Isn't Beckham enough?

Great, just what the world needs -- a microwaved infusion of Girl Power. All the bouncing and jiggling and giggling that turned my nerves into banjo strings circa 1997 has the mold wiped off or airbrushed over and is back with a vengeace, apparently (must be vengeance. I can't imagine any other reason I'd have to suffer through this again). Spice Girls reuniting? This promises to be more crassly exploitative than ever!

And not to sound too Perez, but is that Posh? She looks a bit like an EA Games rendition of a comic book serializing the exploits of the charicature sketch of a cat burglar; maybe a bombshell (aren't they all?) diamond thief... maybe... Black Cat, Spiderman fans?. Interesting look -- a daring dash of over-the-top "Los Angeles" perhaps representative of the Beckhams new stomping grounds. Anyway, sorry for that burst of cattyness. I'm just a bit terrified of this prospect.

On a cooler note (somewhat literally), our Wind Science and Engineering Research Center and a coalition of partners have been selected by the Department of Energy to receive up to $2 million in test equipment to develop large-scale wind blade test facilities, accelerating the commercial availability of wind energy. The Lone Star Wind Alliance will design, build, and operate new facilities to test the next generation of wind turbine blade.

Also, this is just neat -- especially for a wannabe world traveler and humanitarian-in-theory who consipered joining the Peace Corps and didn't fit the criteria. Texas Tech is now offering a Master's International Program in which students can recieve graduate degrees while serving as Peace Corps Volunteers abroad. Apparently we have had 360 Texas Tech alumni serving as Peace Corps Volunteers. Sigh... I wish I were still a student.... for many reasons, but this is now one of them.

Spike!

So Gretchen told Lisa who told me and then blogged about it that the Texas Tech Website got a nice viewership spike -- inundation would maybe be the better word -- in pageviews for the May 2007 Commencement video featuring our newly appointed Queen of the, well... er, Queens, Susan Polgar, thanks to a posting on chessbase.com. Thanks Chessbase.

And if you've been brushing up on your Hungarian (which, incidentally, I haven't), you might find this interesting. Susan Polgar and Paul Truong (assistant coach for the Knight Raiders and head of marketing for our new Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence), are in Hungary this week and getting a ton of press. I can't read any of this, but maybe you can.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=polgar+Zsuzsa+sakk+Budapest&btnG=Search

http://www.origo.hu/sport/sakk/20070624polgar.html

http://inforadio.hu/hir/sport/hir-131502

http://www.boon.hu/hirek/im:all:sport-chess/cikk/sikert-aratott-a-polgar-sakknap/cn/haon-news-FCUWeb-20070625-1129015900

http://www.magyarhirlap.hu/cikk.php?cikk=131186

http://www.blikk.hu/cikk.php?cikk=58613

http://www.blikk.hu/Nyomtat_cikk.php?cikk=58613&

http://www.mon.hu/hirek/Sport-chess/cikk/sikert-aratott-a-polgar-sakknap/cn/haon-news-FCUWeb-20070625-1129015900

http://www.icenter.hu/cgi-bin/automatic/bianko.pl?szo=4841&cikk=0706145005088

http://www.fn.hu/sport/minden_mas/0706/polgar_sakknap_szazas_szimultannal_166018.php

http://www.origo.hu/sport/sakk/20070614szaz.html

http://www.portfoliolight.hu/cikk.tdp?cCheck=1&k=4&i=3053

http://www.boon.hu/hirek/im:all:sport-chess/cikk/a-polgar-noverek-szimultant-adnak/cn/news-20070622-06051318

http://www.meoszinfo.hu/hir_0282.php

Texas Tech in 3-D

Okay, fine, I've been watching too many movies this summer; well, more than is typical of me, at least -- four in four weeks (three, technically, since I watched Pirates twice). Which means that I helped fuel that revenue surge that smashed the box office into all kind of pulp for a few weeks there. But if I have to sit through another commercial for Rat-tat-tat-a-tat-toe-ear I swear I'm boycotting the theatres for the rest of the summer. Bad enough to spend five freakin' dollars on a bag of corn kernels and butter (maintenance on those poppers must be insane), but to chug it all down while watching a six-minute commercial that all but spells out the movie for you -- a movie I think I'd shave mountain lions rather than see -- is just almost too much for my spirit, or my wallet, to bear.

Speaking of which, check out this awesome -- or at least passably readable -- summer double feature from Texas Tech Today (featuring a story by your's truly). If you are a Texas Tech student, professor, whatever, check this out. The Library now has a 3-D animation lab. There are all kinds of fun toys for creating animated sequences. Here's the story. Be there or be square... but not Square Enix.

Is that four?

Well the confetti flew, mostly to boos, but who cares? After a bit of a scare -- I swore I wouldn't be anxious, after all, they were up 3-0, I didn't necessarily want Cleveland to be humiliated, I like Lebron James and hate how he's being percieved, yada, yada -- the Spurs managed to stifle yet another fourth-quarter resurgence to take the broom to the Caveliers.

Granted I can't imagine how anticlimactic it would be to win in an arena where your colors aren't in sight and the fans are hanging around mostly to cuss you, but still, they looked happy enough.

Not that it was pretty. Tim Duncan forgot his driving glasses and the Spurs seem to have been reading all the press about how no one was watching this finals series because they were determined to let Cleveland creep back in and give them a run at every game before pulling it out again. In retrospect, it seems a bit perverse, like the cats who, after having captured a mouse, let the paw up, let the victim scurry and scramble for miniscule seconds, the whiff of freedom in the air, before pinning the claws in again.

The game was a nice break from my otherwise hectic life. Good hectic, but hectic. I have been getting a lot of work on the freelance illustration scene. I just finished this flyer for an upcoming concert featuring the White Mice and Finger of God. By the way, if you're in town, please go. Bash's on University, $5 at the door for 21-up. I also got asked by the Hive Gallery to enter a group art show in Los Angeles -- my first gallery showing and I guess it's getting off on the right foot. That will be in August. I'm doing some more posters and t-shirts and such, so it's coming along. Granted, there is ink and paint and whatever else all over the house, but I guess you make sacrifices for the art lol.

iKTXTunes

And it rained and rained and rained and rained. So far Lubbock -- arid, dusty Lubbock -- is sitting at 16 inches for the year, ten more inches than average. I haven't watered my yard so far this year and can't mow it fast enough. I'm jealous of people who get this treat all the time.

It's also made the city blindingly green (by our standards) for all the new recruits who are dragging their parents around campus this week. New Student Orientation kicked off this week and will continue into the indefinite future. It's fun to see the eager faces around campus, yet a punch to the jaw to see what kids they are. Am I old? Definitely not. I think.

But anyway, on to the real news. KTXT now has its folder on our Texas Tech iTunes page. The wickedly entertaining DJs there will highlight a new artist each week, post talk-show snippets and much more, so check it often for cool stuff. There will be more collaborations like that throughout the summer, so keep checking.

Sports are so stressful

If I seem like I'm dragging this morning, blame the Spurs. One minute I'm at my brothers house, feeling drowsy as the Spurs coast on a 27-point lead and then, POW, we're down to what, like, eight points? With like three fricken minutes left (i.e. eternity). What? By the time the game was sealed up, I was on my feet pacing. Needless to say, sleep was shot. I just lay in bed for an hour with my blood pumping through my ears. But 2-0. Go team.

As far as news goes, we've hit a bit of a lull in our office. I'm using the time to get things cranked up with our new iTunes page. Hopefully we'll have a folder for KTXT up here in a day or two.

Crazy, crazy news here on the City Council scene; District 3... a.k.a. my district... will be represented by Todd Klein, a former Democratic Party -- yes, Democratic Party -- Chairman who got only 25 percent of the vote a month ago in an election to replace resigned councilman Gary Boren. On Saturday he won the runoff election for the City Council with 52 percent of the vote. His opponent, who was front runner a month ago, got the same 47 percent of the vote that he got May 12. This is in Lubbock, where the elephants roam in herds. I can't imagine a more ironic twist for the end of this story, considering that he was one of the council's staunchly conservative members. Not that I'm taking sides -- the writer in me just loves the delicious irony.

Sad news

We got some sad and unexpected news over the weekend. Board of Regents Chairman J. Frank Miller III died suddenly in Dallas Friday. The Texas Tech community is saddened by the loss of someone who has served our system well and was just poised to take the helm of the board. Our hearts go out to his family.