#i think karl still has a good shot at the olympics | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

vierschanzentournee · 3 years

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hii eve this feels weird

ok so this might be controversial (i'm saying might because i honestly don't know how u guys felt about the comeptition because the tag is still acting up) but i think the competition was pretty okay?? the weather was nice and even tho the wind was a bit shitty from time to time, the jury did a good job?

i was about to say something about eisei's style marks but quite honestly we have talked so much about it in season 2019 i think?? that i don't know what else to say besides FIS FIX THE SYSTEM!!!

now to karle, it was startling to see him so upset and i am not used to it at all?? i watched an interview and he was obviously so lost in his thoughts and he even interrupted the interviewer because she started talking about innsbruck - the poor guy had so much pressure form the media and i HATE THEM FOR ALWAYS EXPECTING SO MUCH FROM ATHLETES (if i am not mistaken there is a number of rants about this on my blog already i am not starying again)

BUT i do have to say that i respect him so much because another interviewer tried to push the idea of the jury being guilty and he imediatelly said that he was absolutely not implying that (another reason why i fucking hate some journalists i'm so sorry for the outburst)

ALSO LOVRO KOS MY BELOVED finally got his first podium and i can only hope that he will stay calm and collected for the whole season

honorable mention stephan with amazzing second jump and 10 place

excited for bergisel!!!! (my fave hill pls don't dissapoint)

i feel so powerful!!! how the tables have turned!!!

honestly, looking back i think the competition was fine - i'm a bit salty about karl losing the yellow bib, but frankly after today it might do him so good to have a break from the pressure of leading, and as @bronzebluemind has mentioned recently, he seems to do better attacking than defending sometimes. and oh man i am cut up reading that about his interviews - i don't really get interviews because the english broadcasting team is composed of david goldstrom and no one else, so the last i saw of him was him being very grumpy after his jump and then celebrating with markus (i have a gifset of it somewhere on my blog but presumably not in the tag lmao). i'm glad he's not blaming the jury for anything, it would not be a good look, and as you said i think the jury did fine today.

now that you mention it, the style marks controversy is pretty much the same as in 2019 lol. i think markus was definitely marked unfairly high for his first jump when compared to ryoyu, but also i don't think the overall impact was too severe; the stupid 18.5 from the german judge was eliminated, at least. i'm kind of glad he didn't win the competition frankly, just because there would have been a lot of people (on here, reddit, etc) who were very angry about it.

poor lovro kind of got lost amidst the drama of markus and ryoyu's battle! they never even showed his reaction to knowing he had a podium secured (after marius was 2nd after his jump). but this was awesome for him, and like you i hope that he'll keep it together and produce some more good results.

i can only say that i am terrified about what bergisel might do to karl (if he or anyone else gets hurt before the olympics......)

#also this is a tangent but #despite this messy fht so far #i think karl still has a good shot at the olympics #bc he's always struggled with the four hills and i think maybe just #the pressure of sustained performance #(and maybe even the world cup itself)#whereas he's been great at single-competition things #like the nordic ski championships or ski flying championships

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pinupgalore-lanadelrey · 6 years

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lake placid, aka era

LAKE PLACID

Yes, definitely. I was a different sort of child, as half the children are. They are or they aren’t. I was in that category of being free-spirited [laughs].

I go back now to visit my grandma and grandpa, but it’s not really somewhere I’ve spent a lot of time, not since I was 14. It’s beautiful. It’s a vacation destination. Olympics. It’s small, 2,800 people [laughs] it’s very different from here.

It was boring. That town is crazy, too. I was a bad girl, but I’m good now. I guess I have some bad tendencies. I don’t like to do hurtful things, but I am drawn to the wild side. I love riding motorcycles; I love rollercoasters; I do like adrenaline. But I’ve also found true happiness when I was living in New York and working with other people in that way that we’ve talked about. So, I don’t know. But I don’t feel at odds with it.

They didn’t have too much music around, but they actually both had really nice voices. My dad wrote country songs for fun, and my mom sang for fun. My dad liked the Beach Boys, my mom liked Carly Simon, but we didn’t really listen to them; we just put the radio on -- whatever would be on the radio.

I would write fiction on my own time, and I liked writing in school. I thought that was one of the less offensive school subjects, so that was fun for me. I transitioned to singing when I picked up the guitar. I’ve never been good at the guitar -- always been bad -- but it did help me write for the first four years.

I wondered if you wrote -- your lyrics are so narrative. They sound like stories. I’ve been in New York now seven years, and it’s been a really long road, so the parts of my life that I draw from lyrically are maybe the more dramatic segments of the time that I’ve been here. But they are all true.

Do you feel like you struggled when you moved to New York? Yeah, it was difficult, as it is for everyone. Maybe myself a little bit more, but that was my own fault.

SCHOOL

I didn’t live at school, I lived where I could and studied what I enjoyed studying. I took what I wanted from that education but was making my first record at the same time. I don’t know anyone from school. I was just leading a different life. I was really interested in writing and other things.

Lana Del Rey: I was social, just in a different way. I loved my teachers. I feel like kids can be hard to get along with sometimes and I don’t know anyone from my school I’ve been to. I’m sure they were nice.

Lana Del Rey: No, I didn’t feel ostracized. I just had different priorities. I was reading and writing. I was pursuing my own education [laughs] which paid off, I’ve learned so many different things.

What does metaphysics entail?

It’s not as complicated as it sounds. There’s different branches so it depends on which branch you’re studying. If you’re studying something like cosmogony, you’re studying about the origins of the universe, and how reality came to be reality. Like this space that we’re sitting in now -- how did we come to inhabit this place? And why this reality strikes us as it is. I studied that up in the Bronx.

Well, I lived in the Bronx for four years. I lived in Brooklyn for like four years after that. I always consider myself to have a serious street side, even when I was in high school. I mean, I was pretty crazy. Everyone I knew was really crazy.

I define myself eccentric psychologically but in the interviews that it’s often misunderstood. Maybe because my life had a lot of transformations, more transitions. My life has gone through various incarnations, mostly transitions. But I don’t consider myself to be someone very provocative or radical – I embrace a lot of traditional things. But I believe in alternative lifestyles and in alternative relationships.

Yes, exactly like Twin Peaks. I was hoping to get out and get to New York because that felt like heaven. I like going to the corner store and tell you that a man [in Spanish], “Hello beautiful, how are you? ‘.

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I remember for the short time we lived together in NYC, I used to come home from work and see the entire wall of our studio apartment covered in weird tropical backdrops from the Party City store. There would be tinsel everywhere and streamers taped to the walls and I was furious because it looked like the most bizarre amateur movie set, plus I was worried for your sanity because I couldn’t see where you were going with all of it. Looking back though, your obsession with strange nick knacks and Hawaiian embellishments were like little hints of colors to come for future sounds and videos. Yeah, of course I remember those days. You hated my electric fishtank which gave me endless amusement. (She winks!)

For the record, I loved that fish tank, you gave it to me for my 19th birthday. I believe the inadvertant theme was ‘Chinatown.’ Now, I know you don’t love to talk about this because journalists have sort of mythologized your past but let’s talk about the trailer park you lived in for a few years- I shot you there when you were 22 and continued to shoot you there for a couple years while you were writing and entertaining and wrapping up your album with David Kahne. You were so sweet and happy that you had your very own place to write and reside in, and extra money from that $10,000 indie contract. It was also a sad time for you because you separated from Steven Mertens who had originally produced that record and who was your boyfriend at the time. I don’t really have to ask you this because as your sister, I think I already know, but would you say this was your most enriching time as an artist and happiest time in New York (despite the split from Steven.) [Smile] Yes.

Do you remember decorating David Kahne’s studio? I remember sitting next to a decorative Urn during one of your recording sessions. Even now, you’ll bring ribbons or bows or specific iconography to recording sessions. How important is it that your space reflects your personal style or headspace? I honestly haven’t thought about that in so long. I used to have to have some sort of talisman with me if I was writing. Something connected to the lyrics like a sparkle jumprope or a golden compact mirror- at the time it was really important. Now I have internalized so much of what I’ve come to love that I don’t think about it as much any more.

I loved New York. When I was there it was almost my sole source of inspiration, more than any other man, writer or rapper, but it’s harder for me to get around now. I used to take late night walks over the Williamsburg Bridge, go to all the 24 hour diners with $5 and beg the waiters to let me stay all night in exchange for the purchase of one giant slice of chocolate cake. I would sit for hours and read about interesting people like Karl Lagerfeld and listen to books on tape by Tony Robins to keep me company. I would take the D train to Coney Island, take the D train back to the Bronx where I lived on Hughes Avenue.

I did move into a trailer park when I made my first record. I got ten grand from Five Points Records and moved into Manhattan Mobile Home in New Jersey. And I was happy, because I was doing it for myself. There was a white trash element in the way there was a time that I didn’t want to be a part of mainstream society because I thought it was gross. I was trying to carve my own piece of the pie in a creative way that I kind of knew how. And I thought it was cool to be living by myself and working with a famous producer. I was excited about the future at the time.

Like when I was working with my first producer David Kahne and I was in that mobile home for two years. I was between there and Williamsburg and I had a boyfriend then. It was a very happy time.

I was doing open mic nights in the city with my guitar at Layla Lounge, Galapagos, where those places are open. Same place every girl singer was playing. One of many tragic Lower East side songstresses, oh dear! What must they think? And I met really nice people. Everyone in Brooklyn was doing a folk thing, and I was in that camp, singing sort of jazz. I entered a songwriting competition, I didn’t win, and one of the judges on the panel was an A&R man at a record label that had no other acts and I signed to them. We sent my demo out to five people and David Kahne got back to me that day, and said I think you’re amazing I want to start with you tomorrow. He was like my Harvard reach school, I couldn’t believe it. I was really excited. It was the first time anyone of any importance said I was good and I ran with that validation for a long time.

“I was always writing little songs, but nothing I liked then. When I left school I wanted to do music because I thought I was good at it and I wanted to do something that I loved. So my uncle taught me to play guitar and I did these little shows, just me and my guitar, singing and playing the five chords that I knew.”

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In her years in New York, working “odd jobs” and “helping out in the community, in alcohol and drug awareness programs” and playing the singer-songwriter open-mic circuit.

Just going to open-mic nights and things like that. It was mostly in Brooklyn. It was a folk scene. When I was 19, I signed to an independent record label. I was the only act on their roster, and then that record was shelved. After that, I still wanted to sing, but I started focusing on being an active member of my community.

In fact, she seems to be retracting more and more from public view, after buying a house in Los Angeles with her brother and sister.

There was an older song that you've never heard called "Pawn Shop Blues". [sings] "In the name of higher consciousness / I let the best man I met go / Because it's nice to love and be loved but it's better to know all you can know." Because I remember I'd met someone so special and famous but I knew he wasn't enlightened about how to be a good person. I knew it would get in the way of me becoming a nice person. That's a difficult choice to make.

How did you meet this famous person? Um, it was in a self-help group. [laughs]. He wasn't that famous. I justthought he was famous…

TV famous or movie star famous? Rock star famous. Just middle of the road ish. To me he was famous because I didn't know anyone who was wildly recognisable. I remember thinking it was exciting at the time.

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davidjjohnston3 · 3 years

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Facebook Insomnia 7.25.2021 1. I am still sad to conceptualize life in terms of fiction and the condition of fiction rather than Christianity undivided. Today I had a lot of images of Japan in my mind. I heard the phrase 'Japanese Breakfast' which is the rock-star name of the author of 'Crying at H-Mart' a famous book. I remembered someone who once dated someone who became my enemy. This person I respected I now realize and I am happy that I didn't say anything excessively stupid that would have implied I look down on her, saw her as easy, saw her as 'material to work on,' someone to have a plan for etc. I asked her once for help getting someone to interview at Deloitte for consulting only this person was in Accounting. I never really saw this person as in my league or anything to me except as a 'Curriculum Developer' I guess I outranked her and so wasn't shy of talking to / with her in official functions. Later we drank together and I said a few random things like that I stress- / binge-eat apples, like 5 apples a night. My friend once did a funny imitation of her that in retrospect sounded a little like my Taiwanese ex-girlfriend's imitation of Kaori Mochida from Every Little Thing; the funny thing I now realize is that he too had lingering affection for her despite everything. I feel he became anti-Korean racist and I don't know where he is now but in retrospect he definitely never crossed a line with her that I know of except for asking questions I would never ask. He called her by her Asian name which was something I never did in those days feeling it pretentious. 'The mysterious maiden of the Moon...' - It's a line from Yi Kwangsu's 'The Soil' in which a married man is comparing his wife with someone else like his former student. In good Korean custom since his former student once had a puppy-crush on him and gave him some corn, when her husband finds out, he kicks her to death in her pregnant stomach and this is why I oppose many things in principle such as tribalism, marriage, and for all intent and purposes the nuclear family. Yi Kwangsu is a problematic figure and as a Christian or aspiring Christian / 'Christianist' I don't recommend it. It has incredibly exquisite descriptions of women that could make you brain-dead. Yi Kwangsu also supposed Japan's occupation of Korea so that to this day talking about Yi Kwangsu can get you crucified. I also seem to recall something like '_ _-ya, you got run over by a train you one-legged prostitute; now you have to love your husband even more.' But I don't remember the context. Ironically or not 'The Soil' is the title of a Knut Hamsun novel the author of which supported Hitler; I do not. I wonder where she is now. This person got shot at a lot and I regret adding to her burdens with my sin-eater-type confessions or just shooting my mouth off when stuff happened. I had a crush on someone else and started saying I was sad I lost my virginity in college; IDK why I said anything. This person also had high alcohol-tolerance - extremely high for a female Asian - and although I could also drink a lot I always did bad self-destructive things. In the Middle Ages one form of 'trial by ordeal' was to reach your hand in to boiling water to pull out a pearl and if the boiled skin healed well you were exonerated or sth. She must be 'somebody's everything; my impossible girl.' IDK why she talked to me and I made fun of her and all my fictionalized versions of her and theories of her were derogations. Like me she played the piano. She once said '_ _ is popular' which was a burn I appreciate since I'm anti-popularity and anti-personality-cults. She went to a school part of which is Victoria College where a literary critic I admire(d) taught for many years. I am stuck in America, hounded by Satan through the personages of my Maoist biological family and 'family tree' of America torn between past and future, un-death and life; due in large part to my excessive tendency to defend myself, to lash out, to wash my hands on the outside without cleaning my 'interior mentality' to paraphrase the 'Da Xue,' or to blaspheme the Spirit in some respects, I feel. I regret talking about her and at the same time why would I talk about lesser maidens? IDK what her favorite piano-piece was as I never endeavored to enage her in discourse about art or aesthetics given she is not a 'kisaeng' or 'geisha' and I am not a museum-curator or whatever. Other people would be like 'Oh! You lke the Grande Valse Brilliante; I know you spent the summer of 2003 teaching yourself repeat-notes.' Everyone wants to drag everyone in to their mud or graves these days. Am reminded of Endo Shusaku's 'Silence' about why Jesuits would apostasize in medieval Japan. His conclusion was that the 'swamp of Japan' was too full of sensualism, the Portuguese Jesuit wanted a Japanese mistress or wife. I once yelled 'swamp f-ggot' at someone due to their tendency to emotionalize and 'contextualize' everything which was an underhanded way of trying to make me change my sex as well. In an effort to mitigate some of the tempting evil pornographic things I said about KR over the years I said a few more but this is a person, whose name means 'Pearl' as in 'the pearl of great price for which oe sold everything else.' It is said that AAPI Twitter, America, house-slave Am-Kor own-goal Korean self-exploitation honor-killing squadsters, etc. want to these people in the trash. I found my Gideon Kor-Eng NT Psalms with the 'victory song' that sounds like Mandarin in its Revelation, that I had worried I'd lost. That might be the 'most grateful' thing that 'happened.' I also remembered what my Mandarin name used to be though I had many in different classes I took. I was going to say many things, but in the end: the mystery of Charity.

I never considered the full implications of socialism or mental socialism till today. I assumed that it was valid mitigation. Some are born rich, some are born poor, it's wrong to let the latter starve on principle alone. I don't even know how to say this. I remember during the Iraq War being struck by how much the government - like my mom - was asking outsiders for advice about how to fight. Dick Cheney got in trouble. Years later I was skeptical of the F-35 because a lot of idiots with no skin in the game wanted to build it here or there. Wisconsin wanted to build the 'Littoral Combat Ship' which who cares. It made people worse and worse. The only thing is, the CCP - who ultimately serve I dare not even say whom, but clearly not the ghosts of Karl Marx or Vladimir Lenin or perhaps even Mao Zedong - figured out awesome killer ways to troll Republicans like Scott Walker w/ their 'FoxConn Fallujah hokey-pokey' whereby they got an avowed capitalist to promise socialists something that actually came from-post-hyper-anti-socialist hyper-capitalists with a plan to kill all white people or something. My father used to talk about the University of Chicago School of Economics all the time and it made me sulkily ask myself why 'Poor Dad' is talking so much about stuff that supposedly makes people billionaires while Jacob's English major dad is Bloomberg's 'chief of staff.' I say again it's just like Biden saying all the right stuff, 'knee on the neck of the American soul, bone of our bone, winter of peril, hey dumbfuck, articulate, they're killing people.' Writing grant-proposals to the government to fund private research in to brain-injury that is itself applied by the government to veterans sent to get brain-damaged by a government that said good things and did retarded things based on their readings of the good things they said a bit like Karenin in 'Anna Karenina.' I remember when George W. Bush said 'I'm the decider.' I once told my dad to get out of my face so he got really sloshed up and vapored, 'I'm in your face!' I'm not even saying that to defame someone but welcome to reality. Every so often every male seems to try to man up then they defend themselves like, 'No that is not the way in which I meant that I was manning up.' You could call this 'self-draft-dodging.' It's ancient history but if I had been wiser I would have tried to predict the future for myself rather than visualize it as an abstract spectatorial notion. At day's end mental socialists can literally not understand why it is wrong to steal. Stealing is compulsory under socialism - I again come back to 'Pearl' since her ex-suitor and I used to reflect on how Korean collectivism drove people into themselves. Similarly mental socialists cannot but hoard 'capabilities' so that in the end they'll falsify anything, steal anything; the only limit I guess is living with themselves.

I keep giving myself to fantasy and coping of all kinds like a 'mental Changrae Lee novel, mental David Guterson novel,' or ultimately Vergil (Virgil). There has to be a new music, a new dream, something, a new city, though it is odd to think about pre-Christian times and a legend of what came before Rome in a Christian moment amid realignment in 'late Roman history.' My favorite YAL book still perhaps is 'The Giver' since it deals with the uses of history, with abortion, and with escape or exile. I was going to say a while back something about 'Light in August' which relates to escape - as well to complacence - and to interracial relationships, pregnancy, the right to live. I was in Minneapolis but mind was on Japan, on all these swords, not the Olympics but histories of swords and strange armor, halberds. There was a huge sword called a 'field sword' in translation. I don't even want to see these people again; I sincerely pray the Japanese Prime Minister, the men and women of their armed forces, Tokyo's apparently amazing counter-terrorism and response capabilities for NBC / WMD / etc. attacks since the Aum Shinrikyo Sarin subway attacks and maybe their counter-nuclear or ability to respond after a nuclear blast will be enough. People in America are trying to live by a little of the old, a little of the new, but it seems utterly impossible. When people abuse me I get really dreamy. I read Virgil in high school; I was thinking of 'post-Covid YAL' or so in which people are just on the run, harrowing themselves, not even nostalgic for Babylon or anything in it. It is almost like 'the meaning of the soul.' I realized that in addition to new churches and new government laws Covid will engender new birth-defects and there will have to be new medicine. Japan is a country that I said bad things about especially when in Korea but she never did anything bad to me - I remember playing 'Final Fantasy' and thinking someone out there loves me; they made an investment in children worldwide. The only thing is I'm too old for such adventures and I fall apart quickly. All these birds in Japan, colors of red - people get obsessed with the Otherness of Japan and want to abnegate Belial-like (a demon or fallen angel of sensualism, to my understanding).

I took so many notes and voice-notes yesterday that I devoutly hope my visions will pass to someone. The future is going to be so beautiful for somebody but I have lost so much faith in my ability to mitigate or restrain evil. Those who I had thought were simply stupid but were diabolically opposed to my existence - whom I did not wish to understand and whom I had 'fancied' I could placate or appease through offerings - turned out to be radically evil, unconditionally evil. I feel that my father (biological) would steal my soul if he could; would eat it in a way. My mom is always sitting on the porch and gives a look of hope like I could change her mind but it'll never happen. I want to kill myself; I think things worldwide will get worse before they get better; I don't trust Biden or anyone who says the right things without showing exactly what they are doing. Christians seem so petty sometimes like melanin, hairy legs, in Japan this therefore that, Native American Indian manhood rituals. I just want to know which pastor has the 'batting average' I can believe in but it has to be John MacArthur doesn't it?

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sevendevons · 7 years

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Devon Aoki has single-handedly revamped the pretty paradigm. She is one of the newest faces in the family of Lancôme’s new millennium muses (“I definitely wasn’t the safe choice”), along with Uma Thurman, Mena Suvari and Elizabeth Jagger. Prior to landing that ambassador-of-beauty contract, the New York-born, Malibu-raised model sauntered down countless catwalks (for Balenciaga, Fendi, Givenchy and Thierry Mugler) and starred in numerous advertising campaigns (for Chanel by Karl Lagerfeld, Versace, Moschino, and currently Baby Phat). Born of a German-English-American mother and Japanese father (Rocky Aoki, the Japanese Olympic wrestler and founder of the Miami-based Benihana Japanese steakhouse chain), the freckle-faced 20-year-old will soon work her elegant schoolgirl look on the silver screen. In June, she debuts opposite Paul Walker, Tyrese, Ludacris and Eva Mendes in 2 Fast 2 Furious, the highly anticipated, shot-in-Miami sequel to the 2001 street-racing smash, The Fast and the Furious. And when she’s not capturing international imaginations as the new face of beauty and fashion, this raw talent keeps busy with plans to launch a record company and a fashion line, compares and contrasts the political philosophies of Edward Said and William F. Buckley, quotes Robert Frost and gushes about her greatest fans—especially the one who tattooed her face on his arm.

How did your mother and father meet?

My mother, [jewelry designer] Pamela [Hilburger], moved to New York from Buffalo when she was 18. She was this adventurous, whimsical young lady who wanted to discover the city. She met my dad while she was working as a coat-check girl at Genesis, a nightclub he owned. They dated for a while, fell in love, got married and had three kids together.

Are they still together?

No, they both have been remarried. My mom lives in Los Angeles and designs jewelry. She’s an artist and is really into feng shui. I appreciate how she really knows how to minimize clutter and open up the space.

Do you speak Japanese?

A little, but I never lived with my father until last year and my mother does not exactly speak Japanese! I took French in school.

Tell me about the character you play in 2 Fast 2 Furious.

I play Suki, a racer who drives a Honda 2000 supercharged and is part of a community of street kids who live and breathe for cars.

What car do you drive?

I don’t. Isn’t that terrible? If I did, I’d think about an SUV. But they’re such gas guzzlers, which doesn’t make sense to me right now, as we’re faced with war.

What are your views on the Iraqi conflict?

I’m a peaceful person, and war isn’t the answer. I have a lot of views about politics and am reading books to learn more about the subject.

Which books?

Representations of the Intellectual: The 1993 Reith Lectures, by Edward Said, who has some beautiful ideas. I’m definitely a Democrat and very liberal, but I can appreciate and understand things about Republicans. I’m also reading about the conservative party: Buckley: The Right Word, by William F. Buckley.

Talk to me about a political issue you feel strongly about.

An agreement called the Kyoto Protocol was implemented a few years ago, when many nations met to discuss how to save the world from [greenhouse] gas emissions and other pollutants. Unfortunately, the Republican Party [Bush Administration] has decided to no longer contribute to it in any positive or negative way. Problems with the environment aren’t going to go away; they’re on a downward spiral and are only getting worse. The U.S. is the biggest contributing polluter, and if we do not decide to curb output, the Protocol won’t make as much sense as if we did. Other countries have agreed to be consistent with gas emissions, but we’re no longer participating; it’s disastrous. I imagine a world where animals are not in danger, where people respect the planet. I’m not attacking the president; one man is not the seed of the problem. In fact, both Democrats and Republicans are a part of the same machine, the same economy, the same world.

You seem well-versed in world events for a 20-year-old.

I never really had to think about politics before, but it’s our era. There’s a tendency to forget about it and go on with your life. People don’t always take the time to learn about what’s going on, but I want to know what’s happening. I don’t want to be happy in my ignorance and accept that other people are making all the decisions. At this time in my life, it’s critical to have a better understanding of the politics that rule and regulate the world. I was watching the [Grammy] Awards and remember hearing Bono say something like, ‘You have to read. You have to look. You have to search and formulate your own opinions about the world around you. You can’t just regurgitate and accept.’ He’s right.

How is acting different from modeling?

Acting is a new thing for me; I’ve just started getting into it. While I’m a veteran model, which probably sounds ridiculous, now I’m going [to] castings, meeting people and starting all over again in a new field. Acting is about listening and staying present in the moment—really believing it and trying to maintain the natural process that is life. The more organic it is, the more convincing, because it’s mimicking what truly is. It’s important to be consistent with your own ideas and the collaboration process, because everyone on the set is such a vital part of the whole pie. It’s great to be involved with something so much bigger than myself.

You filmed 2 Fast 2 Furious in Miami. How do you like the city?

I love South Beach, and lived at The Shore Club for three months. What a great hotel! They were so nice to me.

How does Nobu compare with Benihana?

Benihana has been around for 40 years. It’s the best restaurant, and people who don’t think that don’t understand the experience.

Was there a time you didn’t like sushi?

Yeah, when I was younger I wouldn’t touch the stuff. You can’t ask a kid to eat uni [sea urchin]—that would be a little weird. I started with California rolls and grew to have a greater appreciation for sushi from there. It’s funny, I just went to Benihana with Tyrese and Ludacris the other day, and Tyrese ordered a fried chicken roll with ketchup! That sort of thing sounded more normal to me when I was little, but now I’m so used to eating traditional dishes. When he asked for that, I said, ‘Are you serious?’

Was your model-to-actress transition intentional?

I was never one of those people who know what they want to do from day one; I was always confused. I can’t see myself being a model when I’m 50, but I don’t have everything mapped out. There’s no blueprint of how I want things to go. So many different things present themselves to me, and it’s just about making decisions and going with what feels right. It’s like Robert Frost said: ‘Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.’ It’s about going one way and staying confident about your decisions regardless of the outcome. And anyway, who cares about the outcome? It’s all about the experience. You’re here on this planet, so you might as well take everything as it comes—really breathe it all in and make it your own.

Tell me what you’re doing besides the acting and modeling.

My father just got remarried and I felt like it was time to leave the nest. I’m living at the Trump Hotel for the time being, but I’m house-hunting, which is like a wild goose chase. Real estate agents keep showing me these really commercial buildings and high skyscrapers, but I just want something cute. I think I’d like something small—wait, not small. Definitely not small. But it’s hard to say. Do I want a two-bedroom with a marble bathroom? I don’t know. I have to just see it. I’m also working on a clothing line, a film-production company and a record label. But my dad always says to walk 10 steps in one direction as opposed to 10 steps in 10 different directions, so I need to focus.

Are you Daddy’s little girl?

Oh, yeah. That’s a big thing for me. I want to impress my father and follow in his footsteps. He’s so incredible. And I can say the same thing about my mother. She’s a survivor whose character inspires me.

Do guys get nervous meeting your dad?

Well, it’s not like I have a bunch of guys I’m bringing over. My dad does play a part in my life in every way.

You probably meet guys who are much older. What’s your dating age limit?

What is age, anyway? I used to think there was a list of things I’d need in a boyfriend, but the truth is, I just want to be comfortable and trust the person. I don’t care how old or young the person is. Actually, there is a limit on how young. I wouldn’t want to date anyone younger than me; it would be weird if he was still in high school or something. But I’ve seen couples where the guy is 70, the girl is 30 and people are scratching their heads; they don’t get it. But what is there to get? Who cares what other people are doing? Just concern yourself with yourself.

People do seem to care about what you’re doing. Have you seen ‘Devolution,’ a Devon Aoki fan website?

No, I haven’t seen it. But it’s cool.

I heard you were freaked out by a fan who tattooed your face on his arm.

That was a lie! Can I please set the record straight for once in my life? It was the worst thing, ever. After reading that article, I got so upset. A publication had asked me about my ‘craziest fan encounter,’ and I interpreted ‘crazy’ as ‘great crazy,’ or ‘weird but insane in a good and positive way crazy.’ I was so hurt when I read that they had changed my words from ‘craziest’ to ‘worst.’ Not only was it a bad reflection on me, but it would break my heart to think I had hurt anyone’s feelings.

Who got the tattoo?

A guy who went to school with my sister.

You didn’t think it was psycho?

No, not at all! I happen to think that someone inking my face onto his body is the highest form of flattery. I’m honored that people out there are interested in me; I appreciate that. I’m not scared of people who come up to me and ask me for my autograph. I’m not scared of my fans. It shows everything I’ve done is not in vain, and that there are people who see me, recognize me and support me. It’s a beautiful thing.

How would you characterize your style?

I’ve been wearing sneakers a lot. I used to be so into wearing heels and never went for comfort, but Jay-Z has a line of Reebok sneakers and they’re really cool. I also have [Cesare] Paciotti shoes, Adidas and some Puma. I’m really into sneakers these days, whether I’m going to the gym or not. Overall, I like to mix it up. I’m usually the last person to wear one designer top-to-bottom. I’ll wear an outfit that’s made up of vintage pieces, stuff from my mom, and things I’ve been given in the fashion industry.

What’s the best free thing anyone has ever given you?

Probably a couture Chanel coat that I wore on the runway, so it fit me perfectly. It is such a great piece. I get a lot of beautiful things, and try to wear pieces by newer designers, too.

Which up-and-coming designers do you like?

Benjamin Cho and Zac Posen.

What handbag are you carrying right now?

I just carry a little Chanel; it’s the greatest. You can look terrible, but if you’re carrying a nice bag that’s all that matters. It somehow makes everything so much better.

Tell me about your craziest fashion moment.

I wore a gorilla costume during a Thierry Mugler fashion show. Once I reached the middle of the runway, I ripped it off to reveal my hair and this beautiful silk dress. It was like a scene from a movie! This was probably one of the best fashion experiences I ever had on the runway. The designer came up to me and basically told me I could act because of what I did during that show.

#interview #april 2003

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netunleashed-blog · 6 years

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Celebs Side with LeBron James in Disgusting Donald Trump 'Dumb' Tweet

http://www.internetunleashed.co.uk/?p=31440 Celebs Side with LeBron James in Disgusting Donald Trump 'Dumb' Tweet - http://www.internetunleashed.co.uk/?p=31440 LeBron James, Donald Trump Celebs Tell POTUS ... STFU 10:15 AM PT -- Michael Jordan just weighed in on Trump's tweet, as well, telling NBC News ... "I support LJ. He’s doing an amazing job for his community.” It's the least surprising thing this week ... that sports stars and other celebs are appalled by the President of the United States calling LeBron James dumb in a late Friday night tweet. If this were a limbo contest, Donald Trump would blow everyone away, because no one could go lower. Here's a sampling. So let me get this straight: Flint, MI has dirty water still, but you worried about an interview about a man doing good for education and generations of kids in his hometown? Shut your damn mouth! Stop using them twitter fingers and get stuff done for our country with that pen. https://t.co/sEkX3OKaJM — Karl-Anthony Towns (@KarlTowns) August 4, 2018 NBA All-Star Karl Anthony-Towns Sometimes I wake up and see my news updates and think this can’t be real. How on earth is a self made millionaire who just gave away a school being criticized by the president? — Elena Delle Donne (@De11eDonne) August 4, 2018 WNBA Star Elena Delle Donne A sign of an insecure human being is one who attacks others to make themselves feel better... im just sad that young kids have to see stupid tweets like these and grow up thinking it’s okay... forget everything else Donald your setting a bad example for kids😑 our future 🤡 https://t.co/eg0MECg8xC — Donovan Mitchell (@spidadmitchell) August 4, 2018 NBA Rookie Sensation Donovan Mitchell Rather than criticizing @KingJames, we should be celebrating him for his charity work and efforts to help kids. By the way, all-around he’s better than Michael Jordan. That’s a fact. — John Kasich (@JohnKasich) August 4, 2018 Ohio Gov. John Kasich This is a late night tweet from the PRESIDENT. This tweet is immature and offensive. I would like to know why he considers these two successful black men “dumb”. I know why. Some of y’all need to start believing what he is showing you. 🤷🏿‍♂️ https://t.co/iE79LtGqBz — Torrey Smith (@TorreySmithWR) August 4, 2018 NFL Player and Activist Torrey Smith LeBron James is helping young people get an education. You are an old delusional racist who puts our country at risk. — Adam Rippon (@Adaripp) August 4, 2018 Olympic Star Adam Rippon I'd much rather live in a world reflecting the values, philanthropy, and yes intelligence of LeBron James and Don Lemon's intelligent commitment to truth and journalism than the divisive peevishness, lies, and narrow self-interest displayed by the President of the United States. — Dan Rather (@DanRather) August 4, 2018 Famed Journalist Dan Rather We got your back @KingJames 🙏🏾 Someone sure sound like they wish they was you. — Bobby Wagner (@Bwagz) August 4, 2018 NFL's Bobby Wagner It's got nothing to do with what you think about Lebron James. The President of the United States had nothing better to do late on a Friday night than grab his phone and call a private citizen "dumb" in a tweet. The leader of the free world did that.What a small man he is. — Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) August 4, 2018 Former Politician Joe Walsh It should be beneath the dignity of a sitting POTUS to take racist shots at D. Lemon and Lebron James. While only uttering kind words for ruthless dictators, Putin, Kim and Duterte. President Trump, we cape up for ours , “BELIEVE THAT” #KinOrSkinWeRide — shannon sharpe (@ShannonSharpe) August 4, 2018 NFL Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe For a second I thought Trump was saying that he had just interviewed Lebron James. And who is Mike? https://t.co/f964dKN8JY — George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) August 4, 2018 Actor George Takei Dear @realdonaldtrump,You come off as racist in this. You should've run it by your good friend Frederick Douglass. https://t.co/fGTj3ENKi1 — Rick Reilly (@ReillyRick) August 4, 2018 Sports Writer Rick Reilly LeBron is a successful businessman who is beloved all around the world. You’re a failed businessman who is despised all around the world. LeBron built an empire from nothing. You had to take “a small loan of a million dollars” from daddy. I see why you’re jealous. https://t.co/qcnrzjEoex — Donté Stallworth (@DonteStallworth) August 4, 2018 Ex-NFL Player and Activist Donte Stallworth LeBron is a smart dude (and one of the most thoughtful athletes we have) - this is a bullshit tweet and feels more than a little racist. You’re a constant embarrassment. https://t.co/QxYpuyHsuW — Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) August 4, 2018 NBA journalist Bill Simmons Source link

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flauntpage · 7 years

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NBA Dunk of the Week: Isaiah Thomas and the Dunk in Dank Obscurity

This Monday, the Cavaliers suffered an ignoble defeat to the Steph-Less Warriors, their once and future finals rival, behind a triple-double from Draymond Green and a dodgy no-call on Kevin Durant. It illustrated, as most Cleveland-Golden State matchups have since the Cavs stunned the Warriors in the 2016 Finals, that there is an ever so small, subtle gap between the squad with the best player in the world and the unstoppable hive-mind that has whooped on every team in sight for the last three years.

But: hope lurks for the Cavs in shadows, captured on obscure Snapchat feeds. Five-foot-eight hopes, heaving their tiny bodies at rims, throwing down silent dunks in darkened gyms in some place called the "Olympic Club.”

Even in a week where Karl Anthony Towns slammed on a guy at a 45 degree angle and then yelled BARBEQUE CHICKEN at a courtside Shaq, there is still no dunk that captures the imagination of the world as much as this dank obscurity. The tiny man Isaiah Thomas, serving the tail end of his rehab stint, bounce-passing to himself, flinging his slight body into the sky, and tapping a dunk down. It manages to cover pretty much every kind of weird feeling that a solo dunk video can capture. I will now endeavor to break those feelings down, here, in a series of short essays.

The Wonder of Man, and Man's Body

Isaiah is a short man, for a basketball player, 5'9" by most official measurements. Night after night, he still manages to get on the court and produce, with the help of an immaculate three point shot and a knowledge of executing at unknown angles that warps the mind of pretty much everyone who watches him. But what people rarely note is that he is a truly spectacular athlete. Certainly you might remark on his speed off the dribble, but the fact of his vertical leap, his off ball speed, these are things that simply get washed away in the inherent disadvantage of being smaller than everyone else on the court. It is an extraordinary quality you don’t even get the chance to think about.

Until, of course, you get to see the man himself, launching his small self into the air, catching a ball, and throwing it down. I am nearly six inches taller than Isaiah, and I can’t do anything close to this. Him dunking, in and of itself, is a stupendous feat, mankind scaling the mountain of limits, exceeding and exploding the human body itself. It is an act of poorly-lit, awe-inspiring wonder, an inspiration to anyone with a body.

The Anticipation of the End of Rehab

On the internet, there is no truer and grander sports tradition than the shred of contextless information. A half-baked trade rumor, a story about a scuffle, a scrap of trash talk, all of it leads the imagination on a leash, takes the mind to a place where you can romp around in truths, half truths, and fictions of the game—a palace of wondering what did, what will, or what could happen somewhere.

And so, we see Isaiah, whose career seemed profoundly at risk not a few months ago, dunking in a darkened gym...somewhere. A morsel of information, the smallest possible thing, and the mind, always seeking narrative and order, tries to slot it into a world we can imagine. Isaiah is ready to contribute, we think. He’s looking good, we tell ourselves. He’s flashing some ups out there, we hope against hope. In this bloodbattle, this never-ending showdown between the Warriors and the rest of the league, the mind seeks any form of liberation from Golden State hegemony. The Cavs are playing well, and if Isaiah is looking like this, then maybe they will blah blah blah blah. It’s all nonsense, of course, but nonsense has a poetry and a meaning in and of itself.

Sports jabber is crazy, but not contentless. It is the very flopping around of the brain, on display for us and anyone who listens, the machinery of the mind exposed for the whole of rationality to gawk at. And these scraps of poorly lit dunks, devoid of context…they are the perfect fuel.

The Understanding That Sports Are Always Happening Somewhere

Wilco’s sentimental jangle “The Late Greats”—the last track on the otherwise cold and sterile 2005 release “A Ghost is Born”—speculates wildly about the greatest band of all time, suggesting that, in fact, they didn’t even play a single show, that the greatest band of all time just rocked out in a garage and called it quits. This is singer-songwriter hokum, of course—quality is an intersection of inspiration and craft, not some lightning bug that lives and dies in five seconds, but it’s a nice thought—regardless.

If the garage is the place of legend for rock music, the dark, obscure gym is the land of dreams and visions in basketball. There are so many of them, and they hold so many athletes, doing so many athletic things that we will never see. Think about the mystique behind the legendary Dream Team scrimmage, a game that has taken on legendary proportions in the darkness of unknowability, another in the constant stream of maniacal Michael Jordan practice stories. It is nothing but a distant echo in the dimensions of unknowable sports HAPPENING deep in those gyms.

IT’s dunk in a dark, obscure gym I’m not even sure I totally understand, captured by some Snapchat person, is the scrap of noise from the barn. If he’s unleashing this on no one, then what has he unleashed on sad scrubs in Kings practices? What are the deepest dimensions of horrors he has served up? Such unimaginable dunks and steals that would break the very mind of whomever or, in this dark place, whatever saw them? There is so much wonderful basketball for my eyes, but the world underneath—the one we are getting just the slightest, smallest peak at here—it taunts me with its myriad delights and power. Open your world to me, practice sessions! I crave the beauty and insight you can GIVE!

NBA Dunk of the Week: Isaiah Thomas and the Dunk in Dank Obscurity published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

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amtushinfosolutionspage · 7 years

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NBA Dunk of the Week: Isaiah Thomas and the Dunk in Dank Obscurity

The Wonder of Man, and Man’s Body

Isaiah is a short man, for a basketball player, 5’9″ by most official measurements. Night after night, he still manages to get on the court and produce, with the help of an immaculate three point shot and a knowledge of executing at unknown angles that warps the mind of pretty much everyone who watches him. But what people rarely note is that he is a truly spectacular athlete. Certainly you might remark on his speed off the dribble, but the fact of his vertical leap, his off ball speed, these are things that simply get washed away in the inherent disadvantage of being smaller than everyone else on the court. It is an extraordinary quality you don’t even get the chance to think about.

The Anticipation of the End of Rehab

And so, we see Isaiah, whose career seemed profoundly at risk not a few months ago, dunking in a darkened gym…somewhere. A morsel of information, the smallest possible thing, and the mind, always seeking narrative and order, tries to slot it into a world we can imagine. Isaiah is ready to contribute, we think. He’s looking good, we tell ourselves. He’s flashing some ups out there, we hope against hope. In this bloodbattle, this never-ending showdown between the Warriors and the rest of the league, the mind seeks any form of liberation from Golden State hegemony. The Cavs are playing well, and if Isaiah is looking like this, then maybe they will blah blah blah blah. It’s all nonsense, of course, but nonsense has a poetry and a meaning in and of itself.

The Understanding That Sports Are Always Happening Somewhere

NBA Dunk of the Week: Isaiah Thomas and the Dunk in Dank Obscurity syndicated from http://ift.tt/2ug2Ns6

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wrestlingisfake · 7 years

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TLC preview

Kurt Angle & Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins vs. The Miz & Braun Strowman & Cesaro & Sheamus & Kane - This is a TLC match, so tables, ladders, and chairs will be set up around the ringside area to be used by the participants. Normally the only way to win this type of match is to climb a ladder to retrieve something hung above the ring, but since nothing is at stake, it looks like the match will be decided by the first pinfall or submission.

This was supposed to be the in-ring reunion of the Shield--Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns--for the first time since Seth’s heel turn in 2014. However, just 50 hours before the show Roman was scratched due to a reported viral infection. WWE evidently thought they needed add something big to the match as a make good, so Raw general manager Kurt Angle is coming out of retirement for his first match in over six months and his first WWE match in over 11 years.

The match had its beginnings from the recent Dean/Seth vs. Sheamus/Cesaro and Reigns vs. Strowman feuds. Miz stirred the pot until Angle announced Shield vs. Miz/Cesaro/Sheamus, but then Miz convinced Angle to authorize adding Strowman to his team. Then Miz came back and arranged to get Kane for some reason. So it’s five-on-three, and on top of that there’s nothing to prevent Miz’s henchman Curtis Axel from interfering. So it’s more like six-on-three. Except, really, it’d be fair to count either Kane or Strowman twice, so it’s could be like nine-on-three. And then you add Kurt Angle to the mix, you chances of winnin’ drastilly go down, 'cause Kurt Angle KNOWS he can’t beat me, and he’s notven gonna try!

It is a pretty significant story that Angle is doing this match; his ability to get cleared by WWE medical has been an open question since the day he left the company in 2006. Kurt has a history of giving 1000% whether his body is up for it or not, resulting in a history of muscle tears, neck problems, and painkiller abuse. You could make a strong case that he should have retired when he needed neck surgery in 2003. You could frankly argue that he had no business in the 1996 match where he won his Olympic gold medal. A lot of people are going to be very worried for Kurt during this, which is pretty much how I’ve felt about everything he’s done for 15 years.

The whole thing was sort of a clusterfuck from the start because of the way the deck was stacked against the Shield. WWE obviously didn’t think anyone took Miz, Sheamus, and Cesaro seriously as a real threat. But now that the heels have two giants helping them and the mystique of a reunified Shield is out of the picture, there’s no good reason for them to lose. Which means that if they do lose, the heels will look especially weak and foolish. But it also means that if the heels win, the match will feel like a foregone conclusion. The only thing that’s certain is that WWE creative have their work cut out for them, and finding out what they come up with is now the main draw of the show.

Asuka vs. Emma - It’s Asuka’s debut on the main WWE roster, and Emma won a five-way to earn the right to get killed to death here.

Asuka joined the NXT roster in 2015, and has not been pinned of submitted since. (I know she was eliminated in a battle royal and maybe lost a few tag matches or four-ways, but that’s about it.) She held the NXT women’s championship for over 500 days, in one of the longest title reigns of any kind in modern WWE history. She was sidelined for a couple of months with a collarbone injury, so WWE announced she would vacate the title to move up to the main roster in an apparent effort to protect her aura of invincibility.

This could be Emma’s big chance to be in the spotlight, after years of being mishandled and overlooked, but I wouldn’t count on it. She’s most likely in this spot to make Asuka look good ahead of bigger matches with Sasha Banks, Bayley, Alexa Bliss, etc. That’s rough for Emma, but watching her get annihilated should be fun for the rest of us.

Finn Balor vs. AJ Styles - I wrote a whole thing about how stupid the Finn vs. Bray Wyatt match for this show was going to be, and then they pulled Bray from the show. So AJ is coming over from Smackdown to make up for the change. Although I hope Bray and the others sidelined by this mysterious infection get well soon, it is nevertheless worth noting that the match is now better for having been switched at the last minute.

As Prince Devitt, Finn Balor founded Bullet Club in 2013. When he left New Japan to join WWE/NXT in 2014, AJ Styles was added to the group and eventually positioned as its new leader. So yeah, if you’ve been wondering why some fans go apeshit any time Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows do absolutely anything at all with either of these two, that’s why. This is a dream match for Bullet Club fans, who are probably going to make their presence very clear at this show.

Just doing this match is pretty hot, but what makes it more interesting is it’s happening on a show where everything feels like it’s fall apart. WWE is in a position where two of the most heavily promoted storylines for this show have been shot to hell, and plans for next month are in limbo. When that kind of chaos is in play, Vince McMahon and/or creative sort of mentally gives up and you get a very different kind of show. I’m thinking Finn and AJ are going to get a lot of time and very few story cues for this match, so they can just go out there and wrestle a whole lot, like if they were in New Japan. That could play to both guys’ strengths and give us a tremendous match.

The finish is probably not going to matter since these guys are on different rosters and preoccupied with their own storylines. AJ seems to be getting positioned for a world title match with Jinder Mahal in the future, so he should probably get the win. On the other hand, it’s Raw and Finn’s the Raw guy, plus you’d sort of want to keep him strong for the rescheduled match with Bray later on. I’d say it’s even money.

Alexa Bliss vs. Mickie James - Bliss defends the Raw women’s championship. James is 38 and so WWE is making her age an issue in a really shallow effort to put heat on Alexa. Considering James has been back with the promotion for over a year, I’m honestly surprised they managed to wait this long before pulling this shit. Anyway this match is your reminder that very little actually changed when they did that whole divas revolution business, and WWE is still pretty scuzzy when it comes to women. I’m sure Bliss will retain because WWE can’t get enough of presenting pretty blondes as stuck-up sociopaths.

Kalisto vs. Enzo Amore - Kalisto won the cruiserweight title from Enzo on October 9th, so this is the rematch. This all stems from a storyline where Enzo put it in his contract that if anybody in the cruiserweight division hit him, they would be banned from challenging him from the title, so the entire division beat him up anyway because they hate him that much. That left Enzo without any challengers, so Kalisto switched weight classes, and he’s exempt from the no-contact clause.

Kalisto was supposed to challenge Enzo for the title here, but the match got bumped up to replace a non-title Neville vs. Enzo match that was scrapped when Neville walked out of the company. It’s a safe bet Kalisto only won the 10/9 match out of some sense that WWE had to “make good” on the cancellation, and that Kalisto is set to drop the title at the company’s earliest convenience. I’m pretty confident we’ll see Enzo get the belt back, and in a way that solidifies his heel turn.

Cedric Alexander & Rich Swann vs. Brian Kendrick & Jack Gallagher - It’s a bunch of cruiserweights, WWE has turned these guys into the bathroom break division, it doesn’t matter what happens.

Sasha Banks vs. Alicia Fox - This is scheduled for the pre-show, and seems to have been rushed together. Ordinarily Fox never gets to do anything on TV, but she’s apparently filling in for Nia Jax who reportedly asked for time off (which has frustrated industry watchers trying to figure out why). I like Alicia and I think she’s underutilized, but I’ve also given up expecting that to ever change. Banks will win.

#wwe #tlc #kurt angle #dean ambrose #seth rollins #the miz #braun strowman #kane #cesaro #sheamus #curtis axel #special appearances by z gangsta and the ultimate solution

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trilotechcorp · 7 years

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New Post has been published on PBA-Live

New Post has been published on http://pba-live.com/how-a-rockets-trade-could-unlock-team-usa-carmelo-anthony/

How a Rockets trade could unlock 'Team USA' Carmelo Anthony

Carmelo Anthony has been a No. 1 scoring option for his entire career. Possessions run through him. Plays are designed for him. The ball is in his hands late in close games.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

“If I have a chance to be the second option, I will definitely be the second option. That just takes the load off of me,” Anthony told reporters in 2015. “I don’t have to go out there and do it every night. All-Star players, we want that light, we want to be the focal point of our team, of our organization. But if we get somebody to come in and help us out, that’s a load off of us. That’s helpful.”

That theory was never put to the test with the New York Knicks. Phil Jackson couldn’t pair Anthony with another star. But if he gets his wish and is dealt to the Houston Rockets, Anthony would be the second or third option on a team for the first time in his 14-year career.

Can that actually work? Can Anthony, a player who has grown accustomed to dominating the ball for 14 seasons, change his ways?

The answer, which might come as a surprise to some, is that he already has. There’s a formula for getting the best version of Anthony. It has been on display every four years in the Olympics. It has even emerged intermittently during his NBA career.

The method is pretty simple, actually: It involves a talented point guard, capable shooters and a rim-protecting big man. And it’s reasonable to think that it can be discovered once again in Houston.

‘Team USA’ Melo unlocked in Houston?

The initial reaction to an Anthony-to-Houston trade might be to cast doubt on the newcomer’s ability to thrive alongside ball-dominant stars in James Harden and Chris Paul. Although he has had brief stints playing alongside other high-usage players — Allen Iverson in Denver and Amar’e Stoudemire and Derrick Rose in New York — Anthony is accustomed to having the ball in his hands and operating as the unquestioned No. 1 option. He has led his team in usage rate every year of his career. Last season, he used a team-high 29.1 percent of the Knicks’ possessions when he was on the court.

Without even factoring in the addition of Paul, the fact that Harden posted a usage rate of 34.1 percent last season — second in the league to MVP Russell Westbrook — means Anthony would be hooking up with the most ball-dominant teammate of his career in Houston.

While this is uncharted NBA territory for Melo, we’ve seen the 33-year-old forward thrive as the second or third option several times over the course of his Team USA career. Sure, it’s easy to succeed when surrounded by the game’s best, but Anthony transforms into a different player with stars by his side. And that means taking a back seat.

His role as a potentially second or third scorer in Houston would be larger than it was on a stacked Olympic roster, of course, but there are some similarities that show how Anthony can be devastatingly effective when he’s not a top scoring option.

Despite coming off the bench as the sixth man in the 2012 London Games, Anthony still ranked second on the team in scoring behind Kevin Durant. That’s the summer when Anthony posted a U.S. Olympic record 37 points in 14 minutes against Nigeria.

Anthony has been effective from the perimeter when surrounded by top talent — something that would transfer to some degree to any situation in Houston. He shot a blistering 50 percent from beyond the 3-point line during the 2012 Olympics (a line that is 19 inches closer to the basket than the NBA’s). And he shied away from the isolation-heavy approach that has been his default in New York.

More than half of his points were scored from spot-ups (30 percent) or in transition (22 percent) that summer — two hallmarks of Houston’s offense. Only 13 percent of his points came via isolation. Though he ran less and isolated more during the 2016 Olympics than in 2012, Anthony still spotted up on 24 percent of his offensive plays, which would seem to translate well to Houston’s offense.

Now, the London Olympics were five years ago and Nigeria can’t compete with the Golden State Warriors. But Anthony has played this role in some form or another in three different Olympics, ample evidence that if he isn’t asked to lead an offense, he can be an incredibly effective weapon.

Guards are the key to Melo’s success

As a Rocket, Anthony would share the court with two of the NBA’s best distributors in Harden and Paul. Those who know Anthony’s game best believe he’s at his peak when paired with a top point guard.

“We had the most success when we had Andre [Miller] and/or Chauncey [Billups] — when we had a point guard that kind of orchestrated the rhythm of the offense,” George Karl, who coached Anthony for parts of seven seasons in Denver, said in an interview with ESPN in 2015. “… If [Anthony] has a good orchestrator, he’s going to be a helluva scorer for you.”

Paul certainly qualifies as a good orchestrator — if not tops in the league — and would be the best guard to play alongside Anthony in his career. Paul’s player efficiency rating (PER) of 26.25 last season is nearly 20 percent higher than any mark that one of Anthony’s point guards reached (Billups recorded a PER of 20.25 in 2009-10, and Iverson had a PER of 21.06 in 2007-08.)

Paul also ranked in the top five overall in ESPN’s Real Plus-Minus in three of the past four seasons, proof he can do things on both ends of the floor that Anthony’s previous point guards could not.

Anthony has arguably had to create his own shot as often as any other player over the past six seasons. He ranked fourth in the NBA in isolation frequency in 2016-17 (23.1 percent of his plays) and second in 2015-16 (23.7), according to NBA.com/Stats. Contrary to popular belief, that’s not necessarily something he welcomes.

“I’ve always been willing to pass the ball,” he said in 2016. Anthony also has talked regularly about the importance of strong point guard play. “It takes a lot of pressure off me to try to do everything,” he said when the Knicks added Jason Kidd in 2012.

And his win-loss records reflect the idea. The 2010 Nuggets reached the Western Conference finals with Billups at point guard; the 2013 Knicks won 54 games with Kidd at lead guard. With a Paul-Harden duo, Houston’s loaded backcourt certainly would surpass both of those teams — the most successful of Anthony’s career.

Don’t forget about New York

It appears unlikely, but there’s a chance Anthony remains with the Knicks for the 2017-18 season. If that happens, it’s tough to project how Anthony would fit, because the Knicks are still looking for a point guard. With Anthony on the books, New York would likely have to sign a guard with the veteran’s minimum exception. Currently, 18-year-old rookie Frank Ntilikina is the only point guard on the roster, and the rest of the backcourt (Tim Hardaway Jr. and Ron Baker) doesn’t exactly boast strong facilitators.

The Knicks’ plan for Anthony also is unknown. Under Jackson, there were internal discussions about reducing Anthony’s minutes or bringing him off the bench if he returned in 2016-17, according to league sources. It’s unclear if the new front office of president Steve Mills and general manager Scott Perry share the same outlook.

Absent a high-usage point guard like Derrick Rose, it seems plausible that Anthony would return to the facilitating role that he played two years ago. Anthony averaged a career-high 4.2 assists per game in 2015-16 season during Kristaps Porzingis’ rookie year.

The general feeling in the Knicks’ organization is that Anthony might inhibit Porzingis’ development. But there was evidence last season that Anthony had broken some of his ball-stopping habits and that he could help ease the burden on Porzingis.

Anthony averaged fewer seconds and dribbles per touch last season than he did in 2015-16 — though the presence of Rose likely contributed to this — and he has shaved off nearly a half-second per touch from 2013-14 to 2016-17.

That could bode well for the continued development of the 21-year-old Porzingis, who shot much better off Anthony passes last season than during his rookie season.

Porzingis’ 12 percent increase in field goal percentage off passes from Anthony dwarfed his improvement on passes from everyone else — a sign that the two forwards could build on the strong two-man game they started to establish two seasons ago.

Of course, the Knicks’ roster doesn’t fit the formula that has unlocked the best version of Anthony in the past. There’s no Jason Kidd or Chauncey Billups in New York this season. But if Anthony can play the role of distributor and shot creator for Porzingis, it could unlock an unexpected formula for success for the Knicks.

Source: http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/20115592/nba-rockets-trade-unleash-best-version-carmelo-anthony

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vierschanzentournee · 3 years

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OK let's skip the question about who will win 4ht, but: who will win at the Olympics? And who do you want to win?

Oh boy! I really don't want to jinx anything, but a few thoughts:

in the past three Olympic games, all of the gold medalists have come from the top four in the World Cup standings before the FHT

of these, four were leading the World Cup at this point last year (Simi in 2009/10 and Kamil in 2013/14, who both won two gold medals in their respective years)

so Karl looks to have a good chance for a medal, particularly gold, although of course it's not guaranteed (at this point before Pyeongchang, Richi was leading the standings, and he managed to finish ninth in both Olympic competitions!)

the other medalists from the past three games have all been ranked 11th or higher at this point (in 2018: Andi was 2nd, Johann 6th, and Robert 10th; in 2014: Pero was 16th, Bardal 3rd, and Kasai 8th; in 2010: Gregor was 2nd and Malysz was 11th), so I'd keep an eye on the current top 10

excitingly, this includes Marius, Killian, Cene, and Jan - I think it'd be really exciting if one of them was able to win an Olympic medal!

Kamil is ranked 11th right now... never count him out!

as much as I'd like to see some of the younger jumpers I listed above win a medal, I think experience with high-stakes competitions will help (for example, we've seen that Jan still struggles to put together two good jumps even in a regular competition) - that'll favour people like Karl (1st), Kraft (5th), Kamil (11th), and Robert (12th), with people like Ryoyu (2nd), Halvor (3rd), and Anze (3rd) falling somewhere in the middle of the experience spectrum

as for the women, I think the only person who can stop Marita might be herself! as long as she can keep a cool head, she's got an excellent shot at a medal, probably gold - particularly with Maren's absence

other experienced jumpers like Katha (2nd), Sara (6th), and Daniela (8th) are also in with a good shot

I don't know how the pressure will be for others: all of the current top ten competed in the 2018 competition (except, interestingly, for Eva), but I don't think they were ever really favourites for it

and as for teams... I know I'm biased, but I do think Germany are looking good for the men's competition! Karl is obviously really strong right now, if Markus has a good day then he'll jump really well too, and Andi, Stephan, Consti, and Pius are all good choices for the third and fourth jumpers. Japan obviously have a really good anchorman in Ryoyu, but I'm not sure the rest of the team can support him in the way they'd need to to win a medal (although I'd love to be surprised!); Halvor is a little better backed-up imo, particularly if all four Norwegians have a good day and the right conditions; and Austria and Slovenia both have 3-4 jumpers who are doing well but not brilliantly, which bodes well for a podium if not a victory.

I started writing about a women's team competition and then remembered that's not happening :') but the Austrian and Slovenian women are pretty clearly the strongest teams atm

I think that'll be an advantage for them in the mixed competition, because both Austria and Slovenia can definitely provide 2 men who'll put in solid jumps (probably Kraft & Jan and Anze & Cene respectively, looking at current performance); Germany would be a strong team if only they could find one more woman who could perform like Katha atm; and I think the Norwegians and Japanese will be able to put together strong teams too

Okay, that was more than a few thoughts, but there you have it, Anon! Thanks for asking, and please feel free to reply/reblog/send me asks :)

#also what i WANT to happen is karl and markus each winning an individual gold #or possibly kamil again #ski jumping

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junker-town · 7 years

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Here's all 30 NBA teams' best 3-on-3 lineups, ranked

Here’s a hint: The Warriors would still win.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) introduced 15 new events for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. One of those events is 3-on-3 basketball.

That got us at SB Nation thinking: which three players would each NBA team send to compete in a 3-on-3 tournament? And which team would have the best shot at winning?

Here’s our list:

30. Los Angeles Lakers

D’Angelo Russell Jordan Clarkson Larry Nance Jr.

I’m only here for the Russel-to-Nance lob passes. If the Lakers could have Lou Williams back, they’d move up to 29.

29. Dallas Mavericks

Seth Curry Harrison Barnes Nerlens Noel

I deferred to our in-house Mavericks expert, Tim Cato, who picked hand-picked these guys. I had Wesley Matthews, Barnes and Dirk Nowitzki. Here’s why he chose his lineup:

... Alright, Tim isn’t available, so I’m speaking for him. These three guys are the youngest talents on the team and provide more athleticism than my lineup would have. That’s about all I’ve got, though.

28. Sacramento Kings

Tyreke Evans Buddy Hield Rudy Gay

I tried to figure out which players would have the best shot at winning a game. Yes, Skal Labissiere is gonna be good some day, and Darren Collison is the starting point guard, but these three guys give the Kings the best shot at pulling an upset, especially if Hield is the second coming of Stephen Curry.

27. Orlando Magic

Evan Fournier Terrence Ross Aaron Gordon

This would be fun solely because we get to watch Terrence Ross and Aaron Gordon trade poster dunks. Wouldn’t be so much fun when their opponents start playing defense.

26. Phoenix Suns

Eric Bledsoe Devin Booker Brandon Knight

It would be very Phoenix of the Suns to trot out a three-guard lineup with Bledsoe, Booker and Knight. That might just give them the edge — everyone’s quick, small and can shoot. But that’s about it with this team.

25. Brooklyn Nets

Jeremy Lin Caris LeVert Brook Lopez

Lin and Lopez were the easy picks. I was tempted to go with Rondae Hollis-Jefferson because of his defense. I was tempted to go with Sean Kilpatrick because of his offense. I chose LeVert because he’s the best rookie you’ve never heard of. Still a lot of Ls, though.

24. Charlotte Hornets

Kemba Walker Nic Batum Michael Kidd-Gilchrist

This team really doesn’t stand much of a chance against the tougher competition, but hoooomygod just clear it out and give the ball to Kemba.

23. Atlanta Hawks

Dennis Schroder Kent Bazemore Paul Millsap

I was tempted to go with Taurean Prince over Bazemore, and Tim Hardaway Jr. may be more suitable for a 3-on-3 setting, but Bazemore is Atlanta’s best wing player. Can’t see this team winning more than two games, though.

22. New Orleans Pelicans

Jrue Holiday DeMarcus Cousins Anthony Davis

Not sure the two big man thing works in a 3-on-3, but they can each handle the ball and shoot. Don’t think they’re gonna win very many games though

21. Detroit Pistons

Reggie Jackson Kentavious Caldwell-Pope Andre Drummond

In a 5-on-5, I wouldn’t dare take Reggie Jackson. In a 3-on-3, however, you need a guy who can create a shot out of thin air. Jackson’s that guy — sometimes to a fault — and giving him a shooter and a lob option is a great mix for this competition.

20. Miami Heat

Goran Dragic Dion Waiters Hassan Whiteside

Give the ball to Dion Waiters and get out of the way.

19. New York Knicks

Derrick Rose Carmelo Anthony Kristaps Porzingis

This team looks great on paper, but we know how this story ends.

18. Philadelphia 76ers

Ben Simmons Dario Saric Joel Embiid

We don’t know what Ben Simmons looks like on an NBA court yet. So for 3-on-3 blacktop purposes, let’s say he’s a mix between LeBron James, Magic Johnson, and Oscar Robertson all in their primes. Yup, I’ve got Philly, too.

17. Denver Nuggets

Wilson Chandler Danilo Gallinari Nikola Jokic

Who needs a point guard in a 3-on-3 when you’ve got The Joker? I can see Chander and Gallo running action amongst themselves while Jokic either makes the right pass or gets an easy post-up bucket. They could be unstoppable... or really bad. Who knows?

16. Indiana Pacers

Jeff Teague Paul George Myles Turner

Is this team convincing enough for you to pick them in a 3-on-3 tournament?

15. Memphis Grizzlies

Mike Conley Chandler Parsons Tony Allen Marc Gasol

The Grizzlies play one way and one way only: with grit. No need to change that for a 3-on-3 game. We wanted Chandler Parsons on the floor for spacing, but he’s out 4-6 months nursing a pinky toe injury, so we replaced him with First Team All-Defense.

14. Oklahoma City Thunder

Russell Westbrook Victor Oladipo Enes Kanter

This is really a 1-on-3, but I put two other guys next to Westbrook just for fun.

13. Portland Trail Blazers

Damian Lillard C.J. McCollum Jusuf Nurkic

This is my dark horse because you have three playmakers on the floor. Imagine Lillard and McCollum getting each other open for Nurkic’s pinpoint passes? Or just a straight up iso for McCollum on the wing? Maybe a Lillard stutter-step pull-up 3?

This is a very fun team.

12. Utah Jazz

George Hill Gordon Hayward Rudy Gobert

Gobert’s a really good shot blocker and rebounder, but he’s also an extraordinary screen setter. That’ll give defenses problems, especially with Hill and Hayward.

11. Chicago Bulls

Rajon Rondo Dwyane Wade Jimmy Butler

These guys showed you can’t count them out in the first round against the Celtics. With a healthy Rondo, anything is possible.

10. Milwaukee Bucks

Giannis Antetokounmpo Khris Middleton Jabari Parker

With a healthy Parker, this team is about as good as any the NBA has to offer. If you’re not the Warriors (KD), Cavs (LeBron), or Spurs (Kawhi), you don’t really have an answer for Giannis. And that’s game right there.

9. Washington Wizards

John Wall Bradley Beal Markieff Morris

John Wall and Bradley Beal are a duo tailor-made for 2-on-2 basketball. I thought to add Otto Porter here, but he’s mostly a corner 3-point shooter. You can add Markieff Morris, who can shoot the 3 but also create his own shot, instead.

8. Toronto Raptors

Kyle Lowry DeMar DeRozan Serge Ibaka

These guys are good up until they run into Cleveland.

7. Minnesota Timberwolves

Zach LaVine Andrew Wiggins Karl-Anthony Towns

This team would be really fun to watch. They’re conditioned to play 50-minute games. They can shoot, they’re all young and athletic. Bet’s on this squad to upset someone.

6. Boston Celtics

Isaiah Thomas Avery Bradley Al Horford

This 3-on-3 team perfectly exemplifies the Celtics’ current situation. Avery Bradley is a stud, but against top-level talent, Boston needs a third All-Star. Imagine this team with Jimmy Butler, Gordon Hayward, or Paul George? That’s a different conversation.

5. Los Angeles Clippers

Chris Paul Jamal Crawford Blake Griffin

I’m not sure you need two big men in a 3-on-3 tournament. And while DeAndre Jordan is a vaunted rim protector, our own Harry Lyles agrees: can roll the dice in a half-court setting and task Griffin with that responsibility.

What you DO need, though, is a guy like Jamal Crawford who can get his shot at any time, from any place. Him breaking ankles is only an added bonus.

4. Houston Rockets

James Harden Eric Gordon Ryan Anderson

You know why Houston’s here. Space the floor to clear the paint. Pick your poison: defend James Harden 1-on-1 or give Gordon or Anderson an open look at a 3. Sheesh.

3. San Antonio Spurs

Jonathon Simmons Kawhi Leonard LaMarcus Aldridge

Part of what makes the Spurs so good in 5-on-5 is Gregg Popovich. Most of that game planning goes out the window in a 3-on-3, so it’ll be hard for the Spurs to match up against a superior team.

Still, any time you’ve got Kawhi, you’ve got a shot.

2. Cleveland Cavaliers

Kyrie Irving LeBron James Kevin Love

We know why these guys are here.

1. Golden State Warriors

Stephen Curry Klay Thompson Kevin Durant

It only took me about four seconds to choose Klay Thompson over Draymond Green here. Why? Because this is a 3-on-3, and I’m not sure Draymond is as important in a half-court pickup game as Klay is.

There you have it. I think the Warriors (surprise) are the most unstoppable team and, if we’re breaking it up by East vs. West, the T’Wolves, Spurs and Rockets are their top competition. In the end, they’re just too versatile of a team with three shooters and two lock-down defenders.

Things in the East are a bit more complicated. It’s hard to bet against LeBron and the Cavaliers, but Giannis’ Bucks are scary, as are the Bulls and even the Knicks. I’m gonna take the Bucks in a game against the Cavs.

That sets the table for Giannis vs. KD, with a bigger Khris Middleton on Steph and Jabari Parker checking Klay Thompson. In my humble opinion, that game could go either way.

Did we get something wrong? Let us know in the comments.

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flauntpage · 7 years

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NBA Dunk of the Week: Isaiah Thomas and the Dunk in Dank Obscurity

The Wonder of Man, and Man's Body

The Anticipation of the End of Rehab

The Understanding That Sports Are Always Happening Somewhere

NBA Dunk of the Week: Isaiah Thomas and the Dunk in Dank Obscurity published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

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flauntpage · 7 years

Text

NBA Dunk of the Week: Isaiah Thomas and the Dunk in Dank Obscurity

The Wonder of Man, and Man's Body

The Anticipation of the End of Rehab

The Understanding That Sports Are Always Happening Somewhere

NBA Dunk of the Week: Isaiah Thomas and the Dunk in Dank Obscurity published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

0 notes