Crazytown

ROLE MODELS, OR WHY JASON COLLINS DESERVES ALL THE HOOPLAH

Jason Collins came out, and yes, it is a B.F.D
By Sam Perwin

As the universe knows well by now, last week, Jason Collins became the first active professional athlete to come out of the closet. The reaction (from the media at least) was overwhelmingly positive and heartwarming. Many other professional athletes and public figures gave him kudos, his family was supportive, Fox News was up in arms - all was right with the world.

I would have thought it would be the guy who hikes the football...

There were a few pundits, though, who seemed to say - with good intention - that it wasn't a big deal, that coming out stories weren't really news-worthy anymore. In the age of Neil Patrick Harris, Ellen, Modern Family, and other Non-Threatening Gay Situations, it's nice to think that we've all come to a place where a public figure coming out isn't a big deal. And perhaps in the entertainment industry, we're at least in the vicinity of that place. But this is professional sports, and again this is the first male, active, professional sports player in history to come out of the closet. It really is a B.F.D. And here's why: kids need role models. All kids. When you feel different for whatever reason: gender, race, sexuality, disabilty, etc., your whole life changes when there's someone like you in the public eye to look up to.

I always say that everything I need to know about being gay I learned at theatre camp. I went to Interlochen Arts Camp, a very intense, rigorous theatre training program in Michigan, and that's where I met my first gay role model: my counselor, Pete. I was 12, and every morning we would clean the cabin with Abba blasting and Pete sashaying around with a broom. He took a bunch of us to an Indigo Girls concert; he quoted the Golden Girls in every situation. I even remember talking about Pete's delightful flamboyancy with my two best camp friends, both of whom are straight, and we all gave a collective shrug. Pete was super-fun. Who cares that he's gay?

MARCH MUSICAL MADNESS

By Rob Shapiro (musical theatre writer)

If you follow sports, you know that the bracket for NCAA college basketball was released this week.  But since you're reading this blog, then you don't follow sports.  So here's the bracket for you!

ROB SHAPIRO is a musical theatre writer living in Brooklyn. www. thatrobshapiro.com
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PLAY TIME

Comparing Broadway to Professional Sports
By Rob Shapiro

Last week I wrote about musical theater and the Super Bowl halftime show (Carol Channing on a float!).  During my research into the history of the Super Bowl, I discovered an interesting fact about football.

According to a Wall Street Journal study in 2010, "the average amount of time the ball is in play on the field during an NFL game is about 11 minutes."  11 minutes of Play Time.  (I'm going to use the phrase Play Time to describe the time during which action is occurring.)

If you're watching the game on television, the rest of the broadcast is devoted to watching replays, in-game promotions, clips of other games and players stand around; and that is excluding commercials.  Take a look at the article and the chart.

This got me thinking: how does Broadway compare to professional sports in terms of Play Time?

GYM WINDOWS: A PLEA IN POETRY

Sometimes, you can say it best with Epic Poetry...
By Ali Gordon

Shall I compare thee to an AP Calculus Exam?

You are far more painful, and much more embarrassing.

O, Gods of Fitness, sat perched in your throne. I beseech thee.

I'm sure you must look something like this

Yes, I, of meager strength.

I, who cannot figure out the Seated Calf Machine.

I, who must desperately lip-synch to Beyonce in order to run more than two miles on the Elliptical.

I know I am weak and I do not worship in Your Temple often, but I beg of you: Move your exercise machines away from large street-level windows.

A RUTHLESS HEADACHE

Athletes in high-contact sports are dying at shockingly young ages.
By Bob Simpson (Writer)

On Saturday, December 1^st, Kansas City Chiefs’ Linebacker, Jovan Belcher, shot and killed his girlfriend, the mother of his three-month old daughter, and then drove to the Chiefs’ practice facility.  He personally thanked head coach, Romeo Crennel, and general manager, Scott Pioli, for their help in his career, particularly after making him a starter despite going undrafted out of the University of Maine in the 2009 NFL draft, and being regarded as undersized to play linebacker in the NFL.

In the parking lot of the practice facility, after thanking his coach and general manger, Jovan Belcher put a gun to his head and killed himself.  The suicide was witnessed by Crennel, Pioli, and other members of the Chiefs’ personnel.   Jovan was twenty-five years old.

The motives for Belcher’s murder-suicide are currently unknown, but already there has been speculation regarding Belcher’s mental health, which follows an all too familiar trend in high-contact, professional sports, and steers the conversation, once again, back to the issue of repetitive head trauma in said sports.

In just the last year, the sporting world has experienced at least two suicides of former players, likely as the result of severe depression or other mental disorders resulting from brain trauma.  San Diego hometown hero, and another linebacker, Junior Seau, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest in May, and former safety, Dave Duerson, committed suicide via the same method in February of 2011.  Duerson, unlike Seau, left a suicide note, asking that his brain be given to science to study chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative disease often associated with sports that cause multiple concussions or other forms of head injury.

And football isn’t alone in the new epidemic of dementia-related deaths.  In 2007, in the most gruesome case of all, professional wrestler, Chris Benoit, his wife, Nancy, and his seven year-old son, Daniel, were found dead in their home.  After a further investigation, it was determined that Benoit, over a three day period, had committed the murders, and then killed himself.

TWO THUMBS DOWN FOR NBC'S NEW REALITY/COMPETITION SHOW 'THE OLYMPICS'

Reality TV has evolved but 'The Olympics' has not kept up: The show lacks backstabbing, table tossing and drunk girls kissing. I fail to see the point. 
By Bernadette Pauley (Comedian) 

I'm sorry but I just can't get behind the new NBC reality competition show 'The Olympics'. Everyone raves about it but I don't get the hype. Night after night I watched (well I tried to watch, I couldn't go for more than 20 minutes w/out changing the channel to The Real Housewives or Big Brother to wake myself back up). First off, it's not even in The USA. The whole thing took place in London. WTF? If the show is so great then why isn't it in America? They have socialized medicine over there. 

Think about it, we risked our athletes getting injured in some foreign country and having to go to pinko doctors. Horrifying.

The show was based entirely around the physical competitions. We didn't see any behind the scenes drama, I was left having no idea who had formed allegiances, who was sleeping with each other and there wasn't a single cat fight in the entire season. Come on, NBC, reality TV has evolved. If you want to keep your viewers you've got to keep up with the times. 

Even the female boxers didn't have the decency to carry the fight out to a back ally or have a barroom brawl under the influence of long island iced teas. Claressa Shields (American) is being touted as the gold medal "winner" in boxing over Russian (pinko) Nadezda Torlopova. NBC commentators reported "Shields even stuck her tongue out at Torlopova after ducking a few punches in the final round." You call that winning? You want to really win that match Claressa? Sleep with Torlopova's husband, now THAT'S a win. A win that would make me tune in for more. 

This whole 'meritocracy' thing is a snooze fest. 

So she beat Torlopova in a boxing match. Big deal, call me when she steals Torlopova's BFF and throws a glass of wine in her face.

1450 DAYS UNTIL THE RIO 2016 OLYMPICS

August 5, 2016 is our next date with Olympic greatness in Rio. If the Winter Olympics are more your jam, only 540 days until the Sochi, Russia Games start on February 7, 2014!
By Melissa Presti (Book Publisher)

After suffering from Olympics fatigue over the last week and wishing the athletes could just hit the snooze button and nap it out for a few days, I was revived by the Closing Ceremony.

Wait! Wait! Start over! Re-start the Olympics! It can't be over nooooooooooo. And then Prince Harry showed up, so I was on board. But then Twitter told me Ryan Lochte was already back home in Florida, so I decidedly exclaimed to no one, END THIS SHIT NOW.

So much happening what with the Spice Girls super-not-so-secret reunion, Russell Brand's horrible rendition of I Am the Walrus, and the general unnecessary overabundance of Beatles tunes. The UK could've one-upped the entire world by having Adele sing a few songs followed by a blackout. That's it. Check mate. 

THE COMING OUT PARTY - Olympics 2012

By Morgan & Lindsay // karmeck360

Animated files are winning big at 2012 Olympics.

BIG

When it comes to capturing the agony and ecstasy of the Summer Olympics, no social media is doing it better than the animated GIF. 

In a few quick frames, GIFs accomplish more than:

• VIDEOS - Between NBC’s scheduling delays and Ryan Seacrest’s heart-to-heart interviews, you could be waiting hours to wade through for highlights.  

(Seacrest promised the US Gymnastics Team that he’d introduce them to Bieber)

• TWITTER - Except for score reporting, sports aren’t text-based.  Unless you want to talk about Gabby Douglass’ hair or Ryan Lochte’s teeth, you want replays.  Plus in the time it takes to tweet 140 characters, Usain Bolt has already finished his race and won gold.  

(Newest internet meme: Bolt-ing)

So these silly, shareable, storytelling files are bridging the gap between image and video in a dynamic, albeit low-resolution way.  

Here are #karmeck360’s Top Five Favorite Olympic GIFs:

1. Diving. Tough stuff. Great bodies. Great expressions. 

 

2.  Michael Phelps’ mom -- Awkwardly caught celebrating too soon? That's ok.... Phelps does have 22 OLYMPIC MEDALS

3. McKayla Maroney. Jaw Dropping Judge. #youmustbejoking  

4. Roger Federer’s Collar Pop........

 

5.  Does the boat come with? But really... who cares about the boat...

 

And now...

In honor of all things viral and #ofthenow...

a new WEEKLY segment:

Yesterday is HISTORY...
Tomorrow is a MYSTERY...
But Today is a GIF! 

Getting. Things. Done

karmeck360  from the mindPhones of Morgan Karr & Lindsay Meck
http://karmeck360.wordpress.com
EMAIL HIM/HER |  FOLLOW MORGAN | FOLLOW LINDSAY | OTHER POSTS BY THIS AUTHOR

OH, SAY CAN YOU SEE...? NO, I MEAN "C." MAJOR.

Analyzing An Anthem - A Lesson In Functional Reharmonization
By Gregory Jacobs-Roseman (Composer-Lyricist) 

Who’s got Olympic fever? I sure do! Every Olympic games I feel this thing in my body – I think it’s called pride in my country – anyway it feels weird, but I like it. The sheer display of the human spirit as well as all those tear-jerking personal stories of the athletes, well I just eat all that shit up.

Perhaps my favorite part of the Olympics are the medal ceremonies. Especially when the USA wins. I hear the Star-Spangled Banner and I have to fight back the tears. Apparently every Olympics, they record a new version of all the participating nation’s national anthems:

That’s kind of cool, but this year it cheated me out of my favorite arrangement of the Star-Spangled Banner I think I've ever heard. Four years ago in Beijing, the arrangement used was not only a wonderful rendition, but also a beautiful piece of music. The version being used for the London games, while straightforward, lacks the majesty of the one from Beijing. Let’s compare and analyze.