NFL draft was very kind to Wake Forest this past weekend. Four members of the stellar defensive line were picked in the first four rounds which is quite remarkable considering how small the university is as well as the lower profile of the university relative to the other major universities out there. Aaron Curry is going to Seattle, Alphonso Smith is going to Denver and Chip Vaughan and Stanley Arnoux are both going to the New Orleans Saints. This is from a recruiting class in 2004 that was ranked somewhere in the high 90’s but then again Wake Forest is never given any credit for putting together good teams in the past few years. If anything else, having these players drafted high as they were should give extra incentive to high school players out there to really give Wake Forest a serious lookover when it comes to selecting their scholarships. The only disappointment was that kicker Sam Swank was not drafted but then again kickers are typically not picked in the draft so he might find something as a free agent.
It was interesting to see what developed as the draft transpired. Seems that teams were loading up on cornerbacks and safeties. Very few marquee players this year and appeared that the teams were investing more in their line players more than anything else. Several in the the first and second round should be starters in the new season like Curry, Mark Sanchez for the Jets and Darrius Bey for Oakland. With all of the trades and free agent movements, looks like like an interesting year for fantasy football players.
Warm weather today and will remain so for the rest of the week. Wonder how this summer will turn out.
Speaking of summer, starting this week, all sorts of good things will be kicking off to start taking advantage of the warmer weather. Gallery Hop on Trade St should have some outdoor events now, next weekend is the Celtic festival, Memorial day weekend will have the Wine Festival, Ribfest in June, Heavy Rebel Weekender in July and so much more to come.
I saw Bridge to Terabithia on the Family Channel last night. When it came out in the theatres, I was highly keen to see it thinking it was a fantasy along the lines of the Chronicles of Narnia. In reality it was not but more a story of two friends coming together of which a fantasy world they created was just a small part of the story. I was a bit surprised at the ending of the story; did not see that coming given the intended audience I thought for the film. It is a very good film, though, through in through.
This week, YES Weekly, the best alternative weekly here in the Triad published its annual best of the Triad section. It is a nice little discussion piece or filler for the paper that on the choices reflects more on who are the YES readers as opposed to what is considered to be the best anything here in the Triad. If Go or Relish weeklies do the same, no doubt they have choices that reflect the tastes and opinions of their readership.
When I look at the categories presented they are generally in keeping with what the paper’s advertising and editorial section deal with. Dining out, entertainment, local politics and so on. Some sections take in the Triad as a whole while others break it down by either Greensboro, Winston-Salem or other. but as this is a Greensboro based paper and readership, the choices are heavily skewed towards the G’boro area/
I can not really begrudge the choices contained within especially as I did not bother to fill in a ballot for my choices. But what if I did have to choose what I consider to be the best of the Triad?
First of all, many of the categories I do not really have no opinion upon like for example best nightclub which I just do not do them. But still leaves quite a few left over.
Best Men’s Clothing Store: Eddie Bauer
Best Local Children’s Clothing Store: the seasonal consignment sales at local churches
Best Hardware Store: Lowes
Best Book Store: Barnes and Noble
Best Place to buy a car: Flow Honda
Best Gas Station: Sheetz
Best Grocery Store: Lowes
Best Place for Family Fun: Winston-Salem parks
Best Art gallery/Museum: Reynolda house
Best Blog: Life in Forsyth
Best TV News: WXII
Best TV News Host: Cameron Kent
Best Restaurant: Blue
Best Hot Dogs: Skippys
Best Asian Restaurant: Downtown Thai
Best Steakhouse: Tripps
Best Sandwich: Subway
Best BBQ: Bibs
Best Pizza : Brixx
Best Coffee: Confluence Coffee
Best Neighbourhood Restaurant: Old Orchard Diner
Best Cheap Eats: K & W Cafeteria
Best Dessert: Ollies
Best Hamburger: The Loop
Best Fries: Kernel Kustard
Best Wings: East Coast Wings
Best Bakery: Ollies
One song that was always a source of controversy when I was in high school was Rough Trade’s High School Confidential. With highly suggestive lyrics and a point of view that was a bit unnerving for that time (was lead singer Carole Pope talking as herself or as the voice of a teenage boy; turns out to be the former), this is one song that nearly everyone had heard about.
Then again, everyone in Canada knew about Rough Trade.
A band that sort of straddled the punk scene of the 70’s with the New Wave sound of the 80’s event though Pope’s and co-band leader Kevan Staples actually came from a folk music background, their hard edge sound and lyrics was a decidedly a counterpoint to many other bands out of Canada at that time. They incorporated a bit of synth-pop in their music but it was solid rock for the most part.
As a duo and then as part of the band, Staples and Pope were together for a long time until about the late 80’s when Pope struck out on her own and then moved down to New York City. I caught her at a show at the Tavern on Queen St in Toronto in the early 90’s. She still was as hard edged as I always thought she was.
Professionally, the band did quite well in Canada but found it difficult to make a much of a go in the States. However, they did chart well with this song All Touch.
Today is Earth Day, a day when we recognize what through our endeavours and neglect what we are doing to our planet. Across the nation and the world, activities and events are focused on what we can do to lessen our impact. As for myself, I am doing very little. Outside of contributions to local conservation groups, recycle my garbage and cut back on my driving, there is not much more I really do. I have thought about switching my lightbulbs to the low engery demand ones but from what I have read, there are certain drawbacks with the current technology. In a way, I am kind of holding out for the LED based lighbulbs which are just as energy efficient, mercury free and a bit more natural in the light they emit. Problem is their expense relative to other bulbs. High upfront cost before youy realise the savings from lower electricity use. In these tight money days, a $200 switchover to LED lights is just not going to happen.
The release of those torture memos by the government seems to have captured the attention of the Washington beltway media. The rationalisations that the Bush administration used to justify torture of terrorists and enemy combatants is quite chilling and disturbing. Andrew Sullivan has been making it the dominant topic of his blog posts over at Daily Dish. The central figure in all of this, outside of the writers of the memos is Dick Cheney who has apparently came out of his undisclosed location to attack President Obama for the release of the memos even though the Obama administration actually did so under a court order and not for political reasons as many on the right suspect as the motivation for the memo release.
Josh Marshall over at Talking Points Memo has proffered a discussion point on why the Dick Cheney of the 70’s through the 90’s when he was a Chief of Staff under President Ford, a congressman then Secretary of Defense, proved to be an intelligent, capable man turned to be such a diabolical figure under the President Bush fils administration. Josh wondered if something changed to the personality of Cheney after 1993 which was excecbrated under the situation that existed after the September 11th attacks. The counter argument was that Cheney was always like that but under previous presidents was kept under control whereas the weak-willed Bush Jr, Cheney was able to impose his will.
My opinion is of the latter; I think Cheney was always like that. This reminds me of a quote on comparisons of two actors doing the same role from different perspectives. One took the perspective that he was a crazy man trying to stay sane whereas the other actor took on the perspective that he was a sane man trying not to go crazy. I will leave it up to you to figure out which sort of role Cheney was trying to do on the American public.
Last night was game night at my work. It was a great way to socialise with fellow employees outside of work. the games themselves were interesting too. Not the standard ones like Risk or Monopoly but ones like Ticket to Ride, a railway trip building exercise and Ingenious, a pattern connection sort of game. We had several different tables set up for different games to appeal to different interests and it worked out well. I particularly liked the Ingenious game as you have to calculate the best pattern string to maximise your points as well as potentially blocking others to gain points. Simple in concept but very powerful in the game play which is the basis for many successful games.
Looking forward to the next Game night.
