the latest ross video

oh man, this one is funneeee.

transitions

tonight at yoga, our teacher had us trying a few new 'combination' poses. throughout class, she consistently emphasized the need for smooth and elegant transitions--stressing that the transition was equally if not more important than the pose itself.

after arriving home, i tuned into women's figure skating (lest ye think my olympic obsession waning), and watched japanese skater shizuka arakawa demonstrate that point beautifully. what so moved me about her program was how far it went beyond the successful completion of the lutzes, sal chows, axles, and loops. here was a woman who understood the importance of the transition.

the skater who followed her had a technically decent program, but her transitions were choppy and forced. the contrast was stark, and i couldn't help but consider the application to our every day lives.

transition is defined as a passage from one state to another. while it may be sometimes difficult to measure in concrete terms when our lives are passing from one state to another, it is something most of us can feel. often, it is just a subtle shifting in the undercurrent of our existence.

i struggle with change. i am ever eager, yet the process itself is always a challenge. it usually requires stretching and growing, and is rarely easy. now, i am on the verge of another transition. i'm not sure what it is yet. but i feel it. something is coming. or going. or just changing. this time though, i am determined to focus on the transition. perhaps by doing so i will be able to avoid getting ahead of myself (as i often do). and if i'm lucky, i may actually find that i have entered the next 'state' well prepared, because i took the care and concern to focus on smoothly and elegantly getting there.

"not in his goals but in his transitions is man great"
-ralph waldo emerson

by way of interesting oscar stories

Hoffman to bark Oscar speech?

Posted Feb 23rd 2006 9:09PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Awards, Celebrities and Controversy, DIY/Filmmaking, Waxing Hysterical, Oscar Watch

When you're a kid and have dreams of some day gracing the stage at the Academy Awards, often you may make a few strange and unusual bets with your friends as to what you may say should you have the chance to speak to millions of people across the globe.

Best actor front runner, Philip Seymour Hoffman, made one such bet....and it could come back to bite him in the ass. When he was 16, Hoffman, along with friends Bennett Miller (director of Capote) and Dan Futterman (writer of Capote) got a tiny bit wasted one night. Hoffman explains, "We had this friend at the time, Steven, and we all made this drunken pact that if one of us ever won the Academy Award, that we would bark the whole acceptance speech. We were very serious. Literally, we were like, 'I'll do that. I will definitely commit to that."

Now that they're all grown up and their film, Capote, may play a big role at this year's Oscar ceremony, what have the men decided to do? Well, according to Hoffman, when they met back up with their friend Steven recently, he reminded the Oscar-nominated actor that the bet was still valid...and Hoffman isn't happy. ""The thing is you can't just bark, you have to bark until they pull you off (the stage). Let's hope I don't have to get up there." Oh, what I would give to see this go down.

the oscars are coming, the oscars are coming

and i am getting into the spirit. i've invited some of you (those who i know enjoy movies or who might play even though they don't know what the heck they are talking about) to join my group in the 'world's biggest oscar pool.' it's not a true 'pool' since you do not have to contribute anything but your picks to play.

if i didn't invite you, and you'd like to participate, log on to oscar.com, make your predictions, then join my group using the information below.

url: http://predict.oscar.go.com/predict/frontpage
group name: mo-mo oscars
password: momooscars

it's simple!

1. go to the oscar.com home page and select "entertainment weekly's worlds biggest oscar pool"

2. log in with your abc.com member name and password

3. make your predictions in all 24 awards categories

4. select "join group," then log in using the group name provided above

5. review the predictions of the members in your group

6. tune in to abc on sunday march 5th, 8pm et for the 78th academy awards and see if your predictions come true!

hustle and flow: (pretty good if you can get past the movie being about pimps, prostitutes, and dealers, and get to the music part)

saint ralph: (the 14 year old boy discovering his sexuality part is creepy. too bad. it had a nice ending)

the river king: (i like ed-ward burns, and i liked him in this)

it's been awhile

since i posted my latest movie reviews. and lost is a rerun, so here i am waiting for women's aerials to come back on (i've been remarkably bored by speed skating this olympics).

and i'm confusing myself with the whole bucket thing i started--it's true, i'm not that bright. so i am going to revert to the 'standard' method of measurement.

alexander: (what a waste of jared leto's beauty)
brokeback mountain: (for the cinematography and jake gyllenhall)
aviator:
cellular: (surprisingly entertaining)
a very long engagement: (if you like foreign films)
coach carter: (but i am a sucker for a bball movie)
dreamer: (oh my goodness did i bawl my eyes out)
pride & predjudice: (keira did it 'proud')