Edgework:
A short, great video from ski company Rossignol on Giant Slalom(GS) racing and racing technique. Giant Slalom is the skiing event that splits the difference between the jarring, quick-turn discipline of slalom (be precise and be super-quick or you’re out) and the power-through-the-danger style of the downhill.
Giant Slalom racing is a more fluid discipline, combing smooth turning technique with the ability to carry speed into and, importantly out of, a turn (remember—just as in car racing, it’s not the speed you enter the turn that’s most important, it’s the exit speed).
To get you in the mood and provide some background information, enjoy this short video. We thank Rossignol for backing this type of video production. And remember: to be fast, you first must be precise. Get confidence in your technique and roll in speed as you gain increased confidence and control.
The Fine Print: Embed courtesy of our friends at YouTube, who have an amazing collection of skiing and other videos available for your enjoyment. Thanks, guys, for sharing. This post is number 947 for this site.
The Nightshift: 8 February 2017
Press Clippings:
Good Morning. It’s Wednesday 8 February 2017 and this is the morning edition of The Nightshift.
Drama (what’s new) in Congress as the Administration has to ram through a cabinet pick by having the Vice-President cast the deciding vote in a 50/50 split, while there are new legal adventures going on as the “travel ban” starts the court process. Drama is the new normal….get used to it.
There is some good news: Jack Nicholson is coming back to film in a remake of “Toni Erdman”, a foreign film that was nominated for an Oscar. Now that is something to look forward to. Welcome back, Jack.
And..the world goes on.
Catch up on what’s happening with the rest of the world by reading the front pages of the World’s Greatest newspapers.
The international Headlines are all at your fingertips:
Our annual Winter Film Festival has started. The WFF posts will go up after the The Nightshift’s daily international news feed, starting at 12:15 PM for the first post. See you at The Bottom.
The Times (London
Financial Times (UK)
The Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)
The Wall Street Journal (European edition)
Washington Post (Washington, D.C.)
New York Times (New York)
The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles)
Daily News Egypt (Cairo)
South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
The Moscow Times (Moscow)
Le Figaro (Paris)
The Jerusalem Post (Jerusalem)
The Japanese Times (Tokyo)
The Buenas Aires Herald (Buenas Aires)
The Sidney Morning Herald (Sidney)
Deadline Hollywood (Hollywood)
FiveThirtyEight (New York City)
The Fine Print: Embed courtesy of our friends at Getty Images, who have the photographic history of the 20th and 21st century on file. Thanks, guys, for sharing. This post is number 946 for this site.
The Winter Film Festival: "Few Words" featuring Candide Thovex
Edgework:
Candide Thovex is a French alpinist, skier, and film maker. He is at home in the backcountry, dropping in off the top of a mountain, and, mostly, in the air, where he is constantly pushing the envelope of what’s possible in the combination of skier, snow, and mountain. This full-length film is titled “Few Words”; once you see Thovex ski you’ll see why–he lets his skiing do the talking(although there’s plenty of commentary by his contemporaries). Set in the the world’s great mountain ranges and resorts, and produced in cooperation with QuickSilver (always support the companies that reach out and back these kinds of projects…), the film is filled with stunning aerial shots and amazing photography. Sharply edited, shot in high-def with lots of historical footage added in, this is one you definitely will want to bump to the flat screen for viewing.
There are few people in the world who can ski like Candide Thovex and we should all be thankful that his technique, accomplishments, and adventures have been captured on film.
You may not be able to ski like Thovex but you will know what’s possible on skis after you see this film. We will have more of Thovex later in the WFF series.
See you at the bottom.
The Fine Print: Embed courtesy of our friends at YouTube, who have an amazing collection of skiing and other videos available for your enjoyment. Thanks, guys, for sharing. This post is number 945 for this site.
The Winter Film Festival: The Eyes of Ted Ligety
Edgework:
What does it take to do a downhill run? Lots of courage and technical perfection–along with enough strength to pull you of a difficult situation if something goes wrong.
Here’s an intriguing piece from GoPro: a downhill run through the viewpoint of Ted Ligety, an American and one of the world’s very best skiers, noted for his precise turns.
This is definitely one you should bump to the flat screen to see it in all its’ intense high def glory.
Special thanks to GoPro for producing it, Ted Ligety for skiing it, and You Tube for making it available for all of us to enjoy.
Ready? Set? Go.
The Fine Print: Embed courtesy of our friends at YouTube, who have an amazing collection of skiing and other videos available for your enjoyment. Thanks, guys, for sharing. This post is number 944 for this site.
The Nightshift: 7 February 2017
Press Clippings:
Good Morning. It’s Tuesday, 7 February 2017 and this is the morning edition of The Nightshift.
The Super Bowl is in the rear view mirror and America has its’ attention turned (whether it wants to or not ) back to the drama that is Washington and contentious, non-productive, partisan politics. Draining the swamp or pumping more sludge into it?
On the other hand, this is “Rivalry Week” in college basketball with great matchups all week and weekend long–highlighted by the fiercest rivalry in college sports: Duke Vs. Carolina in basketball. That one is Thursday night, don’t miss it.
And if you’re in the mountains–good for you. Work on your technique and enjoy the skiing.
Catch up on what’s happening with the rest of the world by reading the front pages of the World’s Greatest newspapers.
The international Headlines are all at your fingertips:
Our annual Winter Film Festival has started. The WFF posts will go up after the The Nightshift’s daily international news feed at 12:15 PM for the first post. There are a couple of pieces on Mikaela Shiffrin(above) coming up. Enjoy
The Times (London
Financial Times (UK)
The Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)
The Wall Street Journal (European edition)
Washington Post (Washington, D.C.)
New York Times (New York)
The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles)
Daily News Egypt (Cairo)
South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
The Moscow Times (Moscow)
Le Figaro (Paris)
The Jerusalem Post (Jerusalem)
The Japanese Times (Tokyo)
The Buenas Aires Herald (Buenas Aires)
The Sidney Morning Herald (Sidney)
Deadline Hollywood (Hollywood)
FiveThirtyEight (New York City)
The Fine Print: Embed courtesy of our friends at Getty Images, who have the photographic history of the 20th and 21st century on file. Thanks, guys, for sharing. This post is number 943 for this site.
The Winter Film Festival: The Physics of Skiing
Edgework:
You ski but do you really know how you ski? It’s a sport that demands solid technique (and lots of practice) to do well and that technique must work in conjunction with the actual physics of the sport–the ability to make a pair of skis (or a ski board) turn, stop, change direction.
As a warmup to this year’s fun of films and videos on skiing, here’s a nice introduction to the physics and science of the sport. An informed skier is going to be a better skier.
So…get informed. Push the button and in just minutes, you’ll be smarter about the sport than you were when you clicked into the site.
The Fine Print: Embed courtesy of our friends at YouTube, who have an amazing collection of skiing and other videos available for your enjoyment. This post is number 942 for this site.
The Winter Film Festival: 2017
Edgework:
It’s Winter and it’s time, once again, for the Winter Film Festival, our annual presentation of a very wide range of films on skiing, ski racing, backcountry skiing, and ski technique along with a few winter sports surprises.
As usual with these types of posts, the recommendation is that you toss the embedded video to the flatscreen (you do have Chromecast, don’t you?) and run the sound through your audio system for maximum effect.
Video and sound quality vary but the films themselves are pretty terrific. We thank You Tube, in advance, for sharing these films and videos and we thank the producers for going out into the cold to produce them.
Look and learn or just be amazed.
And…don’t forget to get into shape you go skiing…it’s no fun if you get hurt because you just weren’t strong enough to make a critical turn or handle the bumps. And, if you don’t know how to ski–here’s a short primer on a skiing crash course that works.
The Fine Print: Image embed from Getty Images, who have the photographic history of the 20th and 21st century on file. They are your source for images of our times. Thanks, guys, for sharing. This post is number 941 for this site.
The Nightshift: 6 February 2017
Press Clippings:
Good Morning. It’s Monday, 6 February 2017 and this is the morning edition of The Nightshift.
Super Bowl LI is in the books and it was a classic: close; the first overtime game ever in Super Bowl history; and the biggest comeback ever in Super Bowl history. Congratulations to New England for winning the tightest Super Bowl ever and to Atlanta for making it so close that 60 minutes of playing time was not enough to decide the winner. Next year, the Super Bowl will be played in Minneapolis. Never too early to book hotel rooms and get on the guest lists.
As predicted: a tight game, some great commercials (and some duds) and Gaga delivered an incredible half-time show.
Now–on the Monday during which more people call in sick than any other day of the year–the Super Bowl is behind us and…the drama of America and American government is in front of us. Who knows what the week will bring?
Meanwhile, life goes on.
Catch up on what’s happening with the rest of the world by reading the front pages of the World’s Greatest newspapers.
The international Headlines are all at your fingertips:
Our annual Winter Film Festival starts this afternoon at 12:15PM. The WFF posts will go up after the The Nightshift’s daily international news feed.
The Times (London
Financial Times (UK)
The Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)
The Wall Street Journal (European edition)
Washington Post (Washington, D.C.)
New York Times (New York)
The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles)
Daily News Egypt (Cairo)
South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
The Moscow Times (Moscow)
Le Figaro (Paris)
The Jerusalem Post (Jerusalem)
The Japanese Times (Tokyo)
The Buenas Aires Herald (Buenas Aires)
The Sidney Morning Herald (Sidney)
Deadline Hollywood (Hollywood)
FiveThirtyEight (New York City)
The Fine Print: Embed courtesy of our friends at Getty Images, who have the photographic history of the 20th and 21st century on file. Thanks, guys, for sharing. This post is number 940 for this site.
The Nightshift: 5 February 2017
Press Clippings:
Good Morning. It’s Sunday, 5 February 2017 and this is the morning edition of The Nightshift.
The Super Bowl is today–after an NFL season that started in the fall of last year, after a bruising round of playoffs, and after a two week media buildup, the big day is finally here. Let’s home for a close game, terrific commercials (for $5 million for 30 seconds they better be terrific), and a blow-the-doors off half-time show (Gaga will deliver).
The photo above is of the Atlanta Falcons arriving at NRG stadium for pre-Super Bowl practice. Good luck to both teams in this biggest of American sporting events.
Some 100 million people all over the world will watch the Super Bowl so it’s only fair to keep an eye on global affairs.
Catch up on what’s happening with the rest of the world by reading the front pages of the World’s Greatest newspapers.
The international Headlines are all at your fingertips:
Oh, and one other thing: our annual Winter Film Festival starts on Monday, 6 February 2017. The WFF posts will go up after the daily international news feed.
The Times (London
Financial Times (UK)
The Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)
The Wall Street Journal (European edition)
Washington Post (Washington, D.C.)
New York Times (New York)
The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles)
Daily News Egypt (Cairo)
South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
The Moscow Times (Moscow)
Le Figaro (Paris)
The Jerusalem Post (Jerusalem)
The Japanese Times (Tokyo)
The Buenas Aires Herald (Buenas Aires)
The Sidney Morning Herald (Sidney)
Deadline Hollywood (Hollywood)
FiveThirtyEight (New York City)
The Fine Print: Embed courtesy of our friends at Getty Images, who have the photographic history of the 20th and 21st century on file. Thanks, guys, for sharing. This post is number 939 for this site.
The Nightshift: 4 February 2017
Press Clippings:
Good Morning. It’s Saturday, 4 February 2017 and this is the morning edition of The Nightshift.
Lots of government/legal/White House drama over the travel ban but…there are alternative events to follow.
It’s the start of the Super Bowl Weekend (and by Monday, you’re probably going to have Super Bowl fatique).
Houston is filling up with fans, corporate entertainment professionals, NFL players past-and-present, celebrities, rock and pop stars, media representatives, photographers, and tourists. In 48 hours, most if not all of them will be gone and the game will be in the books.
Let’s hope for one thing: it’s a great game with good commercials and a terrific half-time show. We can count on two of those three.
One more thing: our annual Winter Film Festival starts on Monday.
Meanwhile, the world goes on.
Catch up on what’s happening with the rest of the world by reading the front pages of the World’s Greatest newspapers.
The international Headlines are all at your fingertips:
The Times (London
Financial Times (UK)
The Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)
The Wall Street Journal (European edition)
Washington Post (Washington, D.C.)
New York Times (New York)
The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles)
Daily News Egypt (Cairo)
South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
The Moscow Times (Moscow)
Le Figaro (Paris)
The Jerusalem Post (Jerusalem)
The Japanese Times (Tokyo)
The Buenas Aires Herald (Buenas Aires)
The Sidney Morning Herald (Sidney)
Deadline Hollywood (Hollywood)
FiveThirtyEight (New York City)
The Fine Print: Embed courtesy of our friends at Getty Images, who have the photographic history of the 20th and 21st century on file. Thanks, guys, for sharing. This post is number 938 for this site.