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Archive for December, 2009

How a Conductor leads- aTEDtalk by noted conductor Itay Talgam

Posted in Entertainment, Music, tagged , , , , , on December 31, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Since my wife joined the Peninsula Symphony in the Bay Area this past year as a violinist, I’ve had the good fortune to attend several of their performances.    They really put on some fantastic performances, here’s their schedule for 2010 which includes performances with Taylor Eigsti playing Gershwin, a performance with the legendary Red Violin (yes- that one from the Academy Award winning film) and a performance of Tchaikovsky’s 5th.   They are led by conductor and music director Mitchell Sardou Klein, who is renowned for service and excellence in his field in the Bay Area. (more…)

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My review of Avatar

Posted in Entertainment, Pop Culture, tagged , , , on December 30, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Like many others, this weekend I watched the blockbuster movie Avatar with family.   I had high expectations going in as relatives and friends who had already seen the movie had rave reviews, a must see.   Here’s what I thought about the movie overall, what I liked and didn’t like. (more…)

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Stefana Broadbent- How the Internet enables intimacy- a TED lecture

Posted in Internet, Pop Culture, Social Media, tagged , , on December 27, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Recently, I’ve been spending time listening to interesting TEDtalks.  If you aren’t familiar with TED, here’s a description from their own website:

“TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with the annual TED Conference in Long Beach, California, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK, TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Program, the new TEDx community program, this year’s TEDIndia Conference and the annual TED Prize.”

In TED’s blog, they recently had a list of 10 suggested lectures to listen to for the holidays.   One of the lectures I listened to was by Stefana Broadbent, titled, How the Internet enables intimacy.   Here is Broadbent’s bio: (more…)

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My Best Sports Moments of the decade- 2000-2009

Posted in Sports, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 25, 2009| 1 Comment »

As we hit the end of 2009, I’ve seen in various publications, articles about the top games, upsets, and moments in the  decade of sports (2000-2009).   Looking at a few of these lists have made me reflect on what my own top sporting moments of the decade  would be.  My list will be colored by my personal rooting and sports preferences— I grew up in Ohio and was a youth baseball and soccer player and am an all around sports nut currently living in the Bay Area.

1. Boise State vs Oklahoma- 2007 Fiesta Bowl—The classic David vs Goliath match-up with all kinds of drama and the most unexpected of endings—even had a wedding proposal.  This game had everything—the best game I’ve seen this decade.  I seriously couldn’t believe what I was seeing while watching.

(more…)

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The decline of baseball amidst a changing society

Posted in Book Review, Pop Culture, Sports, tagged , , , , , , on December 13, 2009| 7 Comments »

Last month, I watched part of Game 2 of the World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees with a colleague.  While watching, it dawned on me that this was the first game of this year’s baseball post-season that I’d seen.  To me, that is a significant revelation regarding the plight of Major League Baseball and its trajectory for the future.  I’d consider myself one of baseball’s more hardcore fans, one who has unfailingly watched postseason baseball games for more than 30 years, even if my team, the Cincinnati Reds, are not in the postseason (which unfortunately has been the case most of the nineties and in the 2000’s).  I’m the type of fan who can still recite most of the uniform numbers of Reds players and their main rivals since the 80’s and also can mimic the batting stances of most of those players as well. (more…)

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