We'll start today with what you think is me and my politics and what I think is history. I love me a good documentary. The film above is a good documentary. You can watch the whole thing here in the comfort of your favorite blog too! The film was made this year and released into the public domain. Which means anyone can use it for any purpose. My purpose here? Exposition. Just exposing you to this information means I've done my part.
The movie is called Human Resources. It traces the modern history of experimentation on humans by humans. It isn't an uplifting watch. It's compellingly put together however.
The least comprehensive and reliable professional branch of learning is history. It an entirely subjective profession. There's lots of trite sayings about history that you don't need me to repeat here. And with all that being the case, I'm comfortable saying that most of us don't know shit about real history. Here's one chance for you to learn something. This documentary is factual, resourced, referenced and has extensive interviews with leading researchers, educators and all around marvelous minds.
I'm big on knowing shit. Individual knowledge is collective power ... in that it can subtly guide improvements to society through it's application to our collective moral choices. Yeah I said that ... it means we make the world the way it is; and only when we really know it's history do we finally have a tool to change the future. So consider yourself exposed. The rest is up to you. I'm saying you ought watch the whole thing. But give it 5 minutes if nothing else and maybe you'll sign on for the whole 2 hours.
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Now some hockey stuff ... yay right? Hey .... be glad for my new self-imposed campaign of minimal verbosity. Or it would have taken you a lot longer to get to this part. Seriously, you know I wanted to write a whole bunch more about history and learning and documentaries.
Speaking of recruits. Sam Mellor is back in form with Trail. Now with 26 games played he has 26 goals and 22 assists for 1.8 points per game. 12 of his 26 goals have come on the power play. Andrew Pettitt has 13 goals and 14 assists now in 32 games with Powell River. Donnie Harris has 2 goals and 4 assists from the blueline in 24 games with Bonnyville in the "A". Scott Allen in 26 games with Spruce Grove is at 9 goals and 13 assists.
A bit south of Alberta down in Lincoln, Eric Scheid has 5 goals and 8 assists in 18 games. Eric is just 18 and straight out of Minnesota High School where he was Nick Bjugstad's playmaker. This is his first year of junior hockey and he's having a nice run so far. He looks like he'll probably hit the ice at UAA and be a contributer next season as a freshman. Nice.
Derek Docken is having the 2nd most noteworthy USHL early season. He is still the +/- leader for the league with +14 in 19 games with Dubuque. No goals yet but 6 assists. His teammate on the blueline Tony Larson (and former HS teammate of Scheid) has a goal and 6 assists in 17 games.
Zach Rall with the Tri-City Storm has a goal and 4 asissts in 13 games. He was teammates there with Matthew Friese who earlier this year withdrew his verbal commitment to UAA in lieu of greener scholarship pastures. Friese was traded from Tri-City early in the season to Chicago where he played 10 games and has now decided to return to the Avalanche.
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On the just concluded weekend. Argh. So close again. That's four legitimate chances UAA has had to sweep a WCHA opponent now so far this season. Winning on Friday nights has become a trend. It's good to be in the driver seat in a 2 game series. We didn't see too much of that last year did we?
There's nothing but a good vibe out of this team that I can sense. I know that's such a dumb thing to say by the way. Vibe? Anyway ... there really is.
It's an undertone in how and what the team says being interviewed. The ideas between the words that Coach Shyiak is saying. It's wafting out of the locker room. I'm talking about the vibe. It's a good one.
Here's some things that struck me this weekend:
- Matt Bailey is a helluva good skater as well as being really smart in the offensive zone.
- Mark Pustin loves him a good poke check and steal.
- Sumptim's gotta give wid the power play. Mix of players? System?
- My embarrassment level at our lack of attendance is at an all time high.
- Tyler Currier looked comfortable and played well on defense both nights.
- I'll miss the patented strong on the puck breaks to the net that Jade has been delivering.
- Nick Haddad: Top penalty killer in the WCHA ... yeah.
- Now matter how much Tommy Grant scores; we're all going to want him to score more.
- Brett Cameron can be physically imposing.
- Rob Gunderson has really found his stride. Really ... .936 sv% in the last 4 games.
- Daniel Naslund just played the best four games so far of his career at UAA.
- The Seawolves ... dare I say it?.?.? are becoming face off masters.
- I'm never going to win the split the pot raffle am I?
- And finally, the Municipality of Anchorage smells better when the stinking Badgers leave.
I'm looking forward to next weekend already. Bring on the Pios. Go Seawolves!!!
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Let's talk about a blog specific topic next. The forum page I put up is pretty much a bust. So I'm going to replace it. An idea came up in the chat room and I've been asked about it a couple of times so I'll replace the forum with a thumbnailed selection of any and all photographs you want to share related to or regarding Seawolves hockey. We'll give that a try. At least it will be a passive section and not make any demands on the reader for participation like a forum does. And it should be mostly easy for me to maintain.
So if you got some pictures email them. uaafanblog@yahoo.com is the address. When I get the picture I'll add a thumbnail to page of it and so on and so forth. Give me label text you want with the picture or I'll make up my own.
I've already reviewed the necessary HTML cheat sheets to get started on this so give it a couple or three days and I'll add the page with the pictures I already have.
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And lastly but not leastly, thanks again to Justin Bourne for writing a letter that I'm informed every urinating Seawolves player read. Great job.
Now? Who can I ask to write a ADN Compass piece explaining to the hockey loving folks of Anchorage exactly what they're missing by not attending UAA Seawolves hockey games? I already know who you guys are thinking. Not this week though. When I do write it ... it'll have numbers. Oh yeah.
4 comments:
Wow, very interesting documentary. I find the theme that the driving force in society is not love but fear ... very very sad and disturbing.
Bailey is good, but he needs to stop shooting the puck from the point right into the skates of the other team. Leads to too many breakaways the other way.
Attendance is indeed sad, but Doyle has had a few positive articles lately. Maybe he feels he has already done the damage he wanted to do?
Or is it perhaps our institutions and the people in them who use information to create that fear really the driving force? People are fearful no doubt but it's just the obvious one that the giant PR machine uses to manipulate us. A great example is the widespread (almost universal) concern that one's child might get stolen by an evil person.
You see TV cop dramas use that storyline often and whenever anything bad happens to a single child in this country it is played continuously on the news. We get days, weeks or even months of coverage ginned up with raw speculation dressed up as news or information. And all that made parents everywhere concerned that little Sally or Billy could be at risk. And the reality is that something like 15 of these abductions occur nationwide per year.
Kill your TV.
I watched about 2/3 of the documentary. There can be no doubt about the manipulative nature of governments around the world, but I still believe in the power of love, hope and compassion for each other as people. Just as John Lennon said, "All you need is love." ...and a kick-ass power-play.
Agreed.
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