Still Doing January --- Day 8/287

Walk: Presidio
Distance: 4 Miles, Wee Yoga

In other words, smelling the roses, that kind of January thing (in California where it's green already).

What January is For --- Days 8/284, 285, 286

Walks: Hood
Distance: 3 x3; Yoga x 3

                  

Contemplating, Laying Back, Reading, Staying in.   

What We Do in the Storm --- Day 8/283

Walk: No, Storm
Distance: 0, Yoga

Ciwt and her cats particularly appreciate yoga on stormy days when they have to stay inside.

GOAT Revealed --- Day 8/282

Walk: Hood
Distance: 1 mile, Yoga

Ken Jennings with his Jeopardy Greatest of All Time Trophy

So until June 2, 2004, Jeopardy was quietly watched by regulars like Ciwt.  Like Ciwt, many of those viewers starting watching when it became a nighttime show with the one and only Alex Trebek as host.  And slowly others joined.

Then on that June date, a new contestant came on to compete.  His name was Ken Jennings, and he won.  Nothing new with that.  Then he won a whole week and came back the next week to keep competing.  Now this was new because the Jeopardy producers had only recently eliminated the 5 game limit for contestants.  Ken actually got a little press because of that, and a few more viewers showed up at their TVs to watch him.

Then he won a third week and a fourth.  By then Jeopardy and Ken were beginning to get national attention.  The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and other prestige publications took notice and wrote articles.  And the viewership grew and grew.

As the eyes of the world watched, Ken Jennings did the unheard of before or since by winning 74 consecutive games!  (Think of the number of times you've marched smartly into a room and forgotten completely why you are there, and you can imagine the brain power feat Jennings accomplished sometimes taping as many as three games in one day).  

And in the process he put Jeopardy on the map.

So it seems fitting and just right that he bested the other phenomenal trivia pros last evening to become Jeopardy's Greatest of All Time Champion.

Misty Puff and Tawny --- Day 8/281

Walk: West Portal
Distance:  2.5 Miles

Two years later Ciwt still can't tell them apart.

Updates --- 8/279 & 280

Walks:  Hood
Distances: 5 Miles x2, Yoga x 2

As  the song goes, the weather outside is frightful (for us San Francisco puffs). So Ciwt has been doing fun things like making donations and updating her will after 10 years. Needless to say, she isn't feeling too CIWT inspired.  That's done now, inspiration to follow.  (Unless she starts on her taxes...)

Merce, Dancer --- Day 8/278

Walk: Clay Theater (Cunningham) (not the 3D version which must be even better)
Distance: 2 Miles

          “Cunningham,” by Alla Kovgan, succeeds in a way that most dance documentaries do not: as an art object in and of itself.  

The above caption taken from Marina Harss's* New Yorker review of Cunningham says it best. 

Ciwt personally enjoyed Cunningham, the doc about the dancer Merce Cunningham, because it gave her an opportunity to see footage of his dances, his company and his close friends,partners and collaborators, John Cage and Robert Rauschenberg.   She knew they had all been together once upon a time, and she knows Rauschenberg's art, but Cage and Cunningham himself were artists she knew little about.  What a fine way to fill in her gaps.

*For the full review go to this link.

WWI Fantasia --- Day 8/277

Walk: AMC Kabuki
Distance: 2 miles, yoga

George MacKay in Sam Mendes' 1917

Imagine embodying the entire spectrum of World War I horror and grief in a young English Everyman on one day in April, 1917.  That seems to be what director Sam Mendes set out to do in his film 1917.  And, in several ways he succeeds, eg, excellent, understated acting and perfect cinematography.

But for Ciwt the rest of the movie is so contived, arty-farty and theatrical as to render 1917 dull, removed and, actually quite odd.

She hopes Oscar doesn't fall for it like the Globes did.