Gophers win 63-53
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Gopher Women on National TV!

Women’s basketball: Popular Gophers go national
If you have an interest in hoops, tune in. Don’t miss the chance to see Lindsay Whalen play. 3 pm Central, CBS. You’ll get an idea of why I’m so excited about this team.

Review: Cold Mountain

I liked it. It’s not a great film by any stretch, but sometimes I don’t much care for great films. I was entertained and moved, so I guess I got my moneys worth. The concept of lovers who’s love is based on not much more than aquaintence and one kiss, going through extreme hardships to stay true and reunite, stands in sharp contrast to our concept of love and faithfulness today. The epic story of the journey had me wondering what Classic epic it was patterned after (I guess I should have paid more attention in school). The photography was great as well, I want to hike those hills. No wonder Linman wanted to get back to Cold Mountain. The battle scenes were excellent and provided the neccessary testosterone content. As my wife said, “Love, war, something for everyone.”
The acting was strong, especially from the supporting cast. Rene Zellweger is probably a lock for best supporting actress in a chameleon like performance remeniscent of Billy Bob’s shape changing. Natalie Portman, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Kathy Baker are also outstanding. Kidman and Law were adequate, doing a great job of looking great, but I don’t think they mined the potential of the roles.
Which brings me to my conclusion (thank God, you say!) For a story full of powerful emotional content, in the end I found myself wondering why I wasn’t more powerfully moved. So, in terms of Hollywood epics, pretty good, but no Dr. Zivago.

Abstract Image: I started by building the concentric circles in illustrator, I imported that into Pshop and then worked with layers and filters, including SuperBlade Pro to get the effects. This is a style of image I’d like to explore much further. Looking at it now it occurs to me that it looks kind of like a chicken.

Minnesota 64 Michigan 44
What’s really scary is that Lindsay, until now, has not been known as an outside shooter. Her game was taking it to the hoop and dazzling people in the open court. She was 5 for 7 from outside the arc tonight! Two of those came from 5 feet back from the circle. She scored 32.

We are about to head down to Williams Arena and see the fabulous Golden Gopher women in their Big 10 opener. They are ranked sixth in the nation and have Lindsay Whalen, maybe the best player in the country.

Sad morning
I was up early as usual, groggily stumbling through my dawn ritual, when the call came. It was Jill, my nephew’s wife. She asked for my wife. I didn’t pick up on why she might be calling so early on New Year’s Day, insensitive brute that I am. I told her Beck was asleep and she started to cry. I knew immediately. Her Mom, who’d been battling pulmanary fibrosis, died last night. Jill used to work with Beck at the agency and she had introduced Jill to my nephew. Our families have become very close. My kids refer to her mom as Grandma Jo. We’ve lost one of the nicest, funniest and most generous hearted people I’ve ever known. Go with God, Jo.

On a lighter note
My Norwegian Lutheran mother-in-law sent us a New Years card. It had a Star of David and the Scrolls on it. Is she trying to tell us something?