Top 10 Movie Speeches

A Time To Kill was on TV this past Sunday.  Matthew McConaughey's closing argument in this movie is phenomenal.  I was so inspired I decided to go through my top 10 favorite movie speeches.

1) A Time To Kill - closing argument:

 
 2) Any Given Sunday - Peace by Inches:

3) Scent of a Woman - Ending Speech:

  
4) Wall Street - "Greed is Good" Speech:

  
5) Ben Affleck's Speech in Boiler Room:

  
6) Good Will Hunting - NSA Speech:

7) The 25th Hour - Monty Brogan Monologue:

8)Braveheart - Freedom Speech:

9) Shawshank Redemption - "Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying.":

10) Apocalypse Now - Col. Kurtz's Anthropological Understanding:

What did I miss?

Quick Trip To Newport

I shot up to Newport this past Saturday, looking for some waves and to learn a little about shaping surfboards.  I didn't get the waves but I got to meet Neil Toracinta, talk to him about the board he's going to make for me, and get an idea for how that process works.

Brent (old roommate) and I drove over to First Beach to scope the swell.  We surfed here the last time I was in Newport and it was going off.  Unfortunately, this time around the waves were pretty much nonexistent.

Surfing was out, so Brent and I drove over to meet Neil.  We pulled up to this shady garage, boards everywhere, and out pops this kid from a red pick up.  Hoody, flat brim, board shorts; standard bro.  He brings me into his shop and we start talking.  Neil works out of this grandma's garage.  He started shaping boards for a school project when he was a junior in high school and he's been doing it ever since.  Born and raised in Newport, he grew up in a tight-nit surfing community among titans like Ian Walsh.  He's only 20 but he's very professional and a master of his craft.            

All Neil's boards are made with polyurethane blanks.  This is the material at the core of all surfboard.  It gives it the buoyancy you need to stand up on the water.  The process starts with dimensions; I'm looking for a 5'11 x 20 x 2 3/8 board.   He'll enter these numbers into a computer program, which will create a stencil he can use to shape the blank.

From there you add whatever graphics you want (paint, stickers, etc.), a few coats of polyester resin, drill in the fin plugs, and sand it down.  It sounds pretty easy but it is truly an art.  

 

I'm pretty excited about this board and I'm especially happy to be supporting a local shaper.  Would you rather have a mass produced board made by somebody (who probably doesn't surf) in China or one by the guy down the street who goes out whenever he can?  Surfing is a very personal experience.  You have to talk to a surfer to find a shaper.  In the end, the relationship you establish with a local shaper strengthens and deepens the relationship you have with the sport.  

 Watch a surfboard be made in 5 minutes:

 

Cat Friday

Enjoy.

Man vs. Wild

 

Not exactly the Patagonia R4 but I will say it's a nice fit.  This guy definitely caught me a little off guard.  It's even in the commercial but I didn't think this crazy English man would really gut a baby seal on television and wear its skin.  I could only think of a few people who have done this and I'm pretty sure it wasn't ok.

Wall of Water

 

This is a cool angle and one that I have never seen before.  Sion Milosky makes surfing look pretty easy, especially when it looks like the world is caving in on him.  I'm hoping to rip some turns like this pretty soon. 

Gear Battle

I'm a bit of a gear head.  I have an addiction to steepandcheap.com and every time I step into a EMS, Patagonia, etc. I immediately feel the need to buy something.  What's worse is I'm drawn to the most expensive products.  In reality, a two layer Gortex shell is going to keep me dry all day but I usually convince myself that there will be some doomsday scenario where it'll be totally worth the extra $100 for a 3rd layer.  While I've fed my addiction over the years I've become familiar with the materials used in performance clothing.  Gortex, eVent, and c_change are (in my opinion) the best on the market right now.  However, I've never really dug into the detail.

Here is a quick rundown of what you want to consider before buying performance outerwear:

Membrane vs. Coated

This guy is a crumb but start listening 30 seconds in and stop listening at 2:58.

Bottom line: It's worth the extra money for a membrane jacket.  It will keep you dryer for longer.

Water Repellency

Whether you're walking down the street or your in the middle of the backcountry, no one wants to be wet.  When considering the fabric you want use in your battle against mother nature, it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with levels of water repellency.  To measure a fabric's ability to block water, testers will pour water on the fabric until until it seeps through (shocking).  They measure this property in 1000's of mm (Example: you'll see a jacket described as 10k waterproof, that means 10,000 mm of water was suspended above the fabric before water seeped through.)  Typically, any fabric which can withstand 1,000 mm of water pressure prior to leaking is considered waterproof.  Mid-range shell fabrics tend to hover around 5,000 mm and anything over 20k is going to be considered top of the line. 

Bottom line:  If you're doing anything more than walking the dog in the rain, look for material that is 15k + waterproof.  

Breathability

If you only cared about protecting yourself from the elements, you'd wear a rubber jacket and be done with it.  But when you're being active (skiing, hiking etc.) you sweat and rubber does not breathe.  Suddenly, you're a walking sauna and whatever you were doing isn't so fun anymore.  Fabrics like Gortex, eVent, and c_change repel water but also allow your water vapor (sweat) to escape, keeping your body dry.

Crumb #2.  Testing the rate at which water vapor is transferred through Gortex and eVent.

Bottom Line: It is rumored that eVent is more breathable than Gortex.  This video shows very little difference.  I personally don't know, I've really only used Gortex.  An interesting alternative to consider is  C_change.  C_change independently reacts to changing temperatures and activities.  Depending on the situation, breathability or heat-retention increases or decreases.

Pat's Picks:

Mammut Adrenaline Jacket, Gortex Pro Shell:

Rab Latok Jacket, 3 Layer eVent:

Cloudveil Koven Jacket, 3XDRY (C_Change):

I hope this was informative and you stay dry.

Maru Cameos on Cat Friday

This Japanese sensation is quite the handful.

May The Luckiest Man Win.

This is my co-worker's bracket.  She made her picks this morning.  "That guy is hot, I like his tattoo, I use to live in Florida..."  This is how she came to the conclusion above.  If you can't see, she has Long Island in the Sweet 16, BU in the Elite 8, and Princeton in the finals.  Every year people spend hours crunching numbers, looking at every possible detail to pick the perfect bracket.  If each game were a true toss-up, that would mean your chance of picking the perfect bracket is one in two to the 63rd power, or one in nine million trillion. Put another way, you are about 60 billion times more likely to win the Powerball.  In all likelihood, my co-worker will win the office pool, be $300 richer, and I wallow in defeat.  But that is the beauty of March Madness, anybody can win on any given day.  May the luckiest man win.  

Valpo Surf Project

Three of my friends from college started a non-profit organization based in Valparaíso, Chile.  It's called The Valp Surf Project and it engages inner-city youth through surfing instruction, academic mentoring and environmental education. They are currently holding a fundraising campaign to raise $30,000 for a large late model van to continue to take surf trips with their students and participate in environmental community service projects.  It's a good cause and so check them out.

Follow on Facebook.

Follow on Twitter.

Donate.

The Electric Guitar

The Axe, The Hammer, Lucille, Frankenstein, The Beast, The Duck...whatever you want to call it, music would not be where it is today with out the electric guitar.  

The electric guitar is a prime example of the law of unintended consequences. At first it just wanted to be heard, but it ended up taking over popular music and revolutionizing society along the way.

Check out this article about the history of the electric guitar and its impact on a music revolution.


Bonus: this is a cool video on the contruction of an electirc guitar (scroll to bottom).

Rock-Paper-Scissors...

The secret to Rock-paper-scissors unlocked.

"Free Bird!"

"Go fuck yourself!"  That's what you're saying to the performer when you scream that.

I know of three theories that claim to have given birth to this abominable tradition.

1) People are stupid. 
 
2) Back on Skynyrd's 1976 live album, Ronnie Van Zant asked the crowd, “What song is it you wanna hear?” Immediately, the crowd responded by shouting “Free Bird.”  It became a thing to do at Skynyrd concerts, and subsequently at other shows.

3) Radio personality Kevin Matthews. Back in the '80s, Matthews was on air in Chicago and told his fans to yell “Free Bird” at shows they considered “lame.”  His fans, KevHeads, took to it and started doing it all the time. Matthews, in turn, continued to encourage it.

I'll admit, the idiot, adolescent me yelled a few Free Bird requests back in the day.  I also use to collect Pogs.  Concerts bring people together to enjoy music and get a little weird. Like anything, there is a certain level of etiquette and respect that needs to be maintained.  So next time your about to shout out the most overplayed, asinine joke of all time, don't. 

Cat Friday Courtesy Of Mr. Powell

Günaydın

More Efficiency

Everyone wins.  I think MSG needs a Face lift.

Efficiency

I'm going to need to make a few trips to this place when I move.

Support Your Local Shaper

My old roommate got me into surfing a few years ago.  He use to joke that it takes over your life and now I see where he was coming from.  He moved to Newport a little over a year ago and recently worked with a local shaper (Neil Toracinta) to learn the creative process behind building a surf board.

Here are some pics from the process:

 

 

5'10 x 19" 1/4 x 2" 3/8

 

 Finished product.

Next weekend I'm headed up to Newport to do the same.  I'll be working with Neil and learning the process.  I'm going for a  5'11 x 20 x 2 3/8.  To read more about Neil Toracinta check out this article.

WTF.

 

Ran into this little bundle of joy and his deranged owner outside my apartment building.  The woman told me that her dog didn't like to walk so she was wheeling him around to get some fresh air (in a Barbour rain jacket).  I use to live next door to a woman who would wheel her dog around in a stroller.  Here is the thing, before his "walk", your dog was probably playing around in his own shit; so stop treating him like he's going to go home and practice his multiplication tables.  

I think the world needs a little more of this:

Blues in the Morning.

"Jesus is the only missing person from the band."

Buy a Water Bottle

I'll be the first to admit I buy bottled water, but after reading this article a few years ago I've tried to cut back.  It's not some liberal rant, which a lot of this articles tend to be; and it does a good job making you think about why you buy the things you do (which is a good exercise). 

Article.

Cat Friday.

Good Morning

Tuckerman's Ravine

It's March, which means I'm a year older, Kemba Walker will continue to dominate college basketball, and I'm headed up to Tuck's.  What started as a hungover, spur of the moment ski excursion has transformed into a tradition.  For the past 6 years, I've gotten up bright and early, climbed into a cramped car, and made the drive over to Gorham New Hampshire.  The drive has gotten a little longer but every year the world's worst weather lures me back.

The Ravine accompanied by Bluebird skies.

Lunch Rock tall boy.

 Top of the snow fields.


Ski it if you dare.

Half Way to Cat Friday

Charlie Sheen quotes with cats.

The Pinnacle of Human Endurance

You've got to have a few screws loose if you want to compete in an Ironman.  Think about what you did at work yesterday.  ...that's how long it takes the best triathletes in the world to finish an Ironman.  2.4-mile swim, 112 mile bike, followed by a marathon.  No thanks.  I think I'll enjoy my coffee and look forward to my next crap, when I'll catch up on my Words With Friends.

For everything you ever wanted to know about the Ironman go Here.

Wake up.

Jam on it

Great video.