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World's Greatest Draft (3 Viewers)

15.17 - Franz Schubert - Composer

The son of a schoolmaster, he showed an extraordinary childhood aptitude for music, studying the piano, violin, organ, singing and harmony and, while a chorister in the imperial court chapel, composition with XXXXX (1808-13). By 1814 he had produced piano pieces settings of Schiller and Metastasio, string quartets, his first symphony and a three-act opera. Although family pressure dictated that he teach in his father's school, he continued to compose prolifically; his huge output of 1814-15 includes XXXXX(both famous for their text-painting) among numerous songs, besides two more symphonies, three masses and four stage works. From this time he enjoyed the companionship of several friends, especially xxxxx , the poet xxxxx and the law student Franz von Schober. Frequently gathering for domestic evenings of Schubert's music (later called 'Schubertiads'), this group more than represented the new phenomenon of an educated, musically aware middle class: it gave him an appreciative audience and influential contacts (notably the Sonnleithners and the baritone ), as well as the confidence, in 1818, to break with schoolteaching. More songs poured out, including Der Wanderer and Die Forelle, and instrumental pieces - inventive piano sonatas, some tuneful, Rossinian overtures, the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies began to show increased harmonic subtlety. He worked briefly as music master to the Esterházy family, finding greater satisfaction writing songs, chamber music (especially the 'Trout' Quintet) and dramatic music. Die Zwillingsbrüder (for Vogl) was only a small success, but brought some recognition and led to the greater challenge of Die Zauberharfe.

In 1820-21 aristocratic patronage, further introductions and new friendships augured well. Schubert's admirers issued 20 of his songs by private subscription, and he and Schober collaborated on Alfonso und Estrella (later said to be his favourite opera). Though full of outstanding music, it was rejected. Strained friendships, pressing financial need and serious illness - Schubert almost certainly contracted syphilis in late 1822 - made this a dark period, which however encompassed some remarkable creative work: the epic 'Wanderer' Fantasy for piano, the passionate, two movement Eighth Symphony ('Unfinished'), the exquisite Schöne Müllerin song cycle, Die Verschworenen and the opera Fierabras (full of haunting music if dramatically ineffective). In 1824 he tumed to instrumental forms, producing the a Minor and d Minor ('Death and the Maiden') string quartets and the lyrically expansive Octet for wind and strings; around this time he at least sketched, probably at Gmunden in summer 1825, the 'Great' C Major Symphony. With his reputation in Vienna steadily growing (his concerts with Vogl were renowned, and by 1825 he was negotiating with four publishers), Schubert now entered a more assured phase. He wrote mature piano sonatas, notably the one in a Minor, some magnificent songs and his last, highly characteristic String Quartet, in G Major. 1827-8 saw not only the production of Winterreise and two piano trios but a marked increase in press coverage of his music; and he was elected to the Vienna Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. But though he gave a full-scale public concert in March 1828 and worked diligently to satisfy publishers - composing some of his greatest music in his last year, despite failing health - appreciation remained limited. At his death, aged 31, he was mourned not only for his achievement but for 'still fairer hopes'.

Schubert's fame was long limited to that of a songwriter, since the bulk of his large output was not even published, and some not even performed, until the late 19th century. Yet, beginning with the Fifth Symphony and the 'Trout' Quintet, he produced major instrumental masterpieces. These are marked by an intense lyricism (often suggesting a mood of near-pathos), a spontaneous chromatic modulation that is surprising to the ear yet clearly purposeful and often beguilingly expressive, and, not least, an imagination that creates its own formal structures. His way with sonata form, whether in an unorthodox choice of key for secondary material (Symphony in b Minor, 'Trout' Quintet) or of subsidiary ideas for the development, makes clear his maturity and individuality. The virtuoso 'Wanderer' Fantasy is equally impressive in its structure and use of cyclic form, while the String Quartet in G Major explores striking new sononties and by extension an emotional range of a violence new to the medium. The greatest of his chamber works however is acknowledged to be the String Quintet in C Major, with its rich sonorities, its intensity and its lyricism, and in the slow movement depth of feeling engendered by the sustained outer sections (with their insistent yet varied and suggestive accompanying ngures) embracing a central impassioned section in F minor. Among the piano sonatas, the last three, particularly the noble and spacious one in B-flat, represent another summit of achievement. His greatest orchestral masterpiece is the 'Great' C Major Symphony, with its remarkable formal synthesis, striking rhythmic vitality, felicitous orchestration and sheer lyric beauty.

Schubert never abandoned his ambition to write a successful opera. Much of the music is of high quality (especially in Alfonso und Estrella, Fierabras and the attractive Easter oratorio Lazarus, closely related to the operas), showing individuality of style in both accompanied recitative and orchestral colour if little sense of dramatic progress. Among the choral works, the partsongs and the masses rely on homophonic texture and bold harmonic shifts for their effect; the masses in A-flat and E-flat are particularly successful.

Schubert effectively established the German lied as a new art form in the 19th century. He was helped by the late 18th-century outburst of lyric poetry and the new possibilities for picturesque accompaniment offered by the piano, but his own genius is by far the most important factor. The songs fall info four main structural groups - simple strophic, modified strophic, through-composed (e.g. Die junge Nonne) and the 'scena' type (Der Wanderer); the poets range from Goethe, Schiller and Heine to Schubert's own versifying friends. Reasons for their abiding popularity rest not only in the direct appeal of Schubert's melody and the general attractiveness of his idiom but also in his unfailing ability to capture musically both the spirit of a poem and much of its external detail. He uses harmony to represent emotional change (passing from minor to major, magically shifting to a 3rd-related key, tenuously resolving a diminished 7th, inflecting a final strophe to press home its climax) and accompaniment figuration to illustrate poetic images (moving water, shimmering stars, a church bell). With such resources he found innumerable ways to illuminate a text, from the opening depiction of morning in Ganymed to the leaps of anguish in Der Doppelgänger.

Schubert's discovery of Wilhelm Müller's narrative lyrics gave rise to his further development of the lied by means of the song cycle. Again, his two masterpieces were practically without precedent and have never been surpassed. Both identify nature with human suffering, Die schöne Müllerin evoking a pastoral sound-language of walking, flowing and flowering, and Winterreise a more intensely Romantic, universal, profoundly tragic quality.

 
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Ozymandias said:
I think Don Bradman is a great pick. He is probably the only man who made cricket faster than growing grass, or watching paint dry. And the way he would drive a googly to silly mid-off was masterful. No one ever did it better.
you made that up, right?No freakin' way is that real...

 
Pick for Bobby Layne at 15:18

15.18 - Henry David Thoreau - Rebel

Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) was an American author, poet, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, philosopher, and leading transcendentalist. He is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay, Civil Disobedience, an argument for individual resistance to civil government in moral opposition to an unjust state.

Thoreau's books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry total over 20 volumes. Among his lasting contributions were his writings on natural history and philosophy, where he anticipated the methods and findings of ecology and environmental history, two sources of modern day environmentalism.

He was a lifelong abolitionist, delivering lectures that attacked the Fugitive Slave Law. Thoreau’s philosophy of civil disobedience influenced the political thoughts and actions of such later figures as Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Thoreau is sometimes cited as an individualist anarchist as well as an inspiration to anarchists. Though Civil Disobedience calls for improving rather than abolishing government – "I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government" – the direction of this improvement aims at anarchism: “‘That government is best which governs not at all;’ and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have.”

Influence

Thoreau’s writings had far reaching influences on many public figures. Political leaders and reformers like Mahatma Gandhi, President John F. Kennedy, civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr., and Russian author Leo Tolstoy all spoke of being strongly affected by Thoreau’s work, particularly Civil Disobedience. So did many artists and authors including Marcel Proust, William Butler Yeats, and many others. He has been referred to as “the greatest American anarchist.”

Mahatma Gandhi first read Walden in 1906 while working as a civil rights activist in Johannesburg, South Africa. He told American reporter Webb Miller, "[Thoreau's] ideas influenced me greatly. I adopted some of them and recommended the study of Thoreau to all of my friends who were helping me in the cause of Indian Independence. Why I actually took the name of my movement from Thoreau's essay 'On the Duty of Civil Disobedience,' written about 80 years ago."

Martin Luther King, Jr. noted in his autobiography that his first encounter with the idea of non-violent resistance was reading "On Civil Disobedience" in 1944 while attending Morehouse College. He wrote in his autobiography:

"Here, in this courageous New Englander's refusal to pay his taxes and his choice of jail rather than support a war that would spread slavery's territory into Mexico, I made my first contact with the theory of nonviolent resistance. Fascinated by the idea of refusing to cooperate with an evil system, I was so deeply moved that I reread the work several times.

I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. No other person has been more eloquent and passionate in getting this idea across than Henry David Thoreau. As a result of his writings and personal witness, we are the heirs of a legacy of creative protest. The teachings of Thoreau came alive in our civil rights movement; indeed, they are more alive than ever before. Whether expressed in a sit-in at lunch counters, a freedom ride into Mississippi, a peaceful protest in Albany, Georgia, a bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, these are outgrowths of Thoreau's insistence that evil must be resisted and that no moral man can patiently adjust to injustice."

Will expand the writeup this weekend.

 
Ozymandias said:
I think Don Bradman is a great pick. He is probably the only man who made cricket faster than growing grass, or watching paint dry. And the way he would drive a googly to silly mid-off was masterful. No one ever did it better.
you made that up, right?No freakin' way is that real...
Yes, WAY!A googly is a ball which breaks the opposite way from the expected break, roughly equivalent to a screwball.

Mid-off is normally positioned about 25-30 yards from the batsman, while silly mid-off is in close to the batsman looking for bat-pad chances.

Deep mid-off is usually three-quarters of the way from the boundary, while long-off is right out on the rope.

 
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Ozymandias said:
I think Don Bradman is a great pick. He is probably the only man who made cricket faster than growing grass, or watching paint dry. And the way he would drive a googly to silly mid-off was masterful. No one ever did it better.
you made that up, right?No freakin' way is that real...
Yes, WAY!
I wanna learn how to play cricket just so i can talk about driving googlys to silly mid-offs!that's so awesome...

 
Some absolute steals taken in this round. Schubert is arguably top 5 material. How he was allowed to fall this far in the draft is a crime. Evita has to be as good a celebrity as has been selected, also top 5 IMO.

Walesa and Thoreau are also good choices. Both of them were rebels that had a global influence, unlike William Wallace.

 
I'm a bit undecided on my next few category picks, so I'll go with a wildcard I knew I wanted since the draft's inception.

15.20 Akira Kurosawa Wildcard

*I'll definitely come back to do him justice, but I won't hold up the draft by pondering over each word of my write-up. For now, I'll just say that he's an artistic giant, and his résumé and artistic influence can be favorably compared to anyone else in the history of the medium.*

What it all boils down to is the overwhelming humanity of Kurosawa's works, and the way his sensibilities about the human condition shone through without overwhelming the viewers. It wasn't simply his uncanny eye for composition or innovative camera techniques. Truly, the essence of the matter is that Kurosawa's works have endured and remain timeless due to the vital power of his characters and storytelling. His technique and imagination complement themselves seamlessly.

The wonders of Rashomon's structure, for instance, lie not only in the multiple viewpoints (which allows the viewer to piece together his own unique version of the truth, hidden between the frames), but also the nature of its characters. He always managed to find a great balance between hope and disdain for humanity, weighed through his characters. Similar techniques were employed in the second half of Ikiru (possibly my favorite film of all time), where the viewer is given the freedom to construct their perceptions of the last days of Kanji Watanabe. His reflections on humanity also permeate The Seven Samurai, with its utterly human, flawed heroes in sharp contrast to the prototypical action heroes of the time, and in the absolutely brutal closing lines, delivered by Kambei (played by Takashi Shimura, one of the two acting constants of Kurosawa's career, along with Toshiro Mifune), after they successfully defend the farming village from the villainous bandit attacks: "Again we are defeated. The farmers have won - not us." The futility of their struggle, made clear through a film that is a miracle of storytelling and entertainment.

That humanity, along with the majesty of his compositions, was always at the heart of his filmmaking. Through Stray Dog, Rashomon, Ikiru, Throne of Blood, The Lower Depths, Yojimbo, Seven Samurai, High and Low, Red Beard and his final color masterpieces Kagemusha and Ran, among others. The variety of his work is astounding, but always shared the same unique artistic vision.

Akira Kurosawa (23 March 1910 – 6 September 1998) was a legendary Japanese filmmaker, producer, screenwriter and editor. His first credited film as director, (Sanshiro Sugata), was released in 1943, his last as director, (Madadayo), in 1993. His many awards include the Légion d'honneur and an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Kurosawa had a distinctive cinematic technique, which he had developed by the 1950s, and which gave his films a unique look. He liked using telephoto lenses for the way they flattened the frame and also because he believed that placing cameras farther away from his actors produced better performances. He also liked using multiple cameras, which allowed him to shoot an action scene from different angles. Another Kurosawa trademark was the use of weather elements to heighten mood: for example the heavy rain in the opening scene of Rashomon, and the final battle in Seven Samurai, the intense heat in Stray Dog, the cold wind in Yojimbo, the snow in Ikiru, and the fog in Throne of Blood. Kurosawa also liked using frame wipes, sometimes cleverly hidden by motion within the frame, as a transition device.

He was known as "Tenno", literally "Emperor", for his dictatorial directing style. He was a perfectionist who spent enormous amounts of time and effort to achieve the desired visual effects. In Rashomon, he dyed the rain water black with calligraphy ink in order to achieve the effect of heavy rain, and ended up using up the entire local water supply of the location area in creating the rainstorm. In the final scene of Throne of Blood, in which Mifune is shot by arrows, Kurosawa used real arrows shot by expert archers from a short range, landing within centimetres of Mifune's body. In Ran, an entire castle set was constructed on the slopes of Mt. Fuji only to be burned to the ground in a climactic scene.

Other stories include demanding a stream be made to run in the opposite direction in order to get a better visual effect, and having the roof of a house removed, later to be replaced, because he felt the roof's presence to be unattractive in a short sequence filmed from a train.

His perfectionism also showed in his approach to costumes: he felt that giving an actor a brand new costume made the character look less than authentic. To resolve this, he often gave his cast their costumes weeks before shooting was to begin and required them to wear them on a daily basis and "bond with them." In some cases, such as with Seven Samurai, where most of the cast portrayed poor farmers, the actors were told to make sure the costumes were worn down and tattered by the time shooting started.

Kurosawa did not believe that "finished" music went well with film. When choosing a musical piece to accompany his scenes, he usually had it stripped down to one element (e.g., trumpets only). Only towards the end of his films are more finished pieces heard.
 
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I'm a bit undecided on my next few category picks, so I'll go with a wildcard I knew I wanted since the draft's inception.

15.20 Akira Kurosawa Wildcard

I'll definitely come back to do him justice, but I won't hold up the draft by pondering over each word of my write-up. For now, I'll just say that he's an artistic giant, and his résumé and artistic influence can be favorably compared to anyone else in the history of the medium.

Akira Kurosawa (23 March 1910 – 6 September 1998) was a legendary Japanese filmmaker, producer, screenwriter and editor. His first credited film as director, (Sanshiro Sugata), was released in 1943, his last as director, (Madadayo), in 1993. His many awards include the Légion d'honneur and an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Kurosawa had a distinctive cinematic technique, which he had developed by the 1950s, and which gave his films a unique look. He liked using telephoto lenses for the way they flattened the frame and also because he believed that placing cameras farther away from his actors produced better performances. He also liked using multiple cameras, which allowed him to shoot an action scene from different angles. Another Kurosawa trademark was the use of weather elements to heighten mood: for example the heavy rain in the opening scene of Rashomon, and the final battle in Seven Samurai, the intense heat in Stray Dog, the cold wind in Yojimbo, the snow in Ikiru, and the fog in Throne of Blood. Kurosawa also liked using frame wipes, sometimes cleverly hidden by motion within the frame, as a transition device.

He was known as "Tenno", literally "Emperor", for his dictatorial directing style. He was a perfectionist who spent enormous amounts of time and effort to achieve the desired visual effects. In Rashomon, he dyed the rain water black with calligraphy ink in order to achieve the effect of heavy rain, and ended up using up the entire local water supply of the location area in creating the rainstorm. In the final scene of Throne of Blood, in which Mifune is shot by arrows, Kurosawa used real arrows shot by expert archers from a short range, landing within centimetres of Mifune's body. In Ran, an entire castle set was constructed on the slopes of Mt. Fuji only to be burned to the ground in a climactic scene.

Other stories include demanding a stream be made to run in the opposite direction in order to get a better visual effect, and having the roof of a house removed, later to be replaced, because he felt the roof's presence to be unattractive in a short sequence filmed from a train.

His perfectionism also showed in his approach to costumes: he felt that giving an actor a brand new costume made the character look less than authentic. To resolve this, he often gave his cast their costumes weeks before shooting was to begin and required them to wear them on a daily basis and "bond with them." In some cases, such as with Seven Samurai, where most of the cast portrayed poor farmers, the actors were told to make sure the costumes were worn down and tattered by the time shooting started.

Kurosawa did not believe that "finished" music went well with film. When choosing a musical piece to accompany his scenes, he usually had it stripped down to one element (e.g., trumpets only). Only towards the end of his films are more finished pieces heard.
:football: :coffee: :bow: This is the director I alluded to in connection with the Hitchcock pick. No better director ever lived, IMO. Could do every genre of film better than just about anyone.

:bow: :bow: :bow:

 
Ozymandias said:
I think Don Bradman is a great pick. He is probably the only man who made cricket faster than growing grass, or watching paint dry. And the way he would drive a googly to silly mid-off was masterful. No one ever did it better.
you made that up, right?No freakin' way is that real...
A drive is a shot that is played in front of the wicket, generally along the ground and more straight than squareA Googly is bowled by a leg spinner (Someone who bowls slower balls that spin away from a right handed batsmen), but the googly spins into the right hander in an attempt to deceive them

Silly Mid off is a fielding position close to the batsmen on the off side of the field (the same side as the leg spin bowls the ball in an orthodox method). Silly Mid Off is so named as it is close to the bat and if a batsmen gets a bad ball, you'd have to be "silly" to field there.

 
Can someone take a quick PM? if not, put me on autoskip until later tonight.

edit: Nevermind. Just put me on Autoskip.

 
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Ozymandias said:
I think Don Bradman is a great pick. He is probably the only man who made cricket faster than growing grass, or watching paint dry. And the way he would drive a googly to silly mid-off was masterful. No one ever did it better.
you made that up, right?No freakin' way is that real...
Yes, WAY!
I wanna learn how to play cricket just so i can talk about driving googlys to silly mid-offs!that's so awesome...
Just wait until you do a french cut off a beamer though to deep fine leg for a boundary
 
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I'm a bit undecided on my next few category picks, so I'll go with a wildcard I knew I wanted since the draft's inception.

15.20 Akira Kurosawa Wildcard

I'll definitely come back to do him justice, but I won't hold up the draft by pondering over each word of my write-up. For now, I'll just say that he's an artistic giant, and his résumé and artistic influence can be favorably compared to anyone else in the history of the medium.

Akira Kurosawa (23 March 1910 – 6 September 1998) was a legendary Japanese filmmaker, producer, screenwriter and editor. His first credited film as director, (Sanshiro Sugata), was released in 1943, his last as director, (Madadayo), in 1993. His many awards include the Légion d'honneur and an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Kurosawa had a distinctive cinematic technique, which he had developed by the 1950s, and which gave his films a unique look. He liked using telephoto lenses for the way they flattened the frame and also because he believed that placing cameras farther away from his actors produced better performances. He also liked using multiple cameras, which allowed him to shoot an action scene from different angles. Another Kurosawa trademark was the use of weather elements to heighten mood: for example the heavy rain in the opening scene of Rashomon, and the final battle in Seven Samurai, the intense heat in Stray Dog, the cold wind in Yojimbo, the snow in Ikiru, and the fog in Throne of Blood. Kurosawa also liked using frame wipes, sometimes cleverly hidden by motion within the frame, as a transition device.

He was known as "Tenno", literally "Emperor", for his dictatorial directing style. He was a perfectionist who spent enormous amounts of time and effort to achieve the desired visual effects. In Rashomon, he dyed the rain water black with calligraphy ink in order to achieve the effect of heavy rain, and ended up using up the entire local water supply of the location area in creating the rainstorm. In the final scene of Throne of Blood, in which Mifune is shot by arrows, Kurosawa used real arrows shot by expert archers from a short range, landing within centimetres of Mifune's body. In Ran, an entire castle set was constructed on the slopes of Mt. Fuji only to be burned to the ground in a climactic scene.

Other stories include demanding a stream be made to run in the opposite direction in order to get a better visual effect, and having the roof of a house removed, later to be replaced, because he felt the roof's presence to be unattractive in a short sequence filmed from a train.

His perfectionism also showed in his approach to costumes: he felt that giving an actor a brand new costume made the character look less than authentic. To resolve this, he often gave his cast their costumes weeks before shooting was to begin and required them to wear them on a daily basis and "bond with them." In some cases, such as with Seven Samurai, where most of the cast portrayed poor farmers, the actors were told to make sure the costumes were worn down and tattered by the time shooting started.

Kurosawa did not believe that "finished" music went well with film. When choosing a musical piece to accompany his scenes, he usually had it stripped down to one element (e.g., trumpets only). Only towards the end of his films are more finished pieces heard.
:hot: :bow: :bow:This is the director I alluded to in connection with the Hitchcock pick. No better director ever lived, IMO. Could do every genre of film better than just about anyone.

:bow: :bow: :bow:
:thumbup:
 
Ozymandias said:
I think Don Bradman is a great pick. He is probably the only man who made cricket faster than growing grass, or watching paint dry. And the way he would drive a googly to silly mid-off was masterful. No one ever did it better.
you made that up, right?No freakin' way is that real...
A drive is a shot that is played in front of the wicket, generally along the ground and more straight than squareA Googly is bowled by a leg spinner (Someone who bowls slower balls that spin away from a right handed batsmen), but the googly spins into the right hander in an attempt to deceive them

Silly Mid off is a fielding position close to the batsmen on the off side of the field (the same side as the leg spin bowls the ball in an orthodox method). Silly Mid Off is so named as it is close to the bat and if a batsmen gets a bad ball, you'd have to be "silly" to field there.
:mellow:
 
Ozymandias said:
I think Don Bradman is a great pick. He is probably the only man who made cricket faster than growing grass, or watching paint dry. And the way he would drive a googly to silly mid-off was masterful. No one ever did it better.
you made that up, right?No freakin' way is that real...
Yes, WAY!
I wanna learn how to play cricket just so i can talk about driving googlys to silly mid-offs!that's so awesome...
Just wait until you do a french cut off a beamer though to deep fine leg for a boundary
ok... now my head just hurts...
 
Abrantes left without leaving his 16.01 pick? If he's a skip, that means:

15.1 - Mario Kart: Henry Dunant, Humanitarian/Saint/Martyr

15.2 - Larry Boy: Cáo Cāo, Military

15.3 - Arsenal of Doom: Phidias, Artist (Non-painter)

15.4 - FUBAR: Soren Kierkegaard, Philosopher

15.5 - Acer FC: Led Zeppelin, Musician/Performer

15.6 - Yankee23Fan: Blaise Pascal, Philosopher

15.7 - Thorn: Wayne Gretzky, Athlete

15.8 - DC Thunder: Jules Verne, Novelists

15.9 - Doug B: Lech Wałęsa, Rebel

15.10 - Mad Sweeney: Jean-Jacques Rosseau, Philosopher

15.11 - Big Rocks: Simon Wiesenthal, Humanitarian/Saint/Martyr

15.12 - higgins: William Wallace, Rebel

15.13 - John Madden's Lunchbox: Donald Bradman, Athlete

15.14 - Usual21: Jeremy Bentham, Philosopher

15.15 - thatguy: Eva Perón, Celebrity

15.16 - Andy Dufresne: SKIP,

15.17 - Herbert The Hippo: Franz Schubert, Composer

15.18 - Bobbylayne: Henry David Thoreau, Rebel

15.19 - Mister CIA: Peter Benenson, Humanitarian/Saint/Martyr

15.20 - Abrantes: Akira Kurosawa, Wild Card

16.1 - Abrantes: SKIP by request

16.2 - Mister Cia: SKIP by request

16.3 - Bobby Layne: , Ozymandius has this pick?

16.4 - Herbert The Hippo: on deck

16.5 - Andy Dufresne: in the hole

16.6 - thatguy: ,

16.7 - Usual21: ,

16.8 - John Madden's Lunchbox: ,

16.9 - higgins: ,

16.10 - Big Rocks: ,

16.11 - Mad Sweeney: ,

16.12 - Doug B: ,

16.13 - DC Thunder: ,

16.14 - Thorn: ,

16.15 - Yankee23Fan: ,

16.16 - Acer FC: ,

16.17 - FUBAR: ,

16.18 - Arsenal of Doom : ,

16.19 - Larry Boy 44: ,

16.20 - Mario Kart: ,

17.1 - Mario Kart: ,

 
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Ozymandias said:
I think Don Bradman is a great pick. He is probably the only man who made cricket faster than growing grass, or watching paint dry. And the way he would drive a googly to silly mid-off was masterful. No one ever did it better.
you made that up, right?No freakin' way is that real...
A drive is a shot that is played in front of the wicket, generally along the ground and more straight than squareA Googly is bowled by a leg spinner (Someone who bowls slower balls that spin away from a right handed batsmen), but the googly spins into the right hander in an attempt to deceive them

Silly Mid off is a fielding position close to the batsmen on the off side of the field (the same side as the leg spin bowls the ball in an orthodox method). Silly Mid Off is so named as it is close to the bat and if a batsmen gets a bad ball, you'd have to be "silly" to field there.
:sadbanana:
This guy in a backyard cricket game is a bit closer than silly mid off would normally be, but not much

Now put it all together

 
Ozymandias said:
I think Don Bradman is a great pick. He is probably the only man who made cricket faster than growing grass, or watching paint dry. And the way he would drive a googly to silly mid-off was masterful. No one ever did it better.
you made that up, right?No freakin' way is that real...
A drive is a shot that is played in front of the wicket, generally along the ground and more straight than squareA Googly is bowled by a leg spinner (Someone who bowls slower balls that spin away from a right handed batsmen), but the googly spins into the right hander in an attempt to deceive them

Silly Mid off is a fielding position close to the batsmen on the off side of the field (the same side as the leg spin bowls the ball in an orthodox method). Silly Mid Off is so named as it is close to the bat and if a batsmen gets a bad ball, you'd have to be "silly" to field there.
:sadbanana:
Learn something new every day.
 
Ozymandias said:
I think Don Bradman is a great pick. He is probably the only man who made cricket faster than growing grass, or watching paint dry. And the way he would drive a googly to silly mid-off was masterful. No one ever did it better.
you made that up, right?No freakin' way is that real...
Yes, WAY!
I wanna learn how to play cricket just so i can talk about driving googlys to silly mid-offs!that's so awesome...
Just wait until you do a french cut off a beamer though to deep fine leg for a boundary
is this cricket or sexual acts?
 
Pick for Bobby Layne

16.03 - John Wycliffe - Religious Figure

JOHN WYCLIFFE (WICLIF) (c. 1324–1384) was called the “Morning Star of the Reformation” because he boldly questioned papal authority and spoke out against unbiblical practices and teaching in the Church. The most prominent of the Reformers before the Reformation also translated the New Testament from the Latin Vulgate, the first english language version of the bible.

I will expand his biography over the weekend.

 
16.4 William Dampier - Explorer

William Dampier was an English buccaneer, sea captain, chronicler (he kept a detailed journal of his travels), and scientific observer in the 17th century. Considered by his contemporaries to be an erudite sea tactician and well-read writer — a Renaissance man of the high seas — Dampier’s early career, however, involved piracy; the twenty-eight year old was a product of nationalist sentiment. England had defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588, but Spain was left relatively untouched in her Pacific colonies to exploit the resources that continued to fuel the Spanish Crown.

That would soon change. Along with the infamous buccaneers—known as the Brethren of the Coast, as they called themselves—Dampier wreaked havoc among the Spanish when he first crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1680, raiding their settlements along the West Coast of South America. After these initial New World successes, Dampier would continually haunt the Spanish until the early eighteenth century with intermittent attacks upon the lucrative Carrera de Acapulco between New Spain and the Philippines. Aside from piracy, history recalls Dampier as establishing precedent: He was the first European to explore and map parts of New Holland (Australia) and New Guinea; and, he was the first person to circumnavigate the world three times. His first round the world voyage took ten years, beginning in 1681.

While traveling across the Pacific from the New World—some 7,323 miles—Dampier’s skill as a navigator aboard the British Cygnet brought the ship and the crew to Guam after a swift fifty-one day run; food rations were low and the crew allegedly was ready to consume the officers. This was the first of two trips to Guam, at the time a Spanish-occupied sea port where on both occasions they were surprisingly well received, probably because the governor of the island wanted them off the island before the next Manila Galleon was ready to anchor and offload supplies.

A Spanish priest made the mistake of boarding the ship when he heard Spanish being spoken and was seized but kindly kept on the ship for the duration of their stay. Governor Joseph de Quiroga had no other option but to accommodate Swan’s desire for supplies despite the scant resources on Guam at the time. The governor did, however, send out a boat to intercept a Spanish galleon arriving at Guam to inform them about the presence of the buccaneers. The galleon hastily sailed out to sea where it stayed following three days of struggling to free itself from a shoal. Dampier was particularly fascinated with breadfruit and with the swift proas of the Chamorros.

Dampier wrote:

The Natives are very ingenious beyond any People, in making Boats, or Proes, as they are called. . . I do believe, they sail the best of any Boats in the World.”

Swan became aware of the hidden galleon just before his departure for Manila but against the urgings of his crew and to the great relief of Governor Quiroga, Swan decided not to go after and plunder the galleon. Before he was released, the captive priest was given an astrolabe and large telescope as gifts.

On one of his most notable voyages, Dampier documented his adventures in A New Voyage Around the World. Published in 1697, its content is best described by its subtitle: Describing the World, Describing particularly, the Isthmus of America, Several Coasts and Islands in the West Indies … The South Sea Coasts of Chili, Peru, and Mexico. In 1699, shortly after the first volume of his voyages received critical acclaim, he was sent on a voyage of discovery to New Holland in command of the HMS Roebuck with a commission as captain in the British Royal Navy. This led to the printing of Voyage to New Holland in the Year 1699, which was added as a supplement to or, in most cases, bound with A New Voyage Around the World. He once again returned to Australia with another expedition exploring the South Coast of New Guinea and discovered New Britain and Dampier Strait before completing the second circumnavigation of the globe in 1701.

In 1708-1711, Dampier sailed with xxxxx (a British privateer) as navigator on circumnavigation and privateer missions. On March 11, 1710, (some accounts state March 1), their four ships made their way to Guam after a 6,000-mile transpacific voyage. Anchored at Umatac, xxxxx force of four ships included 200 battle-hardened crewmen and numerous guns that outnumbered the Spanish garrison and overwhelmed its governor, xxxxx. xxxxx was too ill to go ashore, but his officers were able to obtain sixty pigs, ninety-nine fowl, twenty-four baskets of maize (corn), forty-four yams, fourteen bags of rice, and 800 coconuts before leaving ten days later.

Dampier was an astute navigator and an able pirate, but it was his seven published works that influenced countless generations of people more famous than himself. His observations and analysis of natural history helped Charles Darwin and xxxxx develop their theories. He made innovations in navigational technology that were studied by captains James Cook and xxxxx. His reports on breadfruit led to xxxxx collection of Tahitian breadfruit, as well as his ill-fated voyage aboard the HMS Bounty.

 
krista4 said:
The Real Hipster Doofus said:
krista4 said:
John Maddens Lunchbox said:
Sir Donald Bradman - Athlete
I think it's an excellent pick. Then again, I like cricket. :mellow:
Just curious, how does an American get into cricket really? It gets no publicity here, is not televised, etc. I am guessing you saw it played while out of the country somewhere and liked it?
Oh, it's much worse than all that. I got into it by watching this movie. Have followed it since then.
Does this movie explain the game enough to understand it? I've tried watching cricket to see if I could understand what is going on and was completely lost.
 
Andy would normally be OTC, but here's his last post in this thread:

Andy Dufresne said:
Go ahead and skip me. I'll be back after lunch.
So ... ThatGuy is OTC:16.6 - thatguy: ,

16.7 - Usual21: ,

16.8 - John Madden's Lunchbox: ,

16.9 - higgins: ,

16.10 - Big Rocks: ,

16.11 - Mad Sweeney: ,

16.12 - Doug B: ,

16.13 - DC Thunder: ,

16.14 - Thorn: ,

16.15 - Yankee23Fan: ,

16.16 - Acer FC: ,

16.17 - FUBAR: ,

16.18 - Arsenal of Doom : ,

16.19 - Larry Boy 44: ,

16.20 - Mario Kart: ,

17.1 - Mario Kart: ,

 
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Round Sixteen

1. Abrantes - skip

2. Mister Cia - skip

3. Bobby Layne - Wycliffe

4. Herbert The Hippo - Dampier

5. Andy Dufresne - skip

6. thatguy - is up

7. Usual21 - is on auto skip

8. John Madden's Lunchbox - is on deck

9. higgins - is in the hole

10. Big Rocks

11. Mad Sweeney

12. Doug B

13. DC Thunder

14. Thorn

 
krista4 said:
The Real Hipster Doofus said:
krista4 said:
John Maddens Lunchbox said:
Sir Donald Bradman - Athlete
I think it's an excellent pick. Then again, I like cricket. :unsure:
Just curious, how does an American get into cricket really? It gets no publicity here, is not televised, etc. I am guessing you saw it played while out of the country somewhere and liked it?
Oh, it's much worse than all that. I got into it by watching this movie. Have followed it since then.
Does this movie explain the game enough to understand it? I've tried watching cricket to see if I could understand what is going on and was completely lost.
If you understand baseball you're halfway there, but it's best to explain it in stages and to actually watch the game. Trying to explain it in 1 go is futile
 
15.16 - John Milton - Poet
John Milton II (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, author, polemicist and civil servant for the Commonwealth of England. He is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost and for his treatise condemning censorship, Areopagitica.Milton was writing at a time of religious and political flux in England. His poetry and prose reflect deep convictions, often reacting to contemporary circumstances, but it is not always easy to locate the writer in an obvious religious category. His views may be described as broadly Protestant, and he was an accomplished, scholarly man of letters, polemical writer and an official in the government.Paradise LostMain article: Paradise LostMilton’s magnum opus, the blank-verse epic poem Paradise Lost, which appeared in a quarto edition in 1667, was composed by the blind Milton from 1658-1664 through dictation given to a series of aides in his employ. It reflects his personal despair at the failure of the Revolution, yet affirms an ultimate optimism in human potential. Milton encoded many references to his unyielding support for the "Good Old Cause."[24]Milton sold the copyright of this monumental work to his publisher for a seemingly trifling £10; this was not a particularly outlandish deal at the time.[25] Milton followed up Paradise Lost with its sequel, Paradise Regained, published alongside the tragedy Samson Agonistes, in 1671. Both these works also resonate with Milton’s post-Restoration political situation. Just before his death in 1674, Milton supervised a second edition of Paradise Lost, accompanied by an explanation of "why the poem rhymes not" and prefatory verses by Marvell. Milton republished his 1645 Poems in 1673, as well a collection of his letters and the Latin prolusions from his Cambridge days. A 1668 edition of Paradise Lost, reported to have been Milton's personal copy, is now housed in the archives of the University of Western Ontario.In his political writing, Milton addressed particular themes at different periods. The years 1641-42 were dedicated to church politics and the struggle against episcopacy. After his divorce writings, Areopagitica, and a gap, he wrote in 1649-54 in the aftermath of the execution of Charles I, and in polemic justification of the regicide and the existing Parliamentarian regime. Then in 1659-60 he foresaw the Restoration, and wrote to head it off.[28]Milton's own beliefs were in some cases both unpopular and dangerous, and this was true particularly to his commitment to republicanism. In coming centuries, Milton would be claimed as an early apostle of liberalism.[29] According to James Tully:“ ... with Locke as with Milton, republican and contraction conceptions of political freedom join hands in common opposition to the disengaged and passive subjection offered by absolutists such as Hobbes and Robert Filmer.[30]
Very happy to get Milton this late.Keep skipping me.
 
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CRICKET LESSON #1

1. The object is to score more runs than the opponent.

2. Runs are scored by the batter running to the opposite wicket; (1 run each time), 4 runs by hitting the ball out of bounds, and 6 runs by hitting the ball out of bounds on the fly. Some other minor ways score 1 run too.

3. Batters continue to bat until they are out, or retire.

4. Batters can be out by being bowled (the ball hitting one or more of the three stumps behind them), by hitting the ball and the ball being caught on the fly; by interposing their leg so that it prevents the ball from hitting the wicket, or by being run out (the wicket being hit by the ball while the batter is out of the crease--equivalent to the batter's box).

5. An innings is when the side is out (only requiring 10 outs, because there must be two batters, one at each wicket). Although the side may opt to declare, believing that they have enough runs so that they can beat the other team by getting them all out before the game is called. If they don't the game is a draw. So there is some mental judgment that goes on in terms of when to declare.

6. However, most cricket at the club level is "limited over" cricket, which means that only a specified number of balls will be bowled, and the side which scores the most, wins. An "over" is six balls.

That's lesson #1.

 
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CRICKET LESSON #11. The object is to score more runs than the opponent.2. Runs are scored by the batter running to the opposite wicket; (1 run each time), 4 runs by hitting the ball out of bounds, and 6 runs by hitting the ball out of bounds on the fly. Some other minor ways score 1 run too.3. Batters continue to bat until they are out, or retire.4. Batters can be out by being bowled (the ball hitting one or more of the three stumps behind them), by hitting the ball and the ball being caught on the fly; by interposing their leg so that it prevents the ball from hitting the wicket, or by being run out (the wicket being hit by the ball while the batter is out of the crease--equivalent to the batter's box).5. An innings is when the side is out (only requiring 10 outs, because there must be two batters, one at each wicket). Although the side may opt to declare, believing that they have enough runs so that they can beat the other team by getting them all out before the game is called. If they don't the game is a draw. So there is some mental judgment that goes on in terms of when to declare.6. However, most cricket at the club level is "limited over" cricket, which means that only a specified number of balls will be bowled, and the side which scores the most, wins. An "over" is six balls.That's lesson #1.
OK, I'M READY TO PLAY!!!!!!!!
 
Just want to remind everyone to try and send a PM to the next drafter over the weekend, hopefully we can make some progress...

 

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