With the Corona virus putting an end to every sports season as of the time being, there are creative measures being explored bring them back. Whether it be a part of a state locked off for all the teams to meet at and stay in and play the remainder of the season, or a sports cruise ship. Mark Cuban put forward the idea of a Hotel California style approach.
Either way the athletes and all associated with the events would have to be in their own quarantined city basically or wear some type of protective equipment.
While the ideas are far fetched, the vaccine is still a ways away before being complete and useable. This means that the world may require creative solutions like these to attempt and stimulate the economy and bring one of its biggest money makers back. Even if it looks like this.
Since this quarantine has limited my ability to play the sport that usually takes up most of my time which is hockey, I have shifted my focus to other alternatives. One sport that has caught my eye is downhill mountain biking. A number of my friends participate in said activity and I figured its about time I did too. Downhill mountain biking has a rich history and has really taken off in the last couple years. It involves hitting massive jumps. dropping in off boulders, even spinning and flipping.
There are events put on by major sponsors such as Red Bull to showcase the skills of these riders in a competitive format.
If you think you might need some music to boost you r confidence and get in the zone there already some playlists on SoundCloud to get the blood pumping.
My brother has been home from Michigan during this quarantine and he brought his drone with him. While this do not particularly interest me they are pretty impressive machines. I realized that Amazon is using them for delivery of packages which is exciting and terrifying at the same time. However, the ones my brother has brought with him are racing drones, and little did I know there are professional drone racing series. They are much smaller and look like this.
They are impressive little machines but are fairly difficult to fly and I crashed his a number of times. Surprisingly, they are also highly durable as well and nothing broke so I’m going to continue to try and learn the ins and outs of drone flying.
Since everybody is bored and stuck in their house, I have seen almost all of my friends posting about some game or another. Whether it be Call of Duty, NHL 20 or whatever else everybody has been gaming non-stop or at least thats what it feels like. I can’t really get into for whatever reason but I decided to look into professional gaming just for the sake of it.
This video provided some insight into truly how much the gaming industry has grown and the relevance of E-sports on a larger scale. I was also shocked to discover that in 2018 the top E-sports tournaments payed out over $25.53 million in prizes.
Maybe everybody can take this time to become pro gamers because its just about the only “sport” we can practice right now.
Through my boredom during quarantine I have become addicted to watching TikTok videos. Most of them are very cringeworthy, and some are hilarious in new and genius ways. To get an idea of what type of videos are on this app here is a montage of most of the most popular trends.
However, my friend put me on the trail of some hot new conspiracy theories about the app. Since the parent company of TikTok is based in China, there is a growing concern that the app is being used to spy on its users. Due to Chinese law, companies such as these are required to cooperate with Chinese government intelligence if asked. On the flip side, if someone where to be worried about this they should be worried about all apps because many track things such as location and use tendencies. Either way, I will probably still use the app because its a good way to kill an hour.
Stir Crazy seems to be the most common answer when asking someone how they are doing during these trying times. Really the only way to stay sane is to try to be as busy as possible. As for basic things I’ve been doing is working on my cooking skills. Whether it be new ways to cool eggs or homemade protein bars like these.
I have definitely made some reckless purchases during this time as well. Pretty much as soon as this whole shut down began I purchased a rack for lifting because that is one of my main hobbies. As my boredom grew I was thinking about what else would be fun to have. I have lots of property at home and may neighbor was selling his dirt bike so the while thing kind of fell into my lap so I bought that as well.
Between all these things I’ve managed to stay somewhat busy but still eagerly awaiting this whole thing to be over.
A company that makes high-tech medical devices called eSight has created eye wear that uses screens algorithms and smart cameras to improve vision. There are roughly 130,000 U.S. veterans that are legally blind and another million that live with low vision. This device, while looking a little strange, can help these individuals regain independence. To me it seems like it is about time technology like this began to become prominent. Poor eye sight has been a problem for ages and while Lasik surgery has evolved, it still does not work for everyone.
This technology could change lives for many. Not only to regain their independence, but to receive the gift of sight one again.
One of my favorite podcasts that I listen to has a a segment called spin zone. This is basically where they take something that is otherwise negative, and spin it to find positives about the situation. While we can all agree that quarantine and all that is going on in the road right now is awful, there are some ways to manage the time in a positive way. First of which is I get to spend lots of time with my dog who I miss during the school year. We go on runs and hikes near my house almost every day.
I have also mad much more time to find new music. I’ve found everything from country to rap and everything in between these are just some of my favorite so far.
As boring as it may sound I have been able to focus fairly well on completely all my work as well. There are very little distractions from sports or hanging out with friends and so on so getting work done has been no problem.
The specific scene that really heightened my interest in this movie starts with around fifteen minutes left in the film. It is the scene where Norman Maine is listening in on the conversation that Esther and Oliver are having regarding how she will give up her career and take care of Norman. It is obvious that Esther feels a lot of guilt for being away from him so much and that she believes had she been around more, maybe this wouldn’t have happened. However, Oliver urges her to continue her work because she has worked so hard and it’s her life to live. Ultimately, she decides to give it up anyway because of her love for her husband. What makes this scene so interesting is the way it is shot. While most of the movie focuses on full shots of all the actors and actresses faces, this one scene is different. A more targeted point of focus requires the viewer to dig deeper and to analyze more than what is just being displayed on the screen.
Norman is laying down in in bed while Esther and Oliver are talking in the other room. However, the doors to the bedroom are slightly left ajar and the light is shining in on Norman. The crack in the door is only large enough for a small beam of light but it shines directly onto his eyes and his eyes alone. Other than Norman’s eyes the entire shot is complete darkness. This forces us as the viewers to focus solely on his eyes and nothing else. This creates somewhat of an anxious feeling and really makes the viewer feel that he is doing some intense thinking. His eyes act as a window to what he is feeling inside, which sometimes can be overlooked when there is a whole face and body language to observe as well. As stated prior, using this lighting it forces all the attention to his eyes. There is certainly a feeling of uneasiness with a strong sense of defeat as well. Amidst all that there is also a look to conviction as well, like he has made up his mind on what he needs to do. Which as the scene comes to close involves him walking out of their beach front house and downing himself in the ocean. The style in which the scene is shot not only gives unique perspective to the thought of the character, but also leads seamlessly into his actions taken.
A Star Is Born is a love story filled with tragedy and struggle amidst the demise of one career and the birth of a new one. A young actress by the name of Esther Blodgett moves from North Dakota to Hollywood in search of fame in the movie industry. Once she makes the move, she realizes that the odds are of her becoming a star are slim to none. She struggles to find work at all, let alone acting jobs. Finally, she gets a waitress job at a Hollywood party that is jam packed with directors and actors. While at the party she catches the eye of Norman Maine, a major movie star that is falling out of favor in the industry due to his drinking problems. None the less Norman is able to get Esther a screen test for his good friend Oliver Niles and as a result gets a small role in a movie. She is also given a stage name of Vickie Lester. Later the studio is having an issue finding a female lead for The Enchanted Hour, Norman’s new film and he eventually convinces them to cast Esther. This ultimately catapults her to stardom and further pushes Norman out of the bright lights.
As the movie continues Norman proposes to Esther and she agrees, but only if he vows to give up drinking which foreshadows things to come. Norman is unable to give up drinking and ruins Esther’s speech when she wins the industry’s top award for best actress and accidentally slaps her during his drunken episode. After that he goes on another drinking binge and ends up being arrested for drunk driving. Although he is sentenced to jail time, Esther pleads with the judge for him to be released into her custody and he relentingly agrees. During a conversation with Oliver, Esther lays out her plan to give up her career and care for her husband. This is overheard by Norman and overcome with guilt he drowns himself. As a result of this tragedy Esther decides to quit and go home but her grandmother shows Esther a letter Norman sent her when they got married. It described how proud Norman was of Esther and his deep love for her. Because of her grandma’s support and reassurance of Norman’s love, she would continue on in show business. The most intriguing part is Norman knew that he would continue down this destructive path. This would ultimately drag down not only himself but everyone around him, including Esther. So, in his eyes the only way to make sure she could continue with her life, was to take his own. The story basically meets in the middle of two careers on completely opposite trajectories.
The Box Ghost Travel 