what's the science?

Saturday, July 5, 2008

WALL-E

As an adult, I cannot remember the last time I watched a G-Rated movie and actually enjoyed it. I mean, even The Goonies was rated PG. WALL-E proved to me that a G-Rated movie can actually provide quality entertainment that won't leave an adult shifting in their seat. Pixar and Disney hadn't really made waves since the Incredibles, so they were both due for an animated blockbuster.

WALL-E is a lonely, trash compacting droid living on a post-inhabitable Earth. His sole function is to organize and stack all the trash left behind by the fleeing humans of a corporate-controlled planet. WALL-E eventually leaves Earth where he encounters the human race being held captive within a technology trance orchestrated by a Hal-esque Autopilot. The overall plot of WALL-E is complex enough for any age and touches on current issues that do a good job of grounding the viewer in their own reality.

Even though the majority of the movie doesn't include human dialog, there is a wide range of emotion conveyed through these meticulously animated robots. The animation on WALL-E is some of the best and most detailed animation I have seen to date. The only other movie that compares is Beowulf, and I saw that in a 3-D IMAX theater.

Grade: A-

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

2008 NBA Draft: Bobcats

It's been almost a week since the NBA draft and the Charlotte Bobcats must still be kicking themselves thinking about the way they executed their draft.

Not that everything went wrong for the Bobcats, as the DJ Augustin pick could very well be a good one that increases the consistency of the franchise for years to come. Raymond Felton has shown to be a up-and-down type player who hasn't really shown that he can be a starting point guard in the NBA. So, I like the pick of Augustin at ninth overall. But, after trading a future first round pick to the Nuggets for the 20th pick you would hope to get more value out of the 20th pick. Alexis Ajinça could turn out to be the next Tyson Chandler or LaMarcus Aldridge, but let's face it, those guys aren't superstars and have way more talent than this guy seems to have. Hopefully my skepticism of this Frenchman is proven wrong and Ajinca can develop into a solid contributor for the Bobcats, but the point is that with the 20th pick a franchise should strive to draft a player who will make a positive addition to the talent level of the team's roster. I don't see Ajinca as that much better than any of the other bigs, not including Okafor, that are already wearing the blue and orange.

Now I'm not the basketball legends that Larry Brown and Michael Jordan are, but they also bricked with the 38th pick. Before you say, "Well it IS the 38th pick," you have to realize that a really good player by the [nick]name of CDR was still available, yet Brown and Jordan passed. Why would they pass on this proven force of a player for a guy who no one has ever heard of other than NBA scouts and a few PAC-10 fans? Kyle Weaver is more of a point guard than CDR is, so maybe the Bobcats are trying to move Ray Felton as fast as possible. Either way, with a player of the caliber of Chris Douglas-Roberts still available you have to make that move. The New Jersey Nets got a real steal two picks later.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Tournament Time

In June, you say?

That's right. This weekend I was fortunate enough to participate in the 8th Annual Tar Heel Tournament, which is a 2 day disc golf tournament, held in Chapel Hill, NC, which consists of four rounds of disc golf. The 60 or so players entered into the tournament are split into divisions based on their skill level and the results of past tournaments in which they have played.

As anyone who knows the UNC course will tell you, it's difficult and varied and at times can be relentlessly unforgiving. The tournament set-up for the course consisted of 20 holes, four of which were over 600 ft. long. Combine all that with the 100 degree temperatures on the first day and you have the makings of a ill-tempered course ready to capitalize on your slightest mistakes. They even brought back two incredibly scenic and challenging holes (now 19 & 20) that had been shelved by the Outdoor Education Center at UNC some years ago. The course looked amazing and you could tell that the Tournament Director had put a lot of effort into course maintenance and overall tournament planning.

This was my first officially sanctioned PDGA tournament. I played in the Recreational division and shot rounds of 74, 73, 67 & 78 on a par 64 course. Those scores were good enough for 3rd in the Rec division and netted me 4 new discs (Star Leopard, Big Bead Aviar, Pro Destroyer, and Champion Coyote). Very sweet, indeed. The overall winner of the tourney was a "professional" disc golfer by the name of Brian Schweberger who beat the closest competitor by 10 strokes. That's pretty nasty people. The reason I take issue with these athletes being called professional is not because they disrespect the word or their sport, but rather because these disc golfers don't really make a living off their earnings from tournaments. Some of them might be able to, once you add up all the sponsorship dollars, but the majority of them end up keeping a day job while they earn a small amount of money from disc golf on the weekends. I'm not knocking them, simply pointing out that being a professional disc golfer doesn't exactly pay that much, it's more of a skill level designation. That being said, I wish I could play the game half as well as they do. While I was shooting in the 70's, Schwebby was shooting in the 50's.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007