Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It
In assigning this I'm trying to find a balance between giving you plenty of time to complete it yet not being so early that it has no relevance. We'll see if this works. As you may or may not be aware, the 2006 Tour de France begins in around two months. I really enjoy watching this event and I'm sure I'll be posting updates about it. If you are interested in being a more educated Prism reader, I recommend three viewing experiences:
At Kansas City's Union Station, you can see the short film Wired to Win: Surviving the Tour de France on the Extreme Screen. It "tells the true story of two riders – Australian Baden Cooke, and his French teammate Jimmy Casper – as they compete in the world's most grueling sports event. Over the course of three weeks and 3,400 km (2,100 miles), these elite athletes try to avoid danger, deny crushing pain and fatigue, control their emotions, seize fleeting moments of opportunity, and stay motivated." It gives a good, brief introduction to the race and what the riders experience, with a bit of brain science thrown in.
The second assignment is to watch a bit of OLN (The Outdoor Life Network, who I read recently is changing their name to "Versus" since they're continuing to expand from their original hunting and fishing format to include more sports like cycling). Tomorrow marks the start of the Giro d'Italia, the Italian version of the Tour de France. Just as long and difficult, it doesn't have quite the international draw of the Tour and most of the favorites are Italian, but will give you an idea how the races work and promises to be just as exciting. OLN will have coverage with weekly updates each Sunday in May at 4:00 CST.
And the fun one for those who just aren't into sports and/or cycling: The Triplets of Belleville. This French film had two Oscar nominations a couple of years ago--best animated feature film and best song--and is a delightfully stange little story. And don't worry about it being French, it's almost wordless. There is only a bit of the Tour and cycling in it, but the parody is wonderful. I highly recommend it to anyone.
And if you are unsure about any of this, let me know. I'd enjoy watching any of them (again) with you.
posted by Degolar @ 10:37 AM
3 Comments:
Yeah! That reminds me that I DO want to see "Triplets". I remembered the clip on the Grammys and thought it was adorable.
This time last year, I could have probably even told you what channel OLN was on cable. Darren's mother was staying with us at the time of the Tour. She had to watch her man Lance. We watched "Breaking Away" again shortly after that. A classic. Not so sure about that name change, though. Versus? Versus...what?
Evan grew so much last summer, he had to upgrade bikes by fall. Despite that we had just bought him a new bike that spring. I swear he's like 5'9" now.
I'll have to remember to take him to the movie at Union Station. I love going there. We haven't done the Extreme Screen yet.
"The Triplets of Belleville" was a really interesting movie. It had almost no dialogue.
Versus - according to the little press release blip I read, it can be "man vs. man," "man vs. nature," etc, so it covers both the hunting and fishing and the sports. Seems a bit cheesy to me, but OLN doesn't really cover their newer stuff like cycling and marathons either.
Post a Comment
<< Home