The day will come when the progress of nations will be judged not by their military or economic strength, not by the splendor of their capital cities and public buildings, but by the well being of their peoples: by their levels of health, nutrition and education and by the protection that is afforded to the growing minds and bodies of their children.
From The Progress of Nations United Nations Children's Fund (1996)
There was a time when ordinary men were asked to do extrodinary things. (DVD box set subtitle)
I've recently finished watching the miniseries Band of Brothers... again. It retells the story of one U.S. paratrooper division from D-day (June 6th 1944) when Allied forces first invaded mainland Europe to the end of the war.
Heartbreaking, heroic, and inspiring are the words that come to mind to describe this series. As opposed to trying to sum up the WII experience in 2 hours, this series spreads out the various experiences of a handful of soldiers over 10 hour long episodes. For those who have not seen it, I highly recommend it. I find myself wistfully wondering when I'll rewatch the series.
As we come towards another Rememberance Day this weekend, I am reminded of incredible heroes and sacrifices made when ordinary people rose to face extrodinary circumstances.
The title of the miniseries is based on a quote from Shakespeare's Henry V, and it touches on the special bond of those who battle together.From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother (King Henry, V.iii)
The time for ordinary men to act extrodinarily has not ended though. My days may not present opportunity to storm German MG42 positions, and I might not have thousands of soldiers counting on me to knock out fortified artillery positions (as the soldiers in Band of Brothers did). Yet there are many battles to be fought, the battles for truth, love, and purity, and we all need our brothers (and sisters) in those times. As Oswald Chambers reminds me again:It is ingrained in us that we have to do exceptional things for God — but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life, and holy on the ordinary streets, among ordinary people — and this is not learned in five minutes.
Below: A few actual pictures from WWII.
-Oswald Chambers, Oct 21st entry from My Utmost for His Highest
1. Soldiers on D-Day June 6th, 1944 assaulting Omaha beach
2. The landing of supplies at Normady beach after establishing a beachhead
An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered.
An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered.
GK Chesterton (b. 1874)
British writer and thinker
Ratatouille - Two thumbs up
Pixar - Thanks for Toy Story, Incredibles, Nemo, Monsters Inc, Bug's Life, etc
Rest of Hollywoord - Why can't you consistently make good movies?
"Television is the first truly democratic culture - the first culture available to everybody and entirely governed by what the people want. The most terrifying thing is what people do want."
Clive Barnes (b. 1927)
Broadcaster, Chief Dance, Drama and Opera Critic (New York Post)
This year I started playing regularly on an Ultimate Frisbee team (wooo 30 Foot!) through our local organization MODS. I've always loved throwing a disc and have thrown regularly with friends over the past 4 or 5 years. I'm completely new to team sports with offensive/defensive strategies and formations, so its been a lot of learning and fun so far.
There's a lot to learn about the game, so I thought I'd post up links to some of the various guides I've found really helpful in teaching me backhand and forehand throws/grips, as well as introducing me to different offence and defence strategies. If you're like me, instruction, technique and practice is what its all about. Think, you might hear an amazing musician, but his or her music is the product of hours of unseen practice, mistakes, correction, hard work, and instruction. The same goes with most things in life, including Ultimate.
Read on and enjoy! There's stuff from learning to throw for the first time, to playing a rabbit 1-3-3 zone defence.
Learning to Throw
This is the most essential part of the game, fortunately its also the easiest to practice and improve on. Instead of needing a dozen people to team practice all you need is 2 people to effectively practice throwing. In fact 2 is best as you get in the most throws.
If I could only give one piece of advice to those hoping to improve their throw, its this: you have to change your throw to improve it. This sounds so obvious, but all the time I see people throwing exactly the same way 10 times in a row hoping that the result will be different. Throwing 100 times with bad technique will develop a bad habit and will take you that much longer to correct that technique. So keep experimenting by modifying grip, disc angle (left/right as well as up/down), wrist snap, arm position, weight shifting/rotation. That being said, be patient too! It took me several summers before I felt confident with my backhand and forehand.
Below I've listed the best guides I've come across in throwing. Careful reading them though, I almost broke something in my room when I went through it (you can probably imagine the situation).
Learning to throw Backhand [UltimateHandbook.com]
Learning to Throw Forehand [UltimateHandbook.com]
Various Disc Throws [Wikipedia.org]
Throwing Various Articles by an Australian Ultimate group
Learning the Game
Ultimate really appealed to me for its regard for sportsmanship and that its really accessible to new players (like myself who hadn't played other competitive sports). Here's some guides on introducing the game of Ultimate (rules, the field, players, history, etc):
Ultimate in 10 Simple Rules [UltimateHandbook.com]
Article on Ultimate [Wikipedia.org]
Learning to Play as a Team
I don't have much 2 cents to put in here. I come from a solo classical musician background, who got into solo endurance sports, who studied computer science. LOL so not much working for me there :P. Having watched and played good teams has taught me how essntial team skills are. Here's some guides on different team strategies that I've read and are really good:
Offence and Defence - Various articles by an Australian Ultimate group
Ultimate Basics [Ultimate Handbook.com] - Use the toolbar on the left, a bunch of articles covering basic offence, defence, marking, cutting, catching, etc
Most of All
Love the game and have fun =)
Got something to say or add? Post a comment below.
Jane: Have you ever thought of asking God why He allows such suffering in the world?
John: No.
Jane: Really? Why not?
John: I'm scared to.
Jane: What are you scared of?
John: I'm scared He'll ask me the same question.
The following is one of the most moving testimonies I've heard. Shane Claiborne is a American Christian who's "interned" with Mother Teresa, worked in a leper colony, lived among the homeless in Philadelphia, and was ministering with other Christians in Iraq just as the Shock and Awe campaign started. Hear his story and how he came to answer the tough question: So what about being a believer in Christ, what does it mean to become a follower of Christ? Its not a short video, so set aside some time for this one.
