Christopher's Ten for 10: Top Ten Moments as a Member of the Albemarle Christian Cougars

In this second edition of Christopher's Ten for 10, I give you my top ten favorite moments as a member of the Albemarle Christian Cougars.  Lets get started.

10. Christina scoring 19 points in her Cougar debut:  After playing on a plethora of sub-par Y teams, Christina finally got to put her skills on display in a winning effort that started a career that would culminate in a championship three years later.

9. Carpooling with the Tylers: Usually two or three times a season the Tylers would be kind enough to give me ride to and from a game, usually to New Life.  It is during these trips that ground breaking news was uncovered; namely, the superiority of the Chalupa over the Gordita (which has since disappeared from the Taco Bell menu).  (Fyi, a Gordita is a Chalupa that can't stand up by itself, IOW, useless.)   IOW= In other words.

8. Beginning and end of the year Cougar parties:  Think family reunion, only with an agenda plus you want to see everyone there.  Also add tons of delicious food (although I've personally never been a fan of the hot-dog/tortilla combination), knock-out (the pre-pickup game warm-up), pick up games, agenda for season or honoring of graduates, and finally random hanging-out.

7. Cougar girls winning the semifinal and  championship games in last season's HSPN tournament:  I was already emotionally drained from watching our JV boys squeak out a championship victory in the final hour (more on this later), the last thing I needed was another game that went down to the wire.  This was almost to stressful for me to watch but what can I say, I love the smell of victory in Lynchburg.

6. Road trip to the far corner of the world (aka Danville): My final season as a Cougar involved both the guys and girls teams traveling to Danville to play two games over the weekend.  Here's a list of some of the highlights of the weekend.  1) Free ice cream and cake courtesy the Johnson's to celebrate Maddie's b-day, 2) a heated debate with Cat about which is more sanitary to lick: a pillow or another human (I'm still not sure how this came up but I'm fairly certain it's my fault), 3) watching The Departed with Dad in the hotel room, 4) getting chewed out by Coach Delaura during and after both games due to lackluster effort (we won both games though), and finally 5) breaking my glasses.  Yep, that's what I call a darn good time.


5. Hitting the game-tying shot to force overtime at New Life: The Bad: Tre had fouled out of the game.*  The Good: We had the ball with slightly over 10 seconds left in the fourth quarter.  Somehow I ended up getting the ball just outside the paint near the right block and I elevated into da air and made the game tying basket with something like 3 seconds left the game.  The Good: We forced overtime, another opportunity to win on the road.  The Bad: We lost.
* I remember nothing except for the game tying shot, and a knowledge that Tre fouled out and we lost.  He might have fouled out in overtime, I just don't remember.

4. Abe breaking the Cougars single game scoring record: In what is still the single greatest individual performance in Cougar basketball history* (and probably one of our greatest victories period), Abel scored 39 points on a Lebron-esque 64% shooting to lead us to a 70-62 victory over New Life.  What precipitated this scoring explosion? Abe had missed our first game against New Life (Tre was also absent), a 24-52 beat-down where Andrew sprained his ankle in the first half, leaving John, Cole, Josiah, Chafin (who had just lost 10+ pounds due to sickness the previous weekend), and I to finish the game.  I suppose both he and Tre (who scored 17 points and shot over 50% from the field in the game) wanted to make it up to us.  

* Christina, while no longer holding the overall record, still holds the girls single game scoring record with 36 points.  

3. JV boys winning the championship in the A bracket at the HSPN tournament:  After a tumultuous season which involved little winning, lots of losing and several flared tempers, the Cougar boys finally managed to win the big win.  Since we were playing the same team we had played in the semifinal game the night before, I was worried that our guys wouldn't have the needed intensity to start the game.  At halftime I regretted the fact that I was a prophet and tried to give them some advice (I wanted to pull a Coach Delaura but seeing as I was only an assistant coach I thought it would be out of place).  Fortunately the guys gutted it out in dramatic fashion, coming back to win in the last minute of the game.  I'll never forget the feeling of euphoria, or Patrick's brothers storming the court while ripping their shirts off.  

2. Sweeping the season series against New Community 3-0 my final season: To say that I hate New Community would be an overstatement, hate is a strong word after all, but I think despise and loathe are adjectives that accurately express how I felt about them.  After blowing them out 58-34 on a neutral site the first game, we were down 21-26 on our home court.  The turning point? First, two of their players told some of our fans to shut-up during a jump ball.  Second, their best player (who couldn't drive with his left hand to save his life) disappeared into a black hole when we switched from a 2-3 to a box and 1 on defense.  We outscored them 29-16 to finish the game and won by 8.  In the final game, we traveled to Sodom and Gomorrah to close the deal.  Even without our starting center, we were able to beat them 58-47 to deliver the final blow.  Our starting five played some of our best basketball during the series. Abe averaged 19.3 points, 8 rebounds and shot 49% from the field and 81% from the charity stripe; Tre averaged 16 points and 8.7 rebounds; Chafin averaged 11.5 points and 7 rebounds in the first 2 games;  I averaged 7.3 points, 6.7 rebounds  and shot 50% from the field while personally escorting New Community’s point guard to the black hole; and Josiah averaged 6.7 rebounds).  Yeah ... it was pretty sweet.  I still remember the depressed looks on their faces after that last game.  Hehehehe…  

1. Car rides with the Cottens: Aka the Chris and Abel comedy hour (or hours depending on the length of the trip), the Cotton’s suburban (and RV for one trip) was where it was at.  Fo’ sho’.  The funny thing is we weren't even trying to be entertaining, it just kinda happened.  It was as if the suburban had drug like qualities and everyone was high the entire time.  Not that I know what’s it like to be high, I’m just speculating. Seriously.  Unless were talking about sugar highs, I have had that many times.  But I digress.  Anyway, those were good times lol (lots of laughs not laughing out loud or lots of love or lying on lavatory).  With that being said, I don’t think the RV had the same mystical energy the suburban did because I didn't have nearly as a good a time on it as I did the suburban; although, that might have more to do with the speech I was forced to write for a PVCC class during the trip than anything else.  We may never find out.    

Christopher's Ten for 10: Top Ten Pros and Cons About Being Home-schooled.

This is a kinda truthful, kinda joking list of ten pros and cons of being home-schooled.  They are in no particular order...

Pro 10. Tiny Class Sizes - Why? The smaller the class, the more one-on-one interaction with the teacher. Plus you're usually the class valedictorian.
Con 10. Tiny Class Sizes - Why? Being valedictorian means diddly-squat.

Pro 9.  You can teach yourself some stuff - Why? Don't need to listen to a lecture telling you how to do homework that you could be doing as you read the textbook.
Con 9. You can teach yourself some stuff - Why? A) you can get distracted since your alone and B) you have no one to commiserate with about the uselessness of the lecture.

Pro 8. Flexible learning schedule
Con 8. More accountability and time management needed.

Pro 7. You can do school in your pajamas (although you can also do this at PVCC, lol)
Con 7. You get lazy in your pajamas.

Pro 6. Less interaction with people with foreign germs = getting sick less.
Con 6. When someone in the family does get sick, quarantine is almost impossible.

Pro 5. You don't have to take the SATs (Sometimes)
Con 5. You have to take the SATs (Sometimes)

Pro 4.  Well-versed in talking/having conversations with adults.
Con 4.  Harder to relate to people your age who were not home-schooled.

Pro 3. Random days off- Why? Perfect for spontaneous field trips.
Con 3. No snow days. - Do I really need to explain this?

Pro 2. Less  exposure to foreign substances i.e. drugs, cigarettes, and alcohol.
Con 2. More exposure to natural substances i.e. "bodily matter" i.e. diapers.

Pro 1. Spending time with the fam.
Con 1. Overexposure to the fam.

Man of Steel Review - Spoiler-Free!!! (ish)

Before I start my Man of Steel review, I have some big news to announce.  First, this is my fortieth post ( Thank you, thank you, please hold the applause).  Any who, this means that I'm ten posts away from the big five 0.  So these last 10 posts (including number 50) will be Christopher's 10 for 10: My top ten favorite things for 10 different categories.  I haven't nailed down all ten categories yet, so feel free to let me know if you have any suggestions. In addition, I plan to ask my faithful followers what their favorite posts are, so if you don't remember anything I have two comments: 1) dishonor on you, and dishonor on your cow and 2) there's an archives for a reason.  Click on it. Read it. Use it.   Well that's all for the announcements, now for the man event.

MAN... 

OF... 

STEEL... 

THE REVIEW

Synopsis:  The planet Krypton is about to explode. General Zod (played by Michael Shannon), the supreme leader of Krypton's military attempts to overthrow the current administration  in order to institute new leadership in a desperate move to save the planet.  He and his fellow conspirators fail and are banished to their prison, the Phantom Zone. Meanwhile, Jor-el (Russell Crowe) and his wife Lara (Ayelet Zurer) send their son Kal-el to Earth to escape the planet's fate.  The planet explodes, releasing Zod and his fellow prisoners, Kal-el's space ship crashes in Kansas, and then we learn about Clark's struggles to live on earth with powers through a series of flashbacks as the main story line introduces us to an adult Clark ( Henry Cavill) who is helping people and searching for his origins.  In addition, Lois Lane (Amy Adams) is searching for a mystery hero, against the advice of her editor, Perry White (Laurence Fishburne).  As you can imagine, Zod and his peoples arrive on Earth searching for the last son of Krypton, the Military gets involved, and Superman must earn the trust of the military all while being thrown into IHOPs and skyscrapers by the invading Kryptonians.  

 (17%) Music: 

Best Tracks: "Goodbye My Son" - Starts out soft and then comes to an emotional crescendo; "I Will Find Him" - Intense and gripping, "Tornado" - Invokes the urgency of the scene going on, "You Die Or I Do" and "If You Love These People"- Playing at the climax of the film, these tracks carry the emotional weight of all the stakes that been created in the past two hours of the film, "What Are You Going To Do When Your Not Saving The World?" - The Superman theme, this is a song you won't easily forget (nor will you want to).

This score is fantastic and the music compliments the plot perfectly.  9.5 

2. (20%) Acting: 

Michael Shannon had a quite intensity that made Zod intimidating before he even threw a punch.  Just like I'll never forget Terrence Stamp saying "Kneel before Zod," in the old films, I'll never forget Shannon saying (or yelling) "I will find him!!".  Henry Cavill is Superman, nuff said.  Amy Adams was terrific as Lois, Kevin Costner and Diane Lane were a great Jonathan and Martha Kent, some of my favorite scenes from the movie are just Clark and Martha scenes.  Russell Crowe.... needless to say, I have no need for Marlon Brando. Ever.

10

3. (18%) Plot: 

I thought the plot of the film was very well thought through, everything that happens in the second half of the film has a foundation in events and decisions made in the first half.  9.5

4. (21%) Execution:

Aside from one minor mistake involving the laws of physics in the film's climax, I thought the plot was executed very well.  I know some critics didn't like the pacing of the film, but I thought it was necessary in order to include everything that needed to happen.  I also liked that instead showing young Clark growing up in a linear fashion, they only show flashbacks to points in his life that had a direct relevance to a choice or decision he either had made, or would make later on in the movie; I hope they continue to use the format for the sequels, slowly revealing more of his childhood. Plus I'm for whatever gets Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as much screen time as possible.
9.5

5. (8 %) First Reaction:
Ironically, I liked Man of Steel better the second time than the first.  I think it was because I was able to soak in and really understand what was going on, as opposed to being awestruck like I was on opening night.  Nevertheless, I won't adjust my score.  9.25

6. ( 8%) Comic book-ness -
Superman was punched through a building.  That automatically got it a 9, so everything else was just frosting.  On a more serious note, the special effects in this film are incredible, Krypton looks amazing and the action sequences depict what would actually happen if two super-powered titans actually fought in the middle of big city.  And the flying..... man, I wanna fly so bad!!10

7. (8%) Faithfulness to source material-  

This is a bit of a tricky category to use because for any reviewer, including myself, it depends upon which source material you've read/seen.  There are many incarnations of Superman throughout the comics, tv shows, and movies, both animated and live action.  Now, I've read a plethora of comments by fans who say that the Superman depicted in Man of Steel isn't their Superman.  While I'm not going to doubt their love of Superman, its not my place to do so, I would say that the Superman they like is not my Superman based on everything I've seen and read.  Essentially, it comes down to this, the film was faithful to graphic novels like "Superman: Earth One" (Volumes 1 and 2), "Superman: Secret Origin", and a several other stories while unfaithful to others.  It just so happens that I'm a huge fan of "Superman: Earth One" and am delighted to have seen certain elements from the book portrayed on the big screen.  10

The Verdict

Man of Steel is, as I knew it would be once I saw the first trailer last July, one of my top ten favorite movies. EVER. (Future Post Spoiler Alert).  It's the best movie I've seen this summer and I'm looking forward to seeing it at least one more time before it leaves the theatre.  I would recommend this to my friends, acquaintances, family, and enemies.  My scoring system gives it a 96.6 out of 100, which I think accurately sums up how much I liked it.  So for all you have seen it, what did you think about it? Post your thoughts in the comments section.  And for those of you who haven't seen it yet, what are you prepared to do to rectify the situation? 'Cause if ya don't see it at least once.... 

I WILL FIND YOU!!!!!!

The Death of the Movie Theme?

DISCLAIMER ** Links to songs are embedded into green key words.  ** DISCLAIMER ENDS

Star Wars.  The '78 Superman.  Indiana Jones.  Aside from being pop culture classics, all of these films share one other similarity (two if you count  that John Williams composed all the music), their musical themes are just as iconic as their characters.  Even if you've never seen Stars Wars, Superman, or Indiana Jones odds are that you would know the theme music when you hear it.  In fact, some of you are already playing the music in your head and you don't even realize it.  Iconic and as central to the 80's as any other piece of music (In my humble opinion), these films not only started the trend of having a musical theme, but also continue to be the gold standard for what we look for in all other similar films.

With that being said, there are some people who believe that the "movie theme" not only started with these films but also died with them.  Last week, as I scoured the Interweb for reviews of the recently released film, Man of Steel, I came across a rather critical review with a very interesting take on the film's score.  In the article, the reviewer stated that the score of the film was lackluster and forgettable before jumping into a nostalgia-driven diatribe* about the lack of good musical themes (he cited the current Star Trek films and Iron Man 3 as being the only current films with a musical theme on par with the three mentioned above, which I will hereafter refer to as the Mount Rushmore of Movie Themes or MRMT.)

Now, I have been raised in a fairly musical family and consider myself to be a connoisseur of the OMPS (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack).  I currently own all or part of thirty three different film scores and have  fifteen others as Spotify playlists.  After reading the previous article, it took me all of seventeen seconds to come up with an alternate conclusion to the previous article's argument.  One of the main criticisms that the reviewer had about current movie scores was that he couldn't hum them like he could the Mount Rushmore of Movie Themes.  There is some truth to this statement; of all the movies that have come out in the past twelve years that have had a central theme, only a handful are as hummable** as Mount Rushmore.  I would say that LOTR, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Chronicles of Narnia and a few other soundtracks (namely Jurassic Park) have main themes that a person can hum.

However, it would be a mistake to make a theme's hummability*** the main criteria for comparison with the Mount Rushmore of Movie Themes.  The fact of the matter is that movie themes haven't died since the 1980's, they've evolved.  Modern movie themes, especially those in movies that are part of a series ( Pirates of the Caribbean or Star Trek for example), are becoming more complex as composers are taking advantage of the fact that they have multiple films to slowly develop the theme throughout the film.  Essentially, the movie theme goes through development that mirrors the character development of the protagonist/s.  I believe that a movie theme has at least two of these 3 qualities: Its played either in the opening or closing credits (or both), it is heard throughout the film, and it evolves/develops throughout the film (or throughout out multiple films in the case of a series).

I am going give three examples of what I believe are high quality modern movie themes that are just as important to their respective films as any of the MRMT's (I will also include a couple other movie themes that I like at the bottom of this post, but I won't analyze them). First I will use The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  There is a piece of music that plays when the Pevensies arrive at Aslan's camp that I would call the "destiny" theme.  On the OMPS this track is called" To Aslan's Camp "(Theme starts at 1:30).  This theme is then repeated during the Pevensies' coronation in "Only the Beginning of the Adventure"; with what I consider to be a more majestic and royal tone  Finally, this theme is repeated in the sequel Prince Caspian in the track "Arrival at Aslan's How", this time with a nostalgic feel.

My second example is the music from the Dark Knight Trilogy, composed by Hans Zimmer.  In the Batman Begins OMPS we are introduced to a Bruce Wayne theme and we hear the development of a Batman theme throughout the film. The Bruce Wayne theme is present in the first two minutes and forty-five seconds of "Barbastella" (his parents death) and the first three minutes of "Corynorhinus" (Rachel visits the burned down Wayne Manor); the Batman theme is present in the second half of both tracks (Bruce overcoming his fear of bats and Gordon revealing the Bat-signal, respectively) and provides a foundation for the Batman theme that appears in the subsequent sequels.  In Batman's first scene in The Dark Knight we get a more developed Batman theme (" I'm Not A Hero" 0:00 to 1:40 then from 5:10 on), a reflection of Batman's experience.  The last track of the film, "A Watchful Guardian" , which leads into the credits, revisits both the Bruce Wayne theme and further develops the Batman theme.  The Dark Knight Rises continues this evolution, altering the Batman theme from "I'm Not A Hero" in the track "Despair", while also providing a slightly different version of the music present in "A Watchful Guardian", in the final track "Rise".  "Rise" features a fully developed Bruce Wayne theme in conjunction with a powerful version of the Batman theme.

My last example will be the film Man of Steel, the film score that started me down this path.  Man of Steel is also composed by Hans Zimmer and will be followed by a sequel; therefore, a similar pattern of developing a Superman theme throughout the film instead of starting with one (like the '78 Superman) is used.

**spoiler alert, I reveal the first scene of the film**

The first scene of the film shows Clark/Kal-el's birth and the features a piece of music ("Look to the Stars "(0- 2:10) that is repeated (with some variation) three other times in the soundtrack and four times in the actual film.  I would call this the "Kal-el" theme. The track "DNA" (10:03 - 10:58) also occurs while Clark is still a baby and the "Kal-el" theme sounds very similar to the previous track.  When Clark first puts on the Superman suit a more majestic version of this theme is presented in the first half of the track "Flight" (45:37 - 47:49) while a new piece of music is introduced in the second half of the track (47:00 but more on this in a second).   The track "Terraforming" (17:37-19:07), which occurs at the beginning of the main climax of the film, features another version of the "Kal-el" theme introduced at the beginning of the film.  A second theme, which I would call the "Clark Kent" theme, is introduced in halfway through the track "Are You Listening Clark?" and is expounded in the track, "This is Clark Kent" (38:56 - 42:25).

Now, here's what I think is the really cool thing.  Hans Zimmer takes the "Clark Kent" theme and combines it with a more majestic version of the new piece of music introduced in the second half of the song "Flight".  This my friends is the Superman theme and it is in the track What Are You Going To Do When Your Not Saving The World? (49:43 - 54:29).  This new theme represents how Superman is a combination of Kal-el's Krytonian ability with Clark's moral upbringing.  I would look for this theme to be developed and expounded in any sequels to the film.

To conclude, I would like to clarify and reiterate my position.  I will always love the Star Wars, Superman, and Indiana Jones' themes.  With that being said, I believe that there are an abundance of modern movies that have chosen to have a theme like these classics but the execution and presentation of these new themes are not the same as the old ones. In addition, ease of humming should not be the main criteria of whether or not a movie has a good theme ( I personally prefer to drum on the table whilst humming to get that multi-layered affect that most modern themes have).  Hopefully I have articulated myself clearly enough so that you all could understand my argument.

So...... what do you think?  Is the movie theme dead or has it merely evolved into something that is different but still memorable? And what's your favorite movie theme? Sound off in the comments if you have an opinion and take a peek at some of the additional themes below if you have time.  That's all for now and remember, if you fellow my advice, success shall follow you like a stray dog.

Here a few additional examples of movies with great themes.  LOTR is bit unconventional but I feel Captain America is a great tribute to the Mount Rushmore of Movie Themes.
The Lord of the Ring: The Fellowship of the Ring- The Ring Goes South (specifically from 1 minute on).
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring- Many Meetings  (from ~40 seconds on but you really should listen to the whole thing)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - The Breaking of the Fellowship (From 1:30 on but again, I love the entire thing)
Captain America: The First Avenger -  Main Titles
Captain America: The First Avenger - Triumphant Return

* SAT word
** or hum-able
*** or hum-ability

Upcoming posts:
Man of Steel Review
Vacation Recap