As I noted earlier, Beatriz Recari was -5 through her 1st 8 holes this morning in the ShopRite Classic, but collapsed over her last 10 to finish at E. Well, another young Spaniard is out in -5 through 8: this time, it's Azahara Munoz. Let's see how she finishes this afternoon!
[Update 1 (3:33 pm): Don't have the slightest idea how she's doing it, but Paula Creamer just matched Amy Hung's morning feat of closing out the front with 3 birdies in a row for a 33! Well, 7 fairways, 7 greens, and 12 putts certainly help!]
[Update 2 (3:36 pm): Watch out for Hee-Won Han! She shot a bogey-free 30 on the back (thanks in part to a Creameresque 12-putt performance) and still has the front to play, where there are a lot more birdies to be had....]
[Update 3 (5:27 pm): Ah, the wind must have come up, for there haven't been a lot of strong finishes for the Golf Channel cameras, at least among the fast starters in the afternoon pairings. Munoz hasn't made a birdie since I blogged about her, and she's now only -3 with 1 hole left to play. Creamer has made 2 more birdies, but she's offset them with a pair of bogeys and remains at -4, like Han, who's parred every hole on the front. They, too, have only 1 hole to go. Laura Davies, Catriona Matthew, and Gwladys Nocera have already posted 67s, good enough for T8s or a spot among the top 20 players in the field, depending on how you count it. Teresa Lu, who's -4 through 13, has the best chance to surpass them, although if Suzann Pettersen can birdie her final hole, she, too, can join them.]
[Update 4 (5:30 pm): Wow, check out Michelle Wie's scorecard! -3 over her last 12 holes of bogey-free golf, but seeing as how she played bogey golf over her 1st 6 (that is, she had a bogey, double, and triple!), she'll be fighting to make the cut tomorrow.]
[Update 5 (5:33 pm): OK, so let's throw some numbers at you. 68 by Cristie Kerr. 69s by Juli Inkster and Morgan Pressel. 70s by Karrie Webb, Sophie Gustafson, Eun-Hee Ji, and Stacy Lewis.]
[Update 6 (5:42 pm): Creamer, Han, Pettersen, and Munoz in with 67s. Matthew actually had a 66, the best score in the afternoon pairings thus far. Lu, at -4 through 13, still has the best chance to take the title.]
[Update 7 (5:53 pm): Looks like Davies, Wie, and Alexis Thompson were the few players in the field to try to overpower the Bay Course. It worked for Davies, not for Wie, and for Thompson? Well, if she can eagle the 18th, like several have, maybe it will have been worth it. Let's see.]
[Update 8 (5:56 pm): Ah, well, she parred it for an even-par 71. Not bad for a 15-year-old!]
[Update 9 (8:57 pm): Lu couldn't go lower than 67, either. Nice 69 from Jane Park. Lu was the 21st player to break 68 and Park the 44th to break 70.]
[Update 10 (6/19/10, 11:04 pm): Here is Hound Dog's excellent overview and 1st-round notes and interviews from LPGA.com.]
Showing posts with label synchronicity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label synchronicity. Show all posts
Friday, June 18, 2010
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Golf History has taken a new turn
The world has changed, if only just a bit: Y E Yang wins the PGA championship, the first Asian to win a major golf championship.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Before there was J-pop . . .
I remember this song from my youth:
It's the first (and only) Japanese-language song to be a hit in America.
It's the first (and only) Japanese-language song to be a hit in America.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Friday, February 1, 2008
Rahsaan Roland Kirk KILLS!
Most charismatic performer I've ever seen. Here he is playing three horns at once, in a tuxedo:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x22m1n_pedal-up-by-rahsaan-roland-kirk_music
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x22m1n_pedal-up-by-rahsaan-roland-kirk_music
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Garuda: A Guardian Spirit
This carving is, say, 4 feet wide and 3 feet high. It's from Bali, but hangs on an outside wall a couple of blocks from me. It's a guardian spirit. That's why it looks so fierce, to scare evil away:
There are situations where this is good advice:
In my experience such experiences rarely happen in cyberspace. But who knows what'll become of cyberspace when the Glorious GNF goes off. Gotta' be prepared.
Whoops:
Looks like they didn't have a garuda and someone failed to lift the plow.
There are situations where this is good advice:
In my experience such experiences rarely happen in cyberspace. But who knows what'll become of cyberspace when the Glorious GNF goes off. Gotta' be prepared.
Whoops:
Looks like they didn't have a garuda and someone failed to lift the plow.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Friday, July 27, 2007
Catch you later alligator
Dear Onechan,
I'm so glad you were able to stop the little bears from climbing around in the cactus. It makes them all itchy and scratchy and the cactus doesn't like it either.
Sparkychan and I are getting ready to go back to America. We've enjoyed it in Japan, but we have to get back. We've decided to go back on the Cybertrain Atomic Dancer Galactic Express. See, here's a picture of us getting read to go in:
Yeah, I know it looks like a computer, but lets just pretend that it's a space-ship, OK? And it really does go into cyberspace. See, here we're talking to the pilot of the Atomic Dancer. Her name is Chiyochan:
Isn't she cute?
Now we're in cyberspace. I wonder why it's all green and wiggly. Do you know, Onechan?
"I know, Gojochan! I know!" -- that's Sparkychan talking. "It's the little wiggly worm. It wants to talk to Onechan." See the little worm way back in there? It's white and has two eyes and a tail. You have to look real hard because it's little and hidden in the dark. But it's right there in the middle,
"Hi, onechan! I'm the little worm. So glad to meet you. If you're ever in Kansas, put your red shoes on and we'll go out to have some ice cream."
Gee, Onechan, you sure are lucky. The little worm doesn't talk to just anyone. It's time to say goodbye -- or, as the old song says, "sayonara, not goodbye." Sparkychan and I are still in cyberspace. We'll send you another letter when we finally get back and tell you about the rest of our trip in cyberspace.
Sayonara, Viva Zapata, and terra del fuego,
Gojochan and Sparkychan
I'm so glad you were able to stop the little bears from climbing around in the cactus. It makes them all itchy and scratchy and the cactus doesn't like it either.
Sparkychan and I are getting ready to go back to America. We've enjoyed it in Japan, but we have to get back. We've decided to go back on the Cybertrain Atomic Dancer Galactic Express. See, here's a picture of us getting read to go in:
Yeah, I know it looks like a computer, but lets just pretend that it's a space-ship, OK? And it really does go into cyberspace. See, here we're talking to the pilot of the Atomic Dancer. Her name is Chiyochan:
Isn't she cute?
Now we're in cyberspace. I wonder why it's all green and wiggly. Do you know, Onechan?
"I know, Gojochan! I know!" -- that's Sparkychan talking. "It's the little wiggly worm. It wants to talk to Onechan." See the little worm way back in there? It's white and has two eyes and a tail. You have to look real hard because it's little and hidden in the dark. But it's right there in the middle,
"Hi, onechan! I'm the little worm. So glad to meet you. If you're ever in Kansas, put your red shoes on and we'll go out to have some ice cream."
Gee, Onechan, you sure are lucky. The little worm doesn't talk to just anyone. It's time to say goodbye -- or, as the old song says, "sayonara, not goodbye." Sparkychan and I are still in cyberspace. We'll send you another letter when we finally get back and tell you about the rest of our trip in cyberspace.
Sayonara, Viva Zapata, and terra del fuego,
Gojochan and Sparkychan
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Paprika
From an email I recently sent to a friend:
I went to see Satoshi Kon's "Paprika" over a week ago. I was a bit distracted at the time, and so had trouble giving it my full attention. But then, it's the sort of movie that's presents difficulties similar to those in "Revolutionary Girl Utena." It's difficult to keep track of just which symbolic/surreal world you're watching at any given moment. In the case of RGU, of course, we've got a film that's retelling a story that's been told twice before in my expansive forms; so there's a problem of condensation. As far as I know, "Paprika" isn't like that. But it's still a challenging film.
I sense that here's a mode of organization that's more Japanese than Western so that one can't simply attend to it through the foreground-action focus that works for Western stories. You need to de-couple from the foreground action and simply let the gestalt wash over you.
Beyond that, we really struck me is how much "Paprika" seemed to be in thematic and imagistic dialogue with other films, including earlier ones by Kon, but also Miyazaki ("Spirited Away," "Princess Mononoke"), Takahata ("Pom Poko"), and Oshi ("Innocence"), Otomo ("Akira"). We've got dolls, carnivalesque parades (of kitchen appliances, and frogs), a human reminiscent of Miyazaki's Night Walker (and, in a way, of Akira), and shrinks and detectives (Kon's own milieu). It's quite a collection of "stuff."
I went to see Satoshi Kon's "Paprika" over a week ago. I was a bit distracted at the time, and so had trouble giving it my full attention. But then, it's the sort of movie that's presents difficulties similar to those in "Revolutionary Girl Utena." It's difficult to keep track of just which symbolic/surreal world you're watching at any given moment. In the case of RGU, of course, we've got a film that's retelling a story that's been told twice before in my expansive forms; so there's a problem of condensation. As far as I know, "Paprika" isn't like that. But it's still a challenging film.
I sense that here's a mode of organization that's more Japanese than Western so that one can't simply attend to it through the foreground-action focus that works for Western stories. You need to de-couple from the foreground action and simply let the gestalt wash over you.
Beyond that, we really struck me is how much "Paprika" seemed to be in thematic and imagistic dialogue with other films, including earlier ones by Kon, but also Miyazaki ("Spirited Away," "Princess Mononoke"), Takahata ("Pom Poko"), and Oshi ("Innocence"), Otomo ("Akira"). We've got dolls, carnivalesque parades (of kitchen appliances, and frogs), a human reminiscent of Miyazaki's Night Walker (and, in a way, of Akira), and shrinks and detectives (Kon's own milieu). It's quite a collection of "stuff."
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Congrats to New Dad Tiger Woods!
It's a girl! She has great timing, letting him finish the U.S. Open and all--and helping him put not winning it in perspective.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
On Ranking the Super Sophs
Later this month I'm going to come out with a new ranking of the Super Sophs that's a bit more systematic than my first one. For one thing, I've contacted the good people at Golfweek who run the Sagarin Performance Index, the main rival to the Rolex Rankings, for insights into the goals and assumptions of their ranking algorithm. For another, I'm going to look harder at 2007 stats beyond the money list and make some decisions about how to weigh the ups and downs all of the Super Sophs have gone through since January 2006. I won't be trying to come up with a rival formula of my own, of course; my days as a math-English double major in college are just too far away to even think about thinking about that. But I want to have a better basis for ranking my top 20 Super Sophs than I did in early May.
Now that the 2007 season is in full swing, I can compare stats such as scoring average, greens in regulation, fairways hit, putts per green in regulation, and birdies per round between players and also track a given player's development from this year to last. I can look at percentage of cuts made and top 10 (and better) finishes over the course of their careers. I can figure out how to weight the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index and the Rolex Rankings, which are quite different animals. The former keeps a rolling record of how well each individual did against the fields in the tournaments she played in over the previous 52 weeks (on the LPGA, JLPGA, European Tour, and Futures Tour) and the latter a rolling record of points earned in events played in over the previous 104 weeks, with those in the last 13 weighted higher than the rest and points distributed based on strength of field and finish in each event (on the KLPGA as well as on those covered in the former), with the exception of majors, which have fixed point distributions for everyone who makes the cut. Both systems have their bugs--it seems to me the Rolex rates JLPGA players too highly (based on their generally poor performance in LPGA events) and the Sagarin ranks certain individuals too highly (Beth Daniel was in their top 50 until this week--now she's gone; was it something I wrote to them? Now I'm wondering whether Lindsey Wright and Candie Kung really belong in the top 50). The Rolex may give too much credit for winning majors (should Morgan Pressel be ranked quite that highly?) while the Sagarin may not give enough credit for recent performances (from what I can tell, each week is weighted equally in their formula). Overall, my own "gut" ranking system is closer to the Sagarin than the Rolex, but I'm going to use both as checks on my subjectivity.
The thing about most any ranking system is that your initial calculation is quite significant. In both the above systems, whoever gets ranked #1 first only goes down if they've been consistently beaten by those behind them. Beating somebody higher-ranked than you counts more than beating someone lower-ranked than you. So the initial assumptions of their formulas are key. With the Super Sophs having less than two full seasons under their belts, I'm making my ranking a career-based one, but I'm going to weight this season's stats more heavily than last. My purpose is to look forward as much as to look back--based on past and recent performances, who can we expect to have the best season and career at the end of 2007?
If I had the time and if the book were easily available here in English, I'd learn from Moneyball, but that'll have to wait until I return to the States. This is neither quantum mechanics nor rocket science, but it strikes me as hard in its own way, given all the variables that go into one shot, much less one round, tournament, or career. But that's why I'm paying myself the big bucks to write for Mostly Harmless!
[Update: There must be something in the air. Hound Dog, who actually has his own formula, just came out with his June rankings. Also, in comments he recommended checking out his archives for his own reasoning; so go here for his Rolex Rankings critique, here for his take on what stats matter most, here for his own formula, and here for his comparison of the Super Sophs' rookie season with previous great classes' ones.]
Now that the 2007 season is in full swing, I can compare stats such as scoring average, greens in regulation, fairways hit, putts per green in regulation, and birdies per round between players and also track a given player's development from this year to last. I can look at percentage of cuts made and top 10 (and better) finishes over the course of their careers. I can figure out how to weight the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index and the Rolex Rankings, which are quite different animals. The former keeps a rolling record of how well each individual did against the fields in the tournaments she played in over the previous 52 weeks (on the LPGA, JLPGA, European Tour, and Futures Tour) and the latter a rolling record of points earned in events played in over the previous 104 weeks, with those in the last 13 weighted higher than the rest and points distributed based on strength of field and finish in each event (on the KLPGA as well as on those covered in the former), with the exception of majors, which have fixed point distributions for everyone who makes the cut. Both systems have their bugs--it seems to me the Rolex rates JLPGA players too highly (based on their generally poor performance in LPGA events) and the Sagarin ranks certain individuals too highly (Beth Daniel was in their top 50 until this week--now she's gone; was it something I wrote to them? Now I'm wondering whether Lindsey Wright and Candie Kung really belong in the top 50). The Rolex may give too much credit for winning majors (should Morgan Pressel be ranked quite that highly?) while the Sagarin may not give enough credit for recent performances (from what I can tell, each week is weighted equally in their formula). Overall, my own "gut" ranking system is closer to the Sagarin than the Rolex, but I'm going to use both as checks on my subjectivity.
The thing about most any ranking system is that your initial calculation is quite significant. In both the above systems, whoever gets ranked #1 first only goes down if they've been consistently beaten by those behind them. Beating somebody higher-ranked than you counts more than beating someone lower-ranked than you. So the initial assumptions of their formulas are key. With the Super Sophs having less than two full seasons under their belts, I'm making my ranking a career-based one, but I'm going to weight this season's stats more heavily than last. My purpose is to look forward as much as to look back--based on past and recent performances, who can we expect to have the best season and career at the end of 2007?
If I had the time and if the book were easily available here in English, I'd learn from Moneyball, but that'll have to wait until I return to the States. This is neither quantum mechanics nor rocket science, but it strikes me as hard in its own way, given all the variables that go into one shot, much less one round, tournament, or career. But that's why I'm paying myself the big bucks to write for Mostly Harmless!
[Update: There must be something in the air. Hound Dog, who actually has his own formula, just came out with his June rankings. Also, in comments he recommended checking out his archives for his own reasoning; so go here for his Rolex Rankings critique, here for his take on what stats matter most, here for his own formula, and here for his comparison of the Super Sophs' rookie season with previous great classes' ones.]
Saturday, April 21, 2007
TTLB Back in This, Our Hour of Need
Mostly Harmless has been "a insignificant microbe" in the TTLB Ecosystem from the start, mostly because TTLB has been "on sabbatical," so to speak, in 2007. Well, thanks to Astaroth, Gojira, and NZ Bear, it is no longer. I can only speculate that TTLB's return is carefully timed to bring a little joy to the outskirts of blogoramaville. To which I can only reply, in the immortal words of SMAP, "Arigato-ohhhhhh":
I'm sure we'll all rest a little easier tonight, knowing more accurately where we fall in the Great Chain of Bloggy Being. If anyone wants to nominate NZ Bear for sainthood, I can attest that my stomach has been feeling better today, miraculously.
I'm sure we'll all rest a little easier tonight, knowing more accurately where we fall in the Great Chain of Bloggy Being. If anyone wants to nominate NZ Bear for sainthood, I can attest that my stomach has been feeling better today, miraculously.
Saturday, April 7, 2007
This One's for Claire
Claire (she of teh funny) just asked for a little something like this, courtesy of Quiet Bubble. Never let it be said that we don't aim to please here at Mostly Harmless. And sometimes the dart straightens up and flies right.
[Update: Here's another job search post--also inspirational. Anyone got more?]
[Update: Here's another job search post--also inspirational. Anyone got more?]
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
In Which We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled TV Humor Inventory for a Pop Quiz
My stomach has been killing me today and most of yesterday because:
a) I have the norovirus;
b) my WAAGNFNP premiere is today (my time);
c) I invoked Warren Ellis's Transmetropolitan in vain over at Is there no sin in it? (aka shirokuma-no basho);
d) I am wracked with liberal guilt;
e) I must bring myself to watch one of the Great (Blogging) Scotts do a Baudrillardean vloggy take-down of Ann Althouse's vlogging;
f) something else;
g) all of the above.
Whatever you do, don't believe Them when They tell you that trying to find fun or humor in being doubled over a keyboard can be fun and funny.
[Update 4/7/06: The answer, for those who were wondering, was f)--my stomach, either being psychic or a time traveller, was in pain from laughing at Berube's Vlogtopia post at the WAAGNFNP's sworn enemies, teh CT.]
a) I have the norovirus;
b) my WAAGNFNP premiere is today (my time);
c) I invoked Warren Ellis's Transmetropolitan in vain over at Is there no sin in it? (aka shirokuma-no basho);
d) I am wracked with liberal guilt;
e) I must bring myself to watch one of the Great (Blogging) Scotts do a Baudrillardean vloggy take-down of Ann Althouse's vlogging;
f) something else;
g) all of the above.
Whatever you do, don't believe Them when They tell you that trying to find fun or humor in being doubled over a keyboard can be fun and funny.
[Update 4/7/06: The answer, for those who were wondering, was f)--my stomach, either being psychic or a time traveller, was in pain from laughing at Berube's Vlogtopia post at the WAAGNFNP's sworn enemies, teh CT.]
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Ironies and Traumas of the Culture Wars
Somehow I'm trying to get my head around the synchronicity and the juxtapositions that being in Blogoramaville exposes you to.
What does it mean that the latest Weblog/Valve blogspat is happening right as blogospheric debates over the Mooninite invasion of Boston are beginning to take on War of the Worlds proportions? (You don't need me to point you to other more interesting and amusing takes; that's what the [Update 2/7/07: insert "now updated"] blogroll's for.)
What do these rumblings among academic and pop cultural bloggers have to do with the assassination of Hrant Dink in Istanbul fairly recently? (I will link to bloggers Mostly Harmless readers are less likely be reading.)
Why does all this--and so much more of this crazy decade--feel like the Golden Age of the Culture Wars (say, from Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind [1987] to Levine's The Opening of the American Mind [1996], no, wait, from Hirsch's Cultural Literacy [1987] to Berube's Public Access [1994], or, even better, from Kimball's Tenured Radicals [1990] to Nelson's Manifesto of a Tenured Radical [1997]), writ large in American and world media culture? Why is Blogoramaville beginning to feel like a huge graduate seminar that's open to (slices of) the (mediated) public?
What's your latest "deja vu all over again" moment?
What does it mean that the latest Weblog/Valve blogspat is happening right as blogospheric debates over the Mooninite invasion of Boston are beginning to take on War of the Worlds proportions? (You don't need me to point you to other more interesting and amusing takes; that's what the [Update 2/7/07: insert "now updated"] blogroll's for.)
What do these rumblings among academic and pop cultural bloggers have to do with the assassination of Hrant Dink in Istanbul fairly recently? (I will link to bloggers Mostly Harmless readers are less likely be reading.)
Why does all this--and so much more of this crazy decade--feel like the Golden Age of the Culture Wars (say, from Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind [1987] to Levine's The Opening of the American Mind [1996], no, wait, from Hirsch's Cultural Literacy [1987] to Berube's Public Access [1994], or, even better, from Kimball's Tenured Radicals [1990] to Nelson's Manifesto of a Tenured Radical [1997]), writ large in American and world media culture? Why is Blogoramaville beginning to feel like a huge graduate seminar that's open to (slices of) the (mediated) public?
What's your latest "deja vu all over again" moment?
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