Olympic Stadium reviews
Thursday, April 17, 2008
The Beijing National Stadium is a wonderful structure for less-than-wonderful sporting events. As athletics continues to gain professional notoriety, why do we prop up this relic of the Cold War? I think it is done to provide prime time TV programming in the summer. It is not done for this sports fan's entertainment. Yawn. Give me Arena football over some of the painful "events" like the Opening Ceremony. I need more sports and less "human interest."But, hey, the stadiums that hold some of the games can be pretty cool. Per CoolHunting.com (maybe?), I was linked to the Oobject web site/blog to review a gallery of every postwar olympic stadium. And I quote from the site:
With the possible exception of the 1972 Munich Olympic Stadium, Beijing’s “Birds Nest” stadium, designed by fashionable Swiss architects, Herzog & de Meuron, promises to be the clear winner, architecturally. Here is a list of all 16 post-war Olympic Stadia. Vote for your faves.This is really a great little gallery. For more information on the stadium, and pictures, Good ole Wikipedia does the trick with a nice entry dedicated to Beijing National Stadium.
Labels: photography
A-Day in Tuscaloosa
Sunday, April 13, 2008
The Birmingham Chapman family enjoyed a short road trip over to Tuscaloosa for spring football. Pictures of A-Day are up in the photo gallery. 78,200 fans were there for the scrimmage. Not quite as good as last year. But, still the largest (so far) spring game in the nation. Its great to be from Alabama!
Labels: family
Leningrad Cowboys and Red Army Chorous boom out "Sweet Home Alabama"
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
In "honor" of April Fools, I blaspheme Lynard Skynard.
Labels: Alabama football, April Fool's
Easter 2008 with the Birmingham Chapmans
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Easter weekend has come and gone. Yet, the candy found in plastic eggs continues to linger on. Now that Amelia is a big girl at 2-and-a-half, the Easter Egg hunt is faster-paced. Please scroll down the page at: http://chrisachapman.net to view several short video clips from Easter morning.
Do not forget to view family photos by clicking on the gallery link at the top of this blog. Specifically, the Easter photos can be directly accessed via this link.
Labels: family
Easter Egg Hunt, part 1
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Labels: family
Easter Egg Hunt, part 2
Labels: family
Easter Egg Hunt, part 3
Monday, March 24, 2008
Happy Easter!
Labels: family
Easter Egg Hunt, part 4
Getting the last few eggs in the yard.
Labels: family
Easter Egg Hunt, part 5... toy glider
Ethan enjoys the bounty from the Easter Bunny
Labels: family
Drive-By Truckers looking good on national TV
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Nice stuff. I think Kevin (my friend from Muscle Shoals) will like this one very much. Glad to see the band promoting their new album on Conan's show. Check out the band's web site for links to more music. Their music is on Amazon.
Finally, let me quote the 4 of 5 Stars review by Robert Christgau for Rolling Stone from January 24:
Prospects were poor for what turns out to be an overflowing song bag of an
album by Lynyrd Skynyrd's arty nephews. Their last winner was 2004's The Dirty
South......But Mike Cooley is on his game — the pro-bad-girl "Lisa's Birthday" and pro-weird-guy "Bob" shoot exceptionally straight. And knowing he has to carry the team, Patterson Hood executes —scene-setters about domestic life as celestial respite, endless struggle and occasion to drink; dark-siders about crystal meth (named) and suicide (implied); memoir of an opening act on the road; and two agonizing Iraq songs, one of which sinks pained voice into guitar attack, strength against strength. You could argue that the Truckers should have revved up this Skynyrd side more often. But instead they let the songwriting speak for itself, and it sings loud and clear.
Labels: music
