The O.C.- an ode to pop culture

It has been 10 years since a little show known as The O.C. aired changing adolescent lives around America forever. Maybe the show did not affect others quite the same way, but it’s hard to recall another show that crammed more amazing music, delightful drama and brooding babes in only four seasons.

Until The O.C. introduced me to indie rock artists like Death Cab for Cutie, the Shins and Imogen Heap I found myself mindlessly lost in a sea of horrible radio music. With MTV’s music already giving way to reality TV The O.C. quickly became my music guide.

The O.C. was the best thing to happen to teen angst since Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic introduced the world to Nirvana. Finally there were characters we could all relate to. Idealistic upper-middle class high school social outcasts lost among the rich kids who “only worry about how much money is in their trust fund or getting a new beamer each year.”

Never had a show matched my need for nerdy quips and couture fashion. Regardless of how many broke fathers Marissa Cooper had she some how managed to keep her closet stocked with Chanel purses. A great wardrobe will transcend social status. The Coopers changed the way society viewed trailer house living.

Not to mention the countless unforgettable scenes and timeless quotes among them: Seth and Summer’s Spider Man kiss, Ryan Atwood taking on the entire water polo team and Chris Brown playing a good boy band geek in season four. The O.C. wasted no time appealing to our need for brazen vocabulary in the pilot when Luke smirks and says, “Welcome to the O.C. bitch. This is how it’s done in Orange County.”

With elements of postmodernism, indie culture and respectable comic book references it is no wonder The O.C. was an instant classic. A pop culture phenomenon if you will.

Oh Waiter, Pour More Class into my Glass Please

The way to my heart is most definitely through my stomach, so I've decided to talk about the classy establishments of Corpus.

First on the must mention list is Water Street Oyster Bar. Classy and yet oh-so-affordable. I think Mad Men every time I'm in there. They also have a happy hour from 4-6 that ain't half bad. I tend to get crazy with their half price oysters and marvelous martinis. If you want to impress a date without breaking the bank, Water Street them.

Oysters from Water Street

Probably one of my favorite fancy food eateries, the 500 Bistro. French cuisine and open fairly late as far as restaurants go in Corpus. There isn't anything under 30$ but I promise your taste buds will taste the difference. The atmosphere is calm and sophisticated and it happens to be attached to a lobby that is attached to my favorite night club Havana. So if you want a special night on the town splurge a little at 500 and then head to Havana for one sexy evening.

Christmas at the Staghound Bar inside 500 Bistro

I have to say Katz21 has to make the list. It is known for its upscale atmosphere and pricing, however I won't claim their food much better than a regular steak house. On the other hand their new location now has a large separate bar area that is just amazing. The outside patio also has a bar and usually live music. The other night I was drinking my usual cucumber martini with my best friends when Suzette Quintanilla asked what we were drinking! (For those who don't know, she is Selena's sister and no I don't mean J-Lo) So there you have it, celebrities party at Katz, so should you!

New Katz location and building

There are still two places left on my list, The Republic of Texas and Yard Arm. Both of which I hear are amazing and will make your credit card weep. However I happen to have friends working at both locations, so let's hope for a real review soon.

As always Corpus, stay classy.

On to the Next One

I think everyone would agree new is better; fresh is far superior to stale. As students we sometimes fall into a grove, which turns to a rut if we aren’t careful. Taking the same path to each class everyday. Ordering the same items off the limited menu. Attend class, study after, attend class, study after then maybe sleep. It all becomes something of an academic Groundhog’s Day. This repetitious rhythm can occur with athletes as well, often becoming detrimental to keeping their game at its peak performance. The opposite of fresh is burnt out. Contrary to pop culture, cult classic films, burnouts rarely achieve anything of value.

            So first how do you know if you are well on your way to breaking down or simply experiencing a case of the Mondays? Dr. Alan Goldberg, sports psychology expert compiled a simple checklist for warning signs of burnout, which I will run through. First Physical fatigue- daily tasks are carried out in an apathetic manner; you go to sleep exhausted and wake up the same way. Constant illness followed by constant pain or achy muscles. Loss of fun- you just can’t wait for the day to be over. Loss of meaning- constantly asking yourself “why am I doing this?” Experiencing difficulty focusing. Finally displaying behavioral problems- unwarranted outbursts or a consistent negative attitude. To be sure, we all experience these symptoms but we should be aware if it’s an everyday thing or just a today thing.

            Goldberg suggests that there are three main causes to these symptoms and the sooner they are pin pointed and relieved the better. The first cause being, of course, lack of rest. No one should pull all-nighters if it means hating your life in class or even skipping class because you over slept- that defeats the whole purpose. Take a nap, take a walk, meditate or kick the crap out of a ball; it really doesn’t matter how it’s done, just release some steam. Another cause is too much pressure. You shouldn’t be in constant dread of going to school, you chose your major for a reason and hopefully that reason was because you enjoy the material. However I understand, money talks. A little anxiety is fine, it means you actually care about succeeding but if your heartburn is onset by the sight of your syllabus maybe it’s time to reevaluate. The third cause is tying your self-worth to your performance. That is, if you perform well, you’re a worthwhile person and if you fail, then you are worthless. You are not your transcript or the lost championship.

            You are more than the sum of your parts Islanders. Let your light shine not burnout. In the words of Jay-Z, “…I move forward the only direction can’t be scared to fail search and perfection…it’s all about progression, loiterers should be arrested…”

Insane in the Membrane

Have you ever had a seemingly random idea pop into your head and think, “That’s a great idea.” Did you ever try to follow through with that “great” idea only to end up with a broken spirit, arm or heart? My “great” idea for the semester was taking 18 hours of classes advisors warn never to take together. What’s living without taking risks? Some of the greatest moments in sports’ history started from greatly insane ideas.

Lloyd's of London gave 19-year-old Gertrude Ederle only 7-1 odds that she would become the first woman to complete the 21-mile swim across the English Channel, something no woman and only five men had previously done. During the last few hours, Ederle had to overcome a rough tide running strongly against her, but she finished the swim in 14 hours, 31 minutes - nearly two hours faster than the previous best. When she returned to New York, the city threw its largest ticker-tape parade ever. Ederle’s idea was one small stroke for her and one giant win for women everywhere.

July 1999, Tony Hawk entered the X-Games with one great idea- to land a 900 during competition. After ten failed attempts and long after the allotted competition time had expired, the judges and other skaters allowed Hawk to keep trying. Relentlessly Hawk became the first person to land the two and a half revolution aerial spin. Eleven years later at the age of 43 Hawk can still land the 900 all thanks to one random idea.

            More recently Austrian, Felix Baumgartner became the first person to break the speed of sound without the use of a vehicle reaching speeds of Mach 1.25 (843.6 mph). On October 14, 2012 Baumgartner stepped out of his Red Bull capsule to freefall 127,852.4 feet above New Mexico. The descent took ten minutes but history was changed forever. Innovations that came from that leap of faith were a new parachute system, an innovative treatment for ebullism (formation of gas bubbles in bodily fluids) and new ventilator systems.

So maybe your last idea to jump from the roof of your house into the pool was an epic fail. And yeah taking that eight a.m. class was a theory better left untested but think about everything you learned. Life is about taking chances and seeing where you end up. Sometimes you will end up face down on the ground or up a creek but at least you will have a story to tell. Who knows, maybe your next big idea will take you to a new world, will lead you to be the first or maybe just maybe that idea will put you on the map. 

Pay to Play? No Way!

First and foremost I am very pro-school spirit. I enjoy staying late, being loud and awkwardly complimenting the players on their wins. However as much as I love college sports I do not love the idea of N.C.A.A. student athletes getting paid to play.

            Joe Nocera of the New York Times even drew up a plan of why and how student athletes should be paid. For the most part he only promotes football and men’s basketball. I thought Misogyny in sports ended with the Hollywood classic ”A league of their own.” The Islanders women’s teams wake up to practice before the sun rises and still manage to look good in class. No one is talking about paying them. I’m sure even if they did end up being paid it would only be 75% of what the male athletes make.

            The whole idea is ridiculous. If a student athlete can’t maintain their grades and play their sport they should never have accepted the responsibility. It is not the responsibility of the university to make sure an athlete can afford to be there. So a university uses their photos as a promotion on a flyer or the school website, so what? You don’t see lab students getting $40,000 a year for helping a professor publish a paper. You don’t see single mothers getting paid to make 4.0s and raise their children right. Life is hard. The athletes get rewarded with the glory of a win and respect and recognition from the student body. What happened to playing for love of the game?

            Athletes are given the same advantages as students, on-campus tutors, scholarships and academic advising. Perhaps student athlete only scholarships should be awarded (if they are not already). Sure there are college coaches who make way too much but that is their career; athletes aren’t born, they are made. When they graduate they can become anything they want, just like everyone else. I believe if you want something badly enough, you’ll find a way to get it. There was talk about a health care plan for athletes and frankly I think that America in general is looking for an answer to health care. I just don’t think paying athletes, especially only football and men’s basketball players, will help college athletics. It certainly won’t help school spirit and forget about unifying the student body. The system is garbage, we can all acknowledge that but treating certain students differently is not the way to reform. Throwing money at certain student athletes is just a band-aid for a bullet wound.  

This Distance is Relentless

More often then not, I find myself putting in long hours and hard work and feeling like it isn’t getting me anywhere. I recently started attending the Cycling fitness class offered at the Dugan and felt the same way, all that cycling and you don’t move one inch. However the class instructor Caleigh pumped us up at the appropriate times and the next day my body certainly didn’t feel like I went nowhere. Staying motivated for the long haul is something every student, athlete and regular old Joe face almost everyday, so how do you find and keep motivation?

            In an issue of Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology published in 2000, Anthony J. Amorose and Thelma S. Horn arrived at some very interesting results for what they called “Intrinsic Motivation (IM).” The study was done on a sample size of 386 male and female athletes in various sports from Division I Universities. Amorose and Horn discovered that a) scholarship athletes reported higher levels of IM than nonscholarship athletes, b) male athletes reported higher IM than female athletes, and c) perceived coaching behaviors were related to athlete’s IM. Athletes who perceived their coaches to have high frequencies of positive and useful feedback as well as low punishment-oriented behavior showed greater levels of IM than athletes perceiving the opposite of their coaches. My favorite line being “teachers who act in a controlling manner undermine their students’ perceptions of self-determination, which in turn results in a decrease in intrinsic motivation.”

A sport that requires great intrinsic motivation, mostly due to the fact that most of the senses are subdued is swimming. Some, swimmers spend more than ten hours in a pool just swimming back and forth, talk about monotonous.  Olympic medalist for all 1984, 1988 and 1992 games held in L.A., Seoul and Barcelona respectively, Matt “the California Condor” Biondi told reporters that the hardest game is the one you play against yourself throughout practice and the meets. “Persistence can change failure into extraordinary achievement,” Biondi said.

Three time Czechoslovakian gold medalist in the 1952 Summer Olympics, Emil Zátopek said his track/cross country career began when his coach forced him and four other boys to run in a race. Though he tried to say he wasn’t in proper shape the race took place and as Zátopek began to run he felt the need to win like never before. He is best known for his last minute decision to run the first marathon of his life and win gold at the ’52 Olympics. “An athlete cannot run with money in his pockets. He must run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head,” Zátopek said.

So keep your inner coach shouting words of encouragement. Let your mind wonder to its most creative regions and remember that hopes and dreams once built a great nation. 

A Lie to Rely On

Remember the days when someone would paint a picture, ace a test or be the first to finish running laps in P.E. and not be accused of performance enhancers? For some of us those days seem almost more like dreams than memories and others may never remember such a time. However, it’s never been the ‘how’ that bugged me; it’s almost always been the deception, the keeping the public in the dark that killed me. Are the lies we tell ourselves, and the world ever justifiable?

            Over the years several hundred athletes have been accused/convicted what have you, of using illegal substances (not all performance enhancers). Take for instance former MLB first baseman David Segui who was busted for using Human Growth Hormone when he played for the Mets. After a long debacle Segui finally admitted to having a doctor’s excuse for the HGH and it was needed to make up for a health condition. The mediocre player at best, lost public support for being shady. Segui ended his career on the Orioles with a pitiful scorecard and little to no fans.

            More popular example, Arnold Schwarzenegger, back in his Mr. Universe days, Arnold was caught using steroids.  Heck Schwarzenegger was pretty much caught doing a lot of dishonest things. He went AWOL at 18, was an illegal immigrant in the 60s and then there were the ‘roids. Not to mention a whole slue of sexual harassment allegations. But he had that charm, those muscles and well no one hates on an action hero who saves the world from aliens!

            Finally we can talk about Texas native Lance Armstrong until the cows come home. The man came in first, seven consecutive times in the Tour de France. Then he broke Sheryl Crows’ heart, so we forgot all about his wins. However, then cancer struck him harder than his 2009 crash in Spain. The world forgave him and rallied on as he got back to business as usual four days after his operation. Now after years of blood, sweat and tears he’s being accused and convicted of doping. Losing his wins, his sponsors and the public’s love. Personally, I think cycling is boring. I participate in Conquer the Coast each year and remember to take a buddy and beats to stay lively. Cycling without Armstrong is golf without Woods, just not worth watching when highlights will do just fine. Maybe he finally came clean to Oprah because she is as close to ‘the people’ as Armstrong is ever going to get. I can respect that.

            So my little surreptitious Islanders, remember should you intend on going the dishonest route be prepared to pay the price. Even if the lie is small you better have a back up of amazing deeds to counteract it. This being said, we might want to all step-up our game this semester.