SoINeedAName

Friday Fun: I Get to Crow!

Posted by SoINeedAName at 7:19 am Politics

Feb 072020

It’s been 50 long years in coming, but I think my Kansas City Chiefs gave America a Super Bowl super show!

Of course I couldn’t hear it, but I’ve been told it started off with a powerful rendition of our national anthem by Demi Lovato:

And the halftime show with Jennifer Lopez and Shakira has gotten rave reviews. If you want to enjoy it again, here it is:

And TC provided a great Highlights Reel of the game that you can enjoy:

But sadly, it did not include my favorite play.

Since the Super Bowl has no “Tomorrows”, teams tend to pull out all the stops. And one pulled out by the Chiefs featured some of the best dance moves we’ve seen – comparable to the Temptations or Four Tops … or if you’re young enough, your favorite Boy Band.

After lining up in normal formation, QB Mahomes and the rest of his backfield executed a dazzling synchronized 360-degree spin to realign themselves causing confusion for the 49ers. And then, rather than the snap going to Mahomes, it went to Damien Williams who power-plowed for a 4-yard gain – and a first down. Two plays later, Mahomes ran it into for the TD!

pic.twitter.com/OKmp3egykZ

— Steve Palazzolo (@PFF_Steve) February 3, 2020

And from a different angle:

Chiefs or the Backstreet Boys? pic.twitter.com/MUNyqtvD8R

— rone’s gamblin corner (@_rone) February 3, 2020

But as the adage goes, “Everything old is new again”. And there’s a very interesting backstory to this play.
The play came during a fourth-and-one on the 49ers’ 5-yard line. But its inspiration was from 71 years previous: In the Michigan-USC 1948 Rose Bowl game. Take a look:

Pretty cool. Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy said they stole that first TD play from Michigan in an old Rose Bowl vs. USC. I looked, and yep. This is from New Year's Day 1948. Fritz Crisler = visionary pic.twitter.com/bcWp5BEf0h

— Alex Kirshner (@alex_kirshner) February 3, 2020

And compare them side-by-side:

Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy says he got this play design from watching this old Rose Bowl game. Michigan ran it over & over in a 49-0 win over USC pic.twitter.com/0uGYxxUnST

— Kevin Boilard (@247KevinBoilard) February 3, 2020

After the game, Coach Reid shared the backstory: “My brother’s high school coach was actually in that game for USC, so I had a little bit of tape. We went back through and pulled that out.”

Then Coach Reid teased us with a little sneak preview: “We actually have a whole package of it, so you’ll have to wait until next year to see the rest. There’s some good stuff.”

I’m looking forward to that already!

Wednesday was Chiefs Parade Day, and despite a windchill temp in the teens and snow flurries, there were still hundreds of thousands that lined the parade route down Grand Avenue …

Ending at Union Station for speeches and cheers. (If only we could get rid of that unfortunate arm chop.)

Fans gather for a rally in front of Union Station after a parade through downtown Kansas City, Mo., Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2020, to celebrate the Kansas City Chiefs victory in the NFL’s Super Bowl 54. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) ORG XMIT: MOCR109

Unfortunately, Kansas City was subjected to a bit of unscheduled excitement about 4 hours before the parade started when someone breached the parade barricades shortly after 8:00 AM, and decided to beat the crowds with a tour of the parade route himself. He was pursued in a low-speed chase by the local constabulary, and fortunately the crowds lining the route were sparse at the time.

This is really incredible work by @41actionnews. pic.twitter.com/6CFGN97rta

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) February 5, 2020

It ended safely, but I shudder to think what could have happened.

That wasn’t the only mishap. An over-eager fan was taken out by a parking meter when trying to catch a QB Mahomes pass. And there’s a zoom shot of it in slow-mo in the Tweet right below:

slowmotion of the parking meter tackle … pic.twitter.com/mL3obbZRLQ

— René Bugner (@RNBWCV) February 6, 2020

One of the most memorable moments for me was the pure joy shown by DE Derrick Nnadi making a “Confetti Angel” after their victory.

But Nnadi didn’t let his joy end on the field or in locker room, because when he got back to KCMO he agreed to continue his work with the KC Pet Project through his charity foundation by paying the adoption fees (generally around $150) for every adoptable dog in their shelter on Super Bowl Sunday! That was over 100 dogs!

The perfect way to cap off this great season ‼️ https://t.co/k9KSt05gtt

— Derrick Nnadi 🇳🇬 (@DerrickNnadi) February 3, 2020

He has been working with the KC Pet Project all year, paying the adoption fee of a particularly difficult dog to place after every KC Chiefs victory – so that would be 15 times prior to the Super Bowl.

And he hasn’t limited his charitable work to just finding Forever Homes for dogs – he’s also been helping people and kids in KCMO as well as the community where he grew up, in Virginia Beach, VA.

According to the NFL Players Association, which named Nnadi its first Community MVP this season for his philanthropy work, he gave 10 kids at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeast Virginia backpacks filled with school supplies and a note offering them his best wishes for the upcoming academic year. He also surprised 10 children from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Kansas City with a back-to-school shopping spree at Dick’s Sporting Goods.

In addition, Nnadi paid for a similar shopping excursion for a family of three children who lost their mother in a mass shooting in Virginia Beach in May.

“I’ve never been a champion before, all the years of me playing football. But that first time [Sunday] honestly feels like the best day of my life,” Nnadi said.

Trust me, Mr. Nnadi – you are a True Champion! And the shelter reports that the adoption rate has doubled since Super Bowl Sunday. Now that’s a definite Win-Win-Win: Nnadi-KCMO-Dogs!

So, on the second day of the second month in the year 2020, Coach Andy Reid notches his 222^nd career victory (seems like there’s a theme there) – and finally earns his much-deserved Super Bowl ring!

Congratulations to Andy Reid, his staff, the Kansas City Chiefs team and its front office! A totally professional organization from top to bottom! You have made Kansas City very proud!

Now do it again next year!

Friday Fun: A Few Farewell Smiles from the Senate’s Follies

Posted by SoINeedAName at 2:25 pm Politics

Jan 312020

As the sham trial of Donald J. Trump Impeached draws to its rigged and foregone conclusion, I felt it would be fitting to draw on it for a few mirthful moments. Because of its outcome, these will be more in the gallows humor range and with more than a soupçon of retribution. And some of the Tweets actually made me laugh out.

We’ll start off with some posters that I found amusing or informative – and the first one is especially for Joanne …

trump could shoot someone in the senate and still get acquitted 53-47. unless he shot a republican, then it would be 52-47.

— m i t h (@ManlnTheHoody) January 23, 2020

At the start of his Oval Office occupation Trump claimed he knew only the “best people”. Now that most of them are either under investigation, indicted, convicted or doing time – he now doesn’t know ANY of them – especially Lev Parnas!

Trump has posed for more photos with Lev Parnas than his daughter Tiffany

— Pete Dominick (@PeteDominick) January 17, 2020

And his “crack” legal defense team has great difficulty even reading simple words, as demonstrated by Pam Bondi – who only had that one job to do:

Thank you @cspan for all the camera coverage pic.twitter.com/oJBM1hcJDs

— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) January 30, 2020

And Al Franken poses the perfect question that we all would like answered – with clarification included:

Question for WH counsel: Do you have any evidence that Donald Trump has ever cared about corruption? And by that we mean being AGAINST it? #ImpeachmentTrial

— Al Franken (@alfranken) January 30, 2020

We’ll close out this post with an accurate, pithy summary of what the American people have been subjected to by McConnell & his cronies:

“To Every Thing There Is a Season”

Posted by SoINeedAName at 8:07 pm Politics

Jan 262020

I have a very good excuse for being In Absentia for the past 48 hours: I’m pooped!

Yesterday marked the 35^th Anniversary of the Cathedral Arts Project Flower Show at St. Cecelia Cathedral in Omaha – and as usual it was spectacular! It’s a delightful trek I’ve made almost annually for over the past quarter century.

I got up before dawn and picked up my 90 y/o “pseudo-uncle” in KCMO (he’s the brother of my aunt-by-marriage) to head to Omaha for the flower show. (His other sister, my “pseudo-aunt” stayed home for a grandson’s B-Day party). And we didn’t get back after a day of restaurant-hopping, flower-peeping and chocolate confectionary-shopping until late last night.

Pretty sure I’ve featured the Cathedral Flower Show before, and this year’s theme was based on the 3^rd Chapter of Ecclesiastes: “To Everything There Is A Season”.

And for those of us of a certain age (and when I had hearing), the Ecclesiastes theme certainly revived memories of The Byrds hit “Turn, Turn, Turn”.

As I believe I covered years ago, the show assigns about 50 niches/locations/stations throughout the Cathedral for florists to present their arrangements. And this show clung very closely to the theme (something they not always have done), featuring every major holiday, life event, especially in the Catholic Church (baptism, confirmation, wedding, funeral, etc.), and a particular focus on Hispanic celebrations (Quinceañera, Cinco de Mayo, Día de Muertos, etc.).

The Cathedral is pretty packed with waiting viewers, so while you wait for your group number to be called to start your tour, you’re entertained by violin quartets, opera singers, organists, etc. My uncle is a real music aficionado, so he truly enjoys it. (It’s obviously lost on me.)

I happen to have found a decent YouTube video that at least gives a flavor of this year’s show – so I hope you enjoy it.

Friday Fun: 3-D Street Art

Posted by SoINeedAName at 12:29 pm Politics

Jan 242020

In many, if not most, cities authorities are not fond of graffiti art – even though some of it is quite striking. But in Milan, Italy they have come to admire the realistic 3-D work of Osimo Caiffa, aka “CHEONE”.

Cheone was born in 1979 in Gallipoli, a southern Italian town in the province of Lecce. At the age of 11 he moved with his family to Germany and began his career as a graffiti artist.

But after he moved back to Milan he transitioned and limited his paintings to “figurative realism”. He incorporates the location of his “canvas” into every creation. And he does not limit himself to just walls, but his art spills out onto sidewalks and roadways.

(He seems to limit his easel to abandoned industrial areas, but I couldn’t be sure because I don’t speak Italian.)

A good deal of his creations are 3-D, and in that sense viewing perspective means everything. Here’s a perfect example of that:

View this post on Instagram

#cheone #anamorphosis #anamorphosisart

A post shared by Cosimo Cheone Caiffa (@cosimocheone) on Mar 29, 2017 at 7:51am PDT

Let’s enjoy some of his works …

The dripping water faucet is the perfect foil for this painting.

I enjoy how he incorporates the louvered slats of the garage door into the frog or toad.

The toe sticking out of the hole in his sock is perfect whimsy.

Some fantastic “needlework”

No point in limiting your canvas.

Fun how a streetlight morphs into a candle.

Now that’s spooky!

This one made me smile.

But there was one I took strong objection to, and I’m curious if you’ll agree …

I think it’s very unwise to camouflage the Exit.

You can learn and view more of his work here:

https://www.facebook.com/cosimocheone/

https://www.instagram.com/cosimocheone/

https://www.boredpanda.com/street-art-graphiti-cosimocheone/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic

Friday Fun: Odds & Ends

Posted by SoINeedAName at 2:31 pm Politics

Jan 172020

I had a very interesting topic all picked out, and then when I started researching it yesterday it kept growing and growing. Since I want to do it justice, I decided today to put it on the backburner, and throw a few Odds & Ends together.

For those who don’t believe that the Trumpkins are a full-fledged cult, just two months ago former Sec. Rick Perry claimed that *Rump was “God’s chosen one”.

But if *Rump was actually “chosen by God”, then it’s obvious God got last pick.

Now that the Impeachment Trial has begun, it’ll be interesting to see if there are any witnesses. We all know that *Rump will refuse to testify. That’s because he doesn’t want anyone to see his tiny Subpoenis.

How about a poem?

The Donald went to heaven to ply the Pearly Gates,

But couldn’t pass Saint Peter, who said: “Your crooked mates

Are waiting for you, Donald, way down below in Hell.

There you’ll be warmly greeted because you’ve done so well

Encouraging corruption, dishonesty and sleaze

That Lucifer’s retiring and handing you the keys.

So take your golden mirror and lacquer up your hair

Because you needn’t worry – it never rains down there!”

Or if you prefer a limerick …

In the White House there lives quite a jerk

Who states he does nothing but work.

His continuous tweeting,

Berating and bleating

Makes us view such a claim with a smirk!

And finally, over the Holidays Melania told a Fox news reporter how difficult it was to get Donnie a unique Christmas present. So she decided that, as she wanted to know a little more factual information about his family history (since he’s falsely claimed for decades to be Swedish), she got him one of the ancestry DNA kits, like “23 & Me”.

Well, his DNA helix readout finally came back this week, and she admitted that she was not a bit surprised by the results:

I Have A Small, Personal Sad …

Posted by SoINeedAName at 6:44 pm Politics

Jan 092020

It’s not terrible – just going to be time-consuming. So no “Friday Fun”.

On January 2^nd I got a notification from one of my credit cards that there was activity on my account that they didn’t recognize & looked suspicious.

On review, I didn’t recognize it either – so I called. They decided that “out of an abundance of caution” they would terminate that card & send me a new one.

The next day when I logged in, it was clear that the unrecognized action was an online donation on 12/31 to an organization I had previously always written a check.

But the die was cast!

I got my new card the other day and activated it today. And I decided that since it’s been a while, I would go ahead and change my User & Password.

Unfortunately this created a HUGE snafu requiring three f/u (the medical “follow-up” … NOT the other f/u) phone calls and over 2 hours to straighten out. (*sigh*)

But now I have to contact 15 “Merchants” who I setup as automatic payments and notify them of my new card number, expiration date & CVV/CVC number.

My weekend beginning tomorrow is shot.

Like I said – not terrible, just time-consuming.

Friday Fun: Field of Light

Posted by SoINeedAName at 2:54 pm Politics

Jan 032020

In the rolling hills of Paso Robles, CA there is a most amazing art installation: Field of Light, by British artist Bruce Munro.

Consisting of over 58,800 spheres on 2.5′ stems and lit by solar-powered fiber optics, they illuminate the countryside in every color of the rainbow – and gradually change their hues.

It’s part of a larger series of Field of Light installations that stretch across the globe. You can view more of his installations at the Munro Website.

https://www.brucemunro.co.uk/

His inspiration for the projects came from a camping trip in Australia’s Red Desert to Uluru Rock (also known as Ayres) where he was struck by how the desert appears barren and infertile – until a rainfall makes the flowers bloom.

Munro envisioned a field of lights like dormant seeds in a dry desert that would “bloom” when darkness fell. This inspiration was realized in Munro’s installation at Uluru Rock in Australia – which uses 326 miles of optic fiber to create. It is on display indefinitely.

The Paso Robles installation covers 15 acres of Sensorio – an interactive garden and art center owned by Ken Hunter. It took five weeks for 20 staff members and other volunteers to construct the exhibit. Over 2,000 people visited it on just the first weekend it was opened.

The Field of Light display at Sensorio is open Wednesdays through Sundays from 7 to 11 PM until June 2020. Adult admission is $27 on Wednesday and Thursday and $30 Friday through Sunday. Tickets for children age 12 and under are $9 on Wednesday, $18 on Thursday and $19 Friday through Sunday. Children under age 2 get in for free. To learn more and reserve tickets, visit sensoriopaso.com or call (805) 226-4287.

Needless to say, it’s been a magnet for photographers – so let’s enjoy some of the ephemeral beauty. And I’ll admit I’m going a little overboard. But they were all so gorgeous (not sure you could take a bad picture) I couldn’t decide what to eliminate – so I didn’t!