DARREN CLARKE

This is shamefully my first post for quite some time. However, I was moved by a recent incident to ensure that I wrote about it before too much time had passed.

In this world of megabucks sports stars it's not often one can find someone that could be described as a SPIRITUAL WEIGHTLIFTER. However, golfer darren Clarke qualifies as a result of something exceptional and special that he did last weekend.

Now let me say at the outset that I am a great fan of golf but have never considered darren to be a favourite of mine. For one thing I have found his cigar smoking attitude a little too arrogant for me. But my opinion changed this weekend.

Bagger Vance said it best. People that play sports other than golf "lie, deliberately, to gain selfish advantage". And Darren showed this by making a decison that should stand as an example to others.

When play at Carton House was abandoned because of bad weather on Sunday, Clarke was two shots clear with 10 to play. But just before the hooter sounded, Clarke had pushed his drive at the 9th into the heavy rough.

When he returned to resume his round on Monday, Clarke discovered the County Kildare course's leprechauns had been at work overnight improving his lie. From being faced with a hack back to the fairway on Sunday, he now had a shot at reaching the green in two.

Having asked for a ruling, Clarke was told to thank "the little people" (probably) and play the ball as it lay.

The 37-year-old felt ill at ease about this, however, and opted to play the same sideways chip back to the short stuff he was going to have to play on Sunday.

The result? A bogey-five and the first wobble in a round that would see him bogey two of the last three holes to finish two behind Thomas Bjorn.

As Clarke later explained: "When I went back out the area around the ball had been flattened. It was a much better lie than when I left it.

"I could have put it on to the front of the green from where it was, but my conscience would not allow me to do it so I just decided the best thing to do was chip out like I would have done the previous night.

"Honesty is part and parcel of the game and I could not have acted any other way."

Well done Darren - you are a true SPIRITUAL WEIGHTLIFTER.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU PLAYED?

Marc De Bruin asks: "When Was the Last Time You Played?:"

I quote:

"Firstly, find out where you are hanging on to seriousness. Where is your life governed by doubt, worry, anxiety, fear of the future, etc. Where have you suppressed playfulness in favour of gloom? Be honest with yourself!

"Secondly, define for yourself what 'playing' means to you. I may have a completely different definition of the word than you, and therefore my "playing" will be different to yours! What would you do if you decided to play? Go to a musical, play chasings with your partner, go to a footy game, play hide-and-seek with your kids, buy a super-soaker and squirt cars in the street, etc.?

"Thirdly, find examples in your surroundings of people that "play" the way you would like to. What are they doing? How often do they do that? What sort of people are they? What can you learn from them?

"Lastly, take action!! Find at least two occasions in a week in which you can play out full. Go past your own boundaries, act a little crazy, do things you would never do before, make a fool of yourself, and laugh out loud! If that is too much, do something that is less "out there," but still is a stretch in your model of the world, and then do a little more the next week.

"Seriously...we need more fun and play in our lives. You will not only feel great, you will have an enormous influence on the people around you also. Just try it: walk past somebody and give them an honest smile. You will make their day."

And when you are ready for some advanced fun, might I suggest perhaps a Pointless Game or a round or two of Mondo Croquet?

STREET PLAY

The discriminating few will no doubt wonder how it happened that my previous post, Public Art and Public Play also appears as a previous post of mine, called, oddly enough, "A Public Fun Artist. "Was there a significance to the second appearance of what is apparently a post by yet another name," you might ask yourself.

Today's post, therefore, is about something else that, spiritually-wise, I find uplifting in a weighty way. Something created by two people who have become, consequently, actual friends of mine truly. A website called "Street Play.

There's a lot of reminiscing going on about how kids used to play back in the days when kids were kids. It's a good kind of reminiscing, a sweet nostalgia for the inventiveness and irrepressible, undeniable spirit of play. Unfortunately, we almost always follow those moments of wistful wonder with the conclusion that kids nowadays just don't do those kind of things.

Streetplay is a spirit-lifting - restoring our faith both in our memories of childhood, and in childhood itself. Streetplay's collections of photographs documenting actual kids in actual play, here, and around the world, yesterday, and today, provides us with incontrovertible evidence of the preeminence of the playful spirit.

Then again, there's the nostalgia part. Surely you didn't forget those long summer afternoons playing Stickball? And who could forget Halfball? Or, for that matter, Skully? Reading about those games, seeing the photos and film clips, even if you never played them, is a journey into the past, present, and future of fun. It not only documents what we used to do, it reminds us that we can still do those things, that we have a heritage to pass on to our children and children's children. And our children, and children's children have a heritage to pass on back to us.

This is a remarkable site. Rich in depth and detail, preserving and nurturing a wealth of rock solid invitations to play. It is free. You can help support the site by purchasing cool stuff from their store. There are no advertisements. A genuine gift to us all.

PUBLIC ART - PUBLIC PLAY

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer lifts spirits with his "Relational Architecture" projects, as exemplified by his body movies piece - (this link takes you to a very large quicktime movie, requiring a fast connection and great patience - all well worth the effort).

In this remarkable work of art, Lozano-Hemmer invites people to play via complex and subtle uses of light and technology. I quote from his website:

Body Movies transforms public space with 400 to 1,800 square metres of interactive projections. Thousands of photo portraits taken on the streets of the cities where the project is exhibited are shown using robotically controlled projectors. However, the portraits only appear inside the projected shadows of local passers-by, whose silhouettes measure between 2 to 25 metres high, depending on how far people were from the powerful light sources placed on the floor of the square. A custom-made computer vision tracking system triggers new portraits as old ones are revealed.

Body Movies effectively transforms a public square into a public playground, where strangers play with light, shadow, and each other. It illustrates every principle I can think of that characterizes an effective play environment: It supports almost any degree of involvement. Players can choose to ignore it completely. Players can watch other players at play. Players can dip into and out of it at will. Players can get silly and stay safe, get serious and take risks, become fascinated and fascinating, play alone or in groups. Players can spend hours figuring out how to make it do things.

Lazano-Hemmer came to my attention via an email I received from Madamjujujive, aka Julie Ferguson, a contributor to two of my "Blogs o'Fun" - Metafilter and Everlasting Blort. She knew that I'd be at least as excited as she was about her discovery of the art of as described in this discussion on MetaFilter. I mention this by way of thanks, to Madamjuvujive, Rolo, who passed the lilnk on to the MetaFilter community, and to the many wonders and powers of we who blog.

Want to see more of Lazano-Hemmer? He recommends HUMO: A mobile platform for the rapid deployment of huge images and his "ambitious net project" Vectorial Elevation.

THE MAGIC NUMBERS

This is a very, very brief post, but this particular story caught my eye. I think not enough so-called 'celebrities' keep their feet on the ground anfd this is a great example of band, in vogue at the moment, who have done just that.

As a teacher I have often approached people whom I'd hope might support some class project and had little response.

Mind you this story also shows they were not prepared to stand for any nonsense - they are highly principled!

The Magic Numbers have been SPIRITUAL WEIGHTLIFTERS to the tecaher and class in this particular story. They should be commended for that!

WORLD DRIFTS IN – CALEXICO

Calexico, as well as being the name of a town somewhere near the American/Mexican border, is a musical act comprising Joey Burns and John Convertino, former members of Howe Gelb-led, legendary act Giant Sand.

Their unique musical blend is best described as a cross between Mariachi, TexMex and rock. When listening to their music on my iPod I half expect to see tumbleweed blowing across my train carriage or wherever I happen to be at the time.

As is alluded to above, the mix of musical influences shows that in the name Calexico, they were not so much picking an identifying label, as they were making a statement about their music crossing borders. The genre is best described as alt.country or Americana.

There appearance as SPIRITUAL WEIGHTLIFTER is merited by several instances, not least of which are some of their barn-stroming tracks like “Crystal Frontier” and “Across the Border”. However, the specific citation in this case comes as a result of their live concert held at the Barbican Theatre in London in November 2002.

Now having seen them perform live at the Royal Festival Hall in 2004 with the Spanish band Amparanoia, I can vouch that they are one of the most amazing bands I have ever seen playing live. They know how to put on a show. Indeed it was one gig that had us fans well and truly ‘rocking in the aisles’.

A previous gig in London in 2000 had won them great acclaim and the accolade of Time out’s ‘Gig of the Year’ – an accolade indeed. So they had something to live up to when they went on stage in November 2002.
The DVD that is a record of that show is called ‘World Drifts In’ and is a brilliantly simple concept. No frills – the band are filmed with few cameras trained on them. Yet this simple style works, it doesn’t becme tiresome or boring. Instead one is drawn into their performance as, like Talking Heads' "Stop Making Sense" the band builds before your eyes.

Francois Breut, a French singer joins the group on a couple of songs, including the important track ‘The Ballad of Cable Hogue’. But it is about halfway through the event that the night becomes something very, very special. The appearance of the 8 members of Mariachi Luz De Luna ensures that the sober environment of the Brabican is rocked like it never had been before or will be thereafter.

The performance of all on stage is a marvel and wonder that will be looked back on many years from now as a benchmark for world music and for that reason it is a worthy member of the SPIRITUAL WEIGHTLIFTING hall of fame.

SANJURO

Sanjuro is the eponymous role played by Toshiro Mifune in the 1962 film. The movie was made as a comedic follow-up to the more serious Yojimbo. The character of Sanjuro appears in both films, and unusually although described as a sequel, it cannot technically be such, as it occurs in an earlier period of history than its predecessor!

In both films Sanjuro, whose name means ‘thirty years old’, is a mercenary who sets out to help people in need. The latter film is the one I refer to in the rest of this post.

In the film, Sanjuro reluctantly plays mentor to a naïve group of young Samurai as he tries to help them to learn their trade.

Why I feel uplifted by this character is the way in which he makes use of his intelligence to support and encourage his charges although it is ultimately a fruitless task. That’s not to say he exploits his position. He makes himself indispensable to the nine fledgling Samurai by trying to get them to think for themselves. However much he tries, they continue to mindlessly act with one voice. Although somewhat disdainful of their inability to act independently, he still perseveres with them.

Sanjuro outwits everyone he comes into contact with – most emphatically in the very famous final scene frequently referred to as the ‘briefest and most breathtaking duels in the history of cinema’.

But for me he is a SPIRITUAL WEIGHTLIFTER because of his indefatigability and dogged determination to help others.