Pinewood Derby

This annual Cub Scout contest is a harbinger of spring, embodying perhaps the essence of the season. Founded in 1953 as a response by a Cubmaster in Manhattan Beach, California, to his son being too young to participate in the Soap Box Derby, the Pinewood Derby has grown to an institution. Generations of boys have fashioned – by way of carving, cutting, grinding, sanding, whittling, drilling, and sawing – with or without the aide or supervision of a parent, these wheeled, gravity propelled cars. Hand tools, and coping saws are carefully familiarized. A newly acquired pocketknife may now take on context, as it peels a shaving from the solid pine block. Sanding and careful painting and shellacking will commence. A sticker from a favorite toy or item may be painstakingly grafted on.

The kit: one seven inch block of pinewood, uncarved, with brads and wheels. To be planned and built. Possibilities extrapolate into an imaginative universe of artistry, personal preference, and nearly unbridled creativity, only to attenuate within the unforgiving realm of physics. The wheels may be lubricated with a graphite based lubricant. Wheels may be scuffed and shorn to afford some abrasion, or illusion of abrasion, to grab or not grab the track. Lead weights, or screw slugs may be added to holes bored in the body of the vehicle, or bundles of washers haphazardly duck taped to the top of the car on race day to a maximum of five ounces. Inertia – that axiom of movement and rest – becomes the chimera to be chased, as cars hiss down the track. This lesson is often learned, as ornate paint jobs are plastered over with an onsite addition of washers and other ballast. The blunt reality of function superseding form is rarely a pleasant revelation. Last minute adjustments become teachable moments: intrinsically in line with the spirit of the event.

The track itself, a sloped flume of isolated lanes guides these gravity bourne cars in heats. Pack champions are crowned. Trophies are given for speed, and sometimes for design. Winners advance to district, and then council championships.

Annual Winter Solstice Hike, Damascus, Virginia

Several devotees mark the annual nadir of winter with a mountain hike into the darks of the Appalachian Trail. This almost ironic embracing of the bleakest of times is perhaps a means of coping with the seasonal shift. Throats bear a tinge of tightness as the depressing pall of winter creeps inexorably onward. Strange warbles from magnetic fields almost churn with every boot stepping in snow. These woods, lifeless, and shrouded in snow echo into a seeming infinity. The only sound: their party, feet and legs swishing in perambulation, the cadence of breathing and gasps marking time in a dirge-like mobile symphony. A stout hike into the lesser knowns might do the soul a bit of good, after all.



Various local cabins and outfitters serve as staging areas. Mount Rogers Outfitters Hostel, Between the Trails, B & D’s Rental, and others serve this intrepid lot. Dogs and men are fitted with packs and articles of Gore-Tex impregnated clothing, and staffs of telescopic aluminum or woods of selected trees. We shall not shave during this time. These small bands march on, breathing in the cold mountain air, expelling steaming chuffs in defiant plumes, chasing sunrise on the first full day of winter.

Howard Beach, Queens, Christmas Lights

Howard Beach, Queens, the largely Italian American neighborhood, has been the locus of an unspoken Christmas lights competition for several decades. These small, well kept houses are festooned with hyperbolic displays, attracting viewers from around the New York metropolitan area. Legend has it the tradition began as lights, which purportedly had “fallen off trucks,” were exhibited as a sort of strange amalgamation of showy bravado and penance during Christmas: a season of ostentatious consumerism oddly mixed with that of distinctly solemn religious overtones. Howard Beach, in that sense, embodies this tenuous dichotomy that is the Christmas Season in America.

The practice has grown into a neighborhood institution – a sort of annual show of pride in homeownership, culture, and faith – as hundreds, and sometimes thousands of lights bray into the darkest weeks of the year.

Comedian Drew Hastings Elected Mayor

 

Our friend, talented comedian Drew Hastings, has worn many hats in his career. He is a regular on radio’s syndicated "Bob & Tom Show", a national comedy club stalwart, a Comedy Central cornerstone, and a farmer. And now he is the mayor.

Six years ago, Hastings left the synthetic shine of Los Angeles in his rearview, planting himself in the rural farming community of Hillsboro, Ohio. With a decisive 337 votes greater than the tally of his opponent, Hastings, whose fondness and appreciation for the community inspired him to run, is now the leader at the helm. Through his celebrity and a term he has coined “agri-tainment”, the 57 year old comic hopes to rejuvenate Hillsboro, which has been suffering from high unemployment and fiscal issues. One thing is certain; the campaign was the furthest thing from a joke. For a man who has built a flourishing career through his humor, Mayor Hastings looks to treat the office with the level of conscientious seriousness it deserves.

Hastings begins his service in January.

Here's The Thing

As part of New York public radio on WNYC, Here’s the Thing is a conversational stroll through the lives of artists, performers, politicians and a plethora of other thought provoking guests, hosted by Alec Baldwin. More recently known for his “high-brow” comedic musings as diehard business executive—Jack Donaghy—on NBC’s “30 Rock”, Baldwin’s voice and inquiry is a welcomed addition to WNYC’s inspired podcast series.

Here’s the Thing follows Baldwin into the homes, creative spaces, offices and unknown places of his guests for engaging repartee that is sure to inspire its listeners. Baldwin’s initial foray into podcasting with Oscar recipient Michael Douglas is compelling in the truths and witticisms exchanged between both men, on the particulars of Douglas’ storied life.

Available now via iTunes, (with upcoming episodes every other week), Here’s the Thing will undoubtedly amass a devout listening audience with its interesting guests, quality broadcasting and esteemed host.

World Series

The St. Louis Cardinals, the most unlikely of playoff candidates, somehow turned a mediocre regular season, into an odds defying playoff run. Knocking off the heavily funded and heavily favored Philadelphia Phillies, then besting National League Central Division rival, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Cardinals have come from behind, to force extra innings, and a seventh game in the 2011 Fall Classic with the Texas Rangers.

The Saga of Joe & Max

The fight that changed the world, 22 June 1938. The House That Ruth Built. The Brown Bomber versus the Black Uhlan of the Rhine. Epic showdown of two races, two homelands, two ways of life.

In 1936, Max Schmeling, golden boy of Hitler and the Nazi regime defeated Joe Louis in a match marred with controversy. The rematch would take place two years later in the most fitting venue for the Stars and Stripes: Yankee Stadium. Louis had gone on to defeat James J. Braddock in eight rounds, becoming world champion. He refused to recognize himself as the rightful heir to the strap until he could defeat Schmeling.

Pre fight propaganda was at a peak; the United States was still feeling the effects of the Great Depression, and was awash in sullen despair. Germany, under the unsettling reign of Hitler, was in the midst of a revival, and undoubtedly the biggest threat to freedom worldwide. Two mega powers steered in opposing directions, the Americans simply could not afford the lingering effects of a defeat at the hands of the Nazis. Anti German propaganda snowballed, bequeathing Louis the back- breaking weight as the hope of a nation.

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Gotham Awards Nominees Announced

The IFP has announced the nominees for the 21st Gotham Independent Film Awards.

The ignition to the awards season, the Gotham is perhaps the premier recognition for Indie film makers, annually thrown in NYC, the home of the genre. 2012 leaders in nominations are The Descendants and Martha Marcy May Marlene with three nominations each. Martha Marcy May Marlene, the Sundance darling and Oscar rumbling picture that marks the debut of new “It Girl” Elizabeth Olsen, is the early favorite.

Career tributes will be bestowed upon Charlize Theron, Gary Oldman, David Cronenberg and Tom Rothman. The competitive awards will be handed out on Monday, November 28th at Cipriani Wall Street.

LL Cool J Receives Icon Award

“LL Cool J is hard as hell.”

So went the opening lyrics to the 1985 track “Rock the Bells”. Fast forward to 2011, LL Cool J is still hard as hell-only now, he is also an icon.

Recently, at the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards, the forever-young rap pioneer was bestowed the I Am Hip Hop Icon Award. The man who perfected the concepts of acoustic rap and the hip-hop ballad, as well as largely being responsible for turning what was once considered a fad into a pillar of music, no one deserves the honor more than the humble LL Cool J. At only 43, he has watched generations and trends come and go in the hip-hop scene; through it all, Cool J has been one of the few constants.

"When we first started the music, they didn't even play it on the radio in the daytime … Hip-hop was two hours at night or an hour at night on the weekends, and that was it. So to go from an hour or two hours at night to entire award shows and whole generations of people whose lives have been changed just because they're involved with the music, that's a big thing," Cool J said on the red carpet.

The clean-living Godfather of the genre continues to work in film and television, and has authored several books, so it is likely that the accolades and awards will continue for quite awhile. For LL Cool J’s contributions to music, this one could not have come soon enough.

City To Occupy Wall Street: Clean Up Or Leave

Yesterday New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg visited the Occupy Wall Street demonstration in response to mounting complaints from residents and Zuccotti Park's owners, Brookfield Office Properties.

In a letter to Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, Brookfield stated; "condition's are unsanitary and unsafe."

The review has led the city to demand that protestors clear the area Friday so it can be cleaned.