You know who sucks? NBC. You can't watch any of the full event replays online unless you have cable from one of their "partners". And the proxy feeds are unwatchably compressed. Which is my way of saying "what olympics?". Dammit.
And the proxy feeds are unwatchably compressed.
As is Bob Costas' paisley hanky.
It would help, in watching the luge, if they could CGI a best-fit curve
Or superimpose footage of the current leader's run. They did this after the fact for downhill skiing a couple of times, and it was pretty neat.
Ghost lugers, like in Mario Kart!
Haha cheezy fake distressed fake bluejeans. Seriously, that looks like something sold at Baby Gap for toddler boys.
Wow, 5 is depressingly correct. Bring on the fake, America!
||
Happy Birthday, Stanley. Happy Birthday, daughters. Happy Birthday, Kim Jong-Il.
|>
6: My point? You're adorable! Yes, you are! Who's a handsome boy? You! Tickletickletickle!
I like sports in general but, for some reason, I can't even fake interest in the Olympics, either Summer or Winter. They seem to light up the same places in my brain as NPR pledge drives.
YOU ARE THE BABY SCHOOL SNOWBOARDERS AND I AM THE BIG LEAGUE CHEW.
5 is correct. Denim distressed by wear - hot. Distressed off the rack - poser!
I love all of the unusual sports getting their moment in the spotlight.
Happy birthday, baby Stanley! This is 24?
13: I'm glad they get it, for the sake of the people who devote their lives to them. I don't have *negative* feelings toward the Olympics. Just indifference.
Apo is unAmerican and supports the terrorists.
He probably doesnt wear a flag pin on his lapel either.
I really like the fun of the scale of the games and the weird little sports; it's great entertainment. The 84 summer games were a highlight of my childhood. But I find it hard to care too much about who wins or loses, hate NBC's coverage, and find it a little weird that we're all supposed to care passionately about e.g. speedskating, but only once every four years.
Curling starts this afternoon. Curling! The only sport I ever watch.
I have the affiliates but the schedule is complicated.
I was in Lake Placid for the 1980 Olympics and that was pretty bitchin'. Of course it was also me, my mom and dad, and my aunt and uncle staying in the apartment above their garage because my aunt and uncle had rented their house to Ingemar Stenmark.
Oh, I did watch the pairs last night, before I switched over to Coraline. I feel asleep halfway thru the movie, so even what I watched didn't make much sense.
How many luge tracks are there in the world? Five?
Answer: fourteen?
My son and I went to the Olympics in Athens. We had a blast.
We have a picture with him and Tyler Hamilton (gold medal winner aka cheater).
Sadly, we missed beach volleyball.
Thanks, Jesus McQ and Will (it's like 24 but plus 4 more).
Those Snowboarder uniforms look like something bought at Aéropostale.
The best thing about obscure sports is that relatively normal people can compete and even win at them.
Unfortunately, the US sucks at my favorite winter sport, the biathalon. Ski for a bit and then shoot some stuff -- awesome. I like sports that are good for training international superspies.
25: The US got its first medal ever in Nordic Combined, though! I agree, however, that what makes the winter Olympics especially fun is that these folks really are amateurs in many cases.
25: I can't believe the USofA hasn't come up with a version involving pickups and shotguns.
27: They do that one in innertubes on the creek. You should see the uniforms for that.
I can't believe the USofA hasn't come up with a version involving pickups and shotguns.
Please, it would involve snowmobiles. This is the winter Olympics after all.
Please, it would involve snowmobiles.
I did watch a little of the X-Games freestyle snowmobile jumping competition. Those people are insane.
I prefer "these Olympic Winter Games".
I was in Lake Placid for the 1980 Olympics and that was pretty bitchin'.
I was there, too, and it was, except for the transportation mess (IIRC, the bus drivers went on strike). There were super-long lines for what few buses the organizers could muster, it was bone-crunchingly cold and 11-year-old me thought it would be smart to wear sneakers, for some reason. Still, the thrill watching ski jumping close up outweighs the pain of near-frostbite.
When is that event coming up where people just hurl themselves off a snow-covered cliff?
No, wait, I was 15, which may help to explain my poor judgment.
The best thing about obscure sports is that relatively normal people can compete and even win at them.
Maybe relatively normal people compared to the extreme distortions of professional football or olympic gymnastics. But the people I knew who were trying for the olympics in TKD were pretty distorted by it.
Or how about Pairs Snowball Fighting? Or Synchronized Snow Angel Making?
25: I am hoping the Summer Olympics will soon include escaping from a baroque and improbable killing machine.
the people I knew who were trying for the olympics in TKD were pretty distorted by it
In a country of 300 million people, the top handful at pretty much anything are going to be pretty distorted.
36: Or Passing Out Drunk in a Snowdrift. You'd get points for style, like figure skating.
37: Competitive Men's Baroque And Improbable Killing Machine Evasion is actually the plot of the last three chapters of Doctor No. Really. Read it if you don't believe me. Finishes up with a giant squid.
32: It was so cold! And they held the medal ceremonies on the lake -- I wonder if it still freezes so thoroughly that one can use it as a parking lot. I had a blast -- I still have my hat with the pins all over it.
Yeah, all the Olympic hopefuls I was acquainted with (and I'm unsure how much of a "hope" any of them had) seemed to have lives that were taken over by their sports. This one dude in HS was apparently going to Lake Placid to speed skate all the time.
I'm googling the friend's little brother who was something like a top 5 junior snowboarder when we were in Junior High, was named to Junior Olympic blah blah, and who was therefore referred to at school as an Olympic Hopeful. Looks like he competed in World Cup such-and-such a few years back, but not much thereafter. I wonder how much he had invested in the Olympic Dream itself, and how much he is happy just being a really fucking good, even if not top whatever, snowboarder.
40 - that's exactly what we need. Baroque and Improbable Killing Machine Designer is my dream job. I should build some to fill out my portfolio. Lots of big showy flames, the obligatory laser, buzz saws, and of course the ever-sexy tank full of sharks.
From the comments to the linked article:
That #### is ####! Totally inappropriate. The olympics represent the American people and especially the TAXPAYER who pays for it. NOT the snowboarding community. Tacky. Its a formal event. At least we can dress appropriately.
I learned yesterday that I'm two degrees of separation away from the entire Bermuda 2010 Winter Olympics team. I'm told he's a nice guy.
Also, on the OP: wearing official Team USA pre-distressed Goretex pseudo-jeans is a bit like buying all your rebellious punk outfits at Hot Topic.
The one Olympian I know, a Nordic skier who lived down the road from us in VT and competed in Lake Placid, is non-distorted. She's now a massage therapist in Portland; I gave my wife a gift certificate from her for Christmas.
Its [sic] a formal event.
So, white tie and tails, then?
The best thing about obscure sports is that relatively normal people can compete and even win at them.
Meet Eddie "the Eagle" Edwards, Britain's only Olympic ski-jumper.
Another problem was that he was very short sighted, requiring him to wear his glasses at all times, even though when skiing they fogged to such an extent that he could not see. Eddie was informed of his qualification for the Games whilst working as a plasterer and residing temporarily in a Finnish mental hospital due to lack of funds for alternative accommodation (rather than as a patient)
He was so crap the IOC actually changed its eligibility rules so that he couldn't compete ever again.
I'm googling the friend's little brother who was something like a top 5 junior snowboarder when we were in Junior High, was named to Junior Olympic blah blah, and who was therefore referred to at school as an Olympic Hopeful.
I often hear similar comments about various young athletes. "He [or she] will be in the Olympics one day!"
Don't put that kind of pressure on a kid. I know lots of people who were amazing swimmers at 13, and out of the sport by 16.
I lived and breathed swimming. (16,000 meters a day wasnt uncommon.) My goal was to make Olympic trials. (I didnt.) I dont regret all the time in the sport. I enjoyed it tremendously.
I didn't realize until recently that the name "Eric the Eel" was created by the media as a response to an "Eddie the Eagle".
In the US a different athlete is "Eddie the Eagle".
Botswana's entry into the 1988 Olympic sailing event was a family friend. He beat the Egyptian competitor, which is impressive since as my sister pointed out "They have a bigger dam than we do."
The faux-grunge snowboarder look suggests new product tie-ins. Pabst Blue Ribbon: official hipster beer of the Winter Olympics. That guy I know whose cousin lives in Humboldt County: official pot supplier of the Winter Olympics.
Wasnt there some peer pressure from snowboarders to keep uniforms in a style that is marketable? They were resisting the sleek uniforms in favor of a look that sells clothes.
I DON'T LIKE THE SNOWBOARD UNIFORMS. IN MY DAY, BEFORE SNOWBOARDS WErE INVENTED, SNOWBOARDERS DRESSED IN A LADYLIKE FASHION. AS A TAXPAYER I DEMAND MUCH MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE-LOOKING SNOWBOARD UNIFORMS. AS THE GREAT ZIEGFELD SAID.
Its gotta be tough to be trying to get to the Olympics as an American. The #5 Junior Snowboarder in the USA would have much better luck getting to the games if he were instead from a small country, such as, say, Andorra.
That's why that internet spyware tycoon decided to compete for Australia. But why Australia, and not the Cayman Islands?
I do kinda respect snowboarders for apparently not giving a shit about aerodynamics.
60:
They dont care about aerodynamics bc they want to make money.
Passing Out Drunk in a Snowdrift
Should this be counted as say 3/5 of a suicide in a country's mortality stats?
Aerospace engineers, meanwhile, have to care about aerodynamics in order to make money.
The fact that Olympic snowboarders get laid so much more than aerospace engineers must mean that aerodynamics is not actually that important.
The #5 Junior Snowboarder in the USA would have much better luck getting to the games if he were instead from a small country, such as, say, Andorra.
The lesson here is to pick your small country carefully. Some announcer said the other night that athletes from Liechtenstein, pop. 36,000, have won nine medals in alpine skiing over the years. The #5 Junior alpine skier in the U.S. might face some competition there (although I don't think Liecht. has won much lately).
OH YEAH, WELL YOU JUST HAVE FUN TAKING THE TRAIN TO VANCOUVER, THEN.
You have experience comparing the laid-getting of engineers by discipline?
Liechtenstein is an alpine nation. They have an unfair advantage in alpine skiing.
Ag engineers? Well, the groupies throw themselves at us, but I got jaded after the first couple years. Well, four or five years.
69: limited data set, but the hierarchy goes roughly software
D'oh!
Marine engineers are getting more than me?
68 confirms my belief that I should have switched into Aerospace Engineering when my PhD advisor decided to leave the university.
OTOH, one of the pleasant discoveries I've made on returning to the meat market after a 16 year hiatus is that the relative desirability of geeks and jocks appears to have switched in my favor.
I would think nuclear engineers would get laid quite a bit. I mean, what's sexier than harnessing the awesome power of the atom?
what's sexier than harnessing the awesome power of the atom?
Building rockets and Olympic snowboarding.
I suppose it was cold out there for the NEs for awhile after The China Syndrome and Three Mile Island, though.
Marine engineers are getting more than me?
Yes, there's thousands of them and only one of you.
CA is currently yelling things like "Peckerheads!" at the German curlers.
(He has also called me "Racist!" for not taking to curling as he has.)
Marine engineers spend all that time out at sea and in close quarters. Sex is bound to happen.
oudemia is too busy watching Jersey Shore.
88: Speaking of which, perhaps snowboarders should be forced to wear tight quarters instead of their current getup.
My baby thinks he's a train engineer.
You could make little valentines that say "Be Mine Engineers". Red construction paper glued onto a heart-shaped doily, please.
||
I'm currently on a bus listening to a current Cornell student telling a prospective student that Ithaca is "not like New York, but still a major city." Resisting the urge to say 'wtf?'.
|>
94: He means that lots of people have majors, there.
Someone has edited the curling wiki entry to say that Scots originally played the game with dead squirrels rather than stones.
Is there going to be some prime-time curling, or do I have to take a day off work to get my fix?
99: My understanding is that there is more curling tonight, when the US plays Norway.
I forgot mine engineers, who get more than all other engineers combined, but only because of Third World prostitutes.
I'd think petroleum engineers might be in the running due to that as well.
My understanding is that there is more curling tonight
You've found a hairdresser who stays open late?
I like sports in general but, for some reason, I can't even fake interest in the Olympics, either Summer or Winter. They seem to light up the same places in my brain as NPR pledge drives.
I feel that way about football.
I can get jazzed about downhill skiing; there I can really see/feel the pursuit of excellence in action, and am excited both on behalf of the athletes, and in the witnessing of excellence. Sports, or athleticism in general, is supposed to be about that, right? The pursuit of excellence.
I can't see what's excellent about one play or another in football or baseball (barring the occasional amazing thing), though I can see it -- in action -- in basketball. Otherwise I really need tennis or skiing or some other individual sport (not golf) in order to appreciate.
Just musing.
103: I'll have you know my hair is naturally curling, OFE.
I feel that way about football.
It took me a long time to be able to follow what was happening enough to enjoy watching football.
The weird thing is that I grew up playing football a lot, and I like playing football, and I know the basic game well at a schoolyard level. But being in the thick of it is different from being about to watch others go at it. (Who's could possibly take that sentence out of context?)
I can't see what's excellent about one play or another in football
Football is insanely complicated. The 2009 rule book is 295 pages.
Football is insanely complicated.
I'm forcibly reminded of this every time I watch a game with ms bill, who constantly goes back to first principles: "Why don't teams punt on second down if they're really bad?"; "Why do some legal blocks look like holds?"; "Where is a cornerback's corner?"
108: And they keep moving the goalposts!
94.
Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage.
Without her you would have never set out on the road.
She has nothing more to give you.
"Where is a cornerback's corner?"
I like this. People get mad if you ask something like that.
Would two quarterbacks and a halfback be just as good as a fullback? If so, why wouldn't you just staff your entire roster with fullbacks?
108 is why I don't watch football. That and the absurd overspecialization. It's really a lousy game, despite the extraordinary athleticism.
Haha cheezy fake distressed fake bluejeans. Seriously, that looks like something sold at Baby Gap for toddler boys.
Saw Burton Shank Goretex denim boarders' pants (for men) on sale for a bargain $224.98 at DogFunk
High above Cayuga's waters
There's an awful smell
108 is why I don't watch football.
Too dim to understand it, eh?
It's really a lousy game
I disagree with this (of course). It's a great game; it's just that it's much more a coach's game than a player's game. For all the size and brutality, it's actually the most cerebral of all the major American sports.
Handegg is funny.
118: Reading the rulebook requires adequate lighting, it's true.
121: Stadiums tend to have good lighting. Just saying.
119 is totally right, but (a) coverage of football makes it so hard to figure out what's actually going on and (b) the sport is so complicated that figuring out what is really happening takes knowledge and expertise that are really so far beyond the average fan that it's always baffled me that American football is as popular as it is. I like watching it, but much less than basketball or baseball because it's harder to figure out what's happening on the field and why. I mean, I've watched football in some form or another for almost 30 years and I still have only the vaguest notion of what, say, "cover 4" is. But most of the huge audience for the NFL doesn't seem to mind.
Yep, the complexity of football is exactly why I favor it as a spectator sport. There's always more to learn, more corner cases to understand. And there are typically many different actions a team can take when in any given situation, which leads to ample debate fodder for the viewing public. And then the game stops while people argue about whether the receiver had possession of the ball before his right foot stepped out of bounds. Great stuff.
it's actually the most cerebral hemorrhage-inducing of all the major American sports
Fixed.
Pitchers and catchers report for spring training this week. Not coincidentally, life is returning to the bare, frigid earth.
I still have only the vaguest notion of what, say, "cover 4" is. But most of the huge audience for the NFL doesn't seem to mind.
I'm in that cohort. I do think that there's nothing completely new under the sun in football. I mean, when I was a little kid they called a blitz a "red dog." And over the holidays a nephew was talking about the Wildcat offense and my dad (now bedridden; sleeps most days) woke up and said "Looks like the single-wing to me..."
Football may be complicated, but cricket is really hard for me to grasp.
My problem with football is that all the players look the same with their helmets on. I think it would be a much more interesting game if they took off the helmets.
I've never been able to muster up interest in American football, Ijust find it boring. Soccer occasionally, but rarely. Baseball - on tv with a book lying on a couch to counteract the langeurs, yes. Skiing also yes, yes, yes, though my favorite is slalom, perhaps because I like to ski making rapid tight turns myself, not at that level of course. Plus it's the most technical of the alpine skiing disciplines. Skijumping - got caught up in the Malysz obsession at the start of the decade, but it does get pretty repetitive. I also like figure skating a lot, if I only watch it infrequently. Not that I'm watching anything in these Olympics. No cable, online coverage sucks, oh well. Sports are the thing I miss the most about not having cable, but it's just not worth the ridiculous amount of money they charge.
I don't even care / to watch these winter olympics.
124: I love the way football stops between plays. Everyone watching gets to think about what might or should happen next, which for me adds to the cerebralness of it, not to mention the suspense. I don't really enjoy watching basketball because there are so few pauses to think about what's happening. Soccer's better because the field is so large that I can actually see plays develop.
Pitchers and Catchers is one of my favorite days of the year.
Oh yeah, my favorite couch potato sport - basketball. At it's best its like watching an improvisational ballet. Pro of course - why watch AA when you have the major leagues. The popularity of college basketball is proof in my mind that the lack of interest in the WNBA is primarily sexist. All those complaints about lack of skills relative to the men's game - all true, but the same applies to the NCAA.
Soccer's better because the field is so large that I can actually see plays develop.
See, I think the large field is a major problem with soccer. I would like it a lot more if they shrunk the field down to, say, 1/3 of the size, which would give the teams a chance to score goals from time to time.
I would like it a lot more if they shrunk the field down to, say, 1/3 of the size, which would give the teams a chance to score goals from time to time.
You should either:
1. find mini players and mini trees and create a whole world on a 1/3 scale
or
2. watch indoor soccer.
At the soccer practices I've been attending we've used futsol balls from time to time and they feel pretty different. They just don't move, so you keep tripping over them if you expect them to move along. Until then I'd never heard of futsol.
You can do some pretty amazing things with a futsal ball.
I don't really enjoy watching basketball because there are so few pauses to think about what's happening.
This is such a strange approach to watching sports. I want to see athletes compete, not referees confer.
BTW, going waaay back, the Olympics are the only sports that AB gives even the tiniest bit of a shit about, and for the Winter, at least, we are glued to the TV. We have watched every hour of evening coverage so far. This is so far out of Iris' experience that I'm not sure how she's handling it (well, last night she utterly broke down when sent to bed, but that's NBC's fault for airing exactly one pair of skaters before 10 pm; we're bad parents willing to sacrifice our daughter's sleep for sport, but we're not monsters).
I want to see athletes compete, not referees confer.
One of the truly great and hypnotic things about watching soccer.
I've watched football in some form or another for almost 30 years and I still have only the vaguest notion of what, say, "cover 4" is. But most of the huge audience for the NFL doesn't seem to mind.
I think it would be virtually impossible to read coverages from the view of the field that is presented on your television. For instance, you never really get to see what a cornerback is doing until the ball gets thrown towards him. Even from a better view, it's really hard -- some NFL quarterbacks can't do it!
The audience is given a narrative by the announcers that constitutes about 25% of what is actually going on, and are pretty happy with it. And so the Steelers win because their defense hits hard or something. It's no wonder that we Americans like it -- our national policy decisions are made the same way.
142: This is why I no longer watch football: the cameramen practically follow the ball. I wonder if televised football norms developed before HD.
I wonder if televised football norms developed before HD.
It has little to do with HD. "Televised football norms" developed when the game was much less complicated and when viewers -- as they do now as well -- desired to see the players up close. I don't propose a solution, just get used to the fact that you don't really know what's going on when you watch a game.
Then they imported that TV-style to baseball. Especially Fox. Ptui.
A late relative was a sportswriter. Watching televised NFL games with him was fun. A flag would come flying in from off-screen and he'd almost always say what the call was before the replay came on. But he had watched tons of games and could fill in the blanks.
|| Uh, Olympics are Greek, just like Greek mythology... So... Question from Rory: If Athena is Zeus' daughter, and Poseidon is Zeus' brother, what is the relationship between Athena's daughter and Poseidon's son? (That is, can Athena's daughter and Poseidon's son respectably hook up?) |>
In Greek mythology? Sure they can. In real life? He'd be her first cousin once removed. Just plain first cousins were perfectly respectable marriage partners in the US and England until about a hundred years ago when the eugenics movement got started, so I wouldn't worry about.
And assuming this is about Annabeth (take out AB, and do the anagram) and Percy, I can ask Sally if the books went there -- she's finished the series.
Sorry, the anagram works if you take out NB, not AB.
146: Not sure I've seen "respectably" and "hooked up" in a sentence before.
Athena, being a perpetual virgin, has no child. Solved!
149: Rory's on Book 3, and presumably that is the source of the question, yes. Google has scandalized my poor kid with the revelation that Eros was the child of Aphrodite and Ares, even though Aphrodite was married to Haephestus.
152: That seems consistent with being the Goddess of Wisdom. But inconsistent with the book in question!
This is why I no longer watch football: the cameramen practically follow the ball.
Quite possibly the very stupidest thing in the world, and a true indicator of the times we live in, is a camera shot of a baseball or golf ball all alone against the background of a blue sky.
And then the game stops while people argue about whether the receiver had possession of the ball before his right foot stepped out of bounds. Great stuff.
Surely this is sarcasm.
There's a 1950s Peanuts in which Charlie Brown and Schroeder are playing cowboy and indian, with S constantly shooting CB and CB insisting that he missed. Patty observes, "You really must like playing cowboys and indians, CB." "I can't stand the game; it's the arguing that I like."
I like football well enough, but I'm under no illusion that it's a better game than baseball, hockey, or rugby, and the current NFL ruleset is pretty absurd.
153 is very funny to me. I know it's obnoxious to talk about my precocious daughter's precocity, but let's just say that Olympian naughtiness is old news around here....
To tie things together a bit, Iris was completely taken by Apolo Ohno's "crafty"* technique for winning his races.
* or, I should say, polumetis
"Maybe they had an open marriage?" earned me a confused, then dirty look.
Rory's in love with Apolo Ohno. Although, she's declared him too old for her. But not too young for me...
This is such a strange approach to watching sports. I want to see athletes compete, not referees confer.
This makes no sense to me. I don't see how football entails any less competition between athletes than say, soccer. I enjoy watching soccer, but I'm pretty sure the average football game offers far more instances of incredible athletic display than soccer.
This makes no sense to me. I don't see how football entails any less competition between athletes than say, soccer.
Go way back into the archives and you may find a defense of that idea.
158: You can tell Rory that Zeus rather unjustly forced Aphrodite to marry Hephaistos, because, when she first showed up, all the men folk flipped out and starting fighting over her. To settle everyone down, Zeus just gave her to H. (the ugly, boring one).
(the ugly, boring one)
He was always my favorite.
OK, so I just have the Olympics on in the background and wasn't really paying attention, but I just heard something like "he's a descendant of Nobunaga Oda, who was known for being a great warlord and the subject of a Nintendo video game". Seriously, Mr Sports Commentator dude? You can say these things with a straight face?
164: Heh. We were just cracking up about that. CA's judgment: "He was lamer than the Swiss dude."
161: The vast majority of any soccer game isn't much action either though.
Jonny Weir, of whom I am not really a fan, was kind of robbed in the short program.
Surfing the vast cableverse I come across the Sundance series on Johnny Weir and I watch a couple episodes having never heard of him and having very little interest in figure skating,
After twenty minutes, I am a fan. What's not to like?
Intelligent, open, honest, quirky, funny. Cute, sexy. Extrovert is in the job description.
(Damn women's curling on at 2 AM. I won't make it.)
which would give the teams a chance to score goals from time to time.
I've never understood the view that sports are only worth watching when people are scoring points all the time. What's not to like about manoeuvring, positioning, strategy?
re: 169
Indeed. In fact, I'd probably support the contrary view. If scoring is too easy it ceases to be as exciting or interesting. Sport should be difficult, dammit.
170: I don't think cricket's uninteresting because people score all the time; the drama comes when someone gets dismissed, which is rare. (Contra baseball, where runs are hard and dismissals are frequent.)
re: 171
Yeah, I tend to think of cricket a bit differently. It's not individual runs that really matter, but patterns and the ebb and flow of the game.
163: of course he's your favorite; he makes robots! (Really! In the shield scene in the Iliad it talks about H's helpers, who are "automata" he's made.)
In case it's unclear, these are the books all the tweens are reading.
174. Are they any good? I have a nephew, rather advanced eight year old, who regularly runs out of stuff to be read to out of. Might do for Xmas.
173: that rules. And he lived in a volcano! I think I liked him because I felt like he wasn't a giant dick all the time like the rest of 'em. He just kinda did his thing and tried not to let Ares piss him off too bad. The god-mensch.
Haephestus is my favorite god. Not only does he make awesome shit like that mechanical owl, he's also banging the hottest goddess. Plus, if I remember correctly, he never pulls sleazy shit like turning into a swan to get some sultry poultryphiliac knocked up.
162: That just might work. She was quite sympathetic of the movie's treatment of Persephone and her many lovers, what with the being forced to marry Hades thing.
174: haven't read them yet myself, but Rory has had one in her hands at all times since starting the first and even decided to give up TV for Lent now that she needs to focus on reading.
He just kinda did his thing and tried not to let Ares piss him off too bad.
I don't know. The net trick, while excellent, suggests a certain level of annoyance.
179: well, sure. Ares was pretty good at pissing people off, after all. But the net trick: so great! It's such a nerd revenge move.
177: he and Athene would have been so happy together. It's a damn shame they never hooked up.
181. He tried. There are scholars who infer an extremely unpleasant original version of that one.
182: oh, hell, of course. The legend of Erichthonius. I take it back - they wouldn't have been happy at all.
(Classical education FAIL)
I don't think cricket's uninteresting because people score all the time; the drama comes when someone gets dismissed, which is rare.
Some would argue that the scoring that's important in cricket is the dismissals. Runs are what happens in between wickets.
Iris has a soft spot for Hephaistos, largely due to an illustration that showed him as a baby plummeting down from Olympos. That was the first story after Medusa that she asked for over and over. That's also why she loves Thetis so much (she catches him when he lands in the sea) - I'm not sure she quite realizes that Thetis is a second- (or even third-) tier goddess.
Oh, and she hates Ares - whenever he comes up, she's sure to mention what a jerk he is, and how all the other gods hate him.
I'm sure I've asked before, but what text of mythology do you and Iris read?
The god of war sort of has to be a jerk, doesn't he?
188: I know. Very sad. Nader didn't win!
188: Oh good lord, man. Buy a damn TV already!
188: I just solved this problem! I bought a usb TV tuner for my laptop. Limited, manageable TV watching achieved without actually buying a TV!
188: Huh. I didn't realize that you didn't have a TV at all. We keep ours tucked away upstairs, safely out of sight of guests (in truth, keeping it up there does reduce temptation to zone out in front of it for an hour or two, which was common behavior for us before the kids came along).
187: The Romans didn't think so.
186: I don't love any compilation I've ever seen, so we tend to have single-story books (which by now would be too young for Rory, I think). This thread covers a lot of ground, and refers back to a previous thread that I can't find, in which I included Amazon links to preferred books.
Also, Fleur (if you are reading...), don't listen to Knecht! TV is awesome!
191: I thought of that when the digital transition came, but the bottom line is that, sometimes, the kids watch the TV, and I'm not quite ready to buy them their own laptops.
Incidentally, Iris & I enjoyed the hell out of that PBS carpentry show where the guy only uses non-power tools. He was replicating a little Shaker side table, and it had curved legs (a bit like this one, but fixed tabletop), and she asked about them - turns out we don't own a single piece of furniture with old-fashioned curving lines. What's really odd about that is that we only own ~3 pieces of furniture that we bought new - everything else is hand-me-down, or came with the house, or was found on the curb. I guess we're pretty firm in our tastes.
192: Found it.
193: Not particularly - to the Romans he was also an agricultural god, and they didn't view him as especially bloodthirsty or cowardly. The Ares of Homer and Hesiod was despicable, and hated by his fellow gods; I don't think the Romans portrayed him like that (I could be wrong, of course).
Can the NBC commentators please stop referring to the women skiers as "the girls"?* K thx.
*Yes, I realize that I refer to myself as a girl on occasion, but self-description is a different thing, I think.
195.1: I have also (potentially) solved this problem: we have a projector with a screen that rolls up. Also, we have no kids. We've covered all the angles!
197: I was just thinking the same thing.
Perhaps I am being unreasonable, but I could also deal with not hearing the male commentator exclaim about how tough these skiers are, in a very special tone of voice. "Those girls! They can hit the snow face first at 70 miles per hour and still get up!" Yes, it's amazing, but, um, it's what they do! I haven't watched any of the male skiing yet, though, so maybe this is just normal talk.
We make her paint her face and dance.
Can the NBC commentators please stop referring to the women skiers as "the girls"?*
I'm glad all my Olympics-watching tonight was at a bar where the TV sound was turned off.
Though I did overhear someone describing a portion of the figure skating: "I could watch three guys blowing ten guys and it wouldn't be as gay as that". Which made me wonder: is the relative ordering of gayness of n guys blowing m guys a solved problem, for all positive integer pairs (n, m)?
203: You need to factor in whether any are on rollerblades.
196.2. Also my reading. Ares was a god of bloodlust. Mars was a god of ploughing who originally took on the war portfolio in his spare time (how did that happen - ploughshares into swords?). Of course his martial attributes got more important as Rome became a more important military power - pretty damn important by the times we learn about in school.
Don't forget, of course, that the Greeks split the war portfolio: Athene was the goddess of war as fought in a sneaky, ingenious way, rather than war as fought in an Ares-like CHARGE KILL HACK MAIM way.
I'd forgotten that Thetis catches Hephaistos. That explains why Hephaistos is ready to re-equip Thetis' son in the Iliad - Achilles is almost like his foster-brother.
206: Fagles suggests that Homer invented the Hephaistos-catching story for precisely that reason - I guess it's otherwise unattested. But I have no idea whether Fagles' take is widely-held.
What was the deal with Bellona? Was she the long-time war goddess who got (partly) supplanted by Mars, or was she always not-major?
IIRC, Minerva also had a very different character pre-Hellenization - she was not especially Athene-like, but was close enough when the Romans decided to adapt their pantheon to the Olympian one.
If only there were a commenter here who could give us better-informed answers!
Bellona was always pretty non-major who didn't even get her temple in Rome until way late. Ajay is right about the distinction between Ares and Athena -- but Athena isn't about just cunning-over-smashing, she's also about protecting the city. Greek Ares is about destabilizing cities, but to the Romans Mars is a founding father, and the Romans slapped statues of him in the middle of marketplaces, while the Greeks never ever would.
Bellona was always pretty non-major who didn't even get her temple in Rome until way late.
There was some unpleasantness when she went clubbing, I believe. Turned people off her.
Come to think of it, the Hephaistos-catching story isn't very likely. He's supposed to be lame because he hit Lemnos and broke his legs. No one caught him at all.
211: But there's also 2 completely different stories about his fall: he was tossed out as a newborn by Hera because he was ugly (and lame?) or he was tossed out as a non-baby by Zeus because he released Hera from the golden chain.
The Greeks needed some sort of blue ribbon panel to sort out these inconsistencies.
There are lots of stories! They will never be reconciled! Lots of what is going on in the Iliad and the Odyssey is highlighting some narratives and suppressing others. (I mean, Agamemnon offers Achilles his daughter Iphigeneia in marriage if he'll come back and fight.)
I tried to take an online class on the classics once, but the teacher was too harsh.
213: yes, but what about the historical Hephaestus?
215: Shhhh. We didn't induct you into the rites of Cybele for nothing, Tweety.
The historical Hephaestus was a marginal god, one of many apocalyptic blacksmiths.
We didn't induct you into the rites of Cybele for nothing, Tweety.
devolsitne ili acuto sibi pondera silice?
(I mean, Agamemnon offers Achilles his daughter Iphigeneia in marriage if he'll come back and fight.)
I think Achilles was pretty justified in his opinion of Agamemnon's good faith.
BTW, did anyone ever say to the OP that Heebie's idea about the best-fit line is great? Because it totally is. I mean, I like when they overlay riders (and wish they did it more), but the best-fit line as omnipresent would be awesome.
In general, I've been disappointed in NBC's lack of explanation - we watch these sports every 4 years, guys, so how about a little refresher? Watching the pairs' short program, I didn't even know what the scoring scale was (actually, I still don't; based on the men, I guess 100? None of the pairs came close to that). I don't actually mind the puff-pieces (I feel like they're fewer than in past years, but could be wrong), but I wish they'd explain shit (or at least point to better explanations at their website).
None of the pairs came close to that
Of course. All the good skaters skate solo.
Did you know that in Snowboardcross, the key is to get ahead of everyone else and stay there?
Except sometimes, such as when you're out in front, when putting a lot of distance between yourself and the others is paramount.
I'm not a perennial also-ran. In fact, I dominate the second transfer position.
221: I seem to remember "gap shots" being important.
Well, maybe for those sports, but as well all know, in the board halfpipe, you gotta go into the eye of the tiger with massive insanity.
Every four years, Scott Hamilton assesses someone's best strength as being her lack of weaknesses. I want him to stop.
226: I really don't have a problem with that assessment. I suppose it's subject to triteness, but still - when I hear them say that World Class Skater X isn't very good at Critical Skill 3, I'm always a bit surprised.
225 was ridiculous.
Yeah, upon reflection, the HBSIHLOW comment isn't actually ridiculous, however much it sounds that way.
I love that Shaun White had a secret private half-pipe on which to prepare for this Olympics. I've started calling it The Fortress of Altitude.
229: Honest to god, that seems like a joke. I mean - really? A mountaintop lair, accessible only by corporate-branded helicopter?
230: He's boarding on his own private pile of snow.
OK, I guess if I work the Fred voice, I can make it work.
Bleg for all the classicists out there, what Homer translation would you recommend?
I think I'm going to have to stop watching the figure skating. I just can't stand watching them stumble and fall over that triple axle. It doesn't really bother me, or make me cringe, when a snowboarder wipes out, but when a skater falls I just want to rewind the tape and give him another chance to do it all over.
(Oh well. All I really care about is the hockey anyway).
All I really care about is the hockey anyway
You're rooting for Slovenia, I take it?
The thing that strikes me about the figure skaters is that they, by and large, have terrible taste in music.
Am I missing a pun?
Not a pun, really. But see here.
The thing that strikes me about the figure skaters is that they, by and large, have terrible taste in music.
To be fair, one of them had a dance remix of The Phantom of the—oh. I see what you mean.
Why don't they ever skate to Ligeti, that's what I want to know. Or some nice Hermann Nitsch.
Bleg for all the classicists out there, what Homer translation would you recommend?
IANAC, but Fagles or Fitzgerald. But I know oud doesn't care for Fagles (who can be a bit prosaic, whereas Fitz can be a bit overpoetic). Personally, Lattimore (sometimes considered the first of the modern translators of Homer) leaves me cold.
re: 230
Yes, with a specially built foam pit so he could practice otherwise deadly moves until they were safe to try on a real half-pipe. They built it by dropping explosives from helicopters and then excavating the compacted snow.
238: Yeah, that's what 233 meant.
I was intrigued by the skaters' use of "Whammer Jammer", "Day in the Life", and a pretty decent interpretation of "Bold as Love". In the free skate last night, the Brazilian/French guy I thought was actually well-choreographed to not-awful remixed/house/electronic/club/whatever music.
IOW, I see baby steps happening.
243: what about grooming? I mean, surely that site gets snow on a regular basis. It just blows my mind.
Bleg for all the classicists out there, what Homer translation would you recommend?
You could try Chapman. Haven't read it myself, but I'm told it makes you feel like some watcher of the skies when a new planet swims into his ken, which sounds pretty cool.
re: 245
His sponsors spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on it. At least one person has been badly injured trying to repeat one of the tricks he perfected there.
246:If I want to feel like some fat Spaniard on a beach, I stick with Houellebecz.
zq
switching between qwerty/azerty keyboards frequently is maddening. Do blackberries have both keymappings? How does that work in devanagari or arabic anyway?
They built it by dropping explosives from helicopters and then excavating the compacted snow.
Good God. This is, if true, kind of insane. Is this true?!
At the Gap? Never.
But how is "tha Illimitable" [!!]?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Etset [SOCIALIST MORALIST ALERT - J.C.].
http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=tra.15241367
Anyhow....
Jeff, remember how you were going away? That was nice.
