Author Archive for afshawn

Gandhi’s Top 10 Fundamentals to Changing the World

afshawn published on December 22, 2010 in art and zeitgeist. 5 Comments Tags: , , , .

Hey all!

I thought I’d share with you a pretty sweet poster I found cruising tumblr last night:

Tumblr user idea-obscura made this beautiful poster and even included a link to download it as a PDF file so you can print it out as a 11×17 poster to hang on your wall. I know I will be doing so once I have a bit more free time on my hands. Not a bad idea for a last minute holiday present for you or a loved one!

I’m particularly drawn to “Without action you aren’t going anywhere.” I have a tendency to plan, plan, plan…and then struggle on the follow through. Which fundamental are you most drawn to? Which do you think is the most important?

-Afshawn

Friday Night Lights: Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose

afshawn published on December 19, 2010 in art, celebrity and zeitgeist. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , .

I know it’s December and everyone is excited to snuggle up and watch their favorite holiday movie (Elf!), but how about an amazing sports movie instead? I love sports movies almost as much as I love sports itself. These movies roll all the ups and downs and drama of a full season in just 2 hours. Without fail, every sports movies I’ve seen has made me cry, laugh, and yell in frustration – no matter how many times I’ve seen it. Sports movies do it all and that’s why I love them. I have a lot of favorites and I tried to come up with a top 10 or top 5 list, but it was just too hard. It’s way too difficult to order them all. That being said, there’s one sports movie that easily takes the number one spot – Friday Night Lights.

The movie Friday Night Lights is based off a book which is based on a true story and has spawned a TV show as well. That’s a mouthful. The book is a non-fiction story that follows the 1988 Permian High School Panthers football team from Odessa, Texas. For those of you who don’t know, high school football is absolutely huge in Texas and Odessa is no different. Sports Illustrated named Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream as the 4th greatest sports book ever written, so you know it’s a good story.

The movie starts with preseason practice and new coach Gary Gaines and other star players being interviewed by local media. You meet the main characters – quarterback Mike Winchell, fullback Don Billingsley, running back James “Boobie” Miles, safety Brian Chavez, among others. You start to see just how important football is in this community and to these players. For some of these players, football scholarships are there only way out of their little town. The coach carries an extreme amount of pressure as well – if he doesn’t get the team to the playoffs, he’ll lose his job. Coach Gaines captures this feeling perfectly by stating, “Gentlemen, the hopes and dreams of an entire town are riding on your shoulders.” Talk about pressure.

During the first game of the season, an unthinkable event happens that shakes up the future of the team and the coach. The team must learn how to overcome their personal struggles in order to create success for each other and their town on the playing field.

It’s an emotional movie, made even more emotional with Explosions in the Sky’s beautiful instrumental tracks in the background. The movie doesn’t lack inspirational moments, either. At halftime of a very important game, Coach Gary Gaines gives one of the best speeches I have heard. Ever. It is extremely moving and brings tears to my eyes practically every time I watch the movie. Fun story: one time, I watched the movie for at least the 8th time with my roommate who had never seen it before. While watching the movie, our other roommate came home and heard me gasping and cheering and asked, “Afshawn, I thought you’ve seen this movie before?” That’s how good it is, folks.

(note: this video contains some spoilers)

I can’t even properly explain how much I love this movie and how great it is. The characters feel real and make you empathize with their various plights. You ache for Coach Gaines when the town attacks him after a loss, you want to console Billingsley and tell him everything will be okay when his father gets on his case, and you want to do everything in your power to make Winchell smile. I’m no expert on cinematography but I can tell you this movie is extremely well made.

Please take 118 minutes out of your day to watch this movie – I guarantee that you will not be disappointed. If you find yourself aching for more FNL after you watch, then don’t worry! There are 5 seasons of Friday Night Lights the TV show. The TV show changes some things up – the characters, the school, and the town (you know, minor stuff! ha), but the essence of the movie is still there. Peter Berg, the director of the film, is the executive producer of the show so the elements that make the movie so good remain in the show. I have to give a shout out to my friend Henderson for making me watch the show. I was a bit hesitant because I didn’t want to ruin the movie, but after watching the first episode (it’s all available online via Netflix instant streaming), I proceeded to watch the entire first season in one week (which happened to overlap with finals, whoops!). I just could not stop. The TV show is just as addicting as the movie.

If you’ve seen FNL or decide to watch it, share your thoughts in the replies. Or, if you think there’s a, ahem, better sports movie, do tell! I’m always looking for new movies to watch!

Happy watching! And remember: be perfect.

Afshawn

Chrome for a Cause

afshawn published on December 15, 2010 in technology. 3 Comments Tags: , , .

Hello everyone!

For all you Google Chrome users, listen up. Google has just released a (free) extension called Chrome for a Cause. From today until December 19th, every tab you open with Google Chrome will go to support a charity. The extension keeps a running tab (no pun intended) of how many tabs you open and at the end of the day you get to chose one of 5 charities to “donate” your tabs to.

I’m a big fan of tabs (I use a web-based RSS reader so I open lots a day) and it’s really cool to see that number rise up with every new tab I open. Here’s how many tabs you need to open to make a difference:

  • 10 tabs = 1 tree planted
  • 10 tabs = 1 book published and donated
  • 25 tabs = 1 vaccination treatment provided
  • 100 tabs = 1 square foot of shelter built
  • 200 tabs = 1 person’s clean water for a year

You can download the extension here and here’s another blog post raving about it. Remember, this only lasts until December 19th so download the extension now and start surfing the web!

-Afshawn

Forgive and Forget?

afshawn published on December 3, 2010 in celebrity and zeitgeist. 4 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

This summer, the basketball world was shaken up like never before. LeBron James, a strong contender for the title of greatest basketball player ever lived, and many other players, entered the free agency. This means their contracts had expired with their current teams and they could shop themselves around. Many teams approached LeBron – the Cleveland Cavaliers (his current team), the New Jersey Nets, the Chicago Bulls, the Miami Heat, the New York Knicks, etc. No one knew where LeBron was going and everyone was dying to find out. Would he stay with the Cavs, the team he had been on for 7 years and promised a championship title too? Would he go the the Bulls and try to follow Michael Jordan’s footsteps? Would he go to the Knicks and take over New York City? Or would he go down to Miami where his friend Dwyane Wade (also a free agent at the time) may be staying? It was all the basketball world could talk about. It got so big that LeBron (or his agent) decided to hold an one-hour special on ESPN called “The Decision.” Proceeds would go to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and LeBron would finally let the world know where he was going to play ball. The show aired and LeBron told the world he was going to “take his talents to South Beach.” He, along with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh (another notable free agent) were all going to play for the Miami Heat.

The basketball world exploded. Cleveland suffered a national break-up and fans felt like they were stabbed in the back. How could LeBron, a boy who grew up in Ohio, do that to them? LeBron hadn’t told ANYONE he wouldn’t be staying in Cleveland: not the coaches, his fellow players, the president – nobody. They all found out together with the rest of us. Those fans and the franchise were heartbroken. For those of you who don’t know, Cleveland has a sports curse and it’s so bad that each curse has its own name. LeBron was their only chance to bring a NBA championship to their city. And he ended that, publically and without remorse. Even now, many months later, LeBron won’t completely apologize for how he handle his decision. (There are a lot of other reasons why people were upset that LeBron chose to go to Miami. People thought he may be taking the easy way out to get a championship ring or that he may not be as competitive as we all thought. Both those issues are outside the scope of this post)

Sports fan everywhere felt this blow. Like I wrote about in my first post, fandom is a crazy thing. Us fans are loyal to the bitter end and we hate to see our star franchise player leave. But we understand that it happens. Sports is a business as well as entertainment. But never before had a player as big as LeBron anger an entire city, an entire state, an entire country before. No player had ever made his decision to switch teams as public or as personal as LebBron. People who were LeBron fans before are no longer LeBron fans now. People love to hate him now. Before, he was everyone’s favorite player. Now, he’s hated by all. The entire NBA finally has an evil team to rally around. If the Miami Heat came out this season and dominated like everyone thought they would (because they had 2 star players and another really really good one), everyone would have hate them. Instead, the Heat came out and “struggled” (they’re 12-8 right now. The defending NBA champions, the Lakers, are 14-6), and everyone still hates them. No matter what the outcome of this season is, the Heat will be the enemy.

On Thursday night, the Heat were scheduled to play the Cavaliers…in Cleveland. It was a huge game. LeBron would be returning home. The arena prohibited anyone from wearing LeBron shirts or jerseys, sold all drinks in paper cups (so they couldn’t hurt anyone), and increased security. 20,000 angry and pissed off Cavalier fans showed up with signs that said “Quitness” and t-shirts that said “betrayed” and even chanted “Akron hates you.” The crowd booed loudly whenever LeBron touched the ball. When the Heat announced their starting line-up, Darth Vader’s theme song was playing in the stadium. It was brutal. The fans were trying to extract revenge on LeBron. They were trying to make him pay for what he did to them. He would suffer like they did all summer.

And what happened? The Heat won by 28. LeBron finally played like his old self and scored a season high 38 points. He crushed those fans even more.

I, a huge basketball fan, never formulated a hard opinion on LeBron and his decision. I decided to see what happened and how the season played out. Yes, the Heat have been struggling (having 2 leaders who play the same position creates a difficult team dynamic), but are they really as evil and bad as everyone is making them out to be? Was LeBron really so wrong to want to go to sunny Miami and play basketball with his friends and share the pressure he faces with others?

Watching the game on Thursday night, Reggie Miller (a commentator and former basketball great) said something along the lines of “Get over it Cleveland. Move on.” While I can completely understand why Cleveland fans are so upset…I also feel like they need to get over it. The Cavaliers team that came out on Thursday night did not play good basketball. And I think that’s because those fans came out to bash LeBron and not to support their team. Yes, sure, I know they wanted their team crush the Heat. But I, in my non-expert opinion, think they were so focused on making LeBron and the Heat suffer that they forgot to cheer their team on. And that’s not right. Their boos and chants just fueled LeBron’s fire and made him play better.

So, I pose the question: should we forgive LeBron? I won’t lie – as a sports fan, it’s not easy to get over painful events right away. It takes time. It takes success of your current team. But I have a very strong feeling that Cleveland may NEVER forgive LeBron. I don’t think LeBron apologizing at this point would even help the situation. Cleveland is far too hurt. But what about non-Cleveland fans? They weren’t betrayed by LeBron. He didn’t leave their team. But people still hate him and still want to see him fail. He’s the enemy now, and if you try to say otherwise, you’re entering a firey debate. Should us NBA fans be the bigger man and say “You know what LeBron, you messed up. But we’re over it. We don’t care anymore. So please, go out and play basketball like you used to. That’s what we care about and that’s what we want to see.”?

I say yes. What about you?

100 posts on SuperForest Soundtrack!

afshawn published on November 29, 2010 in art and celebrity. 2 Comments Tags: , , , .

Hello everyone!

I have exciting news to share – we have posted our 100th track on SuperForest Soundtrack!

We decided to make our 100th song an extra special one and chose to feature everyone’s favorite comedy duo from New Zealand, Flight of the Conchords. While Flight of the Conchords have tons of hilarious and awesome songs (“Business Time” and “Most Beautiful Girl in the Room,” just to name a few), we went with “Friends,” an ode to friends and all the wonderful things friends do for each other.

On a personal note, I’m so excited that SF Soundtrack has made it this far. I was so honored when Carla invited me to post for SF Soundtrack and I have had so much fun picking songs to post. I hope you guys have found at least one new band that you like or were reminded of a band you haven’t listened to in a while. Please feel free to share with us any songs or bands you think we should know about so we can post it on the music blog!

Enjoy!

Afshawn

PS. For those of you itching for another sports-related post – don’t worry, it’s in the works. ;] School’s getting to me!

Score! A New, Happier Way to Look at Sports

afshawn published on November 9, 2010 in celebrity and zeitgeist. 9 Comments Tags: , , , .

I have been an admirer of SuperForest for a while now and I am pleased to have the opportunity to write about a topic that I am extremely passionate about: sports.

I’ve been involved in sports in some way or another since I was a little girl. When I was 5, I started a 12 year career in basketball. A couple years later, I went to my first San Jose Sharks game and someone gave me a free signed hockey puck. Growing up, I watched countless hours of football and basketball with my father and brother, learning all the rules and players. I remember thinking Troy Aikman of the Dallas Cowboys was the coolest guy in the world and pretending to be Grant Hill while playing Nerf basketball with my brother. While I had other interests – like art, playing on the computer, riding bikes, making up weird games with my friends – sports was always a part of me. Once I went to college and met others who had the same passion for sports as I did, I became obsessed. I spend countless hours on ESPN, I lose my voice watching San Diego Chargers games on TV, I watch baseball (which is new for me), and my new career goal is to work for ESPN or a sports team.

What I love most about the sports world is that it creates its own special community. To me, loving sports is like loving music. Some people love a band so much they go to every concert, buy all their albums, decorate their room with posters, and maybe even get a song lyric tattooed on them. It’s the same with sports. Walk into my apartment and you will see an entire San Diego Chargers shrine around the TV. Look into my closet and you’ll see a Chargers jersey, Santa hat, and two shirts. Not to mention a Padres jersey, a Golden State Warriors shirt, and a Spain soccer jersey. Being at the stadium watching my favorite team play is like watching my favorite band in concert. Being surrounded by people who are cheering for the same team as you is an unbelievable feeling. Seeing people of all walks of life who all want the same thing as you do (for your team to win) is amazing. It doesn’t matter what age, gender, ethnicity, or political affiliation you are. For 3 hours, you are all in it together. We all cheer and jump when our team does well and we all scream in agony when our team messes up. Sports, even when you’re just a fan, make you feel a part of something and make you feel connected with others. It’s an instant connection that isn’t questioned.

And that connection is still made when you meet someone who roots on another team as you. Sure, when I see a construction worker wearing a Chargers hard hat (true story) or see another student in my class watching a Warriors game on their laptop (another true story – I definitely sat behind him to watch along), you can bet I make some sort of “Yeah Chargers!” or “I noticed you were watching the Warriors game – that’s awesome” comment. I want to share my appreciation of my teams with fellow fans. But at the same time, if I see some guy walking down the street in a New England Patriots jersey, I may not fully support his sports affiliation, but I can definitely respect the fact that he loves his team as much as I love mine. I know I could walk up to him and talk to him about football for a few minutes, if not hours. Sure, we’ll disagree on some finer points (like Tom Brady), but we can still get along.

In fact, my brother and his friend are perfect examples of this. My brother is a die hard San Diego Chargers and Los Angeles Lakers fan. His friend, who grew up in Boston, is a die hard New England Patriots and Boston Celtics fan. For those of you who don’t know, the Chargers and Patriots are rivals and the Lakers and Celtics have probably the biggest rivalry in the history of sports. But they don’t let that get between them! They watch games together and make silly bets, like if the Lakers beat the Celtics, then my brother’s friend has to wear a Kobe jersey, take a picture in it, and make it his Facebook profile picture for a certain amount of time. I’m sure in some ways, the rivalry just made them better friends. That’s why I love sports. The loyalty, the friendship, the community, the pain, the happiness, the pride. There’s nothing else quite like it.

I went to a LA Lakers/Phoenix Suns game in LA last year with my roommate and her family. While I’m a Warriors fan first and foremost, I’m a Suns fan second so I was there to cheer the Suns on. Obviously, I was surrounded by Lakers fans, and the adults next to me were giving me a hard time about liking the Suns. But once they realized that A. I knew about basketball and B. I would tease them back, they liked me and we had a fun time at the game together. Am I ever going to see those people again? Nope. But I like to think they’ll tell their friends about “this crazy girl who liked the Suns” one day.

I have had this post half written for a while now, but my Chargers kept losing, putting me in a sad state. But despite the fact that the Chargers are 4-5 and keep shooting themselves in the foot week after week, I still put my jersey on every Sunday morning and watch the game. I have to.

My number one motto when it comes to sports (and life) is “optimism is key” and that motto is in full force this season. Even when the Chargers are losing by 20, I keep the faith and hope they’ll come through in the end. Because on those days they do…man, it’s a great feeling. And if not, there’s always next week.