T-shirt #74: KUDL Blue 2010: Championship Team

T-shirt #74: KUDL Blue 2010: Championship Team: TOWER WINS!

My team won the Kalamazoo Ultimate Disc League Championship in 2010, the league's fifth year of existence.

Though I have I have featured Ultimate shirts four times so far in this blog's history (T-shirt #56, KUDL 2009; T-shirt #58, Grey Area; T-shirt #59: KUDL 2007, and T-shirt #60, MUSL 2007), and though one of those (Team Venom, T-shirt #60) won a championship, and though I have been on a few teams that have won Ultimate accolades (my team won the first ever Huckfest in 36 degree temps, sleet, and winds of 25-30 MPH), I am most proud of this win as the KUDL champions of 2010.

I knew we had a good team from the start of the season. I had a great draft, picking Andy "Big" Momotiuk with my first pick. I was lucky enough to also draft a lineup of players that would prove to play well. Though we did not dominate the regular season, we won the tournament. Our "all-star" lineup: Paul Abueva, Chris Carew, Brian Finch, Jeff Fingas, Hether Frayer, Arik Lentz, Maggie McKinney, Andy Momotiuk, Merrill Murphy, Tom Owen, Eric Parker, Lisa Phillips, Michael Serota, Piper Simons, Sarah Spruit, Chris Tower, and Ben VanGelderen. ** Karli Silverman

Though Maggie and Eric would drop after week one, the rest of the team hung together and played together.

Because we lost a woman draft pick, we picked up Karli Silverman, who had her best year playing Ultimate with our team! Despite our good lineup, we went into the tournament seeded third overall and second in the B pool out of ten teams. We managed to win our pool, beating the Crimson team (number two seed and number one in our pool) in a tough, hard fought game at the end of pool play. We won through quarters and semis to meet Nickel, the number one seed overall, in the finals. Lisa Phillips turned in an MVP style performance catching seven of our goals in the Finals. Our team out played Nickel, though it was hardly easy. The Nickel team was very good and much respect is owed to them.

I remember trying to find the words for a halftime pep talk to my team. Though I do not consider myself a dominant player and great strategist as a captain, I do consider myself good with many other captaining tasks, such as team spirit, team communication, and managing people's playing time. I tried to make a short speech to keep the troops rallied. We were leading at half, and it looked like we might win the tournament, but the win was not yet in the bag. As I tried to talk, I became overwhelmed with emotion, too choked up to speak. I started to cry. My heart was full. I loved each and every person on this team, and I wanted to thank them for playing hard and making 2010 my best summer league ever. But I couldn't find the words. 

I felt transported back to the playgrounds and gym classes of my youth, when I was the last one picked to be on a team, or when the teacher would have to force a team to take me. I was an awkward boy and struggled with coordination. I did not have much strength, especially in the upper body. I lacked confidence and did not have the friends to support me and practice for better ability to compete in sports. If I had walked a different path, I might have played Little League, played high school Baseball, maybe even played college ball. But sports were not part of my childhood skill set. I discovered Ultimate as an adult at the age of 22, by which time I had gained enough coordination and self-confidence to be passably good. I also had the friends to encourage me and support me, even when I made mistakes or showed that I was far from a top-notch athlete or a dominant, game-changing player.

And so, on those fields, in the hot sun, on that day in August of 2010, I could not speak the words in my heart. My teammates realized how I was feeling, and how much it meant to me to win this league, and our cheer at half time was "Win for Tower." I have never been more proud of a moment in my history of playing Ultimate (nearly 30 years).

My team won the league championship. Everyone played a role and contributed to the win, and though we were tested by a strong Nickel team filled with excellent players and good athletes, we managed to do the little bit extra that resulted in our winning.

I have always insisted on trophies and keepsakes for the league. In 2010, in an effort to save money, and because other people are not as fond of medals as I am, we did not have any made for a trophy presentation at the fields following our win. I had these medals made later and distributed them to our players.

Our team in 2010 was called COOL PATROL, named after a toy truck that some child left many years ago in the chair I carry to the fields. The truck bears the label: "Cool Patrol." I had suggested the name many times for teams, and this was the first group of people to embrace it.

We were indeed the COOL PATROL.

Though we now have an official KUDL trophy on which my teammates' names are all inscribed (much like the Stanley Cup), it's the makeshift, crappy, gold-painted, flower pot trophy that our KUDL founders all covet, with its stick-on letters from our first year as a league when we called ourselves KUSS (2006). Pictures of our current KUDL trophy, the old KUSS Kup, and this year's 2013 KUDL logo are featured in today's blog entry.

Today, Monday June 3rd, we launch the eighth year of our Kalamazoo Ultimate Disc League (KUDL) with ten teams for only the third time in our league history. Though we have a large number of players registered this year, we are still trying to recruit more for the future, especially women players as we like to maintain a gender ratio of at least 5-2 (five men/two women) if not 4-3 on the field at any time.

After the jump break, some shout outs to the Cool Patrol team, and a historical record of the KUDL winners thus far.

PLAY ULTIMATE!

T-shirt #73: Battlestar Galactica

T-shirt #73: Battlestar Galactica

Yesterday, I shared my fifth Star Trek post and a variety of thoughts that add up to one incontrovertible conclusion: Star Trek makes me happy.

And though Star Trek wins out in my heart as my favorite SF TV show, this is simply due its longevity, its origins in my childhood, and the sheer volume of its stories.

And yet, I would argue that the revised version of Battlestar Galactica is better. And though I acknowledge the excellence of many SF TV shows, such as The Prisoner, Space 1999, Babylon Five, Firefly, and Stargate, (Sorry, I am not a Doctor Who fan), I would argue that the updated Battlestar Galactica is better than all of them.


In fact, I think I could make a compelling argument that Battlestar Galactica (BSG) is one of the best action/drama TV shows of all time....yes, OF THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF TELEVISION.

Battlestar Galactica aired on the Sci-Fi Channel from 2003-2009. A remake of the original 1978 television series, the new BSG saga comprised 75 episodes over four seasons. Battlestar Galactica earned great critical acclaim and awards and inclusion in the Time Magazine Best 100 TV shows of all time. The Time Magazine list is not ranked and includes all TV shows, which seems an unfair comparison to put Battlestar Galactica in the same list as The Abbott and Costello Show or ABC's Wide World of Sports.

Battlestar Galactica would surely make my top five favorite all-time TV shows, though I hesitate to make a top five list that is not separated by genre. Certainly, Star Trek, Lost, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer would make this list. Though I love A Charlie Brown Christmas, (which is in Time's list), I would not include one-shot programs in a favorite all time list. Comedies and reality TV shows (I do love Survivor) would be relegated to separate lists for their respective genres. And, really, I would not rate a show like Battlestar Galactica next to shows like Gilmore Girls, Veronica Mars, or Felicity, which really fall into another category entirely.

Why was Battlestar Galactica so good? Pathos. The show featured razor's edge tension and cathartic pathos unlike any other SF or "fantastic" TV show of its kind. The acting was superb. The writing was superb. The visual and sound effects won Emmys. Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell rocked the park. It's full of surprises and mysteries and intricacies of plot, character, and long term story building (as certain elements of the show's finale are set up in the show's original mini-series).

But at first? If you know the 1970s program, there are adjustments to make. Starbuck is a woman?? WHAT?? Cylons are human-looking??? HUH? Stick with it. Because the punch it packs is unlike anything I have ever experienced in episodic TV. In the end, for its overall excellence, I would rank it above both Lost, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which I loved dearly, but which had flaws that BSG lacked.

A promotional image for BSG modeled on the Last Supper painting.

Battlestar Galactica fandom is still alive and well.

Battlestar Galactica: Battlestar Galactica.com, Richard Hatch inspired site dedicated to showcasing the BSG Universe and Promoting Battlestar Galactica.

Galacticon Three was held earlier this year (2013).

A prequel episode aired online in 2012: Blood and Chrome.

More Battlestar Galactica fandom:

Battlestar Fan Club

There's fan fiction, fan gear, and more that's just a Google click away.

But, really, if you have not watched this TV show, get started. Even non-SF fans should love it.

In closing, an image of the DRADIS (the defense system, like "radar," for the Battlestars) created by my friend Ryan Walters for my birthday a few years back.

ENJOY!

- chris tower - 1306.02 - 11:53

T-shirt #72: Science Blue STNG

T-shirt #72: Science Blue STNG & Star Trek: Into Darkness

This is a relatively new T-shirt. I bought it after some beef juice was splattered on my other Blue Science Star Trek shirt (featured in T-shirt #11), and I feared that the stain was too noticeable.

This is the shirt: Star Trek: The Next Generation Science Emblem Costume Men's T-Shirt.

Yes, yes, the original series shirt is not the same as the STNG shirt. I KNOW. Big deal. Now I have both.



Yesterday, I went to see the new Star Trek film: Star Trek: Into Darkness.

For today's blog entry, I will share various random thoughts on Star Trek.

If it's not obvious already, I love Star Trek. I have posted on Star Trek four times so far in the seventy-two day history of this blog: T-shirt #39, T-shirt #13, T-shirt #11, and T-shirt #4. This makes time number five. I currently own two more Star Trek T-shirts for a total of seven. I suspect that this number may soon increase. Is ten too many? Lucky 13?

I loved Star Trek: Into Darkness. I am not going to attempt a review here as there are many reviews available on the web, such as my favorite go-to geek blog by Charles Skaggs: Damn Good Coffee and HOT!

Here are three other notable reviews
GIZMODO
Ain't It Cool
Geek Of Doom

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read the next paragraph if you have not seen the film or do not want the film content spoiled: I am not going to review the film. You can do a Google search and read a lot of reviews if you wish to explore. I will say this: I am obviously not as bugged about the revision/retread of Star Trek The Wrath of Khan as some people. One reviewer claimed that you CANNOT re-do the classic death scene of Spock from STWOK. Bullshit. The scene was filmed 30 years ago. Give me a break. Star Trek: Into Darkness is fun. It synthesizes a great amount of Trek lore into a newly spun and intriguing package. The film is a wonderful joy ride for those who know their Trek lore well and a heck of a great action-drama-comedy for those who just like a good movie. But people need to keep their critical chops by not seeming to be push-overs. Whatever.

I post links to Charles Skaggs' blog most often. Check out his review. Charles, I agree: 10 x 10^16%. "LIKE."

MORE RANDOM THOUGHTS

As a kid, I used to play Star Trek games with a plastic toy helmet, a toy phaser, and my "captain's chair" (an old office chair). I also owned some toys (dolls) and play sets. Don't judge me.

As a young boy, I constructed, decaled, and painted many Star Trek models. I gave one to my father as a gift, and it still hangs in his garage (the Galileo Seven Shuttle).

From about 1990-1994, I wrote a Star Trek novel with a friend of mine (F. Greg Andrews), which I used as  my MFA project. (Yes, you read that right.) This was my big "F.U." to the "it must be literary or it's crap" mind-wiping, brain washing excrement pandered at most colleges and universities. The book featured Kirk and his original crew and a deadly new weapon. The first line of the book has Kirk crying out: "What do you mean you're going to sell it to the Klingons?" The book made it to the publisher's desk, and our agent told us there was interest in what we had written for the, then, plus-sized novels the company was publishing, such as Enterprise  and Spock's World. Alas, we did not get published. Ultimately, our agent did not know what she was doing and a better agent would have been able to steer us a better course to publication. (Either that or our book sucked, and I prefer to believe the former explanation.)

I have attended a couple of Star Trek fan conventions. At one, I saw and briefly shook hands with William Shatner. I also met and spoke with James Doohan (original Scotty: may he rest in peace).

In college, I used to quote random lines from Star Trek TOS with friends and laugh. Favorites: "bitter dregs, bitter dregs" ;  "brain, brain, brain. All this talk of brain. What is brain?" ; "Only Ma-coy may touch!"; and "NO MORE BONK BONK ON THE HEAD!" Classics all.

"I am a doctor not a brick layer, dammit!"

I bought a Motorola flip phone a few years ago because it worked like a communicator from Star Trek.

I have watched all the Star Trek TV shows, even all the episodes of Enterprise. I may be one of the few people on the planet who actually liked the Enterprise theme song and sang along each time an episode began.

After two episodes of Star Trek the Next Generation, I declared that it was awful crap and I hated it. I stopped watching and did not resume until late in season two when it began to pick up (after they killed Tasha Yar). By then, I was hooked. I kept watching and did not stop. I caught up on the re-runs of what I had missed, too.

In the 1990s, a back log of Deep Space Nine and Voyager episodes plus a great deal of re-watching kept me sane as I wrote a massive research project for a reference book company, logging days of writing for 12-16 hours while playing one episode after another to keep me from losing my mind. Star Trek is very verbal. When the characters are not talking, often, there's kissing or battles with phasers or torpedos that provide a brief respite for the eyes from all the writing.

Insane as I may be, I DO NOT own all the Star Trek on DVD or have quite as many doo-dads as many crazy Trek fans.

Two years ago, my wife gave me a Star Trek flask as a gift. I keep whisky in it.

Star Trek makes me happy.

I am very happy.

- chris tower - 1306.01 - 15:06

T-shirt #71: IsoHunt

T-shirt #71: IsoHunt: Freedom of Information

In keeping with the theme from yesterday's shirt, today's shirt features one of the most popular BitTorrent engines on the Net: IsoHunt.

Prior to the proliferation and accessibility of streaming technology, BitTorrents offered a relatively quick and easy way to download music, films, and TV shows (and still do). I discovered IsoHunt after some power failures caused me to miss certain TV shows that I watched avidly and regularly. I used BitTorrents to download them. Though some downloads were slow due to a low number of seeds, others were lightning fast and downloaded in under an hour, even the slow ones, usually finished overnight. For fear of legal reprisal and because I do not like leaving my computer powered on all the time, I did not re-seed the files for others users.

And, yes, I do feel guilty about this.

IsoHunt also helped my mother and me with our daily addiction to the soap opera The Young and The Restless. Before SoapNet began rebroadcasting the day's soaps and before a streaming version was available online each day, I would use IsoHunt to download the soap broadcast, which was always available on the day we missed it as, apparently, the show is broadcast a day ahead of time in Canada. The Canadian torrents would already be loaded on the days we missed episodes due to power outages or preempted programming. A quick download and burning to a DVD allowed me to supply my mother (and myself) with our Y&R fix. I have watched Y&R with my mother since it came on the air in 1973. In 2000, when my mother spent eleven days in a coma, I played Y&R in her hospital room in the hopes that the familiar sounds would be comforting to her or that she might wake up to watch our soap together. Earlier this week, I spent the day with her in a soap marathon as I was behind in my viewing. One May 28th, we watched soaps for May 3rd-May 16th, such is the power of the DVR.

I bought this IsoHunt shirt to support IsoHunt, since a part of the cost of the shirt funds the site. IsoHunt turned ten years old back in January (of this year, 2013). This shirt commemorates the eight-year anniversary. The IsoHunt founder had this to say about still being active after ten years of battling Internet shutdown:

When I started isoHunt during engineering school, I truly did not think I'd be working on it for 10 years, but here I am... I saw solidarity against tyranny in protests against SOPA, which did not pass (happy coincident that Internet Freedom Day, Jan. 18 when SOPA failed, is so close to our anniversary)...We are moving into the world of science fiction. Will copyright or even money be relics like in Star Trek, where all material scarcity and wants are gone, replicators can make anything needed, and holodecks can create any world imaginable? Too utopian perhaps, but if someone from 100 years ago is to look at technologies we have now, a lot of it maybe construed as magic, too... To quote Breaking Bad, am I "in the empire business", subverting the establishment? No, we are in the culture business. Culture, distilled into digital files, shared by people, on the Internet. In the culture business, there are creators, and there are consumers. In this age of "broadcasting yourself", we are often both creators as well as consumers. And in my ideal world, consumers will share what they want, freely, and creators will be promoted accordingly and compensated fairly. Minimal friction, and minimal middlemen in the way who doesn't help in connecting consumers directly with creators... I've fought Hollywood's lawsuit for almost 7 years now, it's so ancient it's almost not even worth mentioning... Thanks for your support! Cheers to the next 10 (IsoHunt, 2013).

As a final thought, a comment on streaming: You may notice some widgets to stream music on my blog site. Currently, I have three: SiJ - Daguérose, The Catalanian Tapes, and ZENИTH. This kind of streaming was not readily available five years ago, let alone ten years ago when IsoHunt went into operation. Ownership is changing as more and more material is available to stream both from a desktop or laptop computer or any mobile device. Maybe I am old fashioned. I own all three of the musical art works featured on my page. I paid for each and download the files. I do believe in paying artists for their work. I think it's important. And yet, I like information; I like the freedom of information.

When the network finally wakes up and says "I am," everything we think or think we understand about data will change forever. Until then "information wants to be free" is just a cute saying. After, who knows what we will be saying?

- chris tower - 1305.31 - 10:18

T-shirt #70: NO DVD CCA

T-shirt #70: NO DVD CCA - This shirt is illegal

Information wants to be free.

But is a movie information? Is it data or a work of art?

With the advent of DVD recorders came the arrival of DVD decrypters. I found this shirt online as the situation was becoming nationally known.



From August 4th 2000: "Copyleft sued over DVD code: LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - A T-shirt with the DVD encryption source code printed on its back has elicited the ire of the MPAA. The organization has added the shirt's creator, Copyleft, to the list of defendants in its lawsuit centering on the propagation of the DeCSS computer code, which cracks the encoding of DVDs. A small, New Jersey-based company, Copyleft specializes in items of interest to the "open source" sector of the technology community, who favors openly available coding for software so other programmers can improve upon or adapt it. Copyleft donates $4 for every DeCSS shirt sold to the Electronic Freedom Foundation, which is providing legal defense for Eric Corley (aka Emmanuel Goldstein) in the same lawsuit in which Copyleft now finds itself embroiled. Corley is being sued for publishing a link to the information that Copyleft printed on the controversial shirt" (Billboard, 2000).

I bought the shirt, which then promptly became illegal. The code for decrypting the copy protection on DVDs is printed on the back of the shirt. The shirt also came with the text of the code in text file format.

Copyleft as a concept is a thing described here: COPYLEFT.

Copyleft the concept is separate from the Copyleft organization that created this T-shirt.



The issue with the T-shirt is also well-described in a CNN article.

Also, RGTOnline has a good article.

As of 2013, the DeCSS source code and several clones can be readily obtained on the Internet.

Copyleft, which was to be found at  www.copyleft.net, is defunct.

The DVD CCA is at www.dvdcca.org.

A great resource for these issues is the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF). The EFF is at www.eff.org.

Also, these issues are frequently written about at one of the 'Net's best blogs: BOING BOING.

Information wants to be free.

- chris tower - 1305.30 - 10:25

T-shirt #69: Space Ghost Coast-to-Coast

T-shirt #69: Space Ghost Coast-to-Coast: RANDOM THOUGHTS

Today's blog will be quick, random thoughts associated with today's T-shirt.

I love SPACE GHOST. I have loved Space Ghost since I was a kid and saw the original run of the 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon featuring designs by the legendary Alex Toth. This shirt is from the Cartoon Network Adult Swim revival casting Space Ghost in a faux talk show format. Not as big a fan of that vehicle for Space Ghost, but I did find it highly amusing.

I love my family. This shirt is significant as it was a gift from my parents, probably between 2003-2008. I love that I have the kind of parents who would buy such a gift for their adult son. As I have mentioned before, I am sentimental about gifts, and so I like to acknowledge the givers. Gifts show me that people do care about me, love me. This is a powerful realization to have: being loved, realizing that one is loved. Yesterday (May 28), I spent the day with my mother while my father went to Midland to visit his dad's grave, as May is the anniversary of his death. My sister brought pizza. I also had a picture taken with her, but my phone ate it. I will have to feature my sister another time. I am not the first person to write that "family is important," and yet people share this sentiment all the time as if it is unique. I guess some people may not hold their families in the same high regard as I do, and so I have trouble understanding feeling that way. Family is very important to me.



I love capes.

Space Ghost has a cape.

I love Space Ghost.

This blog (the whole project not just this entry) is a unique vehicle for self-inventory, for making categories, for reflection. More on this process as I proceed. Maybe it will inspire others for similar reflection and self-inventory. Maybe some of the entries will remind people of pop culture icons long forgotten or make others ask: "who the Hell is Space Ghost?"

SPACE GHOST COMIC. There have been a few comics featuring Space Ghost. I have at least one more Space Ghost shirt, so I will have another chance to catalogue and review. I like this one by Joe Kelly and Ariel Olivetti very much.

Would there have been a Buzz Lightyear without a Space Ghost?

- chris tower - 1305.30 - 16:18

T-shirt #68: 87 Years of Tigers Stadium

T-shirt #68: Attending a Detroit Tigers game on 1305.26

Today's shirt is not going to perfectly match the event I am sharing. On Sunday, May 26, I attended the afternoon game between the Detroit Tigers and the Minnesota Twins. I wanted to wear a white shirt to the ballpark, Comerica Park, and so this one is elected.


As much as I loved old Tigers Stadium, Comerica Park is a great place to see a ball game.

My friend Jeremiah Newhouse obtained tickets for us. We had a great day: good talks, good coney dogs, and a great game. Scherzer was dealing. Tigers were hitting. First pinch-hit triple since 1981. Crazy, good.

I love going to see baseball games. Last year, I went to just one game (opening day). The before I made it to only one game. The year before that (2010) I did not make it to any Tigers games. So I have already increased my games per year. Maybe I get to a third game later this year.

I have many great memories of Tigers Stadium. Those stories can wait for another time and another shirt.

Still, in mode for brief blog entries. I may not write anything of length and girth until the end of the week.

Tigers won again yesterday. One more home game against the Pirates tonight before heading off to Pittsburgh for two more against the Pirates.

Go Tigers!!

- chris tower - 1305.28 - 11:36