d expect, rallying more than 125% off their March lows.

It’s a nice outcome for investors following one of the most ridiculous “Let me speak to your manager” moments I’ve ever seen.

No. 3: Baa Baa Black Sheep

Now, you probably expected stronger-than-expected earnings from the online retailing giant … but these figures were even better than those expectations. (Bet you didn’t expect that!)

That said, not everything lived up to expectations.

Click here for the whole story.

No. 4: Foot Meet Mouth

It’s a low-expectations week here at Great Stuff — well, as far as Wall Street’s analysts go. (You bet we keep our expectations pegged at Greatness all year-round!)

Earnings from Foot Locker Inc. (NYSE: FL) today went toe to toe with some of the worst reports yet this season.

To start, analysts expected a 36% drop in revenue and an earnings loss of $0.17 per share — a world of a difference from year-ago profits of $1.53 per share.

Until the company’s next report, Foot Locker investors may be waiting for the other shoe to drop. FL shares were down 5% on the news today, before they, too, lost footing and slipped another 7%.

Great Stuff: Front-Row Special

Before we all sign off for the weekend — whoa-ho! Long weekend alert!

I want to give you a quick reminder of next week’s can’t-miss shindig. We talked about this on Wednesday, but in case you’re just tuning in today, listen up, this is big!

It’s the same strategy that helps Paul “pull double and triple-digit winners from the markets year in and year out.”

You still have a few days to sign up (for free), but your invitation to the 300 Event closes on Monday!

Click here now to make sure you don’t miss Paul’s event.

And while you’re signing up for your virtual front-row seat … be sure to have a good weekend! You can always hear more from us on Facebook and Twitter too.

Until next time, stay Great.

Joseph Hargett

Editor, Great Stuff

#Timor Invest

0 notes

thrashermaxey · 5 years

Text

Ramblings: Update on Pastrnak and de Haan; Silfverberg; Toews; Trocheck – March 19

The big injury news from Monday was that David Pastrnak was skating on the top line for the Bruins in practice as he returns from an arm injury. He’s officially a game-time decision for Tuesday’s contest. Though the team has just three games over the next six nights for fantasy semi-final week, getting the Czech superstar back in fantasy lineups will be a huge boost to any fantasy roster.

The Bruins also had a quartet of injured players skate on Monday as Kevan Miller, Marcus Johansson, Torey Krug, and Matt Grzelcyk all hit the ice before practice. The latter did so without a stick as he continues his own recovery from an arm injury. There’s no confirmation of an immediate return for any of them, but Johansson in particular could help in H2H playoffs next week – aside from Krug, who is already rostered in almost every league – as the Bruins have four games and they include the Panthers, Rangers, and Red Wings. We’ll update further when we get more news.

Calvin de Haan returned to practice for the Hurricanes, having missed the last few games after taking a stick to the face. There is no apparent long-term injury here which is fantastic news for de Haan. He hasn’t been much use outside of deep leagues this year and I don’t anticipate this will change over the next few weeks.

There’s, uh, also this:

De Haan just said after he took the stick to the eye he was poking around his eye socket making sure his eyeball is still in place because he didn’t want it dangling around and he couldn’t see a thing

— Sara Civ (@SaraCivian) March 18, 2019

Yikes.

It’s that time of year where it’s hard to pay attention to the dregs of the league, but it’s worth noting that after his current recent hot streak, Jakob Silfverberg is up to 22 goals on the year. He needs one more to tie his career-high of 23 in 2016-17.

I will say that while this is pretty cool for Silfverberg, this is kind of disheartening for fantasy owners. I don’t think I’m the only one who was waiting for the 28-year old Swede to have *that* magical season where he posts a high shooting percentage and explodes offensively. Because he does currently have the highest shooting percentage of his career (15.2 percent) by a wide margin (previous high of 10.1 percent in his 23-goal season). But he’s missed some games due to injury and the team was terrible and injured basically up until a month ago, and that has kept his assists to a minimum.

After spending some time on the top line in the team’s last game, Rangers forward Pavel Buchnevich was bumped down to the second line in practice on Monday. He was a guy I thought could do very well moving up the lineup post-trade deadline and he does have 5 goals in 10 games (no assists, though). In 33 games in calendar 2019, Buchnevich has 11 goals and 19 points in 33 games, which pro-rates to 27 goals and 47 points over 82 games. He’s done this while playing less than 14:30 per night in that span. I will continue to bang this drum until it happens: Buchnevich is on the cusp of being fantasy relevant in all formats, he just needs a coach to give him the consistent minutes.

This is more for the postseason than anything but Mats Zuccarello is expected to start practicing with the Stars on their next road trip. The problem is the next road trip is next week and that won’t give Zuccarello many, if any, games to get up to speed before the playoffs begin.

James Neal was skating at Flames practice on Monday though at this point, I don’t think he’ll be much help in almost any format. This is really just news for the DFS people out there.

Some people may be disappointed with Colin Miller’s fantasy performance this year, and I get it, but let’s step back for a second.

Before the season, Miller had an ADP somewhere between the 40th and 50th defenceman off the board. In standard Yahoo! leagues, as of Monday afternoon, he’s the 49th-ranked defenceman. Considering both draft investment and performance, there really isn’t much lost here.

Beyond just his fantasy ranks, he’s been a bit unlucky. He sits at minus-1 on the season but has received .909 goaltending behind him at five-on-five on a team that sits at a .916 overall. He’s still been one of the best play drivers so there’s not much concern of a rebound there so long as he gets better goaltending in 2019-20. He’s also shooting less than half his career average (5.9 percent) this season (2.5 percent). If he shoots anywhere near his normal rate, he’s pretty much in line with his double-digit goal production rate from last year.

In short, Miller has been about as expected this year, if a bit on the unfortunate side. He’s firmly behind Shea Theodore in the pecking order now, though, so I wouldn’t expect his production to pick up next year. He’s about a 35-point guy and that’s just fine.

Our Dobber Hockey fantasy playoff draft list is now available for pre-order in the Dobber Shop here. It is an invaluable resource for those participating in any sort of playoff league, be it fantasy, pools, or just picking teams.

Just wanted to extend a hearty welcome to Chris Wassel, who is joining the Dobber Prospects team covering rising stars from the New Jersey Devils. I’ve known Chris for years and if there are two things he’s fanatical about, they’re fantasy hockey and the Devils. If you’re a New Jersey fan, be sure to check out the Dobber Prospects pages from time to time to read Chris’s work.

I know some people are concerned about the Nashville Predators heading into playoffs given their perceived lack of scoring but I think it’s a bit overblown. At five-on-five this year, the team has scored 2.58 goals per 60 minutes, 12th in the league and sandwiched between Vegas and Winnipeg. Combine that with the best blue line in the NHL outside of maybe San Jose and this team is just fine. The power play is an ongoing issue, of course, but I’d rather have a team struggle to score on the PP than 5v5. Having all their players healthy for an extended period may help in this regard. The West has a lot of very good teams, even if the Predators are bounced in the second round it’s hard to say they’re failures.

It’s gone by fairly quietly, but it’s worth noting that Jonathan Toews has cracked both the 30-goal and 70-point plateaus for the first time since 2010-11. Scoring is up league-wide so players posting great years compared to recent seasons isn’t usually noteworthy, but Toews hadn’t cracked 60 points, let alone 70, since 2014-15. He’s currently on a point-per-game pace – heading into Monday night’s game – and if he can maintain that, it’ll be the first time in his career he’s accomplished the feat.

Sure, Toews is shooting 15.2 percent, and that’s a three-year high, but it’s not abnormal for him. He has five different seasons over 15 percent shooting and was never below 12.4 percent in his career until 2016-17. His 20:52 per game and having line mates who score are really helping Toews’s season here. His on-ice shooting percentage, or the rate at which the team scores with him on the ice, is just over nine percent and his Individual Points Percentage (IPP) is well within his career norms. In other words, Toews isn’t really getting lucky this year. It’s a good scoring environment and he’s getting loads of ice time. Something to remember for next year.

Steven Stamkos became the Tampa Bay Lightning’s all-time leading goal scorer by tallying his 384th goal with the franchise in Tampa Bay’s 4-1 victory over the Arizona Coyotes. That was his 36th of this season, giving him a chance to crack 40 goals for the first time in four years. Maybe he’s not the player he was five years ago, but he’s still pretty good!

Yanni Gourde scored an empty net goal, which was his 20th goal of the year. He hasn’t been able to follow his breakout season last year, but getting the 20-goal mark is no small feat. I do wish he would shoot more, though, as he’s going to finish under two shots per game again this year even playing 16 minutes a night.

More updates in the morning

He was injured for about two months and that will probably frustrate his fantasy owners, but even in a shortened season we’ve seen the levels of production that Vincent Trocheck can bring. He’s averaging over two hits per game, about 2.7 shots per game, would fly past 50 blocked shots had he played 75 games, and sits with roughly a penalty minute per contest. Perhaps the point production is a bit lacking but it’s worth noting his current shooting percentage (5.8 percent) is about half his three-year average from 2015-18 (11.4 percent). If you double his current goal total to account for the shooting percentage drop, he’s up to 0.31 goals per game coming off three seasons of 0.33, 0.28, and 0.38 goals per game. In other words, things are pretty much normal here.

It’s just a reminder that in multi-category leagues, Trocheck should still be considered one of the top options available. He’s lost nearly 90 seconds per game in ice time and is still just a shade under 20 minutes per night. The Panthers centre also doesn’t turn 26 until July. He’s a name to stash away somewhere for drafts in 2019-20. The injury-shortened season combined with an unsustainably low shooting percentage will guarantee a depressed ADP compared to 2018-19. It is exactly the type of situation savvy fantasy owners should embrace in the search for draft value.

I want to hear from Casey Mittlestadt keeper owners. What do you think of him this year? Are you happy to have him on your dynasty/keeper league rosters? Are you concerned about him not having talent on the wings to play with or are you taking a longer view? Is there anything that’s stood out about his game you’ve liked or disliked this year? Hit us up in the comments.

from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-update-on-pastrnak-and-de-haan-silfverberg-toews-trocheck-march-19/

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whimsiesofanerdgirl · 5 years

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How to Save Money for Books (and Life in General)

If you’re anything like me you’ve got piles of books stacked up to your ceiling (may or may not be exaggerating, but if you do I won’t judge). Sometimes you just gotta take a stand and either take a break on buying buys or figure out how to get the best deals so you can keep on hoarding them into your home. I see you secretly ordering them online and hoping no one notices. Yes, I’m talking to you! When you’re ready to do some serious #booknerd adulting here I’ve got this handy list of ideas to make it happen.

BOOK BUYING BAN: WHAT I LIKE TO CALL “THE TWO-FER”

Maybe you’ve heard of it, or maybe you haven’t, but it’s a perfect way to save money on NOT buying books. You heard me right. DO NOT BUY THAT BOOK ONLINE OR AS YOU PASS BY THE SECTION AT THE STORE. I REPEAT, DO NOT BUY IT! DO NOT PASS GO! DO NOT COLLECT 200 TBR!

In all seriousness, you’ll achieve a lot in this feat. Not only will you be saving money by NOT buying books, but you’ll also be catching up on some much needed reading time. Many of us have towering piles of our TBR to get through and by limiting your selection to the books you already own, you’ll finally read the books on your backlist and learn what all the hype was about.

You don’t have the room to keep your books or don’t own a lot of them? It’s all good, go to the library! It’s a great way to save money all while still being able to reap the benefits of reading some new books without the price tag. It’s a win-win, just set a certain time frame as to when you’ll be placing your book buying ban in the calendar whether it be a week, month, or quarter of the year - I give you kudos if you make it that far! Tip: don’t forget to renew your books if you don’t finish them all by the time of their due date!

ACQUIRE A BOOKSTORE MEMBERSHIP

So it’s possible you’re not ready to quit cold turkey. That’s okay, I feel you. This will probably be a better idea for you then - sign up for a bookstore membership. Usually when you first become a member they will send you a bunch of awesome bookstore coupons to use towards your next book shopping trip. Some stores may offer them for free, but a lot of the big stores like Books-a-Million and Barnes & Noble offer theirs for about $20 per yearly membership. That’s not bad of a deal considering you spend a bunch of money on books already anyways.

Psssst - here’s a double win...lean on in because it’s a big secret...you can share your membership with other people like friends/family. If you and your friend or family member love to go book shopping split the cost between you for the membership or can be nice and invest in it on your own to share with them willingly. Usually all they need is either your membership card or a lot of times they’ll ask for your phone number to look up your account that way to apply their amazing discounts.

LIBRARY

I know, I know, I’ve already mentioned utilizing your local library, but have you checked into their events? Some libraries hold a daily, monthly, and/or quarterly book sale to rotate out old books so they can refresh their inventory. My library system has a small collection to buy at their own individual libraries (in my county we have several branches) and almost monthly the library hosts a big book sale for three days at a time at another off site location. They have an incredible deal to buy as many books as you can fit in a brown paper bag for $8.50. The moment I found out about these book sales I was SOLD.

BOOK SWAP

This is for all you lucky people that have a nearby friend who’s also into reading the same genres. Ask your friend if you could take a look at their personal library and arrange a book swap. Just don’t forget to pinky swear an oath that you won’t harm their babies. Also mention that if something were to happen due to an emergency situation that you’ll pay them back in full. Us book nerds are serious people when it comes to our page filled children.

BOOKSTORE SALES

Keep an eye out for those sneaky little bookstore sales! A lot of the big mainstream stores have a sale season and a clearance section for you to check for books with a large chunk taken off the price sticker. Books-A-Million even has a used books section which is worth a shot at finding a book or two (or ten).

GARAGE SALES

This is obviously more for the summer season, depending on your location if you experience the colder winter months like I do here in Ohio. Garage sales typically start late Spring into early Fall seasons due to people getting rid of unwanted stuff (their loss and our gain if you ask me). A lot of times people have yard sales due to their kids moving out, going off to college, etc. so there’s a good chance to look for books that they happen to be selling and just asking to be put into your waiting arms.

Some good places to find yard sales would be in your local newspaper, google search, and Facebook marketplace. Please use caution and go to a public place and with a friend/family member to be extra safe!

THRIFT BOOKSTORES

Oh my goodness. Do not get me started on thrift bookstores, but please do because I have such a great fondness for them. Similar to garage sales these magical places sell used books for half or less the price of their original book prices. I’M NOT KIDDING YOU! Quite a few times I’ve gotten books for like $1-$2 max and it was the best feeling ever! A great place to find these deals is 2nd & Charles which is located in the U.S. and you can look up their locations here. If you’re from another region or country I suggest googling “used bookstores” or “thrift bookstores” to find some stores near you.

There’s also the option of buying your books from ThriftBooks.com where they sell a huge supply of used books for all types of genres. They’re a great place to look for books that you have missing from an old series you’ve started getting into. Now they also have a “ReadingRewards” system where you earn points with all your purchases, but that’s not the best part of shopping at this site - it’s the fact that you get free shipping on all orders $10 and up (both perks are for US customers only)! Another benefit is if you add a book to your wishlist they will send you notifications for price changes and when it becomes available if they don’t have it in stock at the time you check for it.

Another idea is that from time to time you can even get some good finds at your local Goodwill store if you’re in an area with limited used bookstores.

ONLINE BOOKSTORES

A few other selections to check into would be BookDepository.com which is great for readers because they have free shipping available worldwide! A huge game changer for online book shopping is that Book Depository has large discounts off the list price of many books so go check them out!

If you have specific concerns on shipping time for your location you can find more information from them in their “Delivery and Shipping” help section.

Wordery.com is also an online bookstore to look into if you haven’t before.

LOCAL GENERAL STORES

You’d be surprised at how many times I’ve found books for a cheaper price than actual bookstores just by looking in the book section of a general store (like Walmart or Kroger). Bonus points if you’re a Kroger Plus card member to get that extra discount! If you’re not already, it’s quick and simple to sign up for one.

EBOOKS

For someone who is more willing to read books via the digital format you have a lot of choices to choose from, but I’ll list the most popular ones that I know of:

Amazon is a great one because they offer eBooks usually between $1-$3 each! They also offer free books so if that’s up your alley search for it under their Amazon Kindle ebooks.

Bookbub.com where you can stay up to date with the latest free ebooks and deals as well as for your favorite authors by setting up alerts!

Readingdeals.com also emails ebook discounted deals right to your inbox!

Goodreads.com recently teamed up with Amazon to provide you with “Kindle Daily Deals” and you can check out their page for the latest ones!

Do you know of any other tips and perks to saving money on books? Comment below!

Read my other posts in the #25DaysofBookmas series!

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Learn more about me - your friendly, interweb book nerd! :)

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#Saving Money for Books #Saving Money on Books #Money Saver #25DaysofBookmas #Bookmas #Blogmas

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flauntpage · 6 years

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Shohei Ohtani Would Be a Nightmare Matchup for Shohei Ohtani

Shohei Ohtani and literally Babe Ruth. Three-hundred plate appearances and 10 starts into his Major League Baseball career and George Herman Ruth, the Sultan of Swat himself, is the only point of reference for what the Los Angeles Angels' right-handed pitcher—and left-handed batter—has done so far.

Ohtani came over from Japanese professional baseball amidst a cacophony of hype, only to have the 24-year-old nearly exceed it in the season's opening months. He can smash home runs to the deepest part of any park as a hitter and throw 100 miles per hour as a pitcher. The Angels all but won the won the lottery—again.

Until, of course, injuries kept Ohtani off the mound for much of the season. Tommy John surgery is now likely to repair a tear in his elbow, which would spell the end of the "two-way" aspect of this "two-way phenomenon" until 2020.

His time off the mound adjusted the media feeding frenzy around Ohtani from "generational two-way freak of nature" buzz to "rookie DH with serious pop." As news of his arm injury broke, Ohtani continued posting preposterous numbers in his rookie campaign, smacking 20 home runs and damn near putting up a .300/.375/.600 slash line with a few weeks left in his first MLB season. So, Manny Machado but with more power, or Jose Ramirez but with a lower walk rate.

Productive as Ohtani's been, he's still learning on the job. Like most big leaguers, he's vulnerable to pitchers with good changeups and the ability to bury sliders under his hands, especially when paired with elite velocity. It especially leaves him vulnerable to one pitcher, specifically: Shohei Ohtani.

Based on his (limited) track record, Ohtani the pitcher represents the perfect weapon to retire Ohtani the hitter. That duality is what made the total package so alluring for every team in baseball in the first place. With at least a full year until we see him face big league hitters again, now is the time for a thought experiment: How would Ohtani the pitcher attack Ohtani the hitter?

The Book on Ohtani (the hitter)

To say Ohtani is unique is an understatement, but the way he approaches every plate appearance certainly stands out. Few hitters in the game today, if any, boast his brand of prodigious power to the middle of the field. No hitter, by a shocking margin, can claim better numbers when hitting the ball to center field.

Via FanGraphs

The Angels' DH relies on his pitch recognition and preternatural reflexes to wait, driving fastballs the opposite way while using the big part of the field to corral breaking balls. He rarely pulls the ball with authority, instead waiting back to do his damage (though he had no problem turning on a 97-mph fastball from Luis Severino earlier in the season.)

Ohtani happily rides high fastballs out to center field, or he will stay back even longer and deposit it into the cheap seats in left, his opposite field.

What we don't often see the Angels slugger do, something very common among just about every other power hitter in baseball, is pull the ball with authority. His second dinger in the below clip is a no-doubter to right center, as he still uses the middle of the field on a ball he could easily attempt to pull down the line.

The one hole in the big 6'4" lefty's game is strikeouts. Ohtani's strikeout rate is nearly 30 percent, making him one of the 30 or so more whiff-prone hitters in the game. Good sliders are his main nemesis, with those thrown inside, under his hands and toward his back foot, giving him the most trouble.

The below heat map (from the catcher's perspective) shows his tendency to swing and miss at sliders from right-handed pitchers.

Via Brooks Baseball

The Book on Ohtani (the pitcher)

In a nutshell, Ohtani brings the heat, with a fastball that touches triple digits, giving him one of the highest average velocities among starters this year. He complements that high octane (but straight) fastball with a sweeping slider and his mind-bending splitter, which dives down and away from left-handed batters, generating terrible swings by the hatful.

Ohtani also offers a much slower "show me" curveball, a pitch he can use to steal a strike or two from hitters geared up for his big time velocity. Below is his pitch usage against left-handed hitters this season, via Brooks Baseball.

Screen capture via Brooks Baseball

In just ten starts this season, at least three of which were hampered by injuries, Ohtani managed a 3.31 ERA, striking out 30 percent of the hitters he faced by fanning 63 batters in 51.2 innings. He allowed six homers in those ten starts, just one coming off the bat of a left-handed hitter.

At his best, Ohtani generates swinging strikes with his splitter, his "putaway pitch" when ahead in the count, especially the first time through the order. He then works off that pitch, using his slider and, later in games, his fastball spotted down and away for called strikes against hitters expecting that splitter to dive under the strike zone.

The Stand-Ins

To envision just how this magical encounter might go, let us look to recent history. A decent Ohtani hitter proxy exists in the form of Matt Olson, first baseman for the Oakland A's. While Olson isn't quite the same calibre hitter as Ohtani (who is?!), he looks the part and puts up numbers similar to those the Angels' star rookie boasts this year.

Olson hits the ball hard at a similar rate to Ohtani (often) and uses the opposite field regularly. Unlike Ohtani, Olson is human. In this early-season matchup between the two, Ohtani's heat was on display, showing how his elite velocity lets him get to places other pitchers cannot.

There aren't many pitchers who throw this hard with the same type of splitter/slider mix. Masahiro Tanaka is another expert user of the splitter, but his velocity is a far cry from that of his countryman.

Justin Verlander is an imperfect but useful comparison for our purposes. Verlander doesn't use his changeup as a weapon the way Ohtani does, but the velocity and volume of head-to-head battles serves our specific, insane needs.

In an early-season matchup, Verlander struck out Ohtani three times, pounding the zone with fastballs until getting the strikeout with a well-placed curve down-and-in in the first plate appearance. Later in the game, his attack shifts, and two high fastballs register two more Ks for the Astros legend.

It's also worth noting that while Verlander has struck Ohtani out five times in 12 plate appearances, the Angels slugger has tagged the future Hall of Famer for two doubles and a home run already in his short career.

The At-Bat - First Pitch

As a pitcher facing left-handed batters, Ohtani loves to start hitters with his fastball, throwing it 50 percent of the time as his first pitch. Against a powerful lefty like himself, Ohtani will continually use his fastball to get above the hands while preventing the batter from extending his arms to access his power.

On the other hand, Ohtani as a hitter isn't afraid to let loose against first-pitch fastballs, and he's shown himself to handle high-end velocity with no problem. Given that Ohtani the batter is less willing to swing at curveballs earlier in the count, a first-pitch curve from Ohtani to Ohtani feels like the best option.

In for the Kill

If the first pitch is a strike, the next pitch is going to be a splitter. There will be no secret and no pretense, as Ohtani's splitter is the perfect weapon to wield in this moment. And wield it he does.

As a batter, other pitchers look to punish Ohtani's aggression with changeups in this situation, as well. It's the perfect storm and represents a massive advantage for the pitcher in our imaginary internal struggle.

If the pitch misses and Ohtani the batter can hold back his swing, the 1-1 count swings the advantage back in favour of his bat, as the pitch he sees (and throws!) is again likely to be a fastball. While Ohtani's splitter gives his pitching persona the advantage over the hitter within, his very straight fastball favours Ohtani the hitter, so any 1-1 heater needs to be well-located or you're running the risk of that baseball being sent into orbit. Preferably on the inside half of the plate, but not so far inside that the batter uses his lightning-quick hands to drive the ball to right field.

As the at-bat progresses, the more likely Ohtani the pitcher is to go back to his splitter, tipping the scales in favour of the hurler. He still has his slider to work in as well, putting Ohtani the hitter on the defensive.

Even with two strikes, against a big power hitter in our magical scenario, his fastball is in danger of being hit out of the park. A hanging slider is sure to be punished if left over the plate. If his splitter stays flat, it's also going for a ride.

The Payoff Pitch

Were we lucky enough to inhabit a metaphysical plane where Shohei Ohtani could be both pitcher and hitter in one single at-bat, and that at-bat results in a full count, we could experience the heat death of the universe. Or a home run if the pitcher threw a fastball over the plate.

Hitter Ohtani has decent numbers when the count runs full, with a double, home run and 14 walks in the 44 plate appearances that ended with a full-count pitch. As a pitcher, the opposite. Pitcher Ohtani really struggled in a tiny sample of full count at-bats, walking the yard and giving up two of his six home runs. Perhaps situations like that work against his wide-ranging pitch arsenal.

With the count 3-2, I'd advise Ohtani the pitcher to slip a slider past Ohtani the hitter, but one that's kept in the zone to avoid the walk. The chance to freeze up a hitter, as in his final start of 2018, is a risk worth taking.

All of this is to suggest that we are talking about a singular player with a skill set too good to be true. In his first year, with all the hurdles he had to face this season, he has wildly exceeded every expectation. At the plate, he's a phenom and the likely rookie of the year in the American League. So prolific has his hitting (and baserunning) been, the extent of his elbow injury has thrown his future as a pitcher into some doubt.

Even without the pitching aspect, Ohtani is a true wonder whose best days are only ahead of him, and we're all better for it. While our dream scenario is mere fantasy, baseball fans from Japan to California and all across the globe eagerly await Ohtani's return to the mound, where his full potential will be on display once again.

He could end up one of the best players in all of baseball, but for right now he'll have to settle for a once-in-a-century talent and this twisted version of "would you rather?"

This article originally appeared on VICE Sports CA.

Shohei Ohtani Would Be a Nightmare Matchup for Shohei Ohtani published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

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junker-town · 4 years

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Dorktown: Send Luis Castillo’s 2000 season to Hollywood

Getty Images

180 hits. SEVENTEEN RBIs. It took a wild chain of events to set this up.

In 2000, the average Major League player drove in about 0.125 runs per plate appearance. Luis Castillo of the Florida Marlins drove in about 0.072 runs per … hit. That’s right — in a year where he broke Jeff Conine’s then-franchise record for single-season hits, Castillo parlayed 180 of ’em into just 13 RBI.

In other words, you can pick out of a hat any of MLB’s 189,635 plate appearances from that season not taken by Castillo, and it would be expected to generate nearly twice as much run production as the average hit by Florida’s second baseman in 2000.

Now, his RBI total was a bit higher than 13, as he did drive in four runs on groundouts, giving him 17 RBI overall for the season.

So. 180 hits. 17 RBI. Trust me when I tell you that that deserves to be broken down and dissected in every way conceivable. Let’s start here:

Castillo’s 180 hits were tied for 28th in MLB, alongside folks you’ll know, like Edgar Martinez and Chipper Jones. His 17 RBI were tied for 371st alongside folks ... you won’t know, like Jorge Fabregas and James Mouton. This amounted to over ten hits for every run he drove in:

None of the other 213 players with at least 400 plate appearances that season had even five times as many hits as RBI. And even dropping the threshold to include the other 228 players with just 100 plate appearances, only Red Sox/Rockies part-time second baseman Jeff Frye topped five hits per RBI.

Nowhere in the annals of time, not even when baseball games featured two umps and spitballs, have we seen anything like this. No one else in MLB history with as many hits as Castillo has ever even had as few as 25 RBI. Here’s every such player’s RBI total since the dawn of the 20th century:

Tip of the cap there though to 1927 Lloyd Waner with his 223 hits against 27 RBI. Speaking of which, you can also see that most of the smaller RBI totals had occurred many, many years earlier:

And, as you might be able to deduce, those double-digit hits for every run driven remains in its own solar system across time:

That Waner season is the only other one even above seven, with good ol’ 1904 Patsy Dougherty getting the bronze.

It’s a rate so astounding, that we don’t even need to limit ourselves to the volume of only those who recorded at least 180 hits. Here are the hit totals and RBI of every individual season with 150+ hits:

We still do not encounter someone that drove in so few runs, with obviously the overwhelming majority of the additional 4,398 dots to the left of Castillo’s (in other words, the hit range of 150-179) racking up far, far, far more RBI. Here are those totals plotted by year:

Again we see many of the lower totals stemming from the dead-ball era over 100 years ago, with 1912 Morrie Rath the only other 150-hit season that was accompanied by an RBI total under 20. Since 1960, Castillo at 17 is the only RBI total under 25, despite allowing players with up to 30 fewer hits to infiltrate our sample. Even the lowered threshold doesn’t unlock anyone new in Castillo’s hits-per-RBI zip code, especially in the last 100 years:

The dead-ball era of this vastly expanded sample contains a few more seasons with over seven hits per RBI, including 1912 Rath who overtakes 1927 Waner for (distant) runner-up. Since that Waner season, though, only the 1959 seasons of Richie Ashburn (exactly 150 hits) and Don Blasingame have produced a mark above seven. And they’re still nowhere remotely close to 2000 Castillo.

So we know none of the player-seasons with at least 150 hits generated so few RBI as Castillo’s 180-hit season. But here’s how low we have to go with hits before we find guys who failed to exceed 17 RBI starting to emerge:

1910 Clyde Milan is our closest ‘challenger’ — but in the live-ball era the drop-off’s even steeper, with 2011 Jamey Carroll’s 131 hits the next-most of anyone with ≤ 17 RBI. A full 49 hits fewer. Awesome.

If you’re curious about how low you have to go hit-wise before finding someone in 2000 Castillo’s hits-per-RBI stratosphere, here ya go:

The runner-up had just 72 hits, done by 1965 Dick Howser (who had six RBI). It is the only one of the other 29,289 all-time individual seasons with even 50+ hits to feature as many hits per RBI (of the 17,329 all-time individual seasons with 100+ hits, the only other one that even came close was 1971 Enzo Hernandez with 122 hits and 12 RBI).

To repeat, Castillo had 180 hits.

Sure 87.8 percent of ’em were singles — ’00 Castillo is one of just three players with a percentage that high on that many hits in the last 50 years, joining ’91 Brett Butler and ’14 Ben Revere. But even ’91 Butler and ’14 Revere’s hits-per-RBI figures (4.79 and 6.57, respectively) weren’t in ’00 Castillo’s ballpark, so you know there’s much more to the story beyond him simply not getting many extra-base hits.

Let’s start with who he hit behind. Like all leadoff hitters, he was guaranteed to have no one on for his first plate appearance of every game. And like all National League leadoff hitters, a lot of his other plate appearances were directly following a pitcher’s trip to the dish, which is certainly unfavorable to RBI production. But how about each of the two batters before that? Well, what the Marlins got out of the 7th spot in their lineup was nothing short of pitiful:

Alex Gonzalez, their primary #7 hitter, was quite literally — and by far — MLB’s worst high-playing time batter that season. His OPS was .548; no one else with at least 400 plate appearances came in under .635. We can even stretch it out to anyone with even 200 plate appearances, and only the not-so-aptly named Homer Bush had a worse OPS (the average player had a .782 OPS that year):

Surely then they at least didn’t also get MLB’s very worst production out of the 8th spot in their lineup:

Welp.

Ok, so Castillo was dealt an unimaginably bad hand when it came to hitting behind the bottom of the 2000 Marlins lineup. But when he was lucky enough to come up with anyone on base, his batting average absolutely plummeted. Took a complete and total nose dive. See, when the bases were empty, it was tremendous:

When there was no one on, his .380 batting average was MLB’s very best. Not quite the same story when one or more bases was occupied (Castillo in green):

Yikes. And if we isolate just those who had at least as many plate appearances with baserunners on, 205 of the other 209 bested Castillo’s batting average of just .217! Again, if the bases happened to be empty, this man had MLB’s very best batting average.

Making this even funnier is that the presence of baserunners is supposed to help batting average. In 2000, the average player’s batting average when runners were on was about 10 points higher than it was when the bases were empty. Castillo’s was, well, not:

Another way to think about it is that if you take a bird’s-eye view of his entire season, he had a batting average of .334 — so his batting average if just isolating when runners were on for him dropped by about 117 points. Baseball-Reference has reliable base-occupied data splits going back to 1973. So reckon we oughta give that some perspective:

Gotta really drop to some awfully small samples before finding players with that sort of discrepancy:

So these were the three primary forces at play here for Luis Castillo in 2000:

• galactically bad luck in terms of who he was hitting behind

• an inexplicably egregious, surely unprecedented drop in batting average/case of the yips the rare times those batting ahead of him got aboard

• when he did get his hits, singles constituted a percentage of them so high (or, if you prefer, extra-base hits constituted a percentage of them so low) that it has only been reached twice in the last half-century among the other 828 individual MLB seasons of at least 180 hits

That, my friends, is what we call the perfect fucking storm. 180 hits. 17 RBI. A flash in the pan that we will never, ever see again.

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gsmatthews95 · 6 years

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Road trip: a microcosm of travelling. A Reflection upon holidaying

So. So. Wait third time lucky, so I am now rewriting this piece almost two years later t than I originally intended. What? Yeah that’s right. When I was contributing to christyful’s blog when we were in Vietnam about 20 months ago my final piece, a magnificent creation if I say so myself, was supposed to be on the highs and lows of travelling (or holidaying if you’re me, a less glamorous term but one that I feel is more accurate to the experiences had when abroad). I wrote it upon the rooftop of the flip flop hostel in Hanoi in Vietnam, a cool hostel that was a mini party hostel, lots of fun. But yeah I woke up one day and decided I have the time and motivation to write this masterpiece that encapsulates the beauty of holidaying, and, in my eyes, outline just why it can be so addictive. It is not all about the immense sights, the once in a lifetime moments always. I’m going to put my slightly controversial opinion forward, this will not be solely about my time in Australia I’m going to pick through my various holidays to really try to emphasise my point. It is my opinion that it is the rollercoaster nature of holidaying that makes it something so addictive and fun and that forces you to grow as a person. It is the lows that make the highs just so high, every feeling you have is doubled in magnitude, meaning that the best moments are incomparable to your best moments at home and the worst can feel even worse than anything you’ve felt when being at home.

Disclaimer: this post will be nothing like the previous one, it will be longer and more in depth but I can’t vouch for the end result, but I reckon it’ll be better.

Disclaimer 2.0: sorry family if you haven’t heard any of these stories before, I didn’t want to worry you.

So, the lows, the downs, the parts of a holiday you regret and may wish didn’t happen, these I believe are completely imperative to your experience and to making you grateful, even thankful for the time you’ve had. You may think in your life. Actually no. You think in your life (or at least I do a lot) what do I regret doing/not doing, it’s only human to think like this however negative it may feel because you think how can I improve. We were even sat round the fire the other night and someone asked “what would you have done differently in your time in Australia or barossa?”. I do this more than most, call it my perfectionist tendencies (or attempted perfectionist at least) or just my self critical nature but I think it is necessary to think back over the good and the bad (mainly the bad) to self improve and to truly appreciate the greater and more impressive moments of your life, and more accurately for this piece, your holiday.

So I got rethinking about this idea when I was reminiscing about the road trip and how not every single moment was perfect and nice, of course it wasn’t WE WERE CAMPING. But still I will look back upon it and remember the good times and the amount we saw and the amount of fun we had. For this reason I see he road trip as a microcosm of holidaying in general. We will always look back upon these times with rose tinted lenses remembering the best and most emotive times, when really there is just as much time spent being unhappy or down (please don’t read this thinking I’m depressed or doing my own weird twist on 13 reasons why by the way. Also what a series, we’re rewatching season one and I’m addicted, bring on season two, but that’s hardly the point of this rant). What I mean by this is that, like on a 2.5 week road trip where you’re camping in free camp sites eating pasta pesto or noodles every day, not everything you do is a amazing and memorable and if you think of the trip as a percentage you’ll find a large portion, probably the majority we were tired, hot, cold, hungry, thirsty, annoyed at each other or just quiet. This is only natural though when you’re spending so much time together in the desert driving for so long. But when you are in this state you appreciate the immense natural formations and experiences even more. For example when we got to the Mataranka hot springs after five or six hours driving the car was dead as I was writing, Chloe was plucking her legs, and Matt was looking at WikiCamps (I know what a cool group of people) but as soon as we got there the stupor was broken and energy weighed through us as we all got ready, chatting, laughing and joking. We then proceeded to having a sick time. The point I am trying to get at here is that you can’t have the best time 24/7 and sometimes it takes some worse times to make you fully appreciate the good. I know, knowledge bomb. I’m now gonna take a little trip down memory lane in these next paragraphs.

Now picture this there’s an 18 year old kid, he’s on his first big trip away from home alone. He’s been gone now for four months and has had a bangin time. Done new things, met new people and he’s done it all alone. Big learning curve. There were a lot of ups and downs on my gap year: getting wrong buses, getting too drunk, being threatened by a druggy local to name just a few of the downs, while I don’t believe I need to really explain the better parts, to read of these go look at my other blog that I had when I was on the gap year. All of these memorable moments and incredible places and sights that I had never seen and certainly won’t see for another long time, especially with my already long and always growing list of future holidays, were captured on my nice little digital camera, actually I think it may have been dads (sorry dad). I had never had the chance to back them up with no access to a proper computer. Guess where this story is going, yes I was on a bus and fell asleep with my bag at my feet and when I woke up a few hours later, the camera was gone. Great. A couple of thousand photos maybe, gone. But this made me realise, what are photos really? Do I really need them? Should I really mourn their loss? No. A great lesson was learnt that day, photos are nice, good memories but in the end as long as you remember where you’ve been, don’t cry about losing them. It also meant the next few months were better as I took the bare minimum photos possible and had an infinitely better time of it. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes of my lost camera I rose and soared away to better times, that metaphors sounded better in my head.

We move on. Now I’ll take a look at my 20 year old self in Honduras, a dangerous country where I was making the journey from the border to the city with the highest percentage of murders per capita. Ok. Should be fine. The day was long I’d started in Guatemala and was embarking upon a 7 part journey or so including 2 boats, 3 buses and a taxi, ah no it was a six part journey, got it. I had done the hardest part of this colossus of a voyage and was at the border, it was about 3pm, not too bad I think. I stride across the border looking for my bus I’d just jumped off to get my passport stamped and couldn’t see it. Where could they be? I doubled back and chatted to the conductor in my suspect Spanish. What I gauged wasn’t great, the bus terminated there, eek. But he said it was fine there was a bus to San Pedro just over the border. I headed his words and wandered aimlessly with great trepidation scared for my safety. I got to the buses. There were a few, bangin. I asked each where the were going. No. No. No. then I found my bus, my vessel to safety. When do you leave mate? The response, 2-3 hours. Hmm bit long was that would get me into the murder capital at around 8pm. No thanks. I was stuck. Wondering what to do. I had no choice. So I got talking to some old Honduran men, it turned out they were going to San Pedro with a pickup truck. I jumped at this. Can I come with you in the back? They said yes but they had some places to go first. I didn’t care I jumped in the back with a load of bananas and a Honduran man and we were off. Still scared but at least heading towards my goal, I chilled briefly. They stopped a number of times at tiny villages and I asked why, naturally. It transpired they were bible salesmen, yes please. Men of god. The weirdest, luckiest and probably most memorable experiences of my life. It came from one of the scariest moments of my life. And the sense of relief just compounded the memorability and joy of that trip.

Sorry for the ridiculous length of this piece, I’m getting quite into reminiscing. The last segment of this essay, Vietnam. Mine and Christians little adventure. Anyone who has met me since this trip two years ago will undoubtably know which experience I will describe now. Many of you will have seen the video. Or maybe have seen my dramatic demise in sport (read sport as quidditch and squash). Yes I am talking about the great motorbike crash of 2016. It was massive. I won’t describe the actual ordeal or else we will be hear for hours more than we will be already. Setting the scene though, we were on the Ho Chi Minh highway. 70km from the nearest town and 100 from the nearest hospital. I crashed... straight over the metal barrier. Bike screwed and knee, also screwed. I know poor vocabulary choice but I feel it’s an accurate word for both. We had a task ahead of us, made no easier by the ten Vietnamese who had crowed around me and were offering no help. My first moment of clarity was when I yelled to Christian to get the keys our of my bike, even though there was no way it was driving. With no real medical supplies we did our best, Christian (genius) cut two socks open and slid them over my knee like and tubey grip and gave me 8 painkillers (still not enough). My job, stand up and start to try and put any kind of weight on it. His next task sort out the bike, the battery had fallen out. Apart from that there was no major damage but half the bike looked like it was falling off. We had to drive the 70km with the day fading, as we’d had to wait for me to recover, while I could not use my right leg (and consequentially, the back brake). Christian gave me a kickstart as I could not and I drove off, one leg hanging out and he followed me. When stopping he had to catch me as I rolled in slowly and help me off (my hero). We were 10km away and the rain started, oh I forgot to mention my lights didn’t work. But though all this we made it. We got codine and I lay in bed. To date the proudest achievement of my life, and at the time ones of Christians too. To make it to the hostel under those circumstances was something else I won’t forget.

Sorry for rambling like mad, I’ve enjoyed writing this a lot. I went quite off point but this is a blog and I’m not being marked so I don’t really care. Basically holidaying is full of ups and downs and without the downs you not appreciate those ups.

I hope hope you’ve Enjoyed this little reflection.

G out

Unlucky one

Reflection

0 notes