Mydree

WIP's Suicide Pool

I'm playing in WIP's NFL Suicide Pool again this season. Last season I made it the entire season picking a winner each week. I lost the pool because I incorrectly picked the score of the Eagles last game. I'm back this season and I correctly picked the Patriots to win last week.

My pick for this week is: Baltimore Ravens to win at home over the Oakland Raiders.

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PECO Workers to the Rescue

Saturday morning of Labor Day weekend a big storm (the remnants of Hurricane Ernesto) knocked a tree limb onto our power line and knocked out our electricity. Power was out less than nine hours.

More pictures at Flickr.

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Invincible movie poster

Invincible is a well done underdog movie. It doesn't break any new cinematic ground and probably won't earn any Oscar nominations but it's worth the price of admission. It's the feel-good movie of late summer and early fall.

Mark Wahlberg plays an out of work teacher whose wife has left him. His friends persuade him to try out for the Philadelphia Eagles, who are having open try-outs to generate interest in the slumping team.

Does he make the team? Does he struggle along the way? Does he find a new wife? Does fame go to his head? Does he make a big play in a real NFL game? I think you know the answers to these questions, but the acting is good enough and the directing is decent enough that you want to see how it all turns out.

Invincible at IMDB, user rating 7.1/10 (1,787 votes).

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Steve Irwin

Steve Irwin was a larrikin - not that there's anything wrong with that.

As an American I was not aware of larrikinism before Steve's tragic death. Larrikins seem to be a uniquely Australian phenomenon. Other larrikins that Americans may be familiar with are Paul Hogan (Crocodile Dundee) and the late Bon Scott (AC/DC).

So what is this larrikinism? And more importantly is it communicable?

Wikipedia defines Larrikinism as: Larrikinism is the name given to the Australian folk tradition of irreverence, mockery of authority and disregard for rigid norms of propriety. Larrikinism can also be associated with self-deprecating humour.

Now I should note that not all Australians are proud of their national larrikins (yes, that includes Steve). I mean would Americans be happy if the rest of the world thought that all Americans were like Larry the Cable Guy?

For discussion:
Do red necks in the US mock authority enough to be considered American larrikins?

For further research:
Larrikinism, Larry the Cable Guy, Red neck.

Note: this first appeared on my Newsvine column - link.

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